Headed out to the Ryan show. Should have some footage for you tonight or tomorrow. In the mean time here is a recent video of Ryan live in Morgantown, West Virginia.
This video is about 12.5 minutes long so make sure you have the time to let it load and watch all at once. Here’s the back story:
I was booked for this gig in Morgantown, West Virginia on Friday, March 6th. I arrived at the airport that morning only to find that my flight to Morgantown was cancelled. Not delayed – cancelled. My resourceful road manager, Shiv did some negotiating at the ticket counter and was able to get us (me+shiv+my band+evan) on a flight to Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh is about an hour’s drive from Morgantown so we called the show’s promoters and asked them to arrange a car. Long story short, we arrived in Pittsburgh to learn that the driver they’d arranged had some other obligations. We had two options – rent a car at my expense or wait for 2.5 hours at the Pittsburgh airport. Rather than possibly miss soundcheck, I chose option one, rented an Expedition from Hertz and drove myself to Morgantown.
We made it to soundcheck, ran a few songs and though I was concerned that it would be a challenge to fill a venue of that size, I brushed it off and resolved to give my all no matter the situation.
Back at the hotel before the show, I passed the time working out a set list for my gigs at SOB’s. As the night wore on, I got the feeling that we had some issues. First, the promoters called Shiv and pushed the call time to midnight (a full two hours behind schedule). Then, Wale hit me from the venue to say that the money situation was “iffy.” When midnight came, my concerns were validated as the promoters pulled up to the hotel. They were 80% short on our back-end fee.
My gut told me to do the show. I’d paid for my band to rehearse. I’d paid for our flights. I’d paid for the rental car. I was in West Virginia missing a conflicting gig in Paris. Most of all, I knew there had to be people who had paid to see me and had waited since the doors opened.
When I finally hit the venue, Wale had the crowd rocking. When he finished his set, it was past 1am and people were tired or wanted to hit the club so many of them left during the 15 minutes it took to plug in and set up. The ones who stayed were expectant and supportive and witnessed this freestyle live at the end of my set:
This video is about 12.5 minutes long so make sure you have the time to let it load and watch all at once. Here’s the back story:
I was booked for this gig in Morgantown, West Virginia on Friday, March 6th. I arrived at the airport that morning only to find that my flight to Morgantown was cancelled. Not delayed – cancelled. My resourceful road manager, Shiv did some negotiating at the ticket counter and was able to get us (me+shiv+my band+evan) on a flight to Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh is about an hour’s drive from Morgantown so we called the show’s promoters and asked them to arrange a car. Long story short, we arrived in Pittsburgh to learn that the driver they’d arranged had some other obligations. We had two options – rent a car at my expense or wait for 2.5 hours at the Pittsburgh airport. Rather than possibly miss soundcheck, I chose option one, rented an Expedition from Hertz and drove myself to Morgantown.
We made it to soundcheck, ran a few songs and though I was concerned that it would be a challenge to fill a venue of that size, I brushed it off and resolved to give my all no matter the situation.
Back at the hotel before the show, I passed the time working out a set list for my gigs at SOB’s. As the night wore on, I got the feeling that we had some issues. First, the promoters called Shiv and pushed the call time to midnight (a full two hours behind schedule). Then, Wale hit me from the venue to say that the money situation was “iffy.” When midnight came, my concerns were validated as the promoters pulled up to the hotel. They were 80% short on our back-end fee.
My gut told me to do the show. I’d paid for my band to rehearse. I’d paid for our flights. I’d paid for the rental car. I was in West Virginia missing a conflicting gig in Paris. Most of all, I knew there had to be people who had paid to see me and had waited since the doors opened.
When I finally hit the venue, Wale had the crowd rocking. When he finished his set, it was past 1am and people were tired or wanted to hit the club so many of them left during the 15 minutes it took to plug in and set up. The ones who stayed were expectant and supportive and witnessed this freestyle live at the end of my set:
I’ll always remember this moment and am posting it for everyone who has ever had a dream clouded by circumstance. Know that you can clear the clouds and focus your energy on realizing that dream – even if the scale is smaller than you desire at the time. Make every moment count. Thanks for reading and watching. I love you for that.
