(orbb) wrote in message om...
The Mixerman Diaries were posted on Pro Sound Web a couple of years
ago, but were never completed. I have learned that they have been
completed and are out in book form. They can be had at
www.mixerman.net.

For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are the story by
an AE named Mixerman (who may post here - I'm not sure) who is
recording the "hot new band" named Bitch Slap for a major label. The
stories chronicle the recording sessions and all the problems. It's a
pretty good and very funny read.


I read the first couple of weeks worth of diaries as they were
originally posted but they began to bore me very quickly. The writing
wasn't bad at all, but everything seemed quite exaggerated. I
sincerely doubt that all of those experiences happened while recording
one band. I think that the diaries are more likely a combination of
many different bands and recording sessions. Recording (or touring
with) a band is incredibly boring about 95% of the time. I don't doubt
that everything detailed in the book is based on a real event. But I
get the feeling that Mixerman compiled numerous people into each
character and many experiences into a single session. This does not
mean I'm calling Mixerman a liar. I'm simply saying that if he did
compile various experiences out of sequence chronologically it makes
for a better story. Anyone here ever read Jim Thompson's
"autobiographical" books "Bad Boy" or "Roughneck"?
A few years ago I was thinking about writing a book based on my
experiences while working as a professional roadie for numerous punk
rock bands from 1995-2000. The only way the book would be even
slightly interesting is if I left out all of the stuff about how many
hours are spend sitting and doing absolutely nothing. Driving from
city to city, waiting for sound-check, waiting for doors to open,
waiting for the band to play, waiting to get paid, etc. The year and a
half I spent working in a studio was the same way. The studio job
didn't suck by any means, but it was far from exciting.
A friend of mine that I'd done some touring with _did_ write a book
about his experiences over the course of ten years with his band. He
wrote it as a "fictional" novel. He figured if he combined various
events and quotes attibutable to numerous people into single
characters it would be much more difficult for all of his various
ex-band-members to sue him or send people over to break his legs.
If I ever do decide to write a 100% _truthful_ account of my years on
the road I hate to think of just how many people will come crawling
out of the woodwork to seek revenge against me. Many of my former
employers wouldn't be bothered by my revealing what pretentious
egomaniacs they are. It's the closet homosexuals, closet drug addicts,
racist bigots, and thieves that wouldn't be too happy with me.
BTW, I think it was Jack Endino that wrote a really good article for
Tapeop magazine a few years ago that detailed all of the things that
could go wrong on a major label recording session. Practically every
single thing that he mentioned could go wrong happened in the Mixerman
diaries.
And if you want to read another great book that is 100% honest,
intelligent, introspective, hilarious, and created a huge ****storm of
controversy for the author, read "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. It's an
American classic, and the best book I've ever read about life on the
road with rock bands. Well, except for the fact that it's about
baseball... ;-)