Caught In The Middle

Caught In The Middle                                    1639

Wednesday, September 7, 2005-3:26 P.M.

Good afternoon from sunny Rochester, NY, where it's 80 degrees today, and excellent weather for drying clothing on the line.  I'm taking advantage of the nice weather to do some laundry today, and while Pamela is out running errands, playing on the floor with my baby daughter, Harmony.  Today, I decided that we would work on stacking blocks, and see how much hand/eye coordination the infant has developed, and the answer is not as much as I thought.  Because I'm never home, I sometimes don't have a grasp on what Harmony can and can't do, but I did find out that rather than stack blocks, she'd rather pound them together while I sing "Old MacDonald."  Maybe she's a percussionist instead of an engineer.  That's o.k., there's room enough in this world for both.  For lunch, we had cheese ravioli, and then when she had enough of that, we had honey-mustard pretzels for a snack.  It wasn't my idea; she grabbed the bag and handed it to me, which is toddler for "Gimme some pretzels, be-yotch!"

Business-wise, I've thrown my hat into the ring to participate in a Hurricane Katrina survivors benefit at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis.  I called the club this afternoon and offered my services, and if they accept, I'll be performing there on September 28th.  This is my only day off that whole week, but I'd rather do something worthwhile than sit in a hotel room watching TV.  Also, it'll be a nice opportunity to introduce myself and showcase, and perhaps be able to add the club to my schedule next year.

I've started booking 2006, and it's slow going for the moment, and it looks as though I got myself caught in the crossfire again between two booking agencies.  Seems that I turned a gig down in a particular market from booker "A" because I already worked for booker "B" in that market.  It's a loyalty thing that people in our business have different opinions about, but I feel that if you work in a town for the first guy, you should only work for the second guy if the first guy's room goes out of business or specifically says that they're not interested in having you back.  So I passed on booker "A's" offer, and now they're all over my ass, saying I'm booker "B's" puppet, and I have no backbone, etc.  Truth be told, it sounds like a lot of griping because other comics are doing the same thing, and they don't like it.   Unfortunately, there are a lot of sketchy characters in the comedy business when it comes to stuff like this, and I have learned to steer clear whenever possible.

Fortunately, even though the specifics of the future are uncertain, I can always count on things to happen when I need them and not when I want them.  I have a wonderful family and I'll do whatever is necessary to provide for them, regardless of how many booking agencies I have to lose because I don't agree with their business practices.  I believe that there's more than enough work to go around for good comics, and I'm a good comic.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY