we are the road crew

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We Are the Road

Crew


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By

Ken Barr


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Life on the Road and How I Go

There


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By

Ken Barr


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Copyright 2009 by Ken Barr

All rights reserved. No part of this boomay be used or reproduced in anmanner whatsoever without writtepermission, except in the case of briequotations embodied in critical articleor reviews.Printed by CreateSpace.com

n the United States of AmericaPublished in 2009 by Dark AllePublishingA division of Dark Alley Studios

WWW.DarkAlley-Studios.comwww.myspace.com/darkalleystudiosnquiries: [email protected]

2010 Second Edition
http://www.myspace.com/darkalleystudioshttp://www.darkalley-studios.com/


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Text copyright 2009 by Ken BarrPhotographs copyright 2009 by Ken BarCover concept by Ken Barr

Cover Layout by Roy LoudenCover copyright 2009 Ken BarrCover photo 2000 Ben Goodemage from BigStockPhoto.com

Without the love and suppor

of my wife Monica, this book

would not be possible. Thankyou for always being there.


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I would also like to dedicate

this work to the memory o

my grandparents William andEdith Donnelly. Two people

who raised their children

grandchildren, greagrandchildren, and many othe

peoples children. They raisedme and I miss them every day

As all things start with family

I would like to thank mine fo

their contributions to my life.


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Thank you to all those tha

gave me the opportunities

had on the road, and to all my

road brothers out there.

Emma and Darla, you are

always in my heart.

The Barr girls; Lucy, Pebs andAbbey, you bring light and

love into my life every day.


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Thank you

The Alice Cooper Organization; Alice


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Augustine, Al Fritsch, Todd JensenRyan Roxie, Teri Hatcher, RusselDannecker, The Botting Family, Bruce

Kulick, Todds parents- Mr. and MrsConfessore, Ralphs parents- Mr. andMrs. Ferreri, Vinnies family-TheKowalskis, Johns parents Mr. andMrs. Miceli, Als parents Mr. andMrs. Pitrelli, The Seymour Family, PauDuffy and all at The Irish Rover i

Sarasota, Fl., John Karlquist, FiddlerGreen in Winter Park, Fl., Rob SupeRoadie Belcher, Kevin Batty WalshPutter T, Dan Stevenson, Scot

Hennessy, Charlie Hernandez, JefMann, Kevin Tater McCarthy, Trappshe Boy Wonder, The Almighty, Stone

Temple Pilots, John OReilly, A


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Pitrelli, Jimmy DeGrasso, The BanglesAir Supply, Ritchie Mazzetta, KennSherry, Ritchie Blackmore, Blake Elkin

Jimmy Gregorek, Raymie Kopels, ToddConfessore, Vinnie Kowalski, RalpFerreri, Charlie Milton, Howie ThalerCarl Davino, and all the bands on Lonsland that gave me a gig over the years.

We are the Road Crew

Somewhere, sometime if you have evebeen to a concert, whether you realizet or not there was an army oechnicians there putting the showogether and keeping it running. If the

were doing their job, you didn't know


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hey were there, but they were. The roacrew. Most people don't even realizhere is a crew, they are there from th

early morning setting up, through thshow, and late into the night tearing thshow down and putting it back into thrucks so they can get to tomorrow

show.

Any show out there is going to have itown army of riggers, carpenters, sounand light crews, video crew, securiteam, pyro crew, laser people

production and stage managers, and thband gear or backline crew. All thesepeople work together with the locastagehand crew do an amazing amount o


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work in a relatively short time.

spent the better part of my adult life ohe road and I loved every day of itowadays they have schools where kid

can learn the basic skills needed to get ob on the road. But when I started ouhese schools either didn't exist, or ihey did I didn't know about them. Bac

hen we all started out working local bagigs, where you learned a little oeverything and everyone did it all. That'where my story starts, the local bars o

Long Island, New York.


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The First Gig

Having learned the very basics in higschool, which end of the microphone tell into among other things, I realized

knew all there was to know about puttinon a show, how hard could it be? Likmost crew guys I started out as a rocstar wannabe. I played guitar and starte

a band, I was on my way.The town I grew up in was small anhere really werent any clubs as such t

play in. As kids we convinced thowners of the local taverns, gin mills fohe working man, to let us set up in th

corner and play. We were allowed to

charge a small cover which the ba


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neighborhood bar called SchultzeTuck Inn , it was a massive buildinwith a four sided bar right by the fron

door, and a couple of pool tables furtheback. Behind that was just a largdarkness, the place was poorly lit anhere was no reason to go beyond th

pool tables. I spent many a Saturdaafternoon as a kid in Schultzes, sippincokes and playing shuffleboard as m

parents drank with their friendsEventually someone ventured into thdarkness at the back of the building anrealized there was a full-size stage there

obody seemed to realize it was thereand the owner couldnt seem tremember why it was there or if it haever been used.


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stoked, a steady night. New songs werearned, clothes were bought. We got tohe Onion early to set up and get ready

About 7 you could tell things were nogoing to go as planned. Nobody cameWe waited and waited, but nobodycame. We held the first set for a whilebut still no one.

t turned out that everyone we knew hacome the first night and that was enoughWhether the band wasnt that good, ohe fact that most had summer jobs an

hey had to get up, I will never knowEither way, we were skunked. Thowner was cool and paid us for thnight, but also renegotiated. H


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closed on Sundays. We had lost our firshome.

The Mailing List

Before the days of the internet, the besway for a band to self promote was thave a mailing list. This was a liscompiled by walking around the bar i

between sets with a notebook, anasking people to be on your mailing lisThey would write down their addressand every month we would send out pre- printed postcard with where wwould be for the entire month. Threason this is important is because if yo

are playing at The Dublin Pub it is no


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cool to tell people you are playing ThQuarterdeck Saloon tomorrow. This idisrespectful of the place you ar

playing because it could impact hibusiness tomorrow.

The mailing list was also a goocebreaker when trawling the bar fo

girls. Every stop was a hit and run wit

no time for small talk. You wouldsimply tell the cute girls they could puheir number down also, if they wanted

Most were flattered and they would

When you had a night off, you would juspull out the old mailing list and starmaking calls to hook up later.


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On an off night there were a few of us ahe Baliwick just drinking, playin

pinball and hanging out. The place wa

ike a second home to us and the drinkwere free. There was no band playinhis night and the place was pretty quiet

Sometime that night three girls came inthe bar that none of us recognized. Andhey stood out because they all lookeike witches; I guess a pre-Goth kind o

ook. I dont know why, but Frank tooan instant dislike to them. He asked thbartender what they were drinking, anordered them a round, but asked th

bartender to bring them to him first.

When the bartender dropped off th


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drinks, Frank unzipped under the barand gave each of them a good stir witittle Frank. I know, thats terrible, bu

his was the seventies and we thought was hilarious. When Frank was done, alhree drinks were sent over, and I am

pretty sure I ended up on the floor froaughing so hard.

Fear of the Dark

As most of you know, bars are not thbest lit places in the world. Combininhat with alcohol can be dangerous. As

said earlier, in that environment wha

appears to be a rare jewel may actuall


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urn out to be a lump of charcoal in thight of day.

Case in point, a girl I will call Lizzie, ahat might have been her name. By now

had become a full time crew guy and habeen wise enough to become the guy thamixes the bands sound. This gave me thstrategic placement of being in th

audience and getting first shot before thband guys could. On this particular nigh was approached by Lizzie, who ha

offered to buy me a drink. She was cut

and buying, the perfect girl. Through thnight we talked and drank and got tknow each other. She was actually pretthot, and I was looking forward t


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spending the rest of the evening with her

Having made arrangements to hook uafter we were done loading out, I waanxious to get finished working. Aftehe last set the lights in the bar came u

full and we started packing up whilLizzie waited. With the lights full up hought I noticed something about he

hat wasnt quite right, but I couldnfigure out what.

After all the gear was loaded and wwere getting ready to leave, I realizewhat was different. Lizzie had only oneye, and her fake one kept wanderin


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help there. At one point she and a friendgrabbed my arm and tried to physicallpull me out of the bar as the band looke

on and laughed hysterically.

was no prude then, but I just couldnget past that eye. It seemed that as thnight went on, that eye was wanderinmore and more. Do those things ge

oose the longer you have them in? Alsodo you keep them in when you go tbed? The thought of that thing poppinout or of an empty eye socket terrifie

me. And the thought of an eye patcdidnt help. Who wants to sleep with pirate? The whole thing was way tomuch for me.


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The rest of the night is a little foggy, bu

do remember breaking free and runninout of the bar and hiding behind my cauntil the coast was clear. Not my besmoment.

Back then we would always meet at

diner after a gig, to sort of wind downWhen I got to the diner that morning throar of laughter that greeted me wadeafening. Looking back, it was prett

funny; I just didnt think so then.

The Truck


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One particular winter night, when came time to load out, the lock on thback of the truck was frozen solid. W

couldnt get the key in to open the bacup and load our gear. Now this is at fivn the morning and everyone is alreadired and wants to go home.

One trick is to hold a lit lighte

underneath, which didnt work at all thinight. The next idea would be hot waterbut where do you get that at five in thmorning on the sidewalk, when the club

s already closed? Inspiration took holas I stood on the back bumper anurinated on the lock. Disgusting I knowbut these were desperate times. Well


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hat didnt work so we tried the lighteagain. Held the lighter under the lock, lt, and the lock erupted into a bi

fireball. I guess I drank a little too muchis particular evening, as my urinurned out to be more flammable tha

gasoline. But the lock did open, missioaccomplished.

First Time on the Road

Oddly enough, the first time I went ouon the road had nothing to do witmusic. It was with a carnival. When was a kid small towns used to hav

ocal fairs, in our case it was sponsore


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We seemed to hit it off right away, bushe was busy working so I told her that

would come back tomorrow night, whic did. I got there early, before she go

busy so we could hang out and get tknow each other. She was able to take break and I think we got turkey legs fodinner. Sitting in the field at the faireating turkey legs with whatever he

name was, I was in heaven. It was great week; I got to see her a lot. As said, she was older than I was and habeen around the block once or twice.

As the second weekend started windindown we both knew that she would b


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moving on. The carnival was heading tPittsburg for a two week run. She woulbe leaving and we would probabl

never see each other again. I went dowo see her one last time and she said tha

we needed to talk. Uh Oh I thought angot ready to run. She must have sense

his and told me not to worry, it wanothing bad.

When we were able to get a minute, shold me that she had talked to the owne

of the carnival, and he said that I coul

stay on and come to Pittsburg and workShe seemed so happy we could staogether. Apparently no one had ye

realized that I was underage. Althoug


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his was back before photo identificatiowas a common practice. The carnivacircuit at that time was filled wit

people working under the table fovarious reasons. Quite a few were on thrun from the law. The carnival was thperfect place to live under the radar.

This trip to a far off land calle

Pittsburg sounded great to me. I hanever been that far from home, so I saiOK. I started working that night, learninhow to dismantle the Tilt-A-Whirl

among other things. Once everything wapacked up and loaded, we headed ouconvoy style on our long drive. Most ohe rides at a carnival actually pack up


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and live on their own trailer severything is really mobile. There werfour of us crammed into the oversize cab

of the truck, but that was fine by meSome of the carnies used to ride in thrides that were on trailers. That woulbe illegal now, but back then I donhink anybody cared.

have to admit, getting into Pittsburg thnext day for the set up was excitingThese guys knew all the fairgrounds ohe circuit, and each driver pulled thei

railer to the spot where that ride woulbe set up. It was something to see thesmassive rides spring out of their trailerst was kind of like those kids show


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where the robots transform. I waworking with the crew that put togethehe Tilt-A-Whirl, the Scrambler, and the

Ferris Wheel.

By the end of the first day we were jusabout set up, even though the carnivawasnt to open for a couple of days. Thigave the crew the chance to check ou

he rides and do a little maintenanceThis also gave me a chance to spensome time with my new girlfriend. didnt know where this was going, but

wasnt really concerned abouomorrow, today was pretty good.


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A day or two into the Pittsburg run wwere camped out in the haunted housafter hours. Sleeping arrangements o

he carnival circuit are sparse; yourkind of on your own to find a place tcrash. The haunted house was covereand had ventilation. Not a bad place tspend the night. Late that night we weralking and I guess she decided to ope

up to me. She told me that I wasnt lik

he other guys she had met, I waspecial. On its own that might soundnice, but she followed that witsomething about how she woul

probably never go after me with knife. It was the probably thaconcerned me the most.

later found out she had gotten on th


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carnival circuit after an incident thanvolved her husband, his girlfriend,

knife and the police. As I said earlier, a

ot of carnies are on the run from thaw. While I lay there that night I wasn

quite sure what to do. I could tell by hebreathing that she had fallen fast asleep.

t took me two days to hitch hike hom

from Pittsburg, and that was the lasFiremans Fair I ever went to. So mucfor my first road trip.


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One of my first forays into the "Bi

Time" was with a band called SplashAt the time I was working a day job wita guy named Phil Avelli. Years beforePhil had been in a band named Foreshat had a minor hit. As is usually th

case, things did not go as planned anPhil had to leave music to support hi

family. By the time I met him, years hadgone by and he was attempting comeback of sorts.

He had gotten some of the guys from hiold band and put together a new bancalled Splash. He had also called o


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some of his old industry contacts to sef there was any interest. By doing thihe band was able to avoid having t

pound it out on the bar circuit to build following and get a record label to looat them. Playing a showcase is when yoplay either a club or a rehearsal spaceand have invited record people there.

Early showcases had gotten Splash manager and a budget to record a demo

ow they were prepping for an industrshowcase that would result in either

recording contract, or the end of thband. The showcase would be at ThRitz in New York City, opening 2 nightsfor Steele Breeze. At the time Steel


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Breeze had a sizeable hit with YouDon't Want Me Anymore so the showwere a sellout.

Parts of the prep for the shows werrehearsals at S.I.R. in New York. It wasand still is, a major rehearsal venuwhere you are likely to run into anyonand everyone in the music business. To

me, S.I.R. was exciting. People like Kisand Alice Cooper rehearsed there.Little did I know at the time, but in a fewears I would be back at S.I.R. workin

with both Kiss and the Coop.

The load in at the old Ritz was amazing


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The entrance was on the street, but thstage was five flights up, with nelevator. The crew that worked ther

would grab your road cases and ruhem up all five flights. These guys wer

something; some of the cases weighed couple of hundred pounds. They made ook easy. This was also the first gig

ever worked that had stagehands. Uuntil now, at any bar I worked, I was o

my own. As I said, this felt like the biime to me.

Load in went fine. Steele Breeze werfirst to sound check and they were coo

When they were finished we set up ifront of them and did our sound checkAll was good. Showtime came anSplash hit the stage with all they had


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disbanded. Once again I was out of gig. So close, but not close enough.

Getting Serious

After a few years of knocking around thclub circuit setting up big light showssound systems, backdrops and band gea

was exhausted. Back then you woul

get to a club between 4 and 6 p.m. annot get finished until about 5 a.m. Buwhile I was working nights in rock anroll; I also kept a day job. It had beedrummed into me at an early age that yohad to have a job you can count on. Andat this stage rock and roll was far fro

reliable.


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What this meant was that I would ge

home from a gig usually about six in thmorning and would have to be to worby eight. That left me about an hour ana half to shower and sleep before I hao go do it all over again. Day job fro

eight until five, and then go straight the club until five the next morning.

would do this four to five days a weeand catch up on sleep on Sunday. It wacommon for me to wake up on the toilen my bathroom after a gig. I would ge

home tired, go to use the toilet and falasleep in about a minute. When I woulwake up an hour or so later I would go stand and fall to the floor, as lack o


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circulation from sitting so long had puboth my legs to sleep. More than onmorning was spent flapping around o

my bathroom floor, like a fish in thbottom of a boat, until the feeling in megs returned.

At any rate, that is where I was when decided to give up doing shows. I wa

ired and felt I was going nowhere, so walked away. Finally, I had enough restand I had my life back. No more workinall the time. If there has ever been a yea

n my life I have wasted, it was that one was lost, bored and found mysel

gravitating back to the clubs I hawalked away from. I think that doin


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shows is somehow in my blood. Therwas no walking away, although I tried.

The boredom I was experiencing led tfrustration, which led to drinking a lomore than I should have. Although in thinstance it may have been a benefit

Even though I missed doing shows, was still gun shy about going back. I ha

been offered gigs here and there, but haalways turned them down. One night went to a club called The Starship tsee a band that was very big at the time

The Kut, and proceeded to drink myselblind. After the first set I ran into an oldfriend, Raymie, who was working fohe band that night. We had worked


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ogether for years and had become goofriends. It turned out The Kut needeanother tech, and while under th

nfluence of way too much boozeRaymie recruited me and I agreed. Had been sober I more than likely woulnever have said yes, so I guess my lacof sobriety that night was a blessing idisguise.

Looking back it is amazing that the banhired me. When Raymie took me into thdressing room so they could meet th

new crew guy, I was so drunk I couldbarely stand. The guys in the band didnbat an eye, and for that I am thankfulJohn, Tommy and John, I owe you more


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carried me through most of my careerThese guys had been on the circuit while, and they were highly regarded

By working with them I got into a circlof people that were taking it to the nexevel professionally.

Working with The Kut I met a lot oother bands, and their crews. Bands lik

Cintron and Ruffkut gave me aopportunity to broaden my workinknowledge, and continue to networwith other people in the industry. As

was to find out, networking can mean thdifference between working and noworking. There are a lot of talentepeople out there, but if no one know


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not forget. This was another band I useo pay to see. Working for George wa

especially rewarding in that one of hi

songs was the song my wife and I pickeout years later for our wedding.

Ruffkut was also an experienceMembers of that band and The Kut habeen in bands together over the years, s

everyone, including the crews, were olfriends. A lot of these guys are likebrothers to me. A few have gone on tosome of the biggest tours in the world

some have left the business and havgone into other things. But the great thinabout it is that none of that matteredeveryone has stayed close. When I wa


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on tour with Kiss, if I got home on break I would head straight to the locarock clubs where I grew up. Often

would do gigs with local bands, for fref they couldnt afford a crew. Thos

clubs were like my second home and oved every minute of it. I go back ever

chance I get. Whenever I go to a show, always end up on the loading dochanging out with the crew. That feel

ike home too.


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Brothers

The name of this book is We are the

road crew after all, so maybe its time toalk about some of the crew guys

started out with. These guys were therat the beginning, and will always be likbrothers. They are Raymie, ToddHowie, Vinnie, Charlie, Ralph andBlake. We were working together when

none of us had a nickel to our names, an


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our futures were definitely uncertain. Buhrough it all we remained tight. Fro

bar gigs where some of us didnt hav

gas money to get home, to some of thbiggest shows all over the world. Thesare the people that will always looafter you. I have always believed that thfriends you have when you have nothinare the only friends you can ever be surof. I will list these guys and give the

each their credit, as they have all donmuch and made me proud.

Raymie: The person responsible fogetting me back in the business is stilout on the road somewhere. He hacontinued to get consistent work touring


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Todd: Todd was a drum tech when I mehim, just a kid. Through the years he hagrown into a seasoned professional. H

has gone on to Production Manage anTour Manage some of the biggest tourn the past few years. Over the years h

and I, on more than one occasion, werable to help keep the other employedThats how you survive in the businesshaving people in your life that have you

back.

Howie: Howie came along later, h

started coming to shows we werworking and realized it was what hwanted to do. He caught on fast and wasnt long before he was getting gig


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Charlie was and is a backline guy, doinust about any instrument on a tour. H

has consistently worked through th

ears, and can also be found on tours alover the world.

A funny story about a club gig I did witCharlie, we were driving home after really long and late load out and wwere both exhausted. Charli

volunteered to drive the truck, whicwas great, I was wiped out. I started tdoze off in the front of the truck and wasnt long before I was roused by th

honking of our horn. I woke up and sawCharlie passed out asleep sprawleacross the steering wheel; the weight ohis body was the only thing keeping us i


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he wanted to do lights. To his credit, heearned everything he could and took an

gig. If there was a seminar or class, h

ook it. He worked really hard and gogood at what he wanted to do. He haworked on Broadway, touredcontinually, and has been in charge oone of the larger concert venues back i

ew York. All of this was done by hardwork and determination.

That I have chosen to list these guyshould in no way infer that these wer

he only people I worked with. There aroo many good people to list. Its jushat these guys are the stand outs, th

brothers on the road. There are certai


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When you use the term National usually means that the band is knowaround the country and probably has

record out. Getting to work with national act is an important steppinstone.

For me things happened close togetherJohn Miceli, the drummer from The Kut

got a gig playing with Talas, definitely anational act. At the same time TommyHenriksen, the bass player from The Kugot a gig with a band called Heaven

Both guys brought me with them anhese gigs were a sizable step up for me

Talas was the band Billy Sheehan wan before he got in David Lee Roth


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band. They were well known, harecords out, and were also a great livband. They were playing rooms I ha

never worked before and they werselling out. By the time I started workinfor them the only original member wahe singer, but it still turned out to be a

opportunity that would boost my careen ways I never could have known.

The other band I was working withHeaven, had scored a hit with a soncalled Rock School, they wer

actually international. Heaven haoured around the world, although m

work with them never took me outsidew York. They were also playing


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still had openings.

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rock songs. I'm still glad I did that gigAll the guys were cool to work with.

There were two things about that nighhat have always stayed with me. Beforhe show, in the dressing room whe

Rhett changed his shirt you could see hhad serious scars all over. When one ohe guys asked him about them, he starte

pointing to them one by one and tellinhe story that went with each knife an

gunshot wound. I believed every word; could tell Rhett was not the type to wal

away from a fight, which leads me tstory number two from that night.


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One of our friends, Mike, had beehitting on a girl at the bar, and heboyfriend had gotten jealous. He and hi

friends were going to kick Mikes assHe asked a few of us to walk him out ohe bar, which Rhett and a few of u

volunteered to do. Now the point was tavoid a fight, but as soon as we got neahose other guys Rhett started yelling ahem, calling them pansies, fags, yo

name it. You could tell he wantednothing more than to take them all on. dont have a doubt in my mind he coulhave kicked all their asses by himself; h

ust had that way about him. I think thguys at the bar saw that too, they backeoff and our friend Mike was able to geout safely.


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That turned out to be the only show

would ever do with Rhett. He was shoo death a few years later. If you get th

chance, try to do a web search on himSome of his music is still available.


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Ramones

used to stagehand at all the clubs in m

area where there was work. It woulconsist of load in and load out, anwhatever the bands crew neededwhether it was help with gear, runnin

ights, running spotlight, and anythinelse you could think of. When I hearThe Ramones were going to play one ohe clubs I worked at, I made sure I wa

on that crew call.

had always been a big Ramones fan, s


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he thought of doing this gig, anpossibly meeting them, was a big deal tme. I got to load in early; I wanted t

make sure I didnt miss anything. Whehe Ramones crew got there, w

unloaded sound, lights, and backlineand started setting up. As a stagehandou are there to set up anything an

everything that the band needs. Souncheck was going to be around six, and

heard that the band would be there for itand they were. I got to meet them one bone and they were all pretty cool guysAfter sound check the Ramones lightin

guy said he needed two guys to work thshow running spotlights for the band. volunteered right away.


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n an arena spotlights are placed isecure areas away from the crowd, a

hey are not only important to the showbut they tend to get hot, really hot. Ssafety is an issue. Now this club didnreally have anywhere to put thesenormous lights, so the Ramones crewput a road case by either side of thsoundboard, laid them on their side, of

heir wheels, and put the spotlights uhere. They told us there would b

enough room to stand up there as weland run the light.

Before the show the lighting guy gaveach of us a headset so that he could tel


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us what he wanted us to do. Just beforhe show we climbed up onto these roa

cases, fired up the lights, and held on fo

dear life. This club was packed to thwalls with fans that were going wildThey were jammed up against my roacase so tight I couldnt have fallen off i tried.

t wasnt long before things got so crazhat my entire road case with me and might started moving. The lighting gu

was yelling at me to stay on Joey th

singer, but my case was being shovedaround the club ten feet in any direction

couldnt focus on anything, I was jusrying to hold on and not get burned. I


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pretty sure that my spotlight did shine ihe area of the band a few times tha

night, so it wasnt a total waste.

After the show I figured I was just goino get fired off the gig right then anhere. I was sure that the lighting gu

was going to be pissed off at me foscrewing up. When the club finall

emptied out to a point where we coulstart working, I went over toward thighting guy to take the hit. I figured

would just get it over with. When I go

here he was laughing so hard hcouldnt talk. It turned out this sort ohing was a regular occurrence at thei

shows. There really wasnt any othe


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way for them to run spotlights at theigigs, so they just did what they could anaughed at the local crew guys later

Lesson learned, and I still had anamazing time that night.

Out of the Blue

By this time I had no steady gigs booked

and there was nothing going on, no futur


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o rehearse and work on gear. I hadnever had that before. We rehearsed couple of times a week, then packed th

gear in a truck and did our weekengigs. This was a lot more civilized than had ever had it before. My first meetinwith the band and crew went reallwell. I had been apprehensive about thiob from the beginning. This was

whole new circle of people that I had t

work with and prove myself to. And thiwas not exactly my kind of music. But at turned out the people were great anhe gig was one I was actually lucky t

have gotten.

would be working with Adam th


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percussionist and Louie the drummerUntil this point I had mainly been guitar tech that could set up the drums

This gig had a lot more to it than I hadone before. The guys were actuallvery cool and showed me what I needeo know. I caught on fast and things wen

smoothly. It was at this time I met JohKarlquist who was doing guitars ankeyboards. As the years went on he and

became good friends and did a lot oours together.

After the first few rehearsals I got tknow Debbie and her family. Her careewas a family business, and everyone diwhat they could to help. Her Mom Dian


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housand. I had never done anything thibig before. Not only that, the opening acwas on at seven thirty and we were on a

nine. This was a lot earlier than I waused to going on. I could actually gehome at a decent hour. The load in andset up were great, we had college staghands and there was plenty of room twork. This new gig was working oubetter than I could have hoped. It als

had included something I had never seebefore, catering. When we got to the gighere was lunch and dinner there for us

More and more I knew that all my year

knocking around the clubs had finallpaid off.


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The schedule of rehearsing during thweek and doing shows on the weekendcontinued to go well. There was startin

o be talk of a summer tour when Debbigraduated high school. Since her albuwas high on the charts, I was nosurprised. As the weeks went by, theour plans actually started to take shape

But before that would happen, we founout about a very big show we would b

doing in a couple of weeks, the AtlantiRecords Fortieth birthday party aMadison Square Garden.


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hink both John and I felt a sense orelief that it was over.

ormally we would have had to wait tbring our truck in and load up, but ahings were so crowded backstage w

were told to go ahead, but be quick. AJohn was backing our truck up to loaout, I heard a few of the production tea

start to yell for him to stop. Apparentlhe nearly ran over Phil Collins as hwas walking toward the stage. I guesPhil doesnt normally have truck

careening toward him backstage, so hwas caught a bit off guard.

Sea World


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Another of our gigs before the tour was rip to Florida to play at Sea World

After Florida we would be driving thruck to North Dakota to play for som

contest winners, and then home to NewYork. After rehearsal we loaded theruck to get ready, but we wereneaving until morning, as it was a lon

drive.

had never been to Florida before, so was looking forward to this trip. Joh

and I had a twenty-four foot rental trucwith all our band gear and sounequipment. We headed out early to get agood start. The plan was to drive mos


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We got to our hotel at Sea World the

night before the gig, so the show woulnot be delayed. The next morning woaded in and did the show, loaded out

and went to the hotel to collapse beforour drive to North Dakota. The rest ohe trip went fine, but we sure did log ot of miles, good practice for what wa

o come.tandard opening pages for a crew

tinerary


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The rules of conduct

On the Road

We set out on the first tour not long afteDebbie graduated high school. This waa much anticipated tour, as she had hadseveral singles on the charts. We wouldbe taking out full production, soundights, a stage set, and backline. Thi

was the real deal. We would be playing


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a lot of outdoor amphitheaters, callesheds, which were great venues with ot of room to work.

Pre production and rehearsals would bat an arena in Massachusetts, which waalso our first gig. John and I took the olruck out for one last spin; we woul

drive to the arena and drop off the truck

From here on our gear would be ridinn the tractor trailers with the rest of th

gear. No more driving gig to gig, wwould be on a tour bus, which was als

something new to me.

When we loaded into the first arena


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seemed enormous. With the sound andights, and also the stage set, it seemeike too much. At one point I actually go

nervous, as I felt a little out of meague. I was a sandlot player trying ou

for the major leagues. Its funny now, buat the time I really had my doubts. alked to Louie the drummer about it anm pretty sure he said something alonhe line of

Relax; stop acting so stupid, it will bfine. Probably some of the best advice have had so far. The rehearsals went OKand so did the first show. Now I was i

he major leagues and I felt like belonged. It also felt good to not have tdrive the truck after the gig. It was nicgetting on the tour bus, eating pizza an


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crashing in my bunk.

The tour rolled along, city to city and got to start seeing parts of the country had never been to. I also started to maknew friends with the rest of the crew. Awe were all on the same bus, living anworking together, it was inevitable. havent kept in touch with many of them

but our house sound mixer, StevBotting, has become a good friend. have had the good fortune of workinwith him many times.

This whole concept of catering at thgigs, hotels on days off, per diem, an


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he swag were all still new to me. I felfortunate and was glad I decided to stict out. Per Diem is the cash they give yo

on the road so you dont need to toucour paycheck. Never mind th

paycheck, the per diem alone was morhan I was used to making. And I stil

couldnt believe what I was making imy check, which went straight home.Swag is the free t shirts that promoter

and vendors give you, for no reason aall. Every day was like ChristmasPeople would just show up and give yostuff. I know it sounds corny but I wil

repeat myself, I felt fortunate that I hadecided to stick it out.


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There were plenty of club gigs I hadone where there was little or no moneyStarting out I had to ride my bicycle t

gigs no matter how far it was. Therwere nights we were loading into clubsn the rain. Nights the truck broke dow

and it took hours to get home. No rooo work properly. Times we had to carry

our stuff out through the crowd. Wenever got fed, and sometimes there wa

nothing nearby. You just had to do thegig and hope to eat later. While I wastill amazed and thankful for my newfound good fortune, I alway

remembered where I came from. I thinhat has always kept me grounded. This not a job, it is who you are.

The Bus


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Part of life on a tour like this was th

our bus. These are usually custocoaches that can house twelve or morpeople comfortably. I was amazed whe first got on. The front section was a fulounge complete with couches, stereo

kitchen area, television and VCR, even small bathroom. The center section i

where the bunks are located, bunk alleyMost buses I have been on have thbunks three high and have had twelvbunks. They are small, but comfortabl

once you get used to them. The back ohe bus also had a lounge with couches

cooler, television, etc. For a guy whowas used to getting a little sleep in th


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ruck, this was paradise. Once you geused to bus life, it is actuallcomfortable and enjoyable.

After a gig there were always facilitieo clean up and shower. When load ous done, time to shower up and head ouo the bus for pizza and beer. You see

while we were working those sam

people that always gave us free stufwould stock the bus with cold beer anhot food for after the show. The bus trulybecomes your home away from home

Also, a quick word about the bathrooon the bus, VERY IMPORTANT! Theoilet is for number one only. The buoilet flushes into a holding tank tha


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needs to be emptied periodically. Inumber two is put into the holding tank will smell up the bus for the entire drive

The bus driver will usually have to stoand have the holding tank emptied, and ihe offending party is caught, not onl

will he get an ass kicking; the bus drivewill make him pay for the dumping of thank.A funny story relating to bus toilets, on

of my oldest friends on the road had tgo really bad. He had eaten a lot oChinese food and it wasnt sitting towell. By the time he had his emergenc

he bus was driving through the deserwith nowhere to stop. The driver wanot about to turn the bus around, he had ong drive and needed to be on time


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They say that necessity is the mother onvention, but I think that desperation ca

get the ideas moving a lot quicker. My

buddy realized he was in trouble, birouble. Inspiration took hold afte

seeing one of the garbage bags in thkitchen area. He took the bag into thbathroom and lined the toilet with iEssentially he was just going in the bagFinally relieved he finished his business

cleaned up, secured the bag with a goosturdy knot and emerged from thbathroom triumphantly. He theproceeded to run through the lounge wit

his ten pound bag of volcanic lava, anhead for the door to dispose of it.


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While the bus was rolling down thnterstate at eighty miles an hour h

opened the front door and heaved hi

parcel of doom as hard as he couldFunny thing about a bus going eightmiles an hour though, the buses forwarspeed creates a resistance equal to thspeed. You actually have eighty mile anhour winds buffeting you. What mfriend had done was hurl his parcel int

a hurricane that was blowing straight ahim. Needless to say the wind took thbag and sent it right back at the side ohe bus, where it caught on a rivet an

ore open. From inside the bus appeared that the windows had instantlbeen painted black. And it wasnt lonbefore it started to smell. Did I mentio


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he bus was driving through the desertThat stuff baked on for nine hours, anhe spent the next day, all day cleanin

he side of the bus.

Typical Day on the Road

am often reminded of something mfirst production manager Omar once saiwhen asked about days on the road. H

said, If you wake up outside a concretbuilding, its a gig day, if you wake up ia hotel parking lot, its a day off. didnt get it then, but in time I saw thwisdom in those words. On the roaime is irrelevant. You may work twelve

days in a row; you may have three day

off. Weekends and any sense of structure


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welve thirty. You get a routine as mospeople do, just a much different routine.

The rest of the crew each had their owschedule as well. Typically theProduction Manager and Stage Manageralong with the Riggers would be first ihe building. The Production Manage

would set up his office and set about hi

days work. He would be in charge of thbig picture, making sure all the elementwere there. He would also advancupcoming shows on the tour. He would

coordinate with the local promoters anmake sure they understood the scope owhat we needed when we came to town


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The Stage Manager would be out on thfloor working with the road crew an

he local crew provided by thpromoter. He would make sure that eacdepartment got the help they needed tdo their job. He would also let eacdepartment know when and where thecould dump their truck, and when thecould take the stage. As each departmen

s hustling to get their job done, thStage Manager keeps order and makesure there is no friction. Come showime he will often give the band an

crew the countdown until show beginsYou can often hear him bellowing downhe halls, Ten Minutes, Ten Minutes

He also runs the load out as he did th


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oad in.

Lets not forget the truck drivers, thguys that got our gear there. These guyare the backbone of a tour. They drivamazing distances in short amounts oime to make sure load in does not starate. These guys are some of the beshere are at what they do. Some gig

have loading docks with approaches thaare so difficult that an ordinarexperienced truck driver would say that was impossible. I have seen some o

hese touring truck drivers back in tplaces that most people would havrouble getting their car in to. These guy

are really the first in, since they hav


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been working since last nights load ouA good truck driver can make or break oad in.

The Riggers are the other members ohe crew that are first in. These are th

guys that figure out how and where t


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hang the bands equipment from the steesupports of the buildings roof. Thecalculate the loads, figure out placement

and climb up into the steel to make happen. It is not unusual for these guys tspend their day over a hundred feet ihe air.

ext in would typically be the light crew

and sound crew. They get theiequipment placed and fly out all that theneed. At this point the carpenters wouldake over and start building the stage se

and barricade. These days stage setend to be big, so this can sometimes bike building a house. When th

carpenters are done, sound and light


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will place what they need on stage, anpyro will start to set their effects. It is ahis point backline, or band gear woul

get to work setting up the bandnstruments.

After a few days of this, dates ancalendars lose all meaning. Signs arposted all over the gig letting you know

work times, meal times, sound check anshow times. But just as importantly, theell you what day it is and where yo

are, and also where you will b

omorrow. When the days all bluogether it is common to lose track ohese basic things.


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Hello Cleveland

f you get the chance, watch the movi

Spinal Tap. After having been on the


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road I think that it is not only hilariousbut it also accurately portrays some ohe crazy things that can go wrong whil

doing shows. I have had more than mshare of Spinal Tap moments, some owhich you will see in this book.

When the stage was built for the Gibsoour, there was no provision made for

ech to leave the drum riser withougoing on stage. Behind the riser werraised deck structures that had crosbracing underneath, which was directl

behind the riser. If the drummer neededsomething during the show, I had toclimb through all the bracing to get itand it took a while. When the show wa


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ready to start, Louie would announce thband All right (insert city name herewould you please welcomeDebbi

Gibson.Louie had a deep booming voice and hwas perfect for this. He would use onof the backup singers microphones andwhen he was done I would run it over ther.

Our Spinal Tap night began like everyother, we were set to go, the bandstarted playing. Louie was getting read

o announce the band when he looked ame and asked where are we? I lookeback at him blankly, I couldnremember. I went under the stage as fas


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as I could to find out. The band hastarted and the show was waiting on thiannouncement. No one that I asked knew

where we were. I ran to my work boand checked my itinerary, found it, raback, climbed under the stage. Louimade the announcement and we startehe show. That was probably two

minutes, but they were a long twminutes.

End of the First Tour

We spent the entire summer travelingaround the U.S. and Canada, and I waglad that I had gotten to go. I alreadknew how unstable the music busines

was, and I realized that when I got hom


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could end up scrapping around thclubs again looking for work. I haalready let the crew I was working wit

know I was looking for my next gighopefully one of them would end up on our that needed someone.

The tour finished in early Septemberand just as we started out, John and

ended up back in the truck with the bangear returning it to all the musicians. Thour was officially done and Debbi

would be working on her next recor

before she did any shows. The Gibsondid need help here and there so I waable to get some day work, whichelped.


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also did end up back in the clubs, ther

was a lot of regular crew work, anhere were some guitar tech gigs

Between what I saved from the tour anhe work I could scrape up, I got by. Buou are only as good as your last gig

and I knew I needed another tour to keepmy career moving forward. I made a lo

of phone calls and even checked ouartist management companies from thback of CDs so I could send ouresumes. Resumes, by the way, wil

never get you a gig. Your reputation onhe road is what will get you work. You

can be the best tech in the world, but ioure a jerk to live with, nobody wil


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his was illustrated to me in a big way.

got a call from Steve Botting, a frienfrom the Gibson tour. He possibly hadwork and wanted to know if I wanterested. Of course I was. H

explained to me that Air Supply neededa crew and he thought he could get mand John Karlquist the gig. There woul

be a few details to work out if we toohe job. The band was rehearsing in Lo

Angeles and was looking for an L.Acrew so they could save on expenses. A

hey had no luck finding someone, Stevproposed a deal with them. They woulpay the airfare to L.A., John and I woulfind a place to stay, and they would pa


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for a rental car. This is not normal in thbusiness, and was the only time I evedid a deal like that. But when you ar

starting out and dont yet have threputation to get work, you do what yohave to do. Its called paying dues.

The deal was done and we were on ouway to L.A. for our second tour. Stev

had made the arrangements for a car, andhad found us a place to live. We wouldbe staying at the Franklin Plaza Suites iHollywood. They were furnishe

efficiencies with kitchens. And the placwas not expensive. In the years to come ended up living there quite often anactually felt at home there. All in all thi


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was an exciting time. Living in L.A andworking for a well known band. It alworked out fine and the guys turned ou

o be great to work for. Once again I felvery lucky. Also as I am a big fan of oldmovies, the chance to check out the usebook stores and all the old memorabiliplaces were great. We would rehearsefor two weeks in California before wwent to Japan. After Japan we would

play Taiwan, The Philippines, then thStates and finally South America. Withhe exception of the States I had not ye

been to any of these places, so thi

would be a great trip. The rehearsaschedule was easy and the rest of thcrew, which was small, was also reallcool.


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t was at this time, I am sad to say, tha

he Emperor of Japan died. This was oss to the world, but in Japan this wa

devastating. The entire country went intmourning. This turn of events caused thcancellation of our shows in Japan. A loof things were cancelled there out orespect. There was talk that the show

might be rescheduled, but they nevewere. We would be delayed in leavingand we would just go straight to Taiwanas that was scheduled.

As we were delayed and had to stay iL.A. longer than originally scheduled


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John and I needed to do a littlrenegotiating, we had only agreed to puourselves up for two weeks. This dela

wasnt coming out of our pockets. Wspoke to the Tour Manager, BernieBoyle about our issues. To our surprishe and the band agreed. All was takencare of and we had a couple of free dayn California. The old Hollywood home

of the stars were amazing to see, and

checked out as much Hollywood movihistory as I could.

Taiwan

The flight to Taiwan was a long one, the


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ongest I had been on so far. Not that had flown all that much, most of mmiles were on the ground. This was als

my first time dealing with customs anmmigration. It took a lot of paperworo get into a country, although these dayt is much more difficult. We were

picked up at the airport and taken to ouhotel. The long flight and time changhad taken its toll. We had the day off to

do whatever we wanted so after a quicshower it was off to see what we coulsee.

We were in Taipei, the capital city oTaiwan. That evening the mayor andsome aides were hosting a dinner in Ai


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Supplys honor, and we were all invitedThis was to be a traditional meal, verformal. After a day of sightseeing I go

back to the hotel and got ready for oudinner. We all met in the lobby and wereaken by car to a restaurant where w

would be meeting our hosts.

The restaurant was beautiful and th

dinner was set up like a big event. Wewere all greeted by our hosts and treateike royalty. I learned two things tha

night; Air Supply is as big as the Beatle

n a lot of countries and also countrieoutside the U.S. consider the crew to bas important as the band. They assumhat if you are of a stature worthy of you


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ob you are also important. We were algiven a ceremonial key to the city anreated like honored guests.

The dinner consisted of many courses oocal and traditional food. There wer

many toasts made and many honorbestowed on us. That night was one fohe books. It has also given me one of m

favorite stories to tell. It is the nowfamous, Fish Eye Soup story. I havold this story countless times and

never fails to get a laugh. It is a bit rude

so if you dont care for off color humorplease skip ahead.


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One of the courses we were served ahis dinner with the Mayor was raditional soup that consisted of broth

seaweed and fish eyes. This waconsidered by the locals to be delicacy. Most of our crew looked at iand turned their noses up. They were noeating this soup. One thing I had alwayried on the road was to try local foods

as you never know what you will like, o

when you will get the chance againWhen you go someplace, anyplacealways assume you may never get theragain and do everything you can whil

here.

Anyway, back to the soup. I tried it, i


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was all right. I had a few spoonfuls andidnt think anything of it. It was later ihe meal that inspiration hit. I took th

soup and drank it all without chewingThe rest of the guys looked at me like was crazy. I think I might have eveasked for a second bowl. Wait untiomorrow, I told them. They all thoughhat tomorrow I would be sick, but I ha

other plans.

Tomorrow came and I was a little hungover, but not sick. I actually felt prett

good. It was time now to answer naturecall and put my plan in action. Afteusing the toilet I quickly called John anold him to come over. When he did


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sent him into the bathroom and after moment he came out laughinhysterically. He had seen what I created

There in the bowl was the brown fishat we all leave behind. Except whe

John looked at it, it looked back. It haeyes, a lot of them. The mighty browfish could see for the first time. Wecalled a few of the other guys. Somcame, some didnt. But anyone that saw

aughed and talked about it for quite while.

Anyway, you were warned. It isnpretty, but life on the road isnt all toubuses and catering. The day to day anticare what keep you sane.


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The first gig in Taiwan was to take plac

n an outdoor soccer stadium where thewere building us a stage. When we weno the gig to check it out I was surprise

at how big the place was, it would holabout thirty thousand people. I thoughhey have got to be kidding; well neve

fill this place. But we went about th

business of setting up our gear anywayEverything was going fine, sound checwent OK and we were show ready. Thdoors opened and much to my surpris

hey place was completely filled in short time. As I said earlier, Air Supplyare enormous in a lot of countries. Theimusic is universal and translates wel


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across borders.

When the lights went down and the banook the stage the roar of the crowd wa

deafening. The place was absolutmayhem. Once the band started playinhe screaming died down and wa

replaced by thirty thousand voices alsinging along. They knew every word

and most of these people did nootherwise speak English. As I said, AiSupply are universal.

Let me be clear about these guys. Theare truly rock stars. I have seen them gnto countries around the world and roc


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he house. No big light show, no pyro, nstage set, just their music. They are hughe world over and if they never wrot

another song they could still tour thworld for the rest of their lives. When ook the gig I was not a fan, but sinchen and to this day, I am.


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oad in at the first gig in Taiwan

n exhausted local crew

We finished the first show and would beheading over to Tainan for the next. I


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would be another big stadium ananother huge crowd. We were able tosightsee a little but a lot of our time wa

aken up with travel. We drove acrosTaiwan in a bus to get to our next stop. got to see a lot of the local countrysidfrom the bus window. This would be thway I would see a lot of countries in thears to come. The second show wen

well and we would be heading out t

The Philippines the next day.

When you are on the road the Tou

Manager generally coordinates thingike airport runs. He is sort of like th

farmer chasing all his chickens anrying to get them together. It is not a


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easy job. Some of the most talentepeople in the world can not get thconcept of time, schedules, being o

ime, etc. Our Tour Manager Bernie waan old pro and a great guy. He was icharge and always did a good job. Ohe departure from Taiwan he had set up

cars to get us to the airport and made alhe arrangements with the airline. We al

convoyed to the airport and Bernie wen

o the counter to check us in. He got big surprise, we had missed our flighHe had misread the tickets. This was thfirst and only time this had happened t

him, but this had the potential to be a biproblem. He had a party of fifteepeople he needed to get to ThPhilippines for a show. After much


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scrambling he was able to get us a fligho Hong Kong with a connecting flight t

The Philippines the next day. He just had

o find hotel rooms for the night, whicat the time were scarce.

Before we got on the plane Bernicalled the bands travel agent and gavher the task of finding hotel rooms i

Hong Kong. He would check in with heonce we landed. These were in the daybefore we all had cell phones. Wanded in Hong Kong and Bernie mad

he call. The travel agent had been ablo get one big room, a suite, an

apparently we were lucky to get it. Sinchen I have spent many nights sleeping o


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an airport floor, so in hindsight I can sewe were lucky.

Most of the guys were seasoned pros, swe all made the best of it. This was trulan adventure and made for a really funnnight. We got cots and blankets from thehotel, and it was like camp. Fifteeadults all crammed into one suite. You

would think there would have been a loof complaining, but no one did. We wereike kids at summer camp. We gohrough the night and made our flight t

The Philippines the next day.


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ong Kong airport

The Philippines


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think that this trip to The Philippinewas the first time I saw how hard thingcan be in other parts of the world. Whe

we landed at the airport in Manila wwere met by the local promoter who wawaiting with cars to take us to our hoten a lot of countries the local promote

or his people will travel with you tmake sure all goes well. As it ended up was one of the last to go, so I went in

car by myself. While we drove to ouhotel I saw that there were all sorts oboxes stacked along the road, for miles asked my driver what that was al

about and he told me that people livehere. These were people with jobs an

families and a cardboard box was thbest they could do. I was shocked an


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slowly started to realize how a gooportion of the rest of the world lives. asked the driver to stop so I could talk t

some of these people, but I was told was a bad idea, so we went straight the hotel. I think they just wanted to ge

me safely to my room, no need forouble on the first day.

That image has always stayed with mehose hard working people in th

cardboard village. Little hope tmprove their lot in life. As I traveled

he world I saw more and more of this. hink it is a good idea for everyone travel outside their home country and se

how others live. It will open your eye


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and change your life.

Anyway, enough about that, lets geback to Air Supply.

We were staying at the Manila Hotel, abeautiful place. Quite a contrast to thocals I saw on my way in. We were to

play two shows at the arena, and thewere already sold out. The promotewas asking for a third show, buogistically it would be tough. Othe

commitments, flights and a host of othereasons would make it hard. But thpowers that be would try to work it ouWe did the first show and it was anothe


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great audience. It was a mirror of thTaiwan crowd. As all went well weheaded back to the hotel to crash. Som

of the guys were going sightseeing, wanted to head over to the arena earland make sure all our gear was ok. have always been more comfortable ahe arena on a show day. I think that if

am off relaxing, I wont concentrate omy gig when the time comes. And I trul

do love the touring business, so I aalways happiest at the gig.

By the morning of the second show had been worked out that we would staand perform a third concert. It would bight, but it would work. So we playe


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he next two shows and went back to thhotel, as we had an early call for ouride to the airport. The next mornin

started out as uneventful as any. Thpromoter met us with cars and woaded our luggage and drove to th

airport. When we got there the promotehelped check us in and also informed uhat there was a problem. The ai

controllers had gone on strike, so n

planes were flying. With nowhere elso go, we all took our stuff and campe

out at the terminal where our plane wasWe were told that this happens some

imes and would be worked out. Well ididnt get worked out, after a while thpromoter told us that the military mighbe on their way to take over the airpor


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f that happened no planes would fly foa long time, and we would be trappedSoon after we were told that the militar

were coming, but there might be a wayFinally we were told that they werflying four or five planes out without aicontrollers and that if we wanted to sehome any time soon we needed to get ohe plane and go. With the approachin

military and the increasing state of pani

at the airport, we did as we were toland hoped for the best. We took ofblindly with no air controller and toooff; we were the last plane out. And

obviously we made it OK, as I am stilalive to write these words. It was a littlnerve wracking at the time, but still aln a days work.


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Once we got in the air and knew w

would be all right, there was a sense orelief and excitement. We were goinghome to the U.S. Not my home, wwould be in Los Angeles for a couple odays and I would be heading out to SaPedro to stay with my then girlfrienTeri. This was an exciting time; I had

ust completed my first international tripand was anxious to see what came next.


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These jeep type vehicles were the main

source of transportation in Manila

eople seemed to just jump on and of


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randomly, I never saw anyone pay.

Back to the Truck

For the U.S. leg of the tour we would b

playing smaller places than we haoverseas. We were only carrying bandgear, monitors, a monitor desk, a front ohouse desk and a few lights. With this i

mind it had been decided that we woulhave a small truck for our gear whicJohn and I drove, while the other foucrew members would follow by car. Thshows were routed so that none of thdrives were that long. John and I hamanaged to negotiate some extra mone

for truck duty, so I didnt mind.


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We would be starting in Grand Rapids

Michigan and we would be leaving froLos Angeles. This meant a couple odays on the road in the truck. We lefourselves plenty of time and had a gooroad trip out. Theres nothing like good cross country drive when you donhave the pressure of an impossibl

deadline. I have also had my share ohose. You become a connoisseur oruck stops. The greasy food and th

crappy souvenir shops sort of draw yo

n and you start to look forward to themTo this day I enjoy a good truck stopalthough I am sad to say that it has beeears since Ive had the chance to go t


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one.

We got to Grand Rapids the night beforehe first show and checked in to the onl

hotel we could find. As it was winteand freezing out we were disappointewhen our rooms had no heat. We wereold that the hotel staff was working ot, but it never warmed up. We were

happy to check out the next day and heao the gig. Now in the States we weren

carrying a lot of gear, so our load in wanot until two or three in the afternoon

As the sound and most of the lights werbeing provided by the theater each nighhis made for an easy day.


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The shows in the U.S. went reallsmooth and the audiences tended to hav

a lot of regulars. These were people thacame to see the band every year, andwho would stop by the hotel bar after thshow. A lot of them had become friendswith the band over the years. When thshow was over the load out literallook less than an hour. The band would

stay in the city we played that night, buhe crew would drive to the next city an

get a hotel. Doing this left us time to deawith any travel emergencies that migh

come up, like a breakdown.

t wasnt long before we developed


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system for after show travel. We wouldoad out, fast, and while the band wer

doing their meet and greet, we would g

o their dressing room and steal all theibeer and food. I dont think they realizet was us taking their stuff until late ihe tour. They had assumed that th

building staff had just cleaned up earlyWhen we told them they laughed anhought that was pretty good. As I said

hese guys were old pros who had seet all.

We would eat in the truck and whoevewasnt driving would drink all the beerOn many a night I was on the runninboard of the truck doing sixty miles a


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hour, relieving myself. When you drinhat much beer if you stop every time yo

have to go you would never ge

anywhere. The rest of the crew would bbehind us in a car taking bets on howong it would be before I fell off. I neve

did. But I did lob a lot of empty beecans at their car.

The relaxed atmosphere of the gigs anate load in times made for a tour tha

was more like a vacation than work. Weworked our way across the northeast an

down the east coast. We did two nightat Westbury Music Fair which was thegig closest to home for me. It was coobecause I had family members who wer


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fans that not only got to see the show, buhey got to meet the guys, which wa

cool. The last shows on this leg were i

Florida, where we had a few days off. Iwas nice to be warm; we had been doinshows up north in the cold, so a day ofby the pool was just what the doctoordered. We finished up our shows andgot ready to do the next and last leg ohe tour, South America.


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View from the truck window

South America


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South America back in the eighties waa wild place. There is a lot I would lik

o talk about, but I dont think this boos the right place. Just use youmagination; it was all that and more.

Our promoter rep from South Americmet us at our last U.S. gig and woul

stay with us and make sure we got safelo our shows. Manny was a fun guy wh

knew the ropes down there, so it was good idea to have him along. He flew

over with us and when we got tColumbia we were met by his associatewith ground transportation. Air Supplwas also huge down there so securit


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drink or anything else the whole trip. Idid make me uneasy that we always haarmed guards with us, but you get use

o it. South America, namely Columbihas some beautiful scenery. After oushows in Columbia we had one last biparty before we parted ways. The partwent until dawn and I ended up riding ohe back of a flatbed truck all the way the airport. I was going home.

Rules of the road:

Own a secure locking suitcase

At the hotel always lock up


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your valuables in the suitcase

Don't have guests spend the

night

If you have an overnight guestdon't fall asleep until she

leaves

If you aren't sure you'll stay


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awake, set the alarm and be

up first

ever ever have a mini ba

key

Falling asleep with a new

friend in the room can result inthe loss of all your valuables,

and an empty mini bar whichcan cost between $150 - $250


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Everything

There was a difference between the tim

came home from the Gibson tour, andwhen I was done with Air Supply. Thiime I knew what my next job was

Almost since the moment I met himSteve Botting and I became the best ofriends. He was the Production Manage

Sound Engineer for The Bangles and h

had asked me long ago if I would b


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nterested in doing their next tour, whicwas in a couple of months. I would havabout two months off before rehearsal

started, which was great. I had sommoney in the bank and could always finwork to tide me over. This was one ohe only times I took a temp job, since

knew exactly when my next gig was, andidnt need to look for a tour.

took a job at a company callePanafax, which was a fax machincompany. I worked in the warehous

stocking product, driving a forklift, etcThe work was easy and the hours werregular, so I just auto piloted it there foa while. One problem you have whe


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ou are in the position I was in, yocant tell people what your normal jobs, they wont believe you. People hav

his pre conceived notion that anyonhat tours for a living would never b

anywhere normal. More than once I haseen friends try to tell someone whahey did for a living and most wer

called liars right to their face. I alwayhad a cover story; I would tell people

was a landscaper. At Panafax when theyoffered me a full time job thats what old them, thanks but no thanks. When

came time to leave I just told them tha

andscaping was starting to pick up, anhad to go.


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back to the vaudeville days. Im a bifan of vaudeville, so it was great troam the old theaters. Sometimes ther

would be a stagehand that had worked ahe theater long enough to know some ohe theaters old stories, and would als

know where all the old nooks ancrannies were. These gigs were great fohat reason, but most of the old theater

were hard to load into, as they were no

built for rock and roll. A lot would beon busy main thoroughfares and somhad no way to get the truck close so yohad to dump your gear in the street an

push. I remember one gig where the loan door was one story above the stag

and they used a ramp with a rope anpulley to get the gear to stage level.


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aste of home after being away for while, a little bit of normalcy.

One gig on this tour that stands out wawhen we played the Naval Academy aAnnapolis. We had a stage set up in thehall where we would be playing, but thday of the show there was also a boxinournament set up at the far end. All ou

stagehands were cadets at the academand they were some of the besstagehands I have ever seen. They didncare that we were a long haired rock an

roll crew; they addressed us as sir, anddid exactly what we asked them to doThe only deviation was when theischool won over at the boxing ring, thes


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guys would go crazy for a minute anhen right back to work. Easily some ohe best local crew I ever worked with.

When show time came everything starteoff as planned. There were a few pointn the show where both guitar player

needed to do a guitar change at the samime. At these times I would go over to

Johns side of the stage and take onguitar and do one of the changes. Thfirst time I did this you could hear a fewcadets in the front row start to chan

Elvis, Elvis. Each time I would go ouon stage to work there were a few morpeople yelling. I started to notice that thguitar player Susannah wasnt comin


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over to the edge of the stage as muchShe was staying right out on stage so would have to go to her. This of cours

would get the Elvis chant going, whicby now everyone was laughing abouToward the end of the show amicrophone stand mysteriously fell ovecenter stage and I had to go out and stant up. Of course when I did, the lightin

guy had the spotlight operators put thei

ights on me and the crowd was joineby our sound guy Steve, with microphone through the sound systemelling Elvis. It got really loud with th

whole audience yelling. That was jusone of those moments you could neveplan, but we still talk about. Ill give yoone guess what my nickname was for th


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Platinum

When the Bangles tour was almost overSteve our Production Manager told thcrew that as a thank you, the band woul

be giving each of us a platinum albuaward. In the music business this is thbrass ring, the best that you could do. was really impressed, I was in my earl

wenties and was about to receive mfirst platinum record. I was anxious tget it; this was a sort of validation fomy career. A lot of my family stilhought that I had a hokey fly by night job

with no future.


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We were told that the awards would beshipped to each of us at our homes. couldnt wait, I was so nervous tha

mine would get lost or damaged. Everday I would wait for the mailman anaccost him on the front lawn. Every day was skunked, he didnt have it. After thmailman I would wait for any sign of thUPS man, in case he had it. I didnknow how the record was going to b

shipped, so I had to keep my eyes open.

One day I came home to find a box at m

front door, about the right size andshape, it had been left outsidunprotected! I grabbed it and quicklwent inside, my hands shaking as


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started to open it. When I got it open hought for a moment that I heard th

angels sing. There it was in all it

platinum glory, with my name engravedright on it. I stared at it a lot that day. had to keep looking at it to make sure mname was still on it.

Electric


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rehearsals would be taking place at ouocal arena.

John Karlquist and I would be on thione together again. When we finisheThe Bangles tour Debbie and the banhad already been rehearsing in the studishe had built in the basement of the newhouse. There were some new faces an

some old faces in the band, along with new tech, a keyboard guy who had beeat the rehearsals while John and I weraway.

would be working for a new drummerFred Levine, and Adam th


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hat we had all the supplies we needed. had to make sure everyone had properoad cases so that their gear woul

survive being on the trucks for the tourAlso when you start out a tour like thiou need to make a manifest of all you

gear. That includes all manufacture infoserial numbers, value etc. It is easier tdo this in rehearsals so you can takour time and get it right. A manifest i

used when you tour outside the countrso that customs knows what was yoursThis is also important for insurancpurposes, in case anything happen

during shipping.

Working on a manifest during rehearsal


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s also good busy work, so that if a banguy tries to get you to get them a cup ocoffee, soda, lunch, or anything, you ca

ell them youre too busy and to get hemselves. This can be an importan

step at the beginning of a tour. You sehe tone that you are not a gopher; yo

are a pro at what you do and are nosubservient. Dont get me wrong, on show day whatever they need or want o

hat stage to do a show, its my job tomake sure they have it, but at other timehey need to know that I am not thei

personal assistant. Most band guys ar

cool, and I normally dont mind makina coffee run, but I have had a few thahought it was part of my job to carrheir luggage or wash their chain mai


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been rented out by the production so thawe could set up all the gear and worout any potential problems. It was goo

o rehearse with all the show elements, gave everyone involved time to maksure they had what they needed to dheir job. It was cool working in th

Coliseum; it was where I had alwaygone to see concerts as a kid. Productiorehearsals can have long days for th

crew. Typically we would all get thereearly in the morning and work oequipment or programming. The banwould usually get there about four, and

hen we would run through the show foas long as it took to get things right.


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There really wasnt any excitement oany good stories during this time. We alworked and did our jobs, and got t

know our fellow crew guys a little. Weoaded out and headed over to our firs

stop so we could start this tour. I waooking forward to this one, as usual.

would be going to England, Australiand Japan for the first time. It seemeike each tour I was covering a littl

we are the road crew

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