In my ever-growing quest to get people on the road, I have come up with a survey. Please, if you know a performer (NOT limited to poets) looking to tour or has toured, send this to them and have them respond to it as a comment or send it to me at ilikemike at g mail with the subject: "Completed Gigging Survey." I will use some of this information for a project later. I may also re-post this information on my website's How-To page.

My definition of a bare-minimum tour: More than a week of continuous travel between a minimum of two states/provinces, with no less than five gigs performed, each one being at least 30 miles apart from the last, thus having traveled at least 150 miles with no return home during the tour. Anyone who has experienced this or more, please feel free to respond to the survey.

I am initially seeking a little more transparency in gigging (touring; traveling outside of your home region to perform for audiences) and to help debunk a lot of the myth with regard to it so that more people will consider it as an option with their poetry experience.

Here's what I want to know from touring people and the people who know them well enough to answer each question factually. Please use the corresponding letter-number when answering if not copying over each question:

A. FOR THOSE NOT TOURED
a1. If you have considered touring, but have yet to embark on a trip, what has/is stopping you?
a2. What would lure you onto the road?

B. FOR ORGANIZERS OF POETRY EVENTS
b1. What poetry event do you organize?
b2. What do you look for in a featured performer/poet?
b3. Is their notability a factor in booking them? When is it not?
b4. What is your rate of pay for featured performers/poets?
b5. What do you expect from a poet professionally?

C. FOR THE CURIOUS
c1. What questions would you ask of an experienced traveling performer?

D. FOR THOSE TOURED
d1. Have you toured more than once?
d2. How long did your tour last? What is an ideal length for you?
d3. What type of venues did you play? How many?
d4. What year was your first tour?
d5. How many times have you toured since?
d6. How many tours would you say you broke even, lost money, or made money?
d7. What was your poetry, slam, comedy or music experience prior to your first tour?
d8. How many people have you toured with? Explain.
d9. What are your best memories from touring?
d10. Did you keep a job during any of your touring (was your tour during a break/vacation from work)?
d11. Would you tour again? What would you do differently?
d12. What was/were your primary method(s) of travel?
d13. What was your favorite venue? Which city did you enjoy the most? (May very easily be two different places.)
d14. What was your goal in touring?
d15. Would you consider a long-term career in touring your craft?
d16. Do you consider what you do on stage a craft?
d17. What has been your longest performance? (Marathon events and planned all-nighters not included.)
d18. Are you published or recorded professionally? Who released your product? (Not including any self-made merchandise.)
d19. Does this company support your tours? Do they promote you and your travels, gigs and appearances?
d20. What has been your longest gap between tours?
d21. How do you feel when you are touring? How do you feel when you are not?
d22. When is your favorite time of year to tour? Least?
d23. What was your worst experience on the road?
d24. Ever had to cancel a show? What were your reasons for doing so?
d25. Ever had a show canceled you were booked for? What were the circumstances for cancellation? How did it affect the rest of your tour?
d26. Ever been stranded in a town where you knew nobody? Why?
d27. What is your ideal tour? Explain.
d28. Where do you stay on the road?
d29. What's your usually daily budget on the road?
d30. What do you carry with you? Your must haves.
d31. How many bags, including merchandise?
d32. Do you create your own merchandise? What do you make for sale?
d33. What are your average nightly sales? What was your biggest sale?
d34. Smallest crowd you did a full set for? Largest? How did they feel?
d35. Most surprisingly attentive audience? Reactive? Best?
d36. Most unexpected result from touring?
d37. Biggest learning lesson from touring?
d38. Longest stay in one place for a gig?
d39. How did you book your tour? Did people vouch for you? Have you vouched for others? Have you regretted it?
d40. What is the most money you've ever been paid for a performance? (ONLY if it is under $1,001, otherwise, just state "Over $1,001") Has this been consistent?
d41. What questions are you asked most on the road while touring by non-performers? New-performers?
d42. How many shows have you done for free? Why did you do them? (Not including product sales)

E. FOR POETS SPECIFICALLY
e1. How do you label yourself when seeking gigs to people who don't know you, in your bio, or to your non-poetry friends and family? (Ex. poetry slammer, spoken word artist, Talky McTalkerson, slam poet, poet, funny poet...et cetera.) Why? Is this important?
e2. Do you use a stage name? If so: Why? Has is been a benefit? Has this hindered your ability to get published? Has it kept you from getting gigs outside of poetry slam? If you were offered a gig/publishing deal, but only if you were use your real name, would you take it?
e3. Ever toured with a group? Slam team? Duo? What were they called and do they/you still work together? Was this easier or harder than gigging alone?
e4. Have you competed in poetry slams? If so, has your involvement in poetry slam hindered your ability to book readings/gigs? Has it been a benefit?
e5. How do you view the relationship between poetry slams and being a touring poet?
e6. Do you enter into poetry slams or competitions anymore? Why or why not?
e7. Do you prefer open mic or poetry slam features? Give details.
e8. Do you view yourself a professional poet? Why?
e9. Who are your biggest influences in writing? Performance? Touring? Humanity?
e10. What are your short-term goals? Long-term?
e40. Are you a bad-ass Bay Area rapper?
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Word to the road nerd.

I am lame. I knew I'd want to attend the National Poetry Slam once it got underway. I knew I'd miss everyone and want to see all the new and old faces alike.

I knew I'd just sit around my house cooking and sweating anyway. I must confess. I should have gone on Monday with Team Worcester. I wanna see Team San Jose. I wanna hug RC Weslowski and the every Canadian team member. I wanna see Denver(s). I wanna hear good, live poetry and even some bad poetry. I wanna hang out with Papa Whoopeecat. I wanna get tangled in Ken Arkind's beard.

I wanna marvel at the force that is Tony Jackson.

I wanna support everybody in their attempt at creative expression. I wanna host events and be a part of the heat(s). I DO NOT wanna compete. I wanna get on a plane and be there with my slam family. I wanna get poetry tagged and tag someone I've never heard before. I wanna kiss Khary Jackson on the forehead. I wanna play poker AND Scrabble in the middle of the night.

I wanna. I wanna have a beer or a diet cola with someone. I wanna talk about life with Joaquin Zihuatenjo. I wanna tell Steve Marsh and Erik Daniel I dig them and their faces. I wanna chill with Team Orlando again.

I wanna show everyone love and be involved in love and know I'm loved. I wanna.

I wanna. Man, every year. I just wanna.

I hope everyone is safe and having fun down there. I hope to see you all soon.
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Word to the nerd.

I came up with an idea, not sure if I did it independently, but I don’t know of any posting or discussion on it prior to this weekend.

I was hanging out in Chicago with many poetry friends and family and it occurred to me while hanging out with Joel Chmara, Robbie Q and Alvin Lau that I’ve always wanted to perform duets with them. I’ve actually considered preparing duets with many performance poets all over the spoken world.

So the idea is this: Any one writes any number of duets. Make them available online as scripts, with the parts designated for anyone; could be random or specific people in mind. Your part vs. anyone’s part. Any one could memorize the alternate part, then when the primary author gets to town, or the alternate performer is in the same locale as the primary author, they can do the poem anywhere.

The Sweet Nugget

© 2008 Mike McGee

MIKE: I like nuggets.

VOICE 2: I like sweetness.

MIKE: We could join them up to make…

BOTH: SWEET NUGGETS!

I like this idea a lot. Imagine a duet with Roger Bonair-Agard and Paulie Lipman. An ode to awesome things with Ken Arkind and Tony Brown. Patricia Smith and Rob “Ratpack Slim” Sturma rockin’ to childhood. The potential for collaborations are endless. Andrea Gibson and I remarking on love and ladies.

I’m sure somone has done this, but I’m thinking of collecting collaborative duets and posting them on my site.

I think I may post a not-oft-used duet I wrote with Shane Koyczan. That could be fun to do with almost anybody.

I think it could be such a nice addition to a poetry feature if I had a duet or two to do with a poet I have very little access to.

Thoughts?

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Word to the nerd.

2008: Doing it!

Originally published at Mike McGee Town. You can comment here or there.

I've been back and forth to Vancouver and various points throughout Canada this summer. Not as often as previous summers. This was the first year in a long time that I got to see California in July. T.O.F.U. is going well and we're all getting along pretty swell. The festivals we've done (Calgary, Yellowknife, and North Country) have all been grand in their own ways.

I'd had one hell of an emotional spring this year. Losing Maiya was difficult, and seeing her in May while I was in Canada made it even harder. I hadn't anticipated that. I thought it was going to be the best for us, however, it was so much more complicated than either of us needed. The connection between us was there, but the distance and the time away was murder. It also caused a lot of flip flopping, confusion, and concern over whether we'd ever be together even if we wanted to, due to my schedule. I've learned a lot from that relationship and tried to make the changes necessary to keep her in my life, but now I can see that these discoveries are going to benefit me and whoever I stick with down the road. I had never tried a long distance relationship before, or dating while on the road, or, at least, not very seriously until Maiya.

She changed her mind about us several times after May, leading me to believe we'd have another chance. There were a lot of phone conversations that lead to heartbreak and ultimately I cut off contact to spare us both anymore pain. That was early June and we haven't talked since. I am certainly always one compelled to rebuild a friendship with an ex, but this one is going to have to wait much longer than usual. Time and trust have changed who we are, and I don't know that we're right for each other anymore. But I do miss her friendship quite a bit.

Over the last few years, I'd been considering relocating to the Bellingham/Seattle areas in Washington. I had been for a sometime. It puts me closer to Vancouver. I have family and friends here, and I've grown to really love the people at Poetry Night in Bellingham and those involved with the Seattle Poetry Slam. This past July, my friend Art moved into a three-bedroom outside of Seattle. After seeing the place, I thought it could be cool to take the extra room, but I wasn't ready to bring it up just yet.

Lo and behold, two weeks ago I was hanging out at the Seattle Slam when I met a lovely lady name Jodie. She co-hosts the show from time to time. We hit it off and I asked her out on a real date, which is a rarity for me, especially when I'm on tour. The next day she had to reschedule and I thought for sure she was backing out, which was okay by me, but sad. Turns out, she was actually very excited to go on a date with me. Sweet!

A couple of days later we went out and had a great time. Amazing, really. It was so easy and we understood so much about each other so immediately. She's beautiful and funny and has a very bubbly, outgoing persona. Things have progressed sooner than I could have ever expected and I'm floored by how close I feel to her. It's all very natural and lovely. And much needed by both of us.

Last week, I went to the National Poetry Slam in Austin to volunteer and reunite with poets and friends. The heat was stupid-silly, but the events were awesome. There were only a handful of newer poets that really blew my mind, such as Shira Erlichman and , but I was stoked to see Alvin Lau, Danny Sherrard, Ed Mabrey and Robbie Q make into the top ten individual finalists. I haven't seen a Team Final competition at Nationals since 2003, because it's certainly not the best part of the National Poetry Slam by any stretch of the word. As far as I'm concerned, the real competition and slam fun is over after the Individual Finals the night before. Thanks to the extreme heat and humidity in Austin throughout the week, and my lack of consistent sleep, I suffered heat exhaustion on Saturday evening and sat in the hotel lobby being monitored by javabill and Oz of Boston Lizard Lounge.

I found myself missing Jodie while I was away. She had wanted and intended to go, but had committed herself to helping run a bachelorette party the same weekend. Had she gone, I can only imagine she would have added to the good times. In retrospect, I am glad she didn't, because I got to experience missing her, and we may have jumped way to fast into relationship well before we were ready.

I like her so much and it feels like we've known each other for a very long time. Last night we went to the Seattle Slam, which was also new National Poetry Slam Indie Champ Danny Sherrard's homecoming night, and I told Daemond Arrindell, Buddy Wakefield, Roberto Ascalon, Matt Gano and the crew down at ToST that I will be making the Seattle area my home base for a while.

I've finally decided to make a jump and settle a bit. It doesn't change any of my touring, it just gives me my first bedroom in over two years – a bit of much needed privacy. I will have a nice central place to keep my stuff, and traveling between Vancouver will be much easier on me. Flights out of Seattle are priced pretty fairly and I'm two hours from San José by plane.

I called my mother and asked her for her opinion on relocating to the Seattle area, and she believed it was a good idea. I had to check with her first. Even when I considered residing in the cities of Omaha, Vancouver, Chicago and L.A., I never really checked with her first, so I must really want to be here. She gave her blessing and followed it with a "but you're a grown man and don't need me to tell you what to do." She's kind of right about that.

It's strange, all these changes in two weeks. I've bonded so much more with Buddy and the crew around Seattle, along with Bob Huston, Nathan "Meat Friend" Dodge, and Ryler Dustin in Bellingham. They were my family-team at Nationals and made sure I kept my head on straight. Dan Leamen and Anis Mojgani were also very pivotal in my manic fun at NPS, when I wasn't bout managing or hosting or checking on venues or watching poets during day events. It was good for Dan, Buddy, Baz, Anis and I to get together since we're embarking on a sizable tour together in September. You can check out said tour at ElectricWhale.com

I adore Austin, Texas with great umph, and recommend seeing as much of it as one can, just not during a heat wave. Nasty-sticky-groiny-fumes!

I've certainly never been so busy at a National Poetry Slam. This one was excellent in how it ran, but the Austin crew, helmed by Mike Henry, Phil West and Sonya Feher, is a brilliant one at that. Plus, hanging out with Deb Marsh and Erik Daniel is always a joy. I am quite fond of them, as I am with twosnoos, Robbie Q, Joel Chmara, Sully, Tim Stafford and all of the Chicago crew(s). I was inbriated one night and was taken care of by Angela Martinez and Lindsay Stone, my angels of NPS, who ensured I reached my hotel room safely. I also spent a good chunk of time with Team Oakland's Dahled, Nazelah, and Aaron Gardner at the hotel patio. I hadn't hung out with Aaron in a good long few years, and we went to our first NPS in Seattle in 2001 on Team San José together.

I also got to see Rob C of Denver brilliantly tear up the audience in their semi-final bout against New York's LouderArts team, along with a stellar group piece by the Denver team called "God Box." I had loads of fun anytime I was in the same room with Wammo, but that has never changed. I also got to work with Paradox all week, which was a long time coming. It was good to reconnect with him in person, and to have some responsibilities together in order to help NPS run smoothly. Seeing Gabrielle Bouliane is always nice. However, I did miss me some Tony Brown. This was the first year I hadn't seen him at an NPS. I don't blame him, I just hoped to see him. I am also very pleased to have had a bit of time to thank Big Poppa E for all he did in early days to establish a touring route and method for solo poets. He's one helluvan emcee and he put up my hometown San José Team at his place, which I thought that was very generous.

In all, NPS this year was a blast, but not exactly with regard to the poetry. The best work I usually hear is during day events, open mics and in hotel room poetry tags with handfuls of variously intoxicated people, and this year was no exception. NPS is a great place to meet other people doing what we do. It's a nice respite from the day to day grind. Volunteering showed me that the spotlight I am under on an almost daily basis is in a lot of ways thanks to NPS. I've gotten a lot out of slam and it now seems strange for me to want to keep taking and taking from it. I think it would serve a lot of poets to volunteer every other year, whether they compete in between. I cannot say I will ever go out for another team, but I see no reason ever to retire from poetry slam. It saved my life and I am so grateful for it's place in it. This year has taught me that chasing more titles and taking stages away from new poets doesn't serve anyone but myself. I also got to see the inner workings of a major poetry event and it gave me a better understanding of what goes into making "champions" and "losers" and that most losers in slam aren't made in competition. Dasha Kelly will be taking on the NPS next year in Madison, WI, and considering how lovely and focused she is as a person, I imagine it will be a good time as well.

I returned to Seattle on Sunday and have since been hanging out with Jodie and my friend Art. It's been very relaxing to be...home. Now we're going to see a movie or something. This weekend I will be with T.O.F.U. at the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival in B.C., performing with Spearhead and...The Pointer Sisters!

Jump!
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Word to the nerd.
2007: Go for it!