Goofiest lost gear stories

Re: Goofiest lost gear stories

I was hired for a one-off by "the other guys in town" to do monitors for a show in the local outdoor amphitheater. The day was blustery and windy during load-in, and the crew was comprised of local city park employees. They tended to roll everything in and just leave it center-stage. I was supervising the placement of the monitor console, and turned around to see two JBL HLA cabinets merrily trundling across the stage unattended, hurried along by the brisk wind. I yelled for help, and ran off after them. I caught the portly slow one, but the other dashed past, caught it's front wheels in the drain trough at the lip of the stage, and dove into the picturesque moat that surrounds that stage. An HLA floats for about 15 seconds before it goes under.

I heard that years later, the owner of the company still referred to me as "the guy who sank my $5000 speaker." :lol:
 
Re: Goofiest lost gear stories

In the beginning of my production company, my dad had purchased a school bus as our transportation. there is a community living special needs group of guys who hang around to "help us" at the end of the gig, push boxes into the truck, and I shoot them all $20 bucks. Well I asked one of them to shut the door, but not lock it (there was a hasp and a lock on the back of the bus door)... Well what he thought I meant was don't pull the locking door lever down either.... I made it 20 minutes down the road, got gas, and it wasn't until I was pulling out of the gas station where there was an uphill grade, did the gear in the isle start to disembark from the back door.... Amp rack, mic stand case, monitors... Looking in the rear view mirror watching a case roll out, single file, like they were jumping from a plane... I can laugh about it now. Btw nothing was wrong with any of the gear, the amps literally broke out of the rack rails, bent the ears, but functioned 100%... Needless to say, I always shut the truck door now...and I remembered this event cause sat night, I was coming from the same town... Stopped 5 minutes out of town on the side to the hwy to check the back door, cause I wasn't 100% sure! I had shut it... Paranoid I guess...
 
Re: Goofiest lost gear stories

So many fun stories of things that happen. The most memorable was a trip we were taking to the far north, in the middle of nowhere. Had a mini van and a 5X8 enclosed trailer full of laser gear. This is back when laser gear was big and heavy and extremely fragile. On the way up north, it began to snow. Not a huge deal until we got to a spot in the road that USED to go straight, but now suddenly made a 90 degree turn and created a T-interection to a new section of road. The guy driving slammed on the brakes, but the snow covered road pretty much negated the brake pedal to activating the brake lights on the car and little else. We careened towards the median, my life flashed before my eyes. However, I realized that the flashing lights were simply the stoplights outside my window. Yes, hitting the median had caused us to go fully airborne. Amazingly, we made it across the intersection unscathed and plowed through a snow bank into a field. A quick assessment determined that there was no major damage. We checked back at the path in the snow and clearly saw that there was a gap in the tracks in the path of our travel. It must have been a sight to see to have a mini-van and trailer literally FLYING through the air. We continued on our way, a bit shaken, but the show must go on. Plus, stopping wasn't an option, as a water cooled laser can't be left outside to freeze and die.

When we finally arrive and unload the gear, we found that one light duty 10 space road case has sustained damage because another piece of gear fell on top of it. The contents of everything were in fully working order. No damage. Wow. Good times.

Now, every time I drive past that intersection, it brings back memories.
 
Re: Goofiest lost gear stories

I guess I will go with a sea story, in 2002 when I was still in the Navy we just finished a concert with "Three Doors Down" on the flight deck of our A/C Carrier while in port in Portugal. Now keep in mind it's hard enough to get regular packages sent to our ship, I had an EWI 16x8 reel snake that is mounted on wheels In a road case. Audiopile went through hell to have it shipped to me the week prior and dealing with FPO addresses (thank you so much Liz) anyway, during load out we have what we in the Navy call "working parties" which is really a bunch of disgruntled squids tasked to do menial duties and whatever they are ordered to do on their duty day. So the 9 or so guys that were assigned to help me bring my gear back to my shop were loading the items on the aircraft elevator that brings down the F-18s and other aircraft to the hanger bay. Since all of my gear are on castors the over zealous team started slinging the gear on to the elevator, when they got to the reel snake that was in its case, it got by the last guy on the elevator, and in slow motion I watched it go over the side, by the time I got to the edge I heard a splash and watched the case bob in the water and then sink. The lead singer of "Three Doors Down" had a good laugh of course I was not happy.

But wait!!! There is good news. Usually all ships send EOD divers over the side to check for explosives or damage to the ship, and they found my case partially submerged due to the air pocket in the case, of course they handled it with "care". My ship logo and barcode ID was on the side of the case, I got my snake back, and my working party/roadies were taught the benefits of Naval Corrosion Control on my snake.
 
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