Postcards
July 31, 2000
Into the Bigg Blue
by Sam Shaber
 Postcards is a journal of life on the road from Sam Shaber, written specially for readers of Harmony Central. Each installment will reflect on the trials and rewards of touring, as experienced by this New York-based solo artist.
'My only competition was the NBA finals. The guys at the bar asked me if I could wait until halftime to start my set.'
Recently, I learned a few things about Lexington, Kentucky. I learned that they've never heard of hot tea, that there are only two bars in the whole city open on Sunday nights (and they are jumpin'), and that Lexington has the third largest gay population in the country.
I was in town to do the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour -- a mini version of National Public Radio's Mountain Stage, if you will. The show is taped before a live audience of 150 (it fills up every week) at the Lexington Public Library Theater; the taped shows are then aired a few weeks later on 181 stations nationwide, reaching about 400,000 people.
The Woodsongs folks work on a strictly volunteer basis, as do the performers. As compensation for our time, the artists are put up in the Radisson downtown and offered a two-night stint in the hotel's bar, the Bigg Blue Martini Room, which pays $75 each night. The nights are Sunday and Monday, which I thought would be quiet and empty.
But this is Lexington.
Drag Queens On Parade
Sunday night was about the most crowded I have seen any bar in a very long time, with people of all shapes, ages, sexual orientations, and senses of fashion. It was explained to me that on Sunday nights the Bigg Blue is the place to be.
I was largely ignored, except for the occasional "Yeah, Baby! You sing it!"
"Thanks, baby," I would answer shortly.
"Uh, yeah, sweetheart," came the confused response.
"Thanks, sweetheart," I said again, which thankfully was the end of it.
During my break I explored the lobby of the hotel. Following the sounds of Aretha Franklin's "Think," I found myself in the mezzanine, staring into the hotel's ballroom -- where a drag queen beauty pageant was in full swing. Sequins, spandex, and lots of spike heels paraded around the packed room to excited cheers.
Some of the drag queens found their way down to the Bigg Blue once their show was over and immediately got lost in the throng. It was explained to me that Lexington has the third largest gay population in the country, largely because the old-time rich estate owners found homosexuals and drag queens entertaining and would bring them in for "amusement." This was only a theory, I assume.
By the end of the night I had sold a handful of CDs, made my $75, and could barely speak from all the cigar smoke. I headed up to room 724 and ran a hot bath.
On the Air
Monday was completely different. Woodsongs books its artists into as many promotional spots as possible while they're in town, so I got "The Treatment," as my friend and fellow road warrior Pamela Means put it. I had a radio interview at 3 p.m., and at 5 p.m. a videotaped interview for the Kentucky.com website (which hosts the Woodsongs.com website). After being background music the night before, these activities were a much-welcomed boost.
Later, we gathered at the Library Theater for a meeting with Michael Johnathon, the show's creator and host. Johnathon, a songwriter himself, created Woodsongs as a venue for independent artists to reach larger crowds than the 30 to 40 they could play to each night in the coffeehouses of the world. This was now its 107th show. He talked about the virtues of independent music, the virtues of the struggling artist, and the virtues of Woodsongs. He also told us how the program would work.
I love radio. I love doing radio spots and listening to radio stations in unfamiliar towns. I love the personal nature of it, the voice-to-ear contact, even though the actual distances can be huge. Being on the Woodsongs Radio Hour was right up my alley. The program went from live performances to interviews to newscasts, with the applause signs waving in between each segment and the overall energy in the room being heightened by the intense cooperation happening between performers, crew, and audience.
The show went off without a hitch (aside from my earrings clinking a little too much in the microphone -- I quickly removed them). After signing some autographs and chatting a bit with the audience outside the theater, I headed back to the Radisson, where the entire cast and crew had come to keep me company for Night Number Two at the Bigg Blue. I also found some of the audience members from the radio show and a few folks who had caught my live interview on the local station, WRVG, that afternoon.
This time my only competition was the NBA finals on TV. The guys at the bar asked me if I could wait until halftime to start my set. When their first uproarious basketball cheer rang out I quickly answered "Thank you!" into the microphone, and they laughed. From then on, every cheer for the game was followed by a cheer for me as well, regardless of what I was playing at the moment.
The Bigg Blue gigs were 2-1/2 hours long each and very exhausting, but in the end I made almost $300 more than I would have if I had just breezed in and done Woodsongs like the rock star I'd always hoped to be. I drove back to New York in one exhausting 12-hour stretch and put my feet up.
Bar gigs: Can't survive 'em, can't survive without 'em.
Yet.
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Sam Shaber is a solo artist who has spent most of the past three years on the road throughout the U.S. and the U.K. Her articles have appeared in Musician, Performing Songwriter, and Home Recording. Shaber's has recorded several albums on her own Brown Chair label. For further information, visit www.samshaber.com.
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