Orlando, attempt number two
Marko, the other token American on the tour, finally got his REAL job description that day.....he´s NOT the road manager, he´s into Disaster Management..... Orlando was one little disaster after another, whether it be aggravating stuff like not enough power for all the stuff, to bad cables aggravating the hell outta me in the lighting rig.... Marko was there for it all..... At least the head of the lighting department of the company we rented the I beams from was in Orlando to figure out that we had 2 bad Intellabeam.... Then, he showed me the ins and outs of REALLY running the Pearl controller...... I LOVE THAT THING now, and WILL NOT go back to a High End Systems controller.......sorry guys....even the Status Cue SUCKS compared to Pearl..... So.... I sat there programming the Pearl while a little jazz band was onstage.... They thought they were getting a light show... and started to wonder aloud why it was all green.....(laughs). I ran to the hotel and took a shower, and finished programming while Vuca, the opening act and my roommate for the tour, was on.... He was happy with HIS light show, too, but told me later he preferred blue to green......sounds like a personal problem to me!

Normally, I don't talk bad about local crews, since I MAY have to deal with them again, but......... The easiest way to get Stephan, the videographer in the band, to laugh was to tell about the "programmable dude" who was on the Orlando crew........ This dude was good from the neck down...... Anything above the neck was a blank stare.... To make Stephan laugh, I would tell how the local dude worked.... Ya start by pushing the imaginary buttons on his chest to "program" his short term memory, then point the direction ya wanted him to go to do the work.... When he finished, he would come back to ya with that blank stare, saying "Ready for further instructions" in that monotone that's associated with computer-generated voices.... Instant laugh from Stephan.....(laugh)

Technically Speaking

In Orlando, I had 4 I-Beams on their cases lined up on the back wall, and two in the front corners of the stage. There were some mirrors on the back wall, which raised some concerns with Siggi about light washing out the text we projected right above the keyboard area, but one the show started, it wasn't a problem. The way that the songs Polyesterday and Chocolate were lit were finalized in Orlando, since they were just simple little chases.... all down...all up, and all left....all right... simple. Blue Mug's lighting came together that night, too, since it was a simple case of making everything blue and shining it at the disco ball suspended above the stage... Remember, I said not to expect anything spectacular on this tour, since it's all one color....

Next stop...Atlanta!!