SONNY!

The Sonny Landreth show was really good. I haven't been to a concert that I had to pay for, that I liked that much, in quite a long time. Read: "I rarely go to concerts that I have to pay for." Really. I simply: "Know Too Many Guys/Speak The Language" to have to pay. Not that I want a Free Ride. I'm fully willing to perform some menial duties for my admission.  My "dues" are: "Paid In Full." Once you have the shtick  down, it's not that difficult to: "Talk your way into a show." It's all smoke and mirrors anyway.

Regarding "Paying Dues..." I had the displeasure of working some really awful shows in my previous incarnation as a Lighting Designer. One will always stand out: Bad Company at The Starlight Amphitheater in Sandy Eggo. The band's "Tour Manager," a guy who, literally, looked as though he'd been "poured into" a pair of too tight leather pants and platform soled shoes, BAD British teeth and an attitude to match, wanted to tell me "how to do my job" one evening. He threatened to "climb my ladder and tech me a lesson" as I was focusing lamps upon Gaffer's Tape X's onstage.

I, in my usual Levi's, Chuck Taylor Low Cut's and some obscure Rock n' Roll T-Shirt, just looked down at the Guy, waggling a 16" Crescent Wrench and said: "Come on up, Leather Boy." I knew he couldn't climb the ladder in Those Shoes. He stomped off, cursing me, to find the show's Promoter. Bill, the Guy Running The Show, told him: "Leave my Lighting Guys alone. They're Professionals." Which, of course, only made Leather Boy angrier. I traded The Finger's and Fake Smiles with him for the duration of the show, fully expecting some sort of physical altercation with him after the show.

It never came to that. His SUPER FANTASTIC LIMEY ROCK BAND was given a luke-warm reception by the So-Cal Crowd and he was snorting some raspy stepped on blow backstage as we started our Tear Down/Strike/Pack It Up For Tomorrow ritual. Never saw the fucker again.

The only negative at the Sonny Landreth show was having to explain to some youngster that he was "sitting in my seat" and I wanted it back. Youngster attempted to school me on the finer points of "seat saving" whereupon, I suggested to him that perhaps pouring a beer into the seat he was now occupying might do the trick. I got my seat back.

Met some nice Locals at the show, particularly a Photographer that has taken some nice shots of my Buddy, Mark Karan. I recognized his name from those photo's. Nice Guy. Got his business card and will swap lies with him later. He rents Hammond Organs to bands passing through town. NOBODY wants to lug around their favorite Hammond B-3 on the road. Too many BAD THINGS can and usually DO happen during said cartage.

I took a few Snap Shot type photo's during the show. I think I forgot to "up" the film speed to ASA 800 or so, which may have been a "good mistake" since the Theater had a white backdrop behind the stage. So, my light meter was reading all the white "bounce-back" from that. I'm not up to speed on photographing concerts indoors, with a digital camera, yet. My little "entry level" Nikon Cool Pix unit wasn't really designed for that stuff. I am, after all, A FILM GUY, anyways. No problem shooting an indoor show with film. The lighting at the Sonny show wasn't all that conducive to photography, either. The overhead stage lights were pointed toward the "Dance Area" in front of the stage.

Anyhow: Good show, got a Shuttle Ride home and woke up the next day without a hangover or a black eye. Perfect!

-Doc