While the title of this column is “On the Digital Edge,” there are times when everyone needs to jump away from the edge and relax a bit. Days off while on tour provide this necessary refuge. This precious time is often reserved for sleeping, doing laundry, hitting the hotel gym or doing the little things that help one privately recharge during a 24-hour respite from show day pressures. However, while on tour in Europe, the opportunity to experience many beautiful places and art masterpieces on our days off is, by far, the more attractive choice.
The James Taylor crew was recently given a fantastic opportunity to explore Paris when the production placed the crew in a hotel in Les Halles. The 1st Arrondissement is the center of the city and put us within easy walking distance of many famous Paris landmarks and museums. While on the bus from Lyon to Paris, monitor engineer Rachel Adkins and I had discussed what would be a perfect day off for her in La Ville Lumière. Surprisingly, Rachel had never had a full day off in Paris to discover the particular wonders of the city.
Rachel and I have been mixing partners and, quite often, day-off buddies since she took over the monitor engineer position for James Taylor in 2011. After the immensely successful Troubadour Reunion Tour with Carole King ended in 2010, Ralph Perkins, James Taylor’s production manager, asked me who my choice to fill the now vacant monitor mixing position might be. Rolland Ryan, Carole King’s monitor engineer, had handled the stage duties on Troubadour Reunion, and that left the position open when James returned to his regular touring schedule in 2011.
My immediate response to Ralph was to nominate Rachel Adkins. Rachel had ably stepped into the monitor position when I was mixing FOH for Stevie Nicks in 2008. Before the completion of that tour, monitor engineer Brian Hendry had to leave early and return to the Tom Petty tour. Rachel did an incredible job filling in for him during the remainder of our shows. She then stayed on with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac through 2010.
When I explained my reasons for supporting Rachel to both Ralph and James, I apparently was persuasive enough to convince them to offer her the job. During the past four years, Rachel has become indispensible in her role and, as a result of her engineering prowess, our tour always has a very happy star, band and singers on our stage. She has always been a valuable addition to the touring family and is quasi-officially my adopted “road daughter.”
Bienvenue à Paris!
Over the years I have been fortunate to spend many days in Paris and I believe that I know the city pretty well. I suggested an itinerary of four or five special places that I felt we could visit in the time we had to spend in that beautiful and historic city. I proposed that we begin by walking the short distance over to the church of Saint-Eustache. The last time I had visited this church, it was undergoing a major renovation, but it was now scaffolding-free. Saint-Eustache has stunning stained glass, gorgeous paintings and sculptures, and features the largest pipe organ in France. After fortifying ourselves with breakfast at the hotel (included with our rooms, of course), James Taylor’s two intrepid sound engineers headed into the streets of Paris.
After navigating around the huge new construction project going on in Les Halles, we sadly discovered that Saint-Eustache was not open to the public at that time of the morning. Undaunted, we crossed the Seine river on the historic Pont Neuf bridge and walked onto Île de la Cité heading toward the astounding Notre Dame de Paris. Once we arrived, we were treated to a very special surprise as soon as we entered the cathedral. A large choir of 70 to 80 young adults was performing acoustically just in front of the altar area.
The sound of choral or organ music inside Notre Dame is nothing short of amazing — and we were privileged to hear both. The long reverb time is so even in its decay and so sweetly transparent that the songs performed in French, Latin, Spanish and English were totally intelligible while completely drenched in the ambient sound of the cathedral. Rachel and I were thoroughly mesmerized, and an hour quickly passed before we knew it. We managed to break away from our audio reverie long enough to snap some photos of Notre Dame’s gorgeous interior. We then headed out the door, back onto the streets of the island and over to Rive Gauche, the Left Bank.
Our next destination, the incredible visual heaven that is the Musée d’Orsay, lay west along the Seine where the collection is housed in a stunning late 19th century structure. Formerly a large, ornate train station, this spacious Beaux-Arts period edifice contains several levels for viewing works by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, van Gogh and many others. Both Rachel and I are huge fans of the period from 1848 to 1915, and this magic museum holds the world’s largest collection of paintings from the impressionist and post-impressionist periods. We walked in almost wordless wonder for two and a half hours observing the evolution and perfection of styles by these amazingly creative minds. I found a new favorite Monet — a painting of three girls in a rowboat on a peaceful pond. Its beauty and subtlety were hypnotizing with light and color glowing brilliantly, flowing outward from within that framed canvas.
In a state of visual bliss, Rachel and I stumbled back into the sunlight and continued west along the river toward the Eiffel Tower. If you have never stood beneath this 1880s architectural marvel and witnessed the complexity and grace of its construction, then please add it to your bucket list. When it was built, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest man-made structure in the world. The journey up from ground level in the funicular cable car to the first and second landing platforms is a journey back in time. Disembarking from the elevator that runs from the second platform to the top the Tower puts all of Paris literally at your feet. It is an unforgettable view and an experience to be treasured. It was a great joy to introduce Rachel to this unique, magnificent and enduring symbol of the city.
From Tour Eiffel, we headed north on the Metro toward the Butte Montmartre and the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur. This gleaming white church sits atop the highest point of the city. But before one sees the church, one must climb. The upward trek begins at the Abbesses Metro stop where one tackles a seemingly endless spiral stairway leading to the street. Once street level has been attained, there are then several flights of stone stairs connecting the narrow streets on the hillside that one must ascend before reaching the compact area of shops squares and restaurants that surround the basilica.
One is richly rewarded for the climb. The church is starkly beautiful both inside and out — a stately study in white that creates an extraordinary visual adventure. We arrived at sundown as yellow and orange light tinted the exterior stone. An evening service was taking place inside the church, and we were prohibited from taking photos. But the intricate mosaics that adorn the interior walls and ceilings leave an indelible image on one’s memory. When we exited the basilica, Rachel and I were ready for a rest and a great meal.
I took her to the little square on the hilltop that has been immortalized in thousands upon thousands of paintings, drawings and photographs. There we chose a restaurant in which we ate a perfect Parisian dinner complemented by pints of fine French Kronenbourg 1664 beer. As we walked back down to the Metro station we were treated to the gorgeous view of the city’s lights, including the hypnotic twinkling of the Eiffel Tower.
Back to the Grind
The next day Rachel and I returned to being James Taylor’s sound engineers and part of the greater family as we loaded in to the historic Olympia Theatre in the opera district. Our shared experience on that day off in Paris became another cherished memory from a long series of excellent adventures on the road with Rachel. Our journeys together on the off days continue to make us a stronger and more effective team at work.
Safe travels!
