today was the longest 14.67 hours of my life. it was a 1 band show. 1 band. they had two tour busses, one with a trailer of gear (like 8 guitar cabs, 4 bass cabs, drums, guitars... the usual) and one trailer that was practically empty with just merch in it. just a trailer of stuff really! they got there at 11:30, you can't make noise at Toad's Place until 5:00. it doesn't take 5.5 hours to set up a trailer of gear. we were done by 1:30 ish... SLOW as hell... and then we had to sit there, because they "neeeeded 2 loaders on all day"
did i mention i was the lighting engineer and the stage manager today... and a loader too apparently because i was one of the 4 counted for loading.
and then they sound checked for 3 hours. 3 hours. only 7 minutes of those three hours were with the band. if i hear "check one, two, neei, neeih, pa, pu, click, click" again, i might shoot someone. and then for the show, it was actually so loud that i didn't want to even try to listen.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Leftsetz Letter
barry sent me an email today, letting me know about a wordpress blog he subscribes to called "The Leftsetz Letter." i read the attached "blog" that was with barry's email and i gotta say it had some really good stuff in it, so i thought i'd share the link to the blog itself: http://leftsetz.com/wordpress
here's some background on Bob Leftsetz himself (taken from the "author" section on his blog)
the last paragraph of his blog "belonging" is quite brilliant and so true with the last sentence: "Being a fan is like having a hobby, you'll spend unlimited amounts on your hobby. But only if you believe in it." i'd give you a summary, but really, there's no point when you can just go read it, so here: read it.
here's some background on Bob Leftsetz himself (taken from the "author" section on his blog)
Bob Lefsetz is the author of "The Lefsetz Letter." Famous for being beholden to no one and speaking the truth, Lefsetz addresses the issues that are at the core of the music business: downloading, copy protection, pricing and the music itself.
His intense brilliance captivates readers from Steven Tyler to Rick Nielsen to Bryan Adams to Quincy Jones to EVERYBODY who’s in the music business.
Never boring, always entertaining, Bob’s insights are fueled by his stint as an entertainment business attorney, majordomo of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels.
"The Lefsetz Letter" has been publishing for the past 20 years. First as hard copy, most recently as an email newsletter and now, for the first time, in blog form.
the last paragraph of his blog "belonging" is quite brilliant and so true with the last sentence: "Being a fan is like having a hobby, you'll spend unlimited amounts on your hobby. But only if you believe in it." i'd give you a summary, but really, there's no point when you can just go read it, so here: read it.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
the flickr
i've finally finished the daunting task of going through the MOUNTAIN of photos i took on the cruise, along with the photos i took before, after, and at the murphy's kids show in harrisonburg, the photos from robert's birthday, and just some random stuff from around town.
here's a few fisheye favorites:
i could keep going, but you should just go check out the flickr photostream and look for yourself :)
here's a few fisheye favorites:
i could keep going, but you should just go check out the flickr photostream and look for yourself :)
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
so...
i've been out of reach of the internet for some time, granted i was back in the states on the 1st of the month, i worked a 15 hour day on the 2nd at Toad's Place with Killswitch Engage, and honestly that was one of the better days i've worked there. From the 31st to the 1st i didn't sleep, i believe the term J.J. and i used was "rock till we dock" and i must say, we did just that with the help of Clif. From tht 1st to the 2nd, i got a few hours sleep and got to work at 9am, for a load in that we all thought started at 9:30, but that actually started at 11. go communication go. the Killswitch crew was awesome though, at least one of the guys had come through to Toad's before and remembered most of us. their lighting guy dara was a trip, what a blast to work with, all day Robert and i were like "man, i'm so exhausted but with the way this day is going, it's the perfect day to be tired, this guy makes you wake up and want to be here." i love days like that.
the days following the Killswitch show consisted of me going through the mountain of photos i took while on the cruise. nearly 3000. i narrowed it down to a mere 704 to upload to flickr, i'm sure i could narrow it down a few more, but that would have taken waaaay more effort and i don't use the "ef" word around here.
i had an absolute blast on the cruise. it was the Barenaked Ladies "Ships and Dip III" cruise and i had the opportunity to run lights for Carbon Leaf. Chris was running the monitor board, he would have run both if they'd brought their usual console that Chris can control via his laptop like he usually does, but because the band flew down to miami, the left the console at home and opted to use the house board. Clif was aboard running front of house, it was so good so see him again. i'd only been able to work with him at Carbon Leaf shows a few times before he left, and it was a real treat having him be a guest artist of sorts on the cruise with the Leaf boys, other than the time that the snake patch was one off and Barry's mic wasn't on for a bit of Tom Sawyer it was smooth sailing ;)
Carbon Leaf played the Lido Deck stage 3 times, and every time i had a few more lights to play with. all the fixtures except for the front light was LED, so i had a handful of LED parcans, and then i got some LED bars added each day. the third show i was going to do lights, but it got rescheduled, and what's the point of turning on lights at 1:30 in the afternoon? you can't see them. i took photos (big surprise there right?) and Barry joked that he wasn't actually going to pay me, he was just going to cover my bar tab. nothin' but love Barry, nothin' but love.
Sixthman, the company who organized the whole cruise, managed to schedule Great Big Sea and Gaelic Storm at practically the same time every day, which was a bummer for me, they're both really great. i ended up going to the Great Big Sea shows each time though, i kept on saying "i gotta get to Gaelic Storm today" and i'd go to GBS because they always started 30 minutes earlier than Gaelic Storm, and i'd get suckered into staying at the GBS show and feeling sad that i missed Gaelic Storm again... i kept telling Patrick that i'd get shots for him for the Gaelic Storm website and i only got a handful... meanwhile i got tons of GBS shots. i'm lame.
the first night i lived out my lameness, falling asleep early. the week prior to the cruise was intense, ending with me going with Murphy's Kids to Harrisonburg and helping them out and hanging out with their friends until 4 am, sleeping on the floor of their friend's house with Gibby next to me and Kelley sleeping on the gap between the two couches using someone's leg as a pillow... and this girl who i later learned was named "Cargo" waking up before 6am, grabbing my hand and trying to get me to wake up to dance with her... such a strange evening. i think Jack tackled me at some point too... anyway, we got back in town at 3, i ran to CVS, bought film, went home, did the last minute pack and got a call from Orbitz saying my flight was canceled! AH! thank god there was one more flight going to Miami through Charlotte, otherwise i'd have been screwed. i took off from Richmond International at 8:04, had an hour layover in Charlotte, and on the flight to Miami sat next to Craig from New Odds, pretty cool dude!, and landed in Miami at midnight, where the hotel shuttle refused to pick me up. i love Miami. such friendly people. i wanted to slap that hotel clerk through the phone. but HAH, i got reimbursed for the cab ride after some rather ingenious chatting the next morning with the clerk.
day two found Carbon Leaf on the Lido Deck at 9:30, prime time for people and lighting ;) that show looked so kickin'. a couple times i caught Chris leaning out from around the speaker stacks on stage with a thumbs up and a "keep rockin" face. i stayed up with J.J., Clif, Chris and Jessie until 6:30 that morning. we went and got pizza at some point at the 24 hour pizza joint on board, drank at the casino bar, rode up and down on the elevator pushing every button, just generally causing a raucous... and got up at 7:30 to go scuba diving with Chris and Jessie. their friend Freddie works on Grand Cayman and has the hookup with the scuba scuba, it felt so good to get back in the water. and for free too! got back on the boat, woke up J.J. at noon, went back over to Grand Cayman with her, and found a couple odds and ends for my mommy :) next time i see her i have to remember to give her the stuff.
the third night on the cruise i hung out with the Carbon Leaf guys, the Gaelic Storm guys, and Sean McCann from Great Big Sea. i gotta say, this was probably the best night on the cruise. Sean, Patrick and Twigger (Steve) are some of the nicest guys. Sean and Barry got into a funny tiff about who was tougher, and it ended in Barry standing in the ice water in the cooler and Sean drinking rum. Carter played Sean's guitar while making fun of Sean for wearing his acoustic so low saying "how the hell do you play like this," and he and Barry and Sean attempted to jam out "The Rover" and it ended in Barry humming to Sean's singing. we were in Sean's room and on his balcony all night... on the 8th floor of this ship (the ship had 11 floors... 11 floors! the Carnival Victory is like a floating city... well really any cruise is...) which looked over the stern of the ship and also the port side. he had the coolest room on the ship as far as i was concerned, with a wrap around balcony like that! the glow of the boat on the surf it was kicking up was incredible, probably the deepest and brightest blue i've seen, and the drop-off in brightness was extreme, bright blue right to black like the night sky, where the stars were so bright you could actually see them twinkle. truly incredible. i didn't want to leave, but i knew i needed to get at least 2 hours of sleep...
woke up early yet again, around 8:30, and went to the artist beach party on a private beach in Jamaica. the one day that i can actually get some sun! and it's cloudy. J.J. still managed to get burned tho, and from the MySpace message i just got from her she's peeling like a rattlesnake :D i liked the sentence so i stole it, sorry to publicize your skin dude :P watching the BNL and Guster guys play frisbee was hilarious, and having beer brought to you at 10am after drinking Sean's rum was just a bad plan. i felt like crap all day... it was a mix between hungover feeling and seasick, i couldn't tell the difference really... but after an Irish Car Bomb (yes!) with Clif and J.J. i felt amazing! gotta love how alcohol makes you feel like crap and then better again! another long night of absolute insanity, playing huge sized chess, and eating yet more pizza we called it a night at 5 and i managed to sleep until 11:30ish. thank god. Carbon Leaf was on at 1:30 and after that i had nothin' but fun to get into.
i caught every show on the Lido Deck (GBS and New Odds) and the first bit of BNL that night, i really wish i hadn't missed Gaelic Storm... it actually made me really sad, kind of a buzz kill, but if that's the only regret from the whole thing then i'm ok. after the New Odds set, they changed into drag and came back out on deck. over the next hour more band members from every band on the boat came and joined them, eventually with nearly 30 people on stage jamming for 4 and a half hours, not stopping for anything. one song morphed into another and another. it was incredible. if you don't believe me, check out www.flickr.com/photos/plaidleaf in the "The Final Jam" set, you'll see the photos. i was right up in the mess of artists with my camera right in their face. i've never had an opportunity to be in the middle of something like that. it was amazing. with that natural high, rock till we dock became such a reality. J.J. ordered room service while we packed and hung out with Clif at 6am, when i turned on my blackberry and got a mountain of messages. i did a quick glance/scroll through them and lo-and-behold, i got one from the lomographic society. for those of you who know me, i've been big into lomography since 2003, having won a competition in '03, going to Beijing, China because of it, and placing 7th in the Congress in China and going to the Congress held in London this past September. apparently my massive upload of photos and my photo stories i sent into them for the competition were worth it...
because i won.
i won the Lomo World Congress 2007 in London, England. there were over 220 people at this convention from all over the world, all taking photos like crazy. i met so many amazing people on that trip that i'm actually going back to London in two weeks to see them and also to run lights for Brice Woodall and the Positrons on their mini UK tour, where the big show is at Abbey Road Studios! I'm going to run lights at Abbey Road! so many big amazing things happening this year... it's nuts! www.lomography.com/congress2007 has all the info on the congress, i'm not sure if they've posted winners yet. but soon there will be a Japanese magazine featuring my win at the Congress, so i'll be sure to post a link to it. i was in such shock when i read the email i didn't even know how to speak or anything. i'm so happy Clif and J.J. were there when i read it. i don't know what i would have done without them on this cruise, they were like my best friends on the cruise, it wouldn't have been the same without them. shout out to you guys, you rock.
getting off the boat at 8:30 that morning was fun, the computers in Customs were all crashing so it took 5 million years to leave. poor Terry and his wife had their bags completely strip searched, Chris and Jessie had to go into a second screening. what a mess. a crew of us sat at the Miami airport for 7 hours... what a long day. and then i worked Killswitch the very next day... so now that i've gone completely round robin with this ridiculously long post, i'll shut up.
enjoy your morning... i'll be sleeping because sleep is my best friend. we don't hang out much anymore.
the days following the Killswitch show consisted of me going through the mountain of photos i took while on the cruise. nearly 3000. i narrowed it down to a mere 704 to upload to flickr, i'm sure i could narrow it down a few more, but that would have taken waaaay more effort and i don't use the "ef" word around here.
i had an absolute blast on the cruise. it was the Barenaked Ladies "Ships and Dip III" cruise and i had the opportunity to run lights for Carbon Leaf. Chris was running the monitor board, he would have run both if they'd brought their usual console that Chris can control via his laptop like he usually does, but because the band flew down to miami, the left the console at home and opted to use the house board. Clif was aboard running front of house, it was so good so see him again. i'd only been able to work with him at Carbon Leaf shows a few times before he left, and it was a real treat having him be a guest artist of sorts on the cruise with the Leaf boys, other than the time that the snake patch was one off and Barry's mic wasn't on for a bit of Tom Sawyer it was smooth sailing ;)
Carbon Leaf played the Lido Deck stage 3 times, and every time i had a few more lights to play with. all the fixtures except for the front light was LED, so i had a handful of LED parcans, and then i got some LED bars added each day. the third show i was going to do lights, but it got rescheduled, and what's the point of turning on lights at 1:30 in the afternoon? you can't see them. i took photos (big surprise there right?) and Barry joked that he wasn't actually going to pay me, he was just going to cover my bar tab. nothin' but love Barry, nothin' but love.
Sixthman, the company who organized the whole cruise, managed to schedule Great Big Sea and Gaelic Storm at practically the same time every day, which was a bummer for me, they're both really great. i ended up going to the Great Big Sea shows each time though, i kept on saying "i gotta get to Gaelic Storm today" and i'd go to GBS because they always started 30 minutes earlier than Gaelic Storm, and i'd get suckered into staying at the GBS show and feeling sad that i missed Gaelic Storm again... i kept telling Patrick that i'd get shots for him for the Gaelic Storm website and i only got a handful... meanwhile i got tons of GBS shots. i'm lame.
the first night i lived out my lameness, falling asleep early. the week prior to the cruise was intense, ending with me going with Murphy's Kids to Harrisonburg and helping them out and hanging out with their friends until 4 am, sleeping on the floor of their friend's house with Gibby next to me and Kelley sleeping on the gap between the two couches using someone's leg as a pillow... and this girl who i later learned was named "Cargo" waking up before 6am, grabbing my hand and trying to get me to wake up to dance with her... such a strange evening. i think Jack tackled me at some point too... anyway, we got back in town at 3, i ran to CVS, bought film, went home, did the last minute pack and got a call from Orbitz saying my flight was canceled! AH! thank god there was one more flight going to Miami through Charlotte, otherwise i'd have been screwed. i took off from Richmond International at 8:04, had an hour layover in Charlotte, and on the flight to Miami sat next to Craig from New Odds, pretty cool dude!, and landed in Miami at midnight, where the hotel shuttle refused to pick me up. i love Miami. such friendly people. i wanted to slap that hotel clerk through the phone. but HAH, i got reimbursed for the cab ride after some rather ingenious chatting the next morning with the clerk.
day two found Carbon Leaf on the Lido Deck at 9:30, prime time for people and lighting ;) that show looked so kickin'. a couple times i caught Chris leaning out from around the speaker stacks on stage with a thumbs up and a "keep rockin" face. i stayed up with J.J., Clif, Chris and Jessie until 6:30 that morning. we went and got pizza at some point at the 24 hour pizza joint on board, drank at the casino bar, rode up and down on the elevator pushing every button, just generally causing a raucous... and got up at 7:30 to go scuba diving with Chris and Jessie. their friend Freddie works on Grand Cayman and has the hookup with the scuba scuba, it felt so good to get back in the water. and for free too! got back on the boat, woke up J.J. at noon, went back over to Grand Cayman with her, and found a couple odds and ends for my mommy :) next time i see her i have to remember to give her the stuff.
the third night on the cruise i hung out with the Carbon Leaf guys, the Gaelic Storm guys, and Sean McCann from Great Big Sea. i gotta say, this was probably the best night on the cruise. Sean, Patrick and Twigger (Steve) are some of the nicest guys. Sean and Barry got into a funny tiff about who was tougher, and it ended in Barry standing in the ice water in the cooler and Sean drinking rum. Carter played Sean's guitar while making fun of Sean for wearing his acoustic so low saying "how the hell do you play like this," and he and Barry and Sean attempted to jam out "The Rover" and it ended in Barry humming to Sean's singing. we were in Sean's room and on his balcony all night... on the 8th floor of this ship (the ship had 11 floors... 11 floors! the Carnival Victory is like a floating city... well really any cruise is...) which looked over the stern of the ship and also the port side. he had the coolest room on the ship as far as i was concerned, with a wrap around balcony like that! the glow of the boat on the surf it was kicking up was incredible, probably the deepest and brightest blue i've seen, and the drop-off in brightness was extreme, bright blue right to black like the night sky, where the stars were so bright you could actually see them twinkle. truly incredible. i didn't want to leave, but i knew i needed to get at least 2 hours of sleep...
woke up early yet again, around 8:30, and went to the artist beach party on a private beach in Jamaica. the one day that i can actually get some sun! and it's cloudy. J.J. still managed to get burned tho, and from the MySpace message i just got from her she's peeling like a rattlesnake :D i liked the sentence so i stole it, sorry to publicize your skin dude :P watching the BNL and Guster guys play frisbee was hilarious, and having beer brought to you at 10am after drinking Sean's rum was just a bad plan. i felt like crap all day... it was a mix between hungover feeling and seasick, i couldn't tell the difference really... but after an Irish Car Bomb (yes!) with Clif and J.J. i felt amazing! gotta love how alcohol makes you feel like crap and then better again! another long night of absolute insanity, playing huge sized chess, and eating yet more pizza we called it a night at 5 and i managed to sleep until 11:30ish. thank god. Carbon Leaf was on at 1:30 and after that i had nothin' but fun to get into.
i caught every show on the Lido Deck (GBS and New Odds) and the first bit of BNL that night, i really wish i hadn't missed Gaelic Storm... it actually made me really sad, kind of a buzz kill, but if that's the only regret from the whole thing then i'm ok. after the New Odds set, they changed into drag and came back out on deck. over the next hour more band members from every band on the boat came and joined them, eventually with nearly 30 people on stage jamming for 4 and a half hours, not stopping for anything. one song morphed into another and another. it was incredible. if you don't believe me, check out www.flickr.com/photos/plaidleaf in the "The Final Jam" set, you'll see the photos. i was right up in the mess of artists with my camera right in their face. i've never had an opportunity to be in the middle of something like that. it was amazing. with that natural high, rock till we dock became such a reality. J.J. ordered room service while we packed and hung out with Clif at 6am, when i turned on my blackberry and got a mountain of messages. i did a quick glance/scroll through them and lo-and-behold, i got one from the lomographic society. for those of you who know me, i've been big into lomography since 2003, having won a competition in '03, going to Beijing, China because of it, and placing 7th in the Congress in China and going to the Congress held in London this past September. apparently my massive upload of photos and my photo stories i sent into them for the competition were worth it...
because i won.
i won the Lomo World Congress 2007 in London, England. there were over 220 people at this convention from all over the world, all taking photos like crazy. i met so many amazing people on that trip that i'm actually going back to London in two weeks to see them and also to run lights for Brice Woodall and the Positrons on their mini UK tour, where the big show is at Abbey Road Studios! I'm going to run lights at Abbey Road! so many big amazing things happening this year... it's nuts! www.lomography.com/congress2007 has all the info on the congress, i'm not sure if they've posted winners yet. but soon there will be a Japanese magazine featuring my win at the Congress, so i'll be sure to post a link to it. i was in such shock when i read the email i didn't even know how to speak or anything. i'm so happy Clif and J.J. were there when i read it. i don't know what i would have done without them on this cruise, they were like my best friends on the cruise, it wouldn't have been the same without them. shout out to you guys, you rock.
getting off the boat at 8:30 that morning was fun, the computers in Customs were all crashing so it took 5 million years to leave. poor Terry and his wife had their bags completely strip searched, Chris and Jessie had to go into a second screening. what a mess. a crew of us sat at the Miami airport for 7 hours... what a long day. and then i worked Killswitch the very next day... so now that i've gone completely round robin with this ridiculously long post, i'll shut up.
enjoy your morning... i'll be sleeping because sleep is my best friend. we don't hang out much anymore.
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