I Need A Roadtrip…

I know, those of you who have kept up with me the last few months are saying, "He's been all over the road." It's been primarily for work and there have been moments of leisure, but I need something bit different. I need to be in my little Yaris with some granola bars, pretzels and a cooler full of diet sodas and Vitamin Water. I need to stop at an all night diner I might get food poisoning from. I need to talk to some local gas station attendants about their kids even though it doesn't impact me at all. I need a stack of albums I love and another stack I have yet to decide to listen to along the way. I need to see those friends I miss so much along the way.

What I have now is great, I'm just ready for a temporary sidestep. What I have now is traveling for work on a somewhat regimented schedule between rock shows and corporate conferences. I meet stuffy CEO's, prima donna has-been rock stars, legendary rock stars that are truly great and young talent that have greatness in them. It's been a great adventure with lots of stories to tell.

I guess I'm just wired differently, I just come alive in the night air and good music.

I guess I just miss the hills and castles of Scotland and the 13 hours finding myself from Delaware to Indy and back.

Maybe when I get back from this leg of shows, I'll take a day and just drive. Who knows where to…

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?