Just some memories that came to my head today, for no reason, and I thought I would share with ya.
Back in 2005ish I was touring with multiple acts over several tours. Did 10 months on the road in four 2 1/2 month runs. One end of the country and back again,,,, AND I absolutely despised the Testicle Squeezers ASSociation then,,, Lost some essential tools because some jackanapes at the line decided he wanted it more and came up with some bullshit that I couldn’t argue without becoming the Center Piece to “Serious Scrutiny”,,, Give up the ‘gift’ and shut your tired mouth and call Jen at Headquarters and have her send out a new one to meet you at the first gig.
And it was that last tour where a certain act of a certain alcohol content failed to heed warnings, and managed to blow up an 800 watt monitor wedge, 2 feet from my head. I finished the tour (about 3 more weeks of it at that stage) but my hearing has never recovered and everything in my right ear sounds distorted like a guitar through a Marshall stack with the pre-amps turned to 11. (Think Boston’s dirty sounding Stratocaster, and I do love the tone, but NOT in my daily hearing, and it truly sucks for voices.). But thats not the point of this story,,,,
I swore after that tour, that I would never fly again, if it were on my dime: and they would be, because I was leaving the touring scene. I could have moved over to lighting or something, or even just taken my experiance and become a tour manager,,, BUT, I love mixing live music.,, I used to say they paid me for the load in/outs, and the show was my cookie for being a nice guy to the hands.
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That was my favorite ‘office’ for several years. Worked with several different makes, but the XL4 was MY girl,,, (and 5 band parametric’s with sweepable mids and HI/LO pass filters. Y’all can keep those 31 band graphics. blecH!!!)
SOoooossss. In 2007, right about the time A and I were starting to realize that maybe we weren’t really right for each other, but hadn’t quite come to terms with how to split amicably,,, We flew to Albuquerque for a week long visit with her brudder and SIL. We packed some hiking gear in our checked baggage, nothing wild or outrageous, but some top of the line gear if you are into that sort of thing.
It never arrived. Our bags did, but not the hiking gear. TSA told us the gear had been considered weapons and impounded with zero trail of whom made the call or where it was being stored. (in other words, it wasn’t, and someone saw something they liked or thought they could make some fast cash on,,,)
My blow up was likely one of the points that made A reconsider me as a life partner, but I also think that decision had been creeping up on her since I came off the road. We were great friends, and being gone so much made homecomings like honeymoons, but when I was no longer on the road, the honeymoon feelz faded pretty quickly. (along with the Mad Bank I was making while touring,,, Per Diems add up fast, and when your ‘residence’ is a tour bus, there isn’t much room for spending,,,, Coming off tour with 5 grand in cash, in pocket was not uncommon, and that didn’t include my base rate that went straight into my accounts )(and while I would love to go back to the tours, its a young persons job, it really is. The hours are rather shitty, and if you have a home/mortgage,,,, )
Ever since then, I won’t even consider taking a flight ANYWHERE, unless I can afford to charter a private plane, one where i can get in on the tarmac without having to go through the mad shuffle of “protection’,,,
Least to say, I don’t fly,,,,
BUT, if you ever get a chance to do the Kirkie trip, do it! That town still arrives in my memories every so often, and I still want to go back; this time without the vibe killing TSA fucking things up, nor the undertones of a break-up happening. It says something about the town that, even with those negatives, I was still awed by the place.
Dio's Workshop 