TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH – CHASE RICE – NASHVILLE TO HONOLULU, HAWAII:
Before I start the road report for this journey, I have to say “thank you” to Albi for driving us around in Interlaken. Except for trying to kill a motorcycle rider, he did a great job. Anyone who can put up with my constant “bitching” deserves a reward. You would think Albi and I are an old married couple the way we constantly bicker! LOL.
Having only one day at home after a month long European tour is NOT enough time to unpack, wash clothes, and repack. After arriving home at midnight on Sunday night, I stayed up until 3 am working and washing clothes. I was going to have to get up at 2:00 am for our early morning flight to Honolulu via Atlanta on Tuesday morning. However, we got a message around 1 pm on Monday stating that our flight the next morning had been delayed until 8:30 am. That was only going to give us 1 hour to make our connection in Atlanta. Not impossible but definitely not ideal especially with the amount of luggage and equipment we had to check!
I laid down at 1 am and got up at 2 am and was at the airport at 4:45 am. My “plan” was to sleep on the flight from Atlanta to Honolulu since that was a 9 hour journey. Chase’s tour manager Nandor met me at 5 am and the guys started coming in a 5:30 am….all wearing these very bright purple Hawaiian shirts with pineapples and flamingos on them. They also had one for me. They did this as a joke for Chase but I loved the idea because it was so easy to identify where my guys were at all times.
We got a really nice lady to help us check in and she was extremely patient. We did have to pay a lot for excess because the military travel agency booked everyone in the class of service that does not allow any bags to be checked free of charge! But, I just turn the receipts in to AFE for reimbursement. Chase had not arrived by the time we finished checking in but John was with him and would take care of getting him checked in.
I went through the Clear lane because when I went through it at JFK on Sunday, it did not recognize my eyes or my fingerprints. The attendant tried taking new photos of my eyes and new fingerprints and the machine would not accept those either! She finally got clear prints of my thumbs and told me to always use my thumbs at the kiosk. So STRANGE.
I went into the Lounge and Chase came in a few minutes later. Everyone in the terminal was talking about the group in the bright Hawaiian shirts and asking what we were doing. Thankfully, Chase is a great sport and put on the one they had made for him as well. We boarded on time and the aircraft was HUGE. Usually the planes to Atlanta are not this large. When we boarded, the first class section was to the left with the coach section to the right — almost like overseas flights just not “lay flat” seats.
Our flight landed on time and we only had a few minutes before boarding once we arrived at the gate area in Atlanta. Once on board, we all checked our Delta apps and all our luggage and equipment made it on the flight. A few minutes before we were due to take off, the pilot announced that there was a “problem” with one of the fuel tanks and maintenance had been called. He said he would let us know how long the delay would be. He came back on in about a half hour and said it was going to take at least an hour but that those of us who wanted to get off the plane could do so but would not be able to board again until the jetway opened once the aircraft was repaired. Then before anyone got off, he corrected his statement and said that either everyone had to get off or no one could get off. So we all sat and waited.
About 30 minutes later, he announced that the repair was going to take much longer than anticipated and everyone had to gather all their belongings and get off the plane. Instead of departing at 11:15 am, the anticipated departure time was now 3:00 pm. Then a few minutes after we got off the plane, an announcement was made that the new departure time was 5:00 pm! My guess was we would not depart at all since I knew “crew rest” would figure into our plans. I was so bummed because General Shoemaker (Baja) and his wife Sarah had invited me to their home for dinner thinking I would be at the hotel no later than 4 pm. Now it was going to be around 10 pm before we arrived at the hotel.
I went to the Delta Lounge and set up my “office”. Got a little work done and then the announcement was made at around 3:45 pm that our flight was ready to board! Hurriedly packed up my “office” and hiked back to the gate area.
We boarded at around 4:15 pm and were still waiting for catering to finish and finally departed at 5 pm. I managed to stay awake until after the meal was served and then I crashed hard. Slept about 5 hours total out of the 9 hour flight and felt almost human again. The video monitor kept glitching on the flight and I gave up on watching a movie!
We landed at around 8 pm and Baja and Sarah came by to say hello. They are leaving tomorrow for the mainland. Baja will be back for the 4th of July festivities but Sarah will still be gone when we depart on July 5th. Frank (with AFE) and our transportation coordinator met us at baggage claim and escorted us to a huge bus. It was only about a 30 minute drive to the Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger Hotel where I stayed with Chingy in February.
Checking everyone in was not a quick process. My room overlooks a “portion” of the beach this time. I stashed my bags and walked down to the ABC store to buy water and watermelon. ABC stores are located on almost every block and are like a “mini-Walmart”. And they have great fresh food – sushi, salads, fruit, etc.
Came back to my room and worked until 2:30 am again knowing I had to get up at 6:00 am. Happy to be in Honolulu and working with such a great group of guys again – Chase Rice and his musicians/crew.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29TH – SOUND CHECK AT K-BAY MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII:
Woke up in a panic at 6:15 am because my alarm did not go off! I rushed around but couldn’t find half the things I needed for the day. But, made it to the lobby by 7:40 am to meet the guys. Frank had to hire transportation from a local company because he has four bands in town for these events. Since Chase is the headliner, so we got the “party bus” complete with disco lights. Chase doesn’t participate in sound check so he’s not needed until tomorrow when we depart to the show. We have a really sweet driver named Josie.
It took longer to drive to the base than I thought but thankfully we had a special parking sticker and did not have to endure a security check. The stage and grounds are awesome. We have a building immediately to the side of the stage where there are toilets and our green room/dressing rooms. The production company ran into some issues and were able to resolve them but it did throw us behind on finishing sound check by 11:00 am. They are not going to have a backdrop on the stage because there are huge, beautiful trees immediately behind the stage. The base is going to “light” the trees in different colors and it will look awesome!
The base commander – Colonel Koumparakis – came by to say “hello” and that was really nice of him. About a half hour later, Frank came up to me and told me that the Commander said he recognized me and asked Frank if I took any entertainers to Iraq. Turns out we met in Fallujah on November 26th, 2005 with Aaron Tippin. I remember we stayed in a hard building and I had the rare luxury of having my own room that night. The building also housed all the Special Forces and they were grilling steaks in front of the building and asked us to eat with them. Unfortunately we couldn’t accept because of our show time. But after the show we went back to the building and there was a group of guys playing cards in a back room. Colonel Koumparakis was a Captain at the time but he remembered my visit. I am definitely not “memorable” so I was so surprised and happy to know he remembered me. It tells me that our visits with the men and women serving over seas have a positive impact on them and they realize how much we appreciate their service. It’s “little” things like this that make me thank God every day that I was blessed to fall into this career path.
We finished sound check at 11:45 am and headed back to the hotel. Everyone is “off” until we depart to the show tomorrow at 5:30 pm. I tried to find a nail salon and get a manicure and pedicure but everyone is booked until Saturday! I did find a great salad at the ABC store. Worked for several hours and then met the group to walk to “Genius Lounge” for dinner. The food was really good and I had a grilled shrimp dish with soba noodles. The shrimp was covered with a wonderful sauce but not peeled. By the time I peeled it, all the sauce was on my hands! Lots of the guys/girls were going to a Karaoke Bar afterwards but I had to come back to the hotel and work! Like I said, a “great” group of folks to work with! Jonathan even sent me a text to make sure I got back to the hotel safely. Such a sweetheart.
Jude
THURSDAY, JUNE 30TH, 2022 – FIRST PERFORMANCE AT MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII (K-BAY):
After taking a phone call from Norway at 2:30 am, I planned to sleep until at least 8:30 am. Didn’t happen. Was wide awake at 5:30 am and could not go back to sleep. Got up and did my stretches and answered some “urgent” emails. Then I went for a great jog adjacent to the beach. Weather was perfect – low 70’s with a breeze.
Spent the rest of the morning/afternoon working except for one trip to the ABC Store to buy water, fruit and a tomato mozzarella salad.
Our group left for the base at 5:30 pm and there was already a huge crowd watching the opening acts which include Marc E. Bassy, Max, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Chase had a very quick meet and greet with about 30 people. We had a 30 minute set change allocated but when the guys started setting up, they learned there were some major technical issues so it took longer than the 30 minutes for the set change but the audience all stayed and Chase received roaring applause once he took the stage. The Base Commander did a great job of introducing Chase – very high energy!.
Chase performed for 75 minutes and I walked around and took photos of the huge crowd. Everyone seemed to know all the songs he performed and sang along with most of them. There was a barricade between the stage and the audience and when he finished his set, he jumped off the front of the stage between the audience and the fence and took selfies and signed some autographs as he walked towards the dressing room. John had purchased food for everyone from the one food stand set up at the event.
All the people with MCCS who were working with us were awesome. It was such an honor to be able to perform for the Marines and their families at K-Bay Marine Base Honolulu! Hope to be able to bring more entertainment to them in the future.
Jude
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FRIDAY, JULY 1ST – SOUND CHECK AT SCHOFIELD BARRACKS ARMY BASE – HONOLULU:
Got up at 6 am to get some work done before going to sound check at 9 am. Planned to work out in the Fitness Center when we returned from sound check at noon. The best laid plans….
Frank called at around 7:30 am and said we have to push sound check to 2 pm. Evidentially, the Army scheduled ceremonies on the field where we have to sound check and we aren’t allowed to make noise until 2 pm. Got in touch with everyone and I’m sure this ruined their plans for the day since we all thought we would be back at the hotel at around 1 pm and free the rest of the afternoon. But, we’re here to work and changes happen and will continue to happen!
Got a lot of work done before departing for sound check at 1 pm. It’s another beautiful venue and really great MWR folks to work with. When we pulled in, our driver wasn’t sure where to go and we ended up right in front of the ceremony taking place for a Colonel who was being promoted to one-star General. She was going to back up but one of our guys realized that the bus probably had the “beeper” that would disrupt their ceremony. She was able to go the wrong way through the parking lot and get out.
Sound check went smoothly and I think we have the issues fixed that we had at last night’s show. The first show is always “trying” but it was also awesome.
By the time we got back to the hotel, Lindsey, Zac and Zoe had landed at the airport and were en route to the hotel. Most of Chase’s group were going to take a glass bottom boat ride. After Lindsey and the kids arrived and got unpacked, we walked out of the hotel to find something to eat. I “introduced” the twins to the ABC Store and it’s their new favorite place. Found a good restaurant that also served breakfast all day and ate there.
They are really tired because they had to get up early to go to the airport this morning, take the long flight here, and now it’s 2 am Nashville time! I’m going to take a shower and they are going to sleep.
Jude
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SATURDAY, JULY 2ND – SECOND PERFORMANCE AT SCHOFIELD BARRACKS ARMY BASE, HONOLULU:
Lindsey and the kids passed out at 9:30 pm and I followed at around 11 pm. Zoe and I both woke up at 5:30 am – time difference is “hard” over here. Zoe bought a papaya last night at the ABC store and was going to “share” it with me for breakfast. She went out onto the patio and within minutes, there was nothing left to “share”. LOL.
We walked down the street and made some more purchases in the ABC store and then went across the street to check out the beach. Reversed our course and went to the “largest” ABC store in Waikiki which seemed to have less than the store near our hotel.
Lindsey got a call from the company where she booked their “water activities” for this afternoon telling her they could not take them at 4 pm as scheduled and the only time available today was at 1:00 pm. So, they grabbed some food from the ABC store and hustled back to the hotel to change for their “adventure”.
Seems all I have done all morning is deal with changes and issues. Hopefully everything is sorted out for the time being.
I left the hotel at 3:30 pm for tonight’s show. Going to be interesting to see how many people attend! When we finally arrived, it was amazing! There were over 30,000 people on the field!
Chase did a quick interview with the AFE camera crew and then the meet and greet. The lady with MWR who was helping was amazing. She ran people through faster than I have ever seen yet each person felt like the were getting special attention.
Things went much smoother at the stage tonight. Chase went on exactly on time. The audience was wild! I walked around the entire perimeter taking photos but just could not capture the sheer magnitude of the massive crowd. There was about a dozen food booths in the back and every stand had upwards of 100 people standing in line.
Chase had another great show and finished exactly on time. Th guys had the quickest load out in history. We were trying to get out before the 50 canon saluted started and trapped us. We had 19 minutes to pack up and get in the van. The guys did it in 11 minutes!!!
We were back at the hotel by 8:45 pm and I was starving from not haven eaten all day. Went with my family to “find food”! They said they had fun on the water activities tour today but were unable to Kayak or Paddle Board because the wind was too high. But they had a huge slide that went into the water and they jumped off the off from very high up into the water. They were “out” by 11 pm.
Jude
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SUNDAY, JULY 3RD – SOUND CHECK AT JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM:
Had breakfast with the family before departing for sound check at 1:00 pm. Frank met me when we arrived and said everything was way behind. Evidently, there wasn’t a forklift at Schofield last night when they were trying to load out and that threw them hours behind.
I was worried that we would not be able to finish sound check before our tour of the USS Arizona. The guys said if they couldn’t do a sound check, everything would still be okay but they were not going to miss the USS Arizona Tour. That’s why I love these guys!
They actually did a sound check in about 20 minutes once the stage got power and we left on time for the USS Arizona tour. All their guests and my family met us there for the tour. AFE and JBPH-H arranged for us to have a “private” boat and a tour guide. No matter how many times I take that tour, I always learn something new. It is such a special visit and I’m so glad the group was able to do this. I was really happy to see that two of the people who took us out on the boat when I was here with Chingy in February are still here — EN2 Cabero (female) and AN Rippo. Unfortunately GSM2 Schneider is now on a ship. Both Cabero and Rippo remembered me from the visit with Chingy in February.
AFE also arranged for some of the military personnel and their families to go out on the boat with us. After touring the Memorial, we went into the gift shop and I think everyone in my group purchased several items. We were back at the hotel by around 5:30 pm and ready to eat. Zachary in Chase’s group told us about an excellent sushi restaurant and that’s where we ate. Zac doesn’t eat sushi so we all had Udon but Lindsey, Zoe and I also had sushi. Zachary was right – the sushi was fantastic.
Came back to the hotel and worked for a while before going to bed. Can’t believe tomorrow is the last show. The time has just flown by! We have lobby call at 5:30 pm and right now, we are trying to figure out what to do during the day before departing for the show.
Jude
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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY FROM JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR – HICKAM, HONOLULU, HAWAII:
Woke up at 7:30 am with another migraine. Once I am home again for more than 2 days, I’ve got to go see a doctor and find out what’s happening!
We walked over to the very, very crowded beach. However, the first several feet when walking into the water meant walking over shells. Then there was only a few feet of nice soft sand and then huge underwater rocks. The kids bought boogey boards but even those didn’t help with the big rocks. We only stayed about 1 ½ hours and then everyone was ready to go back to the hotel. Once back in the room, I got another migraine!!!
We all took showers and then walked across the street to the food court in the “mall” area where we ate the sushi last night. It was an awesome food court. Lindsey and I had fresh lobster tacos! Lindsey and Zoe had Dole whip for dessert and I had soft serve vanilla ice cream covered with Matcha and Chocolate.
Back in the room to do a little work before leaving for the 4th of July event. We departed at 5:30 pm and did not hit any traffic. Drove right into the back gate and met General Shoemaker there. It was a little hectic upon arrival just getting things sorted out and starting the meet and greet. The meet and greet went quickly and then Chase did his interview for AFE again since the sound was so bad on the one he did at Schofield. Lindsey, Zac and Zoe talked to General Shoemaker a long time and the kids asked all kinds of questions about the military. I’ve been trying to get them interested in a career in the Air Force for years and they won’t even discuss it. Then they quizzed him for about an hour!
The performance started exactly on time – to 25,000 men and women and their families serving in the military. It was so awesome. The stage faced the harbor and all the ships from 26 countries were lined up there. An amazing site to see. The show was awesome and so was the crowd. After Chase’s last song, someone sang The Star Spangled Banner and then the fireworks started out over the harbor and all the ships. It was such an awesome end to our tour here.
We were back at the hotel by 10 pm and said a sad good-bye to our sweet, amazing driver – Josie. We changed our departure time to 1 pm tomorrow instead of 2 pm. I’ll go to the airport with the group and then fly to Maui for a couple of days with my family.
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. SO THANKFUL FOR MY LIFE AND FREEDOM PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE U.S. MILITARY!!!
Jude
TUESDAY, JULY 5TH, 2022 – TRAVEL BACK TO NASHVILLE AND TO MAUI:
I was able to get a late checkout for everyone so that we didn’t have to store any luggage. Lindsey, the kids and I walked over to the Hale Koa Hotel which is the military resort for military and their families. I’ve stayed at the one in Garmisch, Germany and the one in Seoul (Dragon Hill Lodge) many times but never knew there was a similar property located in Honolulu. I also learned that there is one at Disney World as well. The one at Disney used to be the Polynesian Resort.
It is a beautiful property on a less crowded beach. Rolene met us and gave us a quick tour and then I met Kelly and the General Manager – Ed. Turns out Ed was at the Dragon Hill in Korea during the years I was visiting there so often and I had met him. He started telling stories about Charlie Daniels and his visit there which, of course, was my tour. We have so many mutual acquaintances! Tomorrow – July 6th – will mark 2 years since Charlie passed away and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and wish he could still be here with us. I love hearing wonderful stories about him from people I meet on my tours.
It was a quick visit as I had to be back at the hotel to finalize check out and ride the bus with the group to the airport. Bus showed up on time and everything was fine with check out. Frank met us with a cargo van with all the musical equipment. It was a very quick trip to the airport and no long lines waiting to check in. I’m still glad we moved the departure time earlier because I would much rather have time to kill than be stressed and hurrying. It did take a while to check in each person and pay all the excess. Delta won’t allow us to pay all the excess with one swipe of the credit card. We had to pay for each passenger as they checked in.
Lindsey and the twins arrived a little after 3 pm and we checked in at Southwest Airlines for our flight to Maui at 5:30 pm. They ate lunch before they arrived so I grabbed egg white bites from Starbucks. Our flight was on time but the pilot warned that it would be “bumpy” on take off and landing because of the wind. He was RIGHT! At least it wasn’t a full flight and was less than 45 minutes.
We picked up our rental car and drove to the Air BnB. It’s a really nice “condo” but located on the second floor and no elevator, of course. It was fun carrying all the luggage up the stairs but we made it. We rushed into Lahaina to try and grab dinner before everything closed at 9 pm. So strange that none of the restaurants stay open later than that in a huge tourist area. The ones that were open were very crowded and we weren’t able to find anywhere to sit down and eat. We finally went to a Pizza Restaurant that also served pasta and sandwiches. They told us we would have to order “take away” and that was fine with us at that point. We took the food home to eat and then started dealing with even more problems with the Tenille Arts tour that departs in 10 days! I have a feeling I am going to be working too much and not enjoying the time with my family in Maui.
I have to give another BIG shoutout to Frank Tagatac, Armed Forces Entertainment, and to “steal” the names at all the bases from Frank. As Frank said…thanks to MCCS Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Army MWR Schofield Barracks, Navy MWR JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam for making this AFE Heat Wave RIMPAC Concert Series come true. Special thanks to Aylisha Tom, Mallory Adams, Colonel Koumparakis and his wife, Stephane Patton, Lara Katine, Giles, The USS Arizona escorts and crew, 360 Marketing Team, Audio Center, Island Tropic Tours, Island Party Bus, and Outrigger Hotel. Also thanks to Chase Rice and his musicians and crew (Worldwide, Spinach, Opie, John, Nandor, Kaiser, Souki, Marcelo, Zakk, Lee, Jonas, and Jeremy) for making this tour possible and bringing so much happiness and wonderful entertainment to the men and women serving in Hawaii! Special thanks also to Brigadier General David “Baja” Shoemaker and his lovely wife Sarah for their love and support and the fantastic airplane tour the General gave Chase on his last day in Hawaii!
I’m sure I’ll think of things I left out and if so, will include in my next report!
Jude
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