Back in the Old days.....????

Had a wonderful visit from some friends from Ireland, terriffic couple. They've been on the road for 11 years!...11 Years...from gig to gig, home to home, city to city, all around the world...Gypsy Troubadors, to be sure. What this got to do with computers and technology?

Well, back in the old days....we would have a notebook, and sheafs of papers, contracts, addresses, dates, plans, maps, you name it, and it would be in that pile of papers...and heaven help you if you lost it...Now? Now, there are laptops, pda;'s, portable hard drives, GPS locators...it makes being on the road a lot less stressful...notice, I did not say easier...because being on the road is not easy, it is a hard life, but when you let the latest is new technology help you, then it makes life so much simpler. Voice mail, blogging, myspace, facebook, sending promo posters by electonic file, save, transfer to thumbdrive, take to kinko's...download and print....

Seeing as they are form Ireland, they have some of thier favorite old Irish TV miniseries...'Father Pat' on hand, plug into the computer and sit and watch...or plug into the tv for a better sized screen and sound. Life is amazing sometimes.....

Now, if you don't know how a song gowes, you can head on over to something like Mudcatcafe and search thousands of folk and traditional tunes, find the history, listen to a midi file of it, cut and past the lyris, change the key, make the print larger or smaller so you can see it well on the stage in dim light...print at will, or save to your program, and use your laptop as an open book...

Makes me want to pack up and get back on the road that I gave up on 15 years ago.....NOT!!! I love my work, I love new technology...but I especially love the benefits and the variety of people I get to work with everyday.... No more ...'On the Road Again'...for me...