Portland, Oregon
KNRK/The Big Stink
Estacada State Park
Ok.... So I found my way back to the GusGus Bus, fell asleep, and was rudely awakened by Marko telling me we were at the venue, and that there was a problem..... That was the last thing I wanted to hear, since I made up my mind right after Biggi checked to make sure I was in my bunk before we left Seattle and I fell asleep that I wasn't going to do a GOD DAMNED THING that day... This was the stop on the tour I was looking forward to ever since Tony at LD Systems called me and said "hey.there's this band who needs an Intellabeam guy"..... All I wanted to do was hang out with my Gemstone guy's beloved sister's player Carla, and have a good time with my new buddies in the Offspring's crew, who were doing their last date on that tour, and who made sure I wasn't ABANDONED IN SEATTLE.... But no... I ended up fighting with the stage manager Brian the Nazi all day..... I hate those little local twerps who get to be Nazi For A Day, and take their roles too seriously... I look at it like this..... If MY BAND'S the headliner, the stage is MINE to do as I please with.... SO, as I tried to set up 4 Intellabeams, which was all the power could handle (those idiots didn't supply HALF of what was needed), Herr Fuherer Brian kept getting in my way, bitching about this, griping about that.... It came to the point of where I told Marko that if that dude didn't chill, I was going to have DEMAND that he be REMOVED so I could do my job...... a local dude intercepted me as I hunted O'Shea down, and took care of the Nazi Brian for me..... SO.eventually, 6:00 came around, and no Carla.... I wandered down into the area where Doc Marten's was throwing a party for Gusgus, and started to look for Carla... Walked up to this chick with brown hair, and asked her if her name was Carla (she looked close enough). She tole me, no, he name was Meredith, and seemed kinda put-out by my 'rudeness'...So, I blew her off, and kept looking... About 3 minutes later, this lovely young lady (you see Carla Sallee, the human who role plays Chrysandra. She appears to be in her 20's has short, dark brown hair with blonde highlights. She is carrying a small camera and a small bag. She is wearing a grey dress. You hug Carla. Carla hugs you... You also see Hal, who role plays Xyxtus. You get the picture, GS friends...) asked me if I was Al..... Sure 'nuff.... it was Carla.... She told me they walked around the entire perimeter of the area, looking for our bus.....Turns out she did the whole thing, EXCEPT for the area where our bus sat....... We went over to where the bus was parked, took pictures (mine didn't turn out...I HOPE hers did), and talked for a while..... I've been playing Gemstone off and on for more than a year and a half now, and that day was the first time I ever said my character's name out loud...(laugh)... I gave Carla a little gift I bought in Vancouver... a hand blown glass rose.... she loved it.....(grins) She and Hal stuck around for the show, unlike Rich....Then when it came time to tear down, she left, but not until I gave her a little hug, and a kiss on the cheek, just like my GS guy does..... Thus ended the part of the tour I looked forward to the most...... So, it was time to tear down the stuff...... time to badmouth another local crew....... Thses guys make the programmable dude in Orlando look like a genius....... one WLF (worthless local fuck) yanked the mic cables off my Intellabeams, breaking the cables.... another dude griped about having to drag the cases 40 feet to the trailer...... he was sent home with no pay, the whiner.... The rest of the crew, Nazi Brian included, had NO IDEA how to do anything...... I hated dealing with those drips, so as soon as my cases were done, I stood in the trailer and directed incoming cases, which WE had to load, due to the WLF crew's laziness...... They SUCKED. We had our stuff out in 20 minutes, then spent about an hour waiting on Dickie Fut to arrive to drive us outta there...... The park was a half hour away from Portland, so we were all tired by the time we got to the hotel there.... Finally, we heard some Icelandic pop music as Jan Stuggi played guitar, and Baldur and Siggi sat around and sang these WEIRD songs they said were the most popular in Iceland....... After showers and Biggi checking to make sure we were all on the bus (they learn quickly, don't they......), we bolted for California............ Oh..the chick I blew off? Meredith? Her last name's Brooks... She dedicatred 'Bitch' to me...LOL Next stop...San Francisco!