A Day Off in the Life
We had the day off in Mansfield, MA, not too far from Boston. We stayed in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, as far as diversions go, so Jerry and I (and others, separately) paid $25.00 for a car ride to the nearest mall.
It had the usual stuff, and a cool store that sold portable speaker systems for the iPod and it's clones like my Dell DJ. I think it was called Cambridge Soundworks. I bought a "system-in-a-bag" for $115.00 out the door. It sounds amazing, with two small satellite speakers and a sub-woofer. Mellencamp's stage right guitar tech, Rip, has one installed in his workbox, and our FOH, Tim Holder, has one out here as well.
Of course, it was rainy and overcast all day.
Not Impressed
We ate lunch at a Japanese fast food joint in the mall's food court, and having decided against any further transportation expenditures that evening, we had dinner at the hotel in the "Pike's Peak Saloon", oddly enough not a historic Boston landmark .
In the dining room (aka "bar"), we finally got to spend some time with the Mellencamp crew, who had so far been staying in different hotels than the Fogerty crew. Jerry did a tour as a Mellencamp tech a few years back and has gigged with several of the current bunch.
Dinner at the Hotel
A Sabatino-inspired tourist pose. "I don't know what it is, but take a picture of me standing next to it."
Rip
Mellencamp's stage right tech, he takes care of Andy's guitars, plus the fiddle and keyboards.
Dottie, Wardrobe for Mellencamp
Dottie has the formidable task of getting all of the Mellencamp tour wardrobe ready each day, from laundry to dry cleaning to setting up the dressing rooms. Thankfully, she has found time to let me get a few loads of laundry done, which saves me money that I can later spend at nameless malls across America.
JR, FOH for Mellencamp
JR is a great FOH (Front of House or "sound guy" to the uninitiated) engineer who makes the crack and boom of Mellencamp's band rock the house every night.
Rip, Scooter and Mark
Another Pike's Peak adventure shot of Rip, Scooter (stage left guitar tech for Mel), and Mellencamp monitor engineer Mark. Scot and Mark share the same side of the stage, and have always been accomodating to me as far as leaving room for my world. Cool guys to work and hang with.
Me and Jerry
No doubt discussing the finer points of something...the local lager, probably.
Mike Wanchic and Bob Britt
Long-time Mellencamp guitarist Mike Wanchic and the self-stunted Bob Britt backstage in Boston at the Tweeter Center
Les in Monitor World
Boston gig. Les and Tim have switched FOH and Monitor positions.
It had the usual stuff, and a cool store that sold portable speaker systems for the iPod and it's clones like my Dell DJ. I think it was called Cambridge Soundworks. I bought a "system-in-a-bag" for $115.00 out the door. It sounds amazing, with two small satellite speakers and a sub-woofer. Mellencamp's stage right guitar tech, Rip, has one installed in his workbox, and our FOH, Tim Holder, has one out here as well.
Of course, it was rainy and overcast all day.
Not Impressed
We ate lunch at a Japanese fast food joint in the mall's food court, and having decided against any further transportation expenditures that evening, we had dinner at the hotel in the "Pike's Peak Saloon", oddly enough not a historic Boston landmark .
In the dining room (aka "bar"), we finally got to spend some time with the Mellencamp crew, who had so far been staying in different hotels than the Fogerty crew. Jerry did a tour as a Mellencamp tech a few years back and has gigged with several of the current bunch.
Dinner at the Hotel
A Sabatino-inspired tourist pose. "I don't know what it is, but take a picture of me standing next to it."
Rip
Mellencamp's stage right tech, he takes care of Andy's guitars, plus the fiddle and keyboards.
Dottie, Wardrobe for Mellencamp
Dottie has the formidable task of getting all of the Mellencamp tour wardrobe ready each day, from laundry to dry cleaning to setting up the dressing rooms. Thankfully, she has found time to let me get a few loads of laundry done, which saves me money that I can later spend at nameless malls across America.
JR, FOH for Mellencamp
JR is a great FOH (Front of House or "sound guy" to the uninitiated) engineer who makes the crack and boom of Mellencamp's band rock the house every night.
Rip, Scooter and Mark
Another Pike's Peak adventure shot of Rip, Scooter (stage left guitar tech for Mel), and Mellencamp monitor engineer Mark. Scot and Mark share the same side of the stage, and have always been accomodating to me as far as leaving room for my world. Cool guys to work and hang with.
Me and Jerry
No doubt discussing the finer points of something...the local lager, probably.
Mike Wanchic and Bob Britt
Long-time Mellencamp guitarist Mike Wanchic and the self-stunted Bob Britt backstage in Boston at the Tweeter Center
Les in Monitor World
Boston gig. Les and Tim have switched FOH and Monitor positions.
posted by Tom Spaulding at 10:05 AM
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