"Hello, everyone. I want to play a show at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, and I've done everything I could think of in the past two and a half years, but they still will not reply. So I'm offering $50 to anyone who will let me open for them."

That is the beginning of the unusual Craigslist ad posted by musician Tim Blonde in early July. Blonde moved to Seattle from tiny Indianola in Kitsap County, despite having what he said was a perfect life there and no connections in Seattle, in part to play at the Tractor Tavern on Ballard Avenue.

"I thought, 'As happy as I am now, I need to go to Seattle, not to see if I have what it takes, but to meet more people and do more," Blonde said.

Unfortunately for Blonde, a young-looking 33-year-old who glances around a lot and talks even more, things didn't go completely as planned. After more than two years in Seattle, he has played only a handful of shows, the most recent was more than a year ago, and has yet to feel accepted by the music community he came to Seattle for.

During his time as a musician in Kitsap County, the name of one of Ballard's most famous music venues was constantly being thrown Blonde's way.

"Everyone was saying, 'You should play the Tractor,'" Blonde said. "I've been hearing that for eight years."

It makes sense then that on his first day in Seattle Blonde would find himself at the Tractor. He gave someone at the venue a CD and told them he wanted to play there, only to find out that personal visits from musicians looking to get booked are frowned upon and that he should e-mail the Tractor's booker instead.

So Blonde sent e-mails. He said he sent more than a dozen of them. The first e-mails were honest he said, letting the booker know that he had just moved to Seattle, didn't know anyone and could probably only draw a few people to the club.

After the first e-mails failed to garner a response, Blonde said the next messages got stronger, and maybe a bit bitter, in tone. He also said he began to stretch the truth in the e-mails. He started claiming he could draw 30 to 40 people to a show.

Blonde said this strategy paid off in part and got him booked at the Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard and the old Crocodile Caf/ in Belltown.

After his show at Conor Byrne last year, the booker there told him he liked the music and Blonde should definitely try to play a show at the Tractor Tavern.

Greg Garcia, who had previously booked Blonde for shows at Nectar and the High Dive in Fremont, has been in charge of booking at the Tractor since February. He said he has not received any e-mails from Blonde during that time.

Garcia said the Tractor's previous booker may not have booked Blonde because he didn't like the music or didn't find it right for the venue. Blonde's lack of a draw was most likely also a problem.

Venues like the Tractor make money from the people musicians draw into the club, there are no built-in regulars, Garcia said. The Tractor therefore has a disincentive to book local solo musicians because they do not bring in as many customers as national acts or full bands where each musician in the band can draw people in.

"We don't book a ton of local solo artists because it's hard from them to get as many people in," Garcia said. "And, there's a lot more competition in Seattle. There are a ton of solo singer-songwriters all over Seattle."

Blonde said the inspiration for his Craigslist ad hit him when he was contemplating renting himself a venue for a night so he could play a show.

"I can't get a show at the Tractor; all I can do is rent places," Blonde said. "Why not just rent the Tractor?"

By offering bands money to let him open for them when they play at the Tractor, Blonde said there would be a built in audience, unlike if he rented his own venue, and he wouldn't have to worry about renting his own sound and light systems.

Garcia said he found out about Blonde's ad when one of his coworkers e-mailed it to him while he was away on vacation.

"I thought it was interesting that someone would go to that length to get a show here," he said. "It's funny."

Garcia and Blonde have since exchanged e-mails, but no offers for a gig have come from them due, according to the e-mails, to Blonde's low draw for the venue.

So far, Blonde said his ad has not gotten any responses from band's willing to let him open up for them, but, though he's worried the ad is taking the emphasis away from his music, he's not done trying.

"I'm going to keep putting it up until I get a show," he said.

Michael Harthorne may be reached via bnteditor@robinsonnews.com