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Trying To Get To You - Two Years Later (#376)
If you'll remember back about two years ago, I offered a brief explanation of what it costs a group to appear in your hometown. Diesel fuel costs were escalating and had just broken through the $2 barrier, settling between $2.17 and $2.25.
Fast forward to November 2007, where diesel fuel is now retailing for about $3.22.
For this example, I'm going to use the parameter of an average of 7 miles per gallon, and I'm going to select the tour schedules of this past weekend of two artists who settled in for some long drives.
Ivan Parker lives near Mt. Juliet, Tenn., so that will be our starting point. His first date was in Lawton, OK., a distance of 777 miles. From there, he traveled 453 miles to Quitman, Louisiana. Next on the calendar was Newton, Miss., a 226-mile drive. Already, Ivan has covered 1456 miles - but that doesn't include the 378 miles back to the house. So, when you do the math, you realize that Ivan has gone through a minimum of 1834 miles of diesel - and that doesn't include fuel for the generator, nor any mileage incurred while driving through the city to the venue, etc.
For ease, though, let's just work with the 1834 figure. Based on 7 mpg, Ivan went through 262 gallons of fuel. At $3.22 per gallon, that's $843.64 for just one weekend. And, if that worked out to be close to an average weekend's mileage, that means Ivan will write a check to the gas companies for at least $3,376.00 this month. Ouch.
Many artists will tell you about a time not too long ago when $843.64 would EXCEED their monthly fuel expenses. Another ouch.
The Perrys left Gallatin, Tenn., this past Wednesday night and traveled south to Palatka, Fla., for their first date of the weekend. That's 637 miles. From there, they went to Marietta, Ga., (399 miles) and then to Mountain Grove, Mo., (651 miles). Adding in the mileage back to Gallatin (434), your total is 2121 miles - or 303 gallons of liquid gold valued at $975.66.
By no means am I forgetting the costs the fans have attending concerts, especially when they frequent out-of-town events. Gasoline, hotels, meals, etc., are taking a huge bite from the wallet. It's an ugly cycle for everyone.
But somehow, with God's grace, Southern Gospel survives. Sure, there may be an empty seat here and there, but people keep promoting events, and artists and fans keep showing up. Some business models may suggest that our industry should have fallen apart years ago.
But we're still here. If we're all honest with ourselves, we'll realize that Someone truly has His Hand upon us.
Posted by Danny Jones at 4:53 PM - Send Comments
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