Get Up and Go

14 / Get Up and Go

days based on the interest and support of people we didn’t know at all? What I found out was that in every town, there were good bands and people who were interested in what we were doing. Sometimes it was 200 people at a show, sometimes 50, sometimes 10. Some nights we played in large music venues, sometimes in a rented VFW hall, sometimes in basements and living rooms around America, and even a couple of kitchens. There were shows where not everyone in the band could fit in the same room, shows where kids were standing on the stairways and leaning in through open windows, shows where people couldn’t advertise the show (because local authorities would shut down many of these projects if they had means to locate them) – but each night we played to those who were interested, and they opened their hearts, their minds, their homes and gave what little money they had to help us make it to the next town. Some shows didn’t work out great, but we had compromised absolutely nothing in order to make our tour happen, so even the bust days were learning opportunities. What I found out eventually was there are thousands of people who want to hear what I have to say – but they can’t be reached through the main channels. They’ve given up on