The music venue lacked heating and cooling
When I was in high school, all I wanted to do was become a professional musician someday. I wasn’t thinking about the countless hours that would be spent on the road going from one motel room to the next all the while wondering if I would ever make it farther than I was in life. That’s what happened to me for about 10 years when I had the life of a touring musician. I wasn’t happy and I felt like I had to compromise what I love the most just to make money. This is disheartening to anyone who wishes to pursue an art form as a way to make money in life. Few artists will tell you with sincerity that they chose their path in life for financial reasons, or that they’d be excited to compromise on their artistic pursuits in an effort to make more cash. That’s precisely where I landed myself, so I decided to start working remotely in addition to touring as a musician. I work with social media platforms and help with digital public relations firms. It’s not the most fun work in the world, but it gives me a good financial supplement to the money I make as a musician. That helps when I’m primarily living in a city that doesn’t have a ton of great music venues that I can play at on a weekly basis. There’s one near my house but it doesn’t have the best indoor HVAC compared to the kinds of music venues I’m used to. In fact, the heating and cooling is so substandard that I have loathed playing live shows there on the few instances when I have. I’d rather drive across the city and play at a different music venue just so I’m not sweating or shivering on stage depending on the season and the weather outside.