Paying the Piper

I blog about going to lots of free shows, but most of the show are only kind of free. More often than not when I attend a Vera Show I'm steering, or at least selling tickets, so I'm working and sneaking in to set up and start the camera so I only end up seeing part of the performance.

For 2 of the 3 big festivals (Sasquatch and the Capitol Hill Block Party) I also had to work to get in for free. Sasquatch in particular took a months long commitment of interviews, writing, and creative work in order to fulfill the obligations incurred getting to see the "free" festival. That sounds like more than it really was: a few hours work each month, nothing too time consuming, and I got a class in interviews and interviewed 5 or 6 or 7 people so I'm learning new skills too.

I'm a Vera member so I serve on committees, and I now chair the Veracity committee so I have to fix vegan tacos and book bands for a show each month, which teaches me other interesting skills.


It does get time consuming though. I have to get 2 or 3 interviews done, follow up on some promotional stuff for Veracity, attend the Programming committee meeting to report on Veracity activity, steer shows, and get videos made and blogs written and so on. I want to get some audio recording equipment and fiddle around with producing recordings and I'll need to take the Vera sound classes; I think I can get my son (who's studying guitar now, all right!) and maybe some other kids or Dana to take them with me.

I probably won't go to as many shows and won't post as many videos (I may see over 400 performances and post 600 videos or nearly so this year), but I should still be breaking 200 shows and maybe 300 videos most years pretty easily.

It's not a living, but it is fun and it keeps me young!