Roadie Blog: 2006-01-08

Charlotte, NC -Show Day

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Head down to the gig at 11am. We are only the 4th show in the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena (Stones were the first). Big day today, as I have a lot of guests (family and friends). I'm also still fine tuning my amp rig. Work steadily till the first wave of guests arrive around 5pm. I give them a quick tour backstage, then the next wave arrives, they join the first and we all hang backstage till doors. Off go the guests to their seats, just as my wife and her friends arrive (perfect timing). We grab dinner (not good) in catering and soon it's time for the opening act, which we watch from the FOH mix position. I excuse myself midway through the openers set to get ready for our show. Show goes well, except for the onstage camera operator, who shut down my rig by dragging his cable across the boss' pedalboard. Bad cameraman, no donut.

Head home after the show for a couple of days, I'll meet up with the tour again on Sunday in Atlanta.

Charlotte -Off Day

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

I get more days off on this tour than the last, since we only play every other day. Off in downtown Charlotte today, just 2.5 hrs from home. Raining today, Jerry (bass tech) and I dash out for lunch. We were going to go see King Kong, but it was a $25 cab ride one way. No thanks. Spend most of the day in the room due to the rain. Go to dinner with Beau (Monitor engineer from my previous tour), we walk over one block to McCormick and Schmicks, a great upscale seafood restaurant (chain).

Las Vegas to Charlotte -Travel Day

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Lobby call at 9am, off to the airport. Get through security faster than normal for Vegas (which is always busy). Off to the gate to wait with everyone else.

Check the Macworld keynote speech from my Treo (phone) to see what new products Apple has in store this year. Seems Apple sold 14 million iPods in the last quarter (Holiday season) of 2005. Wow!! First up for new products, an FM tuner (and remote) for the iPod. Next up, new version of OS X 10.4.4 is downloadable today, good. Next, a new iLife '06 with updates to iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie HD, Garageband, and a new app iWeb. Very cool. Also announces a new version of iWork, yawn, I don't use it... I guess that's it. I put my phone and continue conversing with various crew members.

Soon our IT guy rushes over with the news that Apple announced a new laptop with an Intel chip (Apple is switching from the PowerPC chip to Intel). He has a photo on his Powerbook courtesy of the free WiFi (I didn't even check, as it's never free). I fire up my Powerbook and bask in the new MacBook Pro goodness. The MacBook Pro runs about 4x faster than my current Powerbook, gotta get one... Also announced is a new iMac running the same Intel chip. Wow, I'm blown away by the announcements. This is a red letter day in Macdom.

Flight is delayed over 30min, we finally board and I sleep most of the way, read a little, watch 'Just Like Heaven' on the screen. Arrive in Charlotte after 7pm. Take a kamikaze van ride to the hotel (this driver is trying to kill us). Then it's off to get some decent food and hit the hay.

Las Vegas -Show Day

Monday, January 09, 2006

Load-in isn't till 5pm, as the client has the room for presentations till then. Head off to a movie around noon, then chill in the hotel till load in. Load-in/line check quickly and soon it's showtime. The bass tech and I are offstage right today, unlike our normal onstage behind the band. It's a nice change and I can see and hear the show a lot better. Load-out and back to the room, no gambling...

Atlanta to Vegas -Travel Day

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Bus dumps us off at the terminal around 9am, after a few hours sleep. We check in for our flight to Lost Wages. I luckily get a decent seat (no middle) and sleep most of the flight. Arrive in Vegas, I didn't check any luggage, so I hit the Starbuck's while everybody else waits for their bags. Head to the hotel, check in, grab some lunch then head over to the venue, where we load in, line check, then load out about 12:30am (the show is a surprise and none of the gear can be seen till showtime tomorrow). We will do this all over again tomorrow. Off to bed.