Members wardjames Posted August 4, 2011 Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 Man I hope your A/C starts working. My car's isn't working right now and it's bad enough here in San Diego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkfloydcramer61 Posted August 6, 2011 Members Share Posted August 6, 2011 Try driving thru the Mississippi Delta with no AC..for 6 + hours a day, M-F. Wednesday it was 104 (heat index 120) in Clarksdale. I took Thurs. off. I have the money to fix, but at a quote of $1000 (compresser alone is about $600 rebuilt) I'd rather tough it out and save up for another vehicle. The worst of the hot weather should be over- temps only in the mid-90's next week, yeehaw. In July '96 my country band left MS in a remodeled 70's Bluebird bus for Minot, ND. We zig-zagged around ND for a few weeks, went to Rapid City, SD for a week, and then crossed the Continental Divide on our way to Hornys in Durango, CO. The AC went out before we got to Durango and stayed out for the duration. Sucked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 8, 2011 August 1st Monday Rock Springs, WY ....not playing today but it's not a day off. Louis takes the Sprinter in for air service. Jason and Mike work on lights, Tony engineers Gwen's 2011 liners for St.Jude's and Wounded Warriors... I help Louis and Gwen finish one of their tunes before lunch.After lunch I chart a few of Gwen's new tunes we haven't heard (non of them are for the live show).She has awful worktapes but great tunes she has co-written before we left. I Protools guitar/vocal arrangements for the plugger until dinner. August 2nd Sweewater County Fair Rocksprings, WY. We are opening for Clay Walker ("She Won't be Lonely Long")today. His guitar player (Stefan- stage right/house left) is awesome. I met Stefan at a couple of writer's nights a while back and consider him a buddy. His acoustic tone is airy, focused, and very sweeeet..... Stefan's pedalboard He spent most of their check deciding between a Deluxe or Super Reverb (the Deluxe has more grit and focus, the Super Reverb has more headroom and more twang). Our check was fine and the show was OK.... they had placed a microphone stand full of hawaiian leis directly in front of my amp so there was a glitch in getting the required feedback...also the promoter pulled us off 10 minuetes early. I didn't stay for much of Clay's show, I had a "new special friend" (as David St.Hubbins would say) and left early. Clay Walker stage left guitar player's pedalboard our bass player's pedalboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 10, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 August 5th The promoter got me in for Hinder at the Sweetwater County fair in Rock Springs, WY. The others stayed back at the compound.Hinder brought a rock show. Outside sound blows chunks when there is too much wind...there is ALOT of wind in Wyoming. August 6th Rocksprings, WY We stayed in town for a private event that was contracted a year ago. Up at 7am, out the door at 8:30. Load-in at 9am. Lunch at noon... The Fishman Aura Spectrum was distorting during soundcheck (no, it wasn't the input gain), as a result the acoustic set was axed; I skipped food to troubleshoot....the simplest route was to forego the Aura and use a radial DI instead....the acoustic set was added back. The Dr Z was too loud, I used the Airbrake (on "2") for the first time all summer. We were playing in a tent and reflections were everywhere, the Airbrake on 2 worked perfectly for bringing the volume down to a usable level.....The Z usually faces sideways but today it was behind the guitar vault, facing backwards with the soundboard cover over it for isolation. I usually wire the stage; power, snakes, XLRs, Mic stands (& sometimes rack covers and fans)...by the time I get 10 minuetes, to set my rig up, and 10 minuetes to tune 4 guitars there isn't time to trouble shoot anything (not to mention restringing)..... FOH is EQing the room and starting on Kick by that time..... I've been using the Aura all week to demo songs (but only using the 1/4" out), it may be that something is wrong w/ the XLR out (everything's in the trailer and I'll have to finish next check). I've had this unit for 3 months. August 7th Day off, went boating......summer tour 2011 tour journal is becoming summer 2011 paid vacation journal, we've never had this much time off during summer runs.Everyone is bored.WTF? Eagle's nest on top UFO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 13, 2011 August 8th Did laundry, van needed tires, tested the Aura Spectrum on protools (XLR out sounds fine). Louis got a Pork Pie endorsement. Dinner at Ray and Tina's. Ray went to GIT in the 80s (!!!) but won't talk much about it (says he's living vicariously through me). He gave me his Taylor acoustic when we had a fire http://jpaulmusic-jpaul.blogspot.com/2011/08/all-my-roadgear-burned.html Remember the man cave in the movie "I Love You Man"?....well Ray's is what it's supposed to look like : Aug 10 Council Bluffs, IA. We leave Rock Springs for Austin, MN splitting the trip into two days. The air is out again....stay in Council Bluffs, IA. (remember the "four chiquaitas from Omaha" in Grand Funk's "We're an American Band"?One of them is a buddy)........ Show day.The next day leave at 9am for Austin, MN...van smells funny 3 hours into the trip. A belt has blown but it's not an engine belt (the issue w/ the air is that none of the techs know the correct belt that drives the compressor, so they keep putting the wrong belts on). We leave the van at a shop in Forest City, IA, then take the Excursion (pulling the trailer) and drive an hour for load in at an Austin, MN fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hilikus8 Posted August 13, 2011 Members Share Posted August 13, 2011 I love this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 Aug 11 Austin, MN.- county fair Loaded in and checked. There was a decent Johnny cash tribute act playing across the fair while we checked....probably ruined their set..... Logistics, not our fault. Ran into quite few people that had seen the band before and loved us, Scott Soderberg an Austin radio DJ, his friend Robin, hot lesbians,.....good show, we destroyed...two sets....encored with Sugarland "Stay"....started raining during "Stay" first chorus....a journalist that had done a review from last year's show wanted my setlists for reference....tear down at 1am, in bed a little after 3. me and Robin (Jack Black) yeah, I'll get right on that Austin, MN setlist Aug 12 Larchwood, IA. Up at 8am....everyone in the Excursion to pickup the Sprinter an hour away (they weren't able to fix the air but at least admitted that they couldn't instead of just half-assing it).....took a 4 hour driving shift....arrive at casino around 3:30. Got security badges, loaded in, checked in and check...everyone is wiped out.Done around 6:30 (still need to eat, nap, shower, change strings before 8:30 showtime). I'm with "snoring" Tony again. They have us in room w/ a King bed, front desk swaps us out into a double bed room, key doesn't work, back to front desk to recode, strike two STILL doesn't work, back to front desk again (would make sense to put us in another room and call maintenance for the lock that doesn't work), instead we wait on maintenance to "fix" the lock / damaged key card. It's 7:20 before Tony and I are in the room and able to function. Friday's show is OK...brand new venue for us, and could be a router. There are 2 people that have seen us before... it's Friday and the crowd is comatose (age 21-70)...average age 25. We're not a great casino band, it's just not what we do. ~Gwen calls a dance medley that is worldclass~ a handful of people dance ~Gwen calls a few sleepy tired-ass casino songs~ and the floor is PACKED. I am switching the Piezos in ElGuapo.Fishman has a PDF template of the two sizes of Powerbridges they stock for Teles (you overlay the printouts onto your bridge for the correct sizing). Would be nice if I could print them so I could overlay it onto the bridge so that I can order the correct model....no printer at the casino (which means I cannot determine or order the correct size and will probably be mid September before the issue is rectified). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 19, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2011 Aug 13 Larchwood, IA ( same venue) Saturday is similar only w/ more people.....lots of super appreciative people. Gwen was saving herself for Sunday's fair show so we covered alot of vocals. Show was OK except for Tom Sawyer ~ something in the rhythm section got lost in the solo (we haven't played it in months). Jason's parents came so we played "Under the Boardwalk" for them. Gwen had some cousins that lived nearby that came...super hot bartender at the middle bar (looks like Howard Stern's girlfriend) ....... The casino staff buys the CDs. Lots of them. ..... tear down,in bed at 3 , up at 9:30 Aug 14 West Pointe, NE - Cummings Co. Fair We leave Larchwood at 10 arrive in West Pointe at 1:30. Check-in. Load-in at the fair is at 2:00 ..... there is a Polka Dance on our stage at 2:00 , fair says to set-up at 5:00 instead. It usually takes us 2 hours to set-up and check our production (not including shower or meals). Today is also a restringing day for Elguapo, could be tight time-wise.....we go back to the hotel. Also there is now an antifreeze issue with the van. There is leaking from a hose or the radiator itself. At this point in the thread I should mention that vehicle maintenance is not an oversite. Scheduled servicing and preventative maintenance dominates the off time at home. It's not just the van or truck , it's both trailers (we only have the large one out right now), their brakes, hinges, tires...year-round.Stuff isn't breaking because it's not being well maintained....we've tried to stay out of a tour bus for as long as possible (the ramifications go beyond this thread). No printer at the hotel for the new Fishman Powerbridge template (see blog http://jpaulmusic-jpaul.blogspot.com/) ...back to the fairground at 5:00 just barely beating the parade (which would have been good to know about). Today we are inside (!), they have alcohol (!!), and the 5 million dollar community center's production is sufficient enough for us to forego loading in OUR production (!!!)...... I've been lucky with lights all summer, not today though. I had hums and buzzes with their lights~trouble shooting 101 dictates~> guitar to cord to amp, same buzz, change cords, same buzz, change guitars, same buzz, try the Variax = dead silent. The Variax doesn't use electro magnetic pickups. Yay for Line6!! The talent buyer showed up for soundcheck and wants to use us for more events... was kind of a Peter Grant type of presence. We had actual dressing rooms with our rider requests....started with The National Anthem into "Roll Down Your Windows" (original).... Tony ran the show at 88db and still got yelled at by exiting fogeys..... Polite crowd, like a cult, very strange. The talent buyer tried to pay us WHILE we were playing (Mike got it on video). He was side-stage "watching" but must have been waiting for a long enough break to had someone a check (he must have wanted to go home). There isn't 10 seconds of dead-air in the actual 75 minuete fair set so he gave the check to one of our merch guy. Tear down / Load out took a little under an hour. we got the stuff on our rider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted August 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 Aug 15 to Nashville We take the van back to Nashville for service.....I'm able to print out the Fishman template for the tele while home. Aug. 18 to Fairbury, IL We left Nashville and check into a Super 8 in Fairbury, IL. It smells like a dog pound. Our fall itinerary comes in and there are only 3 holes available for me to fill (not including Thanksgiving). I'll chip away at those and try to add a new venue.... Tony's Sprint cell service has failed him in most of the places we've been.....My ATT has done remarkably well and I have reception everywhere except for the ranch in ND. (although it will drop an occasional call on the interstate). I carry a spare Verizon prepaid in case a call HAS to get made and I haven't had to use it this year. Aug. 19 Fairbury, IL fair Huge pole in the center of the stage... had good homemade Apricot pie for lunch. Restrung the Strat....sized the Fishman template w/ ElGuapo and it gave me contradictory and confusing information.Left a hotel towel at the venue (I've only done this 3 times in 21 years). The fair board was thrilled w/ the show. Another strange crowd; 10% were in the tent and only 5% of those peeps were in front of the stage, the rest of the crowd STAYED stage left / 10 o clock in front of the beer...took until set 2 to win the crowd.....super cute drunk 19 y/o girl demands to hear "Sweet Home Alabama" while we are loading out (every instrument is put up). Whoever is "in charge of her" is shucking their responsibility when I ask for some help (a phone and a loud public trade in cell numbers will usually bring the culprit out). Good fair. Good peeps. NOTE : if you think the phrase "whoever is in charge of her is shucking their responsibility" sounds misogynistic, then you probably ARE that drunk girl. Aug. 20th Madison, WI- The Dry Bean Remember The Dry Bean from last month?The club that was double booked that we didn't play?? Late 5pm load-in. Gwen is on the Marque (misspelled) but none of the promo we advance is hung or displayed. We opted to use our PA. Should have used our lights too, no gels or controls for their lights...just full on all the time. Bartender looks like Summer Love....excellent Black Jack Burger.There were a few buyers that came to the show plus a "Guitars for Vets" charity that we are involved with. The club has a barrage of late 90s/early millennium 8x10s of huge country acts that played there in their infancy but everything else about the place is Rockkk. I guess regulars never know what kind of band they're getting. We destroyed. Although we lost a handful in the first 10 minuetes (Frank? Is that YOU?) but basically left the place in Shock and Awe. Who needs lights...... 2 Spotted Cow beers not good on the stomach, stick with Guiness....more buzzing from house lights instead of ours. BTW "Gwen Sebastian" has been misspelled so many times that last year I nicknamed my pedalboard "Gweb". Aug. 22 (Monday) Bismark, ND. Van in the shop (of course). The new van was ordered 2 weeks ago and should be in Nashville by the time we get home.....My Axess GRX4 took a dump in May (and so did the spare) the week before the tour so I've been using the Boss Line Selector as a hostile last minuete temporary replacement. I ordered a Loopmaster as the permanent replacement before we left. It shipped this week (last week of the tour), almost 3 months later..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members urca Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 Where's the pics of all the groupies??? Seriously, you must be getting some poon out on the road! We want pics!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted September 1, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 1, 2011 Aug. 26 Wibaux, MT fair !2 noon~Five of us pile in the Excursion pulling the trailer and leave the ranch at noon (Gwen comes later w/ her parents). Load in at 3. Sleeeeepy small town fair, not much happening, playing on a pull-out stage. Skank motel. Decent show, gaggle of front row little girls have a blast dancing...adults stay seated in the bleachers all night (as usual), nice fair board members good sense of humor.Louis uses the new Pork Pie snare and we all love it. The crack hits him in the face (the way he likes it) but the sound disperses from the sides, making it a much tolerable SPL....Satisfied clientele....fans from Baker and Billings shows come....great night for merchandise...in bed at 11:30 pm slept very little. LAST SHOW Aug 27th Bismark, ND - Burnt Creek ~Leave hotel at 9:30. Enroute I traded my Phoenix Marshall 4x12 for a Blackheart 5 watt tube head by text and cell phone .Picked up the Sprinter we left for repair on Monday.Load-in at 5...HOT 20 something chicks playing Bingo during soundcheck. ~Gwen is on the marque but the posters for the show are a generic template that the club uses for food and drink specials. Some other acts have great show posters for their upcoming shows. What happened to OUR great posters? We are playing for the door this time. Club is 3/4 full at 8pm and packed by 9pm showtime. Some sloppiness here and there but overall a good vibe and decent show. ~Met a fan that has cancer that has 9 of the CDs, has been following the band in clippings for the past few years and tonight is his first show, he gives me a pen(?) I give him a pick. ~I use the DR.Z airbrake again (on "2"), it's also isolated under a rack lid. This is useful for FOH but can hamper feedback on a few songs. The first time I went to position the guitar over the rack lid for feedback something came unplugged. I moved the lid to troubleshoot (it was the guitar cable into the guitar). Later I notice that I had inadvertently knocked the AC control panel off the wall. The club got hot, VERY hot. Aug 28th Phoenix, AZ SUN I fly out from Bismark to Phoenix to move my Phoenix things back to my place in Nashville (remember the break up at the start of the tour journal?).....I purchase guitar and pedalboard mods on the way as I pass through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Akansas.... The rest drive back to Nashville. MON Post tour cleanup (AKA getting the cowshit out of the technology) TUES Gwen, Louis, and Mike (subbing for me) fly to L.A. for some "things" that I can't disclose. WED Arrive in Nashville w/ the rest of my my stuff. Start over again.Rock on. THE END Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted September 1, 2011 Members Share Posted September 1, 2011 Thanks for posting this thread. Too bad you guys didn't get closer to Bozeman Mt. I would have tried to come see you. I played a high school homecoming dance about 30 years ago in Wibaux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted September 1, 2011 Members Share Posted September 1, 2011 Ditto... love this thread!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted September 1, 2011 Members Share Posted September 1, 2011 This was great! I wish I had been able to plan out a trip to Bismarck, since you guys played there twice (RE: the poster...I've seen Betty Does a couple of times here in Grand Forks, great band!). Maybe one of these times I'll make it out to a Gwen Sebastian show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted September 1, 2011 Members Share Posted September 1, 2011 Excellent thread! Thanks for it all! Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted September 2, 2011 Members Share Posted September 2, 2011 Agreed, fantastic thread. You tromped all over some of my well known territory in south eastern IA. If I'd been aware of the thread earlier I might have made it out to Washington which is the closest to where I am now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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