Where in the world am I today?: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Up until now I’ve really focused on trying to provide a variety of venues and options for work. These are all venues that I’ve worked and continue to work, but I thought I’d change tack a bit today and discuss the motivation behind taking certain gigs.
I currently find myself in Oklahoma City performing at their Festival of the Arts. It’s a fine arts festival that features a hundred and forty four artisans selling everything from Handbags to Sculpture to Ceramics to Framed Prints to Wooden Toys. The variety and quality of the arts that’s on display and for sale is great. Having performed at similar events in the past I was aware of the sort of thing to expect and walked in ready to play and have a great time.
Beyond just knowing the gig and enjoying the environment and settling upon a fee that seemed reasonable though, the chance to come to Oklahoma City meant a chance to enjoy some Good Old Southern US BBQ. Ever since my friend Geoff Cobb taught me the difference between ‘Grilling’ and ‘BBQing’ I’ve been hooked and the trip to Oklahoma meant a chance to experience some authentic smoked meats. I arrived here on Monday and found this place called the Rib Crib just down the street from the hotel. It was so good that I went back for all you can eat ribs on Tuesday… Not sure how many more times I’ll get there but I think there may be a bit more BBQ worth enjoying before my time in Oklahoma City is over.
BBQ is what did it for me on this particular trip. A visit to the Suntory Whisky Distillery near Osaka back in September of 2008 was the cherry on top of an already great experience in Japan. The chance to do a bit of Christmas shopping in Shanghai was the icing on the cake for my trip to the Nanjing Clown Carnival, Picking up vanilla in Mexico has been the extra motivation for taking some of the cruise gigs I’ve done over the years.
It doesn’t really matter what your reasons are for wanting to visit a certain place, but the fact that this line of work not only provides you with a source of income, but also allows you to visit some incredible places in the world and seek out the things that really appeal to you as an individual means that this is quite possibly the greatest job EVER! That or it’s gotta be right up there anyway…
Always wanted to visit Australia? I did, so I looked up a bunch of Festivals around the country and then hopped from one to the next just passing my hat for tips for three months and quite successfully managed to pay for the trip and have some amazing adventures along the way too.
What ever the motivation, where ever the destination, enjoy the adventure!
