"Do I get my own monitor mix?"
"I just want to know if the stage moves..."
Everybody laughs at Rob Eaton's joke... long and genuinely.
Gone is the nightmarish Garton's funhouse stage, and in it's place is a real
CONCERT HALL...
Same shit it may BE, but same place it most definitely AIN'T.
Stepping onto the stage at the Fillmore in Denver is an experience I highly
recommend... it's a beautiful view. A huge wood floor, pristine as an NBA
court stretching out in front of you and the familiar chandeliers hanging
from the ceiling... posters from past shows and past lives of the hall on the
walls... there's a dazzling burst of lights over your head and then you're
blinded by pin spots as they come to rest somehow PERFECTLY in your eyes...
Bill Graham himself might smile... after he made sure no one was looking,
that is...
This gig went by in a flash... I remember walking in, setting up mics, and
the show was over... a fun blur, pretty much...
They have several people on hand to move your equipment in, for one thing...
we're used to a fast, efficient load with Beau and Team Dark Star but you add
a few guys who know the routine and can perform the delicate ballet of moving
cases without getting in each other's way and you have a truly remarkable
demonstration of how the pyramids might have been built... a true marvel to
behold... it's the sort of thing that brings a tear to a sound-geek's eye, I
tell ya...
I turned around from putting my mics on stands and the band was set up...
EVEN DINO!
OK... y'know how I said being on the BUS was the closest thing I've
experienced to time travel?
Huh.
Scratch that.
I positioned my mics where I wanted them and Dave was familiar enough with
what we wanted to accomplish as far as the input list, so I walked out to the
mix position to see what I had to work with.
Andy the house tech greeted me warmly and after a quick look I decided to use
all house equipment... friends, the place was set UP, with a beautifully
refurbished Soundcraft console (a PRO series this time) and all the effects
and other toys I would need to do my job... there was no need for me to bring
in any of my stuff, which means I wouldn't have to set any of it up... which
means no tear-down... no CLEANING...
Remember what I said about myself and the whole 'WORK' thing?
HA! This was gonna be GREAT!
To be truthful though, I did look around the place with a small amount of
trepidation... it's a flippin' BARN... a big cavernous hall, and the one
thing about rooms like this throughout the comparitively short history of
amplified popular music is that they can have inherent acoustic qualities or
conditions which may impare one's appreciation of a musical performance...
Translation?
The sound gets f*cked.
Not so at the Fillmore in Denver, Colorado.
I'm going to say something here about the Fillmore and I want you to
understand the true gravity of it... I don't bandy this sort of compliment
around, so believe me when I say that the Fillmore is one of the absolute
BEST sounding venues, even EMPTY, that I have EVER had the pleasure to mix...
the ONE thing I would add are some delayed speakers about halfway back in the
room to hit the crowd back there like the folks upfront are gettin' it,
especially given the decibal limit I was given (more on THAT in a moment)...
but SERIOUSLY... I felt EXTREMELY confident after just about a half a song
and after setting the mix I walked around the room... the PA felt tight and
clean, there was a nonexistent noise floor (usually a PA will have a
perceptable "hiss" but not really, here) ... and the low end was punchy
without making the room go "wooooof" no matter what note Hazdra chose to play
on his bass...
One of the reasons for this is that the PA in the Fillmore has a separate
knob on each channel that sends the signal to the subwoofers or bass
speakers... on any larger PA like this the sound from the console goes
through what's called a "crossover"... what this device does is divides the
sound into parts and sends them to the appropriate set of speakers (cymbals
through the horns and tweeters, vocals through the high-mid cabinets and
horns, bass through the subwoofers, etc.)... what having this separation
allows me to do is to only send those instruments I WANT low stuff from (the
kick drum, the bass) to that part of the PA and I DON'T get any really low
stuff from other sources, such as a vocal or a guitar... in the words of
Homer Simpson I'm "Dumbing It Down A Shade", but essentially that's what
happens... just another way of minutely controlling the sound but a
suprisingly rare option in systems I use out there... the Fox Theater in
Boulder and the Aggie in Ft. Collins are set up that way and those are two
other rooms I recall paying the same level of compliment I just gave the
Fillmore...
Yessir... I LOOOOOOOVE Colorado!!!
After checking each instrument Lisa still hadn't shown up, so the band gave
me a little bit of "Masterpiece" and I slid the faders up, bringing the kits
effortlessly into focus around the rest of the band... it was so EASY... and
after about half the song the band fizzled out, turning to tune up and ask
for a few changes from Dave in Monitor World...
Andy asked me if I was OK with everything and I told him "DEFINITELY", which
made him return my beaming smile... Dave also seemed to be in Audio Engineer
Heaven at his console just off the right side of the stage, a speaker set up
for checking mixes now deftly dialed in for his own enjoyment of the show...
satisfied, Andy took off to attend to some other production duties and I
turned and muted the house, completely content with only the briefest of
checks...
Now I ask you: When does THAT happen?
About five minutes had gone by and I was hanging out in the mix position
talking with Bryan when I noticed John counting off, the rest of the band
watching him for their cue... I reached over and unmuted the house, and the
opening strains of "St. Stephen" floated out of the PA... I held my breath
and only exhaled what seemed like several minutes later when they had firmly
established that this was for real... the several people in the hall -
employees and "hangers" - stopped in their tracks... if only for a minute...
to listen.
This was music.
Tenuousness gave way to explosive non-thought and the hall sang for the most
brief time, pourous and sweet lilting melodies making way for dense sheets of
sound...
I just stood there with my arms folded, eyes closed, feeling like the
luckiest person on the planet... the sound swirled and dove, swimming around
me like a ghost as the music truly DID play the band... the jam turned
distinctly "Not Fade Away" in nature and at this point I came out of my revre
and grabbed my decibel meter...
The house had instructed me that I could hit peaks of around 102 dB, 103 max
on 'A' Weighting as opposed to 'C' ... 'A' Weighting means that the meter
reacts much faster and is less forgiving, essentially... and during the jam I
was reading around 101 dB at the mix position, which is good... if I had
people to absorb some of the sound I could turn it up even louder... so at
that point the house was happy... but even when I get a room full of bodies,
it can still only go that loud where I'm standing. That's what I was told...
I'm going to admit to something and this might get me watched a bit more
closely next time I go through the Fillmore to work, but it DEFINITELY went
over 102 dB at the mix position during the second set... SEVERAL times...
Heh.
Yer welcome.
The funny thing is, the house techs DID come out at several points during the
show and take their own readings... it just so happened that those times were
during the intro to "Scarlet" or the like... I was amazed at my luck but as
usual I wasn't about to question the situation, just ride it to it's weird
and hopefully glorious end...
Here's What Gets Me:
At the end of this spontaneous little mini-show, everyone onstage just sort
of nodded that "yeah, that's the way the song goes" and put their instruments
down...
I was numb.
If that was sound check, I couldn't WAIT for the show.
Bryan sat with the house LD Matt Schneider (also of the Fox Theater, we've
worked with him several times) while he coached Bryan through the mechanics
of that particular controller and setting up scenes for the show, and I went
with the rest of the band downstairs to the dining room...
Bryan's a good egg. He clicked with the band instantly and he puts his work
before most anything... even eating... which for THIS boy is sayin'
something... he's a bottomless pit when it comes to eating, and instead of
getting fat the guy just grows UPWARDS... he'ss gotta be around 7'9" now, and
as a result we've had to ask the venues we play to put clearance warnings on
doorways and such...
I kid him almost constantly but I like the amount of dedication he puts into
learning his job... he's got an open mind and a good eye for color blends
(more of a talent than it sounds, I assure you) and he does a lot with a
little as I've said before, not to mention loading in and out... he reminds
me of myself in a lot of ways, really...
... he's lacking in the "Social Miscreant" catagory and he doesn't freak out
when asked to perform manual labor... that's really the only difference...
... and that's... OK.
Bryan DID eventually get fed, fear not... and what a spread they set out at
the Fillmore. There was a buffet of stir fry, tofu, chicken, rice, and some
sort of fish cooked to order while you waited by an on-hand chef... salad,
fresh bread and rolls... dessert tray... and a cooler with a wide array of
soft drinks, teas, etc. ...
In short they did the West Coast Fillmore Tradition proud!
After eating until my belly was distended (and NOT ashamed of it), I wandered
around the club observing the crowd as it assembled before settling down in
the band room (one of THREE I was told about) to hang out with some friends
who had come out for the shows from Chicago and other parts of the country...
Besides Tiny and Kelley, our good friend and constant supporter Box was in
attendance for his birthday making him one of the few to have seen BOTH
Fillmore shows to date, and I saw Bill the monitor engineer from the Canopy
Club in Champaign, IL in there for awhile, reportedly with a whole troop from
the Canopy... John-John (not the JFK Jr. guy but another of OUR "family") and
Larry...
Geez.
It was like being at Martyrs'!!!
Speaking of traveling, there were a lot of people who I met each night from
around the country who had come out to the Rockies to be with us for the New
Year run, and I feel extremely touched when I find that out about someone...
it's the most accurate barometer of what we do, people like that... to spend
your "off" time following US means we gotta be doing something right,
folks... let the news groups rage but the proof is in YOU all, I say... so
while I'm on the subject - Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Illinois,
Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio, California, Oregon, and anyone else's state I
missed... THANK YOU for the greatest compliment you can give a band!!!
Lisa did in fact show up for dinner with her guy, the inimitable Wavy Dave
- badass mutha in his own banjo/bass rite - and we all had a good time
with stories of the previous night's show (Lisa still has yet to grace
Garton's)...
Then, suddenly, "Showtime".
Lisa made her first Colorado show at the LoDo Music Hall here in Denver and
there was a definite pleased buzz through the crowd as she quietly walked out
onstage... she always looks so demure and passive when she first walks out,
and it never fails to make me smile because I know the cannon that waits
within...
"Go ahead, smile... shake her hand... you FOOLS... the woman's about to SMOKE
YOUR GREY MATTER!"
Indeed.
The show was 5/5/77 from Veteran's Memorial in New Haven, CT., and DAMN if we
weren't there for awhile!
Mr. Eaton showed off his 'Bobby' early on with "Promised Land", kicking his
foot, jerking his head, and throwing everything into the vocal mic... after a
lengthy but sort of low-energy "Sugaree" (at least from where I stood) Lisa
took a powder from the stage while the band played a jumpy "Mama Tried" and
"El Paso"...
"Mama Tried" was great, with John lighting a fire under the band, but for
some reason Rob blanked on the words to "El Paso"...
Prefacing this with the same bull-pucky I threw in the LAST rash when
concerning Mr. Eaton and his performance, I gotta say it was funny... a
complete wash, lyricly... but the crowd dug the Hell out of it treating Rob
just as if it had been Bobby up there...
"That's OK, man... we love you anyway!"
... so no harm-no foul...
That's the biggest boon about playing to our audience, they take it all in
stride and don't ask for blood when we make a mistake here or there... myself
included...
... and I've had some DOOZIES, remember???
*koff*
Where was I?
Oh... so after "Tennessee Jed", it was time for Lisa to step up and
deliver... I had been working on her vocal for the brief moments I had her on
the mic up to this point (she missed sound check, remember?), but all my
fears were swept away as she matched Rob and at times overtook him with the
shear power of her presence... later on at the end of the set I got my
now-customary chills when she belted out the "Band out on the highway"
line... and as usual I wasn't alone... well over twelve-hundred people
screamed along with me!
"Lazy Lightning>Supplication" has always been one of my favorite sets of
songs, and doing it with Rob Eaton at the helm has been a real pleasure...
Rob came out swingin', determined to erase "El Paso" at all costs... Scott's
cascading piano perfectly offset Rob's delivery of the difficult lines in
"Supplication" and I shifted gears and became a pure fan again for that set
of songs, quietly dancing behind the board...
Honestly, some nights I feel like I'm stealin' when I get paid. This was one
of them.
After an all-to-short set break where everyone swam through the crowd of
well-wishers and family in the main band room with hugs and stuff all around,
I grabbed some bottles of water and headed back out into the equally thick
crowd... by now we had a house of fifteen-hundred hungry sets of feet to
move, and that's just what happened...
"Bertha" again, this time to open the second set and I think it was more
gritty, more pronounced in it's delivery, than the one in Vail the previous
night showing once again why these guys are doing their job... Rob E. gave
everyone a reason to raise their hands with "Estimated" before a quick tuning
break... there were a few who knew what was coming, but when the Collective
Consciousness of the room caught on to the tail of the "Scarlet Begonias"
riff it was all over but the DANCING... a nice jam with Lisa's sultry moans
slid easily into "Fire on the Mountain", a major cheer erupting when John
finally gave up the signature riff, confirming that the slow boil would
indeed continue...
After "Good Lovin" (one of the songs that broke the sonic Magenot Line set by
the house, dB-wise), the band collected themselves and beautifully recreated
the afternoon's "St. Stephen"... I was told later by a sweaty and grinning
audience member that he preferred the rendition we did that night to the one
he saw with Phil, and not ever having even heard tapes of the show in
question I can't comment... but the tapes are out there... you make the
call...
It made me proud to be part of this band... that's all I'll say.
"Sugar Magnolias" brought the place to a new level of freak-out, and after a
brief huddle backstage they came back for the "J.B. Goode" encore... Denver
let their love be known in no uncertain terms, prompting a shuffling "aw
shucks" response from the band...
Like I said, they truly don't understand the depths they plumb or the heights
they hit sometimes over the course of an evening and how important it is for
the rest of us to feel that ride, even if it's only once in awhile... and how
that elation heals us, feeds that habit we all so foolishly thought we'd
"only dabble in" so long ago, and empowers us to face the rest of our dreary
lives, knowing that the music is in good hands.
The "Mission in the Rain>China Cat>Know You Rider" was about as
crowd-pleasing as it gets... you Colorado folks just dig the big stinky
MONKEY SHIT outa your "Rider" now, don't ya???
Good GAWD, Y'all!!!
"Bar Keep! Sedatives All Around!!!"
As the band left the stage and I faded the traditional "Green Sleeves" up on
the PA, I looked around at all the smiling happy faces, people hugging each
other deliriously... and I thought, "Two Down, Two To Go".
I wanted these gigs in Colorado to be special... not that I wanted something
different for Colorado than I want for anywhere else in the country we
play... don't misunderstand me... it's just that I wanted to come out here
after a line-up change and lots of other stuff and KNOCK PEOPLE OVER... I
didn't want to give them a show for the ticket price, I wanted to deliver the
music into everyone's skulls like they've never felt it...
... and in just about every way I could figger, we done it.
So Far.
We still had two shows at the mysterious Howling Wolf Cafe in Aspen... one of
them being the biggest-touted night of, well... "Any time YOU can recall,
sonny..." or... uh...
Whatever.
Hey... I had Big Dave Miller on my side and the best damned bunch of family
on the road any man could want...
What could go wrong?
COMING SOON: What Goes Wrong, Everyone Gets Right, Fireworks, "The End Is
Near!", and Dark Star Orchestra Performs The Impossible One Last Time In The
1900's!!!
Have a lift ticket on me, y'all!!!