HI James,

YOu wrote:



 RW> after the show, because I tried to anticipate their needs.

JB> I think Joni Mitchel said it well, "You don't know what you got 'til
JB> it's gone."

YEp, think I did rather well at that too, and they confirmed that.  I keep
telling people that in this business it's the
ears and people skills that are important.

JB> When we packed in the bass-players buddy, we were shopping for a new
JB> tech. As a sub, we had a fella that mixed international acts in
JB> stadium shows. Later, I realized he was in charge of an Alice Cooper
JB> show I attended at our football stadium, (I forget if this was the
JB> first time I saw Jeff Beck. There was *somebody* I was there to see.
JB> }:-) where I saw a stack get blown down during a rain storm. Anyway,
JB> within ten minutes, this fella had the reverse slap echo in place
JB> and the room tuned. I couldn't BREATH on my kit without it sounding
JB> like I intended to, and the whole troupe KILLED the show all night. 

  Seen that sort of thing before too.

JB> The second night, his boss from his day gig (*The* PA supply house
JB> here at the time.) filled in. Everybody left the stage at *every*
JB> break frustrated. BTW, Alice Cooper had some good backing, but was
JB> he EVER a drunken mess at the time. I heard his rider included "...
JB> As much golf and Canadian beer as I can handle" or words to that
JB> affect. 

YEp, I enjoyed Alice Cooper's backing band, saw them a
couple of times, Welcome to my nightmare tour was my first
at Vet's auditorium, which is an awful place to do sound in, basketball
arena.  I'ved mixed monitors more than mains
there.  Btw this is Des MOines IOwa I'm talking about in
case anybody wonders.  Second time I saw him was at HIlton
Collossieum (spelling) in Ames, Ia.


 RW> Biggest problem I'd have with them was communication, they
 RW> couldn't just use hand signals and point to tell me what
JB> ...
JB> You whining *again*, Richard?  This
JB> brings up *another* point regarding your lack of sight and how it
JB> might influence your workday that I never imagined. "Take it to the
JB> SURVIVOR echo."  I'll serve you cheese to go along with it
JB> there!  

  Just a fact of life they had to live with if they
wanted to communicate.  IT wasn't that big a problem,
closest mobile person to me would come over and say
something *if* it had to be said.  But, as I commented,
usually I did fairly well at anticipating the performers'
needs.

JB> Ya, I never *thought* that the size of the menu display was a
JB> non-issue to you before today!

Yeah that's sort of a bug too, if you know the device, and
button pushes are repeatable.  ONe thing I liked about most
Alesis gear.  Exit a menu from anywhere in the structure and everything goes
back to a default.  Roland otoh is an
adventure, enter a menu, value stayes where it was, you have to guess if you
don't remember where you were last time you
edited parameters in some menu you use rarely.

 RW> As well as what the different lubes are supposed to be used
 RW> for.

JB> I barely know what lithium *is*, but I *think* I can use it
JB> appropriately. Automobile lubricants and small engine oil I'll
JB> likely *always* struggle to understand, but I make it my charge to
JB> find the right one on the shelf and hopefully catch it in time if I
JB> grabbed the wrong product in haste. It's all good to know what you
JB> can, and look it up if your unsure.

YEp, that's what I find myself doing, wd40 for loosening
that stuck fastener, good ol 30 weight motor oil for the
engine, preferrably not the synthetic because they tell me
once you use synthetic you have to stick with it.

IF ya got a good mechanic keep him.  Every time I find one
around here he either goes out of business and goes to work
for one of the chain shops from hell or moves away, or dies. My main man for
remote truck died, but think I've found
another guy.  Remote truck's going to need a new engine,
thanks to its age the modern formulations of gasoline with
the alcohol additives do awful things to seals and all that
good stuff, so a new engine is in its near future.
Thankfully one can get a new gm 350 c.i. engine, and the
tranny's still good in it.

Regards,
           Richard
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