Giddyup!
Last night we played at Lillian´s in Gainesville (TomPettyville). It´s been a long time since I´ve played there and it was good to revisit the old stomping grounds. Back to Jacksonville tonight for a gig at the Jacksonville Landing, a celebration of the 20 year Anniversary of Mark McCumber’s golf victory at the Players Championship.
The touring musician, like many other livelihoods, is feeling the sting of rising gas prices. There is talk of an 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax cut. And although one might appreciate a momentary price relief of a gas tax holiday, one has to ask, where would this additional supply come from? It would probably come from increased imports, which could be diverted to the U.S. if we offered a higher price, though that, of course, would mean that much of the intended benefits of the gas tax holiday would in fact go to foreign suppliers…..a pointless and ineffective response to the situation. I recently read of a man from Minot, North Dakota who, because of rising gas prices, got out of bed early and rode his 14-year-old quarterhorse mare to work fifteen miles away at the Goodyear Tire and Auto Service. He said he was only five minutes late! I guess he and his coworkers had been talking about rising fuel prices, and he joked that he would ride his horse to work if gasoline ever hit $3 a gallon. When it hit $3.20 last week, he picked up the reins! Although I appreciate this man´s determination and creativity, I don´t think that solution would work for the band. We will have to get creative, though, in order to continue to do what we do…..
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