All work and no play is no fun. This week I’ve started new employment at a large engineering services/systems engineering firm, in the very nice Solar One building overlooking Tempe Town Lake. I’m having a blast attempting to get up to speed on so many new (for me) projects, including California High Speed Rail.
So across the street from our building is the Marquee Theater. I’ve never paid much attention to it and never seen it used – I guess I didn’t visit this area ever in the evening. And I find out that my most favorite punk band, Bad Religion, is playing there that evening!
So, after work, I run home to change into more suitable mosh-pit clothes, then return to the office and repark in the same space I’d left 2 hours before. Walk across the street, and suddenly am wading through a crowd of people of all ages, from a little girl, wearing big time hearing protection, being carried by her father, to a couple of teens, one in a full furry chicken suit and the other in a Micky Mouse suit (I have no idea what those were about), to a slew of 20- and 30-somethings, to a bunch of old geezers and geezerettes like me.
Bad Religion has been around since about 1978, and I remember them in the punk rock scene in LA, where I grew up. Never saw them live, though. Greg Graffin, with a PhD in Evolutionary Biology, fronts the band as lead singer and songwriter. He, and most of the members of the band, are in their 50s as well, so I didn’t feel too out of place %^).
Besides the fact that they rocked like they hadn’t aged a day, I found it interesting that none of the guitars were connected wirelessly. I don’t know enough about the business to know if wireless is common now or not, but for me, the cord has always been an issue and of course something that gets worn out quickly on stage. His mike was wireless, but there were two wired stand mikes for the bassist and lead guitarist to use for the harmony parts. They all appeared to have wireless monitor earpieces so they could hear themselves play. I think that the radio frequency band used for these wireless gadgets is in the 174 – 216 MHz spectrum, and that they’re analog, but even that I don’t know for sure. Looks like it’s time for me to do a little investigating.