message in a bottle

I'm sitting on the bus in Washington, DC, watching the Police DVD "Everyone Stares". The drummer, Stweart Copeland, bought an 8mm camera early on in their career and documented a lot of their life on the road. From rags to riches, even. I can relate to a very small bit of it. The feelings of time on a bus. Getting used to the suitcase life. Here's a quote that really struck me: "We all bought homes and built families in them, but the only thing that feels real is life out here". Something like that.

We were in Greensboro yesterday and I felt every minute of it. We loaded in early in order to shoot an Ashley video. I finally was able to do some creative shots. Whoo-hoo! I was on stage for a good bit of it and it felt great. I love the pressure. Look for our video on the Disney Channel soon.

Anyway. Let me back up a little. I left home Tuesday night and landed in a really nice hotel in Greensboro, "The O. Henry". Named for the author. I got there around midnight and couldn't even imagine being sleepy. I walked from my swanky hotel over to a convenience store across the street and bought a huge microwave burrito called The Grandito. Hah. It was delicious. I fixed a hot cup of tea in my room and roamed around the hotel looking for adventure. I found none. It's times like these that I feel especially alone. I'm really lucky to have such great friends (and I count my wife in this category) who are up for "whatever" sometimes. Just wandering around, looking for fun. But when I'm by myself, late at night, it's a lot harder to stay entertained. I stayed up 'til 3 or so and woke at 6 to get ready to hop on the bus again. Which leads me to yesterday again. It was a long day with a lot of technical problems and my worsening coughing fits. Everyone seems to be a little under the weather and it may take a lot more than popping AIrbornes to keep healthy out here. Oh. And it was super cold yesterday morning.

But today is a new day. Today, I'm in DC, watching a DVD on the bus. Instead of out walking around, discovering the city. I've already taken a nap and now it's nearing dinner time. Maybe one day I'll be back. I just don't feel like walking a block and then having to come back to the venue because of the time.

We're counting down now. 26 shows left, including tonight. One month.

I'll try my best to write more later. We'll see how tired I am tonight.

holiday spirit

The day is dragging...

We loaded in early this morning, sometime around 6. I couldn't get to sleep last night, for a lot of different reasons. The most obvious ones being: we didn't hit the road until late... as I was falling asleep, Reno stopped for gas or something... I think he forgot to turn the generator on, so the air flow stopped... I got pretty warm and had a nice coughing fit. I've been battling a sore throat for a couple days now. I was pretty hoarse yesterday. Today is better.

We're all ready to get the heck out of here.

Something I made up while working today:

"'Twas the night before Christmas eve
and out at front of house,
I was working my butt off,
a slave to the Mouse."

I'm tempted to write more.

(you're getting worse...) no... i'm getting... better...

I'm feeling better now. We had a good, fun show and our stagehands rocked our stuff out pretty darn fast.

Talked to Rick Reale this afternoon. Shout out, Rick! He said he was relating to everything I've been writing about. Dealing with hands, small bunks and tour life in general. Hope to see you all the Shop-at-Homies soon. When I get back in February, we'll have to do lunch at China Chef (ah.. thank you, you're welcome, thank you).

It's 12:33 in the morning. Riggers start marking points in four hours. We still have to drive 100 miles tonight, too. I don't know how this is going to work once we encounter something like snow or some other rough road condition.

Kayla says I should work in more emotion and less work. After Christmas, I'll change the pace a little and document from a more personal angle.

One more show and then I go home for a day or two. Whoo-hoo! When we get back to Greensboro after Christmas, we'll be shooting a video for Ashley. Credits! I'm going to bed. G'night!

constrained to be a debtor

I haven't written too much about emotions on this tour, I don't think. I've been a little too busy to really take stock of my feelings... and, to tell the truth, I don't know how much I really want to reveal. I certainly don't want this to become some pour-out where I cry and moan about every little thing that doesn't go my way.

Nonetheless...

Have you ever had a day where you just started feeling stupid? Occasionally, I'll have a depressing day for no reason. This afternoon, I felt a crushing weight. I've been paying attention to my posture lately. Trying to sit up, stand up straight and such. This weight drives my shoulders down, my chest in. I really can't wait to see my wife and my friends again. As much as I like to hang out with the guys on the crew, I'm due for some time with people who share my sense of humor. Not that I don't have a good time with everyone... But don't you love the feeling when you hang out with someone that you've laughed with for years?

Here's to a good show, a safe drive and holidays with the family. I hope all is well with you and yours.

countdown

Haha. Okay.

So I didn't post again in Tampa. After I posted that entry, I went to the pool and jacuzzi for a while. The pool was just cool enough to be completely refreshing after boiling in the hot tub. I alternately stewed and froze for about an hour. Instead of heading straight back to the room, I decided to walk the dock outside the hotel for a while to dry off. On the way back to my room, Nick called me over to a table outside. Several people were beginning to gather with drinks and laughs. I went to my room, changed into some dry clothes and brought a couple drinks back to the table with me. By the time I got downstairs again, quite a few people that I don't normally get to hang out with were joining the party. I really can't post too much, 'cause I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Ha. Talk to me personally if you want to know anything else. It's not a big deal. Just more than I can post in a public forum.

So that took care of my time in Tampa. I slept a couple hours and woke the next morning for our eight o'clock call. Tampa had great catering guys. They were super friendly and offered some really delicious suggestions. I guess they get a good bit of work, as they were with us the next day in Orlando, too.

Orlando was nice. The weather was perfect, especially later in the afternoon, and I tried to stay outside for a while. The show went well. Set-up and tear-down were bothersome. We were told to set up the back screens again. The back screens are for the people with the worst seats, near the back of the stage. The problem lies in the positioning. The screens are so far off the stage that you actually have to turn your head in an awkward direction to see them. Oh well. Not my decision. It kinda doubles my workload... ugh. The stagehands in Tampa and Orlando were very competent. I love a good crew of hard workers. They showed a lot of initiative and would start working on the next project without me telling them to do so.

The shows right now are just a countdown to Christmas. We all want to be home now.

But we're not home. We're in Columbia, South Carolina, where it's rainy and kinda depressing. The steady rain is making everyone sleepy.

Steve gave me an entire dvd full of pictures he's taken. I'll do my best to post a lot of them or maybe stick them on Flickr and link you.

Here's one to hold you over. It's Shmaba, me, Jody and Arnold.


I'm giving you the stink eye.

short sleeves

Hello friends and family.

I'm in Tampa now, by an incredible sequence of events.

Yesterday, we did the DVD taping for HS Musical in Houston. The DVD crew came in with 12 more cameras... ugh. I had three more handheld guys and three more cable pages down in my pit area for the show. I just kinda stayed on stage left for half the show and switched over to stage right for the other half. It was a little too crowded to do a lot of running around. Houston was an adventure. I woke up around 8, expecting to be early and really needing a refreshing morning shower. Too bad, 'cause as soon as I stepped off the bus, I saw our cases coming off the truck. I stayed in what I slept in for most of the day, working hard to get things completely situated for the taping and all. We added two screens in a weird position almost completely behind the stage for all the people with the worst seats in the house. My stagehands were great, though, and made things a lot easier in the long run. One of the hands had what looked like a mohawk, a strange sense of humor and almost a bad attitude. He was a good guy, though. All of our stagehands had just come off a late-night load out for Trans Siberian Orchestra, so I can see where people could get lazy and/or a little on-edge. This one guy was pretty funny, though. They had come up with great roadie songs. Like "Riders on the Case (Storm)", "Inner Soundman (Sandman)" and my favorite, "Master of Trusses (Puppets)". I had a good time in Houston, despite the seriously long hours and dreadful catering. We were in the building from 8 a.m. 'til well past 1 a.m. the next morning, with no real breaks.

Catering. A new surprise every day. The menu seems to revolve around grilled chicken, salmon and sliced beef. Always two of the three. Always. Potatoes. Salad. Another vegetable or two. Always. It's getting a bit old.

Back to last night. All day yesterday, Steve had been talking about the flight he had booked instead of the 1000 mile bus ride to Tampa. Around 6:30, Jody looked at me and said, "If you go book the flight, I'll pay for it." Right on! The flights were super cheap, about 100 bucks apiece. Jody's a great guy and I never expected him to actually pay for my flight. He did, though. He even let me use their guest bed for a couple hours last night after the show. Since Jody lives in Houston, his wife (and two adorable kids) came and picked us up after load out. Our flight left at 7:45 and we were on our way to Tampa. 11 o'clock and we're in our hotel, right beside the water, enjoying an actual day off. I made the mistake of trying out the bed this afternoon and only woke up when Jody called about getting something to eat. Steve, Jody and I walked down to Jackson's and ate some seafood (sushi for me) and chilled out there for a while. We have harbors all around us here, so every view is great. Sunset and sushi and a couple of Bass Pale Ales. That's my evening so far.

I talked to a friend online last night. I couldn't help but confess my one major revelation from this entire experience. LIFE. IS. WEIRD. Seriously. Every couple days, my mind will catch up with where I'm at or what I'm doing and remind me of what's really going on. I almost always start laughing, simply because I cannot believe how things have changed in the past two months.

It doesn't seem like the holidays. I have my door open here in the room and the weather's spectacular. I plan on spending some time in the jacuzzi tonight and maybe spending some time on my patio.

I'll post again late tonight with some pictures.

gimme a t for texas

Heh... I have a little catching up to do.

Last we spoke, I was getting ready to leave for home. I woke up around 4, I think, Tuesday morning and hopped on the hotel shuttle to the airport. It was me, some stranger and Baby V and her family. I didn't really talk to her/them, though... I think they might be in their own world. A world that's a little too rich for my blood. I slept most of the way on the plane from Seattle to Houston. My flight from Houston to Nashville was delayed almost an hour. That was fine with me. I grabbed an overpriced sandwich from Schlotsky's and napped in the airport. There's something liberating about sleeping in the midst of so much rushing around. I just set up a little camp in the airport hallway and enjoyed a little stretch of time that I had no control over. Wait a minute. The delay was from Houston to Shreveport. My flight home was straight from Seattle to Nashville. I'm going to leave this mistake in just to show you how mixed up my days have become.

Ah... Nashville was nice and I can't wait to get back there. Kayla picked me up at the airport and we tried to spend every waking minute in each other's company until I left Friday morning. I feel like a kid when I'm around her. Here on the road, I have to keep some degree of responsible adult attitude if I'm going to earn any respect from my peers. At home, it's no-holds-barred silliness.

My apologies to anyone I didn't call while I was in Nashville. Keeves, I know you called me a couple times and I swear I'll make it up to you.

So now I'm back out again. Last night, we were in Shreveport, Louisiana. When I arrived there Friday, I had the entire night to explore. I walked down to an area of shops that lined the river and looked around for a bit. I wasn't really in the mood to shop in outlet stores all night. So I started walking back to my motel. I crossed a huge bridge for the second time and stopped into a casino to test out the buffet. The Eldorado Casino didn't especially wow me over with their buffet but that certainly didn't stop me from stuffing myself with all the crab legs I could crack open. They say, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". So I followed up my feast with a disappointing stop in the casino. Thirty minutes later and sixty bucks lighter, I moped back to the Holiday Inn.

Early calls on the weekend, so I was up around 5 on Saturday. Off to Bossier City for a show! We stepped off the bus at the venue and it smelled like the entire town forgot to take out their garbage this week. I had a couple of lady stagehands who must've been hopped up on something. Whew. They just didn't stop talking. Or moving around. The entire day. They weren't bad workers, though. Just tiring to be around. Bossier City was a small sell in a small arena. Not too eventful.

Drove overnight to Dallas after the show. I made the mistake of sausage, red beans and rice on the bus ride out. I'm also developing a taste for fried oysters. Maybe I'll try them raw sometime soon. Anyway.

I'm on the bus again now. We're heading for Houston, our engineer's hometown and also where my uncle-in-law Steve lives.

Oh! Kayla graduated yesterday! My family drove up for the graduation. I wish I could've been there. She's worked so hard and she was more than ready to get out of there, I know.

I haven't taken any pictures on this leg of the tour so far. I just haven't felt like it.

Tomorrow, they're taping a DVD of the show while we're shooting it. They'll be adding 12 more cameras to the mix. I have no idea how we're all going to fit in there and still pull off our shots. After Houston, we have a 16 hour drive to Tampa. I'm overjoyed, of course. Ugh. Kidding. Just kidding.

We have a new merch guy on the bus who's replacing our current merch guy, Luke. This guy's name is Medge (sp?) and he has a great accent. Kinda Scottish, I believe. He tells great stories and tells them plenty loud and with great humor. I think he'll be a lot of fun.

G'night, now. Tomorrow. We'll talk more tomorow. Topics for discussion: bus politics, screens, catering adventures, bunk life.

prone to wander, Lord, i feel it...

Seattle, nearing 1 in the morning.

Gotta finish repacking. Gotta wake up at 4, get to the airport. Gotta catch a flight at 6 or so. Haven't had a shower today. Gotta do that soon.

Seattle was nice. The first thing I saw when I walked off the bus was the Space Needle.


That's me. And the Space Needle.

It was rainy, cold and a tad bit miserable in Seattle today. No one really had a chance to get a shower, since we rode in straight from Portland last night. Several confessed to seriously needing one by the end of the night, with a few disclosing cases of "gig butt". I hope I never experience the like.

I'd like to come back to Seattle sometime in the future. Spend a few days here. Spend a few days in Portland. Spend a few in Phoenix. Those are my choices so far.

I'm kinda tired tonight, fellas and gals. I'm excited to be going home tomorrow. I just want to sleep in my bed and hold my wife. Sit on my couch and listen to a record. Drink a beer with my friends. Play my guitar 'til I fall asleep. Ride my poor cold scooter. The simple things I take for granted when I'm home. I'm having a blast, that's for sure... but some things just can't be replaced by the adventures of a somewhat-open road.

Here's some pictures I haven't put up for some reason.


The license plate of our bus.



Me in San Jose. With the San Jose Shark. Obviously.


Load in. San Diego.


View from my room in San Jose. I walked around downtown a bit. Tried to go to a comic store but it was closed. Silicon valley.


Kenny directs Lucas.


Here's the blood blister I got one night while emergency fixing the focus on the job for Shmaba.


Most nights, our video world looks like this.


I wanted banana chips. They gave me two huge bags. I'll be eating these through February, I imagine.


I'm considering staying up all night and just sleeping on my flight tomorrow. With around three hours 'til I need to be at the airport, I'm almost sold.

See you soon.

oregon trail

Hey hey!

A new day!

We drove the 860 miles to Portland overnight, with one stop for gas and one stop for a quick lunch. By the time we got there, it was afternoon and starting to get dark and cold. I stayed in the room for a bit and even took a nap. The hotel was... less than the best. It wasn't horrible... just way, way nastier than the places we've stayed at so far. The internet connection didn't work at all. That's why I'm writing this today. At the venue.

So anyway. I took a nap and decided to get out for a while. We weren't exactly downtown and I had no internet directions to rely on, so I used the little giveaway Portland attraction map to walk around a bit. Our crew sheet recommended a Japanese restaurant several blocks away, so I aimed in that direction. I probably walked about fifteen blocks or so and found a mall called Lloyd Center. A moped was parked outside. I took it as a sign. Lloyd Center was a three-story mall with an ice skating rink somewhere in the middle. Lots of high-schoolers cruising in their winter formal tuxes and dresses. I walked around the mall for a while and started getting hungry. Forward! On to sushi! HIked a few more blocks, passing several sushi places on the way. I passed one that I seriously regret trying called Sushi Land. It had the awesome rotating assembly line of sushi plates going around the middle with seats along the outside. Oh well. Kogi (the place I decided on) was a small, great restaurant with incredible eel and huge pieces of tamago (sweet egg). On the way home, I stopped back at the mall, considering watching a movie at the adjoining theater and ultimately bought a new graphic novel and went back to the hotel. I spent most of the cold walk home on the phone with Kayla. I would definitely like to visit Portland more in the future. The little I saw of it was pretty interesting. Lots of people on bikes, mopeds and I even spotted a guy on a Honda Metropolitan. I hear there are a lot of homeless kids in this city. I don't know if I see this as a bad thing. I really just wonder if it's voluntary homelessness or if they are truly down on their luck. Oregon, overall, pushes itself as an environmentally protective state, so I imagine Portland attracts a lot of hippies and such. The local paper had a lot of shows listed, not so many on the night I was here, but every day otherwise. Nashville just doesn't seem to draw the shows I want to see anymore. Maybe two a month that I would consider paying for tickets. Portland, on the other hand, had probably five different bigger-name shows that I'd like to see this week. Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black were doing some sort of show at an arena downtown last night. I think those guys are hilarious and I couldn't imagine them ever finding an audience in Nashville.

At any rate, I ended up in the room around 10:30 last night, reading my new book and listening to music. Around midnight, I got hungry again and ran to the bus to get the half of an Arby's reuben I didn't finish at lunch. I expect that decision to haunt me for the rest of the day. The room was nice and warm by the time I finished my snack. I crawled into bed and fell asleep watching School of Rock on tv.

6 o'clock call this morning. Yeesh. 9:30 and we're set in video world. At least until the stage rolls in. Great group of stagehands. I've yet to meet anyone who understands cables, though. What is this world coming to?

I'm making some great connections while I'm doing this tour. I talked to my mom for a long time last night about the tour and life in general. I think Kayla and I made the right decision in taking this offer. It'll all pay off down the line.

More later. I plan on taking a nap at some point today.

rough day in bakersfield

It's been a rough day for most everyone.

Someone stole my hoodie tonight. My trusty hoodie that I was sincerely depending on to get me through the cold of Portland and on to Seattle.

I was a little ticked that no one picked it up for me. Everything else seemed to make it. Ugh. I'll get over it. The smallest things keep me happy sometimes.

Everyone's on edge for some reason. Screwed up LED panels, not-so-great pyro, more screens on the way, awful stagehands, broken agreements. The break on the 12th will do everyone some good.

You can have Bakersfield. I'm done with it.

Oh. Remind me to tell you about my funny laundry incident in Sacramento. G'night, all. I'm having a little Patron, some Subway and a long, long sleep to get over this town.

does Merle still live here?

Bakersfield is windy and sandy. Not a good mix. I think the arena we're playing is close to the prison. I've seen nothing but tire/rim shops and empty furniture stores. Bakersfield is not impressing me so far.

long overdue

It's been five days since my last update. I really need to keep up with this. I'm letting myself down.

Let's go back to Phoenix. I'm pretty sure that this place had the worst stagehands so far. Lots of meth-heads and stoners, completely clueless most of the time, wandering off in several directions. It definitely seems like we get the dregs of local help. Always the weak, drug-addled bottom-of-the-barrel stagehands. Oh well. Occasionally, a good apple or two will show his/her face in the barrel and I can rely on them to get the job done.

Once we hit the arena, I really don't see any more of the city we're in. I feel as if I'm falling into a routine, which makes writing about it a little harder. If every day seems the same to me, then why do I need to talk about it? This is not a good attitude, though, as every single day I have something interesting happen.

After the Phoenix show, we drove all the way back to northern California, to Sacramento. Not the cool, downtown Sacramento, though. The powers-that-be decided we should be on the outskirts. So, we arrived at the Garden Inn hotel sometime around 10 in the morning. I woke up, grabbed my stuff and made it to my room with blurry eyes and plenty of stumbles. I swear I was still asleep when I got to the door. Five minutes in my room and Steve calls. They're heading down to find some food. Nick, Steve, Kevin and I all started the long walk to find something to eat. Imagine if you were in Nashville for a day, without a car, and you were staying in a hotel out in the Metrocenter area. That's the best description of where we were stationed for our day off. Up the street a little, I found a Baja Fresh and a small grocery store. The little grocery store had some travel-size laundry detergent and softener sheets, meaning I was in business for some laundry action later in the day. Stopped at Baja on the way back and sat inside to eat. While I was eating, I read through the local entertainment paper (kinda like the Scene) and found something to do for the night. The Blood Brothers and ...Trail of Dead were playing somewhere in town at a place called the Library. Whoo! After I got back to the hotel, I washed some clothes. Kevin called right as I was about to put my second and last load into the dryer. He was going to see a movie downtown. So, I threw my wet clothes into my laundry bag, not really trusting them to sit in the dryer for a few hours. Kevin, Nick and I set off for a theater downtown in a mall-like setting and watched the new Bond movie, Casino Royale. I thought it was pretty good. I'm not much of an action movie fan most of the time. Some of the stunts are way too unbelievable to be cool... but it's a Bond movie after all. We returned to the hotel around 5:30 or 6. The show started at 7:30. What I learned on the way to the theater and back, however, is how much a taxi costs in Sacramento. The starting point is $2.80 and then $2.80 for every mile thereafter. UGH! I checked on distance to the show... ten miles there... ten miles back. Twenty dollar ticket. Meaning my evening would cost at least eighty bucks, right off the bat. Unfortunately (or quite the opposite if you ask my wallet), I decided to stay in for the night. I had my sights set on a sushi place down the street. Around 8:30, Steve sent me a text, with details on a mission to Outback. He had seen a commercial on tv advertising Outback shrimp and was determined to have a ton of them before the night was over. He said he would even pay for the cab ride out there. So, $25 cab ride later, we arrived at Outback. As we walked towards the door, an employee came out, apologizing and explaining that they were closed an hour early for an employee holiday party. Steve was a little miffed. Lucky for all of us, a Red Lobster was right next door. Steve, Nick and I sat in for a feast. I had the crab alfredo linguini and steak. Delicious. I think I could be just as satisfied with a plate full of those cheddar biscuits. I'm not the most reliable judge of culinary art.

The show in Sacramento was a lot of fun. Kevin's much more relaxed now (we all are) and he kept me laughing for most of the concert. The stagehands in Sacramento were pretty good. We had two younger girls, an older lady, a ghetto-thug who never spoke, Dennis with long hair and another who apparently wasn't unique enough for me to remember what he/she even looked like. Sacramento and Stockton (our next stop) share a lot of the same union work, so we saw most of these hands again the next day. Which was pretty awesome, as they already knew how to do a lot of what we were doing and could teach any new additions to the crew. I think it was the Sacramento show where I spotted one of those painter's masks fall from the rafters in the middle of the third or fourth song. It just kinda floated down, trailing those bands that keep it on your face.

An hour drive to Stockton, a few hours of sleep on the bus and we did it all again the next day. Stockton was a small arena, with a huge flat area, one floor up, behind the stage. That's where catering was and also where we set our projectors. 'Twas an easy load-in and fairly easy load-out. Catering was kind of funny in Stocton. They ran out of Sloppy Joe meat and several people waited thirty minutes or so for more. For dinner that night, black cloths were over the tables, wine glasses were out and the dimmest of lights covered the area. Dessert was the highlight, disappearing fast: a caramel/cheesecake/apple/something/burrito-looking fried pie. I had a couple beers on the bus later on, a reward for a couple days of hard work, and we were off to Bakersfield. I'm trying to watch my alcohol intake. I want to be at 100% for the shows. I also don't want to come home with a beer belly. "Surprise! I'm fatter!" Not happening.

Reno, our bus driver, is a pretty cool guy. Apparently, he's written a couple of dance hits (techno, I believe) and still works on a lot of his own music for soundtracks, walk-in music and such. He doesn't mind laying down the bus rules and I respect that. He hauled a little booty and got us here pretty early this morning. I remember the bus stopping. I definitely remember going back to sleep. I woke up around 10 and took my stuff to my room at the DoubleTree here in lovely Bakersfield. I called Kayla when I got to the room. She said I sounded a little sick. I felt a little sick. I spent the rest of the day in bed, sleeping and recovering. When I finally got up and going around 5 this afternoon, I felt a lot better. I've been pounding Emergen-Cs and an Airborne each day, fighting the inevitable sickness of over-exertion and life on a bus with 9 other people.

We walked over to Black Angus to eat and celebrate Jody's birthday. Jody, if I haven't mentioned him yet, is our engineer and an all-around good guy. He's been stopping to explain a few different things production-wise that I wouldn't have learned without him. Lots of general knowledge concerning engineering, lighting and all. Shoot! I forgot to take a picture of the Black Angus. If Chris Ward is reading this, he'll be a bit disappointed that I visited the home of "you'll each get your own" and didn't document. Arg.

I returned to the room, talked to Kayla for an hour or more and hit the street looking for something to do. Some sort of entertainment place called Incredible Pizza was right across the road. I looked them up online, where they advertised a gameroom that stayed open 'til 10. Wrong. Closed at 9 and I was back to my room. Jacuzzi time! It was a bit chilly and the hot water felt great. I stated in until I could hardly stand it. Got out and walked around the pool a bit. No one but me around. Toed the water. Polar bear time as I dove into the icy pool. Straight out of the pool and into the jacuzzi. I love that feeling. I stayed in and around the jacuzzi for around 45 minutes. So relaxing...

So here I am. In the room again, writing. I will, I WILL continue to update.

Oh! I just thought of something great that happened last night.

At load-out, we were designated our stagehands, most of which I had already worked with the night before. One of the newer guys was a late-thirties asian guy who worked his tail off. When we were wrapping cables, I took him to the access hole between the stage and our area and showed him where the cable to my handheld camera passed through. Lo and behold, he gets down and climbs through the hole. It was probably no more than eight inches high and two feet across. It was the craziest thing I've seen yet. Oh man. No one else saw it. I was laughing all night about that one. Just the image of this guy, crawling and inching his way through this hole... and me behind him, yelling "No! You don't have to go through that!" to no avail. It's not like I could grab his legs and pull him back. He just... went.

Hah...

I also got this awesome blood blister on my finger in Sacramento. I went to help work out the focus on the jib during an emergency in the middle of the show and clamped my Leatherman down right on the tip of my index finger. For the past couple of days, it's looked like a little mohawk on the tip there. I left my camera in the workbox, though, so you'll have to wait on pictures.

Tomorrow, Bakersfield. Portland on Sunday. Seattle on Monday. Home on Tuesday!

phoenix rox my sox

Phoenix is a really cool town.

Nic and I went to a great place to eat called Carly's. I had butternut squash soup and a great turkey sandwich of some sort. After that, we went to a show at a neat little place named Modified Arts. It was a tiny art gallery with a stage that reminded me of Indienet. The Cops played a really incredible show. I bought a cd. After that, we went back to a place we had visited earlier. George and Dragon Pub. They had a car show earlier today, so we went back for a little live rockabilly music and good atmosphere.

This is just a small update to remind me of how much I've loved this city tonight.

Plus... my hotel is unreal. I'll post my own pictures of it later. I'm supposed to be up and on the bus four hours from now. Here's a link: http://www.theclarendon.net

Word.

cactus out the window

I haven't posted in two days... and I don't even have a good excuse. Thus, I begin with the recaps...

Thursday's show in San Jose went well. We nailed most of our shots and cues and all. The excitement surrounding the first show was so big. There were several cheers going up beforehand from the cast, dancers and hangers-on. I formally met Corbin and Lucas and gave Vanessa's puppy a pat. There are at least two dogs running around backstage most of the time. Ashley's mom carries around a pup and Vanessa's little sister walks a little dog that's about the size of my foot. Accessory dogs.

We finished the show around 9:30 and started into load-out. As this was my first real load-out, I didn't really understand how things came together. I was in charge of cables. I had a few stagehands under my watch, too. Stagehands will only do what you tell them. Since I wasn't too comfortable yet, I was having a hard time keeping control of everything. I ran around a lot and lost track of how many cables were still out and about. Lesson learned, though.

Video finishes load-out pretty quick, so Arnold and I hopped in with the LED wall guys to help them case their pieces. Soon after that, we were on the bus. I had a few Tecates, ate some In-n-Out burgers and celebrated with my crew. We partied in the back lounge until the bus started up. We left San Diego between 2:30 and 3 in the morning. I hit the bunk when we started moving and slept like a baby. Like a baby in a slightly bouncy, swaying, vibrating bus. I sure didn't set an alarm. I woke up when we stopped in San Jose around noon.

Our hotel was the Crowne Plaza in downtown San Jose. My room was super nice, in the corner of the top floor. I unloaded some of my luggage and took a shower. We had load-in at 3 that afternoon. The arena was where the San Jose Sharks play. They certainly weren't going to lose their ice, so huge insulated floor pieces were laid in over the ice rink. The perimeter of the rink stayed uncovered and a little slippery all the time we were there. We finished load-in at 11 Thursday night. A couple of guys went looking for bars but I went back to the hotel. I'm still a bit leery about staying out too late. I want to be at my prime operating level for a while. It'll become second nature soon and I'll give myself more party time later.

The show in San Jose was nuts. 12,408 was the paid attendance. The kids were screaming way before the concert even began. Disney videos were playing on our sidescreens for walk-in. Anytime a HS Musical-related item popped up, the kids went crazy. The show ran without any major glitches and I did a lot more crowd shots. I keep trying to catch the kids when they're dancing, but everytime they see the camera pointed in their direction, they stop what they're doing and just smile and wave. Ugh. I don't need smiles and waves! I need action! DANCE!

Load-out went super smooth. I had better control over stagehands and a much clearer vision of my responsibilities. We were way ahead of schedule all night long. Pizza on the bus and I hit the hay when we left out.

We're on our way to Glendale now. I woke up around noon and straggled my way to the front of the bus. Kevin was watching Deadwood on a huge flatscreen and I ate some yogurt. Which brings us to now.

Here's some random thoughts:

*It's kinda funny that Lucas and I are on some sort of buddy basis now. He always says hi and calls me by name and such. Of course, I do the same. It must have something to do with my attitude towards the kids. I haven't really been starstruck since I was young and learned pretty early how to talk to people in somewhat exalted positions. If you're a jerk when I treat you like a regular person, you can have fun being alone. I get along with anyone that responds to ordinary conversation.

*The load-out is making for a great workout. I just keep running and lifting.

*We have a list on the bus for runners to get us food and stuff. S'kinda neat. I shouldn't have to spend too much on food. I just write it down and it magically appears a day or two later.

*My bunk is small but it feels like an escape cave.

*I saw my first huge cactus (cactii) out the windows today. Lots of crazy rock formations. Lots and lots of nothing.

More later. Plus I have a lot of pictures I haven't uploaded to my computer yet. Steve is taking a lot of pics, too. He was able to take a lot of great production shots that I can't wait for you to see.