Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous, but a kind and caring person.
He is playing a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland when he asks the audience for total quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds.
Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone, ‘Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.’
A voice with a broad Scottish accent, from near the front of the crowd, pierces the silence………….
‘Well, f’n stop doin’ it then.’
mediaguru Musicians, Random
One of the things….nightmares….I’d tried to forget about dealing with bands was getting paid. That’s one thing I haven’t missed in my sound engineer retirement.
With the completion of the metal project I’ve had to relive the nightmare. This band has 3 guys and each of the 3 is chipping in his share, supposedly. Band guy #3 keeps “forgetting” to bring his check book or money for me. It sucks to have to collect at all, but having to collect from 3 different people is a pain in the ass.
Bands should have a “representative” who covers all of that and if some band member didn’t bring his checkbook the representitive covers his ass and not me…
UPDATE: Just to be clear I didn’t start this job until I got half the dough up front. I never start jobs like this until I have a deposit. That’s what working with musicians for 25 years will do to you.
mediaguru Musicians, Random, Rants
I wrapped up the big death metal project last week. Glad to have that one in the can so my weeknights are free again. That was one of the things I really didn’t like about running a studio was having no free nights or staying up till all hours of the night listening to boneheads who can’t sing or play their instruments…
You’re going to have to leave
On one of the last sessions I had to kick some drunk ass out of the studio. The band had some “friends” there and they were being drunken idiots. I couldn’t concentrate or hear what I was doing because these guys were jabbering. I hit stop on the playback and sat there. After about 10 seconds all the people in the studio looked at me. I then said I’m not hitting play until this guy is out of here. Thankfully, the band agreed and he was gone.
Don’t bring your damn friends into the studio if you are recording. All you do is end up trying to keep them entertained rather than concentrating on the task at hand.
mediaguru Musicians, Random, Rants, Recording
Working with a completely new system, in a foreign place which isn’t set up for “studio” recording is a pain. I fought and fought with some new gear trying to get the monitoring working properly for the metal band to do some guitar tracks.
Just when I thought I had it, the guitar player’s Marshall fried. What little mojo we had was lost and we didn’t end up getting one measly track done in four hours. So naturally the guys in the band broke out the bong. Yep, all musicians are on drugs.
mediaguru Musicians, Recording
I’m about to jump in my car and drive to Vegas. I’ll be back stage at the House Of Blues for the Al Di Meola show tonight. I’ll be meeting Al Di and my pal Michael Renna for the first time and I’m very excited.
A detailed report with lots of pictures will follow.
mediaguru Gigs, Musicians, Random
I’m out there fighting the battle and trying to prove to the general public that not all musicians are on drugs. Just when I thought I was making progress this article pops up… F’n musicians.
mediaguru Boneheads, Musicians, Rants
I’m in a hurry as I’m travelling today… But here’s a quick pick to show you where I was last night:
mediaguru Gigs, Musicians, Random
I have some new buddies, the band Bowling For Soup. I met them on my big golf trip in Denver a couple of weeks ago. I was supposed to play a round of golf with them, but their tour bus was late getting into town. Here are some pics.
I’m already getting people asking me who “the blonde” is. Let me just say I golfed with her in Denver, she handles a stiff shaft with an oversized head like a pro, wears a g-string and has a tattoo above her bootie. The rest I’m not telling… 
mediaguru Musicians, Random
I’m kind of bummed to hear about the death of Maynard Ferguson. He died on Aug 24th 2006.
When I was a kid, and later a growing musician, I loved Maynard. I must have seen him perform live at least 10 times.
RIP Maynard. I hope your trumpet is screaming wherever you are now.
mediaguru Musicians
Eddie Van Halen (Left) is auditioning for a position in Iron Maiden. The legendary guitarist isn’t looking for a guitar gig though. He’s looking to replace the Iron Maiden mascot (right). Ironically Iron Maiden’s mascot’s name is….. Eddie.
mediaguru Musicians, Random
