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.
Jude

 

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