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A Musician's Guide to the Road by Gary

ed saindon 2 April 2009

Hi Gary,

Do you know if the book that you wrote, "A Musician's Guide to the Road" is still available? It's an excellent book and valuable reading for vibists and musicians in general in learning how to deal with travelling and being on the road when touring. I have the book from many years ago. It's also fun reading since there are many interesting stories from your experiences being on the road all of these years.

I remember reading some very funny stories in there. One story was about you showing up for your gig and seeing a "heavy set" lady belting out a tune while sitting on your vibes. You didn't know what to do. You said in the book, which I thought was hilarious, "too bad the vibes held up her weight".

I know we had a post here somewhere on the site that Tony started about funny and interesting gig stories. I'm sure you have many of those stories from all of the tours that you have done through the years. It would be great to hear about some of them.

Thanks.

Ed

Comments

djohn Fri, 11/12/2010 - 05:47

Thanks Tony,

Couldn't resist and just ordered a copy too. Sounds fascinating.

Man this site is amazing. Being able to hear background stories and info like this is very valuable to me.

Thanks Gary for all your story-telling on here! Really appreciate it. Hoping to come to your concert in the Kaufleuten Zürich end of Nov and hang out with all the Zürich hipsters... ;-)

John

James Fri, 04/03/2009 - 19:52

Hi Ed,

I actually accidentally ran across this book at the Berklee library when I went through there the other day. The book just caught my eye and I picked it up and couldn't believe that I randomly picked up a book by Gary. Anyway... it is available there.

James

Gustavo (not verified) Fri, 04/03/2009 - 20:16

Yes, I also came across it a few years ago at Berklee's library and had a great time reading it. I remember looking for it at bookstores unsuccessfully, but internet might have made it available since then...

Gustavo

ed saindon Sat, 04/04/2009 - 08:03

Thanks guys for checking up on that and posting. I just checked the date in my book and it's from 1981. It's good to hear that there are copies that can be purchased. If anyone doesn't have a copy, I would definitely recommend it. There are other similar books by Dave Liebman and Hal Galper, but I think Gary's is better in terms of layout and information, not to mention some neat stories. Gary has the travelling thing down to a science and there are some valuable strategies in the book dealing with airlines, how to collect money after the gig and other things that come into play when touring. Also included at the end of the book is a sample contract and checklists which are great.

Ed
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Ed Saindon
http://www.edsaindon.com
Check out my cds: http://micelimusic.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=24_4

Gary Burton Sat, 04/04/2009 - 08:56

Hi Ed, I'm a little embarrassed about all the attention my touring book is getting. It was written thirty-some years ago, and looking through it now, not unlike listening to some of my earliest records, I keep cringing. I've learned to be a much better writer over the years and I've learned more about road travel, too. I only wrote it in the first place because I lost a bet.

After touring with bands for a decade or so, and going through a series of roadies, I started creating printed instructions on different aspects of touring. That way, I didn't have to start from scratch every time a new roadie came along. One day, my manager saw my little collection, about 30-some pages of instructions by that time, and told me I should turn it into a book. I jokingly said no one would be interested, but he made me a bet. If he could find a publisher, I would have to write the book. Within a few months, he had arranged for Billboard Magazine to publish it and I had to get serious about gathering enough material and find someone to help me with the editing. That was my big mistake. Instead of hiring a professional, I let a friend of my then-wife be the editor. Hence there are many parts that should have been worded better. Suffice it to say, if I were to do it over now, it would be a lot different. (I don't have any plans to write another travel guide.) Gary B.

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