College. Are they still the best years of your life?

The end of the road is upon us!

I'd like to discuss NACA in this blog and selling out or in the words of my agent this past weekend, "Playing the game."

If you're not familiar with NACA or APCA allow me to give a brief summary of their purpose. NACA stands for The National Association of Campus Activities and APCA is the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities. They are conferences held around the country where performers such as myself, as well as other vendors vie for bookings from college representatives. The two work a little different. In order to work NACA you must be selected and pay a submission fee. In order to work APCA you have to pay a submission fee but provided you book your spot early enough you can most likely obtain a spot to showcase.

I have never worked APCA but over the last 6 months or so I have showcased at several NACAs and that is kind of what I wanted to focus on. I showcased at NACA South, Central, Mid-America and Northern Plains. I don't know that everyone submits the same way but in my case I work with an agency in Burbank called H2F Productions. I have a 3min. video on a website called Sonicbids. A selection commitee for each region views the video and decides if I am worthy of a spot.

Many people feel it is an honor or a big deal to get a spot and I agree. They get thousands of submissions and I feel fortunate. However, after doing a few of them this year I want to talk about the experience and what I learned from it.

NACA Northern Plains took place last weekend in St. Paul, MN. I had a 15min showcase spot on Saturday afternoon. I followed a poet and a band of sorts known as Plastic Music. They basically do a percussion based performance where they bang plastic pipes against plastic tubes, tubs and kiddie pools. I don't think I have to tell you but obviously, they crushed it.

I was announced and I opened with about 5minutes of material on my USO trips. The audience seemed to enjoy everything and I moved from there into some discussion about drugs, drinking and ultimately sex. After my set I had a discussion with my agent where she voiced her concern that she thought I was a little too filthy and that some of my jokes covered topics that would likely reduce my bookings.

I asked what the problem was with discussing drinking, drugs and sex with college students and she explained that once you get the booking you are usually free to do whatever you want but when you're here you're in a marketplace where students are being shadowed by an advisor who in most cases would be hesitant to book any controversial act. She explained that you have to "play the game" to get booked.

And I guess thats where my issue arises. I used to work in production. On a daily basis I was instructed by censors, new directors and producers to do what I will refer to as, "writing for ratings." It made me sick and I quickly lost my passion for television production.

Now here I am, a comedian, working my ass off on the road to make ends meet and in front of a college crowd I am told to censor myself.

I think it's sad. Really I do. The interesting part is that out of all the regions I did this year, this was the one where I did the best. I didn't do great by any stretch of the imagination but I did improve.

Two other points I'd like to make, number one, I was happy with the set.

Number two, why should I care what a crowd of college kids thinks when their biggest applause breaks were reserved for musicians who did Disney covers?

I was really shocked by the response some artists were getting while other artists were denied even a spot in the show. I imagine the artists know this little fact that the kids want to relate and especially for musicians the best way to relate is to play covers. But if you're playing covers, then you're not being you and if you're not being you I think it becomes debatable if what you're doing can be called art. I guess it's art in the way art class in grade school sometimes involved drawing a turkey by tracing your hand. It's a classic, I can dig it, but it's not original.

Which brings up the next point. Why are college kids today devouring things that aren't original?

Let me stop here. I suppose you could say that in general college kids aren't doing that. That the reps from each school and their advisors are responsible but that most college kids are open to broader ideas. But I don't know. Being there and watching what these kids were responding to made me sad.

Also, being born with a great voice can not be categorized or filed under talent. I think thats more of a gift.

Now look, I love Disney tunes. I love cover songs as well.

Also, my agent said I called the students "kids" too much and it is kind of degrading. Well look if you're clapping your ass off for a guy that plays Disney covers and then you look dumbfounded when I do a joke about sex then guess what, you're not even a kid, you're a fucking child.

Btw, the dude who did the Disney stuff was actually very kind. He played well and I'm sure he has some great original stuff but unfortunately when given the opportunity to stretch his legs a little after warming the kids up with "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid he decided to burn my ear drums with an original entitled, "Taylor Swift." I shit you not. And the crowd LOOOOOOVED IT!!!

The theme of the conference was PEACE LOVE NACA and they reacted with the same indifference to drug jokes. Thousands of kids dressed up like little hippies acting like either they didn't agree with jokes about drugs or they were just too terrified to stand up and say yeah we've tried them and we do or do not like them.

I guess thats my thing ya know. Just take a stand. Have an opinion. For the most part they seemed like sheep and in this day and age which is just as important, if not more so, as the volitale days of the late 60s and early 70s, I think we need artists who are stretching the boundaries of contemporary thought and in turn audiences who appreciate a unique voice.

What we don't need are the bands influencing our college kids playing bad cover tunes. We don't need the future of our country to be soaked in the sound of Journey.

But at NACA you've got to play the game if you want to make the money.

I've decided that next time I'm just going to cover a whole set by Dane Cook. I'll let you know how it goes.