Darwin

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Shady.  When FM played "Bootleggers" 2 weekends ago, I had a suspicion that it might be the doorway to some really nice work...in maybe a couple of months.  I had no idea that 4 days later the door would swing wide open.

The "Shady Gator" invited us in last week, and it was quite an experience, to say the least.  FM doesn't normally work much on the Lake Of The Ozarks because it's just...so...fucking far away, but some work is worth the travel, and the "Shady Gator", as well as "Bootleggers" were well worth it.

Of course, it wasn't easy work.  FM earned their pay.  First off, it was hot as hell, and being right on the lake, it was muggy and damp.  We were told that there were a "few" steps we'd have to deal with in unloading and loading the equipment.  They were right.  There were a few steps up, and a few steps down, and a few steps up, and a few steps down, and a few corners to turn in between.  Of course, being an outdoor gig, we went loaded for bear.  We've got 3 PA systems and we took the biggest one.

It was "foam night" at the "Shady Gator" that night, and the soap suds were flying everywhere, which was kind of amusing and a bit surrealistic.  As the stage sits right out over the water, I was able to look down and got a couple of neat pictures of about 5 wild ducks swimming just beneath me.  Later in the evening 4 or 5 enormous carp came to hang around in the shallows.  I think they were man-eaters.  As they say, "Carpe Deum".  Seize the carp.

The stage was large enough and covered, but of course, it was really outdoors and 3 sides were open.  This wouldn't have been much of a problem...until the storm hit.  Rain blew in the front and soaked everything that wasn't against the very back of the stage.

As the second song of the third set was being played, the storm intensified and John kept backing away from the rain until he was directly in front of his amplifier, experiencing a fine spray all the time.  Microphones, speakers, and all the lights were caught in the downpour, and that was the end of the show.

Of course, it wasn't the end of the work.  As the storm abated, water had to be poured out of equipment and water soaked, filthy cables had to be wiped down and put away.  About the time FM was ready to start loading equipment, the second round of rain hit.  Both the band and the equipment took a drenching.

As luck would have it, FM had another show to do the next morning, at a bike show in Sedalia.  Nobody had any idea what would work and what might not, after being waterlogged the night before and left to steam in the trailer overnight.  Unloading the trailer reminded me of unloading an enormous laundry hamper.

After setting up for the Saturday afternoon show, we found that only one piece of equipment actually suffered any damage;  John's "talk box".  Fortunately, we had a back-up of almost everything we needed, including a second "talk box", and the show did indeed, go on.

Saturday's show rates a story of its own.  Originally slated to play outdoors on a flat-bed truck later in the evening, a second band was hired to take the "late shift", and FM was mercifully obliged to set up indoors...in the air conditioning.  The show went pretty well I thought, as people were continually running in and out to alternately look at the bikes on display, and watch FM.

On breaks, FM would wander outside and watch the other band setting up, with some degree of sympathy.  Setting up in the air conditioning had to be considerably more comfortable than setting up on a flat-bed trailer in that unrelenting heat.  By the time they were through setting up, they must have felt like they had been rained on.

FM would loved to have stayed and watched the other band, but it would be hours between shows, and the guys were all exhausted after the long trip to the lake the night before, the extra work caused by the storm, and being up earlier to play than any musician would be used to.

FM has been invited back to the lake, but because of the chaos and confusion of the storm, we haven't set a definite date as yet.  This time, they work on staying dry.  Darwin

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