May 31, 2006
Mexi Wrap
As luck would have it, I'm on the same flight I was last time flying out of CD de Mexico. This time though, minus the the harrowing ride from Veracruz and without Chucho sleeping on my luggage. The went well, save for a few last minute set change snafus. One of which being someone writing over my lead voc channel with not only a different label, but different settings. It seems as though after I stored, prior to the tech starting a new scene for other band he started to store some settings, let other band's mon guy start tweaking ande then realized he hadn't stored it in another scene. At first the slightly drunken surface tech tried to blame me for it. Sure, I labeled the console (on LED strip no less) with the name of other band's primary guy and butchered my settings. I'm not too fond of the SY80 anyway and would prefer an H3k for this. It was good to see Chucho, Roberto and Alberto, along with the lighting guy whose name I can't remember. They were working on a lot more stout rig than when I was there last. Forty V-DOSC modules, sixteen DV-DOSC, a couple of piles of V-DOSC subs, a bunch of La Grupens and I had a herd of SM400s and some 24x6s while we all worked a pair of SY80s while a perfectly good XL4 and H3k set on the dock.
There was a bit of calamity along the way. I won't go into too much detail, but a very good friend in the party was striken ill the night before the gig. He claims food poisoning and the mexican doc backs him up but it was the most violent case I've ever seen. We were just about to dine at Karisma, the mexican joint in the square (more like a circle) across from the Starbucks and the hotels where the well heeled locals and tourists stay. Karisma is the kind of place you can watch the sun come up (and on other gigs we have) but this time our priorities revolved around reviving our friend who had just plunged headfirst into the tour managers salad. I told him to get what hair he had left out of the tour managers plate when the backliner noticed he had passed out. Holy shit!. No really. We all worked to revive him with the help of the staff and a party next to us. Pretty scary couple of moments.
It's almost six am, we didn't get back until a few hours ago from the gig, so I stayed up. The shop with the fork and knife sign opened a few minutes ago, but good hot food is in short supply. One thing I've noticed in many international departure lounges, is the lack of good restuarants and hot food. It's one thing when your flight leaves from the domestic gates of a good airport, choices a plenty. Most of the rest of the party is headed to Hotlanta for a symphonic/pops package. A couple of the band and I don't do the symphony gigs anymore as it's a quartet only. We'll meet up again this weekend in Memphis, where I'm looking forward to some good BBQ. I really don't get a lot of Memphis Q so any suggestions would be appreciated. From there we have about 10 days off before we hit Europe and the summer leg, proper.
Posted by Dave at 05:26 PM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2006
Qui
Posted by Dave at 12:02 PM | Comments (2)
Gig
Posted by Dave at 08:42 AM
May 29, 2006
Hola
Posted by Dave at 06:03 PM
May 28, 2006
Season Opener
The summer touring season is upon us again. Why, it only seems like last summer where we got to experience the hospitality of western Europe. Already this year we've seen such exotic locales as Russia, Morocco, Tunisia and port of call Bayonne, New Jersey (Joisey, what exit?). This year the season starts somewhat bittersweet. Still in search of the elusive (for me, anyway) big time house gig in the "Entertainment Capital of the World" (tm) I enter each new touring leg knowing that it could very well be the last in a career that has treated me well. For the last almost 30 years I haven't had to have a real job, save for the time I spent with my crazy uncle Kenny trying to be dot com moguls. It was about six years ago, ironically with the same jazz singer I'm currently with that on the beach in Nice (break out the atlas, kids) I was convinced that touring was evil and I hated it. It took about two and half years doing something else full time to appreciate what I had. It actually only took about six months. I say this not so we can get all misty eyed in a drunken "I love you man" hugfest, but to remind my peers how good we have it. We are paid a lot of money, to do something that some people pay money to do.
About the time the sun rises above the Strip tomarrow morning I'll board one of Theodore's flights (you can call him Ted) to rendevouz with the rest of the gang for a short jaunt to Mexico City. It's likely I'll see some of my pals from the dates I did down there that were chronicled on these pages as it's the same production vendors. From there we're on to other exotic, third world locations such as Memphis and Toledo before heading to Europe proper. I'd like to apologise for the "third world" comment. I don't consider the part of Mexico we're going to third world. We'll start the Euro jaunt in Azerbijain (really break out the atlas this time, kids), before moving to other parts of the former east and then to western Europe to do the big time jazz fest scene. Apparently, our requirements are that if you haven't had an insurection or coup in the last few years, we'll gladly bring the jazz show to your town.
We'll make an appearance on the Lake Geneva shoreline at the venue that once "some stupid with a flare gun, burned the place to the ground". And of course, when we're there, we'll "make records with a mobile". I don't think we have much time. This year it doesn't look like we'll be able to attend "Funky Claude's" party at his castle. (yes, Claude is a real person, that lives in a castle) I think it's a bit to call it a "jazz festival" these days as the real jazz acts are now relagated to what I think is a C stage in the "burned down the gambling house". Back in the day we were in the two big rooms (this will be my sixth appearance at this gig) but now they should call this a music festival, not so much a "jazz" festival in this quaint little Swiss town. The irony is, the lyrics I riffed for the musical reference in the above paragraph are from a band that will be at this festival, in one of the main rooms. Sadly, Frank Zappa and the Mothers won't.
On previous trips I've covered them with videos and blogging with an occasional moblog, or post from the camera on my mobile. (that's a cell phone, for you septics...) I'd planned to moblog Euro 2k5 but limitations in my hardware and roaming agreements made that not possible. In other words, it was Cingular's fault. This year, thanks to my new international roaming account, a fist full of euro SIMS, Flickr and a new HTC Wizard I'll be able to moblog in real time. I can't guarantee that you will find it interesting, but it will be what I'm seeing when I'm out doing whatever it is that us roadies do.
Posted by Dave at 02:43 PM | Comments (1)
May 20, 2006
Dark Menis
Posted by Dave at 06:42 PM | Comments (3)
May 11, 2006
More Load In
Posted by Dave at 01:35 PM | Comments (3)
Load In
Posted by Dave at 01:31 PM | Comments (2)