One of the biggest challenges when deciding to head out on tour (especially considering $5/gallon gas) is the route you will employ to get from city to city. Here's a recent scenario:
Frogs Gone Fishin' is booked for the 20th of June in Crested Butte, in the mountains of western Colorado. We knew we needed to be in Austin, TX by the 26th. The 22nd is a Sunday so by the laws of the live-music gods, we cross that date out.
By way of Myspace we got a gig in Flagstaff, AZ on the 24th. Simultaneously we received offers in Durango and Canon City, CO. Both of these gigs would involve back-tracking and wasting that ever-so-precious gasoline.
After many phone calls and several pissed-off promoters, we managed to score the 21st in Durango (before driving through the desert), and Phoenix the 25th... a smooth transition, despite the long drive to Austin the next day.
Such haggling and struggle would not be necessary if the price of gas and state of the environment were not such as they are. Back-tracking through the Arizona desert with a Chevy Suburban and non-aerodynamic trailer would not have been as big of a deal in the early 90's, but now is considered economic and environmental suicide.
So while this post began as musings on human logistic problems, it is really the economics of how we get around that is going to make touring more and more difficult for the travel that we musicians must do by necessity. Pretty soon we will need to find an alternatively fueled vehicle that can both get us where we need to go, and do so in an economical and environmentally responsible fashion.
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