Stage

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The Worst accidentsof History

Rock the Bayou Festival

James JohnsonRoadie of the month

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A Night to Remember

Rock the Bayou Festival

Roadie of the month

FIFI SEZ Mark “FIFI“ Miller

The Worst accidents of History

Road Crew Comic

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Director Manuel Rojas

General EditorCristina Beltran

DesignerCamilo Diaz

PhotographerManuel Rojas

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I know for some of you, your saying “now what the f u c k?”, for others you rather enjoy it when I go off the deep end. Don’t bother reading any more if you think that this is whining. Really stop reading! As I have said so many times before, if you don’t like what your watching, reading, or listening to, change the channel, stop reading, tune to another station! It’s you God given right, well at least the last time I checked…

First and foremost, on a show, I am not a therapist; I don’t have time to listen to your problems. I have a job to do! I am paid for doing that job in a timely manner and will not get paid if I don’t do said job as I’m sure you will not be paid if you don’t finish your job! I do enjoy a good story and am guilty of quite a few infractions myself. The reason that I say this is because I had to spend the weekend with one of these types of people. As you all know I will trip over my own shadow on the ground and can dance like a ballerina in the air, but I’m not allowed to climb anymore. I had tripped over a lip on a dance floor made of plexi glass and told above said person to FIX IT! After a few minutes I was given a twenty-minute explanation on why the floor couldn’t be fixed… I DON’T CARE! A yes or no answer will do just fine if you can’t fix it fine, move on… Don’t sit down next to me looking for fatherly wisdom while I’m trying to program a show.

If a woman trips over it in high heels you’re the one that will be in front of the bus…. Sorry but that’s how life works… Your job is to deal with the floor NOT to befriend the client or have the client buy clo-ths for you! Yes that’s right the client bought clothes for this person! I’m still trying to get over that one… On the trip home he asked me to drop him in his

This has been a long time coming…

neighborhood, “Oh it’s just off the freeway” no it wasn’t, it was five miles into Brooklyn! I understand doing a good deed or two but this guy pushed all the limits in two days. If you’re going along for the ride be considerate of those that you are with.

Next, when the hell did DJ’s add drums to the whole pic-ture? Like the music isn’t bad enough you gotta add live drums? What I would suggest before you go buy that drum kit, learn how to mix!!! I haven’t met a DJ that owns his own system that can make it sound good. Not even close. Also another tip, listen to what the client wants! It’s not about you it’s about the people paying you.

And wedding bands just cause you think your good doesn’t mean you are. And it also doesn’t give you a reason to jack yer price from $3000 to $10,000 just cause you know the people are rich! You still suck, you still butcher somewhat good music and word of mouth is your worst enemy. Young people that you play for wouldn’t know if it was good music if it reached out and beat them in the head.

Well I have to say that felt good to get that out!

That’s it for tonight

More to follow

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As I drove around the airport loop count-less times waiting for Watkins’ delayed flight to land, I had plenty of time to speculate how the evening would be. In my mind, it would be a mixture of the old and the new - friends that is.

A Night to Remember

I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing old friends (one who “aged” so well I didn’t recognize him and he looked fabulous), mee-ting new friends, putting names with faces, and hugging friends I never thought I would hug again. My highlights of the evening were announcing the Roadie of the Month (in per-son!), listening to the talented bands, enjoying the venue (which I thought was fabulous), and the tribute to Chief. We have Chiefbear, Hugh Horn, Scott “Tattoo” Delancy, Andy

I look forward to next year’s LollaPalooza, and I hope to see many of you again. Have a great year and be safe. Or as Karl would say, stay loud.

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Hujdich, Sidephill Robinson, Zak Godwin, and the bands to thank. Good job!!!!!! Also, the Bloody Marys weren’t too shabby. Roadie.Net’s first Hall of Fame inductee will always hold a special place in my heart. Karl and I spent 36 hours with Ben, and that time will always be memorable. Even after being on his feet all day and night long and getting to bed well after midnight, this special person was there to greet both Karl and me at 6:15 am in the hotel lobby, and the three of us en-

joyed a cup of coffee before KK and I headed out to the airport leaving him behind to enjoy more time in Nashville.All this made me realize that the size of the group will never matter. It’s the friendships formed and maintained and the love of your jobs that make it all so special. Even though I may never understand that love (as many of you love to point out – but hey, ½ of the web-site is funded by moi), I can still feel that love when I am in a room full of roadies.

Which I thought was fabulous.

The Roadie of the Month in person!

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The inaugural Rock the Bayou festival had a sim-ple plan. It courted more than 100 rock and glam-metal bands to play loud music on the former Astroworld grounds. Crowds steadily increased over the weekend, though there remained plenty of room for more.

Vendors have been selling everything from temporary tattoos and earplugs to Ed Hardy clothing and skate-boards. The grounds also included a Ferris wheel, which was usually unoccupied. Fans — many sporting tattoos, sunburns, skinny jeans and long hair — got to mill among four stages.As for the music, there has been lots so far, and it has been loud.

Saturday night headliner Sammy Hagar likes to do things big. His set was a full-on rock spectacle and the first performance during the festival’s two days that seemed worth its own admission price.

Houston TX 8/29 - 9/1

Rock the Bayou

Festival

Hair bands are loud and proud

at the Rock the Bayou festival.

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Here we are again in Houston

He also had a party on the mostly red stage. A throng of fans stood on risers behind the band, clicking came-ras and sipping yard margaritas.Every song in a set that included I Can’t Drive 55, I’ll Fall in Love Again and Straight to the Top incited a full-on singalong.

Earlier in the day, Lita Ford quibbled a bit about the sound early in her set, but quickly hit her stride run-ning through anthemic tunes Hungry, Falling In and Out of Love, Black Widow and Can’t Catch Me.She closed with her biggest hits — an Ozzy Osbourne-less Close My Eyes Forever and, of course, Kiss Me Deadly.

Great White mixed old and new, led by singer Jack Russell and his voice, which still has a bluesy crackle. Recent tune Back to the Rhythm fell in line with the band’s old sound. And, of course, a cover of Once Bit-ten, Twice Shy was a highlight.

Houston teen band Metavenge’s first of two RTB sets boasted an astonishing amount of power. (The band also performs today.) Their sound was ferocious and unrelenting.Vocalist Anthony Cruz Jr. has the intense eyes and steely stage presence of a true rock player. It’s impressive to see a young band gain so much ground in such a short amount of time. And even better when it deserves it.

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James Johnson has been in the busi-ness for 23 years. He started out at the age of 13 years old. “It all started out when I was in junior high school. I had some buddies that had a Christian rock band called Small Town Poets. They let me go out with them for a weekend, and I just fell in love with it. Back then the only way to really learn this busi-ness was the school of the road. You lear-ned hands on! The day after I graduated from high school I went on the road for six weeks and I have been on the road ever since. In fact, when I was in school, I was out there every weekend.”

James JohnsonRoadie of the month

There is nothing I don’t enjoy about my job in the touring industry.

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My first seven years of touring was in an SUV mini-van with a trailer

hitched to the back.

James has worked for the following ar-tists: Small Town Poets, Sonic Flood, Plum, Joe Diffie, Trace Adkins, and Gary Allen. He is presently the produc-tion manager and FOH enginneer for Trace Adkins.

Since James is a FOH engineer, I asked him if he liked analog or digital console. He said that as a mix he likes them both. “I have a digital console out here on the Trace Adkin’s tour. I do like what the digital console offers and the flexibility of the plug-ins and the capability to get what you want, but at the same time, I do miss just reaching out and grabbing a knob.” I asked James if it was hard to make the adjustment from analog to di-gital. “Not really. I found it fairly easy. I spent a solid week on the digital console just setting it up and playing with it.”

James tells me the reason he got into this business was because of the free-dom of this job in the industry. You get to see things every day that other people don’t get to see. You also get to go pla-ces that most people don’t get to go. “I love everything about the production business in this industry. Even the worst of it. In fact since I started on the road there has been so many changes.The bi-ggest has to be technology. You know now you can go anywhere in the world and still have communication. We tra-vel out on the bus with satilite televi-sion, wireless internet,and cell phones.

James’ advice to men and women who want to work on the road is to keep your complaining to a minimum, keep your heart right, and just love what you do.

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Years and

Thousands of Tears

7 years and thousands of tears later, we are 100 lifetimes ago from Feb 20th, 2003 when The Station nightclub in West Warwick RI burned down, in-juring and killing many.... I ask this: Have we learned?

To be honest, I don’t know if they have or haven’t; and laws can really only do so much. Laws cannot stop fires, murder, or any other cri-me be it intentional or otherwise; but these things are not what I’m asking about if we have learned. There are many scenarios, many situations in life, and indeed many tragedies, but have we learned?

I do not mean to offend anyone or by any means minimize this tragedy, the victims of it be they survivors or not; nor do I mean any disrespect to the families, the memories, or the extended victims of this tragic event; but I must still ask: Have we learned yet? Have we learned about the greatest tragedy of all: The loss of our humanity.

There is nothing we may say or do to bring our loved ones back; and again, I do not mean to minimize or offend anyone or anything with my words; but we can honor the victims,their fami-lies, honor ourselves, and honor life itself by living

Have laws changed for the better?

Fire codes updates?

The flames consumed all the place without the firemen could do something.

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Years and

Thousands of Tears

in the present moment of Now. We can live in fear, in pain, in bitterness, in sorrow, or we can choose to live in joy, in happiness, and in love, in honor of these these things. I mourn the tragedy of the fire, the loss of human life; but I rejoice in life itself and the undying nature of it. I know that life itself and all within it go on; and so do we because we do not HAVE life, we ARE life.

While our loves ones are merely just beyond the veil of our perception of this realm, they are not lost to us unless we become lost in our loss and no longer live life, but merely exist. For that is the loss of our humanity, the tragedy of our soul, and the one true death.

7 years and thousands of tears, still I remember and I cry. Humanity reborn.

May you find peace within.

Have we learned yet?

Have we? Have you?

Do we remember?

Are we more kind?

Have we changed as individuals?

As a society? In what way?

Do we live in the moment of Now,

fully conscious, awake and aware

that all is temporal?

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Peter Frampton Concert Canceled

6 Roadies Injured

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We’ve just learned that tonight’s concert involving country music star Trace Adkins ‘will’ go on as planned. That word comes just hours after a fatal crash involving one of Adkins’ tour bus north of Shreveport.

Authorities tell KSLA News 12 that two people are confirmed dead, believed to be the two people in the pickup truck. They also tell us that Adkins was not on the bus during the crash.

Caddo Parish Sheriff’s office now identifies the two de-seased as 21-year-old Justin Maxey of Fouke, Arkansas (driver) and 36-year-old Jeffery Ferguson Jr. of Texaraka-na, Arkansas (passenger). Both were pronounced dead on the scene by the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office.

There were 9 people on the tour bus. 5 bus passengers were taken by ambulance to North Caddo Memorial Hos-pital in Vivian with minor injuries.

Trace Adkins tour bus crash

Investigators say it appears the truck drove over the cen-ter line and crashed into the tour bus in north Caddo Parish. Investigators tell KSLA News 12 several witnes-ses said the truck had been driving rather wrecklessly prior to the crash.

The concert was scheduled for this Saturday night at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, where he’s expec-ted to perform with Martina McBride. A CenturyTel spokeswoman informed us this afternoon that there are no changes at all for the event.

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Peter Frampton Concert Canceled

6 Roadies Injured

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Lucky Star officials have canceled the Yes, Peter Framp-ton concert at the casino after strong winds caused the stage to collapse Tuesday afternoon.

"It's a very sound structure. It's capable of handling winds up to 80 miles per hour," said Mark Rodgers, Lucky Star Ca-sino Marketing.

Six workers were injured. Two were taken to the hospital, one worker suffered a broken leg. Others say it's a storm that came out of nowhere.

"This was a single gust of wind that did this. And a minute later there's not an ounce of wind left," said a stage worker.

Event officials said 10,000 tic-kets were sold to Tuesday's con-cert that was set to start at 8 p.m.

The concert will be resche-duled for a later date, but refunds are not being offered.

Peter Frampton took to his Twitter page to discuss the concert's cancellation.

was the speed of the

sound at the moment

of the disaster.

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Big Valley JamboreeStage of

collapse

“The stage is in a million pieces”

“Lightning, hail, thunder . . . it looked like a tornado”

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Organizers in Camrose have cancelled the remaining performances at the Big Valley Jamboree after a stage collapse and death Saturday night. One person was killed after a fierce storm sys-tem in central Alberta brought down the main stage at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, trapping several people Saturday evening. The stage collapsed at around 6 p.m. just as American country singer Billy Currington was wrapping up his set. People at the music festival say the storm came out of no where and caught everyone off-guard.

Witnesses say the stage tipped forward and then collapsed backwards while dozens of people were sitting in designated seating on top.

Within moments Dalsin says he was only able to see a few feet in front of him as heavy winds and dust caused blackout conditions.

Emergency crews wer on scene attending to those who were in-jured. Reports say as many as 80 people may have been injured. At least 15 people have been taken to hospital, and many others are feared trapped under debris. Four people have been classified as “critically injured.” Country singer Jessie Farrell said she watched the stage collapse from her trailer and said it collapsed inwards like it was in an “explosion.”

On her Twitter account, she said Currington’s face was bloodied but he appeared to be OK otherwise.

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