Date Line: 28th November 2009.Venue: Trabendo. Paris. France.
10:00: I am woken up
by my phone ringing. It is Blood and he wants to know if I have
the phone number of the promoter Garance who had promoted the
Mad P show and were promoting our show that night.
They have been waiting for a pick up for over an hour. I tried
all the numbers I had for the office and the venue, but had to
leave voice mails.
10:30: Tried to call Fuzzy to see if all was well. Unable to contact….Hmmm!
10:40: Tried to call Fuzzy to see if all was well. Unable to contact….I'm
not a happy bunny!
10:50: Tried to call Fuzzy to see if all was well. Unable to contact….I'm
positively spitting feathers!
Blood also tries to contact Fuzzy, but has the same problems.
11:20: Blood calls me to say that their driver had turned up and
they were on their way to the hotel.
Yes, but wha appen to the small peach hair man, Fuzzy! I have
a brainwave. William is with them so I call him. He confirms everything
is alright and that all of the crew have boarded the train. He
then tells me that Fuzzy is in dispute with his mobile phone provider
and they have blocked his phone; but he is talking to them to
sort it out. (Well he must be sending smoke signals cos his phone
nah work!).
It transpires that his Queen is actually trying to get it sorted.
12:00: The Nucleus lads and Aba and I (dis is starting to sound like Bunny Wailer, 'Bob and I') all meet in the dining room where the hotel management had left out hot coffee and croissants for us.
12:30: We all board the minibus for the drive back to Paris. Blood calls me to tell me he has arrived at the hotel and gives me his room number.
13:30: We arrive at
the hotel and Aba and I bade farewell to the Nucleus until the
evening. They are staying in another hotel on the far side of
the complex.
13:40: I get the keys to all the Falasha Crew rooms and I phone
Blood's room. No answer!
I call again in case I dialled the number wrong and still no answer.
I call Blood's mobile and he tells me that He, Emmanuel and Henry
have gone shopping because Emmanuel wanted to get his Queen a
present. I will not go there as to what he wanted to purchase,
suffice to say that if he keeps him and his Queen happy, so be
it. You get me!
14:15: I get a call from William that they have boarded the minibus
in Paris and are on their way to the hotel
Aba and I go to our rooms to wait the arrival of the crew.
15:00: Journey time from Garde Du Nord to Parc de Villette is
roughly 10 -15 minutes. It is not that far. Maybe there is traffic
I thought as I looked at my watch.
15:50: William calls me to tell me that the driver wants to take
them straight to the sound check and will be passing by the hotel
soon to pick us up. I asked him if they had experienced traffic
or had stopped to get something to eat. The reply was in the negative
on both counts. William told me that the driver got LOST!!!
Lost! Lost! How can he have got lost! Is not Paris his town?
I ask William to get everyone out of the minibus when the driver
pulls up as I have some things to sort out.
16:10: I get a call
from reception that the crew has arrived. I go downstairs and
hail up the crew and dispense their room keys. I tell them to
deposit all that they don't need for the sound check in their
rooms and we will meet at in the reception in 15 minutes. The
driver is trying to hurry us up and is in apoplexy. He phones
Antoine. This does not impress me much (Shaniah Twain). He has
made us late for sound check by getting lost and he wants us to
hurry up. He had taken nearly 2 hours to get to the hotel! Well
he was going to wait the 15 minutes required for the lads to sort
out their tings. I am offered the phone by the driver and I spoke
to Antoine. I explain that they had taken 2 hours to get from
the station to the hotel a distance of a couple of Km..
The chat to Antoine over I hand the phone back to the driver who
as far as I can make out by his facial expression is not getting
words of congratulations from Antoine.
The crew have stowed their stuff and we get on board the minibus.
The drive to the venue takes 20 minutes which is strange as it
is on the same campus as the hotel and is only 400 metres away
according to the hotel receptionist.
We arrive at the venue and George the sound equipment technician
comes over and introduces himself.
He then takes me to the rack of outboard equipment and everything,
including the Aural Exciter, is present.
I am duly shocked, but thankful and I make my appreciation known
to George.
We have two mixers.
One is on the stage for Aba to mix on and the other is the standard
front of house.
This is where the backline providers of the desks (Not George)
really made something which is so simple, so f***ing complicated!
This is the basic concept. All the line signals from the band
is split fed with one feed going to the desk which Aba is going
to mix on.
The other to the monitor desk.
There is then a stereo pair feed from Aba's desk of the mix to
the FOH mixer, which just sets a level for the sound for the venue.
The on stage monitor mix is set as normal by the monitor mixer,
but no signal from that is fed anywhere apart to the monitors
on stage for the band to hear what they are playing.
Simples, as the Meerkat says in the TV advertisement.
Well the backline mixer
men had the signal going every which way but down the rail tracks
back to London.
They had not split the feed! So everything that Aba was doing
to the signal was coming out on the on stage monitors. As a musician
this is what you don't need if you are trying to keep time, lots
of delay, flange and echo going nuts in your monitor.
I tried to explain to him the error of his ways. I even drew diagrams
and in true bonehead style he threw his toys out of the pram telling
me that he had been an sound engineer for 20 years and he had
never heard of what I wanted done, being possible, or being done.
I thought it was a language thing so I explained to it to George
and asked him to impart the info to said sound engineer.
George to his credit understood instantly, but even he could not
get it through to the sound engineer that they had configured
it wrongly.
So in the finest Lingua Francais I could muster I told Mr Sound
Engineer that meant for the last 20 years he has been getting
it wrong.
20 years, 20 years is all he kept saying eventually sneering and
pointing to me and asking how long I had been a sound engineer.
His face dropped like
a bad facelift after the stitching has been removed when I said
40 (I know I look young for
my age. Veronique who I have known for nearly 20 years was just
as shocked when we were discussing backstage my children and their
ages and she realised for me to have children of that age, I had
to be a certain age. It's in the genes and I don't mean Levi's) I then went on to tell him
where, when and who I had provided sound engineering for, either
as the designer/builder of the equipment being used or just as
front of house or studio engineer. George was in hysterics.
I told him that the Mad Professor had used the very same configuration
the night before and that the company that he works for had provided
and configured the installation. George called the engineer that
had worked on the Mad P gig and handed the phone to Mr 20 years.
After a few mumbles and 1000 yard stares at me he handed the phone
back to George. George then said that the engineer from Mad P's
gig last night was coming to sort it. Mr 20 years went sulking
off to the FOH mixer to twiddle a few knobs to make it look like
he was doing something.
The proper sound engineer turned up at 19:00 and in no time the
configuration was correct.
Sound check time. After a few teething troubles with the laptop
containing the samples everything was set.
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19:30: Antoine asked
if we were ready to eat and I said yes. The minibus could not
take everyone at the same time, so two trips would have to be
made. Antoine assured me that the restaurant was only 5 minutes
away.
I made sure that the musicians went first and that they had the
food order of those that would be coming on the next run. That
way once we arrived we could all eat at the same time. Good plan,
no?
20:10: The minibus had not yet returned so I went to Antoine who
called the driver as he too was shocked he had not returned.
20:15: The minbus driver arrived back. As Blood and I walked to
the minibus he remarked on the queue that was building up and
reflecting that it was a good sign that the headline act had a
good following, but that the Shanti-ites were ready fi dem and
whoever follows us would have it hard!...Hmm! We will return to
this later.
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The journey to the
restaurant took about 10 minutes and on entering I was surprised
that the lads who had come before us were not eating! William
told me that when they eventually arrived, as the driver had
got lost, the restuarant was closed and it took banging on the
door and phone calls before the owner came and opened up! I looked
behind me at the driver who hurried outside with his phone to
his ear. I surveyed the room and apart from our crew there was
the two guys from Dreadzone (Greg & Mc Spee) sitting at an
adjacent table. Strange, as I hadn't seen them at the venue. I sat down with the lads and after 5 minutes a waitress came to take our order. We all think that she took a shine to Emmanuel and ran nuff joke on that topic. 20:40: The starters arrived and the driver came back in and said we had to get back to the venue as show time was 21:00. I looked at my watch and then at the driver with a cold hard stare signifying "You what!" "I should coco!". "You are having a bubble!"(East End slang). "You can't be serious!" (John McEnroe). "Wey Di Ras!" (Sweet T). |
I told him once we had
eaten in a dignified manner (no rush, rush) we would then get
back to the venue.
But I don't recall using such eloquent proses though. He went
outside to sit in the minibus.
The lads from Dreadzone were highly amused.
21:10; The meal itself
was nice and after ensuring that the lads were well sorted we
made our way back to minibus outside.
The lads from Dreadzone had already left on foot as we drove away
from the restuarant. This was also strange as one of them had
a leg in bandages and had a crutch. Serious pon de road soldiering
I thought.
As we drove maybe 150 metres we passed them just turning the corner
and lo and behold there was our hotel! Yup the restaurant was
just around the corner from the hotel and that meant it was only
550 metres from the venue, I shook my head. Bwoy that driver could
get lost in a circular room.
When we arrived at the
venue there was a large crowd queuing and there were shouts of
encouragements eminating from the assembled as we made our way
through the stage door.
Inside we buck up on the Nucleus and Jerome who had come to check
out the show as well as many other bredrins & sistrens: Patrice,
Veronique, Winston Mcanuff & son, Kiddus I to name but a few.
21:25: The band prepared
to go on stage. I joked with Henry that I instituted the 'James
Brown Methodology of Payment'. That is for every note he played
wrong I would deduct money from his fee. He looked absolutely
terrified, as I don't think he took it as a joke.
The band took to the stage and I walked out with Blood. As Blood
got on to the stage there was an almighty cheer from the packed
audience. The place was ram. No ewes or lambs, just ram.
Blood looked at me and asked who was the headline act. I smiled
as I said, "You are!"
"All these people have come to hear you!"
Rabbit caught in the headlights of an on coming car, springs to
mind.
Bloods parting words to me as he went to take up his position
on the drum stool questioned my parentage and explicitly if the
identity of my father was known.
The band opened up with 'We are The Shanti-Ites' and rocked
and dubbed their way though old as well as new tracks. 'Tear
Down, Got to Live Good, In De Ghetto, Holy Mountain, Children'...etc.
The audience was loving it. Yes I saw you Samari. Antoine looked
over to me nodding his head with a big grin on his face.
Emmanuel Joseph did a few numbers from his forthcoming album to
great appreciation from the crowd.
Cyrus on the prangs and fills keeping it tight. Jamel with the
'Gully Man' bass.
Emmanuel with the chips and vocals, laying it down 'Hurt Man'
style. Henry......No comment required.
Last, but definitely not the least, de one, de only, Mr Blood
Shanti, musician extraordinaire.
Aba with William for dub sounds and Fuzzy doing front of house
balance, all did a sterling job and the vibe after such a stressful
day was blissful.
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Yes the 'Shanti-Ites'
live and direct, mashed up de place. There were drummers/musicians
in the area from various bands who could not believe what Blood
was accomplishing. He was drumming, singing and triggering samples.
Truly Ollie the octopus style and pattern.
I have said this/written this before, but until you have seen
the 'Shanti-Ites' in live session you have missed out on something
special. It is not about flashing lights, images and pyrotechnics.
It is about pure musical skill! Trust me I am a musician, or as
some would say a musical doctor.
I have played guitar, rubbed bass, destroyed a few elephant tusks
(crashed the ivories) and been involved with some seriously highly
respected musicians from various genres of music and believe you
and me, I don't believe the hype or perpetrate it. If it walks
like a duck and quacks like a duck, it aint no swan!
In the words of a great musician friend of mine, "Damn
Mikie, these guys are the Sh*t!" Nuff said.
23:00: The band came off to tremulous applause and the vibe back
stage was one of 'Yeah man' a job very well done.
The constant stream of people coming backstage to congratulate
the band, Aba and Blood and for interviews, pictures, was overwhelming,
you get the picture.
23:30: We had to get back to the hotel and prepare for our final
act of the proceedings. Aba was playing a one hour dj set at 02:00.
So we handed the dressing room and its rider contents over to
the Nucleus and went back to the hotel to get ready for it.
23:50: We all assembled
in Jamel's room for the chill out and discussion. I say all but
Henry was a no show.
We chatted about the night's events and had a celebratory glass
or two of fine beverage.
01:30: We all assembled in the reception (No Henry! He must have
been tired after the days excertions) and the minibus was waiting
for us.
01:45: We arrived back at the venue for Aba's dj set.
02:00: Aba took to the stage and straight away went into it and
had the crowd a way.
He brought on as special guests Emmanuel Joseph and the one Blood
Shanti, to provide vocals to great applause from the crowd.
He certainly packed a lot into one hour and all too soon it was
the final farewell and we could depart back to the hotel knowing
that in the words of the Great Redeemer "By your works
you shall be known".
We had definitely 'Kicked Up Rumpus'.
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