I really haven’t done much with our website for quite a while. My last post was highlighting our 2019 season at Pinnacle Ridge winery, where we were the in-house production. It was an AMAZING season and we worked with so many talented permormers.
During the off-season we bought a few new cool tools to add to the system, and the plan was to post about all of it as we integrated them all into use.
… Then COVID happened… all music performances were cancelled. By the end of the summer, owners had decided it was time to retire and sold the winery. The new owners were going to operate a much smaller brewery and had no interest in continuing on the musical performances. It was a shame, as the location was known as one of the best locations in the region, and was even featured by the Reading Eagle as such. All of the gear was removed from the venue and mothballed, hoping that a new gig would bring it out again.
I did a few gigs in 2022 as a fill-in engineer, and eventually landed an in-house gig at First Street Sportsbar in Lehighton, not far from home. They had their own in-house system, and all of our gear still sat idle… Unfortunately the COVID shutdown really stunted the live music business at First Street, and the crowds never came back. Eventually the venue closed its doors, and went silent.
From 2020 through 2022, I was doing some work for a friend’s tribute band, Mystery City. They had an audio engineer, and I was brought along to help setup, make sure things worked, fix things that were broken, and assist in any other ways necessary. At the end of 2022, the audio engineer decided to step down, and I am now taking carry of duties behind the console. The band’s reputation and reach are growing, and I am enjoying being the A1! There will be lots of posts coming along, as I get all of the gear cleaned up and out on the road again… and another surprise later in the year will be some more work at an 800-seat regional venue as they complete some renovations and expand their musical performance offerings.