quickie

It's 2:30 a.m. Our bus is still sitting here in San Diego, idling. The good thing is, we've been on the bus for the last three hours. Not working. Just chilling.

We had our first show tonight and it went really great. Positive vibes all around. We've got a nine-hour drive to the next city. This'll be my first try at sleeping on the bus.

I'll write all about it tomorrow. Or if I can't sleep tonight. I'm hoping the celebratory beers will do the trick. I'll be out like a light in thirty minutes or so.

Talk to you soon.

a new day

Alright. I slept enough last night to feel pretty refreshed today. I'll try to fill in some empty spaces.

Thanksgiving was really nice. I almost wrote that I didn't get to see my family. That's not true, though. Kayla's family has become mine and I feel a part of it all. I did miss getting to see my blood-family. I miss the old days of falling asleep on the couch at Granny and Papa's house. I had some quality couch time at the Latendresse household. Something in the turkey must've been making us silly, because Justin, Eric and I laughed at this for a long time:


Kayla and I spent a lot of time together while I was home. I'm really lucky to have a wife who is also my best friend.

Sunday, I flew out of Nashville and into San Diego. Night flights are boring but a lot more relaxing than the daytime ones. I could just barely spot the lights of a cities buried deep in the inky black depths of my window. We took a hired shuttle to our hotel. One the way, we dropped a young man off at the Marine Corps Reserve Depot. The shuttle dipped under bridges and around twisty curves, finally planting us deep in the Reserve. All of the news from the Middle East struck a little closer to home as I watched the guy hitch his pack over his shoulder and hike to his room. Peace on Earth... is that too much to ask for?

We're staying the Holiday Inn "at" Seaworld. Definitely not as nice as I imagined it. Two beds in my room for some reason. I ordered Italian delivery Sunday night, having starved on the flight in to town. Some restaurant delivered cannelloni about an hour and fifteen minutes later. I was already too tired to eat any of it. I finished about 1/4th of it and fell asleep watching Metalocalypse.

Monday morning had a 6 a.m. call, so I was up at 5. I walked down to the arena and watched the load-in. There's not so much to do until the video truck comes down since all the local hands take care of the loading and unloading. We just stand and point a lot of the time. We loaded in our stuff but had to wait to move any of it into place. They have to build the stage, rig the lighting and all before we can get anywhere near being set. The entire stage rolls across the arena floor. Shmaba(sp?) and I built the jib up. I shouldn't really have to deal with the darn thing after that last setup. He'll be working on his jib while I'm building front-of-house cameras most of the time. Fast forward several hours of setup and organization...

We started rehearsal around 9 o'clock. I have a nice local stagehand named Laura as my cable page. She's probably in her thirties, married with kids and working for the union here. Another of the hands reminded me that the union is the only way a lot of people can put back money into retirement for later in life. I'm not sure if you can even work around here if you're not in the union.

Rehearsal went fine. I listened in afterwards as Kenny explained more of what he's looking for in the show. We're certainly not going to shoot this like a rock show. He wants plenty of wide, slow cuts. Lots of head-to-toe, which is kinda boring to me. I like to mix it up with crazy tight shots and such. Artsy fartsy, quick and timely. Oh well.

Oh! I almost forgot. While we were hanging screens yesterday, one of the riggers almost dropped a rope on Arnold. He went off. It was kinda funny but not to Arnold.

The arena we're working in is one of the arenas used in Almost Famous. Remember the part in the movie where the the boy reporter meets the girls for the first time? Where he can't get in to interview the band? That's where we loaded in. I'll post some pictures when I get back to the room tonight. It's pretty neat. I walk in and out of that precious guarded door several times a day.

We got off work around 11 last night. 'Twas a long, long day and I was ready to hit the sack. (I did stop by the rapidly disintegrating Tower Records and pick up a few cheap CDs on the way home.) I slept 'til 9 this morning. It felt so great to sleep in a little.

Now I'm here, refreshed, ready to do this. I'm sitting in the stands, watching dance rehearsals and chilling out. Here's a crappy picture of what I'm looking at.

i have two beds in my hotel room and i sleep in half of one

Oh my. 17 hours today.

I flew into San Diego last night, arriving at my hotel around 10:30. I couldn't sleep and ended up staying up until 1 or so, watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Up at 5 for a 6 a.m. crew call. Load-in took forever. I'm really hoping that this was just because it was our first real load-in.

Long story made short:

I worked 17 hours today. I'm going to sleep soon. I'll update with more details and pictures tomorrow.

Here's one pic to hold you over. It's me from my last day at Shop-at-Home/Jewelry Television. (Thanks to Chris for the picture.)


I don't miss it really. I loved the people there, though.

Notes of things I need to talk about later:

the lady (?) on the way to the airport. dark flight. marine corps reserve depot. italian delivery. no sleep. long load-in. nice local stagehands. rope almost hitting Arnold. Almost Famous. weird wall of murals.

i have become the tornado

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm back in Nashville for a couple days and I'll try to remember what I can from the last of rehearsals.

Monday, we came in, rehearsed the show all the way through and got ready to do our first full performance in front of an invite-only crowd. It was looking a little rough as the video crew (mainly Kevin and Jody) were hassled for sync problems. The ProTools rig that runs backing tracks wasn't triggering the video that runs on the screens. This is a pretty big deal, especially during numbers like "Status Quo". You absolutely have to have the lips on screen move in time with the audio coming from the speakers. The general consensus was that hum from the cables around the XLR sync cable was causing jitter and interference. A blackburst generator was called in by Steve (using Nocturne connections) and we had what we needed by 10 o'clock or so that morning.

People started gathering in the soundstage around 3:30. Tons of excited kids and their very patient and supportive parents. The show started a little late but ran almost flawlessly. We missed a couple cues but nothing serious. One of the female leads, however, was sick (the flu, I think) and couldn't finish her second showcase song. They did her third with just dancers and the track playing. Her part in a duet later was filled in by Chucky, the choreographer. It made for a pretty funny performance. You know what, though? The kids didn't really seem to mind and instead showed complete support for the sickly performer. When the final confetti blast hit and I was able to turn around a little, I saw tons of little kids scampering for their own confetti souvenirs. I almost stepped on a couple of smaller ones trying to get back from the front of the stage.

Oh. Speaking of smaller kids...

At the airport on Tuesday, I saw one of the funniest looking baby/toddlers I've ever seen. She was toddling around with her mom in tow. The mom wasn't especially awful looking. I just had to see the dad. Lo and behold, he steps around the corner and I understand completely. It wasn't that the father/daughter combo was super ugly. Just a little funny looking. I'm awful, I know. It was just surprising. So many cute kids out there, there has to be an ugly duckling.

Back to the show...

We finished what I thought was a pretty awesome show and began to break down the set. I took to the jib (for what I hope is the last time) and set to breaking it down into its two road cases. I had a great stagehand, Jerome, helping me and it didn't take quite as long as I thought it would. While we were working, Jerome told me more history of the soundstage where we'd been rehearsing. Stage 15 was the first and biggest of the soundstages on the Sony lot and was used quite exclusively for the bigger films of the thirties. If Jerome was right, it still had water under the floor from any scenes that required aqua action. After packing the jib away, I started working on cables. Tracing them down. Wrapping them up. Storing them away. I had a little break after that and grabbed some pizza backstage. We were waiting for the stage to be disassembled so we could bring the huge LED wall down. This wall had previously been on a Madonna tour. Pretty huge. Tait Towers worked on the design and couldn't have done a better job on it. It breaks down in sections that you then clamp the cases around for transport. Oh! I also learned that Nocturne (who provided the wall and people working it) was one of the first, if not THE first, company to do concert video. It was started by one of the guys in Journey about 20-30 years ago to do one of their tours. Maybe I could do a little work for them in the future. Anyway. Load out took about 4 hours, I think, which is simply too long. It needs to be a lot faster than that. We have to get to the next city to set it up again!

Flew out of LAX Tuesday morning. Sat crammed in between a large-ish man in a tweed coat and a talkative fellow with bladder control problems. And "restless knee syndrome", he told me. I. Don't. Care. Just let me sleep. I woke up at one point in the flight with my head kicked back and my mouth open more than slightly. I thought I was swallowing my gum and began to swallow over and over. I then proceeded to cough a little. After a couple minutes of this, I realized that I had actually spit my gum out way before my nap, sometime before I ate those delicious cheese Handi-Snacks. Ugh...

Kayla picked me up around 4:30 and we gave Kevin a ride back to his truck.

It's good to be home for a bit. I missed my wife, my guitar and the comfort of my bed. I briefly hung out with Jesse today and played with his medium format camera. After that, I went to see a movie. Stranger Than Fiction is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time. Beautiful shots, flawless storyline and perfect musical cues. I don't know why but I was really emotional all throughout the movie. I'll need to see it again to determine if the movie was really that moving... or maybe I was still suffering a bit of exhaustion. See this movie. It's not the comedy the trailer makes it out to be. I wish someone had told the people around me who seemed determined to laugh at Will Ferrell's every move.

Kayla and I ate at Olive Garden then came back to watch a movie and drink some wine. (Red Truck may be my favorite wine yet.) We watched a copy of the sidescreen feed from HSM. I had to purchase a copy of Toast to burn it off, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run. The show looks pretty good so far. I was pretty proud of my shots, too. Maybe I'm cut out for this stuff after all.

We're off to Camden for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I may not update for a couple days. When I get back, though, I'll post the last of my pictures from rehearsals.

I leave for San Diego on Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. May God bless you and everyone around you.

day in, day out

I guess I crashed last night without getting to my blog.

It's alright, though. Nothing truly special happened yesterday. We rehearsed the show again... with me on handheld this time.

Here's some pictures I took during some downtime and during rehearsals:


The view from front of house cameras.



They shoot Jeopardy one stage away from ours.



Where they store the talent around here.



Someone brought their own trailer. Check out the Rat Fink in the window.



On the Sony lot.



Our stage. Where I've been spending at least half of my time for the past week or so.



Kenny directs the cast and dancers.



Confetti test. There'll be way more confetti at the end of the show, though. Even this small amount looked pretty awesome. One of the dancers on the end started grabbing all she could, saying "it's like money!".

on the up and up in the way out west

I didn't post last night because I simply wanted to view the night with a clearer mindset today.

After yesterday's depressing update, things started looking up. We got all four cameras up (minus one viewfinder which arrived this morning). The jib was still funky up until around 5 o'clock. Then... miracle of miracles! A new controller! We rented a full cable/controller kit from VER and it came in right before dinner. I started to take all the cables down and recable it all with the new stuff... but didn't. Instead, I decided to replace the one controller joystick. Bingo. Full control and smooth smooth movement. The air seemed cleaner, the food tasted better and all was right in the land of video. Dinner was pretty good. I had some kind of crazy breaded chicken with salad and mashed potatoes. Surprise! Pomegranate seeds in the salad! I think that's my first pomegranate fruit tasting.

So we finish dinner and begin a very start/stop run through of the show. All the way through. Finally. With working equipment. I thought I did a pretty darn good job covering the shots and even had some impressive moves in there.

After the rehearsal, I overheard the executive producer talking to Kevin. He asked if I was the jib guy or just a guy running jib. Kevin told him the truth, that I was the handheld guy, and the producer says he wants the jib guy here. Ouch. The thing is... the jib guy isn't even known for running jib. That's why Kevin put me on it in the first place. Now I know it seems like I got cut for doing a poor job, but it's simply not the case. I just talked to the producer (Gary) again and he's upset with where the jib is positioned. I'm too far upstage and blocking a lot of the view on my side. I guess it's looking too intrusive during the show. But that's what you get with a jib. I'm all up in the show. If you want the shots, you have to have the camera.

I'm not upset. I'm a handheld guy. That jib is backbreaking the way it's set up. The jib is 24 feet high, but the stage is about 5 feet high. So you lose your height and add a lot of strain to the jib op. I spend most of the show bent over in an upside down U. "Like you're pushing a wheelbarrow", Rick said. So now the workload has decreased for all of us. One more guy means a lot in setup and breakdown. Plus, I get to perform what I know I can do top-notch. Handheld.

Bonus! The show will run about an hour and half, non-stop. That's so short. I'm used to the shows I've shot lately, where I'm running handheld for 5 hours in a row. An hour and a half is less than the stuff I've done at Shop-at-Home. Way less. Should be a breeze.

Things have turned one-eighty and I'm starting to enjoy this again. Tonight, I'll be on handheld and jumping on jib occasionally for an overhead shot. Reminds me of ol' SAH again. The weirdest thing is that I still have to oversee jib duties like talking to the producer about shots and all. I won't even be running it for the first show! The jib guy gets here for the show in San Diego. I hope he's happy with it. Oh well.

We moved the jib. I'll put a picture up tonight when I can upload it. I also just took some pictures of the view from front-of-house cameras. Corbin practicing his toaster stuff. I'll get it up here sooner or later.

Anyway. Back to yesterday's late entry. I feel like I'm rambling.

Nick, Steve and I set off to find a cool bar again last night. We drove by a place called "Saints and Sinners", but the line was too long. We drove by Backstage again, too. Steve's not too fond of karaoke, so Backstage's Thursday/Friday karaoke double-header sent us further out. We drove out to Santa Monica and walked the streets a little. Found a place called O'Brien's which was pretty nice, really. They had a live band playing in another room, with a stationary of the band in a monitor over the bar in the main room. It was WAY too crowded, however, so we went a couple bars down. I don't remember seeing the name of the place. It was narrow and long, kinda like the Villager in Nashville. All the bars are no-smoking, here, though, so you could actually breathe in the place. I kinda like that law. Now I don't come home smelling like cigarette smoke all the time. Couple of Anchor Steams at the unknown place and we were ready to go. Immediately across from the bar was an all-night mexican place with an order window built in. Awesome chicken tacos and the best nachos I've ever had. 'Twas a good night, with reason to celebrate all around. Came home at 2, in bed by 3. Still woke before 8, because I think I'm oversleeping (in Central time). Made myself knock back out for an hour or so, then up and here I am.

See ya later.

nervous

To be totally honest, I'm nervous that we'll be cut from this gig. None of our stuff is working. We have three cameras up right now. One of which is the jib, whose head isn't right. Kevin's working on getting us another camera. Someone really needs to check this stuff out before it leaves the shop.

I'm hoping against hope that we can hang on and pull enough stuff together to make one, full, screen-worthy shoot.

Plus side: I passed the Spiderman 3 crew today. I just need to find the stage they're shooting on now.

the heart attack

Today was grueling. As the days get more and more frustrating, I'm less inspired to write. I'll try to recount some interesting items of the day, however.

Today, the jib went haywire. Totally nuts. Whatever o-rings they've been using to replace the actual belt in the jib servos is obviously not working out. I lost total control of the pan and tilt tonight, left with only pan left and tilt up by the end of the rehearsal. That's no good. The shots sucked. I'm a good shooter, a good camera op... If I have to work with faulty equipment, it makes me look bad. We may be breaking the jib completely down tomorrow morning. I'll be back to running handheld 'til we get more equipment in. All of our stuff has yet to come in. A wide angle lens fried two of our four cameras yesterday. Video is NOT on top of our end of the show right now. Not by any fault of ours, but by the company's. Ugh.

On the bright side...

We went back to Backstage tonight.



I spotted Luke Wilson hanging out with who I think might've been Jude Law with a beard. Backstage had karaoke going on and it was absolutely terrible. So terrible that Luke Wilson and (what might've been) Jude Law left soon after they arrived. I was outside on the phone with Kayla when I saw them leave. Luke started across the street and then had to break into a full-blown run to keep from being run over by some stray LA motorist. They then ducked back into the Sony lot across the street. It's kinda neat being on the Sony lot. It really gives you a feeling of importance. I mean, it takes all kinds to make a movie/concert/tv show happen. Each person plays his/her part in getting this stuff out there. Luke Wilson, Jude Law, Steve, Nick, and I all needed a beer after a hard day's work to kill the edge and allow for some chill-time.

We left Backstage and the horrible karaoke to hit the hotel for a shower... then back out again. We went to a bar recommended by one of the craft services people. Big Wang's. No picture. Sorry. With a name like that, I really should've had a picture of the logo. A really (ahem) "happy" fellow was really excited that he just met "an American idol", he said. I looked the direction he came from, but didn't really recognize anyone. But then again, I've never really seen an entire episode of that show. I had a dish called "the Heart Attack" tonight. Fries covered in alfredo sauce with hunks of bacon in it. It was deeee-licous. As were the couple of tums I needed to relax after that wonderful menu item.


This really grossed me out this morning. Click and see the visible layer of smog surrounding downtown LA. Yuck. I could never live here.


This is the jib that screwed up. They'll either be sending the head for repair or I'll just run handheld with the camera attached to it. Through the legs of the jib, you can spot Kenny Ortega, director of HS Musical.


*Note: I fell asleep writing this last night and had to finish it up this morning.

start of something new

Ugh. All those HS Musical songs are running through my head now.

So I'm pretty tired tonight, after a super long day and a very awesome bar called Backstage, and I'm not going to write very much. I'll update later.

Today we started rehearsals with the cast and I almost knocked the lead female in the head with the jib. From my point of view, I was plenty far away. Inches, at least. Anyway. Long hours, lots of crazy jibwork and a little interaction with kids that are about to become huge stars. I think it's just as surprising to them that it's so popular.

Here's my one picture update for the day.

I could probably get shut down for showing you this one:


Rehearsals today.

all the Deal or No Deal contestants stay in my hotel

Not too much went on today.

We went to the Sony lot at 10, after making a quick stop at what Steve calls "Jack in the Crack". Lots of finalizing today. Josh (the engineer) replaced the o-ring on the jib, so I was in business for most of the day. I tweaeked everything I could, hoping that rehearsals will go smoothly. I found out today that I'll need to be able to break the jib down in about 30 minutes after the show is over. Ouch. We also built a couple screens for projection. Left them for the riggers and they magically appeared, hanging in the air, about thirty minutes later.

Tomorrow, the "stars" arrive. Goal for tomorrow is: don't hit a "star" with the jib.

Kayla talked me into going to see a movie, but I just didn't feel like staying out late and walking the streets alone. Instead, I hiked up the hill behind our hotel to a CVS pharmacy to pick up a Mach 3. Stopped by the Marshall's as well and picked up some more socks. I think the hotel charges $3.50 a pair to have them laundered. No thanks. I also picked up a bottle of wine... but forgot that I needed a bottle opener. I had the stuff chillin' in the ice bucket and everything.

Drop me a comment if you're reading this madness. Hope to see you soon.

Couple pics:



One of the looks for the stage so far. (spot the jib...)


Me on set.

still haven't seen the beach

Well, dear readers, today was spent riding around Los Angeles in the production van with Kevin and Arnold. We were missing quite a few cables, parts and even needed to replace an o-ring on the jib controls.

We had to get a c-stand to prop the jib on while building it, so we went straight to Matthews to get it. Matthews made the old pedestals we used when I first started Shop-at-Home. Matthews seemed to be a little unorganized. Two people were called out to the floor to make the sale. They had no idea how to sell us the one stinkin' c-stand. Eventually, their boss came out, pointed out the item number and off we go! No, we didn't. We stood around forever while they found the right receipts, forms, item number again, stock location and then to bring us the stand. One small stand. At least forty-five minutes. Then to the rigging store to buy hooks and pulleys and such to hang the sidescreens we'll use every night. Just found out today that we'll be using four screens instead of two. Two more for obstructed view seats. Seems that the shows are selling so well that they'll be putting more screens up for the poor kids who won't even get close to seeing who's on stage. There's also a nasty rumor that they added another city for New Year's Eve. This is going to be a really rough tour.

Here's some pictures of some places I've been today.


This is the 24 ft. jib I'll be working.


Our meager production station.


I saw Gort in the window of a clothing store! Whoo-hoo!

Sorry for the screwy format change. Right now is when I lost most of my post and had to start all over again. I might go back and fix it later.


Smoggy Smoggerson and the Smoggolites.


Somewhere on the Warner Brothers lot.


Horryrood!


Vlad the Impaler! The inspiration for Dracula. This was painted on the window of a little production company called Transylvanian Express. They repaired one of the tripod heads for our camera setups. I think these guys were true Transylvanians. They had unique and interesting accents. They had tons of vampire stuff around the room. Also, they sucked my blood.


Grauman's Chinese Theater. Dad told me he still remembers what movie was playing when he first saw Grauman's. The three young Clark brothers had been set free to roam and (I'm sure) terrorize the streets of Hollywood.

We passed a lot of studios today: Warner Brothers, Universal, Nickelodeon, NBC and the one I most regret not having a picture of... the Jim Henson Company. It looked so magical from the outside. I just have to get in there one day.

Something big is being built in the stage across from ours. I hope to do some snooping tomorrow and see what's going on. The Sony lot was really bustling today. Much busier than what we experienced during the weekend.

That's about all I can remember to talk about. I really wish I hadn't deleted almost all of this post in some freak keystroke accident.

Sepulveda is a lot easier to pronounce than you think it is

So it's later on Day 3. Arnold, Josh and I just went to downtown Culver City to eat. They had a pretty nice looking downtown... a lot different than the more commercial looking section we're staying in. There's some nice architechture and even a huge theatre-style neon "Culver" sign that looked really classy. No pictures, but I'll take some later in the week. I'm sure we'll be going back to the Greek place we ate at: Daphne's. Awesome gyro and spanokopita.

Now, I'll probably just stay up and surf the net or something. Maybe watch a little cable TV. Fun fact: I can now write off my cable bill each month as "research". Boo-yah.

Noon call tomorrow. Goals: 1. Put the camera on the jib. 2. Balance the jib. 3. Operate camera smoothly and impressively.

*This wasn't so much an important update to the daily blog (blawg), so much as it was a nice place for me to put little details I might've forgotten down the line.

pet sounds is a perfect album

Whatta day.

We went in at 10 this morning, after a nutritious stop at Jack in the Box. Ugh. I know that decision is going to have repercussions. Walked to Stage 15 feeling like part of a crew. Which I am. It's just a new crew. Gotta find my place in the mix.


There's the list of the movies made on our stage. I'm still in awe.

I built a 24 ft. jib today, almost completely by myself. It took an emergency call to Rick and Grimes to get me straight in the beginning. Since we had nothing else to really work on today, I think a couple people snuck away early. That's cool. Didn't really need input, anyway. If I'm going to be setting this up every day for the next couple months, then I need to know it forward, backward and inside-out. Yeah... so I may be running jib on this tour. I can't tell if the hassle of building and breaking the job everyday is going to make up for having that camera on my shoulder the whole time. I got a couple of "Good Job"s this afternoon, as we were leaving, for my work on building the jib. No one else really knew what was going on. Ah... I guess I'm talking about it so much because I'm actually a little proud of myself. And I think I'm allowed a little bit of that.

Building the jib took the entire day. I had to sift through cables for every different setup to find the ones for our 24 ft. Super Plus. Only to find that we were missing a couple parts. Yay! Parts were gathered, bought and Frankensteined to make what we lacked and now we're ready to put a camera on it tomorrow.

Here's some more pictures.

whole wide world

Oh man.

I have a lot to talk about.

I'll start with some pictures, though.


Snacks on a Plane. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. (I made a joke.)


Mountains.


My room.


My new tagline. Josh: Sounds like whoop, looks like strobe light.

So anyway. I neglected to take my camera to the soundstage today, so I'll have to get those pictures in tomorrow.

I woke up around 9 this morning, having gone to bed a lot earlier than I expected. With our first call being noon, I decided to head down to the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, which was basically just a mall. They have a theater, IMAX and a Borders... nothing too special. I saw on my little brochure, though, that there was a waffle place hidden in there somewhere. So I went for a waffle. Three bucks for a thick, sweet waffle about the size of my hand. Not too bad. I head over to Borders. As soon as I find the graphic novel aisle, Kevin calls me. I walk back to the hotel, jump in the van and head over to In-N-Out Burger. In-N-Out has been praised by so many of my friends. Four things on the menu. Incredible burger and fresh cut fries. Can't beat it.

After burgers, we went to the studio stage. Sony/Columbia Pictures stages. We were setting up for rehearsals inside Stage 15. Historical Stage 15, I found out, when I checked the list of movies made there. I'll list what I can remember and then share a picture tomorrow. Hm: The Wizard of Oz. Rocky. Hook. Spiderman. SpaceBalls. Then about twenty more that I really should be remembering now.

THE. WIZARD. OF. OZ.

We tooled around for a bit, unloaded what gear was there and proceeded with setup. Looks like half our stuff will be getting here on Tuesday for a Wednesday start. Kinda sucks. We set up and tested what we could. We have a huge square LED screen behind a stage with a ramp running from right to left. Two screens on either side, which aren't here yet. Tons of lights and one gigantic disco ball.

I met a lot of my crew today. Lots of good people who have worked on tons of good stuff already. I'm the newbie. Arnold has kind of taken me under his wing and started story after story of tour horrors and surprises. We all went to Sizzler after work tonight and pigged on a little steak and a little salad bar. I picked up a memory card reader, so I'll be able to post pictures more often.

Ok. That's enough for now.

some kind of peanut sauce

So just as I was going to nap a little, Kevin called to see about getting something to eat. We went out looking for a place in Hollywood called Palm Thai (or Thai Elvis). Thai Elvis? Apparently, this place had a little Thai guy walking around singing Elvis songs in full Elvis regalia. We got a little lost trying to find our way there. Then, when we did find where it should've been, we were informed that they changed locations a year ago. Oh well. We ended up at Red Corner Asia. A couple beers later, we're munching on the best Thai food I've ever had. Crispy Duck with Curry Sauce was my personal favorite. It had some kind of peanut sauce that was very mild to begin with... then got very, very hot later on. It was delicious.

Anyway. I saw a lot of LA that I really don't care to see again. I experienced some awesome traffic jams and some totally rockin' horrible driving. Oh. And I passed Crenshaw. Legendary Crenshaw. Saw a couple on a new Vespa in Thai Town and a lot of motorcycles splitting lanes.

Tomorrow, we have a noon call time. I really hope it doesn't last all night. I'm determined to sneak away to the beach at some point.

I'm also a little nervous. A lot of these guys we're have been doing this for a while. I just talked to a guy who's been working Madonna and Mariah's tours. It's not that I can't do the job... there's just a little intimidation coming into play. I can't bring myself to schmooze just yet, though. I always start out way too quiet and then end up a lot louder than I ever meant to be.

Tonight, I sleep (alone) in a king size bed. Kayla and I are usually alright with our little full size. I'm almost positive I'll sleep on one small section of the bed all night long.

See ya tomorrow.

I made it! Look out, Los Angeles!

Ok. Ok. It's Culver City. But it's still LA, I think. Kevin and I took a cab over from the airport and checked into our rooms. Free wireless internet... nice. Wi-Fi for life!

I think we're about to go eat Japanese. I'll post more later on how the day actually went.

I've included a picture of me in my home for the next eleven days. Speaking of pictures, who knows when I'll get to upload what I've taken on my camera. I totally forgot to grab my USB transfer cable. I knew I was forgetting something.