Pro Tour Rest of the Story

[liphunter]

5 minutes ago, mixermarkb said:

I tried to give it up too. The wife and kids whine a lot about silly things like "hunger" and "electricity" and "internet" and "running water".

The nerve of them!

It's May and the water is 68 degrees!! 

I don't know why they have to get so bent out of shape about small details and can't just enjoy life as it comes!!!

I hear you! You think they could at least  keep it together until early July, right!!! sheesh!!!

[vernon]

4 hours ago, mixermarkb said:

I tried to give it up too. The wife and kids whine a lot about silly things like "hunger" and "electricity" and "internet" and "running water".

The nerve of them!

It's May and the water is 68 degrees!! 

I don't know why they have to get so bent out of shape about small details and can't just enjoy life as it comes!!!

There is no room in the life of a fisherman for whiners!

All that negative energy is nothing but counterproductive to what’s really important in life. 

They’re darn lucky that you’re so overly tolerant of their ridiculous wants and expectations. 

I, for one,  commend you!  

[mixermarkb]

I'm suffering through work right now.

These ungrateful people at home have no idea the sacrifices I make.

I mean, Rascal Flatts has been onstage for nearly 90 minutes now. I've even had to leave my air conditioned backstage area and walk the lawn where all the people are to hear the sound system I'm monitoring a half dozen times!

I've even had to push a few buttons and turn some knobs! 

 

Oh oh the humanity!!!!!

 

I hope I'm rewarded sufficiently on Father's Day!!!!

 

 

(hope my wife never sees this thread or I'm gonna have some 'splainin to do LOL)

 

 

[vernon]

8 hours ago, mixermarkb said:

I'm suffering through work right now.

These ungrateful people at home have no idea the sacrifices I make.

I mean, Rascal Flatts has been onstage for nearly 90 minutes now. I've even had to leave my air conditioned backstage area and walk the lawn where all the people are to hear the sound system I'm monitoring a half dozen times!

I've even had to push a few buttons and turn some knobs! 

 

Oh oh the humanity!!!!!

 

I hope I'm rewarded sufficiently on Father's Day!!!!

 

 

(hope my wife never sees this thread or I'm gonna have some 'splainin to do LOL)

 

 

I had no idea.  I mean, I knew you had one of those job thingys or whatever they call them but NINETY MINUTES?  With buttons AND knobs?

My heart goes out to you and hopefully your ungrateful family will someday see the error of their ways and make things right by you.  Although I'm not sure how mere penance on their part could ever possibly make you whole again.

As a salute to you and in an effort to assuage this agony unfairly perpetrated upon you, I am going to make the ultimate personal sacrifice.

That's right - in about an hour I'm going to pull the Ranger all the way to Table Rock and fish for the entire week!

That'll show 'em!

Stay strong my brother.

You're welcome....

[Quillback]

Whew, yeah 90 minutes of work?  Just thinking of that much toil is making me think I need a nap.  Which BTW is another side benefit to the retired life, nap time whenever you want.  

[mixermarkb]

Well, in my defense lol, the concert is 90 minutes, but I'd been there since noon getting everything ready. My job at that venue is stupid easy, since the sound system that covers the lawn seating area is installed at the start of the season and stays up until the last show. I really just have a couple hours of working with the tour sound guys of alignment and tuning to make the lawn sound as good as possible. 

The hard days are when everything goes in and out in one day, and I've done plenty of those over the years to work my way up to the "easy" gig I have now, and I still do 50 or more one off gigs in a year outside of the Ampitheater and sound for a church on Sunday morning. 

Yesterday's tour was Rascal Flatts, Billy Currington, and Jimmie Allen, and while my part was easy, there were roughly 30 touring crew members, and 50 local crew members working their tails off.

A typical day for a big show starts at about 7:30am, with ground riggers drawing chalk marks on the arena floor to locate where the climbing riggers will hang all the electric chain hoists that will support all the sound, lighting, and video equipment. Riggers are crazy dudes, with a crazy job, walking beams 80 to 100 feet in the air, pulling up chains and making bridles with steel wire to hang the points where they need when a beam isn't exactly where a hoist needs to go. It's not unusual these days to have 80,000 to 100,000 pounds of equipment suspended above the stage.  

After most of the rigging is chalked out, the trucks start getting unloaded about 8am. Last night's show was ten 53' semis of gear, plus another full semi of merchandise. Everything that gets flown in the air goes up, and the staging gets built underneath, with all the band's musical instruments going up last. 

After lunch, everything is checked, lights are focused and programmed, cameras and video screens balanced, any pyrotechnic effects get tested and approved by local fire marshals, anything broken gets fixed, guitar strings (for as many as 50+ guitars) all get changed and everything is tuned and tuned again. About 3pm, the bands start soundchecks, maybe rehearse a little, reset for show, and then dinner at 6ish, with a few hours of downtime to kill before the show starts at 8.

Show till around 11pm and then the load out starts, which is typically around 3 hours of intense, seemingly chaotic, but highly organized work. After you get 10 semis worth of stuff back in the right cases and on the right trucks, and make sure nothing got left behind, you shower, usually at the locker rooms at the venue, get on the tour bus with 8 to 12 of your fellow crew guys. (that you just spent all day working with), crawl into your bunk, and sleep while your driver gets you to the next venue for the next show. Usually 4 or so shows in a row, with your days off mostly being long travel days. Most tours run from May thru October, with festival shows and a few one offs scattered around the rest of the year. 

I know, none of this has anything to do with fishing, although a surprising amount of tour guys carry some gear and fish when they have down time. (many a bass caught out of hotel ponds) I just thought I'd share a bit of the behind the scenes of what goes into a concert these days for the 3 guys who read all that hahaha

[vernon]

I fainted from sensory overload somewhere around the third paragraph!

For what it’s worth I had to drive down here and unload the boat and now have to get up every morning and go fish for an entire week so it ain’t like my deal is just some big pushover ya know!

AND I got rained on a little too.

Actually, that sounds pretty dang impressive. 

Your part I mean. 

[mixermarkb]

I'm glad you made it to Table Rock Vernon, they had to postpone the Sammy Hagar show this afternoon because of the storms, I was worried that maybe you had somehow gotten lost and ended up in the STL area with your "magic"...