The view

No wheel!

Another day another motorway. Steini's driving. He's used to the
autobahn, no speed limits. He keeps asking me to keep an eye out for
police.

It's 5 hours driving today but at this rate we'll get there in 3.

We were away at 7.30am to beat the rush hour. We had to share the
living room and I found out that Steini snores, though he stopped when
I put the pillow over his face.

The show was a big success last night. One of the best of the tour.
Meet-ups are definitely the way to go. I emailed 20 city ambassadors
but only one has responded, and that was to say it would probably be
fine, but it only needs organising two weeks before.

Even after the success of this show (30 people on a Monday night) I'm
not sure I have enough faith to 'let go' of the venues. But maybe I
should. What I'll probably do is book in the places I've played before
which will give me a guaranteed fee, and fill in around that with meet-
ups.

It's funny how when you start out you need the officialdom.
- the record must be out on a label
- it must be available in record shops
- you need to be on iTunes
- you must play known venues

I've never made any money from the first three. Steini used to have a
record label and after spending thousands of euros on promotion they
were lucky to sell 400records.

So I guess it's logical that as all the other rules of the music
industry break down, the next must be shows.

I played in two well-known venues in New York on this tour, with only
the sound guy and the waitress to keep me company. But had well-paid
gigs in the middle of the nowhere to appreciative, CD-buying audiences.

The shows have balanced out and I think I will (just) break-even on
this tour (if you discount the recording) which is better than the
last one, but not as good as the next.