The Eagle has landed.... in Italy!

Alright, after 20 hours of flying I finally made it to my final destination, Italy! I flew from Phoenix to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt Germany, Frankfurt Germany to Bologna Italy. I then took a bus from Bologna Italy to Ravenna. That now puts me here at the Holiday Inn in Ravenna Italy. It is a 4 Star hotel with great amenities. Italy is a lot like the mid-west as looks go. It is very green and lots of hills. It is quite easy to get around, lots of people speak English over here. I learned in the airport from some nice old man that Italian is the first language and English is the second language. I told hi that in Arizona that English is the second language as well. He didn't get it. I have included a video of our circus act of a plane flight here. The airport is more like a warehouse with a lot of random doors with people lined up like cattle. You give the lady your ticket, you line up, get on a bus that drives you to the middle of the runway where there is a plane there. After the cattle exit the bus they all run for the "presidential" stairs that lead to the door of the plane. Let me tell you it is a complete ZOO!!

My new Jobs

So now that I have a couple shows down I have found places in the show that I can help out. I help build the Coffins everyday for Thriller, Blow up a 15ft. balloon the shape of the world, and I am the drum tech. Here are my pictures of my ballooning skills. The first time during the show I had a flash light in my mouth so I could see where I am going. As the balloon deflates it takes two of us to lay on it to get all the air out before the next cue, about 45 seconds. If one guy jumps on one end it inflates the other side. Giovanni is the other person helping me and he did this which caused the balloon to hit me in the face, knocking the flashlight outta my mouth, off the riser, hitting Richie the guitar player and landing on the deck. All this in a matte of seconds. It was a small circus to say the least!

Pre Show Jitters

Last day of rehearsals today and we are off tomorrow! Not off as in day off but of as in off and running with the show. Got all the mixes dialed in pretty quick today and and figured out pro tools in a few hours. I am no master at it but I can do some damage. 2 Hour drive tomorrow to South Florida and then to Miami. I guess this is what it is all about. Good luck tomorrow to me!!

Building a Set!!

Ok get up at 11:00 and get to the studio, find out our truck has not even left Jacksonville FL. yet. Mind you this is 3 hours away.push back rehearsal till 2:00 p.m. Next phone call, truck had a flat just outside of Jacksonville, need new tire, headed back to get one. It is now 1:00 p.m. Plan "B" is now in store. Producer asks if any one is a carpenter or know their way around a saw and lumber. Well of course I do! So instead of sitting around the Cracker Barrel and sharing stories with people I have never met, I went to the wood shop to help build out set. After a good solid 8 hours we end up with half of it done and it is awesome! After asking what happened to the old one, there was a long pause and then I got "the story" of where it is. I will share that with you now in two sentences. Had a gig in NY, left it there to be shipped, never was shipped, can't find it anywhere. Two days till show, need a set, build one today, put on truck tomorrow. Now this story took them a good 3 hours to tell me but I lost interest after 15 short minutes. Oh well here is what it looks like. Looks way better in person than in a photo! Tomorrow maybe I can pretend to be a monitor engineer! Wee that will be a great time!

New adventure

Alright I have left this blog alone long enough. I need to keep this thing up so when I die someone will remember how cool I was. I started a new adventure that I am diving into head first. I am not gonna tell you who it is or what it is but soon we will know. I made it to Florida today via the longest route possible! Phoenix to Denver to Orlando. I have an idea, Phoenix to Orlando? Day one sounds like I have got into a fuster cluck. It went like this, "Hi I'm Robert, you must be Aaron? How are you carpentry skills?" I am gonna give it this week and see how it goes, then I will un-vail my secret! The pic should give you a hint.....

Front Page? Really?

Well I must be famous, or it was a slow day in the news. I wake up from my home away from home at the wonderful Econolodge (ughh!!). As I am looking down from my continental breakfast/ toilet fillings, I see the morning paper. I want to see what is going on in this little poe-dunk town that we are in. I flip it open, and there I am! Front page, my pic, and a lovely quote that I muttered to a lady that was apparently a reporter for the Rock Springs Rocket. I have been on T.V. for some stuff, but never in the paper, let alone the front page! Yes, I did buy about 10 copies of it, and plan on signing them all! Eventually they will make their way to E-bay I am sure.

Leann Rimes takes the stage.

Leann Rimes was great. She really does have a good FOH engineer. To bad the wind blew so hard we couldn't hear the mix. I have discovered that in Wyoming, the wind never stops blowing, in fact it gets harder. All the dirt decides to visit my eyes and nose. Her crew was great to work with as well. Nice camp they got going on there. The were effected by the flood seen here, that went through Nashville last year and lost everything of their production. Millions of dollars under water and they still wanted to do this tour. Sounds like the insurance is giving them the run around about getting their gear back. I wouldn't know what it feels like to turn on the T.V. and see your entire career under water. Good luck to them!

Day One

Here we are, day one of the Sweet Water County Fair and what a day it has been. After loading in the audio I walked out to my mix position and realized that the snake would not be protected from trucks running it over and drunks tripping on it. So I ask the simple question, "Do we have any cable ramps available?" I was the replied with, "No, but we gots a back ho! Gimme a sec partner and we will whip sumthin up." So they came up with, dig a 4 foot trench, lay an 8 inch diameter pipe and pull the snakes through it. Well, we will see how it works tomorrow.

Alright, here we go..... Ready lights?.... Ready Sound?....... Ready Camera?....... ACTION!


The first post of many as I take you through the life and Journey of a freelance sound engineer. What is that you ask? In a nut shell, I am the guy that stands behind the huge board with all the knobs and buttons on it. I am the one that people go home saying, "Wow, that sounded great!" or "The band was good, but the sound sucked!". That's me. I will post as many photos and stories as they happen. Yes, I will tell you everything that goes on back stage and behind the scenes.

AA