March 22, 2008 - Today did not go as planned. It was a rainy day, so I stayed inside until it was time to leave for my gig. I was told to show up at 3 PM for a sound check, and that we would be done playing by 7 PM. I got there on time, but our sound check didn't start until about 5 PM. We played around 9:50 PM. I didn't get home until around midnight. I don't mind playing late, I don't mind showing up early for a sound check, but I do not like it when we are not given the right information. Especially when the gig is being put on by a promoter that should have everything scheduled well in advance. Ok, the rain was a factor that created some uncertainty about how the day would play out, but we should have at least have known ahead of time that we wouldn't be playing until after 8 at the least. That was a known that was never shared. When I've got dogs at home that I plan on feeding after the gig, assumming I'll be home by 8, and then I don't get home til midnite, that makes it difficult on my dogs. Not only that, but I have people I need to let know what time we are playing so that they can show up. If I tell someone to be there at 6 and we don't start til 9:50, they're not going to be very happy about it. Two good things did come out of today, though. I went to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner. This is a pizza place Ellie and I found in Charlottesville, VA. I didn't realize it is a chain, so once I heard that there was one in Tampa, I jumped on the chance to eat there. The other good thing was that despite all the setbacks on the gig, we ended up playing for over 500 people and they seemed to enjoy our music. That could mean good things for future gigs. Continuing my Presidential Issues series, todays topic is agriculture. This ties into several other issues, such as international trade, energy policies, and taxes. As much as I don't like paying taxes, I think it makes sense to subsidize food production to ensure that we produce at surplus levels that keep prices low, and to ensure that in years of natural disasters, farms don't go out of business and cause famine. We also need government regulation and oversight to ensure that the land that is allocated towards farming stays that way, and that the land is being taken care of properly to ensure that it will continue to reap crops for years to come. Regulating the way that farmers get their crops is important as we see dwindling supplies of fresh water and increasing amounts of nitrogen fertilizers appearing in our drinking water. Allowing farmers to compete without government influence has too much opportunity for prices to go up on items that so many people with limited incomes rely on. It's a shame that we don't have the same control over the oil market, considering the amount of price increase we've seen over the past few years. I'm scratching my head wondering why I am so willing to allow government involvement on something that should work on its own without any intervention or subsidy, but I just see too many opportunities for farms to consolidate and become monopolies, and then drive prices through the roof, or for a severe flood or drought to damage crops and allow the limited supply to grossly raise prices. I don't think it would affect me as much as it would affect the people with less money than me. I don't mind seeing huge increases in the cost of tobacco or televisions or cell phone plans, things that people can live without, but when it comes to food, we need to protect the interests of every American, rather than allowing those with large amounts of money to eat while the poor starve to death.