goodbye.

27 was a big year for me. i bought a house, got laid off, got married and went to my 10 year high school reunion. i think that's a lot for a year and it was obviously a lot for my head. i had a bit of a breakdown and decided to quit booking and promoting after over 5 years of building my company up to what is had become. after over 200 shows and a few dozen tours, it was a good time to stop - all my bands either needed bigger agents (tristeza, cursive) or broke up (jazz june). my head cleared up and after a couple of years of not doing anything extracurricular, i felt i was missing something and after months of thinking about it, i flew to new york to see chris leo play and to kick off slip productions again. at the time i thought i wanted to make it bigger, possibly become the next flower booking, but i didn't know for sure. i was lucky in the sense that i didn't have to start over - i started off working with 2 bands of "members of" that could definitely carry their own. and they did and i was booking again. during the past few months though i realized more and more what booking had become in the scene i had been involved in. it's not DIY anymore, it's not people helping people out anymore. it's cutthroat, big agencies, and a lot of money. even the small no name bands are booked by william morris and kork. the agents don't even ask the bands what they want anymore. as determined of a person as i am, i became discouraged and unhappy. i was feeling the way i felt when i quit booking 3 years ago and my head was filling up again. a week of mini breakdowns and i had to slap myself in the face (not literally) so i would know that i am becoming that person i didn't like 3 years ago with everything suffering and crying everyday. i couldn't continue and i knew that the only thing i could do was to quit again and for good. i cried all day when i realized that was what i had to do in order to relinquish my sanity. finally saying goodbye to something i loved, took pride in and caused me to meet some of the most incredible people who are now my close friends. i'm taking a lot with me and not leaving much behind.

what it came down to was that i had to go back to something i loved to realize i was finished with it. i have to stop putting myself in the position of there being a chance i could let someone down. it's too hard on my heart and it's not something i deal with well. who knows - i may come back to music one day but for now i need to concentrate on myself. thanks for all the incredible memories and heartache that had made me who i am. thanks for the support and faith. thanks to appleseed cast that made me book their first tour which was also mine. thanks to tristeza who let me be a part of the phenomenon that they were. thanks to cursive who say i helped make them who they are because they helped make me who i am.

slip productions has had the honor of booking tours for cursive, tristeza, small brown bike, the faint, traindodge, jargon, mid carson july, garrison, the vehicle birth, the wicked farleys, the paper chase, employer employee, the shyness clinic, the jazz june, rhythm of black lines, sunday's best, egon, camera obscura, wires on fire, vague angels, the '89 cubs and appleseed cast.

slip productions has also had the honor of booking and promoting shows in austin, tx for leatherface, jimmy eat world, at the drive in, jejune, piebald, most secret method, paris, tx, pedro the lion, bright eyes, spoon, capitol city dusters, drowningman, the minor times, gameface, the lapse, ultimate fakebook, mineral, the promise ring, pop unknown, sarge, the get up kids, joshua, lynx, hot rod circuit, kind of like spitting, karate, the mercury program, engine down, milemarker, schatzi, wallside, elliot, thoughts of ionesco, franklin, strike anywhere, as friends rust, recover, the gloria record, the album leaf, sterling silver, the champagne kiss, world inferno friendship society, three penny opera, atombombpocketknife, keleton dmd, the casket lottery, six going on seven, november commission, cerberus shoal, and many many more.

love you - it's been fun.

please feel free to contact me at courtney@slipproductions.com