Last night I played a sweet gig as a sideman for Chavar Dontae, opening for Mike Posner at the Omni in Toledo.

Though this was an awesome gig and a rewarding experience, I had one moment of vivid terror. There were several opening acts, and a super-tight schedule. We had all our gear on stage before the show, but things had to be shoved back and covered for the first opener. So Chavar didn’t have to appear on stage before we started playing, I was responsible for moving his pedals center-stage during the very short break between bands. Unfortunately, none of his pedals are mounted on a board, so the process involved scooping up an armful of pedals and cabling, moving it twenty feet, and trying to not make a royal mess of it.

So I move the pedals, and check Chavar’s guitar. No sound from the amp! This is maybe 3-4 minutes to showtime. Is the amp on? Check. I checked the power supply for the pedals, and all cabling. Still no sound. Fortunately, Chavar came over to see what was up, and we were able to determine that the volume on his overdrive pedal had been turned to zero. From there, we were able to start on time, and played a killer set!

So, if you have more than one or two pedals in your setup, I’d strongly advise you to mount ’em on a pedalboard, preferably with a lid!

Also, here are a few shots from the evening. Hangin’ with Terry Rice and Chavar pre-show:

Mike Posner’s setup, just before soundcheck:

During our set, crowd shot from my viewpoint (stage left):

Crowd shot (stage right):

Mike Posner on stage (it was a packed house!)