BEHIND THE SCENES WITH AFT # 10 - STAGE ROADIE FOR AFT

This is the only photo of me taken during an Anthem For Today show that I know of.  To me, it is "the show within the show."   As the stage roadie for AFT, this is my usual position - crouched down in the pit, between the band and the audience, awaiting an urgent message from the stage.

During the first song I am totally alert. If something is going to go wrong, it will happen in the first minute. From my position, I'm watching for cues from the band about something they need adjusted. Often it's the in-ear monitors where one guy wants more guitar or less vocal. Each guy has a different mix and when once the audience is in the room, the acoustics of the room change. I'm the guy who relays that information to the front of house mixer Evan Duran​.

If I'm not down in front, I'm off to stage left or right, picking up subtle cues, or helping swap guitars or pulling sweaty jackets off without disturbing their guitar cables that run up their backs.

It always amazes me how all the musicians know where I am.  Because of the lights on the trees above the audience, usually the band can't see past the first row, especially if the Leco spot lights are on, but somehow we make eye contact.

The non-verbal, mime-only communication is especially magical with band lead singer Pip Lucas. Pip is able to convey most things to me with nothing more than a quick finger gesture. Sometimes, it's the in-ear mix he wants changed, or he wants a bar stool, or a towel, or wants to drop a song.

In most cases the audience would not notice our invisible communication.

Depending on the venue, I may have to push kids back from the giant sub speakers, on which, we have two LED lights. These are easily aimed and a bump from the audience could knock them off target, so it's my job to re-aim them to center stage.

Beyond stage roadie, my role with AFT is also Business Manager, Road Manager, Merchandising guy, Booking Agent and Personal Manager - I'm not sure which one I love more. I'm glad I don't have to choose.

TERRY FOX

I like Terry Fox stuff almost as much as I like the Rolling Stones and Geoff Moore!



One of his shirts.

There is a touring exhibit about Terry's run, now in its 35 year, on display at the Museum of History (Civilization) in Ottawa.

I followed it on the news in 1981. He was one year younger than me. Since then, I've been to the monument in Thunder Bay where he ended the run, the location where he started in St. John's and his gravesite in Port Coquitlam. (That makes me a stalker?)

Here's some of the display.

The main leg - he had an alternate that wasn't as comfy.

Same leg - other side.

Terry's daily journal.



"The stinky" van.

Me and Terry.



His sock (check the holes) and shoe.

Presentation by Darryl Sittler.

The jug of water Terry filled in St. John's at the start of the run.

TWO BOOKS - THE MUSIC BIZ

I'm usually reading two books at any time - one devotional for my spiritual life and something for fun like a biography, or music industry book, and once in a while - fiction.

For my role as Band Manager for Anthem For Today, I've got a hunger for information about the music industry - backstage stuff, how stuff works, marketing and hype, learning to connect with smarter people than me. All of it will help me guide AFT's career.

Two books I read on vacation might be of interest to you if you like music industry books. "Everybody Wants Some" by Ian Christie is the story of Van Halen. Being a classic rock fan, (and maybe a musicologist), this book told their story as kids, making people think they're the definitive California band even though none are from Cal, breaking into the music business doing free shows, going through lead singers and of course - how their manager saved the day.

The author goes through each Van Halen album, how each were planned and marketed by their manager. Actually they had three over the years - all brilliant guys.

There's a lot of junk in the book (sex, drugs and tattletale stuff) that I skipped over. But, overall, I had a hard time putting the book down, even while looking over the ocean from my cruise cabin.

The other book I read is "Roadie - my life on the road with Coldplay" by Matt McGinn.  The amazon description was so good, I ordered the book immediately. I'm not a Coldplay fan - in fact before reading the book, I only knew one song. (I know, I know - I'm late to this party!)

Matt is the full-time roadie for Jonny Buckland and the book is 50% about his off-stage work for Jonny - which is what I wanted to know.

Unfortunately, I don't think there was one single page that didn't glorify beer and F-bombs. It was excessive and after jumping pages, I absorbed the info I was looking for.

There was a redeeming factor - his emotional descriptions of events were bang on. Like, standing with the band backstage, for the two minutes before the band goes on stage - it's a nervous, brotherhood  moment - hard to put into words, but Matt did. I found myself saying, "Ya! Ya! Me too!"

Overall, it's a positive book - there's no dirt or gossip about Coldplay.

My next book is "We Are The Road Crew" by Ken Barr. I'll let you know how it goes.



THE BALTIC

The Baltic Cruise - August 15-22, 2015.

 

August 12 - (evening/overnight) flew to Copenhagen, Denmark

August 13 - arrived in Copenhagen self-tour

August 14 - Copenhagen - biking to the beach

August 15 - depart via Royal Caribbean

August 16 - day at sea

August 17 - biking in Stockholm, Sweden

August 18 - bus tour of Tallinn, Estonia

August 19 - bus and canal tour of St. Petersburg, Russia

August 20 - biking in Helsinki, Finland

August 21 - day at sea

August 22 - arrived in Copenhagen, flew to Toronto; home

 

Here are the photo highlights.



 

 

DENMARK
Our hotel - crazy modern on the inside too. This is an actual photo from the road; the hotel sign is
outfront and you can see my shadow, just to show it's real. We biked or walked to "The Metro" subway to get around. Cool city - we liked it.
 

The plane ride - squishy, on Air Canada.

In Copenhagen - Amager Beach. Mostly manmade with an intercostal beach. It was about 7 km from our hotel across town.

Biking in Copenhagen. Good times.
 

SWEDEN
Biking in Stockholm - 15km with tour guide, stopping outside the Abba Museum.
 "Sorry, no time to go inside!"

The bike ride was 3-hours. Our tour guide wanted to add some extra stops - we wanted to go back to the ship so we joined another nearby ride that was ship-bound. Until that tour guide took two extra stops and in the end he said, "you can go back to the ship - it's ....down there." Swell. Unorganized, no provision of water for the ride, otherwise, the scenery in Stockholm was awesome. Very bike-friendly city.

Stockholm - very nice. We liked.

ESTONIA
We took a bus tour in Tallinn, Estonia. Lots of old stuff - churches, cathedrals.  While I'm not into old churches and stuff,  I did find it interesting that Russia invaded Estonia several times - a bunch of wars - and only recently (August 31, 1994) did Russia pull out.  What is odd, is that they have monuments that commemorate the fallen Russian soldiers who took control of their country. I asked the tour guide -  "why would you memorialize anything Russian?"  The tour guide didn't know.

The original wall around the town of Tallinn.  If you like history, you'd like it.

Hanging outside.

Bus tour - stopping at the Song Festival Grounds. They say 300,000 people attended a concert here. I find it very hard to believe - the photo doesn't do justice, but 300,000?

 

RUSSIA
 In Russia, a Royal Caribbean excursion took us to an old (boring) palace. it was a really long tour. Here, we're in an underground walkway where a mystic faith healer ("and holy man" they say), Rasputin was running around. The "must see" portion of the excursion was our low-point of the day.



In the palace, on a wall was this painting. I stared at it wondering why it was familiar. I snapped this photo and then realized it reminded me of an album cover....(below)



This cover of the Rolling Stones "It's Only Rock and Roll" album. Hmmmm.  Ok - I know, I know - only I would notice something like this. I know. Not sure if there is a connection. Don't know the significance of the cover.

Canal tour in St. Petersburg. There was actual traffic jams!  Canal boats lined up to dock. It was so bad, that we dock against another boat and walked across THEIR boat to get off. Saw a bunch of old churches and stuff. Not recommended.
 

The worst souvenirs on the entire trip. They sell a lot of Matryoshka wooden dolls that stack on inside the other. I think I got one for xmas when I was four. Ugly and useless. I think these non-cute dolls are the biggest industry in Russia. No other souvenirs were interesting.

From the bus, "Oh there's St. Petersburg square over there....look...oops it's back there now!"  This was the only shot I got thru the bus window.  The only thing I wanted to see in Russia and it wasn't on the stop.

Something old in Russia. Everything is old. I was uninterested in this port and upon leaving, was happy to leave.

FINLAND
This was the most enjoyable port. It's funny how we rate our feelings about a country based on unrelated events, such as the tour guide. Unlike the bike tour in Stockholm, this was on time, organized, water provided, and pleasant guide.  Here is their Olympic stadium but -  "Sorry, no time to go inside".  We biked thru the marketplace so quickly there was no time to shop either. That was a disappointment. However, all of the facts about Finland he announced, made this country one to remember.

The railyard - I thought this was kinda cool. Our bike tour briefly stopped here.

Finland - down by the shore people bring their carpets and beat the dirt out of them, wash them on the table and hang them to dry. Everybody's doing it. Apparently this is a popular thing to do.

On board.



Sibelius Monument is dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius

Too many photos to go thru so I just picked a few. Overall, the trip was "ok". By far, having a balcony stateroom was more enjoyable than the ports. The downsize of the cruise was the internet cost - $240 for a week, for two people. I sprang to buy 24 hours for $36. Crazy.

Looking more forward to San Francisco by Royal Caribbean!

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH AFT #9 - KINGDOM BOUND 2015

July 25, 2015 - Me and the boys at the Kingdom Bound Festival at Darien Lake, New York!

We headed down a day earlier to ensure we wouldn't be late due to traffic or border crossing issues or getting lost - nothing would hold us back. And, we breezed across the border without any problems, just a minor speeding ticket in Pembroke NY, and then a quick check-in to our hotels and cabins, rode some rides, met a zillion fans, and experienced a few blessings.

The one thing that impacted me was the size of the festival. Not the attendance but the structure of the operation. Having been to the festival many times, I always saw it from the fan point of view, which is still incredible. But from a band point of view, another world opens up - a world of volunteers working in many departments, and I'm sure I only saw a sliver of the organization.

For example, our credentials allowed us to eat catered meals backstage with the VIPS. There were greeters, a dozen or more servers at the buffet and a dozen chefs. Awesome food and incredibly organized.


Setlist
 

There was a transportation department for picking up artists at the Buffalo airport and then shuttling artists, like us, on the grounds around the pedestrian traffic to wherever we needed to go - from the dinner area, to the stage - anywhere without problem.

The festival organizer is Donna Russo who has "coordinated" the show for many years but she has a team of managers, and people under each of them. I can't imagine the systems they have in place to make sure everyone is communicating and doing what they need to be doing, across the many acres of theme park and four days of scheduling. Truly unbelievable. And, she had time to hang out with us!

The biggest blessing for me and the boys came from Denny Keltzman. Denny was the festival Stage Director, hired independently for this specific event, who oversaw all the roadies, the union guys, the volunteers, the bands, the band crew - everyone. Denny has been the Road Manager for all of dc Talk's shows, and an endless list of other artists.

Through a friend with some backstage pull, I was able to get the boys backstage on the P.A.C. stage, before soundchecks for a tour of the stage set-up - with Denny.  Denny spent nearly an hour with us, explaining contracts and riders, how soundchecks are handled, how cues are given to the local production guys and which bands soundcheck and which ones....don't.  We saw how organized the side stage is to roll off one drum kit and roll on another - already positioned on a riser. It was an incredible hour of information from a veteran stage director, who took the time to pour into ....little old us.  Unforgettable experience. For me, it was the highlight of the entire two days at KB.



Stage Plot
 

Now....Anthem For Today.

We were contracted for two engagements.  First, in the morning at the Amped tent, with the middle schoolers. The boys hung out, jumped around with the kids, and ended with a Q&A by the kids.  Erik Arneth was the director of the Tent - a total-kid person and very charismatic!

Then, we played on the Park Stage at 4:30. The artist on before us had a very small audience of maybe 25 people so we worried that our audience wouldn't be much bigger, but it grew - maybe 200 fans, many of whom came to see AFT!

The boys blasted through a five-song set! And .... then it was done!

Kingdom Bound - we LOVE you!

Below, some pics of our visit!

Robbert in the bumper car.

GI, too.
 



Dinner before the rides!
 

The Amped Tent with fans.
 

Q&A in the Amped Tent
 

The Amped tent - hanging with the kids. Band on left.
 



The boys with Festival Director Donna Russo.
 

Backstage Tour with Denny Kletzman
 

The PAC backstage tour

 OUR SHOW ON THE PARK STAGE!

Add caption



"The flip" - during "Falling Asleep"



Me, GI, Davey, Jordan, Evan, Robbert and Pip.

After the show, meeting fans.
 

 

AFT on the festival t-shirt, with all of our other
favourite bands!