Deployment Day 27

We were supposed to fly out today.

I say supposed to.

We get up before the sun at 5:30am. Hit the armory for the guns we had turned in. Then head over to the pallet and load up our bugout bags. After turning in sheets and being checked out of our tent we move to the favorite places of all travelers the Terminal.

Side note: I find it interesting that when referring to a disease that will kill you it's called Terminal as well. Aptly named.

Our flight was originally scheduled for 9:30. Then we were told it was moved up to 8am and then moved back again to 9:10 and it starts to rain and thunder, and we are given an indefinite time. We had a gig at our next stop at 3pm. That is slowly being cancelled as the minutes slowly tick by. So after a lengthy wait it was decided that we would stay put and try again tomorrow. So what do we do.

We wait around for the people to pick us up from the terminal!!!

All of our bugout bags are thrown on to a pickup truck along with a few of us.

We get new sheets and head back to the tent we were living in the past few days. I love my new blanket.

So we will try again tomorrow to go to what was supposed to be our next stop after the place we were supposed to be in tonight.

I would really have to title this post "SUPPOSED"

LOU

Deployment Day 26

Tonight we play the MWR tent. The load in was a breeze as our pallet was stored right near by. We were supposed to play outside on the larger stage but due to possible weather and high winds(think sand blaster) we played inside.

This gig was also fun. I had a hard time getting the energy to get up for this gig but as soon as we started everything felt pretty good. We had a girl sit in with us on this tune "No One" she was pretty good. She said she had auditioned for the band but didn't get the job. I don't see why as we have singers much worse than her.

Anyway This gig went really smooth as well. Playing the solid 75 minutes or so really works. If you take a set break for a short gig, especially here, people are less likely to stick around. Here is my random rocking out picture.

I think I would get better if I played some more "Washboard Hero".

LOU

Deployment Day 25

We played at camp victory tonight. There was a basketball court outside the morale building. It was well lit but the generators running the lights were extremely loud. We had a decent crowd of army people. These two girls from the previous night showed up with glow sticks and were ready to party.

Here is a great picture of them from the previous nights gig. This gig went really well, very smooth. However we did play "Let's Get Loud" which is an absolutely horrible song to begin with. Then take away the studio magic and have a live band play it and it's bad news.

Otherwise just having fun and sweating my ass off. (From dancing not the heat.)

LOU

Deployment Day 24

Same type of gig tonight. Our equipment vehicle has once again been downgraded to a van. Which is great. Easy to move in and out. So we drive out to this base that is about 20 minutes away. We arrive to setup and we get the classic plywood stage. Very wobbly and crappy. I didn't care and don't think anyone expected any better.

The gig went great. I'll have pictures soon. I know Jim took a lot of pics because he was in the way a lot while we were playing on stage taking pictures. (Amateur Hour)

Everyone there was very appreciative. It was a little weird to be thanked so much. We dragged some people up on stage to play cowbell and shakers. These two army girls were having a great time. I was having fun too. I end up dancing around like an idiot. I sweat through a shirt pretty much every gig. Mike and Nate have been looking for images in the sweat mark on my shirt. It's become like a gross Rorschach test.

After the show I had out CDs like crazy which is great because we want to get rid of them and people can leave the show with a souvenir.

LOU

Pineapple Express

I forgot to mention Jon and I watched Pineapple Express at the movie tent here on our day off. But we had to work for it.

When we first went into the tent there was a guy from services hooking up the VCR to the projector but it wouldn't work. So he kept unplugging and re-lugging in the same cable. Jon said,"Help him out Lou." I waited to give the guy a chance. I find it annoying when people help me when I'm working through an issue and they ask to help when I have control of it and I just need time.

Anyway

I gave the guy 5 minutes. He still couldn't figure it out. So I walk up to help. He said he couldn't figure it out. I pressed the source button on the projector and put it on "Video" and it worked.

So we start the movie and it sounds AWFUL! They have it running through a mixer and out to a set of speakers. So after about a minute or two of not understanding the dialog I ask Jon if we should fix it. He was as annoyed as I was. So We open up the rack and it is a mess. So after tracing some lines to various speakers we figure it out and re-wire it up properly. We sit back and (ahhh) I can understand everything with no problem.

I just wonder how many people have just sat there and accepted the terrible movie quality.

LOU

Deployment Day 23

Finally we have a gig tonight. We all meet up at our pallet, which is stored in a big services tent. The truck that shows up is huge. Bigger than the ones we use at home to move a big concert rig. So we just throw all our stuff on there. There is still loads of room.

We arrive at the gig. We are playing at a hotel for anyone that will listen. We mostly had Australian air force guys show up. They were fun. We are playing on this back patio area. It reminds me of D.C. Lots of light from the building you're next to. A large body of still water. And buildings on the other side of the water with large lit up pillars in an older architecture style.

I had more power issues. They seem to follow me wherever I go. But they were quickly solved.
The gig was cool I had a good time. We played a Cissy Strut and it was really groovin'. That was the highlight of the gig for me.

So we pack up our gear and a different truck shows up to pick us up. Much smaller this time. But we left the backup keyboard on the big big truck. It didn't dawn on us until we saw the keyboard laying out next to a big truck being loaded full of baggage. How fortunate for us we didn't lose that crappy Casio keyboard.

Luscious cake for all.

LOU

Deployment Day 22

Today was a day off. So I'm hanging out with Jon giving out CDs and we met this guy from the utilities shop. He had some great stories about meeting James Brown, a really cool guy. So we ran into him again at the chow hall. We were talking about the nice chapel area where they have a fountain and the guy told us they installed it. He also said we should check out the utility shop's cabana. We walk over to the Utility shop which is close to the chow hall.

Here is Jon outside and you can see that these guys are into their job. So we walk in and hand them a box of CDs for their guys. They take us on the tour of the shop. This is my kind of place. Built with scrap parts and inginueity. All the door have a counter weight made out of a water bottle and 550 cord. It makes it an automatically closing door.

Here is a shot of their cabana. What a cool vibe. It was like a beach resort hotel area. They had mood lighting made out of runway lights that charge via solar power. The pool had a waterfall flowing into it. The pool itself was made out of a water storage container. It's over on the right. The hot tub is in the center. It was made out of the bottom of a tall standing water container. The ladder in is made of PVC pipe as well as the seats in the hot tub. The toilet in the left corner belonged to Saddam. It is now being used as a cooler. All of these things were made with scrap parts that would have otherwise been trash. The only thing purchased was the filters for the pool and hot tub.

This darker picture is the same place with out a flash so you can see the cool vibe they have there.

What a cool and interesting place to work.

LOU

Deployment Day 21

We fly out today on a C-17. So we head over to the terminal to palletize our gear.

I took this picture to show the two band pallets. Ours is on the right.

Jon took a moment to pause and reflect on the subject.
After palletizing we head to the terminal to get ready to leave. What a comfortable flight it ended up being.

As you can see we had a lot of room. We got in and were put up in a tent. Here is my area.

We don't have anything tomorrow so more ping-pong will be played.

LOU

Best Wizard Nuts

I thought I'd share this snack that I found at the Desert Eagle Lounge.

LOU

Deployment Day 20

We fly out some time very soon. So the blog may be on a halt for a while until I can get a good internet connection. 

This marks a third of the way through our deployment. Huz-zah!?!

LOU

Deployment Day 19

We had a random gig crop up that the other band was supposed to cover but they got stuck somewhere. So we covered it.

The gig was rocking. I was sweating a ridiculous amount due to the heat and humidity. So I took off my glasses and set them down during the show. Sure enough I sat right on them. So I'm rocking it with the BCGs for a while until I can get a new set of glasses. Fortunately I should have a new pair in a week. Unfortunately I'll be gone for longer than that. 

It's nice to be back here in Qatar but it is so hot that I don't want to venture outside. I feel really bad for the groups that are here during the summer months. That must be brutal.

Oh more snags with gear. One of  my wireless mics broke so I have to go wired from here on out. It was so much easier with wireless. Oh well.

Refer to the picture in the upper right hand corner for a great BCG shot.

LOU

Deployment Day 18

Today I catch up on laundry and sleep. Oh and my three beers a day. What Joy!

LOU

Deployment Day 17

Well we dont have much to do here in Qatar. So I'm taking the next few days off but I will include some pictures I've been meaning to post.

Here's me rocking it spoon style at the Oasis Bar from day 6

And here are the Marines we entertained on day 11

LOU

Deployment Day 16

We return from our trip to Afghanistan. It really was ok. We have a few days of hang time at the Deid before we head back out on the road. All our planes and flight were on time if not early. Lets see American Airlines or whoever messed up our flight out here do that. 

Sweet Dreams,

LOU

Deployment Day 15

Tonight we have a gig at the Navy birthday ball. We are playing at
some kind of Dutch banquet hall. Very low ceiling, wood paneling all
around, and high planks at every door way. It must be a dutch thing to
prevent water from coming in and to keep foreigner stubbing their
toes.

We were fed at this gig. Probably the best meal I've had in a while.
Which either says alot or very little for the food here.

It was a quick gig. I think we played a total of 6 tunes but it was
pretty rocking. I had more marines dancing with shaker eggs. And we
had a Major sit in on drums with us. He was pretty good.

We head home tomorrow to the fabulous Deid.

LOU

Failure Sandwich

I made a panini sandwich at the chowhall. They grill wasn't as non-stick as I'd like. I think that I claimed the title as the first idiot to ruin a simple sandwich.

Congrats Lou Congats.

LOU

Brit Compound

Jon took me over to the super cool British compound where they have
a lot of great entertainment including a movie theater, and a indoor
futbol court.

Here is Jon chasing after my girlishly kicked pass to him.

LOU

IBA

Here is a great picture of us in our full "battle rattle"

Good stuff.

LOU

Deployment Day 14

Good morning.

Once again we are playing the boardwalk. There is a marathon on base today. We played early at around 5:30 for all the people running the marathon. It's really hard to be motivated to play when your tired and it's still dark out.

Tim Horton's doughnut shop hooked it up though. I once again had too much to eat.

We took a 45 minute break or so and then played another few tunes. It was brutal. Some of the tunes the band hadn't played in a while. And they felt awkward and clunky. But we struggled through.

After this short set we took another 45 minutes and came back to play again. When we got back to play another set the plans had changed and we decided to call it a day. I guess no one was really interested in hearing us. I don't blame them.

Here are some pictures of the none audience.

LOU

Deployment Day 13

Tonight we played the same gig across the street with the electric show. This is when I found out about the power problem.

So I decided to try and tap the other outlet where people plug in their laptops. This power metered really strange as well. I had 60 volts on the hot and 50 volts on the nuetral. I just don't know enough about power in order to really feel safe about plugging things in. I didn't want to fry anymore gear.

So I said we should not plug anything in that can't auto sense the high voltage. The show went great as well so that's what made it all worth while, I guess. Although some of the tunes where a bit awkward with Mike playing lines on the melodica instead of the keyboard. It was a little strange.

Our gig tomorrow is EARLY in the morning tomorrow. We report at 4 am.

UGH!!! I need to sleep.

LOU

Deployment Day 12

So our gig to the other base nearby was cancelled. I guess I'll have to wait to ride on a Blackhawk.

Rather than take another day off we decided to play a gig at the boardwalk across the street where everyone hangs out. We played our acoustic show which worked out great. I did run into some major problems with power. I took my juice from the hockey rink, where there is a standard edison outlet. I checked the voltage from the hot to the ground. It metered at 120 volts.

Perfect!

I began to plug things in and when I turned on the Bose stick (yeah Bose Stick) it popped and blew up. I turned it off. I rechecked the voltage. There was 80 volts on the nuetral. I think they wired a regular U.S. outlet with 200 volts or something was just fucked up. Anyway. I fried the stick and the power adapter to Dustin's guitar amp. I'm so angry I didn't catch this and angry that this kind of wiring just happens and is ok here. It's just not safe.

Anyway the gig went on as planned and the audience really dug it. I heard a few Candaian guys say it made their night.

Not bad for a random gig added to fill a day.

LOU

Deployment Day 11

Our gig was for a group of Marines that were getting ready to head home. I had a good time with this gig.

They served us some outstanding bbq. I ate way too much. The gig really started to pickup at the end of our second set and the third set. I was giving out shaker eggs and toys
for them to play.

The table that was the most rowdy in front of us was having way too much fun. For the last tune they all had some kind of percussion toy and they were marching around the camp area making as much noise as they possibly could.

It was great. I hope for more like this.

LOU

Deployment Day 10

The Day Of Nothing

I really like days like this when I'm on the road because it gives me a chance to reorganize my stuff. Catch up on sleep/reading/movies/whatever.

Today is that day.

I doubt nothing will happen so I'm writing this blog in the morning. I will update as neccesary
but It probably wont be.

However,

I did find another picture on my camera of someone you haven't met.

Mr. Whiskers is Jon's trumpet puppet. A Trum-up-pet if you will. They were designed to help control the loudness of Jon's sound during the acoustic shows. They work wonderfully. I think Mr. Whiskers (as seen is this picture)

is taking it kind of hard.

I hope to catch a glimpse of the elusive Buster. I've seen him but I have yet to photograph him.

Nothing and loving it,

LOU

Deployment Day 9

So we arrive. After a 5 1/2 hour flight and another 1 1/2 hour flight. We are tired a bit punchy. But in good spirits. The weather is much nicer here not as hot. We are staying in a nice set of rooms.

There are four to a room.

Here is my little corner.

Not much but I have the fridge control and the light shines on my bed when people go
in and out of the room. Sweet!

All we had to do was travel today and tomorrow so it's going to be really lax.

So after dinner I plan on having an epic nap, making a call home and then going right back to bed.

Shorty blog tomorrow,

LOU

Deployment Day 8

Alright here comes the being flexible part. We thought we were going to leave Monday,

which was technically correct. But at 2am! So that made our report time Sunday evening. We
found this out 3 hours before we had to leave and we were working on the updated customs form.

So Nate, Jon, Preston, and Myself pound through the customs form items. I made a quick call home. I then hauled ass for the bus stop so that I could pack up my stuff. Amazingly enough I found time to get a beer at the bra and still make the report time.

So we arrive with our gear at the terminal. It's now pallet building time. We run into a friend we
met in back home that we gave a ride to. He helped us build our pallet and get it all together. It ended up being a larger pallet than I expected but still on the small side of what It could have been.

So now we head to the terminal. We get our grab and go food. We then proceeded to Gate 2.
Gate 2 had a lot of great graffiti of people signing their name and when they were there etc.

Nate decides to write "USAF Band Of The Golden West"

and then we signed our names under it.

Hilarity also ensued as you can see by this picture.

We got on our plane right on time with minimal issues.

I'm our pallet guy so I have to make sure our pallet is on the plane with us. This was not entrusted to me at all. As at least 4 people asked if the pallet is on the plane or where it was. I think the last one may have been joking but I think it will be like this the whole trip. It's hard to sleep on a plane. Try it with a armor vest and a helmet on uncomfortable red net seats and your butt is asleep.

That was our night,

LOU

Blog halt

I'm currently unable to upload pictures. I will be writing posts but
they will all be posted when I have better internet access. Thanks for
reading and bear with me. I'm amazed I'm able to get any kind of
internet access where I am.

LOU

Deployment Day 7

After our Oasis gig Jon and I decided to stay up late and strip down
the rig as much as we can. I was up until about 3am. And the next day
we had a gig at the pool on base. It ended up being great. If you like
a lot of heat and an audience that could really care less that you
were there. But the small rig worked out great. Our deployment should
be pretty easy because we don't have to kill ourselves moving gear
everywhere.

After the gig Jon was in a rage and needed to get away so we went to
eat ourselves happy. We got to the DFAC (Dining FACility) I prefer the
term Chow hall but i digress. They had gyros for lunch and they
rocked. I was really hungry and ate like three of these delicious
gifts from the DFAC.

We then proceeded to the BX (Base eXchange) where I needed to buy more
socks and Jon needed something else as well. I ended up having to buy
ladies socks because they were the only ankle heights socks there. So
my feet feel beautiful. On our way out we came across a game room. Jon
then schooled me on some ping-pong. I think we got distracted playing
for like an hour and a half. Jon had turn back to his normal color and
not the big green hulk he was after the gig. So we headed back home to
enjoy the 3-beer ration and some bad kareoke.

I wanted to share a moment in time on this post as well as I'm typing
this among a sea of other people on laptops. Jon is practicing.

LOU

Deployment Day 6

I'm sorry I haven't been taking many pictures I'll try to get in the habit. I know other people in the group have so hopefully I can get them and post some choice ones later. So Day 6 we played a gig at the "Oasis Bar" Which was the British pub run by the Royal Air Force. We cut down our rig a lot. My mixing gig has pretty much been eliminated. I'm now more a percussion player now. The gig at the Oasis was probably one of the best ones I've seen out of this band. It was small but pretty rocking. A guy from the Royal Air Force came up to me after the gig and asked if I had heard of a band called the Blue Mondays. They have a guy in the band called Fez. His main gig is to play maracas and dance during any show. I was the Fez of this band. Most of the guys in the bar started calling me Fez.

I need more nicknames.

LOU

Real Life Spell Check

While hitting the various "cadillacs" I have been noticing some
great..... I'll call it art or perhaps poetry. I almost want to
collect and document them for a book. I think it would sell as you
could see the attitude and morale of each place we go to based
literally on the writings on the wall. I'll at least post the good
ones.

This was one that made me laugh. The first guy made a slight grammar
error by writing a asshole instead of "an". The second person thinking
he's more educated decided to correct the first by writing "your
grammer is embarassing dude" Which on it's own is pretty funny. But
the kicker was the guy with the sharpie who simply states the obvious
"FAIL"

Good Stuff,

LOU

Deployment Day 5

I don't have anything exciting to report today. We had a short
rehearsal for the acoustic show coming up. I love how I'm having to
piece together a working rig to fit these special needs. I'm not being
sarcastic either I'm really enjoying the different thought process.

I didn't wake up until 11am either. It felt really good to sleep in for a while.

There is so much to do here and yet I don't want to do any of it. Weird.

LOU

Deployment Day 4

We have a gig today.

We gathered up our stuff from the rehearsal tent and loaded it all
into this little bread truck.

It was amazing that we could get all the gear we needed for the show
as well as the 10 of us into that little truck. It really makes me
question the way I do things on a gig when I could have a full band in
such a small space. This trip is really making me get back to
fundamentals and focus on show rather than sound only.

We played in the "bra" tonight (well a few days ago). The stage was
huge and we didnt need a whole lot of power to get the job done. I
dont think the leadership team liked the show we put on but I had fun.
It was a little too loud for me but it's a giant tent with concrete
floors.

We have a small acoustic show coming up. I'm looking forward to it.

I've never been this sweaty in my life,
LOU