An Introduction

A little over two years ago my father, who has been a stagehand my entire life, got me a job as a catering assistant at a small venue in South Boston called the Bank of America Pavillion.
I had grown up going with him to shows, eating dinner in the backstage area, and never thought a thing of it. All I knew was that everyone was stressed out and busy, and I remained seated like a good child and ate my meal. I didn't know then that I would not only be one of those people, but I would be in it for life.
The catering assistant job was terrible. My duties included setting up dressing rooms, putting up and taking down dinner for the locals and roadies, and washing dishes. A lot of dishes. A show like Paul McCartney or John Mayer, one that could sell out a stadium full of thousands, would mean I had to wash dishes for twelve or more hours a day, with only three breaks for breakfast lunch and dinner. I loved the places I was working and the people I was meeting, but I knew that I couldn't remain there much longer. In October of 2008, I got a phone call that would not only determine where I went to school, but change the course of my entire future. My boss called and told me that the Weezer tour needed one more runner (what a local production assistant is called) and that he thought I would be good for the job. The problem was that it was three overnight shifts in a row, but I could not be more exited. I was ready for a change.
This show was pretty memorable. Most of the time I will work a Saturday show and not remember the events of the day by Monday morning. This one is a show I will never forget. I hopped in the Ford E-350 that night and went to go meet the production manager of the tour. Everytime I drove someone to the hotel, I got lost. I was given lists of things I needed to buy that I never found, and I spent most of my time sitting with the lighting guys watching them design the images that would be played on the LCD screen during the concert. It was not a very impressive first day. The third night I was in the catering room, completely drained and trying to pour myself a cup of the old coffee they had left for us. There was only three of us in the venue that night, so hospitality was not too concerned with keeping the fridges stocked. As I was pouring this particular cup of coffee, one of the two lighting guys whos name I have chosen to forget walked in and right up to the counter with me. I was tired and moody, and what does he do? He comes at me faster than anything I've ever seen and tries to kiss me.
The men on the road are possibly the creepiest, dirtiest old men I have ever met. I overhear them talking about the nastiest things sometimes. I have had men approach my father and tell him they are going to have me calling them daddy soon. To be a girl in this business, you have to know that men are going to creep you out. It's something you learn to get over.
This post isn't much. It's only to tell you how I got my start in this business. Saturday I am working for Journey, and that is when I will start cronicling my days as a production assistant. I am going to show you that the job has a lot of cool aspects to it, but mostly I will show you what it is really like to be a roadie. Or a rockstar. Or even a band-aid like Penny Lane from Almost Famous. It's everything you think it is, and nothing like what you would expect all at the same time.