The Roadie Show

Hello Roadieshow friends…

I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I know it has been a little while since I posted. The truth is we haven’t been terribly busy with gigs. I guess most tours take a summer break or do festivals. Either way, I end up not working which means I spend way too much time spending my riches and juggling swarms of horny young women. But that’s for another website…

Lately, Rand and I have been putting our creative talents to work at the Best Damn Tech Show, Period. We hope you check that out as well. Thanks!

Below are some pictures and video from gigs Rand and I have worked or attended. I hope you will enjoy.

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Beatles tribute “1964: The Tribute”

King of the blues; BB King

“Doors” drummer John Densmore and his “Tribal Jazz” band

Comic Andrew “Dice” Clay

The “Eagles” during soundcheck at the Wachovia center.

Here I am at the Allen & Heath mixer inside the AT&T Pavilion at the Wachovia center

James Blunt. What a cool looking setup!

Victor Wooten. One of mine and Rand’s favorite musicians.

Joe Jackson

Sometimes our view isn’t so good…

Radiohead. Some of them anyway…

A wide shot of the Radiohead stage

And for you Radiohead fans, here’s a Roadieshow exclusive video I shot of Radiohead performing “Lucky”:
Radiohead \"Lucky\"

Here’s a few pics taken by Iggs and Rand over the course of our 2008 season.   Let us know what you think!

Deborah Harry, of Blondie fame.  She’s really cool and does a lot of benefit shows.  She’s been hanging around with the band Spiraling a lot lately…  Let’s hope they do something together!

Ladies and Gentleman, REO SPEEDWAGON!!!!  A true rock show, complete with giant drum riser, spotlights, projection screens and two kick drums.  ROCK!

Arlo Guthrie - A Legend.  In Iggs’ words: “A true entertainer and totally cool guy and crew. We look forward to this show every year.”

Henry Fucking Rollins.  You read that right.  He’s the man, just take a look at his promotional poster:

He’s a cool guy, legendary for his appreciation of Roadies.

Sinead O’Conner.  According to Iggs: “One of the best sounding shows all year.”  Check out the size of the hole cut in the kick drum!

Thanks Craigslist!  I answered yet another post and landed a cool gig with a staffing company based out of Washington, D.C.  They sent me to handle Video Assist duties at a 4-day corporate gig in a hotel ballroom.  Early AM start times but easy work and decent pay. Here’s a look at the finished stage:

Here’s a pic of ‘Video World’, where I spent most of my time.  Luckily, it was located backstage:

Trust me, it looks more complicated than it is.  We had two projectors shooting video on two rear-projection screens, two cameras, a small audio system and lots of convention-goers.   There really wasn’t a lot going on, just some basic camera switching and powerpoint presentations.  I met some good contacts, had a few laughs and (most importantly) got the job done.

Recently, a colleague of mine and Rand’s, Susan Miller, was seriously injured on the job. Susan is the house electrician at the DuPont Theater in Wilmington DE. That means she is in charge of all the power distribution for every show that plays there. Rand and I have done many gigs there and know Susan quite well. She is a really cool person. We really want to send her our thoughts and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Be careful out there, friends…

Check out some pics I’ve taken with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4.  I’ve had my eye on it for awhile…  Iggs picked up an earlier version last year and he loves it.  Amazon.com offer it for only $200 so I had to grab it!  The last few posts have featured pictures taken with the TZ4, all of which are viewable on my Flickr page.

www.flickr.com

Finally Rand and I are back doing a real rock show. For the past 2 weeks it’s been nothing but dance recitals and corporate gigs. But today we had a full semi and pro production with the return of Gordon Lightfoot. We have done this gig many times before and we know the road crew pretty well. They run a tight ship and that is just the way we like it. They know where everything goes and they know the right way to tell us what we need to know. We have had several hours of downtime today because everything went so smoothly.

Last night I worked at the Wachovia center for the RUSH show. I was working outside with a local band that did the pre-show festivities. But when they were done, I grabbed a sandwich and sat in the press seats to watch Rush. Their rig was amazing but not overbearing, and they sounded better than ever. I didn’t stay for the whole set, however, because the Soul (arena football) was playing in the Spectrum and Jimmy Buffett was rocking Citizens Bank Park across the street. Madness! I wanted to get out of there before the entire South Philly area was besieged by drunks.

Lots of cool shows coming up! Boy George, Kenny G, Brian Setzer, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc…
Stay tuned!!!

Man, it’s hot outside… Iggs and I have been in full summer mode! We’re doing a lot of dance recitals, graduations, festivals and ethnic events. If you’re into 7 year old’s doing ballet to the story of Alice In Wonderland then you need to come chill with us this month. Lots of kids dressed as animals…

One rock-ish show we’ve done lately was John Densmore’s Tribal Jazz. John Densmore is the drummer from The Doors - and a really nice guy. He seems to have lived a happy life on a beach in California, thriving in a world filled with meditation, drum circles and alternative medicines. He walked into the theatre in sandals and a white cotton smock-like outfit, wearing a gigantic smile. The one thing he didn’t have with him, however, was a drum kit.

No Problem!

It was actually already known that he would need a rented kit. The odd thing was he had no preference as to what kind! Most drummers that rent gear are VERY specific about the gear they play on. We often have a backup kit with a variety of different sized toms and cymbals to choose from. He loved the kit we had rented for him but still needed one thing - drumsticks! Luckily we had a pile of used sticks that were left behind. After picking his favorite pair he got the band together and started jamming. He put on a great show, I recommend checking out Tribal Jazz.

Time to get some rest, working with Gordon Lightfoot, Boz Scaggs and a slew of dancers this week! What a crazy job we have…

Rand and I worked with rock legends “Kansas” on 5/9. This is probably the 3rd or 4th show we’ve done with them. It was a pretty cool day because of the way the work ended up getting staggered throughout the day. We had trucks coming from a lighting company, a sound company, the Kansas tour, and the opening band. Instead of clogging up the whole process by trying to unload 4 trucks at a time, we did it the easy and smart way with some forethought by the promoter…and a little intervention from Mother Nature.

The lighting company showed up right on time at noon. When the sound company truck pulled up at 12:30, the lighting shit was already inside and we had hung and wired up 4 movers on our curtain truss and flown it out. Now we were ready for the sound gear to roll right onstage. Most of Kansas and their road crew were delayed at various airports due to weather in Philly. So when their truck finally arrived, we were able to devote our full attention and energy to getting them loaded in and set up quickly. Even though we were getting a late start with the band gear, we wanted to make sure sound check started on time. None of us wanted to deal with a pissy band member later.

We helped Kansas’ crew and got all their stuff set up before the band arrived. While they did sound check, we loaded in the opening act. They had more shit than Kansas! We had to try to fit them on stage with Kansas’ set. Their drummer had a bigger drum set than Kansas’ and he had his own drum riser! One of the most fun parts of this job is facing these situations and coming up with ideas, compromises, and solutions. I suppose the same is true for any job, but we’re doing it with rock stars.

Well, we had a rockin’ night. I handled spot-light duties while Kansas played their hits to a thrilled, sold-out crowd. I tried to watch the Flyers game at the same time, so my spot light work may have been poor…
Load-out could have been a bit smoother. Kansas’ crew didn’t seem to know how to load their truck. There’s a certain way everything fits and the crew is supposed to memorize it or draw up a pack; a list or actual drawing of how and where all the cases fit in the truck. That way, load-out is quick and orderly. Well, karma bit them in the ass on that one. The driver locked the keys in the truck with the ignition running, lights on, wipers going, and the evenings’ pay…in cash…on the front seat. Awesome!

We got them loaded up and said goodnight. We had cold beers to drink!

Here’s an awesome pic of Rand with a sweet Marshall stack and Hartke 4×10 bass cab we were using as part of “ROSfest.”

We worked with 10 different bands for this “prog-rock” festival. It was 49 hours at work in a 72 hour period, but hey…we were at a music festival, not an office! In between each act, Rand and I and the rest of the crew would head to the stage and get it ready for the next band. We had between 1 1/2 and 2 hours to get them set up and sound-checked so that their set could start on time. Once one band runs late, all the following bands start late. That means our 16 hour day turns into an 18 or 20 hour day. I’ve done those before and it is not fun! Needless to say, our crew rose to the occasion and all 10 acts got started on time. Of course, that doesn’t stop the evenings’ closer from running late. F*#kin’ rock stars!

Chris Brogan is the man. He’s also the Mayor of Podcasting (as coined by the guys at the Best Damn Tech Show during the 1st PodCamp @ Boston). When Mayor Brogan sends out a call to arms, we listen… These calls are usually blog posts, which is nice considering I hate phonecalls. Check out Mayor Brogan’s inspirational blog at www.ChrisBrogan.com to see who I’m talking about!

The Mayor with our own Edyn!

OK, so what was this call to arms? Mayor Brogan wants to read a few new blogs! He’ll even give away free invites to the beta release of GrooveShark if you help him find a cool blog to read! Awesome. I know the perfect blog…

www.RoadieShow.com is the cooolest blog! Iggs and Rand are sooo funny and informative! They bring the average cubicle-worker backstage, behind-the-scenes and even on the tour bus! Filled with pictures, news, reviews, resources and video episodes, www.RoadieShow.com is THE blog to read for anyone who thinks that live music is groovy…

There you go, Mayor Brogan! Hopefully we qualify for a GrooveShark.com invite and a little comment-love form the Mayor himself.

Cheers!

-Rand the Roadie