PERFORMANCE LOG: SIX MONTHS OF STATS

It's been well-established that I love statistics; it's that baseball fan in me that has to crunch numbers. Sometimes I think I should have gone through with my idea to pursue actuarial science back in college but that really has nothing to do with this. Hmm, not sure why I even mentioned it. Anyway, here's the breakdown on my performances so far this year. I played on 32 separate occasions. The songs I played are listed in order of creation; 6 date from last year (there is a 7th from last year but that was only ever played once and isn't likely to be again anytime soon) and the rest are from this year (I will include debut dates). So, how many times did I play each song?

Woke Up - 6
That's Okay - 10
Song For a Day - 3
Decoder Ring - 7
Tuesday - 1
Holding Pattern - 4
23 Across (debuted on Jan. 18) - 6
Dear Prospective Employer (debuted Jan. 25) - 18
The Only Thing (debuted on Mar. 27) - 5
A Phase (debuted on Mar. 29, my 36th birthday) - 4
Let's Get Married Tonight (debuted on Apr. 17) - 8
Until the Weather (debuted on Apr. 26) - 5
Gonna Write a Book (debuted on May 29) - 3
Could Have Been (debuted on June 14) - 4
In the Dark (debuted on June 26) - 2

I played 15 of my own songs a total of 86 times, from a high of 18 ("Dear Prospective Employer") to a low of 1 ("Tuesday," which I have decided to retire). I debuted 2 songs in January, March, April, and June, as well as 1 in May. February was a dead period for new stuff, I guess.

I also played a handful of cover songs...

Perfectly Good Guitar (John Hiatt) - twice
Our Love (Rhett Miller)
Heavy Metal Drummer (Wilco)
International Small Arms Traffic Blues (The Mountain Goats)
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) - twice
Stolen Car (Bruce Springsteen)
Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen)

...for a total of 9 more songs played. That puts the total played up to 95 on the year. However, I also played a number of times with Graham Smith on his songs...

The Sigh Begins - 3
Poor - 2
Give Yourself - 1
Liquor Sink - 2
Jews & Gypsies - 2
Wednesday - 1
My Little Zombie Girl - 1

...for a total of 12 more songs played. That puts the number of songs I played at 107 in six months, an average of 17.83 songs played each month. I performed an average of 5.33 times each month and I averaged 3.34 songs played each time I performed. I should also mention that Graham played on my songs 12 times sprinkled throughout that time and Tom Adamson played with me on one song.

I hadn't realized I'd played so much but it's cool to look at the last six months this way. I really feel like I've come into my own as a performer and that I'm starting to write some really good songs. I'm looking forward to much more the second half of the year.