June 20, 2015 Cherry Saturday with Jackie. . .

For the most part, I have stuck to my guns about "retiring" from event production.  It's really the best and healthiest thing I could do for myself.  I think Rob was surprised at first that I actually meant it but he has mostly accepted the fact that I am no longer working the shows we are hired to do.  I've been willing to set up and tear down but only because it's really good exercise! 

However. . . there is an exception to every rule.  The Cherry Fest has always been (mostly) enjoyable.  I've become good friends with the organizer of the event and it is well organized and (mostly) easy.  So when it turned out that were double booked for the Saturday of Cherry Festival, I volunteered to run the monitors for ONE day. . .

And THEN it turned out that a duo from Nashville would be headlining that evening . . .

Running monitors for headliners from Nashville is my least favorite thing. . .

HOWEVER, these guys were great.  So nice, so easy to work with, so down-to-earth.  And, this guy, the "back-up" singer (otherwise known as the backbone to the whole production) knew I was a little nervous. . .

The sound check was quick and easy and, once the levels were set, they didn't need anything else.  Except for the moment at the very beginning of their set when he looked at me as if to say, "I HAVE NO SOUND WHATSOEVR COMING OUT OF MY GUITAR". . . And then he smiled and waved away my panic and I realized he was only teasing. . .

I think he's my favorite. . . ever.

Here's a little snippet of the duo at the Grand Ole Opry:


It was a good decision on my part to work on this particular day. . .

However. . . since it was the last day, it was time to pack it all up. . .

We worked on the tear down until about 4 a.m., got a few hours of sleep in the truck and then I headed up to McCall to pick up Zach so we could drive to Disneyland. . . .

Onomatopoeia . . .

Gloria's New Year. . .

We've worked with the hotel across the street for many years now and it definitely comes with perks.  When Gloria began to panic about not having plans for New Year's Eve, Rob was able to call in a favor and set us up with a nice hotel suite.  For free!  The owners of the hotel are kind and generous and they went above and beyond for Gloria and her two friends. 

The bathroom was bigger than my bedroom at home!

It was a lovely room. . .

The girls even surprised me by coming downstairs to the ballroom where the Chancellors were playing to ring in the New Year with me!!

It was a pretty nice way to bring in the New Year. . .

New Year's Eve. . . The Fabulous Chancellors

Even though I've officially retired from working on events, I will pick and choose what I show up for!  The Chancellors have been one of my favorite bands for a long time.  More than just a group we work with, they have become good friends over the years and I always enjoy hanging out with them!  New Year's Eve was no exception:

A Little Festival at the End of a Big Summer. . .

 The above picture represents so much about what my life has been like for the last decade or so.  Loading up in what feels like the middle of the night in order to get up at the break of dawn and drive to a distant location just to unload in an empty field (or a parking lot or a mountain top or a grassy park or. . . )

This particular destination was Halfw*y, OR for a little festival in the middle of nowhere. . .

We pulled into a small space where we were met by a crew who had no idea what they were in for. . .

It was great to have help but I always feel sorry for the volunteers that somehow expect this to be fun.  It was so labor intensive that the organizer of the event who hired us wasn't able to make it to the opening musical act on Friday night.  We didn't actually have any bands until Saturday but our stage next to the second stage was a bit of a contrast:

We had four bands on Saturday and everything went very smoothly.  I had been fighting a cold for several days and it was progressively getting worse.

Meanwhile in Boise, Jamie helped Kurt a little bit with Art in the Park.  Another one of my favorite events. . .

The town was very cute and very hospitable.  They made us feel very welcome. 

The middle two bands were all people we've worked with before so that was nice. . .

By the time the last band was on I was cold and miserable.  My cold was worse and I knew we had a long day ahead of us taking all of this down. . .

 

On the bright side, they put us up in a lovely old barn that had been turned into a comfy loft.  I could see myself living in a place like this:

 

Our crew returned to help us tear down with much less enthusiasm than when we pulled up but they hung in there until the last stick of truss was loaded and we were hitched up ready to pull away.  

It was a nice little festival but I didn't enjoy it.  It was a very long drive home over winding roads and steep hills.  I was pretty happy to fall into my bed and stay there for the next 24 hours. . .