Ask and ye shall receive

The topic of this post is one of those things that pops up in a lot of religions -- or call them belief systems if you will -- just worded a bit differently.

I put out the "call to the universe" quite bluntly when I was looking for the trombone parts of the Humbone. But sometimes the subtler calls are noticed as well.

The other day VintageFL posted this topic on the Ukulele Cosmos forums. It's all about the blog for Manitoba Hal and Doc Mclean's Trans Canada Blues Tour.

Man. I think I just set a personal best record for "number of links in a single blog paragraph." But I digress...

I've had the pleasure of hearing Manitoba Hal's ukulele music before, as well as chatting with him on Skype. The tour blog contains sound files that include songs by both artists on the tour and it's the first time ever for me to hear Doc Maclean as well as the first time I listened to a "straight ahead blues" cut -- sans ukulele, I mean -- from Hal.

They're both terrific so if you happen to be a Canadian reader you should check out their schedule to see if they're going to be anywhere near you.

When I read the blog posting about their 40 night schedule I had the ol' twinge o' jealousy^TM. I'd love to get some sort of tour going, even if it's just a few gigs in a row. I even mention that in the thread that VintageFL started. While I was typing on the forum I was also downloading the audio files from the tour blog, but I didn't have the time to listen to them until today. Both are "radio interviews" but one is a recording of an actual live radio broadcast and the other is a podcast (i.e. recorded for later distribution). I believe it's in the podcast one where Manitoba Hal gives me advice on that very subject -- touring, that is -- even though at the time he surely couldn't have known it was something on my mind.

He said that "Touring is an act of will." and "You have to get on the phone and keep calling until you get a yes."

Ok. For you that might have been a "well, duh!" moment but for me it was a "whoa!" moment.

How much more simple and concise could you want it to be? Plus there's the element of magic in it.

What magic? Aleister Crowley once said something to the effect of "Every conscious, willful act is an act of magick." I've always taken that to mean both that you make your own magic and that you should be conscious of what you're doing so that every little thing you do is magic.

w00t! Aleister Crowley and Sting in one paragraph. I scare me sometimes.

So if you're wanting to will a tour into being you have to treat it like one of those conscious, willful acts.

I think up until recently I was kind of scared of the concept. Even today I don't think I'd want to do two hours solo, I'd much rather be one of two acts on a bill. My comfort level just doesn't extend to doing more than one hour of my current act. I think that it'd bore me after that long, much less any non-ukefreaks in the crowd. But I'm adding to it all the time and I'm sure I'll get to the two hour plateau within a year.

All that aside, those two comments really sparked me. I'm going to put that tour down as a definite do and start seriously searching for the right combination of venues and acts to pull it off. Thanks, Hal, for answering the universe so well!

And both you guys just knock 'em dead on your tour. I know you will.