Aryn Michelle

Confessions of a crazed indie artist

Jan 3, 2009 Uncategorized
Posted by Aryn

10/25/08
So today I had a gig with my band at this bar/restaurant in town (Boston) called All Asia. I thought ya’ll might enjoy the ensuing comedy, and also might like some insight into the daily life of an indie artist...
I woke up this morning and had to break down my keyboard, stand, box of cds to sell, gather cables, piano bench, tambourine and about 1/3 of the contents of my apt into a giant pile to move for the gig. After that, I had to run down the street about a mile to pick up my zipcar (zipcars are cars you can rent for a couple hours that are places all around the city) I don’t own a car here in Boston (where would I park it anyway!) I had to rent a car for $50 just to move my bands equipment a couple miles from the school to our gig. After getting the car I drove back to my apt to get my gear and then proceeded on to Berklee to get my bands gear. This is when the madness started…
My bass player calls me and tells me his morning gig is running over and he hasn’t even played yet by noon. (our show is at 1:30) Then while I’m swerving among the other crazy drivers, I have to call my violin player so she can get the keys to the closest where they keep the amps since the bass player is going to be late. I finally get to the school (after about 17 turns, because all the roads in Boston are one way only) and have to double park out front of the school and pray that a bus won’t decide to run me over.
We’re attempting to fit an entire drum kit, a full length keyboard, two amps, guitars, mic stands, music stands and more into a tiny toyota…fun times. Somehow we manage to cram it all in and my band members take the bus to meet me at the gig. (as I am driving away, my drummer has to call me to tell me from the way the car is sounding, it seems that I am driving with the parking break on…he is correct.)
When I pull up to unload at All Asia (again, about 7 turns to get to the side door) every door at the whole place is locked. PANIC! So I freaked for a moment thinking the gig had been cancelled, and then I realized we were just a few minutes too early and they hadn’t opened yet. We unloaded and I went to go park the zipcar. The All Asia guys told me I better park in the parking garage behind the gig so that I wouldn’t get towed. (spoiler alert!: what they failed to mention was that there are like 8 different parking garages)
We finally set up for the gig, started a few minutes late and ended up having a great show with a decent sized crowd…the few sane and calm moments of the afternoon.
After the gig, I go to get my car out of the lot after the guys at All Asia vaidated my parking ticket. I get to the electronic ticket window to leave the garage and it says “TICKET INVALID” My validated ticket didn’t work, and so I had to pay $30 just to get my car out of the lot, even though it had only been there a little over 2 hours. When I get back to load the car, the guys told me I had apparently parked in the wrong lot, although they previously failed to mention which one was the right one.
After getting my car out of the lot, we had approx. 45 minutes to return the zipcar, or I would have to pay about $100 in late fees. We loaded as fast as we could but got stuck in alot of traffic weaving from MIT to the Fenway to drop off the bass players keys (which he had left) and drop of the guitar players gear. As we were fighting to get back in time we realized the awful truth…there wasn’t enough time to drop my piano off at our apt before we had to return the zipcar.
So we sped up to the zipcar parking spot at 3:58 (the car was due at 4) and began throwing everything out of the car as fast as we could so that I could lock the doors before the clock struck 4. We made it in time (thankfully!) but now we had a problem. We were a mile away from the apt and had to carry back the following: full sized 50 pound keyboard, keyboard stand (also big) piano seat, gig bag of cables, box of cds, two big heavy mic stands, bag of stage lights, camera and a tambourine.
Needless to say, 45 minutes later we made it home, and I can guarantee you my neck will be sore for a week. People were staring at me as I walked by. I could tell they were thinking, “why would that ridiculous girl try to carry so much stuff?!?” true that stranger man, true that.
And this my friends is the life of an indie artist…aren’t you jealous
happy gigging