We are in October, and though it may seem like 2010 is still a few months away, experience has taught me that a few months can seem like a few days when you've been very busy. Fortunately, I can say that I've been very busy...so I guess that means that New Years Eve must be next week!
Anyway, I've already begun planning for 2010. Even this early on, it looks to be THE busiest year for me yet! That's saying a lot after the year I've had in 2009. I already have more gigs booked in the first quarter of next year than I actually performed during the first 4 1/2 months of this year. And, that's without having received any sideman gigs yet or a gig or two that I have been fortunate to have in the past couple of years that I can usually count on having.
Then there's the tour I'm planning for myself!
I'm in the middle of booking out a "lecture" tour for myself, where I'll be giving my presentation entitled "What's All That Jazz About?", which is the program that I have enjoyed a lot of success with in the library systems of the NY, NJ, and CT tri-state region. But now, after 6 years or so of circulating withing the same library systems, I've all but run out of libraries to give the presentation to. In fact, I've had up to 5 repeat appearances at a number of libraries over the past 6 years!
People tell me that I should do it in the schools, and I agree. But the thing is that with the amount of time it takes to just book the libraries, it's a more than daunting task to add schools to that. One thing is for certain. If I do want to have longevity with my career, I will eventually have to start courting a younger fan base. The truth of the matter is that I'm at least a generation younger than the overwhelming majority of my fans. And, in some cases, I'm 2 generations behind! This basically means, without trying to sound grim, that I will likely out live most of my fans unless I start getting some young people interested in what I do. I'll probably start that phase in 2011.
Went on a tangent there!
Getting back to the tour, I'll be on the road for 2 weeks and plan to hit stops from NJ down to Jacksonville, Florida. I've already got something like 7 bookings, and would like to add another 10 or more before the end of this month. The magic number is 16 to make this all worth while. But 18 or even 20 would be the icing, AND the cherry, AND the ice cream on the cake!
On another front, I've been giving a lot of thought towards releasing my second CD sometime next year...most likely in the Fall. I just need some spare time so I can get back to writing some new tunes! Time is a resource that I seem to have even less of than money, and money is REAL TIGHT these days! But, it has been 3 years at this point since my debut release and I'm starting to get questions from people about my next one...which is a good thing! It shows me that there is interest and a point for me to record another one.
Then there is my desire to do another big concert event on Long Island. It's been 2 years since my last one. I was suppose to have a September, 2008 appearance at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, but the show had to be cancelled when my two corporate sponsors backed out. This ended up being a warning sign of sorts, because just 3 weeks later there was the big announcement all over the news about the "sudden" and drastic drop in our economy. I quoted the word "sudden" because the warnings signs had apparently been there for years, but many decided to ignore them.
In short, 2010 looks to be an incredibly busy year for me, and potentially my career best to date. Hopefully, all of the hard work I've been putting in these past couple of years will finally start rewarding my pockets a little more. With a family to support, I need all of my efforts to bare fruit and not be empty trips from the orchard. Fortunately for me, I've had a pretty clear game plan from the start and I haven't had many empty trips at all. I guess that's why I've lasted this long and have been seeing an increase in demand for me and what I have to offer, rather than a decrease.
