Editor’s Note

We have all been there. It's the end of a long stretch of work, and though you should probably be out celebrating the end of a good run, in truth, there is just no gas left to fuel the fire.

Can't remember where I got that phrase. Think some celeb or another used it once to describe the "behind the scenes" people on a film. You know, the ones without which no production would ever happen.

So, I'm doing the Facebook exchange thing with a friend of mine. Subject is cooking, and I asked, "Why is it that so many musicians and sound guys I know are the ones who do all the cooking at home?" And her response was immediate and to the point. "Because we have passion for it."

I am a huge fan of a really well-crafted tune. I am not talking about art or music as a tool for social change. I am talking about pop songs that still sound fresh years after their release. One-hit wonders like "Smoke From a Distant Fire" by the Sanford Townsend Band, or "Brandy" by Looking Glass, and guilty pleasures like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! or "Where's the Love" by Hanson. Every one a little pop gem.

How the hell did I end up here? How does a guy with an intense fear of falling-who gets nervous on a stepladder-find himself on a warm Sunday night in June standing on a small platform 855 feet above the Las Vegas Strip and prepping to step off said platform into, well, into nothing but air?

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine sent me a link to a video. Her name is Cheryl Cobb, but her maiden name is Evans, and we knew each other in junior high school but had not had contact for 20 years when I unknowingly asked her husband to do keyboard reviews for me back when I was editing GIG.

My house has what we call the "million dollar view." As in, if it were in L.A. or New York, the view alone would be worth a million bucks. In Vegas, it's not worth what we paid for it, but that is a different subject…

So I'm driving a car I'm not used to yet and it has some features that were not present on my last vehicle. Like "automatic lights." Silly me, I go to turn off the lights when I park the car and the car informs me that is a bad idea.

For many years, I provided audio gear and services for a charity event in the L.A. area. When I started doing it, I had crap gear and only a very basic idea of what I was doing. I was the quintessential guy in the band who owned the PA and charged them as such. As the years went on and I provided more and better gear and service, my price went up. Because it was a charity, I cut my normal price by about 25 percent.

There is a joke about sound guys that, while it does not shine the best possible light on us, causes every sound person I have ever told it to to either laugh or nod because it rings so true.

Q: How many sound guys does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: 10. One to do it and nine to stand around telling each other how much better they could have done it.

It is not often that in the same three-hour period you get to see the promise of the future and a living example of the greatness that got us here in the first place. That probably sounds confusing, so allow me to do what I do…

We are all hoping that the coming year is going to be better than the one that just passed and I am very much among those hoping. I mean, how long can it go on? And entertainment is more immune to downturns than other sectors of the economy, right?