So many pictures, so little time. . . We've had so many interesting things happen since I last posted that I may never catch up! I'm going to try, though, because the roller coaster that is my life is going at full speed and blogging is my way of remembering what happened in the blur as it whips by. . .
Last weekend was especially crazy. We had been building cases all week as well as trying to prep for 6 shows that would happen on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I can't speak for the guys, but I was tired before we even started. All things considered, I think we were pretty organized going into the weekend, but there are some things that you just can't plan for. On Thursday, we had our first Nampa Nights of the season but we also had an important concert at the Civic Center. We have two separate systems now, so it wasn't difficult to figure out how to do two shows at the same time. The Civic Center show, however, called for a large, complicated drum set up that we had agreed to provide. This picture shows the basic drum set up which would eventually be completed with the 9 cymbal stands and cymbal paraphernalia that the drummer required:
We were still gathering pieces and parts right up until sound check!! 
We managed to get the indoor concert set up by early afternoon which left us plenty of time to set up Nampa Nights.
The first band of the season was The Hoochie Coochie Men. We've worked with them on several occasions and everything went pretty smoothly. While Rob sat in an air conditioned building running sound for William Joseph, Kurt was lucky enough (?) to sit out in the 90 degree heat and run sound for these guys:
We survived both of our Thursday shows and felt pretty prepared for our big show at The Egyptian on Friday. I'd really been looking forward to seeing Antsy McClain perform due to the hilarity of his videos on Youtube. He put on an amazing show and turned out to be one of the nicest people I've ever met.
We were able to leave everything set up for a Saturday concert at The Egyptian but we still had to sort out details for our double Saturday events so it was close to 2 a.m. when we left downtown and headed out to the country to set up another show for Antsy in somebody's backyard.
This private party wouldn't start until Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. but Kurt had to run sound at The Egyptian until 6-ish and Rob and I would be at The Hawks until 10:00 p.m. leaving zero time to run out to the country and set up a small sound system!!!!
It was kind of brutal setting up in the middle of the night with an early morning set up and a big day ahead of us, but we managed. I think I was asleep by 3:30 a.m.
We were up bright and early on Saturday setting up for an all-day event at the Hawks. Kurt was able to help for a couple of hours before heading over to The Egyptian. It was so hot and so crazy that I only managed to take two pictures at the Hawks all day. The stage was set up for two bands so while one was playing, we were setting up all of the mics for the other band. When I say we, I actually mean ME because Rob had to run sound for the band that was playing. Needless to say, I was pretty tired. And hot. And hungry. And tired.
So, here's where it gets interesting. I had arranged for backup, knowing that by Saturday I could be a pile of mush, so Gary showed up at Hawks around 3:00. I briefly explained to him what he would be doing and I left him to deal with the bands and the heat and Rob. I had to return a guitar amp that we had rented for Mr. Pretentious the night before so I jumped in the van (after crawling under it to bang on the starter in order to get it started. . . ) and drove down Glenwood to State Street where the music store we rented it from was located. Keep in mind, I am in THE VAN, the scary van, that has no air conditioning and windows that don't roll down. It is 95 degrees outside and the only air circulation I have is a slight breeze that comes in the wing windows as long as the van is moving. Unfortunately, Glennwood has been torn up for awhile so I had to wait close to 45 minutes (no exaggeration) before I could take a left on State St. In the heat. In the van with no air circulation. AND, after I turned left on State Street, which is always the way I turn on State Street when I go to this particular music store from the shop, I realized that the music store was actually to the right. . . (I admit I said a few things that cannot be repeated here or anywhere. . .) Due to the continued road construction on State street, AFTER I drove to a place where I could turn around, I had to sit for another 45 minutes (no exaggeration) in the heat. In the van. With no air circulation. By this time I just left the driver-side door open as I inched along, desperate for a little breeze. Even a little tiny breeze. I finally made it to the music store, dropped of the guitar amp and headed to The Egyptian where I needed to get 3 mic stands at the end of Kurt's show in order to deliver them out to the backyard party we had set up the night before. The cool air in the theater was very welcome and I grabbed a cold water and sat down to watch the end of the concert. And then I fell asleep.
But I managed to take a few pictures between cat naps.
The Motel Cowboys were having so much fun playing that they just kept on playing. I needed three of the mic stands for the backyard party that started at 7:00 but the cowboys just kept playing and playing and playing and playing. . . They didn't stop until just after 6:30 so I grabbed the stands, picked up a couple of speaker poles at the shop and headed out to the country. Mr. pretentious had already left a message about my where-abouts with the stands and cables which sent me into a minor panic because I didn't have any cables. I thought we had left them there during our middle-of-the-night set up! Rob and Kurt couldn't help me because they were both busy with shows! I couldn't reach either one of them anyway, so I was on my own. The owner of the house had reassured us the night before that the party was very laid back and it wouldn't really matter what time it started, so I felt a little better knowing that. HOWEVER, it seemed to matter very much to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named who made his dissapointment very clear when I finally arrived around 7:00. It didn't help that the backyard was full of people (who also didn't seem to be in any hurry) that got to watch me jump through all of the hoops that Mr. Pretentious put me through. Fortunately for me, Kurt had done all he could at the theater and was able to go to the shop for all of the little miscellaneous things that were required but not requested beforehand and come to the rescue.
The only bright spot was watching Pauly and Antsy jam to Land Down Under (Men At Work!).
I have to say that every single person at this party was nice. Except for one.
This is Antsy and his sweet wife:
This is my new friend, Pauly:
And. . . this is the other guy:
Kurt had everything under control so, after having a complete meltdown in the van, I headed back to Hawks where Rob and Gary were taking down the show. They ended up having a great time and both of our Saturday shows were successful. After making sure everything was good at the private party, Kurt came out to help load the truck. We finished up around 10:00 and Rob and Kurt went back out to the party to pack that show up. I went home.
We still had a system set up at the theater but Rob and Kurt handled that on Sunday afternoon. So. . . while we all survived the six shows in three days, I may never be the same again. . .
We survived both of our Thursday shows and felt pretty prepared for our big show at The Egyptian on Friday. I'd really been looking forward to seeing Antsy McClain perform due to the hilarity of his videos on Youtube. He put on an amazing show and turned out to be one of the nicest people I've ever met.
He even dedicated this song to me because I had asked him before the concert if he was planning on playing it. It's my new favorite song:
His keyboard player is Pauly Zarb from Australia and he was the second nicest person I've ever met.
The bass player and drummer were local guys that sat in with the band and did a great job performing on the fly. The only damper to the experience was the guitar player who, due to "famous roots" was pretty pretentious. I won't mention any names since I try to abide by the if-you-can't-say-anything-nice-don't-say-anything-at-all rule but he managed to suck some of the joy out of the weekend for me. It was still an amazing concert, though.
We were able to leave everything set up for a Saturday concert at The Egyptian but we still had to sort out details for our double Saturday events so it was close to 2 a.m. when we left downtown and headed out to the country to set up another show for Antsy in somebody's backyard.
This private party wouldn't start until Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. but Kurt had to run sound at The Egyptian until 6-ish and Rob and I would be at The Hawks until 10:00 p.m. leaving zero time to run out to the country and set up a small sound system!!!!
It was kind of brutal setting up in the middle of the night with an early morning set up and a big day ahead of us, but we managed. I think I was asleep by 3:30 a.m.
We were up bright and early on Saturday setting up for an all-day event at the Hawks. Kurt was able to help for a couple of hours before heading over to The Egyptian. It was so hot and so crazy that I only managed to take two pictures at the Hawks all day. The stage was set up for two bands so while one was playing, we were setting up all of the mics for the other band. When I say we, I actually mean ME because Rob had to run sound for the band that was playing. Needless to say, I was pretty tired. And hot. And hungry. And tired.
So, here's where it gets interesting. I had arranged for backup, knowing that by Saturday I could be a pile of mush, so Gary showed up at Hawks around 3:00. I briefly explained to him what he would be doing and I left him to deal with the bands and the heat and Rob. I had to return a guitar amp that we had rented for Mr. Pretentious the night before so I jumped in the van (after crawling under it to bang on the starter in order to get it started. . . ) and drove down Glenwood to State Street where the music store we rented it from was located. Keep in mind, I am in THE VAN, the scary van, that has no air conditioning and windows that don't roll down. It is 95 degrees outside and the only air circulation I have is a slight breeze that comes in the wing windows as long as the van is moving. Unfortunately, Glennwood has been torn up for awhile so I had to wait close to 45 minutes (no exaggeration) before I could take a left on State St. In the heat. In the van with no air circulation. AND, after I turned left on State Street, which is always the way I turn on State Street when I go to this particular music store from the shop, I realized that the music store was actually to the right. . . (I admit I said a few things that cannot be repeated here or anywhere. . .) Due to the continued road construction on State street, AFTER I drove to a place where I could turn around, I had to sit for another 45 minutes (no exaggeration) in the heat. In the van. With no air circulation. By this time I just left the driver-side door open as I inched along, desperate for a little breeze. Even a little tiny breeze. I finally made it to the music store, dropped of the guitar amp and headed to The Egyptian where I needed to get 3 mic stands at the end of Kurt's show in order to deliver them out to the backyard party we had set up the night before. The cool air in the theater was very welcome and I grabbed a cold water and sat down to watch the end of the concert. And then I fell asleep.
But I managed to take a few pictures between cat naps.
The Motel Cowboys were having so much fun playing that they just kept on playing. I needed three of the mic stands for the backyard party that started at 7:00 but the cowboys just kept playing and playing and playing and playing. . . They didn't stop until just after 6:30 so I grabbed the stands, picked up a couple of speaker poles at the shop and headed out to the country. Mr. pretentious had already left a message about my where-abouts with the stands and cables which sent me into a minor panic because I didn't have any cables. I thought we had left them there during our middle-of-the-night set up! Rob and Kurt couldn't help me because they were both busy with shows! I couldn't reach either one of them anyway, so I was on my own. The owner of the house had reassured us the night before that the party was very laid back and it wouldn't really matter what time it started, so I felt a little better knowing that. HOWEVER, it seemed to matter very much to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named who made his dissapointment very clear when I finally arrived around 7:00. It didn't help that the backyard was full of people (who also didn't seem to be in any hurry) that got to watch me jump through all of the hoops that Mr. Pretentious put me through. Fortunately for me, Kurt had done all he could at the theater and was able to go to the shop for all of the little miscellaneous things that were required but not requested beforehand and come to the rescue.
By this time I was seriously over the edge. Past the limits of what I can take. Tired. Hot. Still hungry. I stood back and let Kurt make everything right. I tried to hold it together by taking pictures.
The only bright spot was watching Pauly and Antsy jam to Land Down Under (Men At Work!).
I have to say that every single person at this party was nice. Except for one.
This is Antsy and his sweet wife:
This is my new friend, Pauly:
And. . . this is the other guy:
Kurt had everything under control so, after having a complete meltdown in the van, I headed back to Hawks where Rob and Gary were taking down the show. They ended up having a great time and both of our Saturday shows were successful. After making sure everything was good at the private party, Kurt came out to help load the truck. We finished up around 10:00 and Rob and Kurt went back out to the party to pack that show up. I went home.
We still had a system set up at the theater but Rob and Kurt handled that on Sunday afternoon. So. . . while we all survived the six shows in three days, I may never be the same again. . .
I also let Rob know that I wouldn't be driving the van anymore. . .
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