The fanny pak is pretty important. It holds the wallet, smokes, lighter, backup matches
and also important medicine (medicine with an RX, not THAT type of medicine) needed
for the entire day from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. the next morning, house and truck keys,
cell phone, starlight peppermint mints (everyone likes those during a show)
and whatever else seems to find it's way in there.
The fanny pack is also an important anti-security tool. In other
words, at the moment of entrance to a show, the camera is placed in it's usual
hiding place, the jacket sets off the metal detector, which sets off security
guards, which then ask to take the jacket off. Then the wand goes around and finds
the smokes and lighter and stuff in the fanny pack and that gets examined, and I hold
up the smokes and the keys and/or cell phone that's also in there, which completely
satisfies the security guard(s). Then I re-dress, smile, say thank you and I'm in.
Many times I also wear a heavy duty belt buckle. The wand passes close enough
to my wand, so to speak, where the camera is stuffed, and the buckle at waist/groin level
sufficiently side-tracks the guard. The only logical thing that can be setting off alarms are these
things, keys, smokes, phone, buckle, lighter, of course, and not the fact that a digital
camera in a soft case is stuffed down a bald, 43-year-old's pants.
So you can see how the planning starts at home, folks.
And then me and the pak and the camera glide into the men's room to make some adjustments, meaning I go
into a stall and remove the camera and sling it around my neck, hidden under the vest,
providing more, er, freedom of music, I mean, movement.
Whenever I get scared or paranoid about getting
caught, standing outside before going in, even after all these years of smuggling -
I ask my buddies to give me the once over and they say, "Nah,
it just looks like you're packin' pretty good," and indeed, I am in one way, the other
way, or maybe both. Although I've just unzipped my fly, so to speak, with such
graphic detail on this subject, I can write a book on the methodology. I'm not the
only expert or guilty party. You wouldn't believe the amount of recording gear
guys bring in on their own, or in groups. Mini video recorders, DATs, microphones,
tapes, battery paks, film cameras, digital cameras, PDAs - the works.
Bunch of renegade rule breakers we all are. For me, even though all the planning
and getting past security is very anxiety provoking, all this is totally a part
of the thrill of the whole evening of music.
