There will be other instruments on stage too such as the Koto, a large zither (think steel guitar for country music fans, or a lay down harp for classical people).

I’ve  also seen a shamisen around  (think Japanese three string banjo type instrument). The shamisen is made of animal skin with a wooden body and neck.

There are also various symbols and small percussion instruments laying around.

I understand that there are also flute players on this show, and I just ran into one playing one of his flutes in the hallway backstage.

There’s lots of dancers in the show, using sticks and long staffs in ways that are much in the style of martial arts. You probably wouldn’t want to get in a fight with anyone on this stage! The show also has a lot of seemingly contemporary pieces in it. It’s not just old school. The mix is refreshing. The Wardrobe is great too.

The thing about Taiko is it’s LOUD, really loud. And those big drums produce a lot of low frequency, so the sound really hits you hard. It would be difficult to not be excited sitting in the house when they start to play. It should be an exhilarating show for tonight’s audience.

Today has been an easy day for me, being on the audio crew, as there are only five mics on the floor and six hanging in the air provided by us (the house crew). The company brought their own lighting and sound boards but they are very small so all of the setup was done rather quickly. They also bought their own wireless  mic kit and we don’t have to worry about operating any of that as they travel with audio and lighting techs.

This is one of the nice things about being a tech, although some days can be a lot of work, others are relatively simple. And we also get to see a lot of different kinds of shows (and other types of events), just not from the angle you’re suppose to view them from most of the time. Last night was good old time Rock and Roll and today we have traditional Japanese music. Another great thing is the people change daily too, so we meet people from all over the world. Most of the people who are on this crew tonight do not speak English, but tech’s have our own language anyway so we seem to be able to communicate and get the job done despite the language barrier. I sometimes wonder if this translates into any other business? In any case it’s great to work alongside people from another culture and observe how they do things.

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The sound of that Hammond organ is classic. They are unbelievably exciting! That old rock and roll sound. Then there’s Chubby delivering the lead vocals with an unmistakable voice. (But he’s also unmistakably not here for sound check.)

This marks the fourth time I’ve worked with them, first in 1998, New Years Eve 2000, 2018 and now.

I’m on stage as an A2 for sound check and they are playing The Fats Domino song Blueberry Hill. It sounds great up here. That’s in good part due to Kerry’s awesome monitor mix.

Last time Chubby Checker was here in 2018 with Frankie Avalon. I wrote about that in the manuscript for my (hopefully) soon to be published book Stagehand: A Backstage Pass to my Life Stories. (I gave a copy of the chapter to his manager Shelly for him today.)

Today has been a more smooth running day than that last one, when we had a few technical problems.

Opening the show tonight is Gary Lewis and the Playboys, we’re moving along to sound check them right now. Ideally the bands will soundcheck in reverse order, which they’re doing today but didn’t happen last time. Really Chubby doesn’t need an opening band to make him sound better, but he definitely has one. I’d give a more thorough review but Mom always said if I can’t say something good just say nothing at all. Well I guess I can say that the band members are all friendly and play well, I suppose I’m just not a fan of the singer Gary’s style of vocals.

It’s also another night filled with rolling risers for the drums and keyboards and also re-patching inputs between bands like a lighter version of last night with Jim Messina, no big deal though.

It’s easier working tonight because Jack and Kerry (our house crew) are mixing the show on our own desks, so no guest audio engineers or audio gear belonging to anyone else.

At showtime Chubby takes the stage singing Good Lovin, written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick. It was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966. Chubby doesn’t look or sound a day older than the last time he was here, this guy just knows how to rock! He’s dancing  all over the place, out in the audience, all over the stage, singing up a storm and the band is killing it! They are as tight as a band could be. The audience is going crazy. If you have never seen Chubby Checker in concert I suggest you try to catch him if you can. There is a reason why Chubby Checker is a legend.Definitely the kind of show that makes me glad to be working on this stage.

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Currently, in the latter part of what I’ll call my career I am a local stagehand. I have traveled in the past but like to have a “house”. I know lots of techs who prefer to be on the road. Sometimes it’s fun to do a bit of both.

My house is The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. (CCPA)

I have been with the CCPA for thirty one years. 

I at first thought I would do a few part time gigs in the venue and continue freelancing, and I did for a while – But now I’m getting old! Hahaha

I started at the CCPA before the doors first opened. Since the place is a world class venue that artists say they love, I decided to stick around. 

A lot has changed since the beginning. The building has changed, so have many tech crew personnel and venue staff – and of course the artists come and go almost every day.

Although I work at a house gig, almost every day is different. That keeps things interesting (sometimes tiring), and that’s something I love about my job.

You also see many strange things when you do this job for a while. And meet many interesting people. 

Every day I learn something new and try to pass on whatever I know to new people. There should always be stage techs, or the world may fail!

When I’m not at work I like to travel and adventure, cycle, film stuff with cameras and drones, play with software (video edit, color correction, and FX), and work out at the gym so I don’t fall apart when I go back to work.

I wouldn’t mind scuba diving somewhere tropical right now either!

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