Dark, Dark even Darker Day

The past few days in Lubbock have been dark and dreary but the lights of the carnival, the sounds of kids screaming, and the stages of entertainment have kept the excitement going at the fair.  The sun tried really, really hard to come out today.  While it would be cloudy and misting one minutes the next it would be hot and sunny.  I could have gotten a workout just putting on and taking off my jacket. 

With it being the last day of the fair I spent the afternoon cleaning out my office, organizing leftover supplies and preparing for the last show of the 2012 South Plains Fair.  Today we have 'My Darkest Days' a hard rock group.  You know, the different colored haired mullets, skinny jeans, piercings and tattoos.  Funny thing is usually these groups are the nicest, more polite and their crowds are typically well tamed.  There will be the odd balls that have fans that like to mosh pit.  I started off the day by telling them about the area in front of the stage.  He said no problem at all.  Then HE proceeds to ask ME "I assume we're doing a non-profanity show here?"  I said "yes, if we can scaled it down a bit".  He said "no, there are two rules.  Everything goes or nothing goes."  We'll have PG-13, family friendly show for you.  That's how I knew the day and show was going to go well.  I've never worked with these guys, don't really listen to their music but I hope to work with them again.  They've been such a pleasure and the show really is half bad.  'Cept the lead singer sounds like a banshee every other verse.  I'm assuming that's normal.  :)

I'll be getting on a jet plane tomorrow morning and ending the last leg of the 2012 Mud and Dust Tour.  It has been a wild and crazy ride!  Thanks to everyone that has read the blog and I hope it's been an intriguing read.  You might think 'what is she going to do now?'.  Believe it or not, we're already booking for 2013.  When I get home I'll be preparing for two corporate shows at the end of October, Vegas for Fair Convention in November, Iowa for a fair convention in December and then I have the pleasure of going back to the South Florida Fair again this year in January.  I'll be ready for it by then. :)

The title which should remain un-named

There is not a title of a song that I knew would be appropriate for this.  There's only two songs of the artist that I know the title of and well, they aren't appropriate songs. 

Today started out being a dreary day with overcast skies and drizzle here and there.  Once we hit mid evening the crowds were light, the temps were dropping and it was just wet.  We had our largest, most talked about concert tonight, Ginuwine, so we knew they would come out.  They sure did.  Over 4,000 packed the coliseum and they didn't care who you were, they were going where they wanted to.  I've never been cussed or given the evil eye as much as I have tonight by a crowd.  The crew was great.  The show consisted of Ginuwine, two back up vocalists and a DJ on stage.  They were all a pleasure to work with, welcomed compromise and were more worried about how I was doing.  We had originally talked about the show being 45mins.  I asked the tour manager if they could lengthen it.  He said sure we can do 90mins if you want.  Sure! Why not give them what they paid for.  I should have left it at 45min.  The extra 45mins was him gyrating on stage, cracking up amongst each other and lead to a very loose show.  That was on stage. 

Off stage the crowd inched closer and closer to the stage, filling the aisle and the gap between the stage and the front row.  Several of us ended up having to work security because we just couldn't keep them back.  Of course he encouraged it by jumping up on the speakers to "get closer" to the folks upstairs, throwing t-shirts, towels and roses.  It didn't help that toward the end he striped his shirt, pulled his pants to the "thug" position.  What made me laugh the most was as I was keeping about 50 people in place a little girl, maybe 10 years old comes up with her mom and little brother.  She starts singing one of his most popular songs that is explicitly, in between the lines about sex.  She has no clue what she's singing.  He says 'who all is single?'  and she raises her hand up and screams.  The mom reaches behind her, pulls her hand down and says 'he's not talking to you'.  I look at her like "you're the one that brought her here". 

To sum it all up there were three fights in front of the stage immediately after the show ends.  Of course they were fighting over the shirts.  It got so bad the tour manager picked up a mic and says "ya'll stop acting like fools, this ain't no rap concert".  Funny, they didn't listen to him either. 

Then they do an hour of taking photos with him that they charge $20 but then print them all out making everyone wait like an hour for their photo.  I told the guy in charge I'd pay $20 not to have to wait in that line and print it offline later. 

While it was a huge crowd and Ginuwine's first time to Lubbock, he loved it and wants to come back.  Let's wait a few years on that!

Brokenhearted

I didn't blog last night because it was an early, slow night and I had a party to get to. :)  We had comedian, James Gregory at the Coliseum.  He was easy to work with and heck comedians only need a mic so it was an easy setup for the production crew.  We didn't get here until like 4:00PM!  He was hilarious both on and off stage.  Very personable and easy to get along with.  A comedian is a little different for this crowd so marketing it can be difficult.  We didn't expect a huge crowd but unfortunately, a huge storm right before show time killed any luck we had at a crowd.  There were about 150 people that showed up and loved it!  His clean, funny show was perfect.  Of course the load out was just as easy as the load in and we were wrapped up by about 9:30P.  Sparky was hosting his annual 'cookout' with the ground acts so we had an entire spread of delicious goodies and I got to meet some of the acts that I never get to see.  We got to hear stories of sea lions, tigers and monkeys, OH MY! :)  Plus a family jam band, spoon musician and hypnotist.  It was entertaining, chill and a great time as always. 

I was definitely ready for the shows to pick up because that's what keeps me going.  I had the pleasure of working with Karmin in New York and was glad to have them here.  Up until the show I was dealing with some basic stuff.  I had to have one argument over some spotlights and the fact that there was a miscommunication and they were needing them for another stage.  Fortunately, it wasn't my mistake and it was all worked out.  It didn't start my day off well though.  OH and I woke up to a text from Ginuwine's tour manager saying someone in Lubbock was promoting an after party that they weren't aware of.  I had to track down who was doing it and make sure they weren't promising that Ginuwine would be there.  After a few calls, one being to the venue pretending to be some avid fan, I found that that wasn't the case and the manager was happy again. 

We knew it was going to be a big crowd when the line started an hour and half before doors opened. 

Off we went, opened the doors and I watched a slew of little girls probably ages 6-16 and a few boys sprinkled in there SO excited to be coming to the show.  Things were running smoothly and I think, 'hey, I can go watch some of the show'.  I walk in, I'm watching the front of the stage and Amy "Karmin", bends down and a few little girls run up to give her a five. Well, once a few do it the entire crowd thinks they can too.  Unfortunately, security wasn't in their proper locations and the entire floor came up to the stage.  In other locations this wouldn't be as much of a problem and here we do it sometimes toward the end of the show.  This was toward the beginning.  We've now lost complete control of the house and there wasn't a darn thing anyone could do about it.  One of the guards says 'what do you want us to do?' I said keep it as calm as you can, get those girls down out of the seats and we'll deal with it.  The great thing was they were pretty calm, the band loved it and the crowd loved it even more.  They were up dancing, singing along and having the time of their lives.

 Thankfully the fire marshall didn't show up because I know it would have been a fight to keep them from shutting it down.  Can you tell I wasn't really happy??  Then I was told one of the swamp coolers was leaking again so there's a pond growing in the bleachers and someone was acting a fool, tripped up the stairs and probably broke her ankle.  To top it off the band members were signing autographs after the show from the front of the stage.  The tour manager asks me to have the building cleared.  I said "well it would help if you're guys would stop signing".  He sends them back, security gets the crowd moving toward the door and 'Karmin' comes out.  Just imagine 50 SCREAMING teeny boppers, bopping back up to the stage.  Thank goodness there were two huge security guards (in the right place this time) that were able to keep them back.  The key players go to leave and there's no way to get them from the building to the van without the 100 people in the parking lot seeing them so that turned into an hour autograph session. 

So while the band is fantastic and cheesily entertaining, the crowd had a wonderful time and no one had a clue anything was out of place.  That's when I know my job was done.  But I can still hear the 2,300 screaming girls in my ears for some reason....

Uno, Dos, Tres

I didn't know and couldn't understand the music tonight so I couldn't come up with a proper headline given song name.  It was Tejano music night.  This night is always huge with the Hispanic community.  A popular, local radio station books the bands so I go into 'building manager' and 'firefighter' mode.  Since I haven't talked with the bands up front I let the rep from the station take the lead.  If there's a big problem I can step in and help but usually I just take care of the building, staffing, etc. 

I ended up getting to the fairgrounds early to knock out some work that I haven't gotten done until now.  Unfortunately, I only got to about half of that.  LOL  Tomorrow, tomorrow!  I'm now caught up on all of the shows and schedules and advances are finished.  Tomorrow we have a comedian, James Gregory.  We aren't loading in until 4:30p so I'll have the day to spend on catch up.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday are going to be big crowds. 

Fortunately, on day's like this I can do some things that I don't usually have time to do.  My friend, Jesse and I went out and explored the fair.  We watched one of the grounds acts, Matt's Family Jam.  It's a family of 5, parents and their three kids, that perform songs that everyone knows and can sing along with.  They even have little drums and hula hoops in front of the stage for a little play zone.  Of course that's where Mark, Jesse and I ended up.  Let's just say we were extremely entertaining trying to hula hoop!  I also got to ride the Ferris Wheel with my little buddies the Wallace twins.  I HATE carnival rides and heights but the Ferris Wheel is the only thing that I trust enough to ride and that's a stretch.  They just couldn't understand why I didn't want them swinging the cart or turning around on their knees to wave to Mom and Dad in the cart behind us.  I was petrified they were going to fall out.  Fortunately, it didn't go as fast as it looked from the outside and it was over sooner than later. =)  No,  you're not going to catch me on the swings or anything that goes upside down. 

Will, Tiffany and I

I think I might actually make it home before 11P.  Thankfully, because I've had a migraine for three hours now that is just plain annoying!

'Roll With It'

Just wanted to slip a bit about my exciting Sunday in here.  I had the day off so I had found that a marathon/half-marathon was going on on my day off, Sunday.  I thought 'why not'?!  So Sunday I woke up walked out the hotel door and within in a block I was at the starting line.  I had no expectations but was hoping to finish in under 3:00hours.  My last and best time was 3:25 with the Derby Mini in April.  I ran the first two miles and then started a walk/run but ended up running most of it.  I finished in 2:54!!  I was so excited about this time and that I finally proved to myself that I can do it.  They had promoted the course as a flat course.  Given Lubbock is only 13miles wide, we basically could have walked from one side to the other.  However, they ran us through the parks and canyons so it was anything but flat.  I ended up counting 9 hills.  Three of which I stood at the bottom thinking "you have to be kidding!".  All in all it was a great time and I hope to make that a tradition if they continue to have it.

'Thumbs Up for Lane!'

So today I was holding my breath.  Last year we had Easton Corbin scheduled for this day he fell ill and wasn't able to make the show.  We replaced him with Sawyer Brown two days before the date.  When I woke up this morning I was hoping for the best.  Unfortunately, their crew bus broke down in Tuscon last night but they were able to switch the bus out for a new one and make it here only an hour late.  So I contacted the production company, labor crew and runner and pushed everything back.  Then rearranged their lunch order and coordinated that.  Then received a text from the tour manager saying that he needed to run to Walmart to make sure Easton's new CD was on the shelve and in a particular spot (rules from management) but because they were late he was asking me to do it.  Fortunately, I was already running there and just swung through the music section, snapped a photo and was off.  It was a busy day with situating the house to meet their needs; expanding backstage, finding a Texas flag for the stage, etc. etc.  I had to get a last minute interview for the news station approved and then coordinate getting Easton to their location.  Unfortunately it landed right when I was supposed to be training the ticket taking staff and opening doors.  So I trained in 3mins, had security situated before I left, ran him to the interview and back and then made it to open doors with 5mins to spare.  WHEW!  Glad everything ran on time and fell into place.  We had over 3,600 in the house for the show.  A great, great show.  This guy has all the factors and is definitely going to go places!  He's an absolute sweetheart (has his quirks, but don't we all), handsome, personality, and has that old country voice mixed with new country song writing and star power.  I look forward to see how far he can go.  His crew is A+ too.  I look forward to working with these guys again and again. 

 



Remember how I talk about my families on the road?  This is one of them!  The goofy one in the red is actually Mark Sparks, Vice President of Triangle Talent and he runs the "goofy" department with our specialty acts.  The rest of the bunch are the Wallace's.  Ricky, Jennifer and the twins, Tiff and Will.  The kids are just precious and it's been great watching them grow over the past 5 years.  They call me the 'candy lady' because I always have candy in my little 'house', my office, the shack behind them.  How can you not love those little faces!!

'Jeremiah was a Bullfrog'

Had an amazing day at the South Plains Fair with Three Dog Night!  The past few days have been filled with fun with friends and preparing the building with sound, lights and general odds and ends.  We usually have a show on Friday but in order to get bigger names throughout the fair they decided to not do a show on Friday and invest more on the rest. 

With today being our first show it was much like opening day.  First was the overhaul with the cleaning crew; make sure the bathrooms and dressing rooms are cleaned, get trash cans backstage.  Then put out the ticket stub holders, hang 'no smoking' and 'no re-entry' signs, etc. etc. :)  It was a busy day even before the band got here. 

They showed up, load in and were ready to rock when the band arrived early evening.  Then it was getting coolers ready, putting a little hospitality in the dressing rooms, getting the radio station taken care of.  This fair is a little different.  With this one I actually run the building and the concerts.  So I'm checking restrooms, managing tickets takers, operating house lights (the band's lighting director says when to turn the main lights on and off and I'm the one that has to do that), manage security and make sure the patrons are happy.

South Plains Fair- Fair Park Coliseum
Three Dog Night setup

Tonight we had almost 4,000 for the show.  There was hardly any room to sit in the venue.  They loved every minute of the show and the band did too.  They always put on such a great show.  The manager said 'you should know the show by now, you can run it next time we work with you'.  This is why I love my job, seeing 'friends' along the road that actually get it and everything runs smoothly from both ends. 

They sing an A Capella version of 'Prayer' during the show.  The front of house engineer (the guy that makes the band sound good...or bad :) ) said over 30 people came up to him in tears saying how wonderful in was.  He said it's usually a handful but never that big of a response!  Lubbock definitely loves Three Dog Night!

Three Dog Night

 

Tomorrow we have the day off.  I know we only work day and then get a day off.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  Usually the first Saturday I'm here the Komen 5K takes place.  I had been looking up to see when it was and they've actually moved it a couple of weeks but I stumpled upon a new one.  I'm proud to say that tomorrow I will be running the 1st Annual Panhandle Marathon---I'll be running half of couse. :)  I'm so excited to see how many minutes I can shave off with my new found love of running!

So Called Life-Devil Went Down to Georgia

Ugh...I so should not have partied as hard as I did last night!  Completely paid for it today.  A lot of the Chevy Court staff went out and ended up meeting up with a group of Troopers.  Let's just say many, many jager bombs later, a little karaoke and dancing and I was not happy about waking up today.  Thank goodness it was an easy day. 

Candy Coburn was our 2PM.  Our company has actually managed her for the past few years.  We've had a hands off approach the past year but our boss still works with her.  She's had two singles released on the national charts and numerous fantastic tour sponsors.  Watching her try to make it has shown me the down and dirty side of the business.  Even with talent it doesn't guarantee a spot.  Yet, some of these that do not have talent make it. It boggles my mind.  Anyway, the load in was extremely late today which was perfect.  We had Candy's backline rental gear set and ready to roll when they arrived.  They line checked and were ready.  They actually had an opening act, Joanne Shenandoah.  They were just a trio so it was basically a plug and play.  There were a few people in the audience for the show but not many.  The fairgrounds traffic was really light.  We had clouds all day that looked like they would just open up anytime but never did, thankfully.  They kept bouncing the hourly forecast all over the place.  I thought that might scare the crowd away. 

Charlie Daniels Band was up for our last concert of the year.  They had been worried about loading in so late in the afternoon (after the 2PM show).  Of course with their professional crew and ours they were loaded in and ready to do a show within 2.5hrs.  They just aren't used to their day being cut in half.  Triangle has done so many dates with Charlie they know we'd take care of them.  This was the first time they've been back to the fair in about six years but they're no strangers.  They've played here over 20 times and sold the GRANDSTAND (17,000+ capacity) out seven years in a row.  Charlie is just a sweetheart.  He goes out of his way to say hello to everyone.  He and several of the investigators were talking about guns, etc in the dressing room area for a half hour.  So the weather at one point looked like it was going to mean bad news about 2/3 way through the show.  And it changed.  :)  I think even if it was raining, people would be here.  This was a great way to end the 2012 Chevy Court series and fair.  Over 10,000 are now out there jamming to the King of the Fiddle. 

I'm definitely looking forward to getting home tomorrow.  It will be another rough morning (shuttle pick up at 6:30A for an 8AM but I'll be home and on my couch by 2:30. =)  A couple of weeks at home and then it's off to Lubbock!

'The Voice'-If I Die Young

I've been looking forward to this day for a long time.  Not only because it means we only have one more today left at the New York State Fair but I was looking forward to working with both of these groups.

Jermaine Paul was our 2PM show.  If you're a fan of 'The Voice', the new, performer competition with Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, CeeLo and Christina Aguilara as judges you'll recognize his name.  He's the Season 2 winner.  He had the genuine, crisp voice on and off the stage.  He traveled from the city with his family and two kids.  His sister actually performed as a backup singer with him.  It was fun to see them all having fun at the fair.  I'm usually a fan of the more organized, on time groups.  This was not one of them.  I didn't advance the show until 3 days ago, neither the tour or production manager were coming with them but were sending replacements.  They ended up doing a 75min show and going on 10mins late.  I'm sure once they have a little experience the show will be great.  He has a great voice and definitely has those entertainer qualities. 

I honestly didn't think the crowd tonight was going to be super big.  When we booked Band Perry we thought it would be a slam dunk.  Judging by some of the hard ticket sales (where you have to pay for a ticket) I thought this show would be a little light.  Good grief was I wrong!  Traffic on the fairgrounds was backed up all day.  We had to route the bus through the troopers so they could get into the grounds and through traffic.  I knew there would be a huge problem trying to get the Perry's bus through at 6PM so we arranged for an escort to bring them in from the interstate and in to the venue.  The crew has always been such a pleasure to work with.  Today was no different.  I overheard the production assistant say "We haven't been home since the end of June.  We've been washing our clothes in the sink!"  That just proves that it's not all glitz and glamour! 
The people sitting in the front row somehow got in the fair at 1AM and staked out their spot.  They sat there all day long in the blazing heat on metal bleachers.  That's a dedicated fan!  It was a few hours before showtime that we knew it was going to be a monster crowd.  When I made it up in the trooper tower I instantly knew it was the top 3rd crowd we've had in the 4years that Triangle has been here.  After a couple of walkthroughs, getting up in the tower on the opposite side we set the estimated count at 26,000!!  Just a few thousand short from Lady A's record two years ago.  The most amazing sound was hearing the crowd belt out the beginning of 'If I Die Young'.  I'm pretty sure I would have teared up had I been them up on that stage. 

They ran off stage, jumped on the bus and were gone within 10mins. 

It's now been an hour, the truck is packed and everyone is showering.  Pretty sure we'll be out of here by 11P!  Good thing because we're headed to karaoke with the staff and troopers.  Could get interesting!

Take Me Home Tonight-Bad Girlfriend

On a non work note- I didn't eat anything hardly all day; a granola bar, a couple of carrots and a couple peppermint patties all so I could eat Tully's chicken strips and fries for dinner.  While it tasted delicious I have a feeling my tummy isn't going to agree with me.  So that's it, back to my chinese and sushi for the rest of the fair. 

I ended up going out and being a tourist at the fair today.  I saw everything I wanted to see (shopping and lottery) in an hour.  We did find some exciting things along the way. 

I don't know what's funnier- the number or that they actually do this!  Proves that we're NOT in NYC.

You never know what you'll find lurking around the fair

We actually had a morning with no church, no tv but they added a local group as an opener for the 2:00PM show so we still ended up with an early load in.  Eddie Money is always easy to work with.  He may not sound like he did back in the 80s but he can still entertain.  They are always easy to work with.  It was an absolute gorgeous day but hot if you were sitting in the sun.  The first four rows of bleachers filled up around noon with not people for Eddie at 2PM but for the 8PM show.  Crazies!  They got a great show and Eddie even went out and signed at the merch tent for over an hour.  That's how you sell merch people. 

Eddie Money

Didn't take long and Theory of a Deadman was set and ready to rock.  We didn't realize it but the lead singer was hanging around back stage all day.  Could have fooled me.  They're all from Canada but you could barely tell the accent, especially once they were on stage.  He is amazingly good looking though, on stage and up close. :)  Their crowd was just huge.  2.5 hours before the show there was already 3,000 people here.  It didn't take long for the crowd to take over the entire court.  Peering from the trooper tower we estimated 17,750.  LOL  No, we didn't count each individual person.  With this being a hard rock group we knew there were going to be a few issues with the crowd.  As I take the emcees up to the stage to have them introduce the band I see one of the avid fans in the third row holding a fancy homemade sign.  Actually it was a piece of posterboard with "Will F*#( for beer" in black sharpie.  I did censor this.  I come inside and one of our cop friends was hanging out.  I mentioned it to him and say, "I'm just trying to decide if I want someone to take that away from the guy."  He volunteers and makes his way outside.  He comes back with it in 10 different pieces which he had ripped up in front him.  While I considered I might have been a little conservative the last thing I needed was to have the camera actually catch it and it end up on the jumbotron!  Best part of probably the entire run...they came off the stage to the Golden Girls theme song!!  BEST THING EVER! 

Part of the crowd for Theory of a Deadman

We're finishing on a strong note with the next two night shows being big crowd pleasers as well. 

I'm too old for this- Easy like Sunday mornin'

Here we are again another late night with an early morning to start.  I had tweeted earlier 'What stage can say they've had a live tv shoot, a soft rock band and a funk, pop band all in 12 hours?  Chevy Court can!"  Both bands today decided they needed to start at 8AM to be able to get everything done for their shows.  All of this going on while the TV shoot was setup and ready to air.  There were minimal fights and seemed that everyone was playing nice.  Both bands had someone advance the show prior and then had a different person in the road manager position with us on site.  Commodores had pyro that we had to jump through hoops all day to make happen.  It has definitely added to the show but a complete pain in the rear!

Can we fit anything else on this stage?

Christopher Cross was our 2:00PM star.  Can't say I've ever heard of him but his show was filled with soft rock hits. Perfect for the afternoon show.  They had a huge setup which had to sit in front of the Commodores upstage gear.  While they were supposed to play 60mins they ended up doing 90 which threw off the entire afternoon.  Speculation was made that maybe they played longer because Commodores impeded on their setup time.  Either way, I didn't have a happy road manager on my hands.  Fortunately, a little southern accent and a smile and he backed right down.  We worked through it and had the runs set so the stage would be ready and the band  and stars would make it through the gate before it closed at 5:30 for the parade.  I told him they WILL be here if they are in the car by 5:00PM.  Sure enough they are ready to go by 5:08 and are surly going to hit traffic with 17,000+ coming in for the Jason Aldean concert in the grandstand.  Another driver came in and said the backway was bogged down with traffic.  I immediately tracked down the Sgt. Trooper and we put together a plan to get the car through traffic and in the gate before they closed.  Whew!  I would have had an extremely unhappy band outside the gate (having to wait 45mins for it to open) and a furious manager on the inside.  I was bound and determined to get them in.  Thankfully the teamwork was superb.  We got them in and the fun began.  Two of the Commodores stood out at the desk and talked with us for close to an hour.  They were poking fun at each other and us, of course we threw it right back.  Great guys!  I was even thanked during the DJ intro tonight "The fine lady backstage told me that there should be no professional photography or video taping tonight."  Oh yay, how flattering! They start off the show with a bang..literally.  A waterfall of sparks from the middle of the stage and the guys walk through it.  The quiet one that didn't mingle with us was walking to slow and had to walk straight through it.  The show has gone non-stop with hits but these guys are all over the stage.  It's the full show, total entertainment!  The guys came off stage and immediately thanked everyone for helping during the day and "taking such good care of them". 

The rest of the weekend should be smooth sailing.  We're just praying Issac doesn't decide to throw us for a loop.  Looks like possible rain Monday. 

Cooler Than Me- Happy Together

We've had both ends of the genre and demographics today.  Our 2:00PM show with Mike Posner, alternative, pop rapper to our 8:00PM with a flashback to the 60's with the Happy Together Tour, featuring The Buckinghams, The Grass Roots, Gary Puckett, Mickey Dolenz, and The Turtles.  Either way it's been a pretty easy day.  I'm now just waiting on one acts flight info and I'll be completely done with the pre-advance for this fair.  Once we get through tomorrow it will be smooth sailing. 



I completely screwed up yesterday with Mike Posner's group.  I had taken my day schedule (with all the things to happen during the day) and hadn't saved it properly.  What I had printed for the runners didn't include Posner's flight information.  I didn't realize it until they called looking for their ride.  It continued to snowball with miscommunication with the pickups and even getting dropped off at the incorrect hotel.  UGH!  I hate it when I screw up but finally accepted that, "it happens".  They showed up this morning and the sound company had told them they had newer ear packs (how they hear the band and themselves during the show) than they had on site.  Thankfully they had the correct ones available and they hurried them over.  Crisis resolved.  Apparently Mike isn't happy unless he has his setup perfectly.  Once he was on site I realized wise.  This kid had everything handed to him.  I supposed he is in that generation though.  I didn't realize he was more of a songwriter and had written songs for many others.  Those were the songs he was playing so I thought it was a set full of covers.  He did a few interviews, signed autographs for the 100 or so that stuck around for the possibility of meeting him. 

The creepy things you see at a fair
 

Mike Posner entertaining the crowd

I knew it was going to be an early evening after having worked with the Happy Together Tour in Iowa.  The tour manager has everything down pat and the groups now exactly when and where they need to be.  The biggest hassle was having to coordinate the groups while the parade was going on.  Of course it was the biggest parade of the fair and it blocks off our gate.  No one out, no one in.  And of course the acts were all coming in during this time frame.  Several were following our runners in their rental vehicles and weren't the happy campers when they finally got here after sitting in traffic.  Turns out the group was 5mins late meeting the runner so they missed the gate being closed by 5mins.  Whoops, their fault.  Once Flo (the Turtles) had the delicious chicken with catering he said "I was in such a grumpy mood when I came in.  This chicken is amazing and now I'm so happy!"  Thank goodness for the chicken!  This is the last date on the tour for the group.  They have all been so sweet to each other.  Thanking each other for such a great run as they'll all go their separate ways tomorrow.  The tour manager said it's like high school buddies getting together.  The show is such an amazing concept.  One band- 5 Acts.  They have no set change and roll from group to group.  Each group plays for 20-30mins so you get a 2.5hour show with hit after hit of each group.  A complete flashback to the 60's.  With the records sold combined from all the groups it's over 100million!  Maybe we can just bring these guys back every night?  Unbelievably enough 'The Grass Roots' remembered me from South Plains several years ago and came up to say hello.  They were all such nice guys!

The end collaboration with the 5 groups on stage singing 'Happy Together'

Smore cones-Victorious

So the title isn't quite the musical mishmash.  That would be because we had a chef instead of a musical act for the 2PM.  The chef's are the most time intensive with the day of production as well as the pre-planning.  There's the setting of the stage; we used a range and deep fryer today and tables for the stage.  Plus shopping for all of the ingredients to make the recipes takes forever.  They started prepping the ingredients several days ago and moved everything to the backstage this morning where they continued to do work on it.  The thing with the cooking shows is it's just as much smoke and mirrors as the concerts.  99% of the work is done before they go on stage.  So who was our chef guest today?  The one and only, Guy Fieri!  Let me tell you he is the best!  He is totally personable, down to earth and went out of his way to thank everyone and tell them how great the day was.  The staff here had such a great time joking around with him.  Once I sat down for the first time at 6PM I realized how late it was and I hadn't accomplished hardly anything (well kinda).  He ended up doing a longer show than he was supposed to and then did a 100+ person book signing.  All while we were loading in the 8PM show. 

Prepping for Guy Fieri's demo

Victoria Justice was in the 8PM slot.  If you don't have young kids you probably have no clue who she is.  Two words Disney..Channel.  So it's tracks, with some dancing and a bunch of flashing lights.  Unfortunately, the lights required so much smoke I couldn't see 5ft in front of me on the side of the stage and was choked out by it anyway.  The tour manager asks me to review the timeline of the day and I see "Glam time" at 5PM.  "Glam Time"? I ask.  He laughs, rolls his eyes, and says "hair and makeup".  5PM for an 8PM show.  So 7:45PM rolls around and I ask if we're looking good to start at 8P and am told that they need until 8:10P...she's not ready yet.  Finally at 8:15 we started with the emcee, rolled into a trailer of her upcoming movie and she took the stage at 8:21.  :(  I'd cry if it took me 3 hours to get ready every day and honestly you couldn't tell.  She's the sweetest little thing and you could tell she loves her fans.  She ended up going out and signing in the afternoon for the crowd that was waiting for hours.  They do a VIP meet and greet after the show.  You purchase the meet and greet and get swag like a t-shirt, bag, laminate, etc.  Each person coming back has to have one...parents included.  If the parents didn't have one they sent the kids in by themselves.  They sold over a 100 at $150 a pop.  I'll let you do the math on that one.  They normally do over 200!  The crowd was crazy.  We had an estimated 21,000!  They were crammed in like sardines and completely throw off our numbers because they're little people.  =)  Twenty minutes after the show we're starting this meet and greet that ends up taking 1.5hr and she even goes back out to see the few remaining fans that stuck around to try and catch a glimpse.  Now they're like any other kids, hanging out in the dressing room gossiping, taking photos to tweet and talking about their passports for Europe (that last part is normal for a 19 year old right?). 

The line 3 hours before Victoria's show; she went and signed

The crowd 30mins before they actually went on stage

21,000 people for Victoria Justice

Mike Posner and Happy Together Tour tomorrow!  Easy day!

Candy Girl-Shine

Today turned out to be somewhat of an early day.  The 8PM band thought they needed six whole hours to set up so they wanted an 8AM load in.  Ugh, I was dragging through the door at 7:15AM.  They setup, pitched their fits and then were back on the bus after 3.5 hours of work and being just about setup.  The point of coming in early was pointless.  Midtown Men arrived for their 2:00PM show, loaded in, hung out with us and warmed up in the dressing rooms.  Who are the Midtown Men you say?  Google them.  They're awesome.  They are the original 4 cast members of 'The Jersey Boys'.  They bring the 60's back and make it hot!  Their show is extremely entergetic and entertaining.  This is the second year in a row we've brought them to Chevy and they've packed them in each time.  Of couse it works well for 'Senior Day' but the Chevy Court staff were all up at the stage watching the show and the average age is 30! 

Midtown Men- Bringing on the show from the side of the stage

Once Midtown Men were finished, Collective Soul started miandering around the stage again.  They linechecked within 30mins and were twidling their thumbs.  About this time I was getting a jump start on the last leg of my advances and schedules, working out those last minute details.  I think we're pretty much set.  We're half way through the fair..6 Days to go!  I was actually excited for Collective Soul.  I guess they were a little before my time and I was being exposed to 'country' music at that time instead of the pop rock.  There was one guy wandering around throughout the day.  He'd walk in, crack a joke and leave.  But he actually came to me and said "thanks so much for today.  You guys have taken such good care of us, I appreciate it."  Then as we're getting ready for the show I see that he's part of the band.  Then it was explained with the fact that he's a fill in.  No wonder he wasn't grumpy like the others.  :) 
They had a decent crowd but I only recognized two songs and it happens that one was a Goo Goo Dolls song.  Just not really impressed.  But they were the typical rock show, on 5 mins late, off 5 mins early.  So now they're having a party with their guests outside and I'm about ready to kick them out of the building and push them on their bus. 

Collective Soul from front of house (FOH)

So excited about tomorrow with Guy Fieri!  Victoria Justice, let's just say I have the earplugs ready for the screaming kids. 

Big Band-Joy to the World

Jeremiah was a bullfrog....that's what's playing on my tv right now, but it just so happens to be a live feed from Three Dog Night on the stage.  We had these guys here last year and what a repeat!

I started the day off right with 8.5 hours of sleep and a 2.5mile run.  Amazing!  Now that I've been at work for almost 12hours I'm finally getting my 2nd wind.  The late mornings are always a good/bad thing.  Good because I actually get sleep and can workout but bad because I get here and the time just flies by.  Before I knew it I looked at the clock and it was 1:30pm but felt like 9am. 

We had the Buddy Rich Band for the 2PM show.  I wasn't familiar with Buddy Rich or the Band but was shocked when I saw the first folks to walk through the door.  Apparently Buddy's daughter is the lead for the band.  They have a great jazz sound.  The daughter and what may have been her son maybe were totally punked out with spiked, dyed hair and completely not what you would expect with a jazz band but it worked!  They were great to work with.  However, we had what seemed like an entire orchestra in our tiny dressing room area warming up all morning.  I couldn't hear myself think and my ears having been ringing since.  As most of the afternoon bands, they blew in and blew out. 

Three Dog Night arrived and they were very familiar with the setup and what we have to work with.  These guys are complete pros and just get the job done.  That makes my day so much easier.  I was able to work on the next few days and even go walk around one of the buildings with all the booths with junk for sale.  We had the threat of rain from about 4PM on.  I walk across the street, walk into the building and it starts pouring.  After pouring down about 30mins it calmed down to a sprinkle and stayed that way up until showtime.  Of course with rain people wonder if the show will still go on.  You better bet it will!  As long as the stage is dry and the equipment is ok (no lightning, no downpours and risk of electrocution) the show will go on.  So we started the show and the guys flew their hits in 90mins.  Had the weather been good I was expecting a pretty decent crowd.  Once it started raining everyone figured the crowd wouldn't show.  Boy were we wrong!  They packed in 10,000 people!  Completely unbelievable!  I'm looking forward to working with these guys again in Lubbock.  It should be another fun time.  But for now we're gearing up for another long day.  8AM call in the morning but i have to be here at 7AM.  Geez!

Stranger in My House-Every Storm

What a day!  We had four different 'events' on the stage today and it made for a long one.  We were here by 7:30A for Gary Allan's load in.  Shortly after dumping his gear the stage turned in to a Catholic church.  Mass was held and then Gary's load in continued.  Then Ronnie Milsap's gear was loaded in.  Ronnie had to change travel arrangements late last night so they weren't going to arrive until shortly before the show.  It might have been a record turn around.  They left home at 6AM, got to Syracuse did a show, were back at the airport by 4:30PM and then home.  Ronnie is such a sweety.  He was just singing everyone's praises on stage before he went on.  You can tell his crew is great because they really take care of him.  The show was really good and they had a decent crowd.  With all the hits his has it was sure to be a show full of legendary hits. 

We had started load in for Gary Allan at 8AM but after Ronnie's show they had to continue building Gary's stage and linecheck.  They were able to do that before 5PM when we had a different kind of entertainment.  Hofmann hotdogs, a Syracuse based sausage company, sponsored to bring Kobi, the record holding champion of hot dog eating.  He was to attempt to break the record of number of hotdogs eaten in 10mins.  Disgusting.  I think the best part was figuring out how he does it.  While I didn't have a pleasant experience with the CEO of the company it turned out to be entertaining for about 5,000 people in the crowd.  For some reason people think that if they're "someone" they can get in people's faces and scream and stomp their feet and get what they want.  Fortunately, when this happened I had three guys come stand behind me (literally) when they saw the guy getting in my face.  Kill 'em with kindness people.  I decided it was best that I just stay backstage for the most part after that.  If they needed something done they needed to find someone else to do it.  But the guy did it.  He ate 110 hotdogs in 10 mins.  Again, disgusting!   He would take two of them, break them in half and swallow them.  I've never seen anything like it.  He drinks three gallons of water before and we believe throws that up.  It stretches out his stomach and leaves room for the hotdogs.  He eats the hotdogs and well then, throws those up.  Puke!

 

 



Finally, after this marathon of a day we got Gary Allan finished on stage and ready to put on a show!  I've loved Gary's music for years and for the first half of the show every song was a hit.  His new stuff is REALLY good!  Hopefully the new single is going to sky rocket.  He finally has the support behind him with the label.  The show was really good.  His crew was great for working through all the stuff they had to deal with on the stage.  He is a really great guy.  His band is extremely talented.  His road manager is a great friend of the company so I hardly got anything done with him floating around and visiting, but it was a nice break.  I actually took a few minutes to sit on the side stage to watch the show. 

Crowd building for Gary Allan

 

Had to get the shot of the musician in a kilt

Now that I have this written and the crew is finally packed and ready to leave (midnight) I'm ready to end this 17 hour day and head home. Finally get to sleep in a little and run in the morning. Happy camper right here! :)

Ready or Not-Freeze Frame

What a day!  I was completely overwhelmed with the birthday wishes today!  While it does stink having to work on my birthday, I'm glad I get to spend it with friends and lovely people.  I got to start the day off with a run.  It's crazy but I'm starting to enjoy running.  I'm actually craving it.  It's 30mins completely to myself with my music and apps.  Knowing that I've accomplished 2 miles or so before I even start my "day" is such a motivator for me now. 
Unfortunately, the acts booked weren't my cup of tea though. 

The first act is straight out of Disney's 'Good luck Charlie' and 'Lemonade Mouth', Bridgit Mendler.  The typical pop, teeny bopper act that's really 20 something.  She was really cute but you could tell straight out of Hollywood.  I was truly ready to get these guys in and out of here.  The day ended up going well but normally with these acts they need a little extra TLC.  This was obviously one of the first (if not the first) show for her.  They had a rehearsal yesterday which was the first time the band and engineers worked together.  Lovely!  The show was half tracks which brings me back to the entertainment vs musical aspect.  The rolled in about as quickly as they rolled in.  I was laughing because one of the 'handlers' made the comment of "oh it's like watching your first born on their first day of school!"  Yes, must have been the first live show.  :/

They were whisked away and in came The J. Geils Band.  They were such a pleasure to work with.  You probably recognize "Freeze Frame"?  That's them!  Just a down home blues band.  This was their first show of their tour as well.  The tour manager was such a pleasure.  Everyone in the band was great but such potty mouths.  And if I'm saying that.... It was entertaining just listening to them.  I was however a little shocked when they said...oh yes, the show is about 2-2.5 hours.  Oh goodness gracious!  They weren't kidding.  They were rockin' for over two hours.  I'm pretty sure that's a record for Chevy Court!  But they also brought in the largest crowd yet for the Court this year, 18,000!  It's always a thrill to see the huge crowds start to build.  Clay had the UPROAR Tour across the way and unbelievably with Staind and Shinedown it was a calm crowd. 

I had a little hiccup to the day.  I received an email about 5PM saying that the act for 2:00PM was having complications and may not make the gig.  Of course that puts me into overdrive.  Trying to find a possible solution that can be in upstate NY in less than 24Hours.  Yeah right!  After a dozen phone calls and crossing my fingers that everything is ok, I got the call that they're making the trip.  They had to reschedule their flight for tomorrow morning and will literally hit the ground at the venue an 1.5hr before showtime.  So we'll all be on our game tomorrow and ready when they arrive.  Unfortunately, the 8:00PM band is coming in at 8AM so it'll be a short night on sleep. :) 

Some Girls Do- Run

Haha...I think I'll see what the best mishmash of songs I can put together over the next 10 days from our 2PM and 8PM shows.  Today we've had Sawyer Brown, Matt Nathanson, and showed the premier of 'Nashville' ABC's big hit show this fall.  Plus I had Bridgit Mendler in town who was rehearsing and driving us all crazy with the back and forth runs and delays. 

I was completely honored to witness one of the many events on the fairgrounds today. 

A young boy asked for his Wish (through Make-A-Wish) to become a police officer.  The law enforcement agencies in Syracuse came together to swear C.J. in, give him a uniform and even gave him a police escort to Chevy Court where he had his first interview.  We all stopped dead in our tracks to watch them roll in. 

 

It was supposed to be an early morning so with less than 7 hours sleep I chose to forgo the much needed run and was at the fairgrounds by 8:30a.  Of course the band ended up being late.  It all worked out for the best in the end. Sawyer Brown is one of the best groups to work with in the business.  No frills, here to work, and completely entertaining.  The first time I saw them was in college and just loved their show.  Now I've gotten to work with them several times.  The day was just smooth.  They come in do their thing, have a high energy show pack up and leave.  Unbelievably, these guys drove 13.5hrs to do this show and then turned around and drove back home. Crazy!  We had a bit of a small crowd but it was seriously hot and most of the seating by the stage is in the sun.  Everyone that was here really enjoyed it.  I look forward to working with them again. 

Sawyer Brown

I'm starting this out with, NO I'm not spoiled (ok maybe just a bit).  I'll just consider this a birthday present from the stagehands. :)  They ran  video feed to my office and brought in a tv.  Now I can watch what's on our jumbotron from the comfort of my office.  It's the little things, folks!

We had Matt Nathanson for the 8:00PM slot and I was really looking forward to this show.  Again, the crew was great.  They were willing to deal with all of our little idiosyncrasies with the stage.  They can't load in until 4:00PM, they have to stop making any noise from the stage for a half hour for a parade, they were finished with everything by 7P so that we could show the ABC Premiere of 'Nashville'.  Plus had an emcee that took a 5min intro to promote the area city schools.  Needless to say it felt like a 3-ring circus but it all pays off when the band says the show was better than the night before.  Sounded better and they felt better on stage.  Matt was really cool.  He was just wandering backstage during the day and hanging out in the green room.  He definitely spiffs up for the stage. 

The show was very chill and flowed with several hits and recognizable covers.  Now it's the waiting game again of...please, exit the dressing rooms!