Saturday May 13 2023

Waking up earlier than desirable.

 

Phil and Bob drive us to Federal Way, Washington, south of Seattle. It’s a beautiful drive weaving through the northwest lakes and mountain.

 

Arriving at Federal Way Performing Arts and Events Center. A fairly spacious stage and nice staff. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to the venue that will kick us in the butt later on. They’ve got some young buck stage hands that seem to be a little inexperienced but again, helpful.

 

Setting up the stage – lunch in the green room.

 

Afterwards, I take a walk in search of a new charger for my laptop cause the original one crapped out. Batteries + points me to a local computer repair shop called Info Tech, a DIY shop with a couple of nice dudes that sell me what I need.

 

 

Sound check.

 

Nearby is a Hawaiian place called Pac Island Grill. Ordering a Mahi Rice plate and Coconut Pudding Pie. Funnily enough the viola player, William, happens to be here also getting dinner. We chat about Seattle and small talk.

 

 

Then, showering up and show time.

 

Our set, as soon as it began, weird things start happening. Many things caused this to catapult into a mess. Kevin’s E string was out of tune. Then, the house PA system started cutting in and out – later we discover it’s a frayed wire into the mixing board – the video projection was shifting, which we discover later was because it was installed incorrectly on the same baton as some light movers. Then, something weird was happening with the spot operators – they were missing cues. Kevin had been drinking and was just sick of it. He breaks the third wall by addressing them directly in front of the audience. You can tell it was a buzz kill for the people watching the show and we never really recovered.

 

 

Packing up and loading out. We drive to a hotel in Olympia, not too far away. Upon arrival it’s a mess trying to check in – we tried everything we could to advance these people so there were no complications. But alas. Reconvening with Mike and Rebecca.