Small blessings, and a little envy,,,

early start, cold as witches teats, but thats what you can expect in January, right,,,

Funny, I was the only one of the Emps to get nearly a full day in. Half the crew left out before Nine ay-em, the other half went to a job site and were back by Ten and rolling out with checks in hand.

ME,,, Still in shop, riding the lightning and burnin’ metal. Or Cut-off saw and notcher for next batch of whatzits,, (Its January, usually dog kennel builds, and yuppers, that’s what these whatzits are,,,) Fairly productive day, not quite caught up,,, Gotta save some for the start of next week or I will work myself out of work, again,,, Trying to not let that happen this year since we are little more spread out in work AND, Son of Bossman has told me repeatedly, ‘you write your own check,,,’ If they’s payin’ I’m workin’ and so far, the last 12 months-ish, They have been paying me pretty good. Nuff that this is the first January that I can recall where I have money in the account come payday, BEFORE I make my deposits. Well, Not totally true, since in 2021, I took a three month hiatus and wasn’t ‘killed’,,, This has been a good year though since I have managed repairs on Buff and picked up kayaks,

And bought a Drysuit,,, Oh, and that shows now as SHIPPED!!!! WooHOO!!! It’s on its way,,, yessirree,,,

So I have incentive to get the Buff fixed RIGHT, (like I needed any added,,,) ASAP,,, Thats my day tomorrow,,, Buffalo is on the table, Yet again, and I am going to get this shit FIXED,,, Tired of smelling axle grease vapors everytime I stop or walk around the old girl. Gotta figure the WHY she is blowing as well as repair the blown parts (and for good measure, replacing the Pinion bearing and seal,,, hardest part to keep lubed and while I am not ‘hearing’ anything, I am THERE,,,,, Do it RIGHT,,,,)

And then there a slight envy going on,,,, The Boring Old Man (who ain’t boring,,,) posted a concert review for TWO of my favorite bands from Yore,,,, Bow WowWow and Missing Persons (which I had to put on while driving home,,,, LOL) I miss live sound, I really do,,, Reading about those two bands playing at the Guild in Menlo Park,,,, I could hear it, SEE IT, (worked that venue a few times,,,) and almost smell it,,,

sigh,,,,

I mixed monitors almost exclusively. Thats the guy off stage left (usually) that you never really notice because he is behind the stacks (unless you are far House Left, then you can look right into monitor world,,) But he is the critical link to the band. He is the guy that makes sure they can hear themselves well enough to pull their magic act off.

That was me. Biggest show I ever did was an 11 peice band, 16 mixes on stage including side fills, down fills and three mixes to the Drummer (wedges, sides and throne thumper.) THAT was a juggling act,,,, And the main artist/vocalist insisted on In-Ears and Sides,,, (never have understood that, but OK,,,,)

He is also the guy that can make their ears bleed,,, (apologies to Wayne Brady,,,)

I would never intentionally sabotage a show, but there were a couple of artists that I worked for, usually one nighters, that didn’t get my all because they were total A$$-$h!t$,,,, Never enough to throw a show, but enough to say “You’re an asshole and you suck septic winds,,,,” (No Wayne, that was not the case in your show,,, I was the Newb they threw at you because your manager didn’t want to pay us full price for “engineers”,,,, You, sir, DID teach me alot that night and for that I am grateful, but sadly, Student I was, and your show sorta sucked (on stage) due to that.)

FYI, mixing a monitor mix from Front of House is NOT the same as from the stage,,, I was used to mixing one to three mixes from FOH before I was tossed into the pool of monitor world with a national act,,, TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLD,,,, FOH has the audience to keep happy,,, Monitor world has only the band, and the band is paying the bill.

Interesting thing here,,,, I have recieved accolades from the band, not just back stage, but live to the audience on more than one occasion. Was even called out of monitor world (NO,,, I don’t wann go into the light guys, seriously, NO,,, You can have that glory all to yourselves,,,,) because the band was so happy with how things were on stage, they wanted the audience to know about the ‘unspoken members’ of the band. (Seriously, the sound crew is essential to the show, but we sorta prefer being anonymous,,,, At least most of us,, ) Now, I did like being recognized as an essential part of the show: think Jackson Browne,,,,

(that song still brings feelings of “HOME” to me,,, didn’t matter what venue, what city, what COUNTRY,,, That stage and tour bus were “HOME” and the family may change faces, but the mentallity was always there,,, “the show must go on” may be cliche, but on that bus, and in those venues,,,, It was THE law we all abided by, and would bend over backwards to support.

So yeah, when I read a review of bands I wish I had been able to work with, I feel a little envy,,, Sorry BOM, no monitor guy in the world can fix a bad drummer, but I think you are in the know of that already,,,

If you haven’t checked out BOM,,, Go: he is a muscian in his own right and still keeps his fingers in the pulse of music; far more than this hermit under a rock on a hill.