Hey Charley,

  I'm having a bit of the same "problem" too! I just hooked up with a magician/hypnotist who is on the verge of breaking into the bigger casino circuit. Seems he needed an opening act, and I jumped at the chance. I got back late last night from our first road trip doing two casinos. We completely packed the first one and did pretty good at the second one too. I did some follow up the morning after our first show, and the club had already recieved many calls from people asking when we would be coming back....I'm liking that! I'm home just long enough to say hi to my wife, do a load of laundry, and head out for the next gig tonight!

  A schedule like this does make it hard to keep up with everything, but now that I have learned how, at least I can pre-load a few weeks worth of tweets, and my twitter followers are still growing. My wife was laid off from her job almost two years ago, and since we live in a somewhat remote area, it is almost impossible for her to find any work around here. We are seriously talking about having her take over some of the business end of things, or at least helping me out with a lot of it. We used to own and operate a small custom cabinet shop, and she was very good at handleing many of the business chores that I wasn't really very good at. Since my music income is starting to increase, I need help, and she needs work, it is kind of a no-brainer for us   

Smart move Charlie...taking care of your spouse and family is so important, especially for those of us in this occupation that just doesn't fit into the typical Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, predictable routine.....bleagh!!! I couldn't live that way!!! I must be doing something right though. I'm still happily married after 27 years!

Equipment problems? Yeah, been there , done that too, just this past week in fact! Only this time it wasn't me, it was the Magician I was opening for.

A little background here...I have been in the music biz, in one form or another, since I was nine years old. Part of that time, I had a small sound company, and by sheer luck and by being in the right place at the right time, I was able to do sound for a few pretty heavy hitters and Grammy nomimees, an experience that left me very humble and with a healthy respect for the real "sound guys". It also opened my eyes to the fact that many clubs and venues hire sound tech wannabe's (myself included!) that can either make or break a musicians performance. Since I have a fair amount of experience on both sides of the microphone, and my current performance set up makes extensive use of some pretty current technology that many sound tech wannabes just aren't familiar with, I almost always reserve the right in my contracts, and usually do, provide all of my own sound equipment, already all set up for what I do. I can't even begin to recall how many of my past performances have been completly destroyed by some well meaning sound tech "wannabes" that insisted that I plug into thier house system, but they just didn't get it that even though I was playing what looked like an acoustic guitar, they were going to get hit with bass and keyboard sounds, as well as a lead guitar that would sound like a Les Paul through a Soldano or a Marshall stack 

Anyway, this past week proved my point. The show was supposed to start at 8:00 pm. I arrived at 2:00, and unloaded all of my equiupment into the venue. About the same time, the Magician I was opening for arrived, and we worked out all the final details and equipment set ups, and then waited for the sound guy to show up. About 5:30, he finally got there, and I promptly informed him that I was using all of my own gear, so that the only person he needed to co-ordinate with was the Magician. Around 6:30, the Magician came up to me and said "where did the sound guy go? I still need to get my wireless mike set up, and the feed from my computer to the house system for my sound and lights!" At 7:30 (1/2 hour before show time!) my system had been up and running for a few hours, the magician had smoke coming out of his ears, and the sound guy was still nowhere to be found. At 7:40, as the house is starting to fill up, I went to the magician and said, look, this is bullshit! Just plug into my system. We got his wireless mic set up and then, in all his glory, the sound guy reappeared....15 minutes before show time! The magician franticly got a feed from his computer plugged into the house system about 7:59, with obviously no time for a sound check.

The show started on time, at 8:00. We both performed to a packed house. My opening act went off without a glitch...the Magician act was plauged with tech problems. He is a real pro, so he pulled it together, and I seriously doubt that anyone in the audience knew all the technical problems he was experiencing, but it did affect his performance. Midway through the Magicians act, the music just stopped. He had to wake up the sound guy over the microphone, and tell him to turn the music back on. His computer feed to the house system failed half way through the show, so he perfomed without much of the speciall lighting effects he wanted. Somehow the show was still a success. They want us back, but we are still unhappy with the overall result.

The next show 2 nights later at a different casino went pretty well, but the magician still had computer problems, even though we ran everything through my system. The cool thing is...they also want us back! I guess the moral here is don't let equipment or tech problems get you down. Just work through it, know that you can do better next time, and then do whatever you have to do in between shows to make it better next time. Also, I feel that the old rule "don't piss off the soung guy" doesn't hold the same punch that it used too. This is your carreer......your performance...... and your reputation on the line. Don't ever let a "sound tech" dictate your performance. By all means, treat them with the respect they deserve, but don't ever forget, you deserve respect too. Without you, there would be no need for a sound tech.

Ok guys...sorry if I got off an a rant here! It is now 7:52 am, I am starting to wind down from  last nights gig  so I can finally get some sleep. I am beyond road weary from this past week.........Maybe I will take my wife out to dinner tonight......Godamnit....I love this life!!!