Chapter 2: DecembeRadio

Alright guys,

well... its been a while since i've updated and I'm not going to say I'm sorry because it just means that was 1) not on my computer a ridiculous amount and 2) i was busy doing real work, so could not post.  so...youre welcome. :)  

I am no longer the assistant to the road manager, i am now the road manager....cool huh?

I got a job that stemmed out of the first tour I was on which is a huge blessing and I am super pumped!

I am not on the road with Jon anymore....sad day...but I AM on the road with a new sets of guys who go by the name of Decemberadio...theyre a christian southern rock band and they are AWESOME!  They are great guys and really know their stuff and they stinkin love God!

Well, this first post to kick off chapter 2 of my voyages on the road will be short because not much has happened yet!  I met up with the guys today and we are still in Tri-Cities Tennessee because the bus is broken down and they cant figure out what the problem is...

...thats about it.  we head to kernersville, NC tomorrow to play the first show and I'm really excited about it.

I'll keep you updated. :)

Michael- Road Manager <--- weirrrrd.

californiaaaaaa....here we cooooome.

ok, first off, i would like to clarify that i hate the OC and the title of this blog entry was used not because of that dog turd-of- a- show, but because it was appropriate for the coming week.

now thats out of the way....WOW, it has been a hectic but great week.  this has been the week i have been hearing about since day one.  The week containing to two most dreaded shows production wise on the whole tour...atlanta and nashville.  Atlanta is Third Day's home town and Nashville, well....its nashville.  Both cities just have ridiculous amounts of people who think they expect special treatment, whether that be because they work at a record label or they knew the brother of the bands former drummer...(which doesn't exist).  Needless to say, there was a lot to be done when it came to comp tickets.  

We did the birmingham show which went really smoothly, then it was on to RALEIGH!! i was so excited to be there and to see stocks and walker!!! I was setting up all day thinking about how soon it was until they were there...then they called...they were out on the lawn with a bunch of emily's youth and i got to go up there and hang out with them! it was so refreshing...as much as i love it out here, the one thing i really miss is seeing people i know and love, and these were the first i had seen in a while and it seriously was like a HUGE breath of fresh air...i got to take them both back stage and show them the bus and where i sleep and then walker and i watched my favorite part of switchfoot's set from side stage...i think he loved it.   he kept saying "this is such a blessing..." and i think he was talking about him but it reminded me of how much of a blessing this whole thing is to me....its easy to get into the daily swing of things and forget that just over a month ago i didnt even know this tour was happening, much less think i would be out on it! God is sooooo good!

 i finished a bunch of my work early so i could go out and just enjoy some time with them on the lawn watching the show, and it was great! i felt like a rockstar with all of the kids from emilys youth group being like "man do you travel with them?" but we all know, im not rockstar. :)

that night wrapped up and we said our goodbyes, and it was on to atlanta and nashville.

atlanta wasnt as bad as i thought it would be for me, really the only stress was that one of our sponsors is based out of atlanta so i was getting calls like "hey we need to have prime placement here since its our home town" and thats all well and good, except for the fact that there are 2 other sponsors who get better placement because they contributed more to the tour....but i did my best and everyone was happy...it was a good show because the venue wasnt huge and tickets sold well since its third days home town so it was pretty packed out...

nashville....ohhhh nashville...music city.  well this day started like any other day but was as far away from any other day you could think of by the end.... this was one of 2 venues on this tour that are indoor venues rather than ampitheatres....it was a nice change....everything was closer together and everything was inside....in the air conditioning :)  

all my sponsors were great and it was  relatively easy day for my job, PLUS i got to go off campus for lunch for the first time the whole tour with big mike....he is in charge of third day's fan club stuff....we went and got wings and it was AMAZING!

then the people came...lets see, there are about 1 million record labels, 1 million radio stations, 1 million recording studios, 1 million producers, and 1 million promoters in the nashville area and im pretty sure each and every one of them sent a respresentative to the show and they allllll came back stage...it was a mad house! but the worst thing is, they werent going anywhere, they would just come backstage and stand and talk and want to be seen....crowding our hallways. there was one point where i was trying to get out of the production office to meet our habitat family and i am not exaggerating when i say that i literally could not get out of the door way because there were too many people in the hall. ridiculous.

well this continued the rest of the night i guess until people realized that standing in a hallway for an extended amount of time while the artists are all either on stage or in their dressing rooms can get kinda boring....oh yeah! and there was a camera crew shooting third days performance for their management company so they had a sweet little set up of tables and computers....RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HALLWAYS FROM HADES.

well it started to clear out and the night started wrapping up and my job became easier and the night ended. good show.   

it is now wednesday and i am awaiting my flight to phoenix and then the california run! where i get to see pat and dana! yes!

well i think think this blog is long enough so im gonna go.

now get out there and buy a mike huckabee backpack.

a little change of pace

Hello friends,

Well we finished our first run back from our 2 week break and it went really well.  We did cleveland, virginia beach, holmdel new jersey, and DC.  Good run over all...our crowds werent the biggest but they were fun crowds with alot of energy which makes it better.

Let's see, let's see...updates...

well, on this post i think im gonna talk about some cool stuff i have been learning about my job and through my job but also through some other stuff on the road...well, after talking with the one and only emily stocks about the book Pursuit of God by AW Tozer, which i read a while back, i decided to start re reading....seriously folks, its one of the most challenging but amazing books ever!  one thing that he talks about in the book is actually in the first chapter, he says ...

"We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. `No man can come to me,' said our Lord, `except the Father which hath sent me draw him,' and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for he act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: `Thy right hand upholdeth me.' In this divine `upholding' and human `following' there is no contradiction. All is of God, for as Von Hugel teaches, God is always previous."

thats really been in my mind alot....God is always previous...it applies to every single thing in my life.  when i worry about the future, God is always previous, He always knows what is going to happen...when i screw up, God is always previous, he knew i would and is ready to forgive me...when i am following hard after Him and seeking to do what He desires, God is always previous, he put that desire in me.  wow...thats awesome.  my mind has just been meditating on this thought and kind of trying to grasp it.

Third Day has a resident road pastor on the road with them named Nigel.  He is from Whales and flies over here periodically to travel with them and lead devotions for them.  Well when he is with us on the tour, he leads a tour devotion once a week.  this week was awesome...he talked about the beatitudes, and the sermon on the mount.  He made an illustration having to do with the speeches that are all over the place with the election going on right now.  If there were a list of the greatest speeches of all time, the sermon on the mount would most likely be at the top of the list... tons of people came from all over to hear what this Jesus had to say...but more importantly, just like with the presidential nominees, people wanted to see if He lived what He was speaking...walking the walk.  if there was reporter who followed Him after the sermon on the mount, they would have found no flaw or contradictions to what he had said, unlike any other great speaker of all time.  We are called to make what He said truth to people who are skeptical.  I am the person that people say "oh he says he believes what Jesus said, let see if he actually lives it."  its the challenge that we as believers are called to.  We are not perfect, but we are the only hint of Jesus that alot of people will ever see, so we are to strive to live up to that!

I know this was more of a personal post, rather than "oh man, jon talked to me!" but its where i am and i hope that if youre reading this that you know how important this stuff is to me and want to know about it!  ...oh, and i did get to hang out with jon the other night on the golf cart...t was pretty sweet! :)

well were on a 2 day break in nashville right now and we leave tonight at 11pm for birmingham, raleigh( where i get to see stocks and walker! woo!), atlanta, and back here for the nashville show...

God is really starting to open up doors for job possibilities after this tour so please be praying that God continues to open those doors and that the next steps are as awesome as this has been, which i know it will be...its really exciting!

alright guys, now go out there and buy a 1992 "step by step" clear/neon telephone!

(cliche singing of "on the road again"...)

Well, were back out on the road and it feels good!  Were in Cleveland, OH, and were at a really cool venue.  

After meeting Nashville, we got on the bus at 7 pm, and headed this way.  Great time to hang with the guys on my bus and watch some of The Office.  Good times.

We got here today and it was like starting all over again. :) We had reps from the sponsors calling all day with "emergencies".  Its  funny(annoying) how very menial things can become the most important thing in the world really  quickly.

For instance, one lady needed a table.  Ok. Tables are easy to get.  I called the venue and they knew we needed one.  I am not exaggerating when i say that i got a call from that lady 12 times in 10 minutes wanting to know where her table was!  12...12! Really? haha 

Oh, and i have to share this.  (I'm smiling right now)...this lady came to the box office and told the staff at the box office that she was the best suited person to sing a song on stage with Third Day tonight.  She was serious.  She wanted to sing a song on stage and there was no one better than her for that task.  The box office staff pushed back laughter and called me and i had to tell her, unfortunately we dont let crazy ladies walk up and sing with the bands.  She was disappointed.  One day crazy lady, one day. 

So now I am waiting to pack all my stuff up, and apparently after this run, we arent using our trailer anymore for the sponsor materials, and theyre gonna become part of the main truck pack (with all the audio and lighting stuff) so its one less thing i have to worry about doing at the end of the night...yes!

I still love this even with how crazy it was. God is good.  

Alright guys, its good to be back blogging.

Now get out there and buy a Rat Pack coffee mug.

Michael a.k.a. assistant to the road manager

SMOKE BREAK!

Ok, so we have a 2 week break from the tour, but please stay tuned for more updates when we hit the road again...and I'll also try to start doing pictures....even though I'm not a picture taker.

Now go out there and buy a Conan O'Brien throw.

I Need New Shoes...

Ok, so here I am on day 2 of the tour.  We had a show in Detroit last night and it went really well for the first time, considering we only had one day before to even think about what MIGHT happen...

All the bands on this tour are great live.! 

Jars of clay was worrying me because I've heard that they werent that great live anymore but then I got a chance to watch part of their set and it was really good.  Dan, the singer doesnt play an instrument, so he does the weird "dance and act out the words of the song to make it more effective" and that makes me laugh.  

Robert Randolf...WOW. Ive never seen them live and they rocked my world.  First off, their band is the only sight of black guys on the whole tour, so yesterday I'm walking around doing stuff and all the sudden all these old black guys are walking around and they were so cool!  Their music is amazing. They are all amazing at what they do and their style of music is nothing like any of the other bands on tour (which i guess none of the bands sound alike but RR is extra different).  

Switchfoot, as usual blew me away with their set. HOLY CRAP! I love their music but even if I didnt, I would still love them live because theyre so much fun to watch!  They are true entertainers and do a great job bringing in the audience.  They did some old stuff and some new...oh yeah and they played Buddy Holly by Weezer in the middle of their set....amazing.

Third Day...the coolest guys in the world.  I work directly for their road manager so they all knew who I was coming in, since I was a last minute hire.  So they welcomed me with open arms.  I havent listened to their music regularly in about 5 years so I didnt know what to expect from their new music or the show.  It blew my socks off.  They opened with their version of Creed by Rich Mullins, which is an incredible song, and their version great!  They went on to play old and new stuff and they even played Theif, which is my favorite song by them! woo!

As for my job, it went really well.  The sponsors were really cool and I helped them as much as I could, and when I couldnt help them I sent them to someone who could.  I also found out that I was in charge of the promotions during the show, for instance they have a slide pop up on the screens between sets that will say "text in to win ticket upgrades" or something like that and the texts get sent to an email account and i check it and pick the winners and text them back and say "you won" and get them their tickets...and a few more things similar to that.  They all went really smoothly...

Tear down was easy since the sponsors box it up for me i just put it back in the trailer and theres not that much stuff so its cool.  I was so tired last night and my feet hurt cause my trusty old nikes are wearing out...I ate some food on the bus and went to bed in my bunk that isnt long enough for me to stretch all the way out in....yay for being a giant! well, now I'm gonna go grab some food and start day 2...thanks for reading again!

Now go out there and buy a Bruce Springsteen coffee mug!

Here Goes Nothin'...

Hey guys!

So...I'm not a writer...but because I am starting an INSANE adventure today, I thought I would blog and keep all you people with too much free time updated!

So here it goes...

For those of you that don't already know, last week I was contacted for an assistant position on the Music Builds Tour featuring Switchfoot, Third Day, Jars of Clay, and Robert Randolf and the Family Band...wow.  I am in charge of sponsor relations, which basically means that the tour is sponsored by a couple big organizations like the ONE campaign, and Habitat for Humanity, and my job is to maintain relationships with them and make sure all the things that they are supposed to have done is actually done.  And I also manage volunteers helping with each show and put them in places to be used! I am so super excited and cant wait to see what comes out of this tour job-wise.  I really want to be a road manager, so the fact that I am out on the road with 4 very successful bands is amazing!

So I flew out of Austin this morning at 7 am and laid over in Charlotte before heading to Detroit for the first stop of the 23 stop tour over the next 2 months of my life.  In the van from the airport to the venue (which is the same venue that I was just at a month ago with Mr. Chapman) I rode with Scottie the keys player for Third Day, and he was so cool! He was telling me about their experience they just had with Jay Leno as they played on the Tonight Show...

Well now I'm sitting in the bus because the sponsor material hasnt showed up yet, so I am waiting for it to get here so I can get the set up down pat.  So until next time, I challenge all of you to read again once its been posted.  

now go out there and buy a michael phelps tshirt.

-Michael