Thursday didn't get a blog update for two reasons: 1) we received tickets on Wednesday evening for the U2 360 degree show in Houston. The show was IN CRED IBLE. Unfortunately, unless you have a press pass, you can't bring anything more than a point-and-shoot camera. Some day I should probably get one of those. And 2) at about 6:00 AM the next morning we got a call in our hotel room from the front desk along the lines of, "...we think your car was just broken into..."
Sure enough, someone smashed in the front passenger window and got away with about $4,000 worth of gear. Fortunately Cary is a veteran at this touring business and had the gear insured.
So we spent the better part of what was supposed to be a sleep-in day fixing the damage. First Cary called the police to file the report. The officer came and had him produce a list of everything that was lost. Cary called up the the auto insurance and glass repair places. I scoped out the locations of the closest Guitar Center stores. Cary called the closest store and gave them the list of items, asking them to have it ready for when we arrived in the early afternoon. Actually purchasing the gear was the most painful part because, evidently, guitar center doesn't usually process orders that big. That took a ridiculous two hours.
But overall, Cary considers this the universe's way of providing him with the updated gear he had hoped to eventually get. This outlook numbed the sting and made for a reasonably pleasant day.
We made our way to one of the Dallas Guitar Center stores to pick up a couple of additional items that the Houston store didn't have in stock and then made our way to a hotel at the airport. After a little dinner, Cary quickly set everything up to make sure he had all the kinks worked out before Friday's show.
On Friday morning and afternoon we drove to Parsons, Kansas for the Labette Community College's yearly Labette Idol music competition. Cary was booked to provide the entertainment after the contestants performed and before the judges made their final decisions. The new looping rig presented some problems during the sound check but Cary got them worked out in time for the show.
The venue was a rather impressive restored community auditorium that seats about 1,000. A decent sound engineer, interesting lighting (in a good way) and a mixed, appreciative crowd made for a good show overall.
So happy to hear that a bad experience turned out to be somewhat of a blessing! and all is well again!
Posted by: emptynest | October 17, 2009 at 09:09 AM
very interesting.great shot.
Posted by: r-dean | November 28, 2009 at 11:58 AM