Damn. So it's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday was get up - school - work - and then a live sound gig at Suite G that I picked up at random. This guy came in the store, desperate for a soundman for this gig he had put together, and someone at the shop told him I was one. He made it sound like some little acoustic gig that started early. So I figured, sure, why not... make a little extra money, have a couple of beers, and go home, right?
It was significantly more involved than I thought. Three acts. One solo guitar/voice performer (she was good, real bluesy), one country/bluegrass act with two singer/guitarists (one played fiddle as well), and a sort of Allman Brothers-y country rock band. Shouldn't have been a big deal, but it was a logistical clusterfuck. The guy who put the show together was in the last band, and for some reason he had his drummer come at the END of the night and set up before their set, rather than showing up early so the kit could get set up before the other acts started. Bad planning. So I had to tear down and set up almost everything between sets.
There was also no house soundguy in sight. So here I am, stuck at an unfamiliar club, on a COMPLETELY foreign console (A Midas Venice. Nice board, but kinda laid out weird), with these hella cryptic symbols that the house engineer had taped on to denote monitor sends, etc.
Anyway, it was a fucking mess. The first performer was getting all kinds of delay in her monitor (but I COULD NOT for the life of me figure out how to get effects returns to come back on the mains). The bluegrass act had unamplified guitars, so I threw couple of 57s in front of em... no gain at all, just the most miniscule fucking signal... they had these little condensers so we put those up insteads. I couldn't find the phantom power on the board, so I had to run back and reroute EVERYTHING to the snake. So we get the condensers up and BANG, it's fucking feedback mania all night. I tried EVERYTHING to take the howl out, to no avail. They were kinda pissed off, I could tell.
So finally homeboy's band shows up and we tear everything back down to make room for the drummer. So finally, after fucking up all night long I get a halfway decent sound (STILL no effects in the mains). So that was good, but these cats decide to play for like 2 hours. So the show actually STARTED at 7, and here it is getting to be like 12:30 when I finally get out of there.
As if that wasn't enough, for some insane reason this gig was double booked with a "speed dating" night at the bar. So there's all these yuppies just yacking away while I'm trying to hear what's coming off stage. I try and turn the music up to be audible over all the talking, and the fucking club owner tells me that it's too loud and the bartenders can't hear the drink orders. IT WAS NOT EEEEEVEN LOUD. All that fancy PA, and they want some light background music? Why hire a band at all? I don't get it.
It was an awful lot of stress for 50 bucks and 4 free beers. I don't think I will be hired again. I am such a fucking amateur.
I was gonna talk (bitch) about today, but now I'm out of space. Tomorrow I guess.
This is my last week at (undisclosed giant internet bookstore), and as I do not have internet access from my home, you probably won't be hearing from me for a while.
It's just as well, really. I mean, some of you (that I don't know in person) seem like really cool people that I enjoy conversing with. But, for the most part, LiveJournal (and the Internet in general) is a fucking giant waste of time.
'Course, seeing as how wasting time is something I enjoy a great deal, I'll probably turn up sooner or later. "See" you around, kids.
I was bored enough to do this crazy "meme" and I got a toothpaste for dinner comic. I'm just linking it because I'm too dumb to know how to post an actual picture.
Yeah, I'm a lame-o. But if you're actually reading my stupid posts you're probably one too.
I haven't been posting much, because I'm too lazy to bother. It's not like I'm doing anything when I'm at work though. Next week is my last week here at (undisclosed giant internet bookstore that starts with an "A"), and then I spiral freely into the world of joblessness once again. I start school full-time the Monday after next, so that'll be cool. I still have to pin down some kind of work, but I think I'll test the workload at school out first.
In other news, I get to see SKINNY FUCKING PUPPY on Saturday. I don't care what anybody says, I think the new album is awesome. Haters, don't even come near me.
I've also been cutting vocal tracks over at andr00's place over the last coupla weeks. We have the NTK set up in his closet, which makes a surprisingly decent iso-booth. It's fun. I come over there, stand in a closet, turn off the lights, strap on some headphones, and sing into a can. I find it's easier to let go and really PERFORM when it's completely dark. No visual distractions, just you and the music and occasionally the disembodied voice of your best friend coming through the headphones with pointers. Good times.
I'm glad he rigged up that closet dealie. I know I would get self-conscious if he was sitting there staring at me while I cut my tracks. Guaranteed I make funny faces when I sing. I KNOW I do when I play bass or guitar. I cain't hep it.
I dunno what it is about this office coffee, maybe it's the fact that no one ever cleans out the thermos thingies... but every time I have a cup, the lingering breath and aftertaste is like some type of half-human/half-goatbeast took a shit DIRECTLY into my mouth.
That is a bad thing, as I am not normally into caprine coprophagia.
Sure, coffee breath is always bad, and this is bad coffee, but there's somethiing else at work here. Some clandestine lair of nefarious bacteria is conspiring to make my mouth into their personal fucking latrine. Not cool.
What's worse is, I'm stuck with no mints, no gum, nothing. Just this horrible assy taste in my mouth, and no matter how much water I drink it WON'T GO AWAY.
Good thing I'm not trying to meet chicks or something.
amused