INTRODUCTION

The end of 2013 is fast approaching. As I look to the future and try to mold a new chapter in my head, I am reminded of the trial and error of the past few years that will undoubtedly lend its lessons to the ventures ahead. I’m only ever where I am because of where I’ve been. Things are looking pretty nice at the moment, and I’d like to pay my respects.

I’m starting to develop a sense of what I need to do to make money in this business as a singer/songwriter, and touring is the cornerstone for me right now. I’m creeping up on an age where it would be awfully nice to settle down with a family, but as it stands, there is no money in the pot for something like that. With a handful of dreams whispering in my ear, I’m eager to hone in on pushing things to the next level. So what do I know about touring?

In May 2012, took my first stab at it and embarked on a month long adventure down the west coast of the United States. Saying this now, I get a nostalgic breeze of comfortable, familiar memories. But there was a time when it was a vague dream, and seemed incomprehensible. So what really happened to connect the incomprehensible to the happening? Here is my story.

THE TOUR

CONCEPTION
“and for months I awaited the rain from the cloud of letting go that was hovering…ominous…”

– Single Life Revolution by Kendall Patrick

 On November 27^th, 2011, Ian Moore played at the Rendez Vous, a classy restaurant downtown. The promoter was kind enough to let me share the night with him, not as a performer, but as the host of a silent auction.
I was raising money for the parents of a baby who attended the daycare I work at. He needed multiple operations and it wasn’t cheap. The beauty of my job is that, although it isn’t music related, it allows me to have enriching relationships with the sweetest creatures on earth on a daily basis. (Something that can’t be said for my experience at call centres.)

A week or so later I returned to the Rendez Vous to give the promoter a receipt from the money order from the proceeds of the auction.  A show was in session and I sat down at a table with her and the gentleman she was with, somebody I had never met before. At one point she left the table and the man and I struck up a conversation. I could tell he had had a few drinks by the boldness with which he was talking to me. After I told him I was a songwriter with big dreams, he didn’t hesitate to question with a concerned aggression what the hell I was doing in Nanaimo. He said I needed to be in New York, Toronto, or Austin…right now! He also made it shamelessly clear that time was ticking, and age 24 was pushing it to be sitting around Nanaimo and still expect that I was going to make it anywhere unless I got my ass moving quickly.

In the grips of an unsatisfying relationship and a general sense of restlessness, not to mention my never ending faith in my destiny as a self supporting singer/songwriter, his words resonated deeply within me, and lit a fire under my ass. I remember leaving the Rendezvous that night, getting in my car, looking up and making a deal with the sky that I was leaving this place. My previous fear of detaching from my job and my relationship was suddenly overridden by a deep inner leap of faith. In a profound 30 seconds I quietly let go. Goodbye, Nanaimo.