The Wild Duck... I have mixed impressions about this place for various
reasons...
Dig, y'all.
It's a pretty nice place with a decent PA which will always get the thumbs up
from me, and there were assorted munchies laid out for us... it was another
one of these places that was attached to a resturant which boasts (gasp!)
it's own micro-brews... this is starting to get irritating, this whole trend
in resturants... the beers are usually OK and the food usually is
sub-standard...
I know, I know... there are those of you out there who are reading this and
saying "This band is a bunch of sell-out snob-ass jerks with nothing more on
their minds than money and being pampered like stars"... well, hold it right
there, Buckaroo.
I can tell you that this band is all about the music! We spit in the eye of
those who try to buy our favor, and if you think it's fun or glamourous to
cram into a smelly van after one gig to drive all night and set up at the
next gig you are out of your mind... so when a venue goes that extra little
step to pick up a $2 block of cheese and a box of crackers, maybe have some
water and soda on ice we really appreciate it...
So thank you very much to the Wild Duck for doing that for us.
But I would like to say this:
Hi, I'm Cameron... the sound engineer for Dark Star Orchestra® here
to talk to you about Ritz Crackers®. People want a good show when they
pay good money, and that's why Scott Larned© keeps me on a steady
diet of Ritz Crackers®, Crystal Geyser Water®, and not much
else... so remember folks, when you come out to hear the music, think of
Dark Star Orchestra®, Ritz Crackers®, Crystal Geyser Water®,
Valvoline Motor Oil®, Di-Dee-Wash®, Pizza Hut® (for the Dark
Star Orchestra® Action Figure tie-in this fall), not to mention Nike®
for the matching jogging suits we all wear on tour, Robinson Jewelers®
for the large diamond rings Rob is so fond of wearing onstage, and Tucks
Medicated Pads® for yours truly...
Thanks for the cards and letters, the swelling has gone down considerably...
The very idea that we're sell-outs... HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT I CALL A WARDROBE
LATELY FOLKS??? My stuff is so ratty the Good Will people chase me down the
street, man!
"Sir... Sir... You look like you need help, sir..."
"Nah, that's OK... I'm a sound engineer."
"Oh... you poor dear... Our mistake."
we set up and after I got my lines checked the band started into "Dark Star",
which I haven't heard since a sound check in Madison, Wisconsin and that was
only Mike Hazdra, Rob, Dino, and John... but this was the whole band jamming
on it and I threw the faders up and listened for awhile... it was a semi-long
intro and John got into the first verse followed by another short jam... and
like any good thing it withered and died too soon, but this is one of the
fringe benefits to working for these guys - I get to hear it all, pretty
much... and sometimes it's awesome, other times it's a laugh riot... but it's
always worth a listen...
The mix position for this venue is up in a balcony over the bar, and the
audience is down on the floor... I've bitched about this before, but just to
review: If the PA is focused on the audience and the audience is down on the
floor, where should I be? On the floor so that I can hear what you hear and
correct any problems, right? So what happens when I'm up out of the throw of
the PA? HmmmmmmMMM??? I'll tell you what happens... I get a stairmaster
workout, that's what...
... oh, my mistake... lemme try that again...
"Hi! I'm Cameron, the sound engineer for Dark Star Orchestra, and when the
mix position is in a shitty location where you have no clear perception of
what's REALLY coming out of the mains I get a Stairmaster® workout... nothing
keeps my heinie tighter!"
I went up and down the steel ladder a dozen times during the ensuing sound
check but I wasn't really happy with what was going on with the PA, and the
acoustic nature of the room was gonna change significantly once we got a
crowd in here, which the local crew felt certain was going to happen...
"Oh yeah... you'll have all them filthy rope-heads in here tonight" quipped
one guy... referring, one would assume, to individuals with dreads... this
coming from a Goth-Casualty with enough metal in his face to set off the
detectors when he tries to enter the high school he was thrown out of to comb
for a date...
Those of you who have met me know what I look like... a long-hair... a
"hippie"... who did this guy honestly think he was sharing a laugh with?
Sheesh. Like this is a wig and I'm really a skinhead...
"Welcome To Eugene."
That's OK, if he stuck around, he'd soon be out-numbered.
After dinner we all scattered for a bit, and when we came back there was a
good crowd of folks assembled... an old friend I haven't seen in at least
three years came out to the show to catch up and see what I was up to lately
and was impressed...
The show for the evening was 8/29/83 from Silva Hall in Eugene and I gotta
say that I WASN'T all that impressed...
Most of my feelings are based on the fact that I felt all night long like the
mix was off, and I went up and down and up and down the ladder trying to
tweek the PA into line but it never pleased me... the band was playing pretty
well, I just couldn't translate it to the audience the way I felt it should
be done...
"Bird Song" was fairly good, but then as I've said I'm a sucker for that
tune... and "All Over Now" sounded fairly good, but I was very unhappy with
the vocal sound and it took until the second set for me to add any real meat
to the drums... just an off night, and everyone in the band has them, why
should I be any different?
"Eyes Of The World" was a nice and as always "Drumz" was interesting... and I
liked "Brother Esau" even though the new guys in the band kinda blew the
intro... at least, like I said, they're good for a laugh once in awhile...
The other thing about this show was that I finally started really jabbing at
Pete our light guy about the Fogger Abuse...
When you're doing a show with extensive lights generally the venue has a
fogger or smoke machine so that the LD can focus the lights correctly and so
that they stand out in more dramatic definition during the performance...
this especially helps with intelligent lighting (stuff that moves and changes
shape, color, and focus at the control of the operator).
The fogger was something that up until these gigs at the Wild Duck Pete had
seemingly no control over... turns out he never knew there was a way to
attenuate the output of these evil-yet-integral beasts so that it would
slowly emit fog... so when Pete needed fog for lights during a show, it
became a Spinal Tap Moment... this thick cloud would bloom up out of the
ceiling (or right behind Rob or Scott, generally) and almost obscure the view
of the stage for a minute or so... but after it dissapated the lights looked
GREAT... just no one could BREATHE...