Just finished 8 hours of commuting for a 50 minute show, which gave me plenty of time to dwell on commute/show time ratios.  It\'s pretty insane how far we go sometimes to see the band play for a few minutes.  To calculate, break everything down into minutes, then divide the total travel time (to and from) by the playing time.  For example, tonight would be 480/50 which is 9.6.  (480 minutes is 8 hours.)  So that\'s 9.6 times more traveling than show-watching.  Ouch.  Here are my personal bests and worsts that I can recall:

Worsts:
7/23/2 Boulevard Cafe; Chicago, IL
56 hour drive from Eugene, OR, for 2 hours of show

Ratio:  3360/120 =  28.  DOOZIE!  If anyone out there can beat a 28 for a show they made on time, I extend my congratulations and pity.  

Camp Creek \'04
450/45 = 10

Tonight:
480/50 = 9.6

Then of course there are the shows you go to and completely miss.  These shows will have a 0 in the denominator, and therefore are infinitely bad.  One time this happened to 3 carloads of us from UMass.  We drove 4 total hours to and from Keene, NH when the show got canceled at the last minute.  240/0 = Unlucky  Another example would be when I commuted 4.5 hours for a show that was actually taking place on the following Friday.  270/0 = Moron

Best ratios:  All things UMass:

11/19/99 (my first show)
30 second walking commute from Baker to Butterfield for about 4 hours of show
.5/ 240 =.00208  or about 480 times more playing than commuting.

Other Butterfield shows (3 hours)
.5/180 = .0028

Pearl Street/Iron Horse shows from UMass:
30/180 = .167 6 times more show than commute.

And of course, if you can hear and see a show from your bedroom, then you have a 0 in the numerator for an infinitely good situation.  This was a reality for a lucky few of us:

5/5/1 Baker Quad: 0/135 = Best show ever.  These absurdly low ratios have a lot to do with the UMass bliss factor!

Looking forward to another killer ratio at FF6:
Wolfman the Statman

Since I experienced lots of PB on their original stomping grounds at UMass during my 4 years there, I had the same priviledge of seeing them across the street at Butterfield numerous times, twice outside my window when Wolfman and I were living in Baker when they played in front of our building, once right on campus at the now defunct Skybox (only 10 of us there), half dozen times 15 minutes down the street at Fire + Water Cafe, dozen Pearl Street/Iron Horse shows 15 minutes away, one show in a kid\'s backyard in Amherst that lasted 3 songs (bad ratio even though the drive was 10 minutes).

I also did the drive to the show in Keene, NH which ended up getting cancelled so drive time/0 = infinity for me too.  I think that was the only show I got turned away at.

Many of my shows have been low ratio because the band plays lots of shows in New England.  I think the majority of my shows have ratios greater than 1.  I did go to quite a few shows in Hartford, New Haven, Worcester, Providence, Callahans etc. but there were almost always two sets to balance out the drive.  Lowest ratio was probably a road trip to upstate, NY to see PB on a Tuesday night a 3 or 4 years ago.  That was a show where the two cars that shows up from UMass told the band what to play because no one was at the bar.

Statistical intricacies pondered while sleeping:

-For length of show, do not count setbreak but do count any time in between the last set and the encore.  Essentially, the show is as long as the CD\'s of that show are.

-When on tour, use the commute time to the current show plus the commute time to the next show to calculate each individual show.  For a ratio for the entire tour, compute total commuting time over total  playing time.  For that Chicago show, if I throw in the 4 hours it took to go from there to Wisconsin Dells (the next show), the ratio goes from 28 to 30.  

-Marcial and KindM\'s are gonna have some pretty gnarly results for their Cafe 9 trips.  For multiple show runs at the same venue, factor in total minutes played in all shows.  Also, factor in any commuting time in bewtween shows.  Here\'s an example, using estimates from Marcial\'s Cafe 9 run:

45 minutes to and from each of 2 airports (180) + 90 minutes waiting in each airport (180) + 2 3-hour flights (360) + 2 10-minute rides to and from Cafe Nine ech night (40) = 760

Divide by 5.5 hours of total playing between both shows:

760/330 = 2.3  Hmmm...that\'s not half as bad as I thought it would be.  Of course, any connecting flights or delays are gonna make it worse in a hurry.  But as it stands, the numbers say that it seems to be much better to fly out for 2 solid nights than to drive all night for an opener.  I think just about anyone would agree with that.  The numbers never lie!

Camp Creek \'04?

Originally posted by dogpatch
Camp Creek \'04?

You know, the show in July (I think) in Red Hook or Mariahville or whereverthehell it is, where Camp Creek was in 2001.  The one where they had the late-night set but were only given 45 minutes to play.  I think it was Camp Creek this year.  I\'d confirm the date and place and fest name but there\'s no $&%^ing setlist archive for now.

Archive-Man to the rescue!  Man, I\'m having a loopy night!  Must be the Octoberfest.  Thanks Archive-Man.