Deployment Day 40

Show day. Finally. I need to play a gig. I can only study and watch tv but so much.

We played at the Kasbah on base. This is located near the Zink where we played one of our first gigs. A much better sounding room. I was actually able to get a good sound without fighting the room.

The group invited some girl from PA up to sing Jackson (she claimed she sang it at karaoke all the time)
I gues you don't remember words when you read them off a tv screen. I didn't really hear her sing at all. And I was trying to get her louder.

Anyway fun show and one we needed as the boredom and tension was starting to get up there.

LOU

Deployment Day 39

Another uneventful day. Rehearsing a few things.

Here we see Brandon on the new couches we snagged from Persco.

Loungy superman to the rescue!

LOU

Deployment Day 38

Tonight we opened for some RnB guy. Omarion. This was a huge mis-match of genre. Here we see said Omarion on stage getting the ladies to twerk it out.

We heard from more than a few folks that everyone liked us and that Omarion barely put on a show.

I also met this dude Cody who was very helpful in the process. He has a great gig. Flying over here to do a couple shows, fixing some stuff and getting paid.

Until tomorrow,
LOU

Deployment Day 37

Somehow being the dummy I am I managed to get the days published out of order.

I hope you are still able to follow. (Hint: Count!)

A day of rehearsal to learn this terrible pop tune from Amici. I don't care for it at all but someone up high in PA here requested it and he has his finger on the pulse of what's popular. (What's the symbol for sarcasm again?)

Otherwise sleep, eat, study, The Wire.

LOU

Deployment Day 34

An early flight. We are very out of it. Any way hanging around for breakfast. Bics spotted another great spelling error.

Suger. I surprised there isn't an 'h' in there.

Short flight home. We get the gear back to the squadge and crash out for the sleep we lost.

That evening Jon, Paul, and I pick up the couches of which I wrote. They now reside at the rehearsal building. Enjoy everyone else after us.

I've started watching The Wire again. So look out for my indeed numbers to go way up.

Omar listenin'

LOU

Deployment Day 36

Another day off. Nothing of interest.

LOU

Deployment Day 35

Current writing.

The next two days are off. I'll be catching up on some paperwork from the gigs and some studying the PDG and of course The Wire.

Posting 2pm. Any further documentation will be noted otherwise.

LOU

Deployment Day 33

We were hopefully going to play a show at a ship today. However there were no ships in port so a day off was had. They had a Friday brunch. The perfect thing for tired band folks up too late the last few nights.

Uncle Lou enjoying a tasty Mimosa and greasy breakfast.

 Bics doing the same.

We went out for dinner at a Lebanese place the Hommos was so tasty. Afterward we went to a sheesha place. I hadn't smoked hooka much but had to try it while here. The double apple was very tasty witha licorice aftertaste.

This picture isn't great. I mostly admiring the wall lighting. I wouldn't mind having something like this at my house.


Very relaxing day watching bad movies on AFN with Paul and Ben. Out of here tomorrow.

Interesting side note. You can buy cases of beer here and have them in your room. Amazingly they had Yeungling. I can't get this stuff on the west coast but I can get it when in Bahrain. So strange.

Out of here very early tomorrow.

LOU

Deployment Day 32

A tragic and weird occurrence yesterday. Our sponsor Mario who we had just met passed away. Absolutely unexpected. However the show goes on. More gigs today. 

Walk-arounds. One lame one in the dining area around lunch time. People couldn't care less that we were here. 

Moving on. We played for a childrens school-ish/daycare place. The kids had a very short attention span.

We found some ant glasses that have a compound eye lens in them. Here's Sherry modeling them mandibles and all.

Full show tonight on a nice stage with lights. It's really hot out here. Again too busy working the show to get a picture. However a great sounding show with some great playing. I may post a recording once I get it edited.

LOU

Deployment Day 31

We went out to another base today. We played for some folks who are out at a tiny little base that is very remote without much to do. We played at their chow hall. The Army guys were a bit reserved but had a good time in their own way.

Playing between a pool and ping-pong table was a new one.

Hilarity ensued as we all get goofy when we are hanging around. Paul and Ben when left alone.

 After touring around the little base we went to the tree of life. This is a 400 year old tree growing in the desert. From what I understand no one is sure why it is thriving in the desert yet it persists.

We then head to another base. This one mostly Navy and play a full show. It was fun but very loose if not sloppy. Either way everyone had a good time. We had a Major sit in on Uillean pipes. A strange instrument and even stranger to find a guy out here that can play them even stranger that he could play them well.

Strange indeed. Missed a photo of this one.

LOU

Deployment Day 30

1/3 of the way through this. 

We are off to Bahrain today.

 Bics and Paul (P. Dubs) have been playing an endless game of Gin. Paul is none too happy with his cards.

We arrive in Bahrain and get ourselves to the base. We are staying in Navy lodging. We each got our own rooms and had to share a bathroom. Pretty swank. We all crashed out upon arriving and wasted the day away.

So random funny. I spotted this on the flightline area.

Everyone could use a lube cube.

LOU

Deployment Day 29

A day off to get ready for our trip to Bahrain. This was our last stop on the trip we were going on before we got diverted.

Nothing much happening just laundry and packing.

We leave at 5am tomorrow so hopefully some sleep will ensue.

LOU

Deployment Day 28

A lazy Sunday for the most part. We do have the gigs that Sherry and I booked around base for the night shifts.

Here they are.

We started out at TMO where the guys that helped us get our pallet here a few weeks ago work. These are great people. 

They all listened from the railing outside there office.

It was hot and we had some time to kill. We went back to the band hall to cool off for a minute.

Afterward we went to Persco

 These are the folks we visit before we leave. I was talking to their shift supervisor and it came up that they are getting rid of the couches in the picture. I offered to take them. We pick them up later but that would disrupt the timeline I have going. (Future Writing)

We head to eat and then off to the Med group. These guys really got into the single ladies dance. Not all of them said single ladies.

Our final stop of the evening was the Pax terminal. I wanted to make some friends here as these guys help us get our gear in and out. These guys were ready to have a good time. I met a few nice people and it has made our life much easier when we have to visit on a trip off base.

 Our night shift tour worked out great and has paid dividends as far as making us known around base and helping us get around.

LOU

Deployment Day 27

Tonight's our last minute gig at Churchill's. I just got my laundry done and had a rehearsal to get to.

Skype has been working really well over here. I've been able to talk to Mel without interruption. I'm glad that I have a line in my room to reach back home. This is a much better way to do it than the last time I was deployed.

We meet up at the band hall and load up the stuff in the van. Load in was pretty easy however the area was a little tight. However the show went great and we got to drink of their english beers. (Bonus)

Here's some video from the show.


LOU

Deployment Day 26

I had a meeting to go to today about where we are going to be playing. We booked Churchill's (the English bar here) for Saturday night. Sherry and I decided to go out later in the evening to book some evening walk-around gigs.

Amazingly all you have to do is talk to people in offices and they are very receptive to you coming out and playing music for their bored night shift.

An easy day. Tomorrow we play for the English.

LOU

Deployment Day 25

On The Bus to the airplane. I want to know what love is playing. It felt like a movie scene.

Maybe not so much.


So we finally caught our flight out. We were on our way but when the plane went to land we were told that they couldn't. So we were diverted back to Al Udeid.

So I'm back at my little room. After getting through customs and everything Bics, Ben, and I get the pallet of gear through and into our van to get back to the band hall.

At this point everything is in the air. We are hoping to book some stuff to fill out the weekend and pick up the rest of this trip we were supposed to be on later in the week.

LOU

Deployment Day 24

Well I'm writing from the PAX Terminal. So that means we are grounded for a while.

We got up this morning to get on a flight. We check out of lodging and the base. We get to the terminal check in. Our pallet is here.

Everything is going smooth. We hop the bus to get on the plane.

We sit on the plane.....for a long time. We feel movement and the plane feels like it's going to take off. The it comes to a stop and we are told there is a maintenance problem. We are not amused.

We are taken back to the terminal where we get some food and play monster games of ping pong.

And here I sit and wait..............

LOU

Randomness

I love it when things are mis-labeled this is kind of a two-fer as its in a larger shaker cheese type container and it's labeled pepper.

I woke up in the mid afternoon from a righteous nap and I saw a glowing door. I couldn't reach it (because I didn't want to get out of bed) I can only imagine what's on the otherside.

LOU

Deployment Day 23

A strolling day. We played six total. The first few near the flight line where we saw all kinds of different aircraft. Including some of the drones.

We played at the AWACs place as well. This is the large surveillance plane with the huge dish on it. We toured around one. Very cool but really hot as it was cooking on the flightline. I can't post pictures but I will show to anyone who asks.

Afterward we all crashed out and got ready to fly out. We leave here tomorrow.

LOU

Deployment Day 22

We arrive very early in UAE. I passed out on the plane before we took off and woke up after we landed. I wasn't sure if we left or not.

We meet up with our sponsor. She gets us our rooms keys and sets us up with where we are going. The pallet is there with us. The stage is right near by. So we decide to set up the stage for the show that night so that we can all crash out. So once we are done we all crash. HARD! I slept for 7 hours then woke up a few before the show.

We are playing the thirsty camel bar. It's kind of a cool place. The audience seemed into it. We did however have to shut it down early because of a curfew.

Here's the view from my seat.

Bics and I after the show catching some raised eyebrows.

A fun evening after all.

LOU

Deployment Day 21

I'm currently killing time until we fly out tonight. We will be gone for a while and I'm getting the rest of my stuff together. Bics and I will build the pallet tonight and be ready to fly out of here. More to come as it happens.

Blog Break

We went over to the terminal to build the pallet. We found that if we fly Mil-air we have a lot less customs hassle to deal with. This is more like it. This is how we ran when I was here last time.

Anyway, Bics was trying to check the gear through and the locals said they didn't have the form logged in their handwritten ledger and to check back tomorrow. We are leaving tonight. So Bics works it out that we don't need to do most of the stuff we thought we had to. Ben and I wait around to help. It took a while. Here's us waiting.

So we get the pallet built and we fly out early or late if you haven't slept. Here's us at the terminal.

We had made a sign here the last time we were here. Now it's all gone and graffiti is against the rules. It's so boring here now.

Talk to you from the next stop. U.A.E.

LOU

Deployment Day 20

We are waiting to go on our first trip today. Bics and I got the pallet gear ready and numbered. 26 total pieces. I think it may be smaller than the last time.

We had a short meeting about where we were going and the gigs we would see. Deployments are a little different than last time as well. Now we do walk around shows during the day and play a show at night. This can be grueling if there are too many.

I went to see Elysium with Paul. An ok movie. Worth $3 not the $10 I would pay back home. The sound was not very good. As is the case in most military theaters but the price is right.

We fly out soon hopefully I'll have internet access to keep the bloggin' going.

LOU

Deployment Day 19

Show at the Fox tonight. It's an ok place to play. Actually fun. It was however opening day of college football so most people were more interested in watching the game than seeing a band. I listened back to the recording and the applause in weird spots told me when someone scored a touchdown.

Also today was Brandon's birthday. We had pizza and cake back at the band building before the show. Not the best food to be eating before the show.

Here's Brandon with his cake from baskin robbins. That's right Baskin Robbins is still here on base.

LOU

Deployment Day 18

We had another rehearsal this morning. This was more of a small show for the PA Colonel.

Here's me and the band getting ready for said performance.

Later we had a show at the Zink. This is a lounge-ish bar on the far side of the base. It's nice for hanging but music is not good here. It's a lot of hard flat surfaces making it like a big bathroom. I don't like to push the music super loud so I worked the PA as best I could to not over excite the room. It was ok but could have been better.

A nice first show.

So we load out and put the gear back in the band building so it doesn't cook in the van. Gig at the Fox tomorrow.

LOU