HI James,   
      
   YOu wrote:   
      
      
      
    RW> after the show, because I tried to anticipate their needs.   
      
   JB> I think Joni Mitchel said it well, "You don't know what you got 'til   
   JB> it's gone."   
      
   YEp, think I did rather well at that too, and they confirmed that.  I keep   
   telling people that in this business it's the   
   ears and people skills that are important.   
      
   JB> When we packed in the bass-players buddy, we were shopping for a new   
   JB> tech. As a sub, we had a fella that mixed international acts in   
   JB> stadium shows. Later, I realized he was in charge of an Alice Cooper   
   JB> show I attended at our football stadium, (I forget if this was the   
   JB> first time I saw Jeff Beck. There was *somebody* I was there to see.   
   JB> }:-) where I saw a stack get blown down during a rain storm. Anyway,   
   JB> within ten minutes, this fella had the reverse slap echo in place   
   JB> and the room tuned. I couldn't BREATH on my kit without it sounding   
   JB> like I intended to, and the whole troupe KILLED the show all night.    
      
     Seen that sort of thing before too.   
      
   JB> The second night, his boss from his day gig (*The* PA supply house   
   JB> here at the time.) filled in. Everybody left the stage at *every*   
   JB> break frustrated. BTW, Alice Cooper had some good backing, but was   
   JB> he EVER a drunken mess at the time. I heard his rider included "...   
   JB> As much golf and Canadian beer as I can handle" or words to that   
   JB> affect.    
      
   YEp, I enjoyed Alice Cooper's backing band, saw them a   
   couple of times, Welcome to my nightmare tour was my first   
   at Vet's auditorium, which is an awful place to do sound in, basketball   
   arena.  I'ved mixed monitors more than mains   
   there.  Btw this is Des MOines IOwa I'm talking about in   
   case anybody wonders.  Second time I saw him was at HIlton   
   Collossieum (spelling) in Ames, Ia.   
      
      
    RW> Biggest problem I'd have with them was communication, they   
    RW> couldn't just use hand signals and point to tell me what   
   JB> ...   
   JB> You whining *again*, Richard?  This   
   JB> brings up *another* point regarding your lack of sight and how it   
   JB> might influence your workday that I never imagined. "Take it to the   
   JB> SURVIVOR echo."  I'll serve you cheese to go along with it   
   JB> there!     
      
     Just a fact of life they had to live with if they   
   wanted to communicate.  IT wasn't that big a problem,   
   closest mobile person to me would come over and say   
   something *if* it had to be said.  But, as I commented,   
   usually I did fairly well at anticipating the performers'   
   needs.   
      
   JB> Ya, I never *thought* that the size of the menu display was a   
   JB> non-issue to you before today!   
      
   Yeah that's sort of a bug too, if you know the device, and   
   button pushes are repeatable.  ONe thing I liked about most   
   Alesis gear.  Exit a menu from anywhere in the structure and everything goes   
   back to a default.  Roland otoh is an   
   adventure, enter a menu, value stayes where it was, you have to guess if you   
   don't remember where you were last time you   
   edited parameters in some menu you use rarely.   
      
    RW> As well as what the different lubes are supposed to be used   
    RW> for.   
      
   JB> I barely know what lithium *is*, but I *think* I can use it   
   JB> appropriately. Automobile lubricants and small engine oil I'll   
   JB> likely *always* struggle to understand, but I make it my charge to   
   JB> find the right one on the shelf and hopefully catch it in time if I   
   JB> grabbed the wrong product in haste. It's all good to know what you   
   JB> can, and look it up if your unsure.   
      
   YEp, that's what I find myself doing, wd40 for loosening   
   that stuck fastener, good ol 30 weight motor oil for the   
   engine, preferrably not the synthetic because they tell me   
   once you use synthetic you have to stick with it.   
      
   IF ya got a good mechanic keep him.  Every time I find one   
   around here he either goes out of business and goes to work   
   for one of the chain shops from hell or moves away, or dies. My main man for   
   remote truck died, but think I've found   
   another guy.  Remote truck's going to need a new engine,   
   thanks to its age the modern formulations of gasoline with   
   the alcohol additives do awful things to seals and all that   
   good stuff, so a new engine is in its near future.   
   Thankfully one can get a new gm 350 c.i. engine, and the   
   tranny's still good in it.   
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)