Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

**** Ebay Ad Update ****

Wow, a whopping $406.00, who would have knew and we can not wait to go shopping! First we would like to thank all those that thought we were crazy and admit you are correct. Next we would like to thank all those that bid and and though I can not imagine having another auction till the season changes, there are plenty of roadies out there with untapped back sides. Now for the big questions, "Who is this mysterious winner of the illustrious ad space?" and "What will the ad be?" Well, fact is, so far, we don't know! But equally as important with our endeavor a clear success and the pressures of spending wisely now firmly upon our shoulders, Scott and I have adopted no solid plan and will have to depend on the proven and reliable method of 'winging it' when the time comes. Certainly we will do our absolute best best to reach our main goal of having fun. Oh, and don't forget, $ 101.50 to Surf Rider Foundation!

And looks like we went international as well as made it to radio stations in Portland, Northern California and several web sites including this one all the way away in Israel:

http://www.nrg.co.il/online/5/ART1/497/807.html

**** End Ebay Ad Update ****

Big news! Look what I found, this is huge:

Oh yes, that is right Guitar Hero 2, now that is some exciting stuff. And speaking of exciting, how awesome is it to see the Peppers on stage with The Meters? And honor for us as viewers and an honor for the Peppers as well to share the stage with such and influential and legendary band.

If you don't know of them and you like the Peppers, I recommend gathering some roots and checking out The Meters and The Neville Brothers music. Ok, End Dave Rat Tip of the Day. And guess what I did after the show? I went back the hotel, washed up and went straight to bed like a good roadie would. For the most part with the exception the part where I was running around Bourbon street drinking margaritas and checking up the Fire Department. Yep, good job guys! Fire here, fire there, good thing they seem to have a good grasp on things. Ok, everyone, Firemen are here, it's safe to party.

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 6****

Today we get to meet our fearless leaders, the Wizards behind the Oz that we call the not so yellow and rarely bricked 'road.'

Starting off the inner look at the machine of organization we have Dirty Walt. This is not his first Peppers tour and if you have been around a while and have good eye for a face and talent, you may recognize him as the famed trumpeter from none other than the amazing band Fishbone on a few of the Californication tour legs. Currently in the capacity of production assistant, having Dirty Walt out with us is a honor and a blast.

Heading up the role of top tough guy we have a very cool roadie named Dave. Being the lead Dave on the tour means he gets to keep the solo "Dave" moniker relegating the other tour Dave's to answering to the dual names Dave Lee and Dave Rat. Strange how some humans get two names and others just get one. This is the roadie/band protector that not only keeps us all safe, he also looks out for the fans. Security meetings informing the local security on how to treat fans with respect but not loosing control happen at every gig. Shown here putting on his tough guy face, if you run into trouble, he the man to radio in for help.

The next victim in line for the roast is none other than roadie Liam. A fierce and treacherous roadie, this tasmanian devil in disguise takes no prisoners. Here he can be seen laying down the law and don't even try and approach him with a bill larger than $ 20, I graciously offer the guy that checks us into hotels and buys our receipts:

Working our way down the list and but not down in quality, the following two roadies are both master craftsman. Though roadie Tim has graduated to the somewhat miserable gig of Stage manager from carpenter and Big Daddy is our current tour carp, I hold both of these roadies in the highest regard. First meeting Big Daddy before he was big in 1990 when I was a monitor engineer and he was a guitar tech, I must admit that having him on tour great. As tour carp, he creates, he resolves and he will fix just about anything imaginable. A warm hello to mechanical solution master whose real name is Phil but we all call him Daddy:

And meet Tim the one who personally took the time to teach me to arc weld on the bottom of aluminum truck ramps, please meet roadie Tim our Stage Manager. You have seen his load out sheets which have now been deemed the 'crew setlists.' Tim is the solution master of crew. Awarded the fun job of inspiring the wayward mass of touring and local crews into getting 12 trucks loaded in less than two hours, meet Tim "The Thumb" Shanahan:

Saving the dynamic duo for last Bill "The Crusher" Rahmy, the superman of rock production and his wonder girl New York Natalie, team up as the operation central of precariously guiding the giant jalopy we call a road show through world travel. These are the ones who can put the hammer down and pound out the dents, our fearless King and Wonderbread Queen can be seen in full adventure action:

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 6****

The running out of days in R.A.W.,

Dave Rat

Wireless Internet through my cell phone and an AC power outlet in my bus bunk has opened a whole new realm; bunk-puting. It is similar to my office at Rat Sound, just drastically more horizontal and considerably less room to wander around. The only real disadvantage to utilizing a bus bunk as an office is it get pretty claustrophobic if you attempt to have any sort business meeting in there with more than just a few humans.

Arriving in the Big Easy my first order of business is a bag drop at the room and to venture off in search off nourishment. Actually what I was really seeking was some good old home style cajun cooking. Hotel guy hooked me up. After naming off half a dozen restaurants, I asked Marvin where he eats. "Aw hell, I'll bring y'all to the hook up." As if he was going to walk me there and off we go across the street stopping and pointing at black pick up truck. "This is it, you gonna love this" and then with a big smile and the sound of victory in his voice he warmly offers his motto "Marvin is the man, if he can't do it no one can."

Standing next to a pick up truck with food containers piled on the floor and seats, my skepticism vanished when a line formed behind me before I could even finish listening to today's offerings.

The cooking down here is neither known for its beauty nor its healthiness. Down here they will eat anything from alligator to pigeon and just one thing matters; "Does it taste good?" I went with the gumbo and crawfish pasta. As you can see below, the gumbo I got was an exception to the rule and was quite attractive in its visual presentation:

The food was awesome though my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I stuggled a loosing battle and had to leave some of the pasta uneaten. Off to do something new, hey I know, "How about wandering around the city for a change?" Hmmm, what city are we in, aha, a clue:

And not far beyond was I sight I know you all are familiar with:

A shoe in a window sill of course. Some sort of running shoe perhaps? I smile as I imagine the tilted walk that the guy or girl wearing the other one must have right now.

And speaking of sexy shoes, check out these sexy pictures that Nick the Fly took of some gorgeous hardware a few gigs back:

**** Begin Sound Nerd Speak ****

Notice the 4 follow spots on the truss (tree house), the Pods with Synchro Lights, dual PA system, side wrap PA hand and check out all that rigging steel hanging down! And here it is loaded up with humans for show time:

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

So in the strangest of coincidental deja vu's, I once again found myself cruising around the Bourbon street with a bunch of roadies at a late hour in this once more familiar city. As comforting as it was to see The Quarter mainly intact, that was not the case for the surrounding suburbs driving in. Devastation and obliteration out the bus window; seeing "Help" written in by peeling roofing tiles sends shivers of the true desperation and horrors from a year and a half ago. And for mile after mile it looks as if it could have happened last month. The state of disrepair seems odd, whole neighborhoods lifeless and powerless and small signs of life mixed with wasteland. It made me sad. But not so sad that a icy cold Hurricane could not wipe that memory temporarily out of my mind at nightfall and here we can see the local firefighters doing there job by playing with the local fires:

How many cities have you been to where someone somewhere says "Hey, I got an idea, how about y'all take the big fire truck downtown and see if there are any drunk chicks that want to take their picture with you?" "Gee, I dunno Commissioner, can't we just stay in the fire house and watch TV and clean the trucks?" 'Fireman in New Orleans' has just climbed to second best gig next to roadie.

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 5 ****

Today you get to meet none roadies. In case you were wondering why R.A.W. was eight days long, it was so that we had a spare day. Good roadies never travel without spares.

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 5 ****

The not so chipper this morning, owie head,

Dave Rat

**** Begin Ebay Roadie Auction Update ****

With our backs currently valued at a whopping $ over $300.00 Scott and I are near speechless in excitement.

I have good news! As the auction rounds the bend into the second to last day, Lampi Scott and I began to concern ourselves with the the wonder of what the band's reaction will be. Could they, would they, should they shut us down? Are we bad roadies over stepping our bounds and crosseing the line of acceptable roadie behavior? Then with a few moments of thought I realize that the only relevant question is "Do ya think they will be pissed off if it ends before they know about it?" With our new biggest concern now being trying to figure out a way to leak it to the band, we go undercover and devise an intricate plan. Shhhh, here it is: First under the cover of stealth, Scotty will sneak into the production office and with shifty eyes, print the ad and then scurry off before anyone realizes what he is up to. Next, Scotty will belly crawl into the dressing room and inconspicuously lay the printed eBay ad out in full view as if it mysteriously appeared from nowhere. Finally, Scott and I will impatiently await the outcome, and see what happens. Shhhhh.....

Everything went according plan except we had to abandon the belly crawl when Lyssa became suspicious and told Scott to get off the floor.

**** End Ebay Auction Update ****

The show, well I am running out of things to write! Ha ha, just kidding. Here we can see a cool shot of a Synchro light in action. Those that have been to the show will most likely remember this part as you can see it here dissolving the audience

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 4****

From Day 89:

Sound Techs - A bit later call times than the lighting, the sound techs get to do a lot of waiting and then have a bit of a crunch to get set. The sequence of events during load in is usually rigging, lights, video, sound and then backline, with overlaps of course. The state of the art sound systems that we use today are a far cry from the old "hang a pile o boxes here" mentality of 5 or 10 years ago. Currently, every room is measured with laser range finders to determine the dimensions. The data is input into 3D sonic prediction software that calculates optimum coverage, potential volume levels and determines the precise angle of every speaker box. To learn this, the techs go through a training course and are certified as such.

Ladies and gentleman, it is my honor and pleasure today to introduce to you the cream of the audio roadie crop, the flying Blue Angels of sound, like cashews hand picked from a can of mixed nuts this crack team of stellar audio technicians may not be the best of the best but at least they are good enough. This is the group o roadies that make my job possible on a daily basis and without them or with a lesser caliber of crew, there would be no way we could make the sound happen as it does. Not to mention the fact that we are carrying non-standard audio configurations. Just looking at them I feel like I know them. From left to right, the usual suspects are:

The story begins when five men are rounded up for a line-up, and grilled about their involvement in setting up sound systems (the usual suspects)consisting of three sound techs and two engineer assists which also are techs.

First in the line up we have Manny as monitor assist and his job is to take care of Daniel's monitor world. Typically on larger tours, each engineer, FOH and monitors have a somewhat dedicated tech. During the rock show, with the engineers virtually trapped behind their console, the 'assist' can deal with any issues that may arise. Manny actually started the tour as a system tech and graduated sideways to monitor assist, because Daniel thinks he is cute.

Next we have our sound hombre Neal. In the pecking order he is currently tech number two and I think he does stage right PA flying and teardown. Also he is a skilled tequila drinker and has many stories that help entertain the roadies.

Viewing just the head part of the next roadie named Jamie, and from the angle of the shot you may not initially notice that Jamie is indeed a super roadie. This is an enhanced breed with super roadie strength. One major downfall of working with a super roadie is that it really hurts if they step on your foot. Jamie just joined us from Pearl Jam tour and is currently sound tech level 3.

And since Manny got left out of the fixing sound owie photo the other day and to give a true perspective of Jamie the super roadie:

Next in line needs no introduction as you all I am sure familiar with him by now. As the FOH assist, Nick the Fly, tunes my world, decorates the console with leaves and is the one who came up the idea to tour with sod in 2003.

Daniel has already been introduced but we could not persuade him out of the photo.

And that brings us to the last of the sound techs and the one ring to rule them all, meet Lee 'Keyser Soze' Vaught. Lee is our fierce and friendly sound crew chief. Wedged in the tough spot between our delicate sound roadies and the omnipotent powers of PRODUCTION, Lee is the adaptor. The interface that buffers the sound crew from spikes while pushing them to excel and get the gear in and out fast and safe on a daily basis.

Finally, me. I too could not persuade myself out of the photo. In case you were wondering, I do sound.

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 4 ****

The wondering how I always get myself into these messes,

Dave Rat

Having a day off in the Imperial U.S of A's suburban South makes Fresno look like a playground of happiness. Not only am I surrounded by the pinnacle of generic doldrums but the fact that there is vast gaps and virtual freeways between anything remotely interesting makes avoiding death by car the most exciting part of my journey by foot. And journey by foot we did. Scott and I went to none other than a most legendary feeding ground for roadies east of the Mississippi. What had started as joke turned into an adventure rekindling memories and stories of days of old. I reminisced "The last time I ate in a Waffle House was 13 years ago, L7 tour at 3 am. We all piled in and I brought the music. Having myself just come off of Offspring tour, the just released song 'Keep 'em Separated' ripe to fresh ears inspired our playful band of girls to dance on counter tops with the local staff." A party at Waffle House I love never to forget. So here I sat starring at smothered, covered, diced and capped which is the name given to the entity resembling food residing on the plate in front of me. For some mysterious reason, the luster I once enjoyed visiting the Waffle oasis seems to have faded over the past decade. I guess somewhere along the road I lost the deep appreciation I once had for a filling $3.00 meal.

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 3 ****

An excerpt from Day 89:

Lighting Techs. One thing about lights is that they take a lot of power. Big power means big heavy wires and a heck of a lot of them. These roadies are coming in soon after riggers and are at the gig till the hairy end. If you look to the upper sides of stage during the show, you will see there are four follow spot roadies. Those are the specialized lighting people you see climbing ladders right before the Peppers play called follow spot operators. We carry two of them, the other six are locally hired each night. Lighting techs to this day tend to be some of the more rugged roadies, maybe it is the wires or genetics but the work hard/play hard ethic runs strong in lampi world.

Lampi's are quick and illusive critters and extremely difficult to capture on film. Furthermore, the Lampi breed find it nearly impossible to sit still. In order to lure the Lampi's together into a group I needed a suitable bait that would inspire them to cluster. Cleverly, I made a sign that I waved around which immediately attracted the lampi's like cats to catnip. Here we can see half of roadie Nick along with roadies Cliff, Joe and Chad as they were the first to scurry forth towards the bait:

Notice how well behaved and serious these lampi roadies are. Hmmm, what are they doing, what is lampi Nick up to?

and look! Clearly lampi Nick has brought much cheer to lampi Joe's life:

And after they all finally settled down from the excitement, amazingly they held still long enough for me to capture an unbelievably rare, group lampi photo:

From left to right:

James is revered as the lighting crew chieftain. As the leader of the lampi tribe, the other lampi's look up to him for the spiritual guidance needed to navigate their magical tasks as 'bringers of light.'

Nick, I am informed is the '5th man' lighting tech. Though I am a bit unclear on what that entails, it does perhaps lend itself to one of two possibilities. Possibly he is so important that he was handed the 5th man moniker to as an ode to his 5th Beatle-ness. Or perhaps lampi's have a similar social structure to that of wolves. Is there and Alpha lampi? If so, that would make Nick the Epsilon Lampi.

Next in the line up we have Little G, kind of strange that his mom would name that, but does suit him well. As you may recall, Little G is the one who lined up the cool crew dinner. His gig is called a Synchro Light Tech and he keeps those big moving moving lights that are in the middle of each of The Pods running. Synchro Lights are pretty much the lampi equivalent of a lion, and like a lion, no one gets to pet them but the lion tamer. Little G is our lampi lion tamer.

The next two suspects are easily the most curious roadies in the herd. Lampi Joe and Lampi Chad are so curious that every single day they become overwhelmed curiosity and begin wondering what is inside those lighting things. So what do these roadies do? They open the lights up and look, of course. Everyone likes these lampi's so no one has the heart to inform that the inside of the lights is still the same today as it was yesterday. They are referred to as Lighting techs.

Since you have already met Scott, we will skip him. Did I mention that he was the first one to dash towards the bait?

Finally, rounding out the lampi tribe is Cliff who performs lampi tasks similar to Nick. My research indicates that he would be the Delta lampi and confirms the wolf like lampi social order. In addition to setting up trusses and playing with wires, roadies Cliff and Nick also get to play in the tree houses! There are two tree houses, one on each side of stage and for every show, Nick and Cliff make friends with three local roadies each and climb up there. That is where the fun part is because they have these giant flashlights up there called follow spots that they get to point at the band during the show. No wonder lampi's are so playful, they have way too much fun!

Here we can see a lampi sneaking into the tree house:

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 3****

The honored to be able to document such rare critters,

Dave Rat

I love the shows. I especially love the time frame from the moment the house lights go dark and the deafening crowd roar pushes adrenaline through my veins. I love the first note, I love the overdrive of Flea's bass and thundering subs. I love turning up the guitar loud when it comes in on Can't Stop and I love it when AK's vocals comes through loud and clear on the very first word. And with each part I love, the crowd roars as if expressing what my mind is thinking. I love the rock shows. I also love to watch the rock shows and some days I can see better than others:

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 2 ****

These roadies consider themselves a team of highly trained specialists that parade into the gig at the latest possible moment to perform their critical duties before heading to the bus earlier than any other department, aside from the band themselves. While this concept may have similarities to the truth, it would be more accurate to catalog them as a group of 5th Beatle's requiring a fairly high maintenance level and while performing relatively little work.

Today's "Meet a Roadie" roadie's will be what we call backline, monitor engineer, FOH engineer and LD (lighting designer). Being that they all travel on the same bus as I do and I am one of them, you most likely have already met us all by default, if you have been hanging around here for while. Never the less, that does not excuse any of them from this excellent opportunity to parallel the Meet a Roadie Campaign with the embarrassing roadie picture project. Two great tastes for the price of one and so .....

An excerpt from Day 89:

Backline Techs and Monitor Engineer - These techs have an even later of a call time and finish relatively early in the big picture. The workloads are fairly light comparatively but the responsibility huge. Each backline roadie deals directly with their band human, one each for bass, guitar and drums while the monitor engineer with all four in he band. Every nuance from which guitar tuned how and when, to making absolutely double extra sure that the guitar, bass, drum and monitor rigs operate as close to perfection as possible, every single show. There is no error unseen by either the band member or possibly the entire audience. They have both awesome gigs and mind bending stress as each of them is pretty much responsible for the band hearing themselves and each other so they can perform the show.

FOH World - Lighting designer and FOH Sound Engineer live in a bit of a different realm. On one hand they are far from the fray of stage where the action is, on the other hand, everything the audience sees and hears is at their finger tips. The mass of ears and eyes is a unique critique that responds to feeling and emotion. Meanwhile, there are enough people in the know at each show that errors do not go unnoticed. It's an ethereal slow, distance once removed, stress that can pop into immediate trauma if something important goes pear-shaped. A gig I love and would not trade for the world.

The shy and humble Chris Warren is truly a magnificent example of a roadie. Not only has he been The Peppers drum tech for over seven years, he is also a talented musician as well playing several part during the show and even stepping out to sing for the encore intro.

Next in our line up of tough guys is none other than the legendary Dave Lee. As a true veteran that joined the organization back in the One Hot Minute days, he actually has transitioned from Navaro to Fruciante. He is the one who keeps the incredibly complex and precarious creation called "John's Guitar Rig" functioning at least most of the time.

Rounding out the backline three is none other than the powerhouse we call Tracy. As the maintenance machine responsible for ensuring you hear the flurry and intensity of bass sounds created by Flea, a bassist in a band of his own and more recently Bus 2 Guitar Hero king, his task is not one to take lightly.

Bus # 2 is sometimes referred to as the 'old school bus' due to the fact that six of the eight roadies onboard have over seven years with the band. So next I introduce a roadie that is not only new, but young as well and weighing in at a mere seven months and already on the geriatric bus, we have roadie Daniel. Carrying the multiple responsibility of supplying all four band members with the sound they want to hear and also the closest thing we have to an 'Anthony Tech.' This boy has lot of weight on his shoulders and is so new that he has yet to earn the honor of an embarrassing roadie pic. Here seen still eating candy, I present, our monitor engineer:

Familiar to all and most likely you have seen a bit more of him than you ever wanted to, lets give a warm round of applause for the pillar of visual presentation at the rock show, Lampi Scott:

Not only does Scott operate the visuals you see, he was also involved with the design of the show with another roadie that only joins us for the beginning of the tours but is never forgotten, roadie Grier:

On our bus remains three, Lyssa B, Rose and me. To do them justice, I will be savoring the presentation of the tour ladies of Bus 2 for a future blog. So now for the grand finally of 'Meet a Roadie Episode 2,' I will make a rare exception to my self created rule of never displaying photo's of our musical four while they are off stage and share with you one of my personal favorite embarrassing roadie photos featuring myself and three honorary roadie's that we hold in high regard:

and though honorary roadie Chad is not in the photo, we must not forget to honor him equally as well in this celebration deemed, 'Roadie Awareness Week.'

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 2 ****

The luckiest roadie in the world,

Dave Rat

**** Begin Ebay Auction Update ****

With baited breath and the heart pounding anticipation one would feel waiting in line for seven days to get a new driver's licence, each day brings new surprises. The ebay auction has already financially surpassed our expectations nearly tenfold and it looks like new carpet may turn into a reality after all as the bidding has reached $ 172.00. Wow!

Beyond the financial side and much more importantly, the responses we have been getting are phenomenal and it looks as if news of roadie antics is spreading far and wide. And then, look at this, we made it to the big time! http://www.goofyauctions.com/ has put us up as featured ad.

**** End Ebay Auction Update ****

I like Philly and other than being a bit chilly in Philly and a minor show start guitar rig stumble, I had much fun and really enjoyed the show. Remember the napping roadie at my door? Well, with as much luck as it took to capture a photo of lightning I shot this pic and take a close look at the video screens from the song Throw Away Your TV.

How about that for a bit of Peppers trivia, if you do come to a Peppers show and remember to look, you may get a chuckle at knowing what the picture is of.

And not one to want to ignore The Mars Volta:

Special Bulletin!!!

In tribute to all that has happened and is happening in the roadie realm, I hereby, by the powers vested in me dub the last week of October to be "Roadie Awareness Week." The start of Roadie Awareness Week is to be determined by counting backwards 7 days from halloween and it is 8 days long, ending on November 1st of each year. During Roadie Awareness Week, nothing special really goes on other than occasionally attempting to send warm thoughts to roadie's everywhere whenever you need to lift something heavy or push around something on wheels.

And to start off Roadie Awareness Week, I bring you a new game called 'Meet the Roadie.' The rules are very complex, basically it goes something to the effect of

1) I post a picture of a roadie, tell you their name and what they do for a gig.

2) You then and thereby consider that roadie met.

My goal being to introduce you to all of us before the tour is over.

**** Begin Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 1 ****

Today your Meet a Roadie's are Fletch, Gabe, Raff and Chuck.

Here is an excerpt from way back on Day 89 when I did a crew over view

Riggers - are the sharp edged early risers. First in and last out, they calculate and hang the heavy loads safely over our heads. These clean, mean and meticulous machines effortlessly climb to frightful heights. The upside is that they typically can get a nice long mid day sissy nap.

What do riggers do? They rig things of course. Fortunately we carry many things on tour with us that enjoy being rigged. The speakers and lights and video walls all love it when the riggers rig them. Some things that do not like to be rigged are tour busses, catering food and socks. When properly rigged, the sound, lights and video hangs safely over our heads, that is good. When improperly rigged, very heavy things can come crashing down a smoosh humans and roadies like hitting a snail with a hammer, that is often referred to as bad.

First we have Fletcher, which we refer to as the Lead Rigger. Notice his effective usage of the coffee cup while pointing something out to roadie Scott.

Roadie Raff is a specialized rigger in that he heads up the moving motor aspect. Don't be fooled by their gruff looks, these guys are sharp cookies and don't mess around when it comes to safety.

Gabe is also a rigger but he has no extra modifier to his title, here we can see him in a common rigging position. Riggers like to look upwards a lot.

And at what does roadie Gabe gaze? Did you notice roadie gabe is looking skyward? Why is he doing that? Hmmm, well the current reason is that there are humans running around up there. Wow, how did they get up there?

I don't know, maybe catapult? Those humans in the rafters are called "up riggers", though not sure why. The riggers on the ground are called down riggers, another puzzling name. Up riggers drop ropes down that down riggers tie chains onto. Then up riggers attach the chain to steel ropes that are wrapped around beams in the roof. Each of these chains comes threaded through a motor that can climb the chain. The other roadies then attach the gear that is going to be flown (lifted) to the motor and up and away it goes bye bye!

We carry four riggers with us and then hire local spare riggers in each city.

And so, meet Chuck, touring rigger number four.

As all riggers do, rigger Chuck experiences much comfort hugging the chain motor hook.

**** End Meet a Roadie Campaign Episode 1 ****

Good day and good night,

The big eyed and curious,

Dave Rat

On on this day of we chose to wander. Seeking food the roadies set out on foot. Each new hunting grounds presents it's own dangers and challenges.

Many sights were seen and none worthy of sharing other than perhaps these non edibles.

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

Roadie feast. One of our roadies, Little G we call him, arranged a dinner for all at Chikie's and Pete's. Feast we did till we could feast no more. Crab, lobster, shrimp and more and more and more in a seemingly endless foray of food. Truly fun and filling, unfortunately I only captured about 1/2 of the roadies in pics and even our beloved drummer Chad made it down and hung out with the troops. Very cool, very fun and large roadie gatherings outside of the gig are rare indeed.

Clockwise from Back of head around is: Nick Lampi, Walt Production Assist, Scott Lampi, Salim Chef Assist, Chad Lampi, Cliff Lampi, Leif Lampi, James Lampi

And here clockwise is Kim Camera Op, Joe Lampi, Rusty Video Tubes, Rodrigo Video Screens, Mike Bus Driver, Chuck Rigger, Dave Lee Guitar Tech, Tim the Thumb Stage Manager.

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

**** Begin laying down with full belly ****

**** Begin Sound Pondering ****

There are always going to be those humans that desire to quantify or pigeon hole the challenge at hand and relegate it to a predictable and repeatable set of methods, taming, perfecting and eventually reaching the goal of making it right. I am definitely one of those humans and though there is significant and clear validity to that scientific approach, to apply it while overlooking one of the most fundamental aspects of music, relegates the outcome to a tail chase. I believe that to truly gain any traction on the pathway leading in the general direction of achieving excellence in sound quality, one must must first realize, accept and embrace the reality that the quality of sound is merely an opinion.

In trying to zero in on an analogy that meshes, all I seem to be able to find is the parallels between sound and wine making/drinking. Rock shows are like wines except infinitely more complex, fluid and interactive. But other similarities exist in perfecting the processes while accepting the imperfectability of the outcomes. No matter how hard they try, the finest wines vary from year to year, batch to batch and there is a certain amount of unpredictability in the process which creates the uniqueness. Furthermore, there are the opinions. Most, many or at least some humans all can agree on a truly bad wine, yet Mad Dog 20-20 and Boon's Farm still show enough profits to carry on, so someone must like it. The mid quality wines are crap to some palates and pleasing to others while the finest wines are at least moderately liked by most wine drinkers. And humans being as they are, certain ones are especially liked by some if their friend likes it or if they know the exorbitant price it costs. Of course if too many friends like it, a percentage of humans will then be inspired to unlike it, being too cool or rebellious to join the others. And to further spin the opinion wheel, 'many' of us are not 'most' of us and many of us could care less about the main stream tastes and choose to subculture their own preferences to bask in and enjoy. We humans seem to like our music much the same way we like some things in life but unlike many things, live music and wine making share the quality of being an unrepeatable at the upper levels. Hmmm, maybe golf fits too.

Which brings me to the whole point of the ponder. I am often asked , like nearly every show, the questions "How was the show?" and "How did it sound?" Seemingly innocuous enough but I find the queries surprisingly difficult to answer. My gut reaction is to respond by describing the the nuances of the issues I faced at that show. Yet, I realize that my perspective is so totally skewed and what is an issue to me is often irrelevant in the big picture. Plus, having to choose and balance between what feels to be self critical and self complimentary is an awkward position I prefer not navigate More importantly though, as I am the person holding the status of 'man of sound, I feel remiss in being a part of biasing, deflating or elevating another persons opinion of the event. My roadie purpose is to present the music that the band creates. It is the adventure for the humans attending the show is to form an opinion of the experience to carry with them and share with others.

**** End Sound Pondering ****

The going to sleep well,

Dave Rat

Roadies like to make friends. I made two friends just today, would you like to meet them? The first friend I met was not only attractive to look at but very intelligent as well, her name was Zumex. Zumex was really cool and I was very happy to meet her. As soon as we met, the first thing I did was turn her on and then I watched her hypnotic moves as my mouth watered. I left with the most delicious taste in my mouth and quite impressed. And then, not even a minute later my heart skipped a beat as I spotted her from across the room. Heavenly she sat with sleek lines and that flashy look. Without hesitation I glided towards her and instinctively knew which buttons to push to get her going and boy was she hot! Jura, her name was Jura and I think she is Italian. Deliciousness was what she had to offer and with a start like this, today is going to be a good day.

Sometimes as we travel around the world with tons (literally) of high tech and complex gear there are mishaps which cause the equipment to get an 'owie.' As you may recall, we had some amp racks get big owie's when the fell of the fork lift. Well when the sound gear gets an owie it is important to deal with it appropriately. The decision of whether to rush it to the sound hospital or wait to get it looked at by a sound physical later on depends on many factors. In the photo below you can observe a V-Dosc cabinet being operated on by the sound roadie surgeons Lee, Nick, Neal and Jamie. If you look to the right side of the photo you can see a smaller speaker with an ipod atop. This is important and is playing music while the operation takes place. This music acts as an anesthesia for the larger speaker of the operating table and helps reduce it's level of distress.

What had happened was during a load out Nick the Fly had decided to land the V-Dosc a bit differently than we normally do. This resulted in an abrupt modification to speaker cabinet, here you can see Nick the Fly holding the resulting creation. Though similar to the original, the little silver colored owie's toward the right side made it difficult to continue using, hence the operation.

In the photo below you can see roadie Jamie and myself holding a metal bar that also has an owie. Since we together made it slightly curved rather than straight, we proudly pose together with our creation.

This particular metal bar assists in preventing the tilt stand under my mixing board from falling over. Nick the Fly has devised an alternate plan to replace the metal bar rather than attempt to straighten it, I will photo that when done as well as the cool tilt stands.

The missing my friends,

Dave Rat