Roadies in the Midst

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Day 264 - Feb 14 - Valentines Day
2007-02-15 14:50:04
Happy Vale nti ne s Day to all my bloggery friends!Thank you for joining me on the travels far and wide and making the adventure so much more enjoyable!Love,Dave Rat
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Day 264 - Feb 11 - Grammys
2007-02-14 14:50:04
I can not say the Gram my's are fun. In my opinion doing them is more of a concession that it is made to appease a group of older out of touch music industry humans with a tremendous amount of power. Just the whole concept of declaring winners and losers harvested from the artists and musicians following their passion as if they were in some sort of absurd competition is just a twisted concept to start with.That said, there are some interesting aspects and the Gorillaz performance last year plus seeing the Police and Gnarls this year was enjoyable indeed. As far as all the pop stuff, well I guess I am 'pop show challenged' and all the flashy stuff and prerecorded tracks just bore me for the most part. I guess it is more of a movie watch that an musical connection to see the circus like synchro dance. Clearly I must be confused though as there are huge numbers of humans that just love the stuff.So the Peppers win some awards, very cool. Country music reigns huge and with all the co...
More About: Grammy , Grammys

Day 265 - Feb 13 - London
2007-02-14 14:50:04
Come on everyone, we're streaking! Well actually we are headed to the Brit Awards and it is way too cold here to run around outside naked but upon arrival in London I found out great news!Comforted, I let the wave of joy run through me because up to this glorious information came my way, I was afraid it might be cold and rainy while I hacked through a grueling TV show while denying jet lag a grip on my body. So with a glowing smile I gathered my bag, clustered with my fellow roadies and was promptly carted to the frogger hotel for a 30 minute layover before lobby call had packed and shipped off to the illustrious and beautiful Earl's Court. I don't know who this Earl guy was but check out his court, oooohh!Well, some days are just filled with excitement and what few doubts I had lingering about this being a joy filled excursion are now completely gone once I spotted the party train, my heart pounds just imagining the thrill. Ohhh, should I do it, so nervous, I hope I don't chick...
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Day 263 - Feb 10 - Home
2007-02-10 20:46:01
**** Merging of the Worlds ****Something I realized a bit ago was that writing this blog has a strange side effect of connecting all my worlds. Past meet tour, tour meet home, home meet business, business meet friends and everyone meet family. This cross life interconnect is an odd sensation and as time progresses, so does my caution fade. Plus, I guess I now have a 600 page answer to the question "So, what do you do?"And what I did on thursday was to go on a snowboarding blitz with Grier. I had to head up and grab my boarding gear and from up there and may as well do some runs while I am there and awesome, Grier was up for joining. Two hours away, wonderful day and home by 4pm. Years ago I bought a house in Big Bear, up near the ski resort, used to live up there and now I just use it as mountain get away of peace and quite to balance the flurry of tour. I have been renting it out as a vacation rental and if any of y'all are ever wanting to head up there, let me know and ...
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Day 262 - Feb 9- Home
2007-02-10 08:45:03
Ok, it is actually still the 8th but since I can play with blog time versus the real world in a slip synch rubber band way, it makes no real difference when I write and it gives me the feeling of being ahead of the game to believe I it matters. I just got home from the Pollstar Awards and other than the chatting with a few humans that I truly like, like the GoldenVoice crew, Paul and Dave from JBL and Stuart Ross who is a bit on a mentor to me from way back, I must admit that with a few exceptions, the Mcdonalds' of the entertainment world has once again won 'the best coffee in America' awards in every category, hurray, oh joy! So on we move and back to the cats. Oh, have I mentioned that I love fuzzy critters? Though I do not have any that I keep in my home anymore, I do love the furry friends and sharing my space with them is something I actually quite enjoy but unfortunately the fact that they seem to lack long term food management skills m...
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Day 261 - Feb 8 - Home
2007-02-08 14:42:02
When I started writing this blog, I carved out time in most days to paste myself behind the computer for some to several hours. As with most projects, there are obsicles in the early stages and one of those obsticles for me was my roadie friends missed me and two roadies in particular chose show that miss by repeatedly informing me that I have become "boring." Heart warming. Well, one of those roadies, Grier who is very creative and works on the Peppers show designs as well as owns part of a taco stand in New Zealand, makes cool clothing (he did several of the Rat Wear graphics) has fallen to the dark side and much to my glee and hopefully his dismay, I see that he has become boring as well and started his own blog http://www.griergovorko.com/blog/. Ha ha!! Hey Greir, Boooooriiiing!!! So for all you lampi and artsy fartsy types out there or anyone else desiring to be bored, it may worth a gander.Now that we are done passing the boring wand over to Grier, we can have some f...
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Day 253 - Feb 7 - Home
2007-02-07 20:40:06
Starbucks office again. I failed!!! After waking up to see that Dan had posted this comment:__Great blog (and I don't say that about many!), it's kept me suitably entertained for the past few months - but I've got to call you up on one thing: Starbucks? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Pseudo bohemian corporate scum - there must be somewhere better just round the corner or have they already put them out of business. http://www.ofb.net/~epstein/sl/0412/20041 210-starbucks.jpg(contains swearingly altered merchandise.)dan mac___In my delirious morning state, I decided he was right. Why support some corporate conglomerate when I can support a smaller local entity. So I set off to find an alternative, drove around for 20 minutes looking and then after getting jammed in local traffic decided it will have to wait for another day. I don't hate Starbucks nor do I feel any alliance to them. Though I must admit that the grungy mix of homeless people, local starving actors and business people on morning...
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Day 259 - Feb 6 - Home
2007-02-07 08:39:02
Starbucks, Magnolia and Vine. My morning office that satisfies the the requirements of hot coffee, edible food and a constant flow of humans reminiscent of trying to work in the crew room or catering. Fifth day home and the first day the tour haze begins to lift and the realities of this other world come into focus. Fifth day at home and for every morning I wake up and realize how cool it is that a housekeeper has not tapped on my door every 15 minutes for the past 3 hours, I am equally dismayed that the mess I left here yesterday is still where I left it and once again there are no clean towels. If I only had a phone in my room I would call the front desk to complain.I spend the bulk of my home-time solo, at least solo as in "not in the proximity of the humans I speak with other than buying things like food." The exception being the two or three days a week I go in to the Rat office or the weekends that I have the girls. I spend most of my tour time surrounded by huge qua...
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Day 253a - Jan 31- Ft Lauderdale - Ebay Update
2007-02-05 20:38:01
**** Ebay Update ****Another phase of the eBay auction and today we fulfilled the "weaing of the ad." A bit of background. Scott and I had auctioned off the space on our backs in oder to finnance redecorating our front of house area. Twisting as things so do, the action exceeded our expectations and not only got us on the radio in several cities and a top spot on GoofyAuctions.com but it also brought in a whopping $ 406.00! Well, it turns out the winner was George Ravlich who owns a small sound company in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. George, upon winning the auction, informed me that Rat Sound had been an inspiration in forming his sound company. His bidding was in part a way to say thank you and George, thank you! We on the other hand donated 25% to Surfrider Foundation and then failed miserably at attempting to decorate the FOH area in Tiki, switched to a Pirate theme and went way over budget, but all that was just burning time with smiles. Following the auction and after a...
More About: Lauderdale , Lauder , Dale

Day 253 - Jan 31- Ft. Lauderdale
2007-02-04 08:36:02
The momentum of being homeward bound mixed with being chased by arctic frosts and multiple states declaring a "state of emergency" hot on our tail combined with a glimmer of warmth all combined with the amazing south Florida crowd to create a stellar finale to yet another tour leg.The end of tour mean gather all the bits that need to join me on the flight home and cram it all in suitcases in such a way that the airline will not hate me or capture it. It is always best to sort through things in an area that is spacious which is why I chose the largest and closest place I could find, which happened to be the parking lot next to the bus. For the most part everything went reasonably well with one exceptionIt appears that somewhere in my travels, there is a very lucky human that can enjoy the pleasures of hoping around on a very comfy left shoe. My initial reaction was one of dismay until I realized that having a single right shoe could come in very handy if I am skate boarding...
More About: Lauderdale , Lauder , Dale

Day 251 - Jan 29 - Orlando Day Off More...
2007-02-03 08:35:01
To start off today's words of confusion and uselessness I will start with something that is neither confused nor useless. As you all know perpetuation and preservation of the roadie breed is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately not all can always be a shangri-la of smiles in roadie world and occasionally the big hammer of crushing reality enters our roadie world to test our voracity and strength. So with a concerned and well wishing heart I present some difficult news. A friend of many and long time amazing sound roadie named Gungi has been diagnosed with cancer a little while back. While much has been done within the roadie community to assist him and other roadies with life challenges I thought that given the wonderful group of friends that share my travels, I would share some info to those that may be curious enough to take a look and perhaps assist. If so, take a look at http://www.friendsofgungi.com.So, our day off in Orlando has us staying at an oh so joyfully located hote...
More About: Land , More

Day 252 - Jan 30 - Orlando Show
2007-02-03 08:35:01
Inspirations and great ideas can strike at any moment. The key is to act upon them instinctively without hesitation. Fortunately, when the bus pulled over for a late night truck stop and several of us stumbled in, I was clear minded enough in my not so sober haze to follow that instinct and purchase a cowboy hatand two large stuffed 'mixing' tigers that make roaring soundsthat so graciously rested upon my sound board for the entire show and added a whole new level of depth to our FOH theme.What puzzled me most is wondering how I got on so long without them!And look, they are are so snuggly curled up in their new home in the case we refer to as "Throwing Hammers"The Florida shows have been really good, awesome crowds and though cold for Florida, the warmer weather is refreshing. I grabbed a show shot as well so you can check out the band rocking as I do each nightAnd now for today's installment of....Dear Ratty!Hello Dave Rat!I found your blog this past December during f...
More About: Show , Orlando , Land

Day 251 - Jan 29 - Orlando Day Off
2007-01-30 20:32:07
Hello Gnarls Barkley! I finally got around to taking a full band shotAnd our friend Josh Klingenhoffer who is well loved in the Peppers camp and worth checking out anything that he is involved with.**** Roadie Research Segmnet ****Roadies are very friendly and giving creatures by nature. Their overwhelming desire to immerse themselves in selfless generosity at times can saturates the roadie so thoroughly that no option other than to act upon that desire remains. Roadie Leif is no exception.In fact roadie Leif is a prime example of how truly kind and thoughtful a roadie can be. Most recently, as hard as it is to believe, roadie Leif was out shopping on his day off and out of the pure goodness of his heart, the realization came that roadie Lee worked long hard hours show after show and often had nowhere to sit to rest his weary legs. That is when brilliance struck Leif like a falling cotton ball. It was not long till gloriously Leif parades into the gig proudly displaying his heroic p...
More About: Orlando , Land

Day 250 - Jan 28 - Tampa
2007-01-29 02:29:02
Today we are in Tampa doing another rock show. The warm weather is not so warm but light years better than the various forms of freezing we have been engulfed in over the past few weeks. So I was thinking, why not do something different? How about .....**** Special "Dear Ratty" Segment ****Just for a change, how about something new? Welcome to Dear Ratty where I will do my best to unravel the curiosities that present themselves inside the minds of those that post their ponders and thoughts. Steve writes-Keep up the excellent blog work dave, if you were looking for any suggestions as to future topics to cover may i put forward a request to document/look at the racks and effects used on various channels throughout the rock show?Many thanks,SteveThank you Steve! OK, here you go. I covered the comp and gate connections and usage early on in the blog and if you take a look at tour Blog Day 12 you will find the mic chart. An easy way to skip around the blog days is here - http:/...

Day 249 - Jan 27 - Tampa Day Off
2007-01-28 08:27:03
**** Sound Nerd Speak ****Or actually, just Nerd Speak in general. If you have been to the show or have been checking out the pictures you may have noticed that there are several video devices that Scott and Grier have designed into the show. The bulk of them are low resolution Versa Tubes that form the back drop and the overhead "spines." Additionally there are four high resolution video screens behind the band that move. These things are are not only crazy cool but stupid heavy. They move up and down plus ride on tracks from side to side forming several "looks" throughout the show. Though on the surface this may seem simple enough, like many things on a grand scale, there are levels of complexity beyond what meets the eye. In order for these screens to safely slid from side to side on a portable track that can be setup each day, much attention must be paid to the varying loads they present to the overhead rigging structure. The mastermind behind this is our Aus...
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Day 247 - Jan 25 - Washington DC
2007-01-27 20:26:02
Well, yesterday on the day off I went on a mini adventurewith Lampi Scott as we so often do.Here we are in what is currently the most powerful nation in the worlds' capitol and all kinds of important and not so important and wasteful and meaningful and puzzling and world changing and greedy and altruistic and corrupt things happen here and a bunch of humans that run around this place have the power to shape the world in which we live in ways we cannot begin to imagine until upon us. Sometimes the shape of which they choose involves dragging the country into the quagmire of battling an ancient christian/muslim religious war in Babylon that was sucker shoved down the throats of the American public by using terror and fear by deceivingly cross linking it to the unrelated 911 event while all the while the entire calamity is embraced eagerly by money hungry corporations awaiting their share of war profiteering guaranteed by the "good ol' boy" alliances with those assholes in ...
More About: Washington , Wash , Shin , Washing , Jan 25

Day 245 - Jan 23 - Charlotte
2007-01-26 08:25:01
**** Ebay Update ****For those of you curious about the eBay auction 'grand finale,' well it is coming. Scott and I are working on something special!**** End Ebay Update ****Show wise with the addition of Marcel into the band for the tour leg, we have picked up a few inputs. Stereo conga mics, a single mic on the bongos plus a direct box on the Clavinet that he plays. Since these are add-on inputs mid tour, they get put down at the other end of the console where I have some free input channels. With all these new inputs and the fact that I mix in the dark, there is an acclimation period for me to memorize where the controls are on the mixing board. In the mean time, I have found a good home for a little friend that will help me find the Clavinet and I will just remember where the rest areAs far as other important show details critical to the smooth runnings of the rock show, I have put together the Tiki version of the show thermometer that I use to measure room temperature at dist...
More About: Charlotte , Char , Charlot

Day 242 - Jan 20 - Cincinnati Show Day
2007-01-25 08:24:01
Good Morning Sunshine's! For the last two days I have been deeply involved in doing whole bunch of not much at all. Decided to turn the TV on got bombarded with puzzling stories of people losing kids and finding them again, the racially polarizing quagmire of Lacrosse players and strippers and our bumblefuck of a president stumbling though his job much the same way he does with his words. I did enjoy the unexpected news that oil consumption by the industrialized world has dropped a smidge and is the first decrease in 20 years. High prices being the most likely cause. The bad news is that now the price will drop again and the natural human trait of self serving recklessness will most likely once again take over the decision process of the bulk masses and oil demand will rise again. Though all is not for naught as the price spike has triggered an irreversible trend of awareness and for the first time, low emission vehicle are hip and cool rather than tree hugger extremist. I want an ...
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Day 243 - Jan 21 - Cincinnati after the show
2007-01-25 08:24:01
So in our travels, Scott and I had wandered across the street to a local micro brewery for dinner and a beer. Much to our delight we had the pleasure of meeting and befriending the bartenders Bobbi and Josh. Well, one thing led to another soon we found ourselves to the experimental recipients of various concoctions and mysterious creations. Typically, Scott and I are not much at straying into the minefield of mixed drinks. After a bit of initial hesitation though we knew clearly that we would have no time holding our composure so we acquiesced. The first one was called bongwater and it resembled gray green juiceAll I remember about #2 was that is was yellowThis brown stuff was sort of a choco banana flavorAhhh, red and everything from here on out was just some form of wonderful tastingAnd who know what the heck happened from this point onThe odd thing was that typically one would think that all those drinks would have some sort of effect on us but clearly at least Scott was just bus...
More About: Show , Cincinnati

Day 244 - Jan 22 - Raleigh Show
2007-01-25 08:24:01
The blog posts and days and shows have been all out of whack lately, I may have even lost a day or two in the confusion. I guess my attempt to catch up and blogoperate in a real time mode combined with switching to morning posting and recovering from pretty colored drinks has thrown a wrench at my illusions of clarity. Rather than attempt to fix the past, I will just add in an 'adaptor' post to line me up with the future. To start with, lets pick up a few straggling lonely photos from the last day off, first, when I was getting all artsy fartsy with the reflection photo, I took a few others as well and the odd colors came from messing with the 'white balance' on the camera. Here is an un retouched photo where I used the pool water as the 'white' to set the cameras white balanceAnd the same settings with a pic of my armand the same arm after saturated color and a crop and rotation done in Macromedia Fireworksand on the opposite side of the artsy fence, how about a raw productio...
More About: Show , Leigh , Raleigh

Safe and sound we are. Our first show in Dallas went on wit
2007-01-17 02:17:02
Safe and sound we are. Our first show in Dallas went on without a hitch and it looks like everything is running smooth after our longest break yet. Gnarls Barkley is our new support act and some cool familiar faces on the tour. Normally I would have some photos to show you but guess what. You will never believe this but it appears that somehow my camera has made a break for it and escaped. Ya know, I spaced on attaching it to the my new laminate and it appears I have not fully re-acclimated to tour mode yet as battling the scattering of personal items escaping is still pretty much a full time job. Give me a few days and a few more donations to the world of elsewhere and I will get my deal dialed in. In the mean time, well, I guess I need to go camera shopping. Arrrgh! I had some good pics on there too and the best one was three little girls maybe 6 to 8 years old that I gave pink flamingo glasses to and a case to stand on. So cute! Oh well, at least I don't have to be worried abou...
More About: Show , Sound , First

Yesterday saw the successfully completion of show number tw
2007-01-17 02:17:02
Yesterday saw the successfully completion of show number two. So what's new? Well, Marcel, the percussion player from Mars Volta is out with us and playing perc on 5 or six songs each night which adds a delightful variation to the live show and a cool person to have around. Add in John singing a Bee Gees cover of Shadow Dancing and the song "Hey" added to the set and the show was stood out as quite enjoyable and now that I have replaced my lost camera, I will snap some pics with Marcel up there. Speaking of camera. Scott and I grabbed a runner and headed out to Best Buy to replace my lost little friend. I opted for the same again but this time I got it in red rather than black. It is a Lumix DMC-FX07 for anyone curious and after owning 6 Canon digital Elphs, 4 Sony Cyber-Shot's, 1 Kodak, a Casio and a digital SLR Nikon D70, I can say that the little Lumix fighter is easily my favorite by far. I do still have and tour with the Nikon D70 and a giant lens and it would be m...
More About: Show , Comp , Success , Numb

Never ever forget that you never ever truly know what will
2007-01-13 08:13:02
Never ever forget that you never ever truly know what will happen next. "Highly probable' is as good as you can get with future predictions. I must admit that I was over prepared thermally for yesterdays southern California weather in Oklahoma. Who would have knew? After reading about thousands of stranded freezing cows, I figured I was gonna freeze too heading out to middle America. Funny thing was that there was all this silly talk of a cold front coming in. Who would have knew? Definitely not I, said the sound guy. Anyway, last night at the hotel bar I was hanging with rigger Fletch and he is drinking wine and has a porcelain plate with a picture of a deer on it with him, of course. Don't we all carry them. Actually we don't so asked and was quite pleased to be let in on a bit of roadie antics. Turns out that the tour riggers have this deer plate that is bestowed upon whomever amongst them screws up, comes in late or forgets something. Fletch earned it by being late for ...
More About: What , Hat , Now What , Will , Know

Day 233 - Jan 11 - Oklahoma City
2007-01-12 20:12:04
So here we go again. Some days you just got to get up in the morning go to work. Pretty normal stuff for a human being to do, it's just that my "work" is in Oklahoma and my work day just happens to be three weeks long this time. Airports don't suck, they don't deserve that much credit, they are merely annoying. I know the routine, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Show up and hope they have your ticket right, hope your bags are not overweight, hope the line is not so long that you miss your flight, hope you do not end up behind someone that causes a stink or tries to bring "bad' things through security, hope the security line is not so long that you miss your flight, hope the hike to the gate is not so far that you miss your flight,hope your plane is running on time or at least close, hope they have not sold your seat to someone else,hope they do not take away your carry-on-bag because the overhead compartments are too full,hope you do not sit...
More About: City , Oklahoma City , Jan 1 , Jan 11

Day 231 - Jan 9- Home
2007-01-11 20:11:01
The time to board the plane approaches and as I always seem to experience in the not too distant memory, I am filled with this anxious feeling of remiss or more accurately pre-miss and it dawns on me to ponder the things I will miss. With that in my mind, today I add to my computer a new folder called 2007 where I will store month by upcoming month each batch of photos I accumulate in my travels and wanders that inspire the snapshots of time I grab paste into the physical memory banks. **** The Things I will Miss ****I First is the little people I love. My daughters, my niece and the little ones in my heart that I rarely see. And though far away and disconnected, I always I hold them in my heart. Some things hurt too much to think about more than in flashes so I let them slide out of my mind and find distraction.Next would be sensation and familiarity of my bed. The place I go at the end point of each day when I have had enough and where I climb in to recharge to be for feeling of ...
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