Different Circles

Next, it was time to wire everything up. Boxes of cords were brought up, with each cord in question being tightly wound up and labeled for what it was for. It had become standard over the past few years to use wireless, belt mounted transmitters instead of physical cords but Jake was going old school. He had used the wireless tech playing with G, and Laura was used to it as well, but most of his core band members were unfamiliar with the technology and he had not had time to purchase the equipment and train everyone on it. The only one who had a wireless box was Laura, because having a cord trailing from her small soprano sax would be distracting, both to her and the audience.

It took about ten minutes to wire everything up and run the wires to the Lux. Once this was accomplished, the main wiring that led to the sound board where Sharon and the techs were stationed, were plugged into the back of the Lux. The Lux was powered up and then the amps were turned on and adjusted to the levels that had been established during the sound check. A hum briefly emitted from the main speakers of the venue, followed by a brief burst of feedback.

“All right,” Jeff said to his crew. “Let’s start doing the checks.”

He and Nerdly walked out onto the stage. No one in the crowd seemed to recognize Nerdly, which was not unusual. Of all the former Intemperance members, he was the one who had always been able to blend in in a crowd the best thanks to his crewcut hair, preppie manner of dressing, and his thick glasses. The two of them checked the mikes first, tapping each one and then saying “test test” or sometimes “testing, one two three” into them to evaluate the sound output, both audibly and on the board itself. Nerdly had a portable radio he used to communicate with Sharon and when something needed a minor adjustment—as it usually did when Nerdlys were involved—he would relay it to her, or she to him, and the adjustment would be made.

After finishing the mikes, they started on the drums. One of the roadies who was an accomplished drummer himself sat in Ted’s seat and pounded each individual drum while the Nerdlys checked the output of the mikes that picked up the sound. A few adjustments were made, and Nerdly would have loved to make more, but the clock was ticking. They were less than twelve minutes away from stage time. Nerdly declared the drum set operational within parameters and they moved on to the guitars.

Another of the roadies, this one an accomplished guitarist that Jake had known for years and who had served as Jake’s personal assistant on the last Intemperance tour, carried Jake’s black and white Les Paul—the one he would be playing for the majority of the tunes—and plugged it in. The tone knobs and the distortion levels on the amp were already pre-set from the sound check, but they needed to make sure the final output was good. He turned the volume knob all the way up pushed down on the far-left effects pedal, giving him standard distortion. He strummed out a quick chord on the low E and A strings, sending a blast of guitar sound out over the crowd, who cheered loudly when they heard it.

“I’m going up about two tenths,” Sharon’s voice said from the portable radio. “Give me another one.”

She was given another one. She then asked for something on the high end. The roadie played out a brief little solo using the G and B strings. This fell within parameters.

“Okay, next!” yelled Jeff.

The roadie took Jake’s Les Paul backstage and returned a few moments later with Lenny’s candy apple red Telecaster. He plugged in and they went through the process once again, the crowd cheering every time they heard a guitar chord played.

They did not have to check every one of the guitars, just the guitar stations since any guitar played would be set to the same level on the board. They did have to check Natalie’s violin, and G’s keyboard, and Ben’s bass, and Laura’s sax. This went relatively quickly except for the sax. No one in the crew knew how to play one except for Laura herself and they did not want her stepping out onstage where the crowd could see her because her appearance during Blur was meant to be a surprise. They actually agonized over this for a few moments, debating between having her just step out there for a minute and hoping no one would recognize her or having someone who did not know how to play just blow in the thing to check the volume. And then the blindingly obvious occurred to Jake.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “She’s wireless! Why does she need to step out there? Can’t she just blow a few melodies from back here?”

Nobody actually slapped their forehead, but everyone felt the need.

Laura blew out a few brief pieces in different ranges and the sound of her horn was heard by a hundred thousand people. A few cheered, but most did not. It was to be the only horn of any kind that would be heard during the TSF and they were not quite sure what to make of it.