Our story continues about this sweet deal of mine…note that the actual Merch Girl job is really only relevant at the venue. There are often hours of time getting to the show and driving away from it that need to be filled. Being a self-described nerd, I was usually on my laptop. Susan, as the driver, was never on hers…thankfully so for the safety of all of us. After a while it became obvious that while I was laptopping in the front seat, I could very well be handling some of Susan’s email and calendar while she dictated next to me and still kept both hands on the wheel. At that point, only a month or two after my initial foray as Merch Girl, I stepped into “Personal Assistant” territory. It was organic, it made sense, it utilized my time in the van better and it utilized Susan’s better. I learned about the back end of being an independent artist, and Susan had emails and calls turned around a lot faster. I started back-and-forthing with the booking agency, mapping routes, Googling venues, whatever needed to be done. I had essentially gotten a promotion, simply by being open to what was needed and what could be useful to the person I was working with.
This shift in van life led to the opportunity for my first extended tour out of state, which happened about three months after working I began working with Susan. We went to the southeast for two weeks, and I experienced driving through states like Alabama and Georgia for the first time. I was the Merch Girl still, mostly, but whatever needed to be done was fine. There is photographic evidence of my legs propped up on the dashboard with two laptops on my knees, transferring Susan’s entire Outlook database from one computer to another. Stuff like that makes the day seem productive even before the gig starts, which is an awesome feeling.
So to recap up until now, at the beginning of 2008, I had no intentions of being anyone’s Merch Girl or Personal Assistant. I did, however, pine away about being able to tour and travel and play music for people and learn how the music business runs from an artist way more established than I. These things folded into each other and I went with the flow. Little promotions along the way, often the ones you give yourself, make for big life changes.
