Backstage

It's pretty rare for local crew to get backstage passes these days. The newest one of these goes back a few years. Wristbands and extra large T-shirts are the typical 'swag' these days. It's always extra large and I wear medium...

My friend Pete was the guy who got me into the line of work. He got me on my first crew in Phoenix. I believe my first rock show was a band with the members of Menudo minus Ricky Martin. I worked one of his shows during the 'Vida Loca' tour. it was definitely the most impressive show I've worked from a production standpoint -conveyor belts and dancers attached to harnesses dancing horizontally up and down the giant 'jumbotron' video screen.

My last rock show was the Rolling Stones last year. It will be my last -it just about killed me. It's pretty exciting to be backstage though, I worked shows of my childhood idols. Hell, Hulk Hogan accidentally dumped my dinner on the floor! I watched drunk and belligerent middle-aged women get the boot from a Rod Stewart show. I heard 20,000 10-14 year old girls scream so loudly that I couldn't hear the music coming from the wall of speaker cabinets at a Spice Girls show. Good times...

but it's hard work and my body isn't what it was when I was 12 (when I started working construction). I just can't do that kind of work anymore.