ORIGINALLY POSTED AS A JOURNAL ENTRY ON MARCH 30, 2010:
Been thinking a lot about touring, traveling and performance poetry. So much that it’s got me questioning everything. Sacrificing relationships with partners is the heaviest thing I have ever done. It’s not as dramatic as that last sentence might sound, but connecting with people for one night is always a little sad. Hooking up for one night is not my style. I may be one of the few poets who has never had sex on the road. Whoa. I love people too much to just want that one thing.
My conclusion is that, while it’s the loneliest existence I could ever recommend to anyone, it’s necessary. I am not saying that my work is necessary, but it is to certain extents and capacities. I am saying that there needs to be a group of people who are constants at this. I have hit the tiniest corners of the U.S. and Canada. I’ve seen more Canadian provinces and territories than most of my Canadian friends. I have performed in rooms where I was the most liberal-minded person in the building. They enjoyed themselves, we saw each other’s sides. We hugged after. We need more people of all voices out there spreading love and concepts. Have poems, will travel. Have talk, will fly. Take the fucking mic.
I will push people to travel their voices until I die. If technology ever fails us, we will still have word of mouth. Get good at it. I have seen it change lives. I have seen it change a room and the people in it. When you know good things and you share them with others, you will make a difference.
WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO TOUR?
I have been hearing a lot of people question why certain poets decide to “go on tour” prematurely. I will agree, I have seen a couple dozen or so “tours” by poets who were certainly not prepared for the road. I have heard of poets quitting the scene entirely because of it. Do your homework. Study other scenes. Ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. No one poet is above you. My road experience doesn’t make me any greater than you, just more experienced and I am down to share the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years. I have a fuckload of information and 1700 phone numbers. I have gotten so many phone calls from people looking for a number that I may be poetry slam’s Rolodex. I don’t mind.
JUST WAIT AND LEARN
My recommendation is to wait until about 3 years after being a part of your local scene to plan your first tour. If you’ve been to NPS twice and networked, that could speed up your readiness. If you have 20 or more stage-ready poems, tried and tested, you’re ready. I only went on my first tour to Vancouver in 2002 because Shane Koyczan gave me so much shit and bugged me until I agreed. I had maybe six memorized poems. I am way better now than I was then.
Not until I did my first road feature in East Van did I realize that it could be an occassional option for me to travel once or twice a year. Then winning Indies @ ’03 NPS changed everything and sent me on one of the saddest months I’d ever experienced. Revelation: I could hit the road and give it a real shot. I HAD TO. I was depressed because I realized that “wage earning Kinko’s Mike McGee” was essentially over. At 27, I was going to embark on the craziest adventure of my life, one that is still going today.
I always think back to those days as a reminder of why I do this. If people are begging you to come to them, fucking go. If you think people need your words in their scene, fucking ask them first. Don’t assume because you’ve won all your regional slams that your work will make any sense across the country. Ask. Ask. Ask. Talk to other poets who have road experience. If they won’t help you because they’re “too busy,” fuck ‘em. Keep searching. If you want to tour because you want to be famous or well-known, good luck. You’re better off auditioning for a reality show.
Never travel with more than three people if you’re all new to it. Take free gigs. Assume you will not get paid, but be sure to ask BEFORE you hit the road.
BE REALLY GOOD
Quality of work, reputation and stage presence will sell you a feature well before credits and stats ever will. Get good at the craft. If you aren’t on stage twice a week or more, you aren’t serious about it. If there aren’t two or more venues in your locale, make one. Practice all the time, not just before you are about to slam. Watching poets pace around practicing their poems five minutes before their slot in a poetry slam is sure fire proof that they’re hobbyists. Nothing wrong with hobbyists, it’s just that too many of them think they should tour to make money.
When I say hit the road, I mean travel. Yeah, if you can get a gig, take it, just don’t fuck it up for the rest of us. Don’t misrepresent people like me who do make a living at it. When Jamie Q. Public goes to their first spoken word event and sees “Wack Ass Hobbyist” in the feature slot, it kills it for them and the chances of them coming back are nil.
In my opinion, everyone should try to travel and do poetry while traveling, but prepare for it. Practice hard and show them you want to come back. 5 decent poems does not a poet make. Have an hour ready to go at the drop of a hat. If you ask me how to tour and I say spit a poem right now and you stutter or stall, you have a lot of work ahead of you. You need to be so confident with your work and your own presence that you’re ready to go in a heartbeat. On a bus, an elevator, in an airport, up in a tree, and in a kitchen. The results of your first “tour” will not be identical to your expectations, but you will survive. You must earn the respect of other scenes before you will be asked back.
Wow them. Destroy any reputation your home scene has. Give them a new rep.
Before you hit the road, ask your local organizers for features. If they won’t give you one, they probably don’t think you’re ready. It’s a business and they need to ensure you can keep butts in seats. If you can’t get local features, you shouldn’t take national features.
Oh, and I buy lots of merch from poets on tour. I despise buying chapbooks with less than 10 folded pages in them. I want my money’s worth and so does everyone else who hands you $5.00.
WHO IS READY?
If you have a lot to say, love the stage, can actually talk to a room of people on AND off stage, can put on a show, and have a knack for networking, then you must go. You simply have to. If it’s burning inside you and the notion you may go broke doing it is not a hindrance, fucking get out there already. Do one week or two. Never more on your first trek. Two weeks.
Scott Woods is the master of the short tour. The best really. He’s picked his favorite regions and books them solid for a couple weeks in the fall and a couple in the spring.
I am building up my HOW TO GUIDE at Mike McGee Town to help people who are serious about this. Maybe you’ll only tour once. Maybe you’ll find a new career, but if you love poetry and people, you can do it. You do not need a poetry title to do it, but they do help get your name out there before your poetry reaches them, but you still need good work to get the applause. Look at all the poetry names you may already know who do not have titles. How many of your influences have one?
I will help as much as I can, but I may be busy.
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Word to the nerd.
