as ringleader of the pleasant uprising, I feel it behooves me to have any idea what the fuck I'm doing.

like, I'll happily pilot a prototype across the desert after a quick test drive around the parking lot but the fact is I'm going, I can't be stopped, and I'm gonna get there as fast as I fn can.

still, I should find out the first thing about the first thing, yeah?

so when a couple of international touring bands made their way through town last week, anybody who reads this knows ya boy was gonna find his way backstage expediently.

the opportunity presented itself where it typically does, in trade for services rendered.

society, like The Funk, is reciprocal at its core.

...and so, just a handful of hours after our regular Friday night demonstration down at Sanctuary I suited up and headed north for a full day of learning on the job...class was in session.

12:03pm: I arrived onsite for the 11am call time, hot cup of high-octane morning brew in hand.

funnily enough I don't drink all that much coffee...no judgment from this druggie but it's definitely a drug, if tomorrow a compound was discovered that delivered a substantial jolt of energy while increasing the heart rate and causing distinct withdrawal in frequent users, they'd be trying to lock it up with the Sudafed.

it's just not my drug of choice...I usually wake up feeling productive enough for this product.

still, I had a long day both behind and in front of me...today I needed the boost.

non-skimmers will note that I did show up juuust a little late for work on the day but I did have a valid excuse: a 10:30am meeting with a prospective mural client that ran wonderfully long...I'll give up my weekend for the plot and never regret it, but as I mentioned the landlord likes me to make more than zero pesos in any 48 hour stretch.

besides...I have near-future machinations that will require additional funding.

turned out to be fine anyway, I would have been the only person on time if I had been and that just won't do.

12:41pm- time to put in some work. nothing major, the actual techs and other assorted heroes are forming the foundations, more like table and chair duty...after all, these people paid good money to sit under these little tents so as someone making none of it it's my job to make sure they get what they paid for!

1:17pm- some lanyard comes around trying to get me to put on some grey crew tee...I point out that my purple art-pop Jimi shirt is a perfectly fine work uniform at a rock concert and objectively cooler to boot, and that's enough to resolve that question for the day.

asked if I needed "staff" credentials or "all access" credentials, we eventually landed on "yes" and I got both...ya never know when and where it is useful to be an Established Person, so go as many places as possible.

1:21pm: my official role in the staffing schematic was "band liaison," which being first to volunteer I obviously selected from the list because it seemed like I could bend that job description into a fun shape. sufficiently credentialed, I made my way to the green room, uh, tent, to see what was going on over there.

obviously the headliners were nowhere to be found for their 10:30pm set--I wouldn't be either--but a couple of team reps were hanging out munching on veggie chips and deciding if they were hungry enough to eat the sad lil sammichettes slowly wilting on the catering table. I was, and slid one in one of my many pockets as I walked in. neither blinked.

"hey how's it going guys?" I customer-serviced.

their requests were reasonable...one wanted ice for the cooler, one wanted a joint. I had anticipated both needs, and filled them in short order. I was the right person for this job.

1:53pm- figuring perhaps there was anything else on the grounds that needed to be done and I should probably make some plausible effort to appear like I was here for work.

big mistake...I stepped out of the tent into all but a fire.

the generators to power vendor booths somehow hadn't arrived, everyone's cord was too short and their table was in the wrong place, the few paying customers that were starting to show up wandered off in random directions like grazing sheep...oh and did I mention that security at the venue only spoke Spanish--we ARE in Mexico after all--and wasn't too sure where to let anyone pass on the grounds, organizers included?

mírame...ahora soy el capitán.

2:32pm- after getting in my 10,000 steps attempting to unfuck everything over the past half-hour, my authority was nearly unquestioned. new staffers who arrived were pointed in my direction.

I had become like the 5th highest ranking member of the staff, let's say Secretary of Altered States. I commandeered a book of beer tickets.

the acquired agency gave me the institutional pull to decline an attempted reassignment...someone I had grown to outrank over my distinguished 2 hour career had bad data, believing he was informing me that I had been assigned to the ticket booth.

obviously this was just bad resource management...a problem I quickly corrected by delegating ticketing tasks to the next two staffers to arrive. if you've ever done any reading on the bystander effect, you know how effective it can be in an unsettled situation to issue direct instructions to individual people. you, blue shirt, hold this light. flower dress, go get help.

we got work to do.

3:13pm- the call came out from another staffer: DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO RESTRING AN ELECTRIC GUITAR?

not I, probably...but hey, isn't this a rock concert? so I threw a rock, hit a guitarist, and that's the guy who solved the problem. improvise! adapt! overcome!

3:36pm- some band vans started to pull up for the scheduled first set at 3:30...couple of local cover acts to warm up the crowd along with The Steadies, a touring "island rock" band making one of their periodic visits from the north.

met one of their number a couple years back in passing, but would be fortunate enough to get better acquainted with them today...it was, after all, the job I signed up for.

I rolled yet another up and peeled off some drink tix for the boys to get 'em nice and loose for the show...as I often do, I developed a new title for myself, a promotion if anything: Green Room Host/Field MC.

congratulations kid you're doing a great job, keep it up.

4:19pm- by this time I was well into a chat with Steadies drummer Chris, who I wanna shout out as being extra responsible for declining a passed smoke because he had been feeling under the weather lately. relatively new to the band, the excitement of touring was still fresh on him...only one in the green room more excited about it is typing this.

road stories, travel tips, obviously music talk (pop stars have world-class badasses in their live bands, some super groovy funk came out of Japan in the 70s, Incubus' singer is just a bit nasally)...think maybejustmaybe we're gonna be shootin' the shxt for a long time.

4:46pm- abandoning my post guarding the ashtray to making another perfunctory round of the grounds, I noticed a couple of paramedics sweating profusely while standing ready to address any medical emergencies onsite...be crazy for the EMTs to start dropping dead of heat prostration now wouldn't it?

yall know me by now...I spun on the heel of my Dragonball Z boots and went back to the performer oasis to fetch a couple of cold bottles of water. it ain't just a band name yall, I live this shxt with my only life.

4:51pm- problemas.

Big Boss--guy with the checkbook that he didn't open for me--saw me committing the egregious act of giving out FREE WATER ON EARTH, can you imagine?

like, hot take but if you would angrily deny paramedics a bottle of water on a sweltering Pacific Coast afternoon you would probably have also voluntarily informed on the Frank family...it's like, the type of person you are inside.

so I was Pulled Aside and given a Talking To, which I will eat EVERY DAMN TIME in service of my beliefs ever since way back when I was a kid in Dragonball Z boots.

ask my mama how far you can talk me away from what I truly desire.

if only you knew mf.

5:03pm- first band of the day has hit the stage for their 3:30 start time! say howdy to the cowboy-hatted lead, who brings in the first number and gets to scootin' her boots...my cue to return backstage.

5:11pm- after obtaining a donair through the black market that exists between vendors and staffers at any large event--been laboring around concerts for years--I settled back into an empty table and started in on a late lunch. advised not to drink on the job, I instead only drank 5 so far because I am not above compromise.

for the record, it was my first donair (pretty good, could use acid of some type)...Canadian cousin of local favorite Al Pastor--"to the shepherd"--and has obvious roots in Southwest Asia. food is one of my favorite examples of humanity having far more in common than not...a super valid reason to end all wars worldwide is for the sheer number of possible flavor combinations.

I extracted more beer from a pocket and pondered the concept over an additional smoke.

6:36pm- The Steadies reappeared for game time, and so I polished off my last cold can and grabbed a few more on my way to the dance floor since I was forbidden from giving out water.

had heard of them by reputation from their last visit to the area, and after meeting them officially they were cool dudes...what a relief that I actually dig their music!

one selection from their current album is called "Vaporizah" and it...you know when you hear a new song and turn into a snake a little bit, like your head and neck just go side to side like you're rising out of a basket? yeah, that's the good stuff. 'nother hit please.

7:41pm- cracking open yet another can to congratulate The Steadies on a very groovy set, I spared a thought for the version of me that would have ended up in that ticket booth all day like a helpless rule-sucking rube.

the bad guys do have one thing dead-center accurate...why follow rules that don't make sense to you? that can't make sense?

in this Universe it was more like "hey, next time you need a band to open for ya, hit me up!"

sometimes the start is that simple.

8:08pm- crowd favorite local tribute band hits the stage, the one people showed up with t-shirts for.

they focus more on Canadian classics like Rush and I can't lie, it's better than hearing "Proud Mary" agaaaaain outside karaoke night...that's that "rollin on the river" song, in case you're studying for your next game of music bingo.

they do bring the energy, which is more than half the battle. ask me how I know.

9:16pm- taking another wander around the fairgrounds to test the borders of my all-access pass, I eventually encounter an area with AC and park myself there for a bit...I'll take that instead of the staff meal I was promised I guess.

10:02pm- guess my 15-minute break is over. security happened upon me on patrol and apparently I can't be here...ah well. just hit 'em with a Rascal Shrug and apologize in the most charismatic Spanish you can muster and all will be well.

10:14pm- the headliners take the stage. their most dedicated fans give them a warm welcome that echoes across the nearly empty parking lot.

I move my 15 minutes out to the rock garden surrounding a sculpture at the entrance...at least out here I can have a smoke. maybe practice my throwing accuracy, never know when you gotta make a play. right arm, bing, nailed the pole at 10 meters. again. again. left hand, 3 misses at 10, hit. 3 straight hits at 5ish.

better than yesterday.

11:17pm- with the last set winding down, and my last meal most of a shift ago, I felt my will to stick around drop precipitously.

still, I had to check in. I had to do my job.

sure, I could have totally bailed and that would have been funnier but you can't always do the funniest thing to pop into your head or otherwise at 4 years old you would have gone ahead and stuck that fork into an--

anyway so I made my way back across the event to the green room area, past that ticket booth with sad faces on display in a glass window, past all the vendors I'd said hi to 29 times to smile past them once more, past the still-grateful paramedics, past all the people I had taken pics with that day, past all the clothed tables and empty chairs I had arranged half a day ago, past all my fellow staffers that had shared the dance floor with me that afternoon.

I looked upon my work, and it was good.

not all good, of course...but shxt, mostly!

I weighed the totality of these past hours, the late night before, the long day, the unpaid labor, hot Sun and uncertain outcomes...finding a corner of solitude near the beer cooler, I sat in a chair, looked up at The Moon and into myself.

"...is this the life I want?"

well, as The Steadies sing "to live your dream in this life you have to sacrifice."

you damn right I want it...and yaknow, I'm probably gonna need your help.

all power to The People.

--Flor!