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Author Topic: Never in my 16 years......  (Read 4928 times)

A Man

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Never in my 16 years......
« on: May 31, 2004, 09:57:49 PM »

of doing audio for a living have I ever had this happen :

I was hired by an act that I have mixed before to do 2 shows this weekend. As I was in the UK with the band that I tour with, (they) booked these shows them self and tended to the rider requirements. I was told that the system for the first show in Jacksonville FL would be a EAW 850 rig with a PM3000 @ FOH. OK, all seemed good...

Show up at load in to find that the system was NOT a 850 rig but some hand rolled POS boxes that "were loaded like a 850"..hmmmmm, red flag #1.
Alright, I'm a big boy and figured "what the hell, I've been in worse situations"..
Go to FOH to find that it's in mono, OK, no biggie, tell "SE"(more on this person later) that I need the system configured in stereo.. I'm told "but we always run in mono"..TFB, it needs to be stereo..."SE" switches some cabling around and I'm told that one side of their DN360 is shot..Red flag #2. No biggie, I happened to have a DN360 in the band's FOH rack. Switch over to my EQ and bring the house up..Right side is about 20db lower than the left.I'm then told "thats why we run mono, the right output of the console is having issues". Red flag #3. WTF!! So, as I stand there in utter disbelief (and getting steamed), I comment "so, you brought me a fucked console"
Well, shit hits the fan and "SE" goes off on me, saying "well, if you don't like it, I will pull my rig out".
At this point, I've pretty much had it with these clowns and say "let me tell my boss what is going on" and proceed to the stage to talk with the bass player (who pays me). As I'm standing there relaying the situation to him and say "and he says if I don't like it, he'll take his rig out of here", "SE" runs onto the stage, grabs me by the throat and shoves me into a ladder, threatening "I'll kick your ass", etc, etc..
Well kiddies, the people who know me, know that I don't play well with others and my two options at this point are "1. pick up the nearest mic stand and bash this asshole's brains out" or "2. Call the cops" The "Old Triple-J" would have done the former, but "New and Improved Triple-J" kept a cool head and pulled out my cel phone..
Cops show up and I file a report, they tell me "it was a simple battery, you can go to the prosecutors office and file a claim, then we'll arrest him".. Bullshit, if roles were reversed, "Old Triple-J" would be sitting in the hoosegow instead of typing this...

I'm the "show must go on" type and just about everyone who has worked with me knows that I'm a easy going guy who is a pleasure to work with. (or so I've been told) But I had to draw the line, I refused to go back into the venue if that asshat and his poor excuse for a PA were still there. It was getting on 5:30 PM on Memorial day weekend, so getting a professional PA was going to be imposable...

I walked.

Dave, I respect your policy on "heads up" posts where someone is in question, but I've never been assaulted like this and feel the need to warn others.

The only thing I gathered was, this guy's name is Reggie in Jacksonville FL, there wasn't any company names stenciled on any cases, so I have no clue what their company moniker is.

Just keep your eye out for these clowns. Evil or Very Mad
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: Never in my 16 years......
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2004, 10:25:53 PM »

congrats for keeping your cool....

I guess that's another way of looking at stereo gear... one channel to use, and one spare...  Razz

JR
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Never in my 16 years......
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2004, 03:56:42 AM »

Trip-

That wasn't battery, that was a standard JAX gesture of... uh.... admiration... yeah, thats it.

Wow.  I've had some interesting happenings on both sides of the SE/BE desk, but I don't recall anything quite like that.  Glad you aren't in jail...

Last time I mixed on a provided rig in JAX, 1/3 of the low end buzzed, 1/3 worked okay, and the other 1/3 *never* made a sound of any kind; but wait, there's more!  There's a pair of bi-amped mons for the $$$ position, one of which has a 15" with a hole in the cone the size of a fist (the grilles were intact).  This is not good.  Crackpipe boy at the monitor desk can't figure out how to repatch unused headline act channels for the opener... and the rig is in mono because the HF output of the left crossover channel doesn't work.   This was in 1993 maybe.  Sounds to me like the systems are about the same, but with a bigger dose of attitude or cocaine psychosis nowadays.

Yuck.

Tim Mc
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danfowler

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Re: Never in my 16 years......
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2004, 09:00:53 AM »

Whew wee!

Close one!

I'd say you kept a cool head. He sounds like he was "cranked" on something, normal people just don't flip like that. Maybe he had an "abused" childhood, who knows. He's gonna have an abused (and short) future if he keeps that up.

Had you met confrontation with confrontation (nearest mike stand to the eyesocket), the remainder of the gig may have gone sour for your band. He's a local, you're a stranger, type thing. He could have had local "ties" with the boys in blue, ya never know what's on your hands.

You self-sacrificed yourself for them, in my opinion, removing yourself before things escalated even more. I've followed your posts long enough to know you're a level headed, smart guy, and this action on his part was completely uncalled for.

I had a guy do the same thing to me one time in f%^kwater SC about 8 years back. Similar circumstances, escalation over more and more wrong with the rig, pointed it out, and the provider flipped out and cornered me. Wrong thing to do.

What he did was similar, he jacked me up against a wall, completely by suprise, with his forearm against my throat, trying to lift me off the floor.
What he didn't notice was my leatherman was in my right hand, but he DID notice when it grabbed a hunk of his left tit and I began a right twisting motion (you know,a little wire work) of about 90 degrees and at the same time my left hand grabbed his "package" and began a hard upyank toward HIS throat.

He started howling and screaming about me letting go, I couldn't speak, I was choking. He finally let me down off the wall and I let go of his tit(or what was left of it)and his "stuff" and he limped away in complete pain shock.

I saw I had no choice, either get my throat crushed or react quickly. Luckly a rent-a-cop security guy saw the whole thing (those guys are your best friends at times) and the provider SE was escorted off the property and allowed only to come back later to get his stuff.

Sometimes, I think we should get "combat pay".
I'm not violent, just a counter terrorist.
Dan o:)
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Craig Leerman

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Re: Never in my 16 years......
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2004, 12:55:19 PM »

You should have caved his head in (but without using the mic stand)  FWIW, if you are attacked by anyone at anytime, you are well within your rights to DEFEND YOURSELF first, THEN call the cops!  I think a few well placed punches to his nose would have been a good lesson in "public relations" for him!

Craig

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I'm so old, when I was doing FOH for Tommy Dorsey, to balance out the horn section I would slide their chairs downstage and upstage to mix!


dwstojan

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Re: It sucks to be the better man...
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2004, 03:19:36 PM »

... but you were / are. The problem with real assholes is they never seem to find out just how f*cking lucky they are. It's tough, but brush it off and forget that loser.

You could have done untold many things to ruin (or finish ruining) his system; you could have redecorated his face or a million other things but you didn't; You acted like a mature gentleman. The world can use a lot more like you. Thanks for being a good guy Trip.

All the best -Dave

P.S. Thanks for the heads up. Ya never know when that kind of info can come in handy!
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Sebastiaan Meijer

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Re: Never in my 16 years......
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2004, 07:46:26 PM »

You did the only right thing, man! Trying to be the nice and assisting guy sometimes brings you in situations like these.

I can say I had the pleasure to meet you in a very unpleasant situation and you were way cool. If that is the Triple-J still around, you have nothing to hang yourself with.

Rock on!

Sebas
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Psycho-acoustic care-taker, but you may call me monitor dude.

EQ is like fast-food: quick, predictable and available everywhere, but it never tastes good if you need it.
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