Zep, if you find out how much he made in tips from that show I'd be interested just to see if my guess was accurate - and if he feels it's profitable enough to do again.
I have no idea how much he made. People on LatR are guessing between $1,000 - $2,000, but there's really know way to tell. A few hours before the chat, Casey dropped into our chatroom and somebody asked him how much he makes from these things (which, imo, was a pretty inappropriate question), but he just responded by saying something like "I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or get into the sob story of what I make, so lets not even go there". More generally speaking though, I don't think the band really makes him all that much money.
I'm trying to check out The Dear Hunter and was recommended The Color Spectrum by a friend. Am I being led in the right direction as a starting point or is my friend insane?
I personally would start with Act II. TCS is great, but it's kind of a lot to take at once, and it's so crazy diverse that it's tough to get a sense of their real signature sound. If you do want to start with TCS though, I would say the Violet EP is by far the closest to what they normally sound like.