Wednesday November 2nd, 2011 - Nashville, TN Back in Nashville for a week at Zanies. This is a completely different world from how it is at the Zanies clubs in the Chicago area, but it boils down to earning the cabbage so here I am. 537 miles from door to door is an excruciating commute, and that’s only one way. I’ll have the exact same drive home on Monday, and I’ll have to leave early because I’m teaching a comedy class at Zanies in Chicago at 6pm. Not only that, I’m scheduled to host the Rising Star Showcase at 8:30. I took those gigs before I took this one. Am I insane? Maybe, but that’s not the reason I’m doing this. I’m doing it to earn a living, and in this economy one has to take work when it comes. I’ve already resigned myself to the fact I’m not actively looking to be a road monkey much longer, but Nashville is a tricky situation. Although I’ve never been fond of the south in general, this is an entertainment town and it wouldn’t hurt to have solid connections here. I know a few people already, and having a chance to reconnect is exactly what I need right now. Show business is about connections. I guess I already knew that, but it’s been driven home rather hard again and again lately and I’m getting the message whether I want to hear it or not. Reading the Harvey Mackay book about networking recently was what started it, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’ve been gathering all my collected business cards from the boxes I’ve been sorting and put them all in a single container. I have several hundred of them from various eras of my life, and I used my time in the car to sift through them all and decide which ones to keep. The largest percentage of cards are from other comedians, and I had all day so I decided to sort them into alphabetical order. It took a few hours, as I needed to keep an eye on the road while I did it, but I managed to get it all done before I got to the Tennessee state line. I was able to do three things at once: I sorted out business cards that had been collecting for more than twenty years, I listened to Robert Ringer’s entire six cassette audio program called ‘Living Without Limits’ and I drove to Nashville to earn a living. That’s efficiency. I also made and received some phone calls, and tried to be as productive as I could with the situation I was in. I think I did a good job, but that doesn’t change the fact I’ve lost my zeal for making these long trips. I’m making an exception this week, but I’ve had my fill. I was scheduled to headline tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, and open for Caroline Rhea on the weekend. Instead, I got to the club and was told I was double booked and ended up opening for Taylor Mason. Taylor is a great guy and very talented, but I didn’t expect it. He draws a Christian crowd, and I was told I had to keep it squeaky clean for an all ages show. Thanks to my cruise ship experience, I can handle it. Not many comics I know can hear they have to be kid friendly ten minutes before a show, and still manage to pull it off.
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