The Days Mission.

'Nuff said

St. Paul Catering Excellence

The Topic for my first blog is concerning yesterday's Catering Experience.

You would think that with the great food, flowers, tablecloths, and also candles, muted tv's, and calming music to add to the ambiance that we must surely have paid an exorbitant amount of money. However, we actually paid over $500 more for catering in Raleigh and in Bossier City than we did yesterday in St. Paul.

Now these aren't things that are included in our rider, nor do we ever walk into catering expecting it. But wasn't it a nice bonus for the day? For just a few minutes and for all 3 meals we were rewarded unexpectedly with a moment of excellent treatment. I don't know about you, but it made me feel special, . . . appreciated even. I almost felt like it really wasn't for me, and we were cheating. Maybe they thought we were someone else.

But you know, the truth is that we were just in the presence of a group of people that gave attention to the details, went above and beyond the expected, and believed in doing their job with excellence. It didn't take a whole lot of extra effort or money, and yet made a bright spot in the lives of 67 tour people.

Kinda made me think. . . Do I always do my job with excellence? Or do I do what it takes to get by? After all, I'm busy and have a lot going on. And isn't this a society where we think "You get what you pay for"? So I am asking myself, "What kind of difference could I make in someone else's life if I paid attention to details, went above and beyond the expected, and did what I do with excellence"? . . . . . . Hmmm . . . Just a thought.

To stay clean....

-Snooch

Shame on me!

Hey...Production Assistant here...I just feel the need to write a short note of apology to my fellow crew members. Yesterday we were in St. Paul, MN at the Xcel Energy Center. Basically the importance of that is that it's huge! Catering is on one side of the arena and the dressing rooms on the other. Well, not only did our hard working crew have to walk all around the arena all day, but they were forced to wander in confusion at 7:30 in the morning looking for a door inside. Now, because I am part "band wife" part "crew member" I ride the band bus, which was parked literally backstage. Therefore, I had no problem finding my way inside when I stepped off the bus. I feel like an apology is necessary because I am responsible for putting tape arrows down each morning to prevent everyone from getting lost. Three of our buses were parked not only further up the ramp, but, up the ramp, through a HUGE dock door, around the corner, through another HUGE dock door, and further up the ramp. I did not realize the magnitude of this mistake until I went out to stock the buses with groceries and ice. Although I made it out, I was not paying attention to where I was going and could not find my way back in for about 15 minutes. Frustrating! So...to the crew I want to say...I AM SORRY! I'm sorry for assuming that the buses were "just up the ramp" and not finding them to point you in the right direction.

Ok...so for real...you guys rock and I'm really sorry!

Who Is This Guy?

Meet Carl. Carl works as a guitar tech, with us on tour, but he is really much more. He can setup and string a guitar quicker than anyone I know, he can fix just about anything on a guitar, and he works out a lot! I mean can't you tell? Hector is a better guitar player because Carl is out here. Thank you Carl!

Perspective

Life is all about perspective. And from the crew perspective that matters, mine, (Ha!) life pretty much looks like this all night long. I sit on Stage Left and see the same angle all the time. So any pictures from me will sort of be from this angle.

New Blogger!

So, I noticed the Mel is now a contributor to our wonderful blog here. This is awesome. But seriously...

Less talky talky with the blog/web guy and more blogging.

Glad to have you aboard Cap'n.

Chris Farnsworth

So far the crew member of the day has been added by our production manager, Chris Farnsworth. Well Mr Farnsworth... today is your day.

I stole this picture from here.

This guy starts every day before a lot of us are even awake. He checks every detail of the venue from where power is coming from to whether the stage is in the right place. He even walks up and down every panel on the stage just to be sure none are broken or wobbly.

He answers phone and radio calls all day from promoters and crew guys and solves issues created by those same people. All of this work comes after he spends hours on the phone ahead of each show trying to avoid the issues.

He's also one of the few production managers that I've worked with that actually spends the whole show watching the show and making sure everything continues to run smoothly. I did learn a little secret the other day when one of our camera guys zoomed in on Chris sitting at front of house.

a well deserved nap.

Carter Hassebroek

Every tour has to have a rock star. As you can see in the following photo on our tour it is our front of house engineer. Clue number two he's a rock star is found in his blogspot address LordFOH

Talk about a thankless job, a mix engineer has to deal with horrible room acoustics and riggers who never seem to want the audio system to hang where the points were marked. He has to deal with the newest Fullsail graduate (that knows everything there is to know about audio and a better way to do it) aiming and tuning the system; as well as a production manager who is a front of house engineer that listens over his shoulder all the time. Typically the only time a front of house engineer hears from anyone when they think things are TOO LOUD. No one really notices when things are great.

Thus is the life of a rock star front of house engineer. I must say if you are going to be a rock star you better be able to back it up and I will tell you that Carter does just that on a daily basis. Starting first thing in the morning he has an incredibly high work ethic. No white gloving for this boy. Carter knows what he wants and works until it is achieved. Many times there are no soundchecks and every night I am impressed at how great the mix is from the downbeat. Carter is an amazing engineer I would highly recommend to anyone. As a fellow Belmont attender I say hats off to Carter...here's to being a Rock star.

Marcus Gibson

As a crew member many times it feels like the only time you are noticed is when something goes wrong. It is the best crews that make it look easy so the bands, managers, and fans never know the sweat it took to really pull off the event. That being said I am going to start to randomly take a moment to give some props to those hard working men and woman out here on the tour. How do you find a place to start with so many great people working hard to make this tour happen everyday? What better place to start than with the openers?

Marcus Gibson is a sturdy young shaggy haired lad anxious to make a name for himself in this universe we shall call the Christian music industry. He has made us laugh, he has mad us cry (loud mixes), he has helped us (load out), he has annoyed us all, and somehow we have come to love him...kind of like the shaggy mutt you fed once and cannot get to leave.

With all that being said I say hats off (or in this case shirts off) to Marcus Gibson feature tour crew of the day.

Software update day

Today I updated our consoles software.  Now it is current with the rest of the world.

For those of you who don't know.  This is a gutsy move to do in the middle of a tour.  I trust High End that much though.

We shall see!

Snooch

What Happened?

Darren,
You look so much different without the beard.

I miss first radar.

RIP Radar

Recently, we lost a brother out here on the road. He was tiny, but a ferocious competitor... and this ended up being his downfall. During an afternoon game of soccer, Radar (David Harrison) tore some cartilage in his knee. This injury has sidelined him for the remainder of the tour. Here's the new Radar trying to get into a space that the old Radar would have had no trouble with.

We miss you original Radar.

Prison Break

Yeah, so I now have my life back. I just concluded watching 22 episodes of the show Prison Break in a three day period and I can say my doctor will be happy too. My heart has never beat out of control for a TV show. I'm a big fan of 24 and I can now say there is an equal.

If I had a camera, I would show you what I have looked like .. ipod on my chest and my Bose headphones on my head. Still don't have that D80 yet, but here is a graphic logo to suffice for a short while

Now, I am on to season 2 ... so maybe my life is not back to normal

?

For the rigger:  I have put this lovely target on the stage for you.  Why do you assume that the point is good when the chain is two feet away from the mark?

For the stage hand:  I know that you have done this since live music was invented, but is it O.K. if I let you know how I'd like to see things done?

For the truck loader:  Your job is very simple.  Your job title perfectly describes what you do.  Do they not tell you that you will be lifting things?

For the house light operator: You have three cues in the whole show, yet you are 3 times more likely to not pay attention and miss a cue.

To all paid hands:  You are getting paid for your work today.  We are letting you go an hour early which means you will get paid for an hour you won't actually work.  Please don't be upset that we don't give you a FREE t-shirt.  Life is tough.

These are just excerpts from my new book "Why?....My quest to understand stage hands".  It's in book stores now.

-Snooch