Paulette to Take Touring Break

Abe Perlstein took this photo of Stropoakland copyright 2015

Stropoakland had their first show ever on June 20, 2015, and out of nowhere, Paulette has decided to take a break of unspecified duration from touring because she just can't handle the intensity of the Rock and Roll Lifestyle for very long.

"I lost my car keys last night and had to stay up later than I wanted because I thought I'd find them after the pub cleared out.  We played at a pub, and my backpack has a hole in it because the zipper broke, and I thought my keys fell out somewhere onstage or near the stage or at the table I was sitting at to eat a huge burger with fries and a salad.  Admittedly, I drank a beer so I obviously wasn't in any frame of mind to go looking for car keys, and it was so loud in the bar that if the keys made any kind of sound, I couldn't hear them at all, even if they were screaming.  How can you find a needle in a haystack if the hay is on fire.  You have to wait for the fire to go out."

" And the pressure of performing is intense.  There's a whole group of people there, sitting, talking to their friends, drinking beer and wine, playing darts, kind of paying attention to you.  And as a band, we get paid about $50.00, and with that kind of money on the table, it just adds to the pressure.  It's a high stakes game of entertain or these people are gonna want their $50.00 back even though we're spending about 3 hours each, a total of 9 hours as a band, with 3 more hours worked by the lighting crew, making 12 hours of work for $50.00, so if you look at it on an hourly basis, we're making just shy of $5.00 per hour each.  It's no wonder people get mad when they talk about entertainer's salaries compared to those of teachers and professional athletes.  But people don't realize the sacrifices we make to earn this money."

Her bandmates roll their eyes when asked about Paulette's break announcement.  Said one of them anonymously, "?"