Production Management and Logistics

In July, I will be traveling back to Europe with the Megadeth camp for their performances in the Big 4 & Sonisphere Festivals, taking me to Germany, Sweden, UK, and France.

Thereafter, Megadeth joins the Rockstar Mayhem tour; I am
looking forward to returning to work with old friends of the Mayhem Production team.

By August, I (as Production Manager) take on a new festival called “Identity” featuring some of the newest and biggest electronic music artists in the world….

In all, there will be plenty of challenges – and I am looking forward to all of them.

Social Distortion has always been one of my hero bands….. I am thrilled to see the recent success of their newly released short film “Machine Gun Blues” and wish the guys nothing but success as they continue to tour thru this year and next. It has been a privilege to work for Social Distortion and with Shane Trulin (Relentless Artist Management, Inc.) … good luck fellas and keep up the great work. Awesome!

Peter Murphy, an artist I’ve toured with extensively, performed in March at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. I was really sorry to miss it, but was out on tour with Megadeth at the time. The LA Times posted a terrific review that is well worth a read whether you made it to the gig or not.

I took the holidays off to relocate back to Southern California, got engaged, and generally was a lazy pile since finishing with Green Day. Now it’s time to get back on the pony!
In this case that pony is Megadeth. For the most part this will be a new crew, management company, and a new band. I would like to thank Mike La Tronico (Megadeth Tour Manager) for hooking this up. Day one begins today, and for the next few weeks it will be craziness and nothing but breakneck speed to get my head around this gig. I would not have it any other way.

The official website of the tour schedule and updates about the tour.

On the flight from Miami to South America for the final run of the Green Day World Tour 2009/2010. We will knock out 10 more shows to wrap up what has been 20 OR SO MONTHS of:
159 PERFORMANCES ON 5 CONTINENTS IN 30 COUNTRIES, 23 STATES, 6 PROVINCES, equaling 168,668 MILES.

This has been another great run with Green Day; I have been very thrilled with the vibe of the tour from the start. As a crew, we all worked hard, and, as a result, our band had one great show after another. This has been one of the best collaborations, with special Mention to the vendors who supported this tour worldwide.

And to all of the Promoters, Production managers, and local labor – thanks for all of the hard work and attention paid to our tour. Your hard work is a big part of what allowed me and my crew to be successful for our artist. Thank you, everyone.

Well, one last run through South America, then home for the holidays, and the search for the next project… Love this gig.

“American Idiot tells the exhilarating story of a new generation of young Americans as they struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world, in a journey borne along by songs of the band Green Day. The musical follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration. The cast of 19 is led by past Tony Award-winner John Gallagher, Jr.”

Read more here…

The popularity of the band Green Day has afforded the trio the opportunity to headline and establish high production values. A major part of the production for their 21st Century Breakdown tour is the video element, most of which is controlled by lighting director Kevin Cauley. The other Collie on the tour is lighting designer Justin Collie of Artfag. This is what they had to say about the tour…

Read the rest of the article…

Green Day is breaking from it’s touring schedule to focus on the upcoming musical on broadway in NYC based on the music from the album “American Idiot”, I will be focusing on the upcoming tour in Europe in May, this will be the restart of the touring schedule that will take us again to Europe, North America, and other points around the world….

Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ movie to be directed by Tom Hanks?

Green Day musical American Idiot is finally set to be made into a feature film.

The musical – which uses Green Day songs to tell the coming-of-age story of three small-town boys as one joins the army, one moves to the city, and another stays home and gets his girlfriend pregnant – premiered in the band’s home town of Berkeley last year and is set to make its Broadway debut on April 20.

Following years of rumours that the band would turn their album ‘American Idiot’ into a film, Deadline reports that talks are at an advanced stage to adapt the project for the screen.

According to reports, Tom Hanks is lined up to direct, while Julia Roberts could take a lead role in the film.
Read the original article at NME’s site…

It has been approximately 6 months since my last entry. I have been hard at work with my latest commitment. At the beginning of the year, I was asked back by the Green Day camp, once again to rejoin a cast of characters that I respect and appreciate working with.

Of course, the very start of the commitment was promotional events. First though, it was time to finish the record, plan and rehearse for what would be a race around the world appearing in all manner of events. But even before that it was time to break out the gear, fix it all up, and get it tour-ready. Since we had the gear out, why not play some unannounced shows along the way?

The Independent, DNA in San Francisco; the Fox Theater and the Uptown in Oakland – great small shows and a shit load of fun to work. At one point, I was manning the door and my Tour Manager, Doug, was manning the guest list at one of these events. The best thing about unannounced shows is that they are straight make-it-up-as-you-go West-coast-bum-rush style.

I think every kid that made it to these gigs was completely thrilled – I know the kids I snuck into one of the unannounced shows were! They were from Norway and did not have proper ID. They could not thank me enough after the gig.

Once the dust was brushed off it was time to hit the road. First stop: Europe. We headed straight to London. One of the most interesting of the gigs was the Studio Sessions at Abby Road (the one and the same home of the Beatles ). Man, crazy history from all of the Beatles to Pink Floyd – it was just mind blowing! At one point we were leaning against an old upright piano, eating from a pizza box we had placed on top. Then we learned that it was the exact piano used by McCartney on so many songs I heard growing up. It was also the very same studio in which Dark Side of the Moon was recorded.

From the UK to Germany and France… More Club shows, more TV appearances, and just a crazy schedule of press. After we finished Europe, it was off to the East Coast – specifically NYC, the big apple. Back to SNL, season finale. What a blast to be there for that! At one point, I am watching the monitors in the hall as the guys are live on air and to my right is Sean Penn with friends and family and Ed Norton brushing up behind me with his girl… Just a little intimidating! I really do not get star struck much, but it kinda caught me off guard. The best moment of the night was not what aired but what did not. Having Will Ferrel on stage playing a cow bell with the Band was hilarious! Just too funny…

More TV and club shows followed in NYC. One of the better events was Webster Hall – just a great show with a great crowd. We wrapped up the east coast with an appearance on Good Morning America. It’s not very Rock & Roll getting up that early to do a performance at 7am.

Again, Promo sometimes has a way of throwing you curveballs. Sometimes you even have to be prepared to get arrested (more funny than dangerous). At 7am on the Upper East Side, you really aren’t allowed to crank the music up because of the multi-million dollar flats over looking Central Park. But this is Green Day, so keeping the PA at the restricted limit…. Well, let’s just say that did not happen and I had several members of the security team run interference while I mixed the levels to a more realistic rock show kinda level.

Japan, here I come! I love working in Japan. It is one of my favorite places in the world! Again, club shows and TV appearances, but this time also an MTV Japan Awards event. It always feels like a homecoming on these gigs. You can run into a lot of old friends at these kind of events. From Japan, it was back to the West Coast. More promo TV, Radio, and finishing it off with a club show in Hollywood.

So now the real deal begins. We start what will be a run thru North America Arenas with 11 trucks, 7 buses, and a nearly 60 man crew as a supporting cast for Green Day. This will be a big production and yet the ticket prices are being keep low. It will be one of the best deals from any touring artist at this level, period. It is one of the things I like most about this band. They work incredibly hard and really give a shit about the people that come to see them. I can never remember a time that the guys were not excited to get in front of the kids that show up for these events and give it their all. It has been my pleasure to be a part of this camp on and off for the last 10 years.

I can’t wait! Let the hard work and all the fun begin…

Some of you are aware of my involvement sponsoring a small school in the North of Cambodia. As most of you know, I sponsored and paid for a small school house to be built in a little village outside of the region of Ankor Wat. Last year, this school house had a little over a dozen students. I found myself with the opportunity to empower two brothers who had made a commitment to teach English to the children of their village. Language is crucial for these children to work selling souvenirs to tourists. Aside from working at the surrounding temples selling what they can, they also attend traditional Khamer schools in the afternoon and then study English in the evening.

I have been very careful about controlling my involvement financially by supplying resources to help the two brothers accomplish their goals and advance their commitment. I recently returned to follow up on the progress, The school house (thatched roof approximately 15 x 20ft) is now open 3 to 4 hours a night helping about 40 children learn English, Japanese, and Korean. I am very proud of the efforts of these two young men whom I have become friends with. The village is desperately poor and conditions are very minimal, but these two young men have made great progress. I have worked out the details to outfit the school house now with a generator, proper overhead lighting (the kids had been working around 1 small florescent light connected to a car battery), and finally school tables and benches to seat 24 students per class. This has been phase-2 in what has become an amazing experience.

Lastly, I am extremely grateful to Linda (a teacher from the LA City Unified School District). She very graciously offered me the opportunity to evaluate and suggest a curriculum based on the level of the teacher and the students. Her very generous donation and participation of her time, expertise, and materials have been invaluable. I am deeply grateful for both her help and advice.

I share this story not to ask anyone to assist me or participate. The reality is that I am not sure how far I will take this and what will be next. For now it is a work in progress and that is good enough for me. I simply share this story as something I am proud to have been a part of with those in my life I call friends and colleagues. I am grateful for the friendships and the life I get to live.

I wish all of you a very happy holiday season and nothing but the best for the coming year.

The next project in my immediate future would be the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour. Of course, as per usual, I took on this commitment while throwing my life into total turmoil by moving and relocating my life back to Northern California. The main reason for taking the tour was the challenge of working on, and being in charge of, a larger scale festival tour.

This tour is the brain child of John Reese and Kevin Lyman. I have worked for Kevin Lyman for years and have a great deal of respect for him. I think Kevin Lyman is a great visionary that puts together creative ideas in very unique ways. The Vans Warped Tour alone is testimony to that. The Warped Tour’s success is exclusively owed to Kevin and his ideas. It is the longest running touring festival period in the United States. No one else can touch the success of this tour. It is no small feat to make it happen on a daily basis and I have known a great many people that have launched very successful careers because of their association with the tour. My own success and opportunities with the artist Green Day were the result working with the Warped tour.

I had the pleasure to work with John Reese on the Taste of Chaos tour in 2006 so I was excited to work with him again. I learned he would be the point person for the tour. As I stated earlier, I took the gig because of a desire to take on new challenges and work with a new project. To be honest, I did have reservations about taking the gig and even turned it down when I was first asked because of a conflict in scheduling. Later, however, my schedule changed and I was reoffered the position of PM for the tour and this time I said yes.

The Mayhem tour has been a huge challenge and not everything has been 100% smooth. I have learned a great deal about myself, my abilities, my limitations, strengths and weaknesses. I also have learned to be a better leader and motivator. In some cases, I learned to be a better mentor. I learned to recognize when I am wrong and to look to others when their ideas are better than mine. I never had a doubt about my ability to be successful as a PM, but this is a big gig where the focus is not a single artist but the entire production. All artists, all vendors, and all sponsorship. This included learning to recognize each of their needs and what makes their day more successful. I have learned to better balance the needs of the tour and the crew.

The Mayhem tour is a festival in its first year of existence and I have been trusted to be in charge of its organization. There are some excellent people here that are a great part of the team; Andy Lee, John Firpo, Jacob Raggio, Ray Picard, Rob Hageborn – all running the stages and the festival site.

All of these young ladies – Keri Lee, Heather Overstreet, Nicole Devonavich, Amanda Moore and Lindsey Bathgate – put in the long hours and kept a great vibe daily. On a tour like this, in my opinion, a good vibe can make or break a tour.

I started the tour June 1st doing pre-production, and rehearsals began on July the 6th in Seattle. As I write this, it is now August 3, 2008, and we are over the mid-way hump of the tour. I have worked my ass off on this gig and I have liked my role as the overall Production Manager. Filling the role of a band guy is very different from being the guy that has to look after everything production-related for a festival. When the tour wraps on the 19th I will be able to look back and determine all I have been through and how I have benefited.

The gig is not yet done until the 19th, but I look forward to wrapping this gig and getting a little time off. Time to get out and do some fun stuff. Maybe time to get a little diving in and maybe time to get a little traveling to South East Asia again. Maybe this time Hanoi, Vietnam or perhaps Cambodia again.