I Feel The Need To File A TPS Report.

So here's that blog I started back in January while I was working on the NAMM show down in Anaheim. It's a good start for the next blog which will be about the show I'm working on now...


Corporate theater. That's what I've been doing for the last week. Corporate theater.

I'm at the NAMM show working in the "Demo Cabin" at the Roland / Boss booth. Here's a picture of the stage I'm lighting.It's not much, 12 moving lights and some par cans to light the audience.

Every half hour, there's a demo of a different Roland or Boss product. The houselights dim, a video "commercial" plays, and then the announcement comes in, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome So and So demonstrating the Boss such and such". The stage lights comes up and a noodles for 15 to 20 minutes, thanks the audience and the house lights come back up.

Every half hour.

The hardest part about the gig thus far, is the atrophy I'm getting in my leg muscles. Trust me, I'm not complaining. These are really good gigs, not too stressful, repetitive, easy work. But they can get really boring. But I guess these gigs offset those really awful gigs where everything is an emergency and there's never a moments rest.

I think the most interesting parts thus far, have been the morning sales meetings and evening rehearsals. Aside from the general session on Wednesday, most of the morning sales meeting have been handled by the Japanese division of the company (I guess that's where they build the bulk of the product). It's been most interesting to watch and listen to everyone practicing their speeches and walking the stage, trying to figure out their blocking.

It goes to show, everything returns back to theater. Having to pitch a product, or rally your sales staff to sell more product, you essentially have to act. You get on stage under the hot lights, wearing a microphone, and play the role of CEO, or sales manager.

Which always makes me wonder, have any of these guys ever taking a voice or acting class? Would that stuff help?

...

My Dad Is A Funny Guy.

My dad and I used to watch Sumo wrestling all the time when I lived in Hawai'i. I remember riding to school in the morning with him and listening to the radio talk about Takamiyama, the first person from Hawai'i to wrestle in the top ranks of Sumo in Japan. We would even catch a few matches, although a day or two late, on the Japanese television channel in Hawai'i.

As time went on, more and more foreigners entered into ranks of Sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan. Many Japanese nationals were not happy, and many were. And Hawai'i became a very popular place to recruit wrestlers.

In the mid to late 80's when I was in junior high and high school, Konishiki was the next Hawai'i boy to achieve notoriety. He was the largest, topping out at 612 pounds. He was my favorite. It was fun to watch all that meat smack into smaller guys. I think the only time my dad and I ever saw him loose was when he got all the weight moving to quickly and fell over.

Akebono was the next Hawai'i boy to get up in the Sumo ranks. He was also a big guy, but not as big as Konishiki was.

With all these Hawai'i boys, every sumo tournament was broadcast in Hawai'i, only hours later instead of days. So my dad and I would watch every night.

Here's a clip of Akebono vs. Konishiki:


If you fast forward to about 2:20 in the video, you'll see the winner of the bout squat down and the "Referee" come over and hand the winner something off his fan. It happened after many of the higher ranked bouts, so I asked my dad, "Hey Dad, what does the referee guy hand the winner of the bout?"

Without missing a beat, my dad answered,

"He gets his parking validated".

...

NOW, We Can Move to O'ahu.

In the last year, they finally opened two Target stores on the island of O'ahu. One is close to the airport, and the other is off on the west side of the island. Since I grew up on the east side, I don't go to the west side all that often. So the day after Christmas, Nicole and I went to the Target near the airport so we could "stock up" on the things we needed. Mostly stuff for Sean Patrick.

As we were walking to the store after parking the car, I noticed something strange.The sign indicates more parking above, and we are definitely under a second floor. But the only way to the second floor I could find was this.The sign points directly at the stairwell. They sure don't make it easy to get your car up to the second floor do they.

...

How To Make Korean Barbecue, Boland Style.

Go marinade 'em.Go poke 'em wid da steek.Go cook 'em.Go eat 'em.So ONO!

...

Alabamama'amma

Happy New Year, y'all.

As always, I'm in Hawai'i spending the holidays with my family. This year we've and the unfortunate luck of not having my younger brother join us. He moved to Southern California this past summer and well, couldn't afford to make the trip to Hawai'i this time. Next year...

We did have a nice lady join us on this trip. Her name is Garmin Nuvi. She's not a very good conversationalist, but she sure knows her way around. I'm not sure where she's from, but she has a hard time pronouncing Hawai'ian words. Here, have a listen to her saying Ala Moana Boulevard (in case you readers have trouble pronouncing Hawai'ian words as well, Ala Moana phonetically is "Ah la Mow Ah Nah").




Say whaaaaat? "Alabama ma'am ma"? I think Nicole and I drive to Ala Moana all the time now just to hear her say it.

Oh Garmin Nuvi, you silly gal.

...

On another note, a new year brings a new chance to write more on the blog. Of course, I'm loosing most of my free time with my son. But I promise to post more. I may have to break my rule and starting writing about the boy.

Or I'll stick with writing about cycling since I'm gearing up to do a half century bike ride this coming March. That's fifty miles in the saddle. I don't seem to work enough (much less tour) so there isn't a whole lot of spare time sitting in front of the computer with nothing to do. Like my friend Benny said, "I need a gig so I can get some time off." So true. Kids are wonderful, but they really are a time suck.

Back soon.

...