Because of two shows we had to do out west (with Lightwave
Laser Productions), one in Salt Lake City, Utah and the other
in Madison, Wisconsin... Salt Lake was one Saturday and Madison
the following... I had the chance, for the first time, to actually
drive out West. It's something that I always wanted to do. Previously,
I'd only ever driven as far as South Bend, Indiana (for a fated
interview with Notre Dame University -- didn't get accepted, but
managed to drop my transmission in my car on the way home), but
I've flown to Denver, Colorado and various places in California.
I couldn't have imagined either the
size of this country or the incredibly beautiful things that I
would see out there. We took I-80 straight to Salt Lake City and
then cut up through Idaho (did you know there are incredible sand
dunes in Idaho?) to Yellowstone National Park to see Old Faithful
and then connected onto I-90 back East to see Mt. Rushmore, Wall
Drug and lots of other interesting sights.
I know you'll be surprised to hear that I took a lot
of pictures on this trip... and they are contained on the pages
linked below. I tried to take as many pictures of signs to identify
where I was at the time so you would have some reference. Due
to the sheer number of pictures, I was forced to automate the
process by which I generated the thumbnail pages... so they are
similar to, but not exactly like what you're used to seeing here,
but they work just the same.
As
for the parties we did lasers for...
Salt Lake
City, Utah was basically an all-local lineup with Keoki as
the headliner. There must have been 2,500 people there that night.
The venue was a 30 minute drive to a cut-out flat area near the
top of a mountain which overlooked Utah Lake. Across the lake
was a little town with another mountain behind it. The sun came
up over that mountain in the morning and it was one of the most
beautiful things I've ever seen! There are a few party pics, including
some with the fire artists (those aren't glowsticks you think
you see in the dark pictures). There's some pics of sunrise and
of the sound truck which the sound guy drove over the hillside
in the morning, speakers still in tow with the back of the truck!
Madison, Wisconsin was one of the most
elabourate events I've ever seen. The lineup was enourmous, with
both local, regional, national and international DJs. The venue
was a hill above a very rural farm. They erected one large tent
for the main stage and several smaller tents to make up maybe
a half dozen other stages, including some DIY stages. This party
also had approximately 2,500 in attendance (not really enough
to break even, unfortunately), but I can say that I've never seen
so many people dancing their asses off in the mud (of course,
it rained like hell during the show!) and enjoying the music.
Of course, the monsoon-like rain washed out the dirt road leading
to the top of this hill and we had to sit there until 7 p.m. on
Sunday night to get the trucks down from the hill after the sun
dried the road up a bit. This party also had bottles of water
with custom-printed labels for the event. How cool! :-)
So I guess I've talked enough here... I have so many
stories I could tell. I hope these pics illustrate to you the
overwhelming nature of this trip for me. Take my advice... if
you get the chance... see this country!