What month is it?

May already?

A few weeks ago my buddy Hunter called me and asked if I was up for a couple weeks worth of stagehand work. He wasn’t sure of the nature of the work but it would have to do with a live music venue. I said sure. I could use some cash. On Sunday April 19 I was at Amos’ here in Charlotte at 9:30 a.m. I was a stagehand for the Black Label Society show that day. BLS is the sideband of Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime guitar player Zakk Wylde.

I got into them for their first few albums ten years ago and then everything started to sound the same. The exact same. Still it was really cool to work this show. Zakk is one of the few true guitar heroes left alive today and as a guitar player I loved being able to watch him play from five feet away crouched at the corner of downstage left. He’s a monster, obviously. Why else would he be hired to play for Ozzy at 19 years old after only playing for a few years?

Check that shot out. Pardon the phone camera quality.

Another reason it was so cool to work this show was because I could go into the green room (which we cleared two couches and a table out of to accommodate guitars) and sniff around the forest of guitars that he had in there. As a Gibson man and an owner of two Les Pauls I must say I got a bit light headed walking in there.

We worked that show from 9:30 am to 2:40 am. Yes I don’t even know how many hours that is. Best part was that I had to be up at 6 the next day to meet up with the guys from the two week-long gig by 8:15 at the Verizon Ampitheater.

I showed up the next day and signed my life away with tax forms and blah blah blah to work for Live Nation, the company overseeing the construction of the new Fillmore location here in Charlotte.

More on that later. It’s time to go to the gym. Just wanted to let everyone know I’m alive despite having worked two full weeks of a real job. Thanks for the cards and fruit baskets.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.