tired

so - i'm losing track of days here - we're getting one day off a week, but it's not regular. and i think if it weren't for union rules they'd work us every day! it feels like winter quarters is never going to end and there are all these people there everyday, but no fruits

until today - we had the first run through of act I. over the past few days, the band has been staggering our lunch so we can do sound checks while the floor is empty.



there's a great deal of scheduling for the performers to get their floor time to rehearse and block their own acts. of course there's a lot of space and several preformers so there are always acts getting their stuff ready.




it's not all toiling and brick making though - there have been 2 nights of note - Gag Night and Act Night

Gag Night is where the clowns presented what they've been working on - different acts to be or not to be the the show. there were solo and duet acts mostly and one 4 man act that was great. it was great to see the clowns in their element doing something fresh. everyone's been doing the same show for 2 years now - so there's definately that excitement here in WQ despite the long days...

12 clown gags in all, and i believe 6 were accepted.

last night was act night and was most of our first peeks at the new acts. you'd think with all this circus people flipping and jumping everywhere we'd have seen SOME of these acts by now ... but we, the band, are locked up in this back room playing this new music almost as quickly as it gets written and printed in yet aNOther cave of a room with all the orchestraters, composers, and copyist in it. if i'm not there, i'm off at my keyboards programming them and revising and re-organizing samples and loops and patches orders.... it's tedious, but fun ... but ... tedious



so ... right .. act night .... it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a show of sorts and they laid it out as best as could be done - it was dubbed "The Greatest Act Night on Earth" (for a more detailed expounding of Ringling's protocol concerning standards of greatness please click here

the acts are shaping up to be classic circus, and i couldn't be happier

there's a trapeze act! and several handbalancing and contortion act!

we had neither of these things this past tour.

the new tiger act looks great - more tigers and the tamer is a charmismatic guy with great presence

we've also recently at least run acts I & II so there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel - mostly we're just trying to stay focused and get sleep where we can.

...and back

now, i'm done with home as quickly as i started ... ?

i'm here in florida along with what seems like the entire Ringling family. this is as close to home base as the circus comes to. we'll be here until the new year - HQ is the florida State Fairgroiunds in Tampa Bay and it's where the new edition of the show is being put together. from acts to costumes to lighting design and music - it all gets put together HERE.

it's quite a a sight - this army of people putting together this massive ... thing! the clowns are are one side of the arena practicing - stilt walkers stretching - dancers have mirrors set up on the other side practcing their moves - we're set up in a back room rehearsing all the new music as it gets printed out and sent to us from the guys writing it in yet aNother part of the complex.

it's very fast paced - we work 6 days a week from 9-6 - and things get done.

This whole ordeal is called "Winter Quarters" a funny name considering we're in florida where it is now 72 degrees and it's 7PM! not quite the winter wonderland. not that it was any cooler in San Antonio - but there is little around to let us know that it's December, much less that Christmas is close by. My world right now is COMPLETELY Circus!! i'm at the train or at the fairgrounds - no malls playing Xmas tunes - no walking around downtown with tinsel and bell ringing santas - nuthin. it could be JULY for all i know!

we're getting 1 day of off a week and it's long days at the stategrounds ... Ryan (keys II) and I spend most of the time and extra time (lunch and after/before work) programming the keyboards for the show. it's a tedious process, which is fun - just a little repetitive sometimes and i find myself pretty tired at the end of the day ...

i'm taking pictures on my camera phone to put up soon. in case you missed it - i think i lost my camera somewhere in boston - possiby the North End.

home

i'm home finally for a visit for t-day. it's been a while and made longer given the craziness of where i am/was

i've only got a week here before i fly out to florida where i'll be for a month while we write and prepare the new edition - 138th edition of the show for next year..

i'm trying to see everyone and eat all the home food i can before heading back out.

no posts for this week cause of this.

hope all is well with everyone - and Happy Thanksgiving

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.

pics, pics, and more pics!

well, my camera cable came in! and we've been having much fun on this past run from Indianapolis to Des Moines. First, as promised, here are the long awaited photos :
Some Wonders of Houston

yup, that's right! down in Houston, TX there's a house covered entirely of beer cans! When i first read the article touting the Seven Wonders Of Houston I was under the impression that the house was MADE of beer cans, as in , the structural integrity of the entire building was dependant of cans previously used for debauchery... however, upon mine and Jonathon's arrival we discovered that while it's not comprised or "beer can bricks" it is still impressively covered from top to bottom in flattened out cans.

We started to "wonder" (get it?) if anyone actually occupied this residence upon spying the mailbox out front - well, apparrently, whoever does likes to save their pennies and gets the weekly coupons, perhaps to buy more building material.



And ... here's a HUGE statue. Out in one of the suburbs of Houston is a giant statute of Quan-Am, one of the Buddhists deities. not much to say - it was huge and the temple was beautiful.

Quan-Am, one of the Buddhists deities. not much to say - it was huge and the temple was beautiful.

there was a man praying inside the temple, so i chose not to go in, though people were free to. It was a little overcast that day and really muggy, but it was a nice break to just walk around the grounds and get some nice shots.

now, to be fair, this wasn't "exactly" in Houston, this was in Sugarland, but who's splitting hairs? We got lucky in this town as Jonathon had family and was able to borrow a car for the 2 weeks that we were there. Uusally it's all cabs and feet when exploring the cities, and cabs, while convenient, can get pricey - so we've been known to fit was many as 5 Passengers in a standard issue cab! We're all family afterall, right?

man in camoflauge standing on a picture of a horse?
check!

that's "Pie Car" John. It's pretty simple - we call him that cause there's where he works: at the pie car. We've all done that at our work places - identify people by their department : "Ya know, Rachel from receiving." "Have you met Robert from HR?" etc... only here, it's more like "Floor Amber" (people who work props and set on the floor), "Concessions Billy," "Kate-nursery," Aaron from elephants." "Exotics Laura" (works with the exotic animals) and, of course, "Jay-clown"
We're in Dallas there, and they opened up the Dallas Mavericks' practice court for us to mess around. Ah, the perks of circus life! I'm kidding!
Now, to be honest, those aren't "really" camo pants. if you look close it's actually a bunch of images of culinary items like mixing bowls, and spoons, and such. those are his work pants. I think they're pretty nifty - but employees of the pie car don't seem to agree - i'm still trying to convince them to sell me a pair.

by the way, I'm Jaime - Band Guy