By Art Daniels
Dolores,
Greetings from the west coast!
I know its been a long time since we have talked. I’m really sorry about that. I’ve been busy living here in Los Angeles. In fact, this week marks my three-year anniversary of living here. I know it sounds crazy that I’ve lived here so long and believe me, it doesn’t feel like it at all. Let me catch you up to speed on all that has happened to me.
As you know, I moved here to work with a metal band. That didn’t work out so well. I was done with them before the year was out. I’m not too upset, as these things do happen. The strange part was that in the aftermath I found myself living in an area out here called “The Valley”. All you need to know about The Valley is that it’s very hot in the summer and they film a lot of adult movies within it.
It was a very sad and lonely time in my life. I felt so alone and I was living with strangers and it wasn’t anything like I had imagined my life would be. I very often thought about moving back home, but I try not to quit anything and I had made it out here, so why leave so soon? I manned up and got a job at a home goods store, running their wine department. I didn’t want to get a regular job, but I had a plan: To go the most rock and roll bar on the planet and make friends with the rock stars.
I don’t think you have heard of The Rainbow Bar and Grill but that’s where I hung out. I had read about it in books and seen it in movies and music videos. It’s a legendary place and while it’s not the crazy place it used to be, it’s still pretty nuts. I met some famous and not so famous people there. I became a regular, I know that’s not a life goal but it’s pretty damn cool.
While all this was going on, I decided to move closer to where I work. I was spending $400 a month on gas and if I took that money and applied it to my rent, I knew I could find a closer spot. I looked at a map and found an area that would work. It said Benedict Canyon on the map, but I found out pretty quick that it was better known as Beverly Hills. That’s right, 90210. I’ll tell you it’s pretty fun to tell people my address. The best part is I was paying about the same as my old rent and I was just a few miles from work and even closer to The Sunset Strip. It was pretty neat.
While I was busy marketing myself to potential employers and having a lot of fun, something happened that I had been dreaming about! Erik Kluiber of the band Gypsyhawk asked me if I was interested to go on tour with them. This was awesome and funny because I met Erik at a Halloween party over a year before. Hey, I’ll take it where I can find it.
Gypsyhawk might have been the best thing to happen to me out here. I mean, they basically took me because I have long hair and I was local. No plane ticket to pay for. Lucky me! We toured for almost five months throughout the next year and I went from a dude who can sell shirts to a dude who can run a tour and sell shirts. I did podcasts. I helped shoot a music video. I went and saw places and did things I never thought I would do. I met and made friends with people all over North America. Not too bad for some dude from a tiny town in New Jersey that nobody has heard of.
As the 2013 year ended, Gypsyhawk declared that they were taking off the next six months or so to work on a new album. That was cool but I was essentially out of work while that happened. I got back into town and got a job stocking shelves overnight. It wasn’t at all glamorous but it paid the bills. Then something amazing happened.
Remember that Halloween party I attended? Another person I met that night hit me up to ask if I wanted to go on tour with his band. Boy, I’m glad I went to that party! All those nights and all that money I spent at The Rainbow and all I had to do was go to one party. Who would have guessed? Don’t worry, my time in that bar was well worth it. Who else gets to be a barfly at a legendary saloon like that?
I had been on a short weekend bender tour with this band a long time ago and I was always telling them that they needed to get on the road for a long tour. This dude’s name is Dusty Bo and his band is called Future Villains. I almost jumped through the phone when he called. He wanted me to go on a month long tour and his band was direct support for a band called Steel Panther. I’m sure you haven’t heard of that band either but I have been going to their shows since before I moved here. They are awesome.
The Future Villains tour was crazy. Thousands of people saw my boys play every night. We traveled America and Canada. I wrote a blog for an online magazine. I’ll tell you it had been a long time since I had written anything long form, but I think most of it came back. Some people even knew who I was when I went out. Now it’s not like I’m a star or I can’t go to a supermarket, but it’s so amazing when somebody knows my name. This is wild.
After that tour wound down, I jumped back on to a tour with Gypsyhawk, who were back on the road much sooner than expected. It didn’t go so well and I left my job with them. Nothing really to say about it except we weren’t getting along and it felt like it was time to go. I wish them well, they are a great band and they gave me the skills I need here.
So now after all that, I sit here and I’m looking back at the last three years and I realize how much has happened and how lucky I am. Well strike that, I’m not lucky, I worked very hard to be here in Los Angeles to be in a position where people call me for advice and bands I love and respect are asking me to tour manage them.
As you know, I usually map out about six months in advance, but now with everything going on, I have about a year mapped out. It’s good when you know that there is work on the way.
I feel like after three years, I’m just getting started and that’s the best feeling to have. I know you miss me back home, but I have so much more work to do.
I’ll be in touch,
Art