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[Lee Brenkman]

Jason Dermer wrote on Sat, 09 May 2009 13:10

Dan Kebschull wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 09:45 3. "I need more in the monitors"  More WHAT!? Or the even better "I need more monitors." One of these days I'm going to have a bunch of hands on the side of the deck each holding a wedge or two and when I get this request they'll just run out and put a ring of wedges around the offender.

Another thing that makes me crazy.

Tech:  "What do you want in your monitor?"

Muso "A little of everything"

Which usually means "kick and a LOT of whatever I"M doing" and as little of everyone else as possible.

[Ivan Beaver]

Lee Brenkman wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 23:56

Three of the most dreaded words in my experience: "Volunteer stage crew"

I did a gay/lesbian festival once.  That year was the lesbian's turn to produce it/crew it etc.

Probably one of the easiest gigs I have ever done-great people to work with, lots of eager hard working help in loading/unloading/ stage gear swapping/ stage management etc.

Sometimes you never know.

[Tim Padrick]

My rants:

http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/BandRant1.htm

HOW version http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/Welcome.htm

http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/BandRant2.htm

[Lee Brenkman]

Ivan Beaver wrote on Sat, 09 May 2009 15:25

Lee Brenkman wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 23:56 Three of the most dreaded words in my experience: "Volunteer stage crew" I did a gay/lesbian festival once.  That year was the lesbian's turn to produce it/crew it etc. Probably one of the easiest gigs I have ever done-great people to work with, lots of eager hard working help in loading/unloading/ stage gear swapping/ stage management etc. Sometimes you never know.

That was my experience in the last century.  During the height of the "Women's Music" thing I worked many shows for Holly Near, Meg Christian, and my long time friend (we were both working with Denver bands in the 60s) Cris Williamson.

The volunteer crews at these festivals were nearly always  hard working, competent and enthusiastic.  After all it was THEIR music.

There was though the one time we showed up and the stage was there, the piano was there and a small but adequate FOH system set up.   When the artist and I asked "do you have any monitors?" the producer said "SURE!".  

We then asked "could you bring them to the stage?"

So she left and came back with several women wearing T-shirts with "MONITOR" lettered across both the front and back of the shirt.  

They were what we usually call "t-shirt security" but the organizing committee for the event had decided that "SECURITY" was too harsh.

BTW they found us a stereo amp and a couple of EV FM 1202s for the show.

[Randy Pence]

shop rats that complain about not being appreciated and then come to find that for an sos and mic babysitting job for a bunch of suits, they could not handle packing a compressor and a freaking mic.

its a good thing we were in the city, as a home electronics shop was still open and we could pick up a doable mic.  otherwise, we were fucking screwed.  glad i was just the tech on this mini gig as the owner was sweating bullets about losing the client.

[Paul Lipp]

Ivan Beaver wrote on Fri, 01 May 2009 22:32

Marsellus Fariss wrote on Fri, 01 May 2009 21:58 That's the stage managers job. And that's exactly why it's best to have someone other then the FOH or monitor engy as stage manager. And they should be PAID and know what their doing. IF there is a stage manager.  So many small festivals have no idea how to run things and it usually ends up on the providers shoulders And then the provider gets a bad rap with the artists.

I feel the pain oh so well with this one...

[Grayson Rech]

Ahhhh # whatever we're up to . . .

Rain calls

Situation regular once a year during May in any given town or city . . .
Location - stadium with rain location inside  Yep you guested in a gymnasium that seats 3K with no air conditioning  

Pre determined Rain call time of Noon that was picked from a meeting and emails that explicitly says must be no later than noon to MOVE this tiny stadium PA  

(sensing a pattern here? )

Noon comes and goes.  12:30pm comes and goes. 1pm local house crews amble in with a look of Miller Time.  I ask why so happy as they are tearing down the stage and chairs.  Its inside they say.
Haha funny guys.   Why so hapy????

Same response - I'm turning from   to    

Why is it that a rain call never seams to make it to the ones who are making the turn around and redeployment happen . . . in a short period of time?

Needless to say I get paid in advance now and if rain call is pushed and moved and I'm not notified by a senior chief (predetermined), my rig stays and the show is outdoor rain or not.  Rain gear for me . . . the rest of them . . . their smart, they can figure it out. I'd love to see them hold the event in that gym for 3K plus with no PA  

House crowd is over 90 db. alone

That's one way to speed up the show!

Grayson

[Thomas Creek]

Promoter at my venue that has started booking 5 piece metal bands whose amp stacks + drum kits wont even fit on our little stage.

We try to cater for everything but some of these bands need alot of space and alot of PA and we don't have alot of either.  

[Marsellus Fariss]

Thomas Creek wrote on Wed, 13 May 2009 01:16

Promoter at my venue that has started booking 5 piece metal bands whose amp stacks + drum kits wont even fit on our little stage. We try to cater for everything but some of these bands need alot of space and alot of PA and we don't have alot of either.

I've worked there! A couple of different "there's" as a matter of fact.

One show a friend of mine did at one of these was a old skool raggea band who's pretty well known and pretty hard to deal with. They came off the buss and took one look inside at this tiny little shotgun old storefront club and said "Oh no no mon, get back on de bus, we're not payin' here!" To his credit he made the show happen. Amazing.


Once apon a time I did a big surf guitar guy in a club the size of a gas station. There were people literally standing on the rails of my FOH "booth" while I stood in on a chair attempting to see the stage which was only 15 feet away. Good times.


Same venue another time the booker came up to me with a stage plot and rider for a show that he had no business booking in the tiny assed room. He hands them to me and said "hey, what is all that?" I said "That's all stuff we don't have that is gonna make them angry when they get here unless I rent it, which is gonna cost a lot of money." So I call up the number provided on the stage plot for tech advancing and it's some lady who says "oh that's ok, he's easy, it'll be fine." They show up and they're pissed. I say I advanced it via the contact on the rider. They asked who'd I talk to? I told them, they say "Oh.. you talked to HER? Oh shit, she's done it again! Ok man, we'll make it work, it's not your fault." Turns out the number to advance the show was the artists home number and I had talked to his wife! Yea, nothing I can do about that!