"The Cubs" are doing daily shows at the Illinois State Fair. Unfortunately, we are doing the afternoon shows and the heat index has been above 100 degrees each day. The heat wave that we are under now is very extreme and miserable.

The opening day of the fair we played from Noon to 3pm. Drumr thought he was gonna have a heat stroke and we all just moved real slow and tried to stay cool.

It was the first time we have played a large, outdoor venue with a gigantic house PA - where the soundman's job is to make it loud to draw the people. We insisted on using the Bose and had the sound man take a feed from our systems.

A little tweaking on behalf of the soundman and he was able to get our 3 Bose systems mixed and pumped thru this MONSTER-LOUD PA. The only problem came when the soundman asked if I could bring my vocal down a bit, because it was as loud as his system and he couldn't add it to the house mix. O_o NOTE: Yes, the Bose system can be loud when needed. We brought our Bose levels down to what we would normally use in a small club and everything fell in place.

Afterwards, I spoke to a couple musicians who I knew wouldn't be biased toward the soundman, and they confirmed that the gigantic PA was crystal clear and sounded great. A sigh of relief. I feared that the big PA would take the beautiful sound of the Bose, amplify it and fill the fairgrounds with a typical, loud, Gigantic PA, muddy mess. Things worked out great!

Well, this was a good test and we were satisfied. We now knew how to handle these house PA situations and what to expect. A good learning experience.

We finished our show, packed up and loaded the Bose, then sat down and looked at each other... dripping with sweat, red faced and about to die from the heat. I think we all three were thinking, we are too old for this and it's just too hot and too much work. We decided to play the following day WITHOUT the Bose. We could just DI into the house PA and we wouldn't have to setup anything. It would be easier on us and besides... that's what the soundman is getting paid for.

Today, we left the Bose at home, took guitars, tiny amps and Drumr's electronic Trap Kat. Setup was a breeze! Less work, just barely broke a sweat and I was thinking, this is much better. Boy, was I wrong.

The next hour was spent trying to get a stage mix that was anything more than rumbling noise all over the stage. My mix was just Ok at one point, as long as I stood right in front of my mic stand and didn't go a foot in either direction. I use the term "Ok" loosely. I could make out the other two instruments thru the rumbling of monitors, but it sounded awful. 1 hour getting a stage "mix" that we could "live with". I use the term "Mix" loosely. It was really just horrible tone fed back to us so that we could all play the same song and try and stay together. (man, I hope my guitar doesn't sound this bad thru the mains) ARGH!

The one hour setup stage mix was done and it was time to play. 3 songs into our first set and all my old forgotten, dreaded memories start coming back to me. The Attack of the random feedback monster at least a couple times per song, the disappearing "1 hour stage mix" as the set progressed. By the time we finished the first set, I felt like I was playing in 3 different bands, ALL at the same time I found myself having to look at Drumr and John (bass player), to get a visual monitoring because the audio monitors have gone to hell in a hand basket. Asking a soundman for a stage mix fix between songs, sounds bad and ruins the flow of the gig, so we just grabbed onto what we could and rode it out. Never Again!

I am not saying that the soundman was bad, in fact, if he had a another stage mix tech., mixing on stage, we probably would have been ok.

Yes, we have become spoiled. But, is it spoiled to want to go out and play music effortlessly, not having to second guess the noises you hear or the sounds you can't hear? No, it's really not spoiled. It's the relaxed feel of being submerged in the warm, wonderful sounds of the Bose that follows me around the stage, never changes and is always set the way WE set them.

It was decided, by the three of us that we would take an extra 20 minutes to setup the Bose in 100+ degree temperatures and risk death of heat stroke to avoid going back to the dark ages of "Stage Mixing" by a guy you don't know, 100 feet away with 300 knobs and buttons that beg to be altered every few minutes.

We'll just take our chances with the heat and go the extra mile to get in our comfort zone with our Bose. My tombstone will read, "He was dying to play thru his Bose" or "He died trying to avoid noise polution".

- Dickie Ray, August 14, 2007

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