The momentum of being homeward bound mixed with being chased by arctic frosts and multiple states declaring a "state of emergency" hot on our tail combined with a glimmer of warmth all combined with the amazing south Florida crowd to create a stellar finale to yet another tour leg.

The end of tour mean gather all the bits that need to join me on the flight home and cram it all in suitcases in such a way that the airline will not hate me or capture it. It is always best to sort through things in an area that is spacious which is why I chose the largest and closest place I could find, which happened to be the parking lot next to the bus. For the most part everything went reasonably well with one exception

It appears that somewhere in my travels, there is a very lucky human that can enjoy the pleasures of hoping around on a very comfy left shoe. My initial reaction was one of dismay until I realized that having a single right shoe could come in very handy if I am skate boarding bare foot and I encounter some broken glass in my path, at which point I can whip out my comfy left shoe in order to navigate the obstacle. Wow, how lucky am I! And runing into Marcel, I said goodbye as he will not be joining us on next leg due to Mars Volta commitments.

I ran into Cee-Lo in the parking lot and hit him up for a photo op. Cool people and I have wandered on their bus a few times for beer after a show.

And for those of you curious, Cee-Lo is the human that sings for the Gnarls Barkley band. So show time rolls around and much to my concern, I notice that one of my tigers has escaped and after several seconds of searching, aha!!!

Ok, enough of this monkey business and pandering, off to face the other world called home and try and pretend to be a normal person, yet again,

The displaced roadie.

Dave Rat

**** Ebay Update ****

For those of you curious about the eBay auction 'grand finale,' well it is coming. Scott and I are working on something special!

**** End Ebay Update ****

Show wise with the addition of Marcel into the band for the tour leg, we have picked up a few inputs. Stereo conga mics, a single mic on the bongos plus a direct box on the Clavinet that he plays. Since these are add-on inputs mid tour, they get put down at the other end of the console where I have some free input channels. With all these new inputs and the fact that I mix in the dark, there is an acclimation period for me to memorize where the controls are on the mixing board. In the mean time, I have found a good home for a little friend that will help me find the Clavinet and I will just remember where the rest are

As far as other important show details critical to the smooth runnings of the rock show, I have put together the Tiki version of the show thermometer that I use to measure room temperature at distance. Every show, I measure the average room temperature on the floor and each balcony level and then send the info to Bill in production who does his best to get the venue to fine tune and balance. It has been working really well!

**** Highlight of the Day ****

Wayno our traveling chef's home made chocolate ice cream

**** End Highlight of the Day ****

**** Issue of the Day ****

The hotel rooms tomorrow wont be ready till 1 pm. The busses stay parked at the venue till 5am before we roll. Where normally road noise, engine vibration and refreshing ventilation offer a calming backdrop to the gentle rolling motion of the bus down the highway, I am instead are encased in a claustrophobic, motionless silence that is broken only by three dimensional assortment of snoring roadies distributed throughout the bunk area. I move to the back lounge to protect my sanity and indulge in breathable air. I wake up in the back lounge at 7 am with light flooding in and head to my now sleepable bunk.

**** End Issue of the Day ****

The cranky and tired,

Dave Rat

Never ever forget that you never ever truly know what will happen next. "Highly probable' is as good as you can get with future predictions. I must admit that I was over prepared thermally for yesterdays southern California weather in Oklahoma. Who would have knew? After reading about thousands of stranded freezing cows, I figured I was gonna freeze too heading out to middle America. Funny thing was that there was all this silly talk of a cold front coming in. Who would have knew? Definitely not I, said the sound guy. Anyway, last night at the hotel bar I was hanging with rigger Fletch and he is drinking wine and has a porcelain plate with a picture of a deer on it with him, of course. Don't we all carry them. Actually we don't so asked and was quite pleased to be let in on a bit of roadie antics. Turns out that the tour riggers have this deer plate that is bestowed upon whomever amongst them screws up, comes in late or forgets something. Fletch earned it by being late for working out in the hotel gym, or maybe he forgot. Either way, I love the roadie games.

So what was warm and wonderful weather last night has taken a bit of turn.

They call the stuff "freezing rain." It is not snow, it is not hail and it may have been rain but it aint no more. Little round ice balls.

And wow! Are they slippery! Fun to watch my friends get caught off guard. It is like walking on mini ball bearings. And what could be a more perfect compliment to the freezing rain than the implementation of our tiki theme! Thank you Ratketeers, this is all good! Here we can see roadie Scott proudly showing off his decorating accomplishments.

Of course, I head straight for the grass skirt

It is customary for the major vendors on a tour put together some sort of swag for the roadies and band. At Rat Sound we try and do something as unique as we can, so my big project for the day is to give out the big delivery of our newest Rat Swag, shoes! I wonder when the last time a sound company made shoes was?

The roadies seemed quite pleased all in all and quite a bit more pleased that the roadies seemed to be when they heard that we are now in holding pattern. We are all good, show is all set, it's cold outside but warm in here and all is good except for one little problem. The good news is we can play the gig, the bad news is that the audience will be unable to attend the show due to transportation issues. It turns out that the little ice balls and sheets of slippery ice underneath are fine for cars that are moving but not so fine for cars that are attempting to accelerate or stop.

Pack it up roadies,

The show is cancelled, we are gonna try to drive to Dallas. Hmmmm, no one can drive, too slippery here so we are gonna drive elsewhere. Hmmmm, something is fishy.

The putting my life in the hands of the bus driver on icy night roads,

Dave Rat

So here we go again. Some days you just got to get up in the morning go to work. Pretty normal stuff for a human being to do, it's just that my "work" is in Oklahoma and my work day just happens to be three weeks long this time. Airports don't suck, they don't deserve that much credit, they are merely annoying. I know the routine, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Show up and

• hope they have your ticket right,
• hope your bags are not overweight,
• hope the line is not so long that you miss your flight,
• hope you do not end up behind someone that causes a stink or tries to bring "bad' things through security,
• hope the security line is not so long that you miss your flight,
• hope the hike to the gate is not so far that you miss your flight,
• hope your plane is running on time or at least close,
• hope they have not sold your seat to someone else,
• hope they do not take away your carry-on-bag because the overhead compartments are too full,
• hope you do not sit on the runway forever,
• hope the food, if any, is remotely edible,
• hope that you are not seated next to someone that endlessly farts, snores or has to go to he bathroom 10 times when you have an isle seat,
• hope that no one does anything stupid like die or yell at a flight attendant that causes the plane to be diverted and land at the wrong airport,
• hope the plane stays in the air while trying to fly,
• hope you don't leave anything on the plane,
• hope that your bags show up on the belt and finally,
• hope that everything you put in your bags is still in there.

So really, all and all it is pretty straight forward stuff and since most everything is beyond my control, there is no real reason to stress over it. So I just wander on through with the smile of mild annoyance.

So, here I am

rocking like a hurricane, or at the very least, riding in a cab towards the hotel in Oklahoma. An explorer, and adventurer, a gypsy navigating the uncharted territory of thrill and the stars align to deliver me to

the sheltering safety behind a door that a small plastic key card allows entry with its encrypted password stored on a magnetic stripe. But no journey can be accomplished without nourishment so off into the mysterious city I head

and amongst the plethora of opportunities

and two's and two's of blocks walked before I settle on a local cuisine called ribs, okra and slaw. And though my mind and eyes offer reluctance, my belly wins out in the short term

Only for belly to grumble later about the grease and though I feel shade less than exuberant, I bask in telling belly "I told you so!" Oh, for a fresh cucumber, tomato and feta salad with olive oil. Well, at least my problems are not outside of anything a few cold beers can't fix. So I am off to meet the clustering roadies at the hotel bar. I will see ya 'all tomorrow, when we .............

Oh, that's right, how about a rock show?

The feeling displaced,

Dave Rat

Hello brand new year,

Hey, check out Wooster Collective and scroll down the December 31st page to the "Best Christmas Wreath Ever." The "Erock" guy that made it is a well known Seattle roadie that I toured with on a Danzig tour in 1990 and then again with Pearl Jam and now he is in the Neil Young camp.

Good morning new year and I am all done pretending to be excited about last year sliding into the past. I liked last year and feel no elation in it going away. In fact, it's ending is a bit more annoying than anything else. So now I get to spend the next 3 weeks writing the wrong year and sectioning off all the little bits of paper called receipts that I have collected from around the world so I can try and figure out how much I owe in taxes. Say bye bye to what I knew and hello to new adventure. Usually that statement would bring me some sort of thrill or at least anticipation but as I ponder why it feels so inert, I realize it is having choice and freedom that makes me happy. I choose to go get coffee, I choose to orchestrate my life so I can tour as a sound engineer and I choose try and be healthy for the most part except when I choose not to to. I have no choice about whether the new year comes. It is just a chunk chunk chunk of the time machine plugging along because allegedly, two thousand years ago this Julius Caesar guy comes up with a calendar and so we have a big party to celebrate a new number at the end of the year at right about now.

So since this year start marker has been hammered into my life by the world around me, it creates a situation of before and after yet possesses no capability to alter it.

So here we are crossing into a new year that is helpless to turn the tide of the quagmire that greed promoted as fear created, they hung Sadam. They got him good and even though there were no weapons of mass destruction at least the powerful US/UK was able to attack and kill off a group of allegedly threatening people, that were guilty of attacking and killing off a group of allegedly threatening people. I am not against the death penalty, I am against hypocrisy. The liar presentation that there was some altruistic humanitarian angle or some actual imminent threat that was used to sway the naive into supporting what has no option but to fail. Violence does not make peace, no matter how you wrap it. But I do not believe in world peace, I do not hope for it nor will it ever exist. It can not exist anymore than humans will ever be successful at persuading wolves, bobcats and sharks into being vegetarians. It just aint gonna happen, and that is ok and that is beautiful. It is the balance of life, the eaters and eaten and without that life would stop. I am not against the death penalty, I am against hypocrisy. I am against deception, and though deception is part of life like a chameleon in hiding or a snake that mimics a branch to hunt, it is the challenge of unmasking the deceivers that perpetuates life for those with open eyes.

And heaviness aside look what I found!!! I came back from tour and my office was drenched in Tiki!

How much does that warm my heart! Gifts and thought and each day for over seven months now I dedicate some time to sharing my world. A group of friends that playfully call themselves the Ratketeers came up with logo

that in all of of playful absurdity, Rat made into shirts

and devised a surprise and with the help of Daniella and Julie at the Rat Shop converted my office while I was away! And more importantly, check out the new front of house theme for the US tour coming up! Thank you Ratketeers! Hmmmm, something tells me that as a sound company and a bunch of roadies, we may be breaking some new ground in the realms of the unusual. Definitely not boring at least.

I spent my New Years as I so often do attending a rock show for a change. Imagine that! This years choice was Paramount Studios

Where Rat was doing sound for several stages and DJ's including this Rat Trap 5 rig

and a V-Dosc Rig on the stage with The Killers

where I hung out with Harley who was mixing their sound

And also with Greg to the left who was FOH tech for Rat and I met up with Shaun and Karissa

For a nice transition into the new year. OK, here we go, now that we are done with the old, lets see what we can do with the new!

The ready to move ahead,

Dave Rat