Somebody asked us that the other day. It was while we were updating the George Benson schedule, right around the same time we were plugging in dates for Fuzztones as well as for the schedule for that that Bright Eyes / The Faint co-headline tour. And we have to admit, the question kind of caught us off guard, if only because we were so immersed in the wonderful routings for Rob Thomas, Motorhead and Motley Crue at the time, that we never gave a moment’s thought as to what we really, really like about working for Pollstar.com.

Of course, the answer to a question like that might seem obvious. After all, not every job lets you read tour itineraries, such as the calendars for Ray Davies, Oasis and Michael Bolton. Sure, surgeons might save a few lives with all their cutting and stitching, but do they allow doctors to read the schedule for Queen + Paul Rodgers while patching a hernia or dismembering a member? Needless to say, working for Pollstar.com has it all over the medical profession, even if they do get free rubber gloves and tongue depressors.

But reading tour schedules, like the listings for R.E.M., Michael McDonald and The Mars Volta is only the icing on the cake when you work with the largest, third-party concert database in the solar system. It’s just one of many perks, like being able to sort the dates for Patty Griffin in chronological order, or selecting the typeface to be used for displaying the Papa Roach tour, for we have more tour schedules than you could shake a stick at, including schedules for M. Ward, Lisa Marie Presley and Keith Urban. And, as you can probably guess, all those schedules need typefaces, need sorting and need tender loving care. What’s not to love about this job?

Yes, we love tour schedules. We love the sound our nimble fingers make as we tap, tap, tap out the timetables for Lenny Kravitz, Jack Johnson and Femi Kuti, and we love the smell of our hard drives grinding away as we delete the occasional postponement for Elton John or Nelly. In fact, we love everything there is to this gig, including the phone calls from agents representing Kenny G and Judy Collins, promoters announcing new Donny Osmond dates and record company execs trying to find Axl Rose. So, when someone asks us to describe what we love most about this job, we don’t know whether to tell them about Green Day, Duran Duran or The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Because all those schedules have stories to tell, and we just love hearing them day in and day out, 24/7, 52/365.

But, to be honest, if we had to put our well-worn fingers on it, there is one thing we love most about this job. And, no, it’s not hanging out with The Allman Brothers Band whenever they stop by to hand us a new routing, nor is it lunching with Cher whenever she stops by to give us the latest Hollywood gossip. Sure, those are great perks, but they don’t hold a candle to what we really, really love about our job at Pollstar.com. For, you see, there is one part of our job that just overwhelms us with profession pride and personal satisfaction as we process schedules for Coldplay, The Beach Boys and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and if you look closely enough at the postings for U2, Tori Amos and Moby, you just might catch a clue as to what we’re talking about.

That’s right. We just love creating links to tour itineraries. Gosh, is this a great job or what?