Marc Broussard, Richmond, VA 8.16.06

My night as a wanna-be roadie..

Tonight I volunteered to work the merchandise booth for Marc Broussard. For those of you who have never checked him out, I cannot recommend him enough. He's from Louisiana and is what good old fashioned Southern Rock is all about. I simply love every single song on his Carencro album. He was performing tonight as the opener for Umphrees McGee and Bela Fleck.

I arrived at the show not really knowing what to expect. It's really just a tiny stage in the middle of a gravel parking lot, with a small segregated seating area and then people with lawn chairs and standing in the back. I arrived and picked up my ticket from the Guest List. I asked for the merchandise manager, Brian, who turned out to be an insanely adorable little guy. He told me to go enjoy Marc's set and then meet back afterward. Turns out the ticket I had was "Gold Circle" which meant I could go into the seating area and sit right there in front row. Marc is a genuine little rock star and I loved his set. Looking around, there was only maybe 50-100 people there that early.. Bela Fleck sat in for a song and I am convinced he and I had a little moment.. :)

When the set was over I went to the booth, which was set up within feet of the stage. Brian explained the merchandise and gave me a wad of money and then went on his way. The night was perfect weather, and perfect for people-watching.. my favorite stories of the night:

One of the first guys to come up was proclaiming how amazing Marc was, how he was blown away. He bought a CD for his girlfriend, then asked for a t-shirt. "Twenty dollars," I said. He handed me a wad of money and said "keep it, keep all my money, give it to him, he's amazing." I open the wad and sure enough there's a $20 along with several ones and fives.

Absolutely stereotypical hippie boy with the loose clothing and tye-die and dreadlocks comes up and asks to use my pen. He's getting the phone number of another guy and I listen to his conversation. He is in law school at UVA. I mention I live in Cville and we get into a long conversation. He says how proud he is to have been accepted into UVA and how it took him 6 years and how he will be a first generation college graduate from his family. He owns his own home and has some investments and hopes to be able to open his own practice one day. In the end, he thanked me for being so hospitable. Yet another reminder that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Oh! And the guy who he was talking to? His email addy is bikerslutt. I asked him if he puts that on his employment applications. He said yes. I told him we laugh at him.

Drunk guy walks up and asks me to get him some beer coupons. I tell him I have no idea what he's talking about. He goes on to tell me how much he likes Marc but he really came for Umphrees McGee. He LOVEEEES Umphrees McGee, he exclaimed. I leaned in close.

"Do you really,LOVE Umphrees McGee?"
"Yes!"
"Well, you may be interested to know they're standing right next to you."

The guys backs up like he thinks I am crazy, but when he looks around and actually realizes those guys were indeed standing right next to me signing stuff for people, his mouth dropped open - "OH SHIT!" lol

All in all, it was quite the fun experience. I was a bit put off by the fact that Marc walked around a lot after his set - went and got beer, in fact, but never came up to the booth. I would think he would just to sell more merchandise, but also to maybe shake the hand of the fan who volunteered to work for him for a night? But maybe I expect too much...

Umphrees McGee and some of Bela's people were around a lot. Too bad I couldn't have picked them out of a crowd. I actually had people asking my permission to go up to the artists. Of course, I had a power trip and told them no.... ;) Just kidding!

The encore of the show, with all three bands on stage, was amazing. Me and the merchandise guys for the other bands were dancing our butts off. Brian came in and out during the show and we chatted some. He told me stories of going out with the band, and we compared notes from him visiting Louisiana for Mardi Gras. At the end, we settled up money-wise and he told me I could take any merchandise I wanted.. I just settled for a couple live recordings.

And thus fulfilled my dream of working on a tour!

Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Charlottesville, Va 8.1.2006

Pics from the Robert Randolph and the Family Band show.