Winnemucca

Rob and I left town Wednesday afternoon and headed to Winnemucca. This is the third year we have provided lights for the Superior Cattle Auction concert. Last year the main act was The Belamy Brothers and this year it was Hal Ketchum. http://www.halketchum.com/
This is one of the events that I look forward to because the set up is always the same and I know what to expect which is very unusual in this business.

Another reason I look forward to this event is that we are only responsible for the lights. No stage trailer, no canopy, no audio. Besides, it gives Rob a chance to talk about audio gear with other techs like himself which gives me a little break. . . I did have to admire these cute little JBL speakers that the audio company used for front fill- just my size.

After 5 years in this business, you'd think I'd know to expect the unexpected, but I thought this event was immune since there is really only one way to set up the lights leaving Rob very little creative liscense. Last year we did have a little problem with the lift stands becoming a trip hazard and this year the tent over the tables was too close to the stage to allow room for the stands so it wasn't entirely Rob's fault. . . We ended up borrowing a Genie lift in order to attach the truss and the lights to the tent. Yep, we had to fly truss.

We raised the truss up in the usual way with the lift stands. . .

. . . and then Rob secured them with these couplers:

We then cranked the lift stands back down leaving the truss suspended on the tent bars. The whole thing stressed me out just a little AND it took much longer than our regular set up would have which seriously cut into my nickel time. After nagging Rob about additional safety measures I felt pretty good about the end result.

The lights at the back of the stage turned out to be a little easier than our usual set up because the backdrop and stage roof were too far back to set the lift stands behind them like we've done in the past so we just set them in front of it. Pretty simple:

When we finished setting up, I was carrying a few things to the truck when I noticed a man standing next to the stage. As I walked by, he stuck out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Hal." I'm usually not star-struck but this caught me off guard and I said something stupid like, "Hal Ketchum???" Duh. So I introduced myself and we had a nice little conversation. I was impressed with how down to earth he was. So often when we run well-known bands they stay on the bus until they go onstage and then they jump right back on the bus. Hal actually mingled with the crowd. I was impressed.

I had some time to relax after the set up and didn't make it back to the stage until half-way through the opening act.

The lights actually looked pretty good:

Just before it was time for him to go on, Rob asked if we could take a picture. Hal was very accommodating and, even though it's not a great pic of me, it IS a picture of me with Hal Ketchum so here it is:

It was a great concert.

The opening act played a few more songs at the end and the event wrapped up around 11:30. Time to take it all down. . .

With the help of 4 "loaders", we managed to take everything down in a reasonable amount of time without too much work and worry on my part. It's amazing how much easier it is with many hands. I didn't have to lift a single thing into the truck! We headed back to the hotel around 3 a.m. and got about 5 hours of sleep before hitting the road to go straight to our next event in Garden Valley. . .

Packing Up and Good-Byes. . .

Tuesday and Wednesday were really hard. Besides being really tired and dealing with other difficult stuff, I had to face the reality that my good, good friends are really, truly moving away.

The McConaugheys moved to Boise when Gloria was about 8 months old and they've touched our lives in so many ways over the last 9 years. . .

We will all miss them terribly. . .

I've said all along that I won't say good-bye until I see the tail lights of the moving truck as it pulls away. Thankfully, I didn't see it pull away since we were out of town on the day it pulled out but I was surprisingly surprised at how difficult it was to face the reality of the truck in the driveway.

Even though it's difficult to say good-bye to dear friends, it was so worth it to have them so close for as long as we did. I know we'll be together again soon and we are always only a phone call or an e-mail away. Here's a slide show of sweet, unforgettable memories:

Good-Bye Parties

I've been deeply in denial for months now, but the time has come to face reality. The McConaughey's are really leaving. For Real. Since Jered won't be here to celebrate his birthday in August, his friends threw him a combination good-bye/birthday party.

They spent the evening at the bowling alley with cake and gifts.

I hung out very briefly, trying not to think of it as the "last" of anything. It's still hard for me to believe that Jered won't just be a few miles away. . .

It was so much easier being in denial. . .

I took the girls home with me for a sleep over to remember. . . I'm sure it won't be the last. . .

Megan played the piano while Elsie and Gloria danced their heart's out. . .

There was lots of silly-ness and plenty of laughter. . .

Did I mention it was easier being in denial. . . ?

The Family That Plays Together. . .

The family all gathered together on Sunday evening to celebrate my favorite Mother-in-law's birthday. I have truly been blessed to call Jeanie my mom for the last 18 years. She's kind, generous, loving, beautiful and has a great sense of humor. She has done her part to pass this last trait on to her family.

Zach brought his new Nintendo Wii and it entertained us for quite awhile.

THE Wii:

I'm not sure who started this but for some reason we lined up according to height in the living room. Colleen joked that we should do this every year until Jeanie is at the very end. . . I think it will be between Jeanie and me to see who shrinks the quickest. . .


Gloria found a wig in the playroom closet and it got passed around during the evening making us all laugh hysterically!

THE Wig:


I played outside with Gloria and McKenna and they were both in the mood to pose for my camera. Who am I to miss a good photo op???

THE Girls:

And, of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without Rob picking on Kelsey. . .

Happy Birthday, Jeanie!!! We love you!!

Nazareth

Way back in April or May sometime, before the stage trailer was even built, we committed to do a show in Pocatello for the 80's band, Nazareth. Our Salt Lake audio guy would be providing the sound and we would be providing the stage (that didn't yet exist), the roof and the lights. I have learned to hold things loosely but, somewhere in the back of my mind, I started to dread this event. I felt a little better once the trailer was finished, although we still had some additions to put on it specifically for this show. . . I'm not a big fan of pulling trailers with anything, much less a full size Uhaul truck, and road trips in general wear me out. This would be a long road trip, driving a truck, pulling a trailer, all to provide crucial equipment to a concert with ticket sales. I think I've mentioned before that free concerts don't stress me out much at all, but the thought of refunding ticket prices due to something we failed to provide could really stress me out if I let it. When the dreaded day arrived, by the time the truck was loaded and the trailer was hitched, I was stressed. . .

I worried about hills and treacherous curves and run away trailers that were, pretty much, loaded weapons . . . It didn't help that I had heard about two fatal accidents involving trailers in the news during the last few weeks. . . We made it to Mtn. Home without a single problem. I was still holding my breath. . .

This was the hill that worried me the most. King Hill. I was just sure the trailer would overtake the truck on the way back down. . .

And yet, we made it to Twin Falls without any problems. Kurt and his kids had caught up with us by that time and he made a little adjustment to the trailer brakes (that he had kindly installed earlier in the day), making the trailer even easier to pull. . .

I know this is beginning to get obsessive, but I was just very grateful to make it to each place that we stopped. I even tried to convince Rob that this lovely rest stop would make a nice place for a concert and that Nazareth should just meet us here. . .

We made it to Pocatello without any problems whatsoever. I breathed a little sigh of relief even though the "fun" was just beginning. Our contact that was supposed to meet us at the fairgrounds was a little confused. . . or something. . .

It was well after dark by the time we knew where to put the trailer so we could set up the stage and unload the truck. . .

We did as much as we could. . .

. . . with the little time and energy that we had. . .

We managed to get the stage unfolded and the roof on by 1:30 a.m. It looks like Kurt is skipping rope in this picture but he's really just trying to toss one end of the rope up and over the roof so it can be tied to the truss on the other side. . . It's a little funnier to think about Kurt skipping rope, though. . .

Rob had put all of the finishing touches on the two stage additions just before we left town but they still needed a coat of paint. After we hung the lights, Kurt painted the two decks and we called it a night. It was close to 3 a.m. . .

We tried to get an early start in the morning, but we didn't get back down to the fairgrounds until after 9:30. We still had a lot to do but it wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. I think that by quietly dreading this event for so many months, I was expecting the worst.

This concert was sponsored by an MIA POW group that holds an annual event in support of the military. They really went all out to provide an entertaining weekend. This monster truck has seats in the back making it quite a ride for anyone brave enough to strap themselves in:

Just like the Skid Row concert, it was nice to not be responsible for the audio. We've worked with Mark on several shows now and it looks like there will be many more in the future.

We managed to get everything done in a reasonable amount of time and I kicked back on the drum riser and took this interesting picture from that view point. . .

The finished product turned out pretty good!:

This is the guy who hired the guy who hired us:

I always enjoy sitting back and watching the crowd. You see some pretty interesting people at rock concerts.

The turn out for the event was pretty good. Just a little better than the Skid Row concert.

I made my way to the side of the stage when Nazareth came on. I must have taken 100 pictures just to get a few good ones. I managed to put close to 30 in a slide show. They may, or may not, be worth looking at. . .

For all of my worrying, not a thing went wrong for the entire event. Everyone was happy and the ticket-buying crowd had a great time!

They invited some of the Veterans up on stage and honored them with a song. The guy to the right of the lead singer is the guy who hired the guy who hired the guy who hired us.

The concert ended around 11:00 p.m.

The bad part about doing stage and lighting is waiting until everyone else moves their stuff so we can lower the roof and get to work.

We finished up just before 5 a.m. and headed back to the hotel to catch a little bit of sleep before hitting the road. . . again. . .

We were all moving pretty slow in the morning. After only about 5 hours of sleep, it was difficult to get going.

Kurt went on ahead of us and we took our time going home. . .

. . . By the time we got to Burley, we realized we couldn't go any further without a little more sleep. We stopped in a park, spread out a blanket and took a little nap.

I woke up way before Rob and had to entertain myself for another couple of hours. . .

I made a little friend. . .

We finally made it home around 10:00 p.m. feeling very,very tired. . .