the greatest

it's november, and i've been here on the show since may 4th. my first time playing a show solo was lafayette, LA at the end of may. i threw around some rough numbers - which means i used my cell phone calculator feature as provided by the kind folks at verizon wireless - and figured i've done somewhere around 250 Greatest Shows.

now, one may wonder how one such as myself keeps such a consistant record of greatness. well, let me tell you - i don't do it alone! every single person on the show must give their all EVERY SINGLE TIME out of the blocks. do you REALIZE the pressure involved at not only being part of the Greatest Show, but, as a show is only as strong as it's performers, one must routinely be THE GREATEST. every single action, response, and thought must be The Greatest. if we were to hear "Good Job" after a show, then, our job, we have not done. even "great job" is not par. after the last strains of the Greatest Last chord in a show die away into the echo of the arena - i lean over to my bandmates and say "Guys, ... that was the GREATEST playing on earth" we all nod casually, because, of course, the Greatest - is simply routine.


here, we have Jonathan - by title - the Greatest Guitar Player ON EARTH!! can you, the reader, POSSIBLY fathom the weight on this man's shoulders?! his mind - a steel trap, his hands - FAULTLESS in execution, his creativity and technical wizadry on those six strings? UNPARALLELED!



melissa here? she works at the Pie Car (coinicdently, she's known as Pie Car Mel-the greatest nickname on earth) - provider of the food that fuels the greatest performers on this planet. now, do you think that food to be anything less than stellar? i think not. and who makes stellar meals? The Greatest Cooks on Earth!! THAT'S who!

you see, being the greatest permeates through everything we do. this is no random compiling of persons from around the world! mountains were climbed and rivers crossed to find the most, skilled, talented, NAY, the GREATEST person for each position!


so, how did I get here?! they came and found me in a little corner of the world called San Antonio - the greatest city on earth, as it happens ... and plucked me from my private utopia to fulfill my destiny as Greatest Keyboard player on the face of the Planet. Tall order ain't it? also leaves little room for career growth.

Sunday Nights

i was talking to a friend from back home this past past sunday night - just catching up, chattin. i was telling her about boston (i'm still sorting through the pics - have em up soon) and just the road in general. she said she was jealous that i get to do all these things and go to these places . . . it IS cool, don't get me wrong - but then i mentioned to her how i'm jealous that she gets to sit on a couch! she gets to drive anywhere she wants, visit friends, go to all my favorite mexican restaurants, see all the local bands, etc. . . there're definately pros and cons.

my sunday nights, for example, are a bit unique.

we usually close the show for that city on sundays. saturdays and sundays are the busiest days with 3 shows on sat. and 2 - 3 shows on the sunday. after the last show is load out - as SOON as we play the last note of the exit music the crews get to it. i go change and put my hard hat on and help load out with the sound crew. the whole process takes anywhere from 5-10 hours depending on the building and how many hands we've got. each crew has casual labor, which are performers who want a little extra cash - i'm casual labor for the sound, the other c.l. for sound are some of the chinese - some of the nicest folk on the show! and some of the most efficient workers.

anywhoo, so load out is heavy, hard, long work and is a ton of fun, and the best part is the load-out shower! the bus takes us back to the train after all the wagons and semi-trucks are loaded, while the "transpo" crew takes the wagons back to the train to load them onto the flats.

now, at this point the train is split up into "cuts" and is "spotted" (parked). once everyone's on the coahes they close the vesibules and start hooking the train back up and getting it ready to roll out. i hopped in the shower and was enjoying the time limitless warmth. washing the work off of my hands , thinking how i need a haircut - when all of a sudden the lights go off. this may seem odd, but it's quite normal around here, especially during spotting and hooking up. they have to dettach and re-attach power lines between cars during all this. we've got back up lights, so no worries.

i'm continuing with my dark shower experiencing a smidge of what it might be to be blind, then the water goes off - this is less common during hook ups, but it Does happen. i was done anyway.

this time of night is always nice. i'm out - so fresh and so clean (clean....clean...clean) i slip on my comfy clothes, tidy up my room a bit, put my house slippers on - make some tea and CHILL!

the train's bustling with music and movies, drinking, and talking. no one's allowed off the train, there's nothing to do for the next couple of days, and the pie car's open 24 hours during runs!

when the train makes that first shift and starts rolling -it's pretty exciting - we're not leaving yet, but just hooking up. nice and easy until the cars slam each other in order to lock latches. it's a small jolt - so you've gotta make sure your TV's strapped in with the provided rubber straps and that you've got heavy things down from high places in your room! :)

where else do ya have to do that? that quickly becomes second nature though. train runs tend to be a nocturnal time. people are up late which suits us perfectly. it's a train full of artists, performers and kooky people. not your regular 9 to 5 , tie wearing folk.

and then we're all hooked up and slowly rolling out, the train starts rocking and your engage that train run "walk" head out into the vestibule - raise your glass and say goodbye to whatever city this was - we'll be doing this again next sunday.

video

here's the video i've been working on. it took a little while, and it IS my first one, so it's not great, but i like it.

this is me, jonathan, fulkerson (seated, on the phone), shawn (cooking) and adam (sound guy - w/ iPhone)
this was shot during a train run from Des Moines, IA to boston, MA which was over 3 days long, so we had a lot of free time!

fulk, jonathan, shawn and i live on this particular car - car 190! and the video ends up on the vestibule, which is a popular hangout during runs - really whenever. the hallway is in the car, and is kinda narrow, as you can hopefully see. shawn's cooking in his room, and my socks come off in my room. it's small, but it's home!

hope you enjoy - i hope to make more like this in the future.