On The Road Again

  With my job I tend to do a lot of traveling and I really do love it. Every day is a different day, every town is different, and there is a different way to handle situations.  My job, as a promoter rep has good days and its bad days.  Today is one of those "It Is What It Is" days. 

Everything about the show is set up in advance, the stagehands are getting here at 1:30, the band is getting here at 3:00, the sound company is loading in the night before, catering budget is set, everything is totally fine, until you get there.  

Today, I hopped off the plane, went to eat at 1:00, and was in the venue by 1:30.  I walked into the venue, which is a basic warehouse nightclub  big empty room, makeshift bathrooms, a plywood bar, no dressing rooms, no office, no Wifi, no clues.

As usual I set up my office,  trying to find a working wall plug with no exposed wiring then sliding a crooked table into that space.  Next I have to find and clean a chair, get the computer ready,  then plug in the 100 foot internet cable the club offers rather than a WiFi network.  Remember when LAN was the "fast" solution over dial-up.

I get my notes out, pull the information for the sound engineer and "CRAP, WHERE THE HELL IS THE SOUND SYSTEM!?!?!"  I'm immediately on the phone, calling the sound company.  It's 1:40, band loads in at 2:00, Sound is defiantly going to be late today.  He finally answers "Yeah, we are running a little late, but we're just down the road."  A little late?  What happened to last night, loading in the day before, being all set up???  "Uh yeah, I couldn't get in last night, didn't call the owner till it was too late for him to come down."  Too late?  What time did you call the club owner that it's "too late", it's not like he is getting up super early to mow the lawn.  The sound company is late, it's Lubbock, and my options are, to just sit and wait till he gets here.

The Band rolls in around 2:00, the tour manager walks in and asks how the day is going and suddenly gets the same look I just tried to hide.  "Where is the PA?" he asks,  "It is on the way, should be here shortly." "Ok, is it true we've only sold 8 tickets?" I explain that he is just getting the number of fan club tickets, not total tickets sold,  He gets a little more at ease.  "Where is the production office?" he asks.  I point to my desk in the corner and say, 

"Welcome To Lubbock!"

Thrift Town, USA

Kristan  and I were invited to a Blackberry Party that required us to dress in "rural attire" and bring some sort of blackberry dessert.  Being that we didn't yet possess the ability to dress like Jethro and Ellie-Mae, we took off toward Irving Bvld. to hit up an assortment of thrift stores for our evening attire.

We stopped into the first shop, which was very large, neatly organized, and had a wide assortment of everything from records to Wranglers, used help desks to hats, and glass ornaments to glass eyes.   The best things in the stores are always for "Display Only" or "Not For Sell" or are just priced not to sell and are stuck on the top shelf that even I can't reach.  The rest is open to interpretation:  "If you really need it," or "If you really want it."

So there we were wandering several stores, looking around, picking, choosing, laughing.  I had my camera and was shooting pictures of the little forgotten treasures people had discarded to make room for new treasures.  I was picking up little "things," taking  pictures, thinking about how if I zoomed in with Photoshop I could end up with some interesting backgrounds or patterns.  Kristan and I ended up with a few wardrobe possibilities and stashed them in the store.  We made for the door looking to see if we could find a better deal.

We walked into Thrift Mart next door.  I was walking around taking pics of weird items, and Kristan was holding up items, making fun of them.  I still couldn't find a good red flannel shirt to rip the sleeves off of.

As I was in the back corner of the store, shooting down a colorful row of shirts an older lady, with obviously dyed hair, a long forgotten smile, a blouse she refused to sell in her store a long time ago, and sporting a cheap bluetooth earpiece came out from the back hallway.

Sir, I'm just curious, what are you taking pictures of?

Just things around the store.

Why are you doing that?

I just like to take pictures.

Well, we'd appreciate if you'd stop it!

Kristan and I looked at each other, wondered what just happened.  I'd been in the store for quite some time; I'd taken 30 pictures or so.  What was it in this store that she wouldn't want me to take pictures of?  Was it the acrylic painting on an old saw of a windmill/water stream?  Was it the Bratz doll some child had fashioned into a chola or hooker?  Was it the abandoned ice skates?  Maybe it was that the staff might not have been legally working there???  Maybe it was just enough for her to worry about and enough of a reason for us to walk back across the street and spend our $12 there.

We went home, took scissors to our findings, went to the party and had a good ol' time.  I'm now the proud owner of a (now sleeveless) red flannel shirt, a walking cane with a hand carved lion on top, a trucker hat, and a lockable hard shell flight case for golf clubs.  I'll be using the golf club case to tote my light stands, tripods, and other goodies around.  

(If needed, the golf club bag flies free.)

In answer to your question, Ms Thrift Mart, this video is for you:

Bye-Bye Bennigan's

As a youngster, barely able to drive, strapped for cash, low on gas, the idea of a "Date Night" meant saving $20-25 to be able to take the girl I liked to dinner and a movie.  I really couldn't take her to McDonalds since that was where I earned my money in the first place.  Bennigan's was the best idea of fine dining I could afford at the time, plus it was on the way to North East Mall in Bedford.  Dinner was easy to pay for and I'd always have enough for the movie and we'd both leave happy.  I'd get a Monte Cristo and she'd get a burger we could each split them in half and share.  If we needed dessert we'd say it was her birthday and get the free cake along with that stupid birthday song.

"Happy Happy Birthday, ya da da da da, something something something, from Ben Eh Gehn's to you, WOOO!"

As I was getting ready for work I checked the google reader and saw that Bennigan's is closing all it's company owned stores.  Funny how certain things from your childhood really don't mean a thing to you when you are no longer 16-21 years old.  The only thing I'll really remember Bennigan's for will be holding Toni-Lynn's hand there on our way to see Rocky IV and the horrible heartburn that Monte Cristo gave me.  Well, that and the great content for Office Space.

I guess the good news is that the franchised restaurants are staying open.

The Emperor's New Clothes - Again

Today, my girlfriend, her daughter and I went to the Ft Worth Museum of Modern Art again, we've gone quite a few times since I bought a membership as a present to ourselves.  We've seen several exhibits, been enlightened, and even watched as her daughter became interested in art while trying desperately hard to NOT seem interested.  She was fascinated by Ron Mueck's larger than life creations, confused as to why Sean Scully has art hanging that would have caused her to receive an "F" had she turned it in to her art teacher, and she even learned a thing of two at the Martin Puryear exhibit previous to the current Kara Walker exhibition.

Today, opening day of the Kara Walker exhibit, was the first time I've ever felt really uneasy about the articles on display at any museum, gallery or even makeshift art show. We walked in to a room of black cut out silhouettes of 1940's style Warner Brothers (stereo)type "Slaves" pasted all along a wall.  My girlfriend stopped dead in her tracks and pointed out the 3 foot tall black girl performing oral sex on a little black boy while above them rested another black boy with a overly exaggerated penis.  "I can't let her see this, I'm taking her out!"  My girlfriend took her daughter by the hand and went to see other parts of the museum.  I kept looking at the long wall and saw  another silhouette of some slave-mammy daisy chain consisting of a small baby suckling on the breast of her mothers breast while she suckled on the breast of a mammy type figure who was as the others suckling the breast of another woman.  Art?  Is this really what I'm seeing?  

I walked into the next room to find images of  "Typical White Men" next to historical figures cut from encyclopedias with nude black women pasted onto them.  Art?  A Jewish man with his overly large nose penetrating the netherlands of a slave woman.  Art?  Into the next room I find a video playing with shadow puppets on a makeshift stage with the quality of a 1993 gif portraying a black man hanging from a tree, a second puppet, a female, comes upon his member and begins a fellation that doesn't stop until the silhouette is sprayed with something not unlike watered down gesso in a Jackson Pollack manor.  Art?  Really?  And this crap is here for three months?  Who is this girls agent???

I gave up and walked into the upstairs to see some "art."  I know that most people see humor in modern art, I too find a Urinal to be a false deity arts Valhalla but I also appreciate the time and effort it took Andy Warhol to silkscreen a six foot tall self portrait.

On the way out of Ft Worth  we stopped for gas.  My girlfriends daughter asked me why someone would thing that this art was good when all it was doing was making things worse than they were before.   I  told her the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes" and it all started to make sense.  "So some of the things that people call art really isn't?" she asked.  I told her that basically, to be art, someone has to like it and someone has to hate it.  

She looked at me kind of blankly and I could almost here her thoughts,  "Well then, this is definitely art!"

Waiting in Odessa

I've been traveling this week, this is my 5th day away from home. I'm at the airport waiting to get on an airplane that will take me back to Dallas where my girlfriend will pick me up, hug me andkiss me, take me to eat, then take me home where I can pet my dog and watch my TV. Right now it's 12:54 and I land at 2:35, that little bit of time seems as long as "the day before Christmas."

I guess that if I were to have to wait anywhere I'd prefer to wait in Midland International Airport, it's a big (well, 6 gates), modern, but typically vacant airport, it is "ready for expansion". There usually aren't too many people wanting to fly away from Midland/Odessa so the lines are almost always very short, the TSA is not overworked, and they actually seem to enjoy their job. Getting Wifi is a little difficult as it seems that the one person in town that understands computers, that isn't out in the oil fields, had the awesome job of programming the airport's Wifi Purchase plan in 1992 style code. Nothing pretty, nothing fancy, just a few badly photoshop-ed buttons that lead you to a PayPal page. I usually end up having to purchase it twice to get to the help screen that tells you how to fix the problem once you've missed the coders obvious "here next" text that you are supposed to click after it tells you that you are connected. Honestly, it's still not as hard as logging into T-Mobil.

The food court is nice and easy, again, no lines. There is a Pizza Hut, a small hot dog stand/grill, an ice cream shop, a wraps stand, a refrigerated sandwich "grab and go" cooler, and a breakfast counter all worked by the same person. You may have to wait until she is finished getting money for someone's yogurt parfait to come help you with pizza but she is always happy about it.

The gift shop that sales my Polar Ice gum is always staffed by a couple of ladies that secretly leave small pieces of food for a couple of sparrows that have made their home inside of the airport. The worst part of their day is when they have to contend with a display of constantly clicking Mexican Jumping Beans. The noise could be used in any movie where the angry TSA agent has had it with everything and smashes to display trying to get it to stop yet can't smash the husks where the little creatures are trapped.

My plane is here, it's been here for a while, there is usually not a rush here, we wait, they clean the plane, line up and board. I'm glad it's Southwest, every employee is always smiling and seems so happy to have you walking into their plane. I guess that's one of the reasons why Southwest's stock keeps going up.

I would really hate to be at an overly crowded airport, with upset people at the counter, directing you to TSA agents that are finally going to get their opportunity to abuse their one power given to them and make you wait as you get patted down only to have to walk 15 gates to a overly crowded, under-furnished waiting area with line agents that could care less if you get on their plane. Doing it the easy way makes getting back into my girlfriends arms so much more pleasant.

Sweaty in Odessa

So I guess I should be writing more than I do, this always gets pushed to the back of the lot as I'd rather read than write.

I'm in Odessa today, doing a Sevendust show. My day started an hour after I fell asleep last night, getting up almost every hour to check the weather and the chance of thunderstorms. Every hour was different "20% - 40% chance" around 5:00 today. Currently the sky is blue, one of two distant clouds that look more like an idea of a cloud to come. This is Texas and it could change with a hours notice, I have to be ready. We have plastic for the stage, a cover for the sound board, and prayers from everyone with any kind of concern. It's 95 degrees right not "Feels Like 95 degrees" according to weather.com and there is still a 40% chance of rain. The current map shows NO clouds anywhere near. I'd hate to be a weatherman in Texas, everything you would learn would never matter. If it did, you'd only be right for 15 minutes and then you would be wrong again.

I'd really love a touch of rain, that awesome temperature drop right beforehand. I'd also pay heavily for an air conditioner, maybe one of those nice 30 ton units. It's so hot, I'm about to finish my first case of water and I've yet to pee. Did I mention it's hot? The club I'm in only has "swamp coolers" which can't lower the air temp any more than ten degrees, that is, as long as it's not humid. Boy is it!

-----------------------------

OK, it's now 9:40 at night, outside temp is 89, "feels like 89." There is no wind, there is lots of humidity, and many dumb people wearing the latest in Hot Topic. How in the world do kids go to shows, wearing a long sleeve shirt, with a t-shirt over it, with a vest and not just think "Damn, is it really that important to try to look cool, I sure am hot!" I used to only wear jeans and a t-shirt, I still do, the roughnecks from the oil wells are here, they are wearing their jeans and t-shirts, but the impressionable youth are dresses for winter in Chicago. A hoodie and a beanie, Really???

The good news is that I'll be in Abilene in the early morning in a hotel room with plenty of cold water, where I can shower and sleep for a few hours before going to another venue. This one has AC, lots of AC, usually it's too cold to just sit inside, your fingers start hurting, your bones get creaky, and well, it feels so much better than today.

Customer Service 101

A couple of days ago I went into the last real camera store in Ft Worth to grab a filter for my SLR camera.  I walked inside and was immediately greeted by a kid that worked there who offered to help me find what I was looking for.  "I need a 67mm Split-Grad Neutral Density filter, do you have one?"  He pulled out the big drawer full of  67mm filters, started trying to find one but after a few minutes said "We don't seem to have one, we really just have stock that nobody really buys anymore."  "OK, do you have a IR remote for a D-70?"  He went to another drawer, looked, looked some more, got another person there to help look and finally said "We only have the big wired remote, not the wireless." I then asked if he'd order it and I'd pick it up when I came in the next time.  He looked blankly at me and said "It's really better to order stuff like this from B&H, Amazon or maybe Ebay"  I didn't really know what to say about that, he wants me to leave his store, which I know is already suffering from these awesome internet sites and go shop at them???  "Really, Really!???  You want me to NOT spend money in your store?  You want me to just go home, hop online, order a filter and not bother coming back here?" He kinda looked down and said "Well, it would be faster and cheaper and we always stock the best net cameras."  With that I said thank you and left for home.  B&H did have the filter, had several varieties of what I needed so it was easy to pick a brand in my price range.  I was able to pay for it, get it shipped for free and go back to watching TV all in 3 minutes...and did I mention this all came Tax Free.

I wonder if the store owner has any idea his staff is pushing people away from the store like this, is he not living in the same recession we all are?  There was a time when a store would call a person on the phone, while you waited, find out if they could get you something, and tell you when you could have it just to make sure he kept you as a customer.

PayPal, B&H, and the Post Office...  Kinda takes the fun out of it, I love browsing but I guess it will all be web browsing from now on.