Sometimes you weep, sometimes you dance.

A few saturday's ago i had the oppertunity to work a 21 hour day. Yep. how exciting you are asking yourself. Well it wasn't so much the hours that made it an eventful day, but believe me with as horrible as the Las Vegas entertainment world is right now, i wasn't complaining about that. It was the event i was working. There was one reason that i pushed my self through a 21 hour day. That reason is none other than the Piano Man himself. Yep, Billy Joel.

So at 6am I began my day loading in for Billy Joel. The load in ran until 3pm. I then jetted to my 2nd job which went from 3pm-10pm. And to finish off the day i loaded Billy out from 10pm to 3am. Fun right? So if you are a young, aspiring stagehand the answer is. JUST SAY NO!

Anyways, the reason i was able to get through this day is because i love BIlly Joel. I think he is by fare the best live entertainer and am just blown away by how well he can entertain crowds of 20,000 all by himself.

Often times when we take on a "load out" call, it means showing up to a still performing act. You have the Jonas Brothers, Blues Travelers, and such that you could really give 2 shits about. But Billy Joel!!!! As a side note, i have to just say here that I am cool as a cucumber when it comes to working backstage. I would never step out of line, take a photo, or shot someones name. In fact, about 3 years ago i was working a Rolling Stones concert, just hangin backstage waiting for the show to end. We had about 30 mins before the show was over, and i was asked to stand by the loading docks. It just so happens that the loading docks are right next to 3 limo's, so i sit tight and enjoy the rest of the show backstage. ... Can't Get No Satisfaction...Can't Always Get What you Want....Jumpin' Jack Flash... It's great. Well the show ends and out walk the Stones. They all walk to seperate limo's, mind you. And right as Mick Jagger is getting into his limo, out of nowhere this dude sitting right next to me that i had shared maybe 10 words with shouts out "Mick, YOU ROCK MAN!!!" I wanted to murder the dude. Anyways, you don't pull stupid shit like that when you are waiting to work for the band.

So back to my 21 hour work day, I am racing back at 945 pm to get to the load out of Billy Joel. As i had said i was so excited to do this load out. I get there and check in and am assigned to my local roadie for lighting. He walks us backstage and tells us to hang tight before the show is over. And begins to explain to us what he is wanting us to do when loadout startes. Now i can tear a rig down without instruction. Here is what I recall...

alright guys A bottle of red, a bottle of white It all depends upon your appetite so we have about 30 mins Cold beer, hot lights My sweet romantic teenage nights before the band is going to be Brenda and Eddie were thePopular steadys And the king and the queen Of the prom done and exit the stage. Brenda and Eddy were still going Steady in the summer of '75. They have about 5 songs to go. But there we were wavin' Brenda andEddie goodbye. You guys hang here They couldn't go back to The greasers The best they could do was Pick up the pieces and then we will hit the stage the second that Billy walks past. That's all I heard about Brend and Eddie Can't tell you more than I Told you already He will walk right past you here and get in his limo. A bottle of red, a bottle of white Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight. I'll meet you anytime you want In our Italian Restaurant Cool? Alright i am going to step outside and grab a smoke. Its nine oclock on a saturday. The regular crowd shuffles in Ill be right back. Alright, so why don't we go over a few things for load out.Theres an old man sitting next to me, Makin love to his tonic and gin Moving Lights go upstage He says, son, can you play me a memory? Im not really sure how it goes But its sad and its sweet and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger mans clothes place the truss Sing us a song, youre the piano man, Sing us a song tonight. Well, were all in the mood for a melody And youve got us feelin alright source four pars will be hot Now john at the bar is a friend of mine. He gets me my drinks for free. And hes quick with a joke or a light of your smoke, But theres someplace that hed rather I want you guys to grab the boxes over there with the carpet in them and take them upstage. Now paul is a real estate novelist. Who never had time for a wife And hes talkin with davy whos still in the navy And probably will be for life. And the waitress is practicing politics As the businessmen slowly get stoned. Yes, theyre sharing a drink they call loneliness. But its better than drinkin alone Then we are going to put the lights in the crates and place them back where you got them at outside.And the piano, it sounds like a carnivalAnd the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar. And say, man, what are you doin here?


As you can imagine. I didn't catch a single word of what i was suppose to be doing, come load-out. But i guarantee i was singing every lyric of Piano Man. Yes, sometimes my job rocks!!!

And to top it off, when the concert was over and 20,000 fans are screaming for "Mooooooooore" and "Encoooore", who is standing next to his car, waiting for him to get in and drive away. Hell fuckin' yea!

And yes load out went great and i had caught everything i was suppose to be doing.

Beating the Status Quo

So recently if you haven't heard, i have been without a job. Not totally without a job, but definantly without a full time job. I was working full time at Danny Ganns, when they decided they only wanted or could afford 1 lighting guy. Thus, i was number 2, and had to be released. Now prior to this I had just started to think that things were looking up becuase i no longer had to depend on the part time- on call stagehand work i had begun to do in Vegas. Well having felt i was secure in my job at Danny Ganns, i would then turn down the on-call work i still got phone calls for.

Now that i am no longer full time at Danny Ganns, i have spent the last week calling all my previous employers to tell them i am still in need of the on-call work. It has been a hard adapting process, cause you never know when your next day of work is going to come. Thank god Amelia got put on a 5 day run at the MGM Grand and a 4 day sit down run of Thomas the Tank Engine.

So anyways, waiting for the on call work to start picking back up, has left me with alot of free time on my hands. It really gives you the amount of time to reconsider where it is you want your life to go and what is next for you. I have spent alot of afternoons in the Panera around the corner of our house (because the internet is free) surfing and searching for what might be next in my life.

I know it may seem odd for those i last toured with to understand that i am seriously considering touring again, but really it is the life i know. As much as i am enjoying being off the road, having moved to Vegas has just added alot of uncertainty and frustration into the picture. So alas, i sit and try and reevaluate my lifes worth in Panera.

Its hard tring to pick up on call work and be told that you are the most qualified or perhaps overqualified stagehand that Vegas has ever seen. And i am not one to be cocky, but it is so frustrating to be told that there just arn't any current positions open other than on-call positions.

At any rate, i try to get up every day and be positive. One day a door will open.