Dude so more developments: yes the plot thickens. After spending 6 weeks or so living in Toronto, we were off to Windsor to travel to a really big store to try and make some money to put us ahead. Our job is kind of crazy, but it demaded that we learn to speak confidently in front of a crowd and we believe that as a result we have gained a lot of confidence to perform our poetry and music in front of a crowd. Of corse we have quickly learned to despise our new job for many other reasons.
Well as it turns out Windsor is a real drag. Good news is that we wrote a multitude of new songs in our little green hotel room. We are so super excited about them! Also just as our situation here has reached a newly undesirable apex, our friends in West Virginia have called and given us news that makes want to drop what we are doing even more! Turns out they bought a whole building in the town that neighbors their house on the mountain.They are starting a music venue / art gallery / etc etc. They are placing their beautiful house for sale and building a number of apartments within the building they bought. They want us to move there with them and do this whole thing. Sounds fantastic! There will be 6 of us total living and working in the building- kind of an artist colony/ ashram/ commune. Sounds kinda like what we had in mind the first time we were going to move in with them. Evidentally the building is super large with many floors and rooms (including a ballroom). In my mind the whole thing loosly parallels happenings of the big brother and the holding co.’s mountain home and the family dog commune’s avalon ballroom in SF in the early to mid 60’s.
Anyway, the stores in Windsor are not really hoppin, probably because it is february and the slowest time of year for retail sales. Reguardless, we are satisfied with the money that we are making. Unfortunately, we won’t see that money until we return to Toronto! Now we haven’t had a day off in over a week, and we’ve got about a week to go. We’re pretty tired but worst of all, yes we are broke again! With all the working how could we be broke? The problem is that WE are paying for the hotel, gas, and precooked food (ie pizza, takeout because there we only have microwave in hotel room) and it adds up qiuckly. We stayed one week in the hotel we intially booked, but downgraded to an unlisted, cheaper alternative for our second week. Our lovely stationwagon Abner is ready for retirement and has developed a gas leak in addition to the many other leaks he has. Therefore we are also spending more on gas than expected.
That brings us up to speed. We have about $1.50 in canadian quarters, 1 bottle of water, 2 guitars, 2 laptops, an amp, 2 suitcases, and some books. Oh also I found a mostly empty packet of sunflower nuts that have been in the car for nearly a year. We are in a small motel room that by my estimate is 8’x12’ and we haven’t eaten since 5 oclock. We are both pretty hungry that “meal” 6 hours ago was just a veggie burger for each of us. No fries, no potato, no salad. Just sandwich and water. Now I know 6 hours without food is easy, but what happens tomorrow? We wake up and go to work hungry and work our 12 hour day without food? We have made plans to buy a loaf of bread or something similar which we will consume to keep us from passing out. We kind of feel like slaves or prisoners. We are pretty fed up with the way things are going here and we are feeling ripped off: we are doing all the work and paying for all the expenses required just to do that work! To be fair, when we make it back to Toronto we will be showered our pay, but that doesn’t really help us now. I have put in a call to our boss to western union us some of our pay that we would have gotten last Friday but I’m not sure she will because I don’t think she was very receptive to the urgency of our situation. Probably because to her ‘have no money’ means only have maybe $100 or $200 left. That and she is a terrible listener.
Well now that I’ve complained about our situation suffice it to say that I’m not really complaining. We’ve definitely been in worse, and besides, it’s all a learning experience. Poverty spawns art. We have already written a half an albums worth of songs. Even if the whole thing turns out to be a flop, the crazy experience will have been worth it. Besides it may have been a necessary step to push us back toward Lori and Robert.
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