It’s All In The Smoke And Mirrors…

So over the summer, I've been sent by my work to do audio for a series of rock concerts. It's been great; a nice break from a long string of corporate gigs. Some of the shows have been completely awesome and a small few have been atrocious mostly because you see how stupid and petty people can get when they get a little bit of fame, but what has most intrigued me is this illusion of the rockstar. Not all of the talent I have worked with has been like this, but tonight in particular has been interesting. We take Band X (anonymonty added) whose philosophy on life is equal to their music in contributing to their success. Every bit of food on their hospitality rider is labeled "organic" and the stage looks like a tie-dye activity gone horribly wrong. They preach the message of "going green" and free spiritedness and oppose institutions like fast food and the wealthy (they're on stage barefoot…how hippie!). They all seem like nice folks, don't get me wrong, but if you take a step back and see what is actually happening you see the 45-foot tour bus that has traveled across the US all summer and is now burning fuel idle while powering the plasmas and cool AC inside for nearly 12 hours. You see the band members arrive to sound check with Dairy Queen food. You realize that by the amount of merchandise and crew they employ (and not to mention that tour bus) how much money these guys are raking in. You realize that the stage power they're drawing with the massive monitor console they're hiding in the green room and lighting rig that could light a small city while overloading wall sockets with strings of lights to illuminate the merchandise…again, the merchandise…and you see the litter of cigarette butts they flick on the ground as if it wasn't them.

Then, at 9pm, the stage lights up, and they walk around barefoot and tie-dye wearing speaking of revolution and how we're killing mother earth. I guess the carbon imprint the size of Montana left by this tour doesn't count.

I'm not saying I give every decision I make a "green" solution, or that I'm so self-righteous to be judgmental, I just think it's intriguing…and I'm not prancing around a stage pretending electricity doesn't exist and good karma surrounds me…

It's dawning on me how everything in the world is fake…Morpheus was right…where are those stupid pills when you need them?