I did a last minute laser gig for "The Goonies 25th anniversary" in Astoria Oregon (and by last minute, I mean they called me at 11:55pm on Friday night and needed me in Astoria Oregon for load in by 3pm Saturday! So I rushed to my shop and prepped gear for the show, got it all loaded in my van and went home to catch a 2 hour catnap.
On Saturday, I got there at 2:45 and the stage wasn't even up yet, so I waited and tried to find the LD. By 5pm I was a little anxious to setup and talk to the LD who had told me he would be there by 3pm so I had to be there so he could go over his ideas.
Finally at 9pm the stage was up and I got to start my setup, which didn't take any time at all, but then the real headache started...
The LD finally got there at 9:45pm and instantly started making a fuss about how everything on the stage needed to be moved 4 inches this way and 2 inches that way and it just got worse. I feel I need to mention that the LD has terminal cancer and is in a lay down wheelchair, so he can not do anything for himself.
So next thing you know, the band comes in and does a sound check for 5 HOURS!!! Which would have been a great time to go over the LD's ideas for the concert, but he couldn't get his shit together and every time I asked for some sort of queue list or ideas about what his vision was, he called me names!!! I really mean that, he was calling me every derogatory name in the book, I was shocked... I kept my cool and replied, "I am just trying to get some sort of idea about your vision so I can make a queue list, can I show you a little of what I can do and you can tell me what you like and don't?"
His reply was, "I said I'm Fuckin busy you little faggot!"** (but he was just sitting there watching the band practice while picking his nose and examining his boogers!!!) The name calling continued every time I came up and asked him any question or was within earshot of him.
At 4am the band finally finished their 5hour sound check, and it was time to shut the generators down. I finally had a talk with the LD, and told me he would have all the cues for me the next day when I got there at noon for the rehearsal. So I went to my hotel and passed out.
The next day I got there at noon for rehearsal, well I thought we were going to have a rehearsal... I spent the next 5 hours waiting for the LD to get me the set/queue list, getting called names every time I asked.
At 5pm they started to let people in for the concert, still no cue list. Needless to say we didn't do any rehearsal, let alone get any cues for the two hour show, so I had to deal with him yelling over the radio for the whole show... I want all red..... All blue.... only the greens... no make the center all white..... Now make the beams move to the exact guitar strings he's playing.... WTF? I was luck that I brought my 4 computers and had 3 Pangolin's and Phoenix live on a 4 input 1 output printer switcher... I had graphics loaded in 2, and beams loaded on the other 2...
Well, finally the show was over and I tore my gear down and was all loaded up within 55 minutes of the last note... Another hell gig down for the record books....
Here's a link to part of the show...
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=OkGkuROX_20
Oh, did I forget to mention that it was for "Corey Feldman's" band "Truth Movement?" LOL