GroovyGreen.com – Start Today :: Save Tomorrow

From CNN:

For months, the 23-year-old singer-guitarist had been budgeting money and booking show dates for Something Fierce’s third tour, but skyrocketing gas prices have put the brakes on those plans.

“Once I ran the numbers, it was a ‘there’s no (expletive) way’ kind of moment,” Garcia said. After much hand-wringing and grumbling from bookers who’d scheduled the band to play, Garcia canceled the tour.

Cramming into a rusty, creaky van and playing dive bars and house parties is a summer ritual for many young musicians and ambitious independent bands trying to get exposure, make a living and maybe build a solid future in music.

But like everything else that requires lengthy time on the road, filling up at $4 a gallon or more is taking a toll.

On the grass-roots level, cost has always been a concern for touring bands. But the nearly $2,500 in gas Garcia and his two bandmates would have had to pay just to make it to Vancouver, Canada, and back was too much to overcome.

Yeah, yeah, I know there’s youtube and myspace and iTunes and all of that good stuff now, but that doesn’t compare to seeing a band live.  How will young upstarts make a name for themselves?

Some of my most fond memories in college were at a dive music bar called Broadway Joe’s in Buffalo, NY.  Bands came in from all over the East Coast, and all over the country for that matter.  The band moe. who has made quite a name for themselves in the jamband scene, used to open up for bands there.  A sample setlist:

10/30/92 Broadway Joe’s – Buffalo, NY

Opening for Sonic Garden

That Country Tune, Spine Of A Dog, Timmy Tucker, Dr. Graffenburg > Havah Negilah, Long Island Girls Rule > Sensory Deprivation Bank > Y.O.Y.

Apparently the band was wearing space helmets throughout this entire gig.

Yes, there are more pressing issues, like continuing to feed the world…  But sometimes you realize something else that your kids are going to miss out on (like touring independent bands) and it makes you real sad.