**** Daily Ponder ****

Competition is an instinct that refines the survival of the individual and the group.

**** End Daily Ponder ****

Today was was one of the most stressful days of this year plus tour. You know that scene in Goodfellas where Henry is is trying to make dinner but has to meet up with the babysitter and he keeps seeing helicopters and he is hectically pulled in all directions of disarray? That is how I felt but the outcome was a bit better.

We are in France where they make V-Dosc, the speakers I use for the main system. The last three times I was here L'Acoustics, the manufacturer and more specifically, Christian Heil, the CEO and physicist behind the design, for whom I hold tremendous respect, has invited me to the factory. To not go yet again would have been disrespectful beyond comfort. Plus curiosity and the chance to sit face to face with him and chat sound is an honor indeed. The best part was I felt as if he was as excited about what I am doing with the dual hung PA system as I was to gain knowledge from the system's creator. All good, except....

I have more friends and people to attend to than any gig yet, I am an hour away from the gig and given the magnitude of changes that were implemented, I could not help but be scattered as my ability to present calm was pushed to new levels. But that did not stop from following through with my turn at wearing the "Hot Pants." The adventures and photos of which I will leave to the curious to scavenger Google hunt, should they wish to know more.

One of the downsides of being swamped is I forget to take pictures but did grab a few that came out. On the upside, the relief of running smooth and having a good solid show and some smiles with friends, made it all good in the end.

And today is the last day for Roadie Thomas on the right. He was our advance sound tech for this trip and would be at the next gig before we got there making sure the sound was setup properly when Lee and I arrived. Lee then would fine tune and dial it in. Thank you Thomas!

And so we drive overnight to London, except you cant actually drive to London because the English Channel is in the way. So we drive and then we float and then we drive again. Oh the pleasure of getting up at 5 am and trying to focus my eyes on questions some border cop is throwing at me. Then once again the choice comes. "Do I walk up topside where the seats and humans and life rafts reside or do I hide in the underbelly of the ferry in my bunk, in a sealed bus in a sealed chamber in the boat belly with no hope for survival should the boat sink? What would you do? Well, I applied the "airplane theory." Heck, if a jet plane falls out of the air, I will become the human version of a squished snail tossed in a campfire. If the boat forgets to float, hey, at least I wont be on fire!

The glad the boat floated,

Dave Rat