BG> "out"  I
BG> messed up my right wrist bad on a bike fall that has kept me
BG> mostly
BG> incommunicado and not caring most of the week. Sorry bout
Ye-ouch!  Take care of that hand... You can't play keys or do much work with 
it bummed out! :)  I had a playful 80lb puppy (grins) playing tug rope with 
me and he ran out of rope... He lunged for it and got my right hand instead, 
not causing any breaks in the skin, or even in the bones... but did do some 
nerve damage... Took me nearly 6 months to be able to play the keys longer 
than 30 minutes a DAY without being in pain.  That made for working on 
original stuff, getting tracks laid or even doing much typing on the computer 
very painful... There were days I couldn't even tolerate the pain very 
well... (Motrin, take me away!). That was about 2 years ago and it still 
bothers me from time to time... especially when I just do too much turning of 
screwdrivers... Since I do quite a bit of typing and keyboard work, at least 
it doesn't bother me too much from that... But I did literally have to come 
to a screeching halt for nearly 3 months.  It was hard not to sit down at the 
piano and wanna work on stuff... cause everytime I'd start, my hand would 
start throbbing...
BG> was neat though is that no one was upset that I was only
BG> working one  handed on that call when they saw the swelling going on.
BG> Prehaps  it helped reinforce that I'm aware that "the show must go on!"
BG> which, I still have a Hammond B2 that I've cursed for many a
BG> year about lugging that thing around, but until recently nothing came
BG> close to that sound in a smaller package. You mentioned lugging one of
There are a couple of pedal pieces of equipment out now that do quite well at 
simulating the leslie effects.  I heard them both at Alamo Music here in San 
Antonio (Just can't recall their names... but I'll find out for ya!).  One of 
them has it's own speaker (nothing the size of the Leslie cabinets... Not 
even as big as a 12 inch full range cabinet.).  And any electric keyboard or 
synthesizer or EVEN guitar can be played through either one of the pieces of 
equipment.  My pick was the one that had its own cabinet.
Plus Technics and Kurzweil have come out with drawbar modules... Technics 
even makes a work station that includes drawbars in its features. I've heard 
the Technics work station but not the two drawbar modules.
BG> equipment and the drummer and after hours of setting up and
BG> testing the  horn players walk in, open their case, put their instrument 
BG> on the stage  and wonder what's taking so long. Grrrr!!!!!
Been there... Had a lead vocalist put her tamborine on stage and say, "Hey 
guys, what's the hold up?  I'm set up!"  If I remember correctly, she got 
some drum sticks and a few other things lying around stage thrown at her! 
BG> rampant. I does unnerve me a little when EVERYONE knows who I
BG> am, and I
BG> don't necessarily know everyone on the call though. A recent
I know that feeling well.  I guess in my situation it is because Jeff (the 
s-o) is usually on the same job site as I am and he's been through Freeman, 
IATSE and the decorators 756 for a while.
BG> two doors down a couple of weeks ago!!! I don't often get
BG> offered or ask
BG> for easy duty on any call though I did appreciated those that
Well, I've never asked for easy duty, either!  In fact, I've told 'em to 
expect the same work from me as they would anyone else on the job.  THe only 
day I got any slack was the day I got hurt on the job... and I just didn't 
have to do freight on the dock or any stuff on ladders.  The next call I was 
on it was back to business as usual and I got put on a 12 foot ladder taking 
down overhead signs and pediments!  I think if there were more females 
working decorating in San Antonio area, the guys would get used to us being 
around. I've had bosses move me to other locations on the job site just cause 
a guy said something that the boss didn't think he should have said in mixed 
company.  (I reran the guy's comment over in my head and told the boss later 
on, away from the other ones at the site that I didn't take offense to what 
the guy had said... I guess the leadman was just afraid there might have been 
further off-color remarks and he was only trying to *nip 'em in the bud!*
There's not a handful of female decorators (either with IATSE or with 756 
Painters and Other Related Trades).  I guess if there were more, there'd be a 
more evenness across "the board."
BG> Now, they're finding out that the reason I'm into all of this
BG> stuff is  because I am a musician first.
Ah-ha! The truth comes out!   Well, we all must do what we must do!
On several of the shows I've done in Austin (as a decorator's helper) there 
have been several working musicians doing the "day Job" thing cause gigs were 
slow or not paying enough to just play.  Two of the guys work together in a 
blues band - drummer and guitarist.  The drummer decided he didn't want to 
jeopardize his hands doing decorating.  We've seen the guitarist several 
times, even down here doing some floral setups for shows. He said he had to 
quit the decorating too, because here and in Austin, the decorators do their 
own freight, not like most other jobs Freeman does, which has Teamsters 
and/or Sullivan Transfer do their jobs.
BG> "middle of the night" to me at the moment!
Just got in from a Darrell McCall show (part of the band playing with Darrell 
is doing my session work, as well as having me do session work on their 
stuff). The sound sucked the first set.  Jeff and I couldn't convince the guy 
who owned it that he needed to kill about half of his highs  - squeals 
rampant on the vocal mics ( and the volume for the mics was not hot enough in 
comparison to the instrument amplifiers.)  The guitarist finally came off 
stage and told the guy he was gonna fix it... and preceded to fix it, with 
some help from Jeff and me.  (About 30 seconds or so).  The "soundman" 
thought buying equipment made him a sound man.  He's not gonna be working 
with the band anymore ... maybe renting the equipment and someone else run it 
(Talk is Jeff and me, if I'm not on stage doing some vocals).  Like you, I've 
done a lot of sound work, but I'd rather be singing or playing! 
But whatever puts food on the table and a roof over the head...
Nancy
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