THE ROCKER AND THE GREENVILLE CRAWFISH BOIL!!!
Man, last weekend was the biggest event I’ve been a part of since I first started at this station over ten years ago!
Before I give the rundown of the weekend, last Wednesday Rebecca brought over one of her Netflix, The Rocker starring Rainn Wilson from The Office as Fish, a washed up drummer who was kicked out of an 80s glam band right as the band signs a record contract and goes on to become one of the biggest bands in the world. After being fired from his job for fighting a coworker who was forcing him to listen to the latest cd from his former bandmates, Fish moves into his sister’s house and later joins his nephew’s garage band for their gig at their high school prom. Despite the initial prom gig being a total train wreck, Fish stays on in the band but has to move out of the house so they decide to start practicing via webcam. Playing from the hot, stuffy basement of an Oriental restaurant and unaware he is actually on camera, Fish gets behind his kit completely naked. The video hits YouTube and the band becomes an overnight success thanks to “The Naked Drummer” giving Fish his chance to finally breakout and live his once-shattered dream.
The Rocker \m/ \m/ \m/ \n
Friday was an insanely busy day following another insanely busy day of giving away Crawfish Boil tickets EVERY hour and dealing with callers who became like kids incessantly asking “Are we there yet?” but instead were asking “When are you giving away Crawfish Boil tickets” over and over and OVER!!!! So, after getting off the air, I had to tie up a few loose ends in the office before heading to the Crawfish Boil myself - of course Dex got to broadcast from the show as did Samantha D the following day - where’s the justice?! I need to have a talk with Mark! LOL! So I arrived at the Bi-Lo Center and was pulling into the parking garage as GAVIN ROSSDALE was finishing up his set with “Comedown”, a song he did with his former band BUSH. It sounded great from the parking garage!
After getting settled in, SHINEDOWN hit the stage and put on a great set although Brent was having a bit of trouble with his voice - maybe Paige pulled too much out of him when he and Barry came in the studio earlier that day! Following SHINEDOWN was SNOOP DOGG who thus ended the day - and a bit late I might add much to the chagrin of the uppity residents of downtown Greenville who were very vocal about the ‘noise’ which baffles me since SNOOP honestly wasn’t very loud especially in comparison to the rock bands. I also tried some crawfish as they were giving away some free samples at the end of the night. My verdict: the tail meat is great (I can see the poor man’s lobster reference), but sucking the head not so much as the meat was real earthy and mushy.
As a result, Saturday’s decibel level seemed considerably lower but that didn’t spoil the fun by any means. Since I had to work a shift that morning then wait in the long ass line to get in the gate, I missed PARMALEE but arrived just in time for FILTER to hit the stage. Richard seemed to be struggling with his voice a bit but I speculate it may have had something to do with the mic levels as I threw out my voice while making stage announcements and I wasn’t talking over guitars and drums! On a side note, as I was making my way to the stage for the first announcement after FILTER’s set, I saw frontman Richard Patrick backstage and introduced myself (a personal highlight for me). CANDLEBOX was next and put on a great set which included OZZY’s “Crazy Train”. THEORY OF A DEADMAN took the stage next follwed by HINDER and then 3 DOORS DOWN.
It was two great days of music and food as I spent a lot of money feeding and having a few drinks! Let’s see: chicken on a stick, bacon cheddar ranch fries, chocolate-covered funnel cake, a chocolate milkshake, sweet tea, a Bahama Mama and some ice cold Miller Lite! And I wonder why I weigh over 200 lbs! And don’t forget the amazing turnout as we had reports of around 10,000 concertgoers EACH day for a grand total of 20,000! We DEFINITELY need to do it again next year!