Adventures on the Road
The Harleys have returned from a successful gig in Eureka! Lots of driving, but absolutely worth it! Our entire family participates in our shows. I sing my heart and shake my groove thing. My sweet husband creates, compiles, and projects all of the videos (a key element of any Floyd show). Our younger daughter, Spencer, sings onstage during the chorus of Another Brick in the Wall ("We don't need no education..." The irony greatly amuses me!). Our older daughter has stopped performing recently ("I'm too embarrassed, Mom!"). She takes a lot of pictures and manages the younger kids. She mingled with the locals at this show, much to my chagrin.
We arrived Friday evening, after tearing out of Benicia (no grading this weekend!). Gratefully, the accommodations were excellent...big rooms, hot tubs, and both kind of pool (swimming and billiards!). I have decided the hotels make or break a gig. If you have crappy accomodations, you have nowhere to land, if only for the hour before the show. I am not a super traveler (and neither are my kids!) so adjusting to being away so often is nerve-wracking to say the least. With a comforting place to land, I am always rested, relaxed, and ready to put on a show. To say we have stayed in some really sketchy places is an understatement. One of our seedier motels has been rename the Sea Stash Inn, for the interesting garden in back that my children were horrified to discover.
On this lovely weekend, we played the Eureka Theater (opened March 1939). Many of the old Art Deco era theaters have been purchased and renovated by extremely dedicated patrons of the arts. We play these theaters all up the state. To see these vital venues being restored to their past glory, hosting live music is inspiring. The musicians always play a game of "what if we could do this to our little Majestic!" The folks at Eureka Theater, Steve and Tina Stone, have owned it since 2005. It is a huge theater (800+ seating) and a huge project.
On the day of the show we loaded in our lighting equipment and instruments early, around 11am. It takes several hours to set up for the huge production that is our show...lighting, lasers, fog machines, projectors, multiple keyboards, guitars, drum kits, sound equipment, etc. My job, with my fellow back-up singer, Sheri, was to drive up to Arcata and do a bit of creative marketing. A huge icon for Pink Floyd is a winged pig. We just so happen to have one, the size of a VW van, named Albert Floyd, by our kids. We drove the 6 miles up the road, discovered a farmers market in the town square, and inflated the flying pig. The responses are priceless. The kids and dogs notice the monolithe first, dragging their grown-ups behind them. The mix of folks milling around the market was stunning. Aging hippies, of varying degrees of lucidity. Scrappy college kids with budding dreadlocks. Middle aged, liberal elite. Jugglers, hulu hoopers and acrobats. In short, our perfect target audience. We met several folks who were already anxiously awaiting our show. Several more who were thrilled to hear about it. Over all a very success venture out with Albert.
After deflating the pork products, we returned to the theater just in time to reinflate and hang him for the evening show. The house techs always love helping us with that task! Then, we completed an arduous sound check. With seven musicians, 4 guitars, 2 bass, 5 keyboards, drumkit, and lap steel guitar, the job of doing sound for our band is no small task. We had enough time to return to that luscious hotel, shower, shampoo and shine.
All of this hard work pays off for the 3 hours of stage time. The audience was appreciative before we even played the first swells of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". They could not have been more enthusiastic, in their distinct psychedelic way! As the clock struck midnight, they rushed to the stage front and sang every word of our closing song. We tried to organize our final bow, but were joyously interrupted by their appreciative (and appreciated) hugs and handshakes. It was breath-taking. A lot of work for a few very magical moments. Then...after all that love and adulation, we take a few deep breaths and pack all of that stuff back up again, humbled, but happy.
