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BRENT'S DIARY
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June 10th,
11th and 18th
These past
couple of weeks have been chock full of surprises and
interesting events in the world of Rhythm Method and Light Up.
Read on
for some explanation!
June 10th,
Light Up was scheduled to perform at Bayfest in Green Bay.
The event is held on the UW Green Bay campus and is regarded to
be one of the biggest music festivals the Fox Valley has.
We performed there last year and were unfortunately met with
rain and cool weather which led to a semi light crowd. At
first, this year appeared to be different. We arrived in
Green Bay around 6:30 pm. The sun was shining, the temperatures
were mild, and the scents of carnival food and carnival
employees were prevalent throughout the grounds. We walked
around to see some of the other entertainment performing that
evening, grab a bite to eat and relax for a while before our
show time of 10:00 pm. As Dave and I sat comfortably on
the hill facing the stage we would be playing on in about 90
minutes, we noticed some very dark clouds off in the distance.
After some sarcastic joking and a few rather robust lightening
bolts, we noticed that those clouds and lightening appeared to
be moving in our direction. Fast forward to about 9:15 pm.
WIXX, the radio station sponsoring the stage we were playing on,
was broadcasting live directly behind us. As we were
loading our gear onto the giant aluminum stage with only a roof
for weather protection, the winds picked up, the rain came down
and the severe weather alarm could be heard coming from the
radio stations PA. We were all pretty hesitant to continue
to load thousands of dollars worth of gear onto an aluminum
structure in an electrical storm, but the stagehands assured us
that this was a small "cell" that would pass shortly.
Truth? Not so much. After a brief time, the winds
got worse, the rain was now coming onto the stage sideways, and
the radio station was talking of tornado warnings. GREAT
OUTDOOR GIG CONDITIONS!
Finally, the necessary powers decided to pull the plug on
the night and hope for better luck next time. On the road
back home about three hours earlier than we anticipated.
On to Saturday night.
Saturday
the 11th was RM's return to the Our Lady Queen of Peace church
festival on 27th street. This has become an annual event
and is always a great time. Quite a difference from
Friday, the weather was HOT and HUMID. We had a lot of
friends in attendance which made it that much more entertaining.
The biggest challenge of the evening came in the form of not
passing out due to heat exhaustion. The temperature under
the lights and the choking humidity was nearly unbearable.
We also have a steadfast "no shorts on stage" rule
mostly due to the sheer blinding pastiness of our legs and lower
torsos. The night ended with each of us losing about 5 lbs
of water weight. Gigging beats the hell out of jogging
though, so I'll take it. We had fun regardless and hope to
be back next year.
On Tuesday
of this week, Bobby made an impromptu appearance at Waukesha
Memorial Hospital. No, he wasn't doing an acoustic show
for ailing patients, he was the ailing patient. He had his
appendix removed. Bob is now sans appendix. He still
sounds pretty much the same when he sings though, so don't be
concerned. We were certain that we would have to cancel
this weekends Light Up show at the Three Holy women Parrish
festival on the east side to let him recover, but he was having
none of that. He made phone calls after the surgery (while
in recovery) that he would still be doing the gig. We
thought, "OK, the Morphine is still doing its job, so
that's giving him his optimistic view". Even after
the drugs wore off, he was still saying he'd do it. OK,
the gig is on.
Fast
forward to Saturday the 18th. About 2 hours before we were
scheduled to meet at the venue, Craig called to say HE was in
the hospital. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? We aren't
Skynrd, what's with the curse? So, we had to figure out
how we would cover the bass parts without Craig. After
much discussion, we decided that Steve Fry our soundman would
wing it for the night. Steve played bass and guitar in the
past, but the past few years he hasn't played much and although
he's heard us do the songs A LOT, he's never actually learned
them. So, after setting up the PA, setting up our monitors
and doing our soundcheck, Steve, Dave, Ray and I gathered in the
gear trailer to give Steve a crash course in Styx bass
101. Steve had about 20 minutes to go through the songs
and learn the basic parts. We also had Bob play bass on a
few tunes to lighten the load on Steve. Both of them did a
great job and my guess is the majority of the crowd didn't
notice much difference. Hopefully this weekend at a Taste
of Delafield in you guessed it, Delafield, will be a normal
gig. If things continue as they did this week though, I
should expect my hospital pager to go off notifying me of the
birth of my baby about halfway through the gig. Hope to
see everyone this weekend. Including all you guys in the
band.
Brent
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