I'm tired of starting every tour by apologizing for not posting on my blog. I suppose that's why I haven't posted in the month that I've been out so far. Nevertheless, my urge to share my tour musings with the world is back with a vengeance, therefore I bring you my unapologetic inaugural Carolina Liar post, almost at the midway point in this tour.

It's been a life-changing few weeks for me. At the end of August, I quit my job with the sound company in Portland. It was a crazy summer, including at least two 90 hour weeks (one while my sweetie was up to visit, of course). I did lots of interesting shows and learned a ton about sound, production and people. No big, cool gigs like BB King/Etta James this summer, but I PA tech'ed for Ringo Starr, which was pretty fun. I definitely tested the limits of my sleep deprived brain and came out on the other side with a pretty good opinion of it.

For the first week of September, I got a taste of show production life outside of the audio world, getting the opportunity to production manage Doug Fir and Holocene for Music Fest Northwest. I learned a lot about advancing, about time management and about everything surrounding rock and roll shows that is not the performance itself. I dealt with over 30 bands at the two venues over the course of 3 days, and rode around SE Portland on a bike with a backpack full of cash and receipts.

After I finished the Music Fest Northwest madness, I spent a week packing my house into a storage unit and Goodwill, marveling at all the weird crap I had collected in 3 years of being in the same place (a bear trap? really?). I'll definitely miss the 12th and Taylor house, with its moderate indoor temperature (it was one of the coolest, non-airconditioned, indoor places I've ever been), its amazing location, a 20 minute walk from downtown Portland, a 15 minute drive from PDX airport, blocks from a great dog park, a stumble from a veritable cornucopia of fantastic bars and restaurants, and its amazing front porch, which I am convinced is the best hangout in the city of Portland.

Some old pictures:

PorchFront hall w/keg
KitchenBathroom, with bedrooms on either sideDuh.

All things considered, the B-DOSC took the upheaval fairly well, though I'm sure he was more freaked out than he let on. On the morning of the 13th of September, having been fêted by a bunch of close friends the night before and fed breakfast by Ji and Becca at Sanborns, the B-DOSC and I hopped in a rental car and drove the 600ish miles from Portland to Berkeley to be with Rachel and Tessa.