VERY sad day for CaptMench -- nobody hurt

CaptainMench

CaptainMench

Carbonite Member
Well --

Friday we were supposed to begin our 6 concert 4th of July tour down the central coast of California into LA area.

About 15 miles south of base our equipment truck caught on fire and, well -- you can see what happened here:

http://thereporter.com/news/ci_4003031

We estimate close to, if not more than, $500k in equipment was lost. This included sound gear, instruments, music and personal suitcases. PLUS the brand new tractor...

Like I said above, the driver wasn't hurt bad, but did burn his hands a bit... plus, he's one who drives for us a lot and was really very shaken by the loss.

I've got GREAT people working for me and we threw together a small group to play the first concert and while they were heading to that we constituted our Jazz Band with secondary and rented instruments. Had to give a few people field promotions and demotions just to get them into uniforms that would fit. My Audio dude was amazing. He built, almost from scratch, a sound system that works. LOOKS like a 1960's christmas tree lighting wire nightmare, but it worked.

We're on the road... and we're helping America celebrate her birthday -- and that makes us happy.

On the 5th, we'll be VERY sad again.

CaptM
 
Wow. Thats horrible. Its great that no-one was seriously hurt but that just sucks.

Sorry for the loss. Seriously.
 
Thaought this was a bit much...

"Hundreds of drivers began their Fourth of July weekend in Solano County watching a dramatic - and entirely unappreciated - display of fireworks."

Sorry to hear about it Cap'n. Glad no one was hurt too badly.
 
Being a musician myself, I understand the relationship that develops between musicians and their instruments. I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened to you.
 
TimurCivan said:
insurance?
Click to expand...

The Air Force considers itself "self-insured."

That means if something crashes, they buy a new one... IF there's still money.

That's where we fall too. Scrubbing remaining budget to see what we can replace with that. Trying to reassess our end of year money we get Sept30th and also hoping for a gift from a General or two.

We'll see.

Thanks for the sympathy.

CaptM
 
Sorry to hear that Captain. At least no one was seriously injured. Stuff can always be replaced, but people are priceless..
 
CaptainMench said:
The Air Force considers itself "self-insured."

That means if something crashes, they buy a new one... IF there's still money.

That's where we fall too. Scrubbing remaining budget to see what we can replace with that. Trying to reassess our end of year money we get Sept30th and also hoping for a gift from a General or two.

We'll see.

Thanks for the sympathy.

CaptM
Click to expand...

hey thats not too bad. At least theres the prspect they will relace the stuff.
 
Sorry to hear about your losses, Captain.

You've been a great asset to our board, and I'm glad that none of your contingent was seriously hurt.

The part of the story that irked me most was

"The Band of the Golden West, the Travis Air Force Base's LOCALLY well-known band, performs throughout the state every Fourth of July weekend. "

Where do they get off saying you're locally well known. Don't they know that Captain Mench has garnered them a world-wide reputation?
 
Sorry to hear about that, sir.

I'm glad you found away through it and are letting that victory lift your sprirts at least to some degree.

Good luck with the tour and hope you get it all replaced good as new.
 
wow after all that you still played! if we had more performers like you guys in L.A. instead of complainers. thats heart man! you can't teach that....for you Guys Who Are About to Rock We Salute You! SALUTE CAP'N
 
Thanks all again for the thoughts.

We did play and audiences were fantastic!! BTW -- if someone has some land in Ojai -- I'll BUY it now and retire there. What a great town!!

CANX'd all my leave and now in paperwork hell!!

Hey -- If CSI Miami can go thru an investigation in less than an hour, why am I spending every waking minute on this???

CaptM
 
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