Happy Valentine's Day. . .

In celebration Valentine's Day, Rob and the kids cleaned up the back yard. Even though it is one of the greatest gifts they could give me, I couldn't bring myself to post any pictures of the yard just yet.


But . . . In celebration of the progress they made in the backyard, we went to dinner. . .






. . . and a movie. . .


Maybe we can celebrate Easter by planting grass seed!!!!!

A Willing Helper. . .

. . . as long as it involves money. . .

A Little Party. . .

Tonight we had a little party at the church for the 5th and 6th graders, complete with a disco ball and very loud music. It was good. I have a lot to say about it but since I just had a little party at the church for the 5th and 6th graders, I'm very tired. Really. Very. Tired.

Back In The Saddle. . .

Writing. . .

When I was in the 7th grade I had an English teacher named Mrs. Reinboldt. She taught me to love writing. We had to write something every, single day in her class. We kept a journal that stayed in the classroom that only she could see. She didn't correct it but we knew she read it. It didn't matter how much or how little we wrote, we were just required to put something down on paper. I still have that journal somewhere and I remember very vividly pouring my little 7th grade heart onto the lined notebook paper and almost always feeling better about my situation afterwards. I continued to enjoy writing all the way through college and my mom was convinced that someday I would be an author! Who knows, maybe someday. . .

All that to say, teaching my kids to write has been one of my biggest challenges. The grammar rules and the spelling lessons are the easy part. It's the critiquing that's difficult. Just like with their artwork, the mother in me wants to say, "Oh, that's so wonderful!!" But the teacher in me is supposed to say, "Re-Write!!" Writing is just so personal. It doesn't have definitive, factual answers like math and history (well, history may not be the best example . . . ) so I've always just tried to encourage writing without using a lot of red-pencil instruction. It's been sporadic, at best, but today Zach was working on a writing assignment that he was really enjoying. Gloria seemed to pick up on that and decided to sit down and write one of her own. They spent over an hour sitting together on the couch diligently working on their respective papers.

Later, as I read through the words they had written I could see that, in spite of my feelings of inadequacies in this area, my kids are both good writers. The stories were funny and interesting and even had good spelling and punctuation. On the way home from church tonight, Gloria said, "I felt smart today in school".


Yeah, well, I felt like a good mom today in school . . .

Somebody Wants A Hamster. . .

Braids. . .

Me, A Drunk Driver??

Obviously not, but I was a suspect for about 20 minutes!!

About an hour ago, I dropped Steph off at her house after watching the Superbowl together at my in-law's. As I was innocently driving home down Ustick Road, I crossed Five Mile and noticed a white car with only one headlight following right on my tail. I thought about pulling over to let him pass me but there really wasn't a safe place to do that. I was going the speed limit so I just tried to ignore him.

When I turned onto Eagle Road, he stayed right behind me. I changed lanes to let him pass and slowed to about 40 mph (55 mph speed limit) but he changed lanes right behind me! I changed lanes again just as I got to Fairview to make a right turn and, sure enough, he stayed right on my tail. I stayed in the right lane up to Locust Grove and then (legally) crossed over into the turn lane to make a left turn. The white car was still on my tail.

I wasn't overly worried since I had a cell phone with me and I could get help at any time so I decided to try a few things to see if he would follow. I sped up and changed lanes a couple more times and the one-headlight car just wouldn't go away. As I turned onto Franklin, I saw a police car going in the other direction and when I looked in my rearview mirror to check on my stalker, I saw another police car right on my tail!

I turned into the nearest parking lot hoping he would follow me, thinking it was suspicious and, sure enough, not one but TWO officers turned on their lights and pulled in behind me! (I decided that would be a good time to wake up Gloria who had so far slept through the whole thing.)

The officer approached my truck very slowly and very carefully and I quickly began to explain that I was glad to see him since I was being followed. He easily believed my story because the guy in the white car had reported me as a DRUNK DRIVER!!!! He had been following me so he could keep the police informed as to my location!!!!

The officer said I was "obviously not intoxicated" but he needed to see my information anyway. He came back pretty quickly and told me that everything was fine and my record was clean (good to know) and wished me a good evening.

So I'm left wondering if the one-headlight driver was really a concerned citizen worried about the welfare of the community or if he was just working out his road rage at a "slow" driver??? I guess I'll never know. . .

What Now????

Looks like we'll be taking ANOTHER trip to the vet on Monday. This time it's the cat. The cat who owns US, not vice versa. She has a big ole raw flesh wound on her behind from who-knows-what. . .

I feel horrible for her, I really do, but these constant vet bills are killin' me!

Looking For The Silver Lining. . .

So, I've been asking myself all week why it is that six years of "successful" events have been wiped away in my mind by one bad show?? I'm feeling very reluctant about getting back on the horse, as they say. I've replayed the events of that evening over and over in my mind and I've even been plagued with "what-if" questions such as "what if this had happened during the Jane Goodall event at the Qwest Arena?" and "what if this had happened during the Aimee Mann concert after we had convinced a reluctant sound engineer to use our digital board?" I've also searched the Internet to find out if anyone has had something similar happen. I Google things like, "mixer goes out at concert" or "concert disasters" or even "worst concerts EVER". It goes on and on and on so I've been trying to remind myself of the good things that came out of that event and of all of the good things that have happened in the years we've been running sound. It still feels like I'm grasping at straws but this is what I've come up with:

This is a video of Steve Eaton. Although I had heard of him and we may have even worked with him a long time ago, before Sunday night I had no idea what a great man he is. Great musician, great under pressure and one of my hero's on Sunday evening. He's been playing music longer than I've been around and he's played with, and written songs for, the likes of The Carpenters, Art Garfunkel and Lee Greenwood. I'm sure he has seen it all in the music industry and our little mixer ordeal on Sunday night didn't seem to phase him in the least. He was kind and encouraging and played his heart out in spite of the sound issues that made his voice and guitar cut in and out during his short time on the stage. I hope we have the opportunity to work with him again:

Gayle Chapman is another artist that has probably seen it all in the music industry. She toured with Prince in the 80's as a keyboard player and has since become a solo artist in her own right. We've worked with Gayle many, many, many times during the last 7 or 8 years. She felt our pain on Sunday night and lifted our spirits with her kind words and mother-bear hugs.



This is Justin Gause. He was one of the employees at the restaurant that the concert was raising money for and hasn't had too many opportunities to be on stage. He was excited and fresh (and the first one onstage while the mixer was still fully operational) and is really very talented. He sent us an e-mail after the show telling us it "was a great show and dream come true" he also said, "It's the rocks in the stream that make the brook sing". Wise beyond his years:

The musicians that probably have the most right to be upset about the evening are Kevin Kirk and the guys from Onomatopoeia. Thankfully this isn't the first time we've worked with them but I think they would have been professional about it even if it had been. Last January we spent an amazing 5 days working with them on their PBS HD event at The Egyptian which they recently won an award for. (The links to that event are here, here, here, here, especially here and here.) It was one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of and the entire thing went off without a hitch. Way more stressful circumstances, way more money involved, way bigger crowd and HD television cameras!! No problem. We even pulled a prank on Kevin that made it onto the DVD:


This is one of the segments from that amazing event. (Did I mention it went off without a hitch??????)

Time is marching on and I know that this doesn't have to scar me for life. We recieved several appreciative and encouraging e-mails from the musicians but this one is my favorite:

". . . I didn't hear one single person blame it on you because, as we all know, MANURE happens! I would gladly work with you any day of the week and certainly hope to have another opportunity one of these days. I will personally pound on anyone who says different. I feel really proud to have had the opportunity to work with such classy professionals."

Her name is Wendi and she's about 5' 2" and 105 lbs. and she totally has my back!

I'm starting to feel better already. . .

To Each His (Or Her) Own . . .

Just Another Day In Paradise. . .

Shop Class. . .

2005 . . .

I have a file on my computer that is simply labeled, 2005. These are just a few of the pictures that it holds:

Zach's second year of quizzing! Clockwise starting in the back row: Tami B, Andrew, Jered, Zach B., Zac S., Joe, Ashlie, Corri, Steph and Alyssa. How cute are they???



Our very first event EVER on The Centre On The Grove. I was still clueless about all things sound related so I didn't know enough to be nervous. . .



Gloria, age 6




Ellie . . .




Ashley, Corri, Austin, Steph and Alyssa at the Folwell's . . .





Zach (age 12), Jered (age 10), Andrew (age 12)

Ashley, Steph, Alyssa and Corri in Taffin's backyard. . .

Zach at Taffin's house. . .

Gloria on a pony ride at a fall festival. . .

Daddy's girl helping out at the shop. . .

Gloria and Megan asleep at the cabin . . .

Anti-Protest??

There was quite a large protest going on across from The Egyptian the other day. Turns out it was an anti-protest. . .

This is what the local Fox news station had to say about it:



Boise, Idaho - They're fed up and they're not going to take it anymore.
"I've been here since noon or so, and it's just gotten bigger and bigger," said James Masson, of Boise, one of a dozen protesters at a City Hall rally Saturday.
"We have the right to assembly in this country, we have the right to say whatever we want," added Will Schmeckpeper, organizer of the group.
But this crew wasn't mad about public school funding. They weren't mad about the war. In fact, they weren't mad about anything.

"It's a protest protesting protests," said Taylor Hunt, of Boise.
That's right. These people have had it with people who've had it.
"I think there are too many protests going on that are about nothing, and everything's good," Dannielle Zwang, of Boise, holding a sign that read "I'm so happy."

Signs like one that said "Okay By Me!" often aren't found at protests, especially with the recession or the Idaho Legislature going on.
The simple message from this group -- lighten up people!

"Things might be bad, but they could be a whole lot worse," said Schmeckpeper."I think it's just a break from it all, ya know," said Masson

The group is called the Boise Flash Mob -- a growing Facebook group, often doing things of a sillier nature.
According to Facebook, the "Everything's Fine" rally is part of the group's mission to have "fun at the expense of bewildering the public."

The BFM wasn't completely causeless. They were taking food donations at the rally.


They were having a lot of fun but I think they might have a little too much time on their hands. . .

Up A Tree. . .

Looking To The Future. . .

These are just a few of the concerts that I have to look forward to in the next couple of months. . .

Moving On. . .

Just a little update on my last post. . .

Although nothing can erase the events of the weekend and I will probably always feel a little queasy when I think about the benefit-gone-bad but, so far, life is moving ahead. We've had a number of reassuring e-mails and I've heard the concert raised close to $20,000.

However, in another attempt to purge the event from my psyche, I'll be burying the post I wrote about it as far away from the front page of my blog as possible!! I know I could just delete it but one day something bad might happen at a concert and I'll want to look back and say that nothing could be as bad as . . .

So . . . this is the first post of a series of back-to-back random postings. . .

Nightmare On Main Street. . .

(You know those recurring dreams you have when you're out somewhere in public and you're totally naked?? Try to recall how that made you feel and hold onto that while you read this post.)





First of all, I'd like to say that this post has nothing to do with public nudity. It has everything to do with being in the public eye when something goes terribly wrong. And because this is my blog and I usually write as though I'm the only one reading it, I'm going to lay this out right here in black and white as I attempt to purge it from my psyche. . .





The big benefit concert was this weekend (and by benefit I mean most of what we did was donated) and we were looking forward to a really good show with a group of well-known, talented local musicians. I always stress a little bit before our bigger shows because, really, there's ALWAYS the chance that something could go wrong. So I do everything I can ahead of time to ensure that I have a handle on things by being organized and informed and that gives me a certain level of security. Maybe false security but, hey, whatever gets me through the day.





We've worked concerts in The Egyptian for the last 5 or 6 years and, except for a few minor mishaps here and there, it has been a really good experience. No show has ever failed and no piece of equipment has ever malfunctioned to the point where the audience was aware of it. In fact, in the 7 years we've been running sound, no show has ever come close to failing. Usually there is stress leading up to a show (for me anyway) and then we have a really good show and then we have a sense of satisfaction in a job well done. Kudos are passed around and there are many mental high-fives.





Well. . . not this time.





We set everything up on Saturday, the day before the concert, so we could ensure that everyone that was performing could have a good sound check. One of our favorite groups, Onomatopoeia, was the main group as well as the largest, so we asked them to come Saturday afternoon to set up and sound check. Our set up earlier in the day went exactly as planned as did the first couple of hours of the musician's set up and sound check. We were status quo. Everything was going according to plan. Right up until we plugged in and turned on a wireless mic. This may or may not have had anything to do with the following turn of events but it sticks in my mind as the starting point of a very slippery down hill slope that left us figuratively heaped haphazardly at the bottom.





When we plugged in the wireless mic, the digital board shut down. It came right back on but it definitely caused a moment of panic because we had just spent two hours sound checking a band with the high expectations that their monitors would work in such a way that they could hear every little nuance from every single instrument they played. Fortunately Rob hits the "store" button often enough that most of the settings were recalled when the board came back on. Unfortunately, the board continued to shut down every time Rob hit one particular button. Obviously this caused everyone a little bit of stress but we had time to figure out the problem since the concert wasn't until the next day. Rob and Kurt unplugged the board and Rob took it home to find a solution.





After much research and a hard re-set to the computer inside the board, we tested and tested and tested the mixer to see if the problem would repeat itself. It was back to factory settings and we felt satisfied that the problem had been solved. Rob hit every number of button combinations possible and the board operated exactly as it was supposed to. We had painstakingly written down all of the settings from the afternoon's sound check and they were all re-entered back into the memory of the mixer. There was no reason to think that anything else would go wrong. In hindsight, I can think of plenty of reasons but it's too late for that. . .





We were back at the theater by 10:45 a.m. on Sunday and were completely set up and ready to go before the first group was scheduled to sound check at 12:30. I had been in e-mail communication with all of the musicians the week before so we had all of their input lists and each group had a 15-30 minute block of time to sound check. We had labeled all of the cables with each musician's name; we knew exactly how many microphones and DI's were needed; each group came when they said they would and needed exactly what we had prepared for them; the digital mixer stored everything correctly and worked perfectly all day long. My plan was to be done with all of the sound checks by 4:00 and we were done at 3:45. It couldn't have gone any more smoothly. In fact, I remember saying, "It feels like the calm before the storm". I couldn't have known just how true that statement would turn out to be.





The concert was divided into two sets with a brief intermission in between. Time was of the essence and each performer had a limited amount of time to get on stage, do their thing and get off stage. Kurt was on Clear Com at the side of the stage and I had Clear Com at the mixer with Rob so we managed to get all seven acts from the first set on and off the stage very smoothly and mostly within the scheduled time frame. The mixer "acted up" a couple of times during the first set but we hoped for the best and Rob just tried to limit how much he touched it. As long as he didn't touch certain buttons, it was fine. As far as we could tell, the 400 + people in the audience weren't aware of the problem.





I breathed a little sigh of relief that we made it through the first set since I assumed the second set would be easier. (I can't count how many times I was dead WRONG during this event!!) The first group of the second set was a father/son combo on vocals and guitars. They are both well-known around the valley and the son just returned from a 3-week national tour. Since they were playing their acoustic guitars through direct boxes, when the mixer decided to re-boot itself, their voices and guitars disappeared. It was now impossible to hide our plight from the audience. The duo managed to muddle through but you could tell it was painful. The audience was getting pretty restless about the whole thing so I decided it would be up to me to try to set everyone at ease. I went on stage and did a little schpeil about technology and the digital age and choosing to go on with the show and collectively ignore the problem rather than delay it by switching to another mixer, yada, yada, yada. The audience was very receptive to that, thankfully, and we went on with the show.





We all then suffered through almost 2 more hours of the mixing console shutting itself off at random. Rob and Kurt racked their brains and did as much trouble shooting as they could but when a show loses a mixer, there just aren't a lot of options. We realized that the more sends going to the board, the more likely it was to shut off so we narrowed down the channels to a few critical ones and let the powered instrument amps on stage amplify the guitars and keyboard. Rob had to shut off all the drums, all the percussion, the horns and all but 2 vocal mics and the violin mic. Instrument amps are great for this very reason because the sound can easily be heard even though it can't be "mixed". Drums are usually plenty loud without mics and saxophones and flutes carry well enough on their own that they could still be heard. All in all, when we pulled it down to the bare minimum, the sound was just fine to the average ear. Rob suffered a great deal at being totally helpless to mix on the board since he really couldn't touch it without the board shutting down and that was pretty difficult to watch. Kurt had the difficult job of explaining to the musicians as they went on stage why they had to use a certain mic and why Rob couldn't adjust their monitors. Me, well, I was just plain miserable!! There just wasn't any more we could do at that point so we just stood back and let the rest of the concert unfold. The musicians were incredibly gracious about the whole thing and they all performed as if nothing was wrong. It was a little bit like the band that continued to play as the Titanic was sinking. . .


The concert actually ended on a good note, I think. The last two numbers were supposed to be an encore performance of everyone who had played during the evening sharing the stage with a Beatles song and an Elvis song. I figured they would skip this part since we only had two vocal mics and 2 instrument amps but musicians filed on stage anyway. The singers had fun handing off the mic to the next soloist and, when they weren't singing, they danced and seemed to have a great time. The extra guitar players grabbed a tambourine or some other instrument and joined in the fun. I would say about half of the 35 or so performers were on stage for the last two songs. There were cheers and standing ovations all around as the show drew to a close.


It was tough facing the musicians after the show but they were all kind and reassuring and I received more than a few hugs. Hugs always make me cry in these types of situations so it was all I could do to hold it together. We've worked with most of the musicians before and they assured us that this was a fluke and that we shouldn't blame ourselves. Easier said than done.








While trying to find the bright side in all of this, I comfort myself with the fact that no one died, no one went to jail and nothing caught fire. Rob consoles himself with the knowledge that this will probably be the worst concert of the year and we were lucky to get it over with in January. . .


And I'm sure that life will go on and the sick feeling in my stomach will eventually go away . . . Right???

Gloria's Revenge . . .