Mobile.......help
Stuck in Mobile Alabama for 14 hours while your bus driver sleeps is not my idea of a day off. Sure we are in hotel and we get to have a day off.
This usually means spending money on things you don't really need. I don't care much for malls but when there isn't much else to do that is where you end up.
I did buy some DVD's today. Volume 4 of Family Guy which I will add to my collection. I also purchased a couple of older movies that I did not have. Amazing how fast you can spend $50.
Off to Orlando at 1am for the show at House Of Blues tomorrow. This will be shot for a web broadcast which I still have no idea when it will air.
Another day of stressed out people.
I'm out.
Labels: Five For Fighting, Touring
You aren't as good as you think
Just because a venue is nice in appearance doesn't mean that it is the greatest venue in the country. Salt Lake City may have a nice new venue but the majority of the crew there are lazy and arrogant. Nothing against the fans. It's unfortunate that this is the only venue of this size in town for them to attend shows.
SLC could take a few lessons from the Voodoo Lounge in Kansas City. Nice venue, good gear and the all important professional and friendly house crew. That is the way to run a concert venue.
As you can see I am on a rant about the last few shows and the venue's we played.
Dallas.....oh Dallas...the fans were great. A sold out show in perhaps one of the worst run venue's I have ever been seen in my 20 plus years in the business. First off gear that doesn't work and gear that wasn't there that was advanced for. There were certain people who need to learn how to handle and run a show. You know who you are.
Ok I had to get that off my chest.
Tomorrow...well actually later today since it is so early in the morning, we will be in Austin. Dam I need to go to bed.
OK I will try to post more on Monday on our day off.
Snow in Wyoming.......yep...that's what that is.
One week into the tour.
Where am I? I find myself in Wyoming at a hotel. There is no show here we are just passing through on our way to Kansas City. The next show isn’t until Thursday. We are coming in from Mormon country, aka Salt Lake City.
The tour is going well for the most part. The crew is exhausted however. Our days are long especially since we are all doing double duty or in my case triple. I actually sat down today to eat a real lunch.
We have done a couple of good venues and a few bad ones so far. The best venue so far is the Wiltern in Los Angeles, which of course is John’s hometown. The local crew there is also one of the best in the country.
I wish I had some pictures to post but I have only taken a few and none of the show so far. I’m not going to get into details about the last week, mainly because it is a bit of a blur.
We have three shows in a row coming up which include two in Texas. Next Monday we will be in Orlando at the House of Blues. If you are attending dress nicely since the show is being video taped. Five-camera shoot, which will be broadcast on a later date, on the Internet, I believe. Not sure when or what site.
We also found out the show in Louisville will be opening for Collective Soul. I have done shows with them in the past and they are a good band. The problem is a very small stage. SO I have decided not to use the lighting we are carrying and will just use what is provided.
There is also going to be a TV appearance on FOX in NYC, the morning of the Philadelphia show. Really looking forward to that, NOT! Up way too early and on a show day. Loading in at like 5am for a 9 or 9:30 performance. I believe this is the same show we did back in the fall. We have to then load out at 10am and drive to Phily.
So if the crew seems tired and punching that day you will know why.
I will try to post more, hopefully our internet connection on the bus will be repaired soon.
Labels: FFF, Five For Fighting, Touring, Travel
The tour is underway.
Not going to post much right now. I'm sitting in the production office at the Wiltern Theater. I am so freaking tired. The day's are very long and I am a bit overworked.
I will try to post more in the coming days.
Are you kidding me??!!
It's mid April and spring time at least that what the calendar says. Well it seems we are going to get a big snow storm here in the Northeast tomorrow and Monday.
This could not come at a worse time. I have a flight on Monday at noon to Los Angeles. We could see around a foot of snow. Hopefully the airport will be getting flights out, even if they are delayed.
Then there is the fact of driving to the airport. This in itself could be a challenge since I live 45 minutes from it.
I asked management if I could be booked on a flight tomorrow several weeks ago and they said no. Of course I asked this not because of the weather, but for the fact I wanted a bit of prep time with the lighting equipment that I will be carrying on the tour.
Now there is a potential I could miss the first show.
Labels: Airlines, Airports, Five For Fighting, Snow, Weather
It's lunch time
Just a few more days at home and then it's back to the west coast. The best part of the tour is that we will be in California and Nevada for the first 5 or 6 days. This can mean only one thing. An
In N Out burger stop!!
Oh yea we have some shows to do too.
I know, I have blogged about this before, but dam do I love them burgers!! Double double animal style.
The picture above is the location on Sunset in West Hollywood. It is next door to the old Hollywood High School building. Just a couple blocks from the Roosevelt Hotel, Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Jimmy Kimmel show. I can't tell you how many time's I have walked to this location while staying at the Roosevelt.
I even went there while doing Jimmy Kimmel, once. Went over before the band I was with did sound check. The drummer heard that I went so he decided to go after they were done. Everyone loves em.
Great....now I'm hungry.
Labels: Burgers, California
24/7 and life on the web
I heard a story on the news the other day about a guy in San Francisco who is wearing a video camera 24/7. He is broadcasting on the web live. I'm not really sure why. Anyway it is called
Justin TV.
Now this is similar to an idea I had about having a camera set up in the front lounge of the bus. Of course if we did that, it would be as exciting as watching paint dry.
Nothing like watching a bunch of people sit on a bus watching TV, playing video games and reading books.
Labels: Broadcast, Bus, Internet, Live, Web
3 Days on the road...Part 2
To continue yesterday's thoughts. I returned home early on Wednesday. The LA to Chicago flight I took was full, no surprise. The worst part of it was the 10 year old sitting behind me who decided to periodically kick the back of my seat. Now kids will be kids, but some parents really need to be slapped. When you sit there and let your child disrespect people and act like that I would hate to see how they treat you on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong I don't hate kids, but I do hate when they think they can do whatever they want. Children are a product of their home environment.
So I made it to O'Hare without losing my temper. My connection home was delayed however. Imagine that, two Chicago connections delayed in the span of 72 hours.
Upon landing in Rochester I find the weather has changed drastically and it is 30 degrees and snowing. Oh well.
On a different note. Management mentioned that the first CD is now out of production. I am talking about
Message for Albert. So my suggestion is if you don't own it get it now. I know we are only going to have a limited number available for sale at the shows.
Labels: Airlines, Airports, Five For Fighting
3 Days on the road...Part 1
The corporate date we did on Tuesday is over. Things started out with a couple of flights to California on Monday. Of course my connecting flight out of Chicago was delayed, thanks American Airlines. I finally got into LAX around 10pm.
The crew did get to stay at a
Ritz Carlton hotel right on the ocean. Now this is a place to spend a few days. Too bad we didn't spend much time there.
The venue was very nice. It's basically an opera house that was just built in 2006. There is a picture of it that you see at the top of this post. This is from their website.
The band and our guitar tech drove down from LA where they are rehearsing.
Just before sound check I was out working with the house lighting crew trying to get some programming done on their new console. They have an ETC EOS, which just recently came on the market. Not a bad console, but there are still bugs in the software.
While I was at the board I heard a crash on stage. When I looked up I see Randy the drummer getting up off the floor. It seems the local crew left some sort of rolling stage platform out and Randy didn't see it and tripped. He ended up injuring his right hand. It is mainly his thumb and the hospital didn't find a fracture. He was able to play some of the songs even though he was bandaged up.
The show went fairly well otherwise.
Want to mention there are a couple new guys in the band for the upcoming tour. Greg Suran will be playing guitar. You may have seen Greg play with Jewel recently. He also toured with the Goo Goo Dolls for a couple years. I have actually known Greg for about 12 years. He was the touring guitarist for the band Machines Of Loving Grace who I road managed for several years.
Playing bass on this tour is Eric Holden who plays with the Bo Deans. Of course Randy Cooke is still behind the kit.
We have a couple new crew guys this time out.
Labels: California, Concert, Crew, FFF, Five For Fighting
Peanuts, Pretzels and weary travelers
The next few days will be filled with sleepless nights, tight spaces and smelly people.
I have to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow for a show with Five For Fighting. Yes I know we are still two weeks from the tour starting. On tuesday we will be playing a corporate event, which is actually near Costa Mesa.
These things are always interesting. Sometimes they are just a party thrown by the company. This one is a yearly event I guess, where they give out awards to their employees.
John and the band are the evenings entertainment.
Anyway I get to spend the next couple of days flying from Upstate NY to LA and then back on Wednesday. I will be trying to fly as light as possible, I'm not even going to bring a laptop. LAX is a pain, not so much flying into but flying out of, even before 9/11.
I have been on line moving my seat assignment on the flights. I wish you could select exit rows on line.
The best part of the trip is I get to spend a day and half in some nice weather. Oh yea...I get paid too.
Labels: Airlines, Airports, California, Five For Fighting
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