Aruba!

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Location:L.G. Smith Blvd,Oranjestad,Aruba

Pressing on

I have updates..I swear! Just been pushing non-stop the last 2 weeks of tour. Home in a few days and then the work begins again! More to come soon!

Back in the air

Sitting at the terminal again...this time I'm in St. Louis. Headed to a show today in council bluffs Iowa. Been up since 3:30am. So it's St. Louis to council bluffs (Omaha basically) via Memphis...its gonna be a good day. And I'm only on the 3rd day of the 11 day stretch!

Another haul

So today kicks off a 11 day...14 show run...straight. Gonna be an adventure for sure. We even fly one morning to load-in...including a layover. That could be dangerous! But it's not the craziest run we've done by far. I get to see my family for a bit in a few days. We are playing in New York. Gonna be a blast.

Counting down the days till I get to see Maddie again! December 17th I'm jumping a boat to see her! It will have be exactly 5 months since we said goodbye and she left for the cruise. Longest and hardest months of my life thus far...but its worth it.

Here's a little pic as a present!



Taken the other night during a haul from South Dakota

ping pong

our tour has us traveling this country with no rhyme or reason to its path. Minnesota to chicago to Wisconsin to kansas to south Dakota...you get the idea.

So i had some fun in Appleton Wisconsin. We had played there a few times before with in the mood and also with Christmas Carol. it was nice to get back and see old friends. the day had pressed on like every other. sound check went fine. setup went fine. dinner was...well..dinner. and then time came for the show. its a huge venue. nearly sold out. it was set to be a great night. i arrived up at foh 5 minutes before the start of the show and did my normal pre-show check in with the cast and made sure they were all good to go. me and andi did our normal check list and we cued the opening speaker to do her speech on stage. it all went great. she talked for about 5 minutes and introduced the show. she walked off like we had done so many times before and AJ started his pre-show speech from off-stage...asking everyone to turn off their cell phones and such. nothing out of the ordinary. the house lights dropped and the theater went dark as normal. the band began to play the march in as they walked by me playing "Saint Louis Blues". as soon as the band walked by...something just didnt sound right. something was off. i didnt know what it was...but i knew something wasnt right. i was a bit far away from stage...about 100ft or so. with the band playing acoustic at the front of the stage for the first number...it always sound a little different because they arent mic'd...but the rhythm section is. but it was eerily quiet. i tried to push bud and the drums in the mix. as the fader moved up...nothing. no change. that was odd. by this time the band was back at their seats and the number had ended. maybe it was just me i though. bud played the first chords of the opening number and it still sounded strange. the singers came out in darkness just like the other 800+times ive done the show and the band clapped along in rhythem. the lights came up and as i moved the faders to their correct position...the singers opened their mouths...but nothing came out! my head shot up like a startled deer! something was definatly wrong..VERY wrong! my fingers shot over buttons...checking to see what i had missed. maybe i forgot to unmute something. but things had worked perfectly 5 minutes before when our 2 speakers were doing their thing. i got on com and told andi that i had NO PA! the sound system just simply wasnt working. she told me that she was aware of the problem and they were working on it. she had 3 technicians from the house working on the problem in the control booth where she was...3 stories above me. there wasnt anything i could do...but sit there. the singers and band seems un-phased by the sound issues. the show went on. over the next several minutes..the band and she singers continued on like nothing was wrong. andi made the call to keep the show going...so on we went. i could hear some sound coming from behind me...from the ceiling speakers that covered the cheap seats far under the balcony behind me. the audio feed that feeds the control booth was out...so i had my headset mic on so andi could hear the show to call the light cues (because she is behind soundproof glass) while i still tried to talk her through what was going on with the PA and with the techs working on the issue...as well as try and mix the show for the people who still could hear the show via the small ceiling speakers. it was juggling at its finest. over the next several minutes...it was mix the show, check with andi, mix the show, where are the techs, i still dont have power...over and over. after about 15 minutes of silence from the massive sound system...andi reports to me that the control units  (3 of them) for the pa fried and wiped all the settings. they were able to switch them out and i should have full PA by this point. for me though...it was still silence. the house techs insisted that i should have full power by this point. still nothing. i had to walk them through basic trouble shooting steps like i was babying a tech for their first day on the job. checking to see where we had power...were they saw signal...where there wasnt signal...trying to follow the chain of sound from me to the speakers. 30 minutes after the silence started...a routine check in with andi revealed they had gotten the building blueprints out and were looking for power breakers that might have tripped. i couldnt do anything but just sit there and mix the show as if nothing was wrong. it was very strange...the crowd applauded at all the normal spots...as if nothing was wrong. you could hear the singers...but you defiantly could hear that something major was wrong. finally....45 minutes after my initial second of panic i received word they had found the problem and fixed it. i slowly brought the rig up to full power...section by section. sure enough...the hall filled quickly with the sweet sounds of the band and singers. i couldnt do anything but bow my head in relief. after the act ended...i got the chance to talk to one of the techs that was working on the problem. this was the ultimate course of events that had occurred . perfectly timed with the downbeat of the opening number...there was a power surge in the downtown where we were. one of the techs just happen to be looking at the racks in the control room when the lights on several of the pieces of equipment actually exploded. this is how they were right on top of it before i was. the power spike took out the 3 controllers that handed the audio TO the sound system. the sound i was hearing was the ceiling speakers...which was the only one of the 7 audio feeds that leave my board that didnt go through the controllers...it went right into the amps. they got those fixed relatively quickly. when they kept insisting i should have had full power...they didnt know that the power spike had also taken out a power conditioner that actually supplied power to the physical speakers themselves. they eventually found the damaged conditioner and were able to feed power to the speakers from other locations. the conditioner did its job...it sacrificed itself to protect the speakers. ive only seen this happen one other time...and it destroyed the conditioner but saved about $15k worth the gear. it was a wild first act. bud knew something was up but he didnt believe me at first when i told him what had happened. none of them knew differently since by board stayed up...thus the monitors and mics and audio kept flowing to the stage and stage monitors. to them...nothing was off. later we learned that we dropped one of the legs of power to the audio power service. its 3-phase...so there are 3 actual power lines that come in. one had died and that caused an imbalance. thankfully my leg stayed un-effected and my gear was spared. it was a wild night. but when something like that happens...all you can do is laugh and keep pressing on. as we left the theater that night...all the stop lights in the downtown area were flashing and had been reset. apparently we were not the only thing effected by the power that night.

here are some pics!!!! 

so why are there doors that lead to nothing? kinda dangerous if you ask me! Remember...its not the fall that get you...its the sudden stop at the end

Double Vision! 

My usual front of house setup

this was in the dressing rooms somewhere

Seattle Opera house...it was just stunning

someone please tell me how this was a good idea?

All set up and ready for the show

swapping bags in Appleton Wisconsin

Sign...step left...repeat

AH...so thats where normal is!

hard to see...but its bud and the band watching the world series during intermission

L' Acoustic Kiva/Kilo rig...sounded AMAZING

this really was a more "Mystery Science Theater" photo...but i didnt really have time to frame it right.

mixing in "sound man time-out" in Emporia Kansas

Tacky...yet useful

they felt the need to take a photo of someone using the dispenser...and tape it on

Chipotle and frozen custard made Saint Joseph Missouri tolerable for the crew

update

wow....almost 2 weeks without an update...sorry guys. lots to tell. ill try and write when i can. long drives, bad crews, power blowing at the start of the show...sickness and injury cant stop this train from rolling!

more coming soon!

In the air

Strange...lately I feel so much more comfortable in the air than I do on the ground. Funny how that goes.


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Back in Tacoma

Back in Tacoma Washington. This is not how you fly a PA!


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Back to the grindstone

well...after 2 days in LA...its time to get back to the "real world". thankfully no jetlag! more updates coming soon...the trip home was pretty uneventful...LA was...well..LA. i got kidnapped by a friend and taken to Hollywood and all around the LA area. that i guess was interesting. went to the Kodak theater. went to the famous Amoeba Music record store. bought some vinyl records. it was alot of fun!
In Seattle for the next 4 days doing run-outs. and guess what...its RAINING! hahaha go figure

One more go round

finally our Australia adventure has come to an end. i am now safely writing this from my bed in california. what a time we had though. i cannot express it all here in this blog...but it truly was a life changing experience. here are some pics from our last few days in australia. Mario...our tour promoter was amazing...as i had stated before. he took us all out to this MASSIVE thai dinner for our last free night in australia. our last 2 days were double show days...so it was the day we flew into adelaide for the final time. it was amazing. best food ive eaten in a LONG time. it was a full 9 course meal. and the wine was flowing! Mario brought all 22 of us out...our tour manager John (ozzy as we call him)..his partner Suzzie...and Mario's wife Gail. it was quite the event. tried oysters on the half shell for the first time. i liked them. i love oysters...but never had them raw. there was lots of seafood and other exotic thai. it was amazing. it was a 3 hour experience that left us all extremely full.

aside from the amazing meal...mario arranged for all of us to go to a wildlife preserve and do the whole koala kangaroo thing. it meant a 5am wake up call after a double show day..but it was worth it! what a time we had! we all got to hold a koala...feed it....feed and play with some 'roos and wallabies. it was indescriblale. ill do my best to let the pics speak for themselves. 

so here they are...completely out of order...thank you blogspot...the final pics from out australian adventure!

now what you dont see in this pic is that we are on his huge hill...and its raining...and what do kangaroos do in the wild? yep...we spend a solid 20 minutes slipping all over the hill stepping in kangaroo crap. but it was worth it!

julian resting before our first flight back to the states. 

he made it to the cabin doors with the kangaroo inflated...but he couldnt get it through the door...so he had to pop it. and yes...thats a australia sombrero

flying from sydney to LAX. they have a cool camera where you can watch the plane from your seat

my ride home...the amazing 380 Airbus! largest commercial plane on the planet

they love the camera

this would have been a great pic...except the one kangaroo had to ruin it. notice he is no where near the ground!

no you cannot check your email!

high five dan!

Hal getting up close and personal

this one was cool...she was pregnant with a little one...you could see it moving and kicking inside her pouch

yeah...cause thats what we do in australia

she was so cool and calm

stoned out of her mind...she just wanted more eucalyptus

i think this speaks for itself

never before would i dream i would ever see big daddy (bud) holding and feeding a koala...but there you go.

how is that comfortable! ive slept in some strange positions...but nothing like that. 

just chillin...keeping out of the rain

and cue the "Dingo ate my baby" line!

aww...little joey! i even got to pet both of them

this one jumped at liz just as i took this picture

dan trying to get some reading done

julian surrounded by kangaroos!

what you looking at fool!

these are not "big reds" (the largest kangaroos) but this one when it stood up was almost as tall as me

cool reusable bad from the coffee shop

my office patio at my apartment

Surfers Paradise Australia

mmmm...Vapianos! amazing pasta place...fresh daily made pasta cooked one at a time for you...just the way you want it.

Gold coast...Surfers Paradise!