So, it’s a Friday late afternoon and I am trying like hell to get access to the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick show in town. I figured we already had interviews with the crews for Boston and Styx in the can and we could do a real classic rock extravaganza. But, of course, me being me, I was trying to do this at about 4:30 p.m. on show day. A couple of friends in the biz with ties to a couple of the acts tried mightily (a big tip of the hat to Dave Shadoan and Greg DeTogne), but it was just too late to make it happen.
It was looking like a night at home until the phone rang. It was my good friend Dave Tenant from the Cannery in North Las Vegas asking me if I wanted to come out to see a show. They were doing a ”British Invasion” weekend and had the Zombies that night. I agreed to come out mostly because I wanted something to do and because the group included two original members, one of which was Rod Argent, who is one of the baddest organ players ever.
As I watched the show — which was great BTW — I could not help but think that I never knew how influential this band had been on other better-known artists. And not just pop or rock. The Zombies, I figured out that night, were prog before that term was ever coined. They did their first record in ’64, and by the time you read this the Foo Fighters should have released a new single that the Zombies first did in ’68. I left wondering how I could have missed out on all but the big hits from a band like this and thinking about how little credit they get for all of the influence they have had over the years.
As is typical, that led me down other paths, and I have been thinking a lot about the “unsung” — the folks who are crucial to a show, company or other endeavor and who never seem to get the credit for it.
Some regional sound companies who fall into that generally unsung category get their props in this issue as we announce the winners of the annual Hometown Heroes awards. Seven companies from six areas of the U.S. and Canada (yes, we had an actual tie this year), some of which you may know and others you don’t who were nominated and voted on by a jury of their peers (that would be you and your fellow FOH readers). These folks will go on to be the nominees for the big Hometown Hero/Regional Soundco of the Year award at the Parnellis in October.
They all share a few things in common: They do not fear or shrink away from hard work and are all creative enough to make the gig happen no matter how difficult/demanding/insane the promoter/producer/venue manager is, and gauge their success by how happy the client is at the end of the day. I don’t know all of these companies well, but the ones I do know have little patience for anyone who is not willing to go the extra two or three miles to make the gig work.
If you share their core values of hard work well done, and you know what you are doing, they are great to work for. If, however, you are whiny, lazy, in the way and unable to look at the gig through any lens other than the one defined by your own narrow field of expertise… Well, actually if you are all of those things we would call you a “squint.” But, if you are any of them you will have a hard time making it with any of our Hometown Heroes.
As long as we are on the subject of unsung, nominations for the annual Parnelli Awards are open as we speak and we just made an important change. Last year, we added the category of Sound Designer, and it just does not feel right. There are not enough of them and the top three or four get all of the work anyway. But there is a guy on every gig I cover who does his job without fanfare, and I have yet to meet an FOH engineer who has not told me how important his system engineer is or how he could never do his job without the work and expertise of the person filling that seat.
So, as of right now, the field for Sound Designer on the Parnelli nomination site has morphed into System Engineer. Another group of unsung heroes gets its due. It’s a good day…
