Sunday June 28th, 2009 - Dubuque, IA/Lake Villa, IL

   I really enjoyed my experience in Dubuque. I’ve worked there before but not in a casino situation and this one was top notch all the way. There’s a Hilton Garden Inn right next to the casino and I thought it was especially well run in all areas. It was spotlessly clean with friendly staff people all around and the breakfast set up was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

   Things like that make a huge difference to someone like me who has spent a lifetime on the road. Great service stands out and I was really impressed with both the hotel and show arrangements and I hope this gig lasts a while. They haven’t been doing comedy that long and I’ve seen sweet gigs like this get ruined in a short time by comics who can’t behave.

   It’s amazing how often I’ve seen that happen over the years. A gig starts up and the first time through it’s paradise. The staff is happy to have comedy and they go out of their way to try and please the comics. The accommodations are spectacular and they have free food and an open bar and the waitresses are sexy and friendly and everything feels like Vegas.

   Then like locusts comics come through and abuse everything and the next time through it’s a completely different story. The hotel situation is usually changed and we’re now at a flea bag down the road with a numeral in the title. NO free drinks of any kind because the second week in a pair of flaming alkies came in and sucked up all the expensive hooch.

   NO meals anymore either because they ordered the steak and lobster for themselves and didn’t even eat it all and they also tried to scam free meals for their wives, girlfriends, six kids and a table of cousins who live in town that they invited to the show - also for free.

   The waitresses have been hit on so much they won’t even look in our direction if we are having a fatal seizure and the bar staff is fed up because they keep getting asked to be like personal valets to cater to every comic’s whim and then the comics don’t even tip them.

   I wish I was exaggerating but I’ve seen many a sweet gig devolve into a nightmare in a short period of time. I hope this one doesn’t because it’s close to Chicago and it’s always  nice to have decent work close to home. The days of driving to Phoenix are over, at least for me. I’ll either fly or not go. I don’t need the experience anymore, I need the money.

   That was my focus on my drive back home this morning. The weather was perfect and I was in a thinking mood. I left my radio off as I let my brain spin like a blender on ‘puree‘. It’s a beautiful drive on US Highway 20 and I allowed myself to enjoy every mile of it as I wrote down any and all ideas that rolled around in my head. That speeds up the drive.

   I stopped at Jerry Agar’s house for a while because it was right on my way and we ran a few more ideas by each other. He and I both thought we’d be cruising along on a big time radio career and we should be but we’re not. He needs to find a full time job because he’s got a family to feed. I’m in it for fun at this point. I had a lot of that in Kenosha tonight on the Mothership Connection on WLIP. I could use a few more fun weeks like this in a row.