Saturday, August 23, 1998

Longwood College - Farmville Virginia

(Were you at this show?  Please introduce yourself!)

Had the whole day to get to Farmville, Virginia from Salem, West Virginia. So I took the backroads the whole way. I had never done that before. Usually prefer the mind-numbing straightness of the giant highways. (And I’m usually in a rush. Aren’t we all?)

So Highway 33 was my home for 7 hours that day. A little 2-lane winding road that goes SouthEast from northern West Virginia all the way to where I needed to be.

If you’ve ever gone to the mines of Virginia you know these really really steep winding roads. Up 5000 feet. Down 5000 feet. Swerving really sharp. Beautiful views when you’re near the top. Quaint little stores & towns.

But to take that for 7 hours was a little exhausting.

 

THE SHOW: BIZY BACKSON (Bizy Backson is me – Derek Sivers. Who knows why I still use that alias!)

Lankford Live. That’s what Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia calls this semi-annual event where they turn a building into a big party hall with karaoke and pizza upstairs, and some coffeehouse music downstairs.

This is my third or fourth time being hired by Longwood. They’ve got the coolest students.

RULE NUMBER ONE: The more remote the school, the cooler & friendlier the people are.

Doing shows in big cities always sounds appealing until you find out that the big city kids are jaded, rude, bored, and obnoxious. The first time time I went to Farmville, it was the day after I played Richmond Virginia. Richmond was full of those slack-jaw kids. Expressionless faces. Lifeless. Uninterested, and therefore uninteresting.

So the people of Farmville are always incredibly cool. (Which is why I agreed to do this show with only three days notice.) After going to a place a few times like this, I feel I should be punching a timecard. ("Hi – I’m back. How was everybody’s week?")

Showtime – nobody there.

Started playing anyway. Three girls came in. ("A customer!") So I tried to hook them up with free food and drink. People have been requesting the Monkees lately. Why is that?

20 minutes later we were SWAMPED with people. The place was packed. I thought it would stay packed, so I held my best crowd-pleasing songs ‘til later.

Oops. Wrong idea. Broke a string after doing one semi-boring song, and they were all gone.

Oh well – it’s a good way of figuring out who the music fans are, and who’s just there out of convenience. (Kinda like moving to another part of the country – you find out who your real friends are.)

My favorite song of the night: I played Alanis Morrisette’s "All I Want" (the 1st song off her CD.) I LOVE that song. Great lyrics. But man, what a high note. The audience was forgiving.

Thanks for the Pez! Thanks for hooking up the crowd with pizza. Thanks for bearing with my stage chatter. (I think I interrupted every song that night with some comment or another.)

Hey and I sold 6 of my last 10 CDs! That’s it. Out of 2000 CDs I have 4 left. I think I’ll lock ‘em in a safe deposit box to show my grandkids or something.

So – you 6 people who have one – CLICK HERE to introduce yourself. You’ve got the precious LAST ones!

Now... after a few hours sleep I had to drive 11 hours to Buffalo, for a terrible show. Wanna hear about it?? Click here.


HERE'S WHO WAS LEFT AT THE END OF THE NIGHT.