My Personal Luck Day

Friday June 13th, 2008 - Grayling, MI/Lake Villa, IL

there’s one day that doesn’t scare me it’s Friday the 13th. It’s just another day in a life of Friday the 13ths for me so I’m used to it by now. At this point I’ll walk under a ladder, break a case of mirrors, throw salt over the wrong shoulder, whatever you like. Any bit of superstition I had is long gone. The damage is done. Black cats refuse to cross MY path.

Whatever happens happens and I just try to deal with it the best I can. Today did have a goofy vibe to it though. It wasn’t bad, just odd. I had a gig in Grayling, MI tonight. I had a two night tour booked for a guy named Steve Sabo who I like and respect. I had to get out of his show last night so I could endure that humiliation fest instead. I needed the money.

I didn’t want to cancel the second night too so I agreed to do it. What I did NOT do was look at the map at how far it was. My fault totally. It was 403 and a half miles from where I live and it was too late to back out when I discovered that so I sucked it up and started to drive this morning. I ate breakfast at the Red School House but my waitress cutie was off.

I knew I wouldn’t be making that much on this gig but it was a chance to tune up for the big week at Zanies next week with Jerry’s Kidders so I resolved myself to doing it. I took advantage of a day with decent weather and turned my car into a mobile office for the day so I could catch up on stuff. Many people sit at a cubicle and daydream. Mine is moving.

Getting things done in the car has become something I’m pretty good at. I’ve had lots of practice at it and I find that it makes the drives WAY shorter. I know I shouldn’t but I like to do crossword puzzles. I don’t do them in heavy traffic but on wide open stretches it’s a time killer and it keeps my brain busy between writing jokes and listening to the radio.

Today I had 403 miles to kill and I made great use of it. I am really narrowing down my list of new material to work in and I have about 75 new lines or bits ideas I’m working in. I typed them out and put them in a three ring binder and was going over them in the car as I drove north. I can already feel the improvement and I haven’t even tried most of this yet.

Another thing I’ve been working on are the actual products for the Uranus site. I sent an update to my ‘inner circle of Uranus’ which is 50 people I hand picked that are either very creative or supportive or both. I heard back some great ideas and comments and I took the time to really go over them and think about how I’m actually going to pull this thing off.

I also sent out a newsletter to fans and students after taking an unplanned for break from it after Mr. Embezzler pulled his little stunt. It really wiped me out and I had to start over from nothing and I still have a long way to go. My new web person Shelley has been easy to work with but we’re still working out a system for all this and it will take time to do it.

The old one used to be in a newsletter template but now it’s just in email form as we get it up and running again. Allegedly there were a couple thousand names on that old list but he apparently didn’t include them when he sent all my stuff so now it’s starting all over.

I can piss and moan and whine and bitch but none of those things are going to change it. I have vowed to be done with anger over this and plow through it. I’m in a good space for being creative and Uranus keeps me going. I can feel so many great things about to pop.

The show was at 8pm Eastern time which means I lost an hour. I got to the Ramada Inn in Grayling at 7:33. I don’t like to cut it that close but that’s how it worked today. I was in a great mood because I worked all day but this gig had hell’s blowtorch written all over it. The audience was tiny and there was a six year old kid with her parents. And a big drunk.

I thought this was going to be another meatball surgery session but he show started a bit late and the drunk shut up or passed out or whatever he did and he wasn’t a problem at all for my show. The kid left halfway through the opener who was also a nice kid named Rye Silverman. He was smart and funny and laid back and the whole experience was very fun.

The crowd got bigger close to show time and by the time I got on they were really hot. I tried a few of my new bits and reworked a lot of the old ones and just had fun with it. I’m really learning to be in the moment and trying to shape each show to that particular crowd and it’s working very well. These people and I formed a bond and I did exactly an hour.

Last night the money people couldn’t relate to having a crappy car or struggling like the people tonight could. This is the out back sticks of Michigan where the economy left long ago. People are living close to the bone up here and they could totally relate to my humor.

I thought I was going to be miserable but in fact it as just the opposite. This show made my whole day even though it only paid $200 and gas cost me $91 to get there and back. It isn’t as easy to make a living doing these one nighters like it once was and I can’t rely on these like I once could. This particular one was really fun but as a whole these are brutal.

Hotels have long lost their thrill and I wanted to get home. I gained my hour back and I was feeling good and wide awake after the show. My favorite radio show Coast to Coast AM would keep me company for much of the trip and tonight’s topic was Friday the 13th.

They even had a special line to call for unlucky people so I decided to call. To my shock I got through! I have never called that show before even though I love listening to it. I had that little voice inside say call so I did. I had all kinds of unlucky stories and jokes in case it was going well but right in the middle of getting a roll going my cell phone just cut out.

What a MAJOR hassle and I screamed at it as I heard those familiar beeps of losing my call. George Noory is the host and he knows Kipper McGee at WLS. George said that he is scheduled to come to Chicago this summer and I totally want to meet him if I can do it.

I think I can. Kipper knows I love the show and I’d eventually love to be a guest comic. I love the topics and would fit right in. What a great fan base to plug the King of Uranus too. I’d always dreamed of being on the show and even the short time I was on fulfilled a long time dream and it was on Friday the 13th yet. See? It’s not such a bad day after all.