Where Am I?

An Observation Of The Los Angeles Driver.

I noticed it a couple of weeks ago. I don't think it's a holiday season thing.

I was driving back from a gig on the 134 freeway in Burbank which happens to have a carpool lane, when I saw something I hadn't seen for quite sometime. Someone driving in the carpool lane who was alone (not carpooling) and wasn't a hybrid with the fancy stickers (for those not familiar, there was a program in California when hybrids started coming out that you could enter a raffle of sorts and win stickers that allowed you to drive in the carpool lane and not be a carpool). My first thought was, "What a jerk", of course the language was more colourful at the time, and this is a family blog, but since I was sitting in traffic, my mind began to wander and think about this solo driver in the carpool lane.

Lots of people, most of whom don't live in or have never driven in Los Angeles traffic say we are the worst, the craziest, most self centered egotistical drivers in the world. While I agree with most of these things, I did realize that for the most part, L.A. drivers obey the carpool lane. It's free game in the regular traffic lanes, people cut each other off, speed uncontrollably (when not crawling in traffic), tailgate, change lanes without signals and the like. But most observe the carpool lane and don't drive there unless they are carpooling. THEN, it's one stake higher with the free game of normal traffic compacted into one (sometimes two) carpool lane(s)... Tailgating, changing into regular lanes over the solid lines, changing lanes without signaling.

Which is to say, you have to be a real genuine, grade A, premium quality, self centered egotistical boob to drive in the carpool lane as a solo. Makes me think his parents didn't raise him right.

So take that to heart fellow Angelenos, though we may be bad drivers, we still have some respect, even if it is just for the carpool lane.

Now parking in handicap spaces in front of stores and offices, don't get me started.

...

Holidays In The Get Toe.

As you know from years past, we go to Hawai'i for the holidays. Have yet to miss a Christmas. This one will be sort of special. 40 years of Christmases in Hawai'i. I hope I can double that number.

But that doesn't mean we don't celebrate Christmas in Los Angeles either. We have a tree and decorate the house. This year we went a bit over the edge and bought a bunch of LED lights from Target and lined the house and gate. I had some left over regular Christmas lights so I ran those along the wall in front of the yard. As a matter of fact, here's a picture of the house all lit up.Wait a minute... Do I have a bunch of bulbs out?WTF?! There's a bunch of bulbs missing! Who the hell steals a bunch of light bulbs?Sometimes my neighborhood can be so ghetto. Don't get me wrong, I love the location and some of the houses around us are really nice. But there are some shady people who live around here who I would put it past them to steal a bunch of Christmas light bulbs off my string. Jeez, they should have just cut the cable ties holding the bloody thing up and taken the whole string. That would at least have made my display look semi decent.

As a matter of fact, that's what I'm going to do in the morning. I'm going to take down the string with the missing bulbs, put it back in the box, and leave it on the wall with a note saying:

"Dear person who stole a bunch of light bulbs from me. I'm going to assume this recession has hit you particularly hard and are unable to buy light bulbs for your own Christmas light strings. So in a gesture of good will and to show my holiday giving spirit, here is the whole string and the 9 light bulbs you didn't have time to unscrew. I know this happened during daylight hours because of the 16 bulbs you took, three of them weren't working. Something you probably didn't notice since we have the lights off during the day. If you want to replace those three bulbs that were already blown, I'd suggest going to another house with similar lights. I bought this string at Target, so it shouldn't be too hard to find matching bulbs. Good luck, and have a happy holiday season."

...

My Stock Market...

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1993 to go to school, I have not missed a Christmas in Hawai'i yet. I've missed a few New Year Eve's, but that's always been for work. Even flew out to a gig on Christmas day. But opening presents on Christmas morning and being with family, I've not missed yet.

This year is no exception. It's always expensive to fly to Hawai'i during the holidays. But last year it started getting really expensive since we now buy a third seat for Sean Patrick. Yes, we could put him in our laps and fly with him that way, but it's just more comfortable for everyone if we strap his car seat into the window seat and pull him out only when necessary.

We were supposed to go to Hawai'i for Sean Patrick's birthday, but I ended up getting on the Maxwell tour, so we took the tickets we bought for that trip and applied them to are tickets for Christmas.

The beginning of October is not the optimal time to be buying plane tickets to Hawai'i. Airlines tend to jack the prices right about then since that's right about the time everyone is thinking, "I wanna go to Hawai'i for Christmas."

So this year, I went to Kayak.com and put in a search for the possible dates that we'd be flying to Hawai'i. And it's sort of become my stock market.You'll probably have to click on the above picture to enlarge it, but as you can see, there's a little graph on the top of the page that shows you the fluctuation for the price of the plane tickets to Hawai'i. The current price you see, is more than what I paid (and don't ask, I'm not telling you what I paid). There was a few days where the price dipped below and I was kicking myself a bit, but so far, I've paid less than the average.

We did have to buy our tickets on Continental since I had the credit to apply from Sean Patrick's birthday tickets. And that was a tough one since Continental is often not the cheapest airlines.

I look at each airline as a different stock. And like the stock market, you have to guess when it's "buy low" and so far, I think I've guess right.

If you don't play the stock market, this may be a safe way for you to have some similar fun. Try it!

...

Lost - One Camera, No Memories.

Gone. Don't know where it is, don't know how I lost it. It was in the car one moment, and gone the next. All I can think is, it fell out at one of the stores.

Someone in Freeport Illinois just got themselves a really nice camera. I was hoping that the good people of a quaint small town in middle America would be decent enough to turn the camera into the lost and found at the store that I may have dropped it at. But I guess when you get a Super WalMart, it's no longer a quaint town.

Thankfully, I was able to dump all but the pictures I took the day I lost the camera onto my computer. Here is the last official photo I got off the cameraThat's our friend Geno chasing Sean Patrick around the Irish Pub we had dinner at with them.

It was a good camera, and with any luck, I'll be able to buy a new one with the crazy holiday sales coming up. If not, oh well.

...

Design Fee = New Toy.

Where do I fly in February? I was looking at my Continental Airlines frequent flier account and after our trip to Hawai'i this Christmas, I'm going to be roughly 4000 miles short of keeping my elite status. I want to fly to their hub in Newark, that way, if I'm wrong on the mileage count, I've put in the most possible miles at the cheapest fare. I'd fly back to Hawai'i, but somehow I don't think that'll be as cheap as flying to Newark.

The only reason I speak of this is because I'm sitting in the Presidents Lounge at LAX waiting for my flight to Washington D.C. in a couple of hours. Going to do a Robin Williams special for HBO. Look for it in December.

This is also the first blog on the new toy. With my design fee that I got from Eminem in New Orleans, I was able to get a new MacBook Pro 17" laptop. It was much needed. I've had a G4 for years, and it just became time to move on up. So far.... I like it.

We the design fee I got for the 48 hours I spent in New Orleans with Eminem, I was able to get the new toy. People always joke that when you buy a new computer it's obsolete the moment it goes leaves the store. Which is sort of true, that's why I like to buy the latest and greatest just to make sure. I souped it up with the fastest available chip and the most RAM I could stuff into it. Should be a reasonable computer for at least 4 years (fingers crossed)

Although I am a little perturbed at Apple for what I think was an "up-sell". I went to a couple of Mac stores in the area to find out about transferring all my data from my old G4 to my new MacBook. The first store wasn't very helpful, I think I caught the salesman off guard since I know a little bit about Mac and he's probably used to spending his day trying to convince PC users to convert. The second store's salesman told me that in order for me to transfer my information over, I had to sign up for their "One-To-One" service, which is like personalized classes that you can take with a single instructor.

When I bought the computer online (we got money sent to Upromise because of it) I also signed up for the one-to-one since I thought I needed it. I signed up for my class to transfer my information. The only day I had to do it was yesterday, before today's flight.

I got to the store, sat down with the instructor "kid". I say kid because now that I'm 40, I'm middle aged and everyone else is a "kid". Although this guy was really a kid. He couldn't have been over 22. I told him the entire reason I signed up was to get my data transferred over and for him to show me how.

Turns out, they don't show you how, they do it for you by taking your computer for up to 48 hours. Seeing as I'm flying today, I couldn't leave my computer for that long. He went and searched out a manager to see if there was anything they could do to help. As they hemmed and hawed, I said, "Is there anyway you can just show me how to do it?" They looked at each other and said, "Sure, it's really easy," you just need to buy this $35 cable.

Want to know how easy? Plug the cable into both computers. Turn on the old computer and hold down "t" until it the firewire symbol comes up. Then turn on your new computer and follow the set up instructions until, get this, it asks you, "Do you want to transfer data from an old computer?" Click yes, follow instructions to choose data, wait an hour or so and... ta da! All your old files and applications are on the new computer.

Yep, didn't need the one-to-one classes, just needed the cable and someone to tell me how to do it. I also noticed when I cracked open the box for the first time during my one-to-one session, it tells me right there in the "quick start" guide, how to do it! UGH. Well, at least I have these sessions and I may use them for advanced classes on some of the applications I don't know well. Stay tuned.

...

Are You Wearing DKB Jeans?

So, this blog topic had popped in my head a few days ago and until I write about it, it's not gonna leave my head. So here it goes, out into the ether for the world to laugh at.

I remember 8th grade art class. The teacher was kind of strange (then I got into art at a later age and understood why), and she always had interesting projects for us to do. Although most kids didn't really participate because she usually had grand ideas of showing the art we produced to the school. In 8th grade you always worry about what other people think, and you certainly don't want anyone judging something created by you that was supposed to be "art".

But there was one project that she had us do that I seem to remember most of my classmates participating in. One day, she handed everyone a 8 inch square of muslin cloth and said, "This weeks project is to come up with a designer label using your initials," She got the glossy "art" eyes and continued, "Imagine if you will, that you are designing a new pair of jeans and you want to put your initials on rear pockets. How would you want that to look?" I looked around the room and I saw peoples minds start working. Normally the girls would participate in any art project while the boys were always more interested in not doing art. But this time, the boys were thinking hard too.

And then she said the one thing that she always says that makes most of the students not want to participate, "And then we'll sew all your muslin squares together to make a quilt and show it to the rest of the students." I saw some of the boys shut off, but most were still interested.

So I thought hard. It was a two day project. We had art class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so one day to come up with a design, and one day to create it on the muslin. The design I came up with that day, I still have and use today.

For some reason, I liked the idea of having sort of rough paint brush strokes, where it wasn't defined edges, but rather, like some one quickly swiped these lines. Like painting your butt. I don't know what ever became of my final muslin square, but here's a picture I just drew of what the design sort of looked like.The final design I drew using black, lined by gold and silver ink. I liked how I used and reused lines of the big "D" and "K". I remember trying to do the same with the small "B", but it always looked like I had two "K"s so I had to add the extra lines within the big "D".

In 8th grade, to me, that was sexy, very hot. I'd want that on the pocket of my jeans.

Today, not so much.

But that design has stuck with me. I still use it today, mostly when someone hands me a contract or car rental agreement and says, "Initial here." When I first started using it, I was careful to make all three letter readable. Over time, the "DKB" has devolved into this:It sort of looks like an asterisk or something, but if someone ever showed it to me, I would have to say it was my initials.

I'm still proud of the original design. I find it amazing that something like that has stuck with me all these years. Maybe I'm just reminiscing because I recently turned 40. Nicole won't let me buy a motorcycle or fast car, which I guess I'm supposed to do when I turn middle aged. Hey honey, how about a shotgun or another racing bicycle? If not, I guess I'll keep reminiscing.

I put it to you, what has stuck with you since the 8th grade? Hopefully, a happy memory like the one I have of coming up with my hot sexy designer label.

...

48 Hours In Nawlins.

Didn't carve a pumpkin this year. Didn't even have our annual pumpkin carving and chili cook off party. It's mostly, if not totally my fault. In addition to the commercial shoot I talked about in my last post. The 48 hours leading up to the Halloween weekend found me in New Orleans doing the one and only performance this year by Eminem.

Had to be done. Don't want to loose Eminem as a client, and since I've been involved in all but one of his tours, I think I have a pretty good grip on his music. So it makes sense to call on me to do even just one show with Slim Shady. Means at least 50% of the lighting will be right and in time.

The day before the show, I fly out to New Orleans. I take the latest possible flight (Nicole was in the hospital the night before and wanted to make sure she was okay before I boarded a plane), and went straight to the venue where I spent the entire night programming.

Hit the pillow in my hotel room at 7:30AM the next morning only to be drawn out of my room and sent back to the venue at 3PM that same day. The management was "worried" because they hadn't seen any of the lighting and video work during the previous days rehearsal (I was on a plane while Marshal Mathers was rapping away), so I had to be there before they showed up to calm their nerves.

Show day was your standard day in New Orleans. Warm with about 120% humidity in the air. All your clothes are damp and sticking to you. At least it was October so it wasn't hot, just warm, comfortable really. The opening acts were playing on our stage.As you can see there's plenty of lights on the stage to make a good show. It was a little overcast, but slowly the clouds grew gray and more and more ominous.

About 4 in the afternoon, a cold front blew through. This was the first time I had ever experienced anything like it. One moment, it's a comfortable 76 degrees, and the next it's like someone opened the refrigerator door and the temperature dropped 15 degrees easily. I looked around in the crowd and could see everyone who was sitting around in shorts and bikini tops, pulling on sweatshirts and hats. It was, for me, rather surreal.

Then this happened:

Yes, that is rain coming down. The music you hear is the second stage playing behind me as I film. I hadn't seen rain like this since living in Kane'ohe, and even then, at least it was warm. This was cold and miserable. I could see the field in front of me slowly turning into a pool of brown mud. And all I had was a pair of sandals (I was packing light for the trip, you see)

The strangest part about the rain, it only rained when the other acts were playing on the second stage. It never rained when any act was on our main stage. It was a rather strange phenomenon. I'm not complaining, I was glad of it, because there was talk of postponing the show if the weather got too severe. Granted it's raining hard, but at least it wasn't thunderstorms. I wouldn't want to be one of the 60,000 + fans standing outside when a bolt of lighting cracked a surrounding tree. Which I saw happen on a tour back in 1996.

In 1996, I was just a lowly moving light tech on the Furthur Fest. Which was basically the guys from the Grateful Dead still trying to make money. Anyway, we were in Colorado at the outdoor venue called Fiddlers Green. It was mid afternoon, the show had already started, and I was standing backstage by the buses watching small funnel clouds touching down in the fields behind the venue. I knew this was not good, so I headed into the venue and stood on stage, ready to help in anyway possible. While standing there, I saw a bolt of lighting strike a tree at the back of the lawn seating yards away from some dancing hippies. I jumped preparing for the worst. The hippies cheered and carried on dancing. Go figure.

Moments before Eminem was to step on stage, the rain stopped, they roadies ran around and took the protective plastic sheeting off the instruments. A couple quickly mopped the floor and moment later, the band ran on stage and started the show.

If anyone is sensitive to coarse language, don't watch the following video clip. They swear a lot.


And so it went. Eminem did his one show in 2009 with all of us hoping he does a tour in 2010. The show went well, management was very happy, and I can only assume Slim Shady was happy too. Fingers crossed.

...

"Rock and Roll Lighting Designer"

14 years in the business has culminated into this?

I got home from tour on a Sunday with no real plans for the week. I had a couple of days on the books, not hard ones, but at least some work to keep the money flow coming in.

But on Tuesday, I got a call to do "some programming" for commercial shoot coming up that weekend. At first I didn't think it was a big deal. I get last minute calls all the time. But this one had more going to it than I thought.

Long story short it turned into cranking out a lighting design, bidding, approving, and then getting gear and personnel for the shoot in 2 days.

The gig? A new video game called, "Band Hero". A game on the same lines as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but this time with modern songs. Featured in the commercial, Taylor Swift.

As a matter of fact, the commercial is already available on YouTube. Check it out.
Everything was shot with green screen. Taylor wasn't even there on the same day as the band. Amazing what they do now days with filming. In the picture, they are filming the close ups of the band members. Behind them, you can see the green screen and all that pink lighting, that's me.

I don't know if this is how they do it all the time for commercials. But man, I need more lead time than a call on a Tuesday for a load in on a Friday. After speaking with the production designer who hired me, turns out they had a meeting on Tuesday and the director (Brett Ratner, if that name rings a bell for anyone) asked who's doing the "rock and roll lighting" and he (the production designer) looked at the director of photography and gaffer who looked back with just as blank faces. So everyone knew from the beginning they were going to need "rock and roll lighting" but no one took responsibility for it.

Ah well, it was work. And money rolling in is always nice. Not to mention, now I can make a link on my website to YouTube where everyone can now see my work. If I ever update my website.

...

Santa Ana's.

Maxwell ended over two weeks ago, but life has been pretty much a whirlwind since then. This is finally a quiet week where I can catch up on a few things, like this blog and cleaning up around the outside of the house. A few days after returning from tour, the neighborhood was visited by Santa Ana winds.

For those who don't know what Santa Ana's are, they're very warm strong winds that blow in off the desert to L.A.'s northwest. It happens every year around the start of fall. The winds are strong enough to topple trees, and knock out power lines.

I remember the day two weeks ago when it happened, I was sitting in the office doing work on an commercial shoot that landed in my lap (next blog) when around 4 in the afternoon, I heard the first wind blow through. I looked out my window and in the distance I could see a wall of dust and debris heading my way. My first thought was a sand storm in Baghdad. Normally it's just wind, but since the Station Fire burned down all the brush in the hills and valleys above us, there was nothing left to keep down the dust and ashes. It was all in the air and heading our way.

It made for a long night. Every now and again, you'd hear the house buffeted by a blast of wind, and you'd hear branches from the surrounding trees creak in the wind. The ladders I had leaning up on the back of the house would thump when the wind would pick them up and drop them back against the wall.

Ah the Santa Ana's. I'm sure there will be more this season, but at least we survived the first round with no damage. But here's some photo's of the aftermath.Although this is just a small sampling of what we found littered about the house. The pine tree in our front yard pretty much dropped all it's dead needles on everything.Including the bed of my truck.And the hood. To this day I'm still picking needles out of the little crevasses in the hood.

Here's a picture of the mountain behind our house. You can't really see it in the picture, but there's still a dust cloud lingering around from all the loose dirt and soot.You can also see the difference caused by the fire. The smaller hill in front didn't burn in the fire, but the mountain in back did. You can see how the hill is slightly green with shrubs. Normally the mountain would look the same.

Touring Vs. Television

Maybe it's just this tour, but I don't think it is.

Aside from missing my family, I've decided that for many reasons, touring sucks compared to working at home in television, or corporate.

The first time I noticed that touring was going to suck more now than staying at home, was when I was getting ready to go out on the Beastie Boys. As you know, that never happened because of the one Beastie Boys getting sick. In the process of getting hired for BB, I sent out what I call my "salary agreement" which more or less lays out what I expect to get paid, and how (i.e. daily, weekly, bi-weekly), plus travel and sometimes design fees.

Normally, when managers receive the salary agreement, they flip out about the fact that I ask for business class on international flights. This time, they flipped out at my salary requirements. Not that the money was too much, but rather that I specified my hours of work per day and per week, before overtime kicks in.

They didn't like that. As far as they were concerned, once I left on tour, I was working 24/7. At anytime and for any amount of time, I could be working. They did promise me that they were reasonable people and that I wasn't going to be killed working 48 hours straight. Nor would I work more than 5 days a week.

The common belief is that in the end, it all balances out in terms of worked hours and time off. I'm sure that would be the case with BB, but it's not a guarantee. I was asking for a guarantee.

Strangely, they did agree, without hesitation, to business class.

Here's a little breakdown of what I used to think was great about touring, and now how it sucks compared to television and corporate.

On tour, I used to think that the pay was better. I used the old formula of, "it all balances out in the end", but after the flip out on BB and the fact that on this tour, everyone works from 14 to 20 hours in a day it doesn't really balance out. In all fairness, I'm closer to the 14 hour mark with maybe 7 of those hours being intense work, yet it still doesn't balance out in comparison. In TV and corporate, I'm paid pretty much for every hour I work. It's not a "salaried" position, and I have a minimum guarantee of hours paid, and overtime. Plus one for TV and corporate.

I get per diem on tour, extra money in my pocket. Even with the extra money per week, I'm still making less on tour on a rate per hour basis, than I would working in TV or corporate. I actually figured it out a couple of days ago... Making the assumption that I'm on tour 24/7, then the money I get, divided over that time, works out to a little bit over the current minimum wage. Plus two for TV and corporate.

On tour, you have catering for every meal plus after-show food. TV usually involves a walk away for lunch, meaning I need to go find food myself, and a catered dinner, which often isn't great. There is a craft services table all day, but that just means I'm snacking on candy and donuts all day. Plus one for touring.

We have a bus on tour, that means there's a bunk I can crawl into at the end of the workday or if I have downtime, a TV I can watch. For TV, I have to drive my own truck to the gig, which can be far from home, and drive myself back. If there's down time, I'm usually standing around or surfing the internet on my cell phone. I think this is a plus two for touring.

When working in TV or corporate, I'm usually the designer or just the programmer. I've come to decide that I like either role. As the designer, I get to make all the decisions when it comes to the design. As the programmer, I'm just the button pusher, and I take all direction.

When working on tour, I'm more often than not, the lighting director, which is sort of the step between designer and programmer. I'm not the designer, so all the decisions are made by someone else. But I'm also not just a button pusher and am forced to make design decisions on a daily basis. And when you are working with an unmanageable monster (like this tour) the decisions you make have to be chosen between keeping the artistic vision of the designer, and keeping the crew happy. I don't like being in that position. Yes, I have been the designer on tour before, but I make it a point to create a design that is both manageable for the expected venues, and artistic enough to make a unique statement for the musical artist. Probably why I don't get many calls for design gigs, I don't dream big enough.

I think that all panned out to a plus three for TV and corporate.

And finally I miss my family too much when I'm on the road. I can do TV and corporate away from home as well, but it's not a tour, and I'm in one place for a period of time. So if it's an extended TV show, I can always fly my family out to join me. Plus four for TV and corporate.

4 to 2, TV and corporate wins. That's not to say, I won't ever tour again, but the offer really has to be right.

...

9 Times Outta 10, It's Not My Fault.

St. Louis show update-

6:30 PM, the doors are supposed to open to the house for the audience to come and sit.

6:25PM, my radio crackles with the voice of the video director wanting me to bring up a song look that they were having trouble with at the last show. My first instinct is, "Why didn't you ask me about this earlier?" And my second, was to go to the lighting console and bring the look up (Did I mention that on this show I control video and lighting? Another blog...)

6:29PM, problem not solved, the debate ensues, "There's something wrong with the lighting console," To which I respond, "There's nothing wrong with the console, I haven't changed a thing." This goes back and forth until...

6:50PM, doors have been held because of other reasons, not our back and forth about who's changed something or who's computer is wrong, but now it's time to open doors.

6:51PM, doors have opened and I walk away from the console. I get downstairs to the video area where I'm told they figured out what the problem is. A few days ago, they changed the video card in the camera that they were having trouble with, but they didn't change the system settings to recognize the new card.

Once again, proving that it's not my fault. A lighting console is a smart piece of equipment, if I tell it do something, it will do it, even if I tell it the wrong thing. The console has no opinion of it's own or it's own mind to change, "No Dan, I think bringing up fixtures 203 through 205 is a bad choice, therefore, I'm bringing up different fixtures." The console will bring up 203 through 205.

So if the show has been working for while now, without me changing anything, how can we think the console changed it?

Not my/our fault. I didn't change anything. What did you change? A video card?

...

Maxwell - St. Louis.

Another crazy load in. We're only playing half an arena, so it's been a stressful day for most because we've only got half the room for our 12 semi's full of gear.

There's not even any floor space for me, so I've had to set my console up in the seating area in an ADA section. Which means, I had to drag all my gear into an elevator up to the concourse level, through the entry tunnel and then set it up in the seats. Not a big deal really, probably should have taken a picture of that. Instead, I took pictures of things I saw on the way to setting up.

Check this out.The last time I saw anything like this was on Luther Vandross. What is it you ask? Why it's airbrushed backgrounds that you can stand in front of and take a picture with your date. Just like Senior Prom!

The Maxwell show has a certain amount of similarities to a Luther show. Namely, a greater percentage of the audience is female, and if there are any men in the audience, they're on a date, or married. Both are love song singers, but I think Maxwell is a little dirtier in his songs.

And finally, when you walk down the tunnel into the arena bowl, you see this sign:Of course, I had to put my own spin on it.I apologize for the picture quality, but I only had my camera phone with me...

...

Tour Mascot

I have mixed feelings about this one. While it's nice to have an animal around, and that truck driving can be a lonely business, I think it's not good for an animal designed to travel on it's feet, to be locked in a truck cab for most of the day.

That being said, here's a cutie that's been hanging out in the production office with our production coordinator. I can't remember what her real name is, but I've been calling her, "Pikake".I think she's a dachshund because she's got those big floppy ears and is teeny tiny. Use the wall plug behind her to gauge her size. She's adorable.

...

Day Off Atlanta?

As I said in my last post, long drive to a day off in Atlanta. So how did I spend my day off? Here's a video of it.

Yep, a long straight road. Bouncing along for 14 hours. It was supposed to be 12, but we did this once. Truck stop. Not so bad because this one had a McDonalds attached for food, ANDCrunch ice! I'm thinking all Pilot Truck Stops have this magic. Something to look forward to on our haul to Chicago. But here's something to not look forward too on the haul to Chicago. There are three crew buses, and it's not that our driver goes fast, on the contrary, he goes the speed limit, which is a little irritating, it's more that the other two buses stop a lot. So we got chastised and the truck stop and were asked to wait for the other buses. We didn't.

Finally into Atlanta, stayed at the Ritz-Carlton. Wish we had gotten in at a decent hour, but after the truck stop and two traffic jams caused by accidents, we got in at 7:30PM. Again, for the third time on this tour, I got a corner room. Here's a video for Nicole of my hotel room.


Not bad. Never understood the concept of a raised sink in the bathroom. It's cool and all, but I find that I splash more water on the counter, and smack my hand on the side of the bowl when I try to grab my toothbrush. And check out that shower head. Like soaping up in a rain storm.

They had a gym, which was okay. Room service prices were outrageous, so I walked a block to the Hard Rock and had a caesar salad and nachos. Not the healthiest of choices, but nothing else called me. Hard Rock is not known for their food.

Show day, then a short haul into a second day in North Carolina. Then another day off in Chicago. My last day off before Sean Patrick's birthday, for which I will be flying home for.

...

D.C. Yo.

Here come the last of the short drives into real days off. After D.C., we hit Philadelphia, then haul it down to Atlanta (12 hours drive). After shows in Atlanta and North Carolina, we haul it cross country to Chicago (another 12 hour drive). With load out usually ending between 4 and 5 in the morning, we aren't getting in to the next city until 5 or 6 in the evening. Day off, shot.

In the mean time, here's some of the fun stuff from the real day off we had Washington D.C. We came in from Richmond VA, only 2 hours away, which put us in the hotel in the morning.

There was a hotel change at the last minute. Instead of staying at the Four Seasons, they were putting us up at some hotel called The Madison. I was a little skeptical at first. Who wouldn't want to stay at the Four Seasons? But when I stepped into my room, I was fine.Looks like your standard hotel room. Bed, desk, TV. But wait, what's that in the corner?Is that a massage chair? Four Seasons what?

After a couple of sessions getting my back, shoulders and calves kneaded and percussed, I thought I'd step out and check out the National Geographic Museum which was around the corner from the hotel. There was an advertisement in the hotel room that the museum had an exhibit of Terra Cotta soldiers from Xian China. But if I had read closer, I would have noticed that the exhibit wouldn't be up until November.

What they did have, was a really amazing photographic exhibit of Lions and Leopards. Lots of pictures and movies, even one amazing clip of a young leopard, that killed a baboon, only to discover that it had a baby. So the leopard took the baby gently into the trees so it was away from other predators and every time it fell out of the tree, it would carry it back up. It was really amazing and touching, that I couldn't watch it anymore. I couldn't see a good ending for the baby baboon, so I walked away. I didn't take any pictures of the pictures, because frankly, that wouldn't do it any justice, the exhibit itself, from the walls to the light were just as important for the experience. But I did snap a photo of a quote that I like.You can apply that to sharks too.

And finally, I ended my evening having a couple of pints with a buddy.That's Brian. He's a high school classmate of my younger brother. He went to D.C. for school, and like myself and L.A., got a job and just ended up staying. We had late drinks because he had to play volleyball that evening, and his team won, so I guess, I can't really be mad at him for not taking me out for the steak dinner he owed me.

And that, was D.C..

...

The Opposite of Toronto.

3 weeks in Toronto. Back on U.S. soil. Our third show was, or should be, the most important show on the tour. We played Madison Square Garden. Maxwell is from New York so this show was a dream come true for him. To play the Garden...

We did have an evening off in New York. I'd love to say I had a day off in New York, but we had a submarine ride from Detroit to the Big Apple, which put us at the hotel at 5PM. Here's the view from my hotel window. Right across the street from MSG. Made for a late call time, since all I had to do was walk across the street to get to work.

My hotel room was the opposite of the one I had for three weeks in Toronto. It was a decent size room with a kitchenette. Which can be unusual for NYC, since most hotel rooms are really small. In a previous post, I showed you the magic of my shower. Well NYC gave me the complete reverse as you can see here.

That shower is so small, that I had to open the curtain just to bend over to wash my legs and feet. Which also pushed my butt into the cold tile. An unexpected shock to the system.

It's fine though, we got there so late, that all I really did in the hotel room was rearrange my luggage, take a shower and sleep. I got to have dinner with some good friends and great food.

My good friend Jon Forsberg made reservations for us at Angelo and Maxi's, a steakhouse that a friend recommended. I arrived early and had a drink at the bar and waited for Jon, and my other friend, Rachel and her boyfriend Justin. Here's the view from my table.

L-R Justin, Rachel, Jon, and a fat guy.

All in all it was a good night.

...

Into Enemy Territory

Hockey season is starting up soon. I had the draft for my fantasy hockey league a few days ago. I was stuck on a bus so I wasn't able to participate, but overall, I think I did quite well.

Our second show on this tour, was at one of the most hallowed hockey arenas in the country, the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The "Joe" as it is fondly referred to has been around for years, and as you can see from all the banners hanging from the rafters, the Detroit Red Wings are one of the most successful hockey franchises in the sport. Which also makes them one of the most hated.

I can't say that I hate the Red Wings, I'm just not a fan. For me, they have the same feel as the Yankees do for baseball. Too much of a storied past, that it's fun to see them loose. My hockey saying, "I root for two teams, the Ottawa Senators, and who ever is playing the Red Wings." I'm sure most people feel the same way, except for the Senators part.

So playing the "Joe" was like walking into enemy territory, I wanted to say something nasty about the Red Wings, but I also wanted to do the show and get out with all my appendages attached. Red Wing fans are the worst. I should know, I sat with the enemy during a game last season.

At least now I can add the "Joe" to the arena's I've played in. I think it's the only one on this leg that I've never been in before.

I've toured too much.

...

My Cell Phone Nemesis

I remember getting my first cell phone in 1997. It was a decent phone, made by Motorola. But more importantly, the cell service was from a fledgling company called Nextel. They really wanted business so when I called for a phone, the immediately sent a salesperson to my house to show me the phones, teach me how to us it, and set up my account. I liked that.

I took that phone on the road with me for a few years, until I noticed everyone else on tour had smaller Nokia phones from AT&T. So I checked them out at an AT&T store in some mall, some where in the U.S.. The phone plans were much better than my Nextel plan, no long distance or roaming charges. What really impressed me, I could get a new phone, turned on today, in an area code of my choosing. So somewhere, in the middle of America, I got my current cell phone number, with the area code for Los Angeles/Hollywood, the 323.

And there I remained, happily, for many years, buying many different cell phones from many different AT&T stores across the U.S.. Until... AT&T merged with Cingular. At first, it wasn't bad, I had a working cell phone that I liked. But when that phone slowly made it's way into oblivion, I went to AT&T/Cingular to once again, get a new phone. I walked into the store, chose my new phone and started the process of turning it on. At that point I was informed that because of the merger with Cingular, my current cell phone plan was no longer accepted. It was "grandfathered" as long as I had my current phone, but the moment I got a new phone, I had to get a new plan, and a new contract. The new plans they offered couldn't hold a candle to my old plan, and they were more expensive.

I was not happy.

So I went out in search of a new cell phone company and found my new current home of T-Mobile. To this day, I've been very happy with T-Mobile. Granted, they don't really have the coverage area that Cingular (now back to AT&T), and Verizon have in the U.S.. But what they do have is friendly, helpful, customer service. That's important to me. I vowed, never to use AT&T again.

When the new Apple iPhone came out, tied to AT&T, I was adamant about not getting one. I wasn't going to jump on the bandwagon with probably the best cell phone on the market today. I hate AT&T that much that I won't get an iPhone, even though it is truly the easiest phone to interface with my Macintosh computer (imagine that).

Until I dropped my Palm smart phone one too many times. It was finally time to invest in a new phone. I went round and round with my disgust of AT&T and the desire to own the iPhone. Do I give in? Bite the bullet and get the phone I want with the service I hate?

Thankfully, T-Mobile swooped in again and saved the day, by putting out the myTouch phone. It's like an iPhone except made my HTC. It's currently locked to the T-Mobile network, but if I call that friendly customer service, I can have it unlocked so I can put in a different SIM card if I ever go to Europe again. Once again saving me money. Try doing that with an iPhone. I smell international charges.

So today, I have a phone I'm happy with, and a service, that I'm very happy with.

And one last thing that is wrong with AT&T, they don't sponsor a cycling team. My first phone, made by Motorola, sponsored a cycling team. T-Mobile sponsored a very powerful cycling team, and now HTC, sponsors a cycling team.

Take that AT&T.

...

Meet The Crew.

This, so far, has not been an easy tour. It's big, nay, it's huge. There's a lot of crap, and the problem is, there's not enough crew people to deal with it all. But on the lighting end, there's enough crew people if all they dealt with was the lighting gear. Instead they've been forced into other roles, mostly setting up curtains and set pieces, normally a carpenters job.

They work their butts off all day with little to no breaks to do anything. I've never seen them in catering. But they must be eating.

So here's my tribute to my very awesome lighting crew. The gear on the other hand... Another blog maybe.

This is Jeff. He's the lighting crew chief. His forte is politics. He's a competent lighting tech, but he's definitely my "go to" guy when it comes to getting things sorted out.



This is Emily. I haven't had much contact with her so far on this tour, since she was doing day shift at rehearsals while I was on the night shift. But I know for a fact she's a hard worker. In New York a couple of days ago, she was in her harness up 30' in the air hanging on a truss trying to get some of the bi-parting drapes to work, FOR THREE HOURS. Not a fun day. She sounds like another favorite crew person of mine, Desirae "Wheels". Are all women lighting techs supposed to have raspy voices?



Say hello to Jason. He's another hard worker, and I got to see it every night because he was on the night shift with me. When ever a light broke down, he was in his harness up in the rig fixing it. He's also a huge hockey fan. And like me, he's not a fan of specific teams or players, but really a fan of the sport.



And this is Kevin. As far as I'm concerned, the hero of the bunch. It's only his second tour and he's on probably the hardest gig anyone can have on a lighting crew. He's the dimmer guy. He has to run all the cables that get plugged into all the lights and power. Not to mention, he's also the "techo-weenie" on the crew who knows all the ins and outs of all the different electronic gear. So if something breaks or acts up, it's up to Kevin to sort it out. He's running around from the moment the load in starts to the moment the load out ends. And during rehearsals, he was, more often than not, the stand in when ever we needed to see a body on camera or in the light, as displayed in the above picture.

And he does it all with a smile on his face and the calmness of a Hindu cow. Kudos to him.

There you have it, my crew for the fall 2009 Maxwell arena tour. All Canadians. All the time.

...

The Worlds Most Expensive Deodorant

I can't remember if I wrote in my blog or not (somehow I remember doing so) but I changed deodorants a few months back on the recommendation by Hurley of TV show "Lost" fame (Jorge Garcia) on his blog. I now use this salt crystal stick that you wet and rub. It's not an antiperspirant, just a deodorant. I still sweat but no stink.

It's considered and "all natural" kind of thing, and the easiest place for me to find it was Whole Foods. Granted they are usually more expensive your standard Right Guard, or Old Spice, but they seem to last for a very long time... sorta.

I'm guessing there's a downfall to having to wet a salt crystal. In that, if it is never dried properly, or is in humidity, it eventually softens and breaks. As was the case in Toronto. I had purchased one that was on a screw shaft, like your standard deodorant. Turn the knob at the bottom and the product moves up. Well, I think it had been humid for quite some time in the bottom of the stick because I went to turn the screw to drive it up, and it didn't move. Instead, little flakes of crystal, that should have been clinging to the shaft, fell into the bottom of the stick. So, in my infinite wisdom, I shook the stick hoping to lock some part of the salt crystal onto the screw shaft, instead the crystal shot out across the room, bounced of the wall and smashed into three pieces in the sink.

Needless to say, I needed a new one. I got online to see if Whole Foods is in Canada. Thankfully it is, and there is one on the edge of downtown Toronto. I asked one of my crew members who lives in Toronto how far the Whole Foods was from my hotel. He said about a 45 minute walk one direction. I did have that kind of time. We'd be programming overnight until 6 in the morning and then my day was spent sleeping before returning to the studio for another over night session. I had maybe an hour and a half, if I got up and went straight out the door.

So, to save time, I took a cab to Whole Foods. With tip, $15.oo Canadian. I bought the only salt crystal deodorant stick they had (different design) for $8.99 Canadian. In an effort to save money, and get in some exercise, I power walked back to the hotel, which took me 45 minutes.

So here it isThe $23.99 Canadian, natural and organic, salt crystal deodorant. That's $22.98 American. Pretty expensive for a deodorant.

I think this one will last me a little longer since there is no screw shaft mechanism, it's just a salt crystal shoved in a screw base with a plastic screw top. Plus, I leave the top off every chance I get to make sure it stays dry and solid. Unlike my pits, which, on a work day, are damp, but odor free.

...

A Coin In Every Pocket.

I think my favorite coin in the world is the English Pound. It’s a thick, heavy coin. It makes a very unique kind of thud when dropped on the counter or bar, and it will stand on it’s edge without a problem.

I like the idea of getting rid of the dollar bill and replacing it with the dollar coin. That’s the way it is here in Canada, no dollar bills, only dollar coins. The coin is called the “loonie” because of the Loon pressed on it. They also have the “toonie”, which is a two dollar coin.

While I like the dollar and two dollar coins, there is a drawback; The jingling and the jangling when they are loose in you pocket. Normally not a big deal when you walk around, but I think the loonie and the toonie make a very specific sound that pan handlers around the city can hear and they insist on hitting you up for change. Can’t say, “No, I don’t have any.” Since I don’t have a coin wallet with me, I’ve been putting one coin in each of my pockets to cut down on the noise. I’ve also been experimenting with different coins in combination in each pocket to see what makes the least noise. I’ve determined that putting the loonie and the toonie together make the most noise.

Hopefully, in the next week or so, I can get rid of all these coins. I can’t exchange them. Maybe I’ll just send them to my brother, he too, likes coins.

...

T.O. Food.

I've been told that Toronto likes to think of itself as the New York City of Canada. And since New York City goes by NYC, Toronto likes to go by T.O. (Toronto, Ontario). I have to put the periods in because if I don't it looks like I'm yelling, "TO".

I like Toronto. It's got that big city feel, but not unsafe. They do have a fair number of good restaurants in the area. I remember walking over to the arts district a few years back and having quite a nice tapas meal. But there is one place I always visit, for at least one meal, while I'm here. I could never remember the name of it, I just knew it was on the edge of the food court at the big mall in downtown T.O..I know the name now. Richtree Market Restaurant. The concept is not unique. It's basically a large, nicely decorated cafeteria, where you get food freshly made, and if so inclined, made to order. I've been there twice since landing in T.O.. I go every time I come. The prices are high, but not as high as on my first night in town this time.

I got in to the hotel around 8:30PM last Sunday, after decompressing a bit and talking with the wife, I went out in search of food. Here's one difference between NYC and T.O., NYC has lots of late night eateries. I wasn't picky, so I went to the Subway I saw on the drive in. I got to the door and tried to enter... locked. I looked at the business hours sign, "Sunday, 11:00AM - 10:00PM." I looked at my watch, 9:47PM. I looked at the clerks behind the counter, they waved me off, mouthing "We're closed." I shook my head, showed them my watch and stalked off. I was pretty mad because I had my heart set on a turkey and ham foot long. I walked around the city and found, not two blocks away, another Subway, this time the "Open" sign was on so I rushed in. There were two other people ahead of me, but they were doing there best to close, and I think I was the last person in. They had cleared off most of the food from the sandwich station but were still willing to serve me. So I asked for my turkey and ham foot long. I think the lady heard me wrong because she proceeded to make me a chicken and bacon foot long. Didn't matter, I was hungry, so I grabbed a bag of chips and drink and made it a combo. How much? $15.00 Canadian! When the U.S. dollar was strong against the Canadian, that wouldn't have been a big deal, but with the weakness of the dollar, that basically translates one to one. I paid $15.00 for a sandwich and a bag of chips. I'd have done better ordering room service!

Back to Richtree. My favorite "section" is the southeast Asian food. The first time I went (this trip) I had the Nasi Goreng. It's a rice based dish tossed with vegetables and chicken. I had the real McCoy when I went to Kuala Lumpur, and this stuff is pretty comparable. Although I don't remember cauliflower in Kuala Lumpur...

Today, I chose to have the noodle cousin to the Nasi Goreng, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called!I also discovered a little money saving tip... The corner drug store here is running a special on Arizona brand fruit punch, 99 cents for that big can. Probably more calories than I need, but it definitely is a thirst quencher. I also splurged today and got what I thought was a fruit and yogurt parfait. Turns out it was strawberries and custard. Still delish, but I wasn't prepared for the custard flavor and texture. All this cost me, $13.oo Canadian. A much better deal than Subway.

Tonight and until I leave T.O., my schedule is shifting to nights, which means, I'll be waking up in the afternoons, looking for food. Richtree Market, I'll see you tomorrow.

...

Days 1 Thru 6.

Maxwell load in started on Monday. Here's 6 pictures of the six days of load in (so far).Day one. Lifts in the room and the riggers are rigging. There's still lots to do. My goal for the day was to see all the lights in the lighting truss work. They didn't fly to trim, but they were working when I left (at a reasonable hour).


Day Two. Trusses are finally going to trim, as are the sound clusters. The riggers still have to do the rigging for the moving video wall. Yep, this tour has a moving video wall. It sits about 10 feet from the downstage edge, and opens and closes for the different acts. 16, count 'em 16 two ton motors to hold this sucker up. That's 32 tons or, 64,000 pounds. They actually had to wait until day 3 to start hanging the wall because an independent engineer had to come in and certify that the roof could hold the weight. Not just the video wall, but all the lights, sound, drapes, and truss as well. What was my goal for day two? To not have my butt fall asleep in the chair. Well, there was more for me to do, I've got a lot of new equipment I've not worked with before and spent most of the day learning the new toys.


Day Three. They got half of the video wall hung, and the rest of the stage was built. You can't see it, but there is a long "Y" shaped ramp that comes off the front of the stage. The lighting guys set out all the floor lights, which includes a bunch of LED colour bars along the ramps, hence the red glow in the room. My goal for day three, test the floor lights and keep playing with the new toys.


Day four. They got the entire video wall hung, and only half of it working, so that night, I had half a video wall to throw images up on and learn about how it all interfaces. They hung some drapes too.


Day five. The pieces are coming together. All the big bits are working, video screen online, and moving. You can't tell, but I've gotten control of some of the cameras and am practicing putting images on the video walls. The goal for today was to get presets for the video wall and interfacing with the "Encore" system set on the lighting console. The other goal was to stay up as late as possible since starting on Monday, I'm going to be up all night programming with the lighting designer.


And finally, day 6. Really just me touching up stuff and messing around with the gear, practicing practicing practicing. I did take a moment to take a picture of me taking a picture of the video screen of me taking a picture. Always strange when you have a camera set up behind you.

I might disappear again, it all depends on how programming goes. I might be choosing to spend my off time sleeping instead of typing. When the tour gets going, I'm sure I'll be posting more.

Until then...

...

Quirky August #2

Here's another post I meant to put up in August.

Nicole and I went shopping in Glendale early one morning. Our Sister-in-Law showed us this neat little store that we wanted to check out again because it had cute children's toys and we had a 1 year old birthday to attend.

We got to the parking structure, which at 9:30 AM on a weekday was, as expected empty. So we pulled into a parking space and proceeded to perform our standard extraction from the car.

Before Nicole could even open her door, another car zipped into the parking space RIGHT NEXT TO US. A whole empty parking lot, and this person had to park right next to us. Now instead of a full open door swing, Nicole had to do a half open and then shimmy sideways out of the car.

A whole empty parking lot!This might be one of my Larry David "Curb Your Enthusiasm" moments, but, a whole empty parking lot! At least park one stall away from the nearest car! Isn't that the unwritten rule? Like stalls in a public bathroom, you always leave one between you and the next person, unless there isn't room to do so.

A whole empty parking lot!

Geez!

...

Quirky August #1

Here's a post I meant to do in August. But I was on "vacation".

Nicole and I often take the dog and the kid for a walk late in the afternoon or early in the morning when the weather outside is cooler. August temps fluctuated so much that we had over 100 degree days and some days that barely reached 80.

On one of our walks, I was in control of the dog when I noticed something that might cause trouble. Pekona likes to eat paper, so these little shreds could prove a problem. As we approached, Pekona didn't seem terribly interested in the paper, but when I looked down I noticed this. Now why does this strike me as quirky? Maybe better to say, oddly humorous. Here we have, littered on the ground, paper. And where did this paper originate? At the "Environmental Programs Division". Last I checked, leaving litter on the ground was bad for he environment. Or did the Environmental Programs Division not get that memo out to it's employees?

Perhaps the letter that was contained in the envelope was just that, the memo telling the employees to "not litter, take care of our environment. That's what our program division does".

Whom ever dropped this didn't get the memo.

...

3 Days, 65 Drops.

Back home in Altadena, Nicole and I use a soft soap and "poof" in the shower as opposed to a bar of soap. On the road, it's sort of hard to get a "poof" to dry properly, since you always stuff it in your shower bag, and a damp "poof" often end up moldy and smelly fairly quickly.

So on the road, I take a bar of soap. My favorite at the moment is the Irish Spring bar with little scrubbing crystals embedded in the soap. I used to use the Dove bar, which was better at moisturizing, but that never seemed to scrub off the dirty feeling. And no venue ever provides a wash cloth.

Since I haven't toured in over a year, I've discovered that I have lost my ability to grab a bar of wet soap. Every time I shower, I swear I drop that damn Irish Spring at least 7 times. And it doesn't help that it keeps landing with the loudest thud, and then shoots around the tub like a hockey puck.

As long as we're on the subject of my hotel bathroom, I did get a few wonderful surprises. Check this video out.


First off, it's roomy, with ample counter space. Second, there's a window, which lets in nice light in the afternoon (The room itself faces an inner courtyard so good lighting is limited until later). And finally, check out the power in that shower head! It actually has some pressure to it! Not like a lot of these hotels now days that put in the super low flow shower heads (I'm talking to you Holiday Inn) that have such poor water pressure, I've been known to take a whole shower without ever getting my feet wet! Something to look forward to after, or before, a long night of programming.

...