I’m at Houston Hobby Airport waiting for my flight back to Burbank after a quick one day trip to play a show at Lone Star College in Conroe, TX.
I landed at 1130pm CST, drove a rental car to Spring, TX to stay at the sketchiest motel possible - Extended Stay America. You pay for what you get I suppose and this $40 room didn’t buck that trend. There was a sign on the lobby (I use that word loosely, more like… “room w/ phone”) door that said after-hours check-ins had to call a number to get the worker… the ONE worker… to come assist. Of course, my Hotels.com-booked room wasn’t in the computer, a mid-90’s model Gateway attached to a dot matrix printer, but after some confusion, I was able to check into a smelly double bed room. Number 331: right next door to a lovely older couple… who were drunk and fighting… on the balcony.
The internet connection wasn’t working so I called the “lobby” to ask for the network name, which the receptionist/housekeeper/bellhop spelled out for me off of an information card and insisted was “W… I… F…. I….”. It wasn’t.
I wasn’t able to fall sleep until 6am and woke up to my iPhone “sonar” alarm at 9am to get ready for my 11:30am set at the Building A Commons that was sure to alter my career.
Actually, I’m being a jerk… the school was SUPER nice and SUPER accommodating and I really appreciate their having me perform. These college shows, booked through an organization called NACA, are great for touring entertainers - it puts guaranteed money in your pocket, puts you in front of a captive audience and helps route you to parts of the country you wouldn’t otherwise be able to hit. The shows, however, can be hit or miss and this one was one of the better ones for sure. BUT, I did get a funny story out of it…
11:30am isn’t the most “rockin’” time for a concert but I tried to assure the commons area crowd we were going to “rave like it’s 11:30pm” - and then proceeded to play my rave-unfriendly downer piano music. The students sipped complimentary Seattle’s Best coffee, studied and socialized while I insisted from the small wooden stage that this COULD very well be the “Start of Something”. There weren’t a lot of students, but they were attentive and clapped politely after each song. Towards the end of the set, a group of about 15-20 students walked in and stood in the back listening intently. In my mind, I told myself I was “on it” and closed with my “A material” (Actually, I don’t have “A material”. I have B- material at best… but go with me.). As soon as I was done, the group of new fans rushed to the stage. I stood up from my chair and introduced myself, making sure to turn on the charm. I said to the students “Hey! I’m Scott… Thanks SOOO much for listening.”. One of them said, “Hi.” while the rest of the group started tearing down the speakers and wrapping cables. Apparently, they were the campus Audio/Visual class there to assist the sound guy.
I packed up, thanked the programming office and headed back to the airport.
