New gig
I have known for a couple of days that I will be doing a new tour in July.
This one is quite a bit different from the Five For Fighting tour as far as music style. If you know me, you know that I have worked with everything from rock, pop, metal, hip hop and even jazz artists over the years.
I spent four different summers on the Smokin Grooves tour, which is a hip hop festival tour. I worked as a lighting director on all the tours and even designer the last couple years. We had everyone from Outkast, Public Enemy, Ziggy Marley, The Fugees to Jurassic 5 on those tours.
So this summer I will be the lighting director for the Rock The Bells tour which starts July 26th near Boston. This tour will feature Wu Tang and Nas along with Public Enemy and others playing around North America. I will be running lights for the headliners and the acts without lighting directors.
Also on a few shows will be Rage Against the Machine. I will not be their LD since they have their own. I am familiar with them and actually have a couple of their CD's in my collection, however I have never seen them in person.
This tour is still coming together on the production side and I hope to have more details before the end of the week.
Labels: Concert, Hip Hop, NYC, Touring
Tan and not very rested
The picture here sets a bit of the tone of this post. These are some of the riser from this past weekends show. The stagehands decided to just toss them over the side of the stage after the change overs.
Actually the show went fairly well.
No this weekend was another one of those airline nightmares. Started on Friday with a connecting flight through Dulles in Washington DC. It seems a woman on our flight had a checked bag that was flagged at security. No problem I know that has to make sure everything is ok. The weird thing was they told us we could get off the plane and get some food and that it would be about 45 minutes. At this point they just said it was an airport security issue and didn’t say it was our plane specifically.
After about an hour they begin paging a passenger. Turns out the woman they are looking for went to the bar to have a drink.
Let’s just say not only did our flight get delayed over an hour and a half. They were at least a dozen other flights affected.
Now Sunday is where things get interesting. Myself and Dave our guitar tech arrive at the Sacramento airport around 9am to fly home. He is going to Denver and I’m on my way to Rochester via Chicago. I find out my Chicago flight is delayed over 2 hours because of the inbound aircraft. Turns out they had to swap planes.
I finally get out of Sacramento around 1pm. Funny thing is Dave called me from Denver while I was at the gate and he was home already. Thanks for rubbing it in Dave.
I get into Chicago after 7pm and I had already been booked on later connection. The thing was I had a 2-hour layover. It’s father’s day so it is usually a slow travel day. Not tonight, O’Hare airport is a zoo. Plus flights are delayed all over the place.
I finally arrive in Rochester just after midnight. Plus with my 40-minute drive home it’s nearly one a.m.
At least I don’t have to get on another plane for about a month. I will be doing a new tour, which starts at the end of July. I will be posting more on that in the next few days.
Labels: California, Concert, Five For Fighting
Weekend in sun...oh wait Day in the Zone
On Friday it's off to the west coast again to do what will probably be my last Five For Fighting show for awhile. The album cycle is pretty much over for the latest CD.
John has a couple of acoustic performances later in the summer but that is about it.
So this weekend we will be doing a radio festival for KZZO radio in Sacramento. It is an afternoon show and we will be the next to last act. Our set time is 2:30pm which is pretty early. Smashmouth will be the closing act on this one. We seem to do a lot of these radio shows with them.
Still waiting on word of the tour in late July that I may do. The dates were finally announced yesterday. My fingers are crossed and emails are going back and forth.
Labels: California, FFF, Five For Fighting, Sun
Reflecting
Tomorrow is my birthday. Yes, I am Gemini and well……..who cares. Is a midlife crisis setting in? I don’t think so, I’m only 44, yet on most day’s I feel 34, I think.
I was looking around Myspace, yea I know it’s a bit lame. The best thing about it is that I have found people that I knew many years ago and had lost touch with.
You see there are two parts to my adult life so far. There was the period in the early 80’s when I worked as a radio disc jockey, partied and slept around. Hey it was my early 20’s and I was having a good time. Much have that period of my life is a bit hazy. I still don’t remember the names of some of the women I “spent time” with. There were so many faces and so little gray matter to remember names.
The two things that came out of the period were the music contacts I made back then and the fact that I didn’t catch any diseases.
Now there is the second part of my adult life. I still drank for a period of time when I started touring full time during my late 20’s. I stopped right around the time I turned 30. Ever since then I have been sober and more aware of my world.
During this time I have traveled to a lot of places, done a lot of shows and worked with a lot of bands. I could probably write a book on my travels and I might some day. Of course most “roadies” could write a book especially if you have been on the road as long as I have.
My personal life has been good and bad like most people. The one thing I regret was not being around when my dad passed away. He was sick when I left for the tour but that was nearly a month before. He told me to go, he was always supportive of my job choice. He knew I was doing something I enjoyed. I ended leaving the tour for a few days to attend his funeral. He was only 57.
I had a tour manager that I worked for many years ago tell me “don’t be on the road into your 40’s”. At the time I thought he was probably right. Who wants to be doing this when you are middle aged?
Well now that I’m at that point in time I think he might have been wrong to some degree. Sure the travel can get to you, but the job can still be fun. There is nothing like doing a concert and having that rush. Besides the pay is still pretty good and I don’t have to punch a clock.
Plus the majority of my friends are roadies and musicians. There is a common thread that binds us and it’s a lifestyle that only people in our business really understand.
It is really a business these days especially for crew guys. We manage our money very carefully at least us old road dogs. Owning homes, buying stocks, investing are more important than drugs. Sure we still like to have a good time “wink wink” but we have it under control.
Labels: Money, Roadies, Touring
NO I DON'T......wait what?!!
I think I have posted about this before, who can remember, I'm old dammit!!
Addiction is something that most people deal with on a daily basis. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex or food, everyone has one to some degree. Fortunately for me I don't really have any of these except for maybe caffeine.
I love soda and I have been really trying to cut back and to some degree stop drinking it all together.
The thing is I need the caffeine especially when I'm on the road. I'm back on a coffee kick again even at home. Normally I only drink iced coffee when it's hot outside, but lately I have even been drinking it hot.
It's a good thing there isn't a Starbucks in my neighborhood. I could go broke.
Labels: Coffee, Road, Roadies, Touring
Roadie Lyrics
Musicians like Jackson Browne, Bob Seger & Dwight Yoakam have written about life on the road. One of my favorite songs is from Lemmy of Motorhead.
Another town another place,
Another girl, another face,
Another truce, another race,
I'm eating junk, feeling bad,
Another night, I'm going mad,
My woman's leaving, I feel sad,
But I just love the life I lead,
Another beer is what I need,
Another gig my ears bleed,
We Are The Road Crew
Another town I've left behind,
Another drink completely blind,
Another hotel I can't find,
Another backstage pass for you,
Another tube of super glue,
Another border to get through,
I'm driving like a maniac,
Driving my way to hell and back,
Another room a case to pack,
We Are The Road Crew
Another hotel we can burn,
Another screw, another turn,
Another Europe map to learn,
Another truck stop on the way,
Another game I learn to play,
Another word I learn to say,
Another bloody customs post,
Another fucking foreign coast,
Another set of scars to boast,
We Are The Road Crew: Motorhead
The answer to life
Wine, women......and balloons?
Three days and 4600 miles later I have gone from the east coast to the west coast and back again. The show went well considering everything.
We did it without our regular monitor engineer. The guys from the production company did their best. However a word of advice, have someone wire the stage that knows what the hell they are doing.
The venue was in a beautiful location just outside of Temecula California, This is a wine area hence the wine and balloon festival that we played. Everyone was very nice and the crowd was appreciative. The picture you see is the stage early in the day.
We didn’t see any balloons flying around during the day because it was too windy. They did blow a few of them up in the evening but they didn’t fly them. I took a couple of pictures but my camera sucks outside at night.
The weather was nice but a bit cool for this time of year. We were all wearing hoodies during the show. It is hotter here on the east coast right now.
At this point I am off the road until June 15 when I do it all over again and fly to Sacramento.
Labels: Concert, FFF, Five For Fighting, Live
