The Roadie Show

Hey folks! It’s that holiday season again and Rand and I had a pretty hectic late November/early December. Late December was a bit slower, but I have a new gig which I hope to tell you about soon.

So, our holiday season was a bit different this year. We finished November with our Thanksgiving tradition, “The Machine.” This Pink Floyd tribute is one of the best out there and the band members and crew are the coolest. They travel light, with a sound guy, Randy, and a lighting guy, Jim. They show up, we all catch up for a few minutes, then we get to work. Within an hour, the stage is ready for the band and the rest of us are just hanging in catering. What a gig!

On 11/29 we rocked with the Brian Setzer Orchestra. It was an early day with alot of work (check the pics). But it was fun and, being a Setzer fan, I had a fun day.

THE STAGE before the Brian Setzer show

BRIAN SETZER and his Orchestra

BRIAN SETZER’S guitars for the Christmas ‘07 tour

SETZER rockin’ out. His guitar amp is inside the jukebox!

We started December with a doo-wop show featuring Bobby Rydell, Shirley Alston Reeves (original lead singer of the Shirelles), and others. What happens on those days is we set up one band, then the singers take the stage, do a few hits, and leave while the next group walks on. It’s fun and easy.

Then we had our traditional Peter White Christmas featuring Rick Braun and that hot Mindi Abair. I hit on her all night and you know what? She is quite friendly! Again, this is a show we do every year. The road crew and band know us and the whole day goes smoothly.
Hoping for a new Christmas tradition, we welcomed Kenny “Babyface” Edmunds to our stage on 12/7. He wrote alot of hits in his career and he is quite a showman. He plays guitar very well and is a pretty good singer, too.

Continuing with the holiday traditions, we welcomed back “Hot Tuna.” It’s just one of those gigs we look forward to because we know it’s gonna be a painless, easy day with a good show and an energetic, happy crowd.

HOT TUNA

The following night we saw the return of Wynonna. Or as the crew refer to her, “Y”. They brought alot of stuff with them, but it made the stage look pretty cool during the show.

WYNONNA in the red Moomoo

WYNONNA with the LED backdrop lit up

Next we had 2 nights with Genesis tribute “The Musical Box.” They brought alot of set dressing with them to re-create a Genesis tour during which the scenery was changed. Apparently during the original Genesis tour this show re-creates, the original set became too much of a pain in the ass, so it was scaled down. These guys did both shows. Cool, right? They are from Montreal and the road crew was made up of some very smart and friendly guys. We talked gear, beer, hockey, travel, you name it. Pasqual, Jean-Marc and the rest are a great road crew to work with and if you’re a Peter Gabriel-era Genesis fan, check out “The Musical Box.”

Genesis tribute “The Musical Box”

All we have left this year is our 12/29 show with Jo Dee Messina and our rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Grateful Dead tribute “Dark Star Orchestra.” See ya in ‘08!

Iggs……………………