Thursday, October 7, 2010

Gratitude Adjustment

Wednesday October 6th, 2010 - Milwaukee, WI

One thing I never EVER want to be known as is ungrateful. I don’t deny my laundry list of faults is long and well defined, but I am doing my best to improve myself in every way. Sometimes I tend to beat myself up and I know I’m my harshest critic, but when someone supports me I always appreciate it. Tonight I had a room filled with people there for me.

What a fantastic feeling it was, knowing when I really needed it most I could count on a number of people to show up and make my event a resounding success. Dented cans tend to have a lot of issues with abandonment and trust, so when someone actually does put in an appearance as promised it means a whole lot. Tonight meant more than I can describe.

It’s always been difficult for me to ask for favors. I give them out like water, sometimes too much. If someone else’s car breaks down at 4am, they know they can call me and I’ll be there to help them out. And I will. But who do I call when I need help? That’s been my hardest question to answer. Too many times when I really needed it, nobody showed up.

That wasn’t tonight though. I put the word out I needed people to attend a free taping of the ‘Schlitz Happened!’ show for the local PBS TV auction in Milwaukee on Channel 10, and exactly the right number of people showed up to make it a grand slam success event.

One after another, people I’ve known for years showed up and I felt like I was attending my own eulogy. Mark and Amy Krueger showed up, and they’ve always been there to see just about anything I do. Amy has had some health issues, but was feeling good enough to come out tonight and they showed up early to get a good seat. That alone was a success.

Steve ‘The Homer’ True and his lovely wife showed up, and he’s another supporter that always shows up when I need him. Not coincidentally, they sat at the same table and were talking with the Kruegers, having fun before the show. I knew then I’d be in good hands.

That wasn’t nearly all though. My cousin Wendy brought a table of six people, and that made a big difference. We were in a tiny place called Sherman Perk, a converted old gas station on Roosevelt Boulevard which barely sat 40 people. Every seat had a butt for it.

Natalie from Jokerz Comedy Club showed up with a car full and that was unbelievable. Most club people would NEVER do that, and I will never forget it. Robert Deglau came back with a crew of people, and he was just in Hartford. I totally didn’t expect that either.

Mike Pavlovich showed up from Stadium Sports Stuff, as did the brother of comedian Pat Duax. Pat lives in Florida, but his brother is in Milwaukee and he brought a carload to see the show. Brendan O’Day, Cliff Baer and Chris Barnes showed up, fellow comics all.

Mike Staral came out, and I went to kindergarten with him. I hadn’t seen him in so long I barely recognized him, but I did. Ron Lee also showed up, he’s the person that hired me for my first paid gig way back when. The room was packed with my biggest supporters.

Randy Kosanke showed up with his wife, and they’ve always been there for me. Randy is a huge fan of comedy, and has dabbled on and off with both writing and performing in the past. If nothing else, he knows how difficult it is and always shows up to support it.

Chris ‘CP’ Peppas and his wife Mary Lynn showed up halfway through, but that’s still a positive with me. They live way out in Brookfield and had trouble finding the place, but it still counts that they came. Hell, I had trouble finding it too and I grew up in Milwaukee.

Karen Uchima and Grant Wylie are psychics from Chicago. They didn’t get a whole lot of the references, but I still am glad they came. I’m glad everyone came, and if the names don’t mean anything to anyone else, they sure mean the world to me. THANK YOU, all.

I’m still blown away by all the people that came out to see me at the Schauer Center last Friday night. John O’Brien and his wife Gail came up from Wilmette, IL and John took a week of vacation just so he could be off for the show. I still can’t believe he’d do that and I’m flattered beyond words. That’s the kind of stuff I’d do, but I don’t ever expect it back.

I sure hope I didn’t miss anyone, but if I did it doesn’t mean they weren’t appreciated as much as any human could appreciate anything. I’m not used to this kind of support so it’s extra sweet when it actually happens. Being a dented can sometimes makes it too difficult to just sit back and enjoy it when things go well, as too often they don’t. Tonight they did.

Unfortunately, now it’s all over with. Quite honestly, if I had to fill up any joint even a little bigger than the 40 seat Sherman Perks room, I’d be out of luck. I called in my favors and they came running in. Great! Now I have to do real business and sell some tickets.

I’m not going to kid myself and think the show is anywhere close to being ‘there’ yet. It isn’t even close. It sure has a ton of potential, but I’ll need to do it at least a hundred times or more to really develop an actual structure. I know that, but fortunately the audience has no idea. They’ll enjoy it all the way through it’s evolution, as it speaks directly to them.

I’m talking about deep seated memories, most of them very good. Times are still tough and not getting any easier, so it’s a mini escape to go back to the care free memory zones I’m referring to in this show. It’s nostalgia fine tuned to a very focused niche market, and those who will get it will go nuts for it. Those who don’t will think I’m talking Chinese.

That’s totally ok. I’m not going to get greedy and think I can reach everyone. I can’t and won’t even try. This is a specialized market, and I’m looking to open a successful ma and pa establishment that locals know and love. This isn’t a national franchise and never was.

That being said, the work is just starting. I need to start really laying down some written essays about the things I talk about. I’m just riffing off the top of my head now, and I can get away with that because I know the material so well. I lived it. That won’t last forever, and now I need to create a real tangible product to sell. I need a logo, a website, a sponsor (or several), and a place to do it regularly. Tonight was a blast, but now the work starts.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary

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