This is the reason why we start one time, our equipment is top notch and why our potato pancakes are exactly the right temperature. The guys are the best. We had a variety of roadies that could be a character list for a Stephen King book.
In the beginning, we, like most bands did our own work. Lugging the gear out of the Nomads, setting up trusses, tuning the instruments and cutting our own meat. Then we hired our first three guys when things got too hectic. We got a guy named Jerzy Gwaiback and then a month later we got another guy and his brother, confusingly his name was also Jerzy Gwaiback and his brother was also Jerzy Gwaiback…what are the odds. To say the least it was confusing. The first and the brothers were not related. We started calling them No. 1, No.2 and No.3. They were electrical whizzes and duct tape geniuses. I once broke a clarinet in a Pete Townsend Tribute then realized it was the first song of the night and Jerzy…uh, No 2 taped the entire thing together and it played like new.
After a couple a months and the demand started growing, we decided to add again. We needed a guy that could cook and get us off our addiction to fast food, yes; we had hundreds of dollars on account at the “house of pierogi”. We hired Wally Kowazlazzickinszyzlonski, or Duke for short. He reminded me of mom, except for shorter arm pit hair and he only weighed 280. He could cook. He would make kielbasa and chug them up to us on stage. They were so good we would sometimes take 6 to 7 breaks to eat more. Edeck would use them to drum as he mistook them for his sticks, at least he could eat as we played.
Not to say that all the roadies were pleasant or to say the least, normal…for example Tadek Zrpznkzrddzski. Talk about a nut, He would drink a half a bottle of grain alcohol and think the Gestapo was still after him. I guess he never gave up fighting in the Polish resistance. He would swing on the rafters instead of running the lights and fall into the crowd. Well after a while the regular fans would chant for his name and wait for his fall. It usually came and hour before the show even started. It was usually fine at bigger places but at the Baby Doll, it was just funny. The ceiling was only 10 feet so he would hang down and as he let go, he would fall right on his head. He would just get up, wipe the blood off and start dancing.
Yep, roadies are how we would get our entertainment but they are a big help. Especially with the massive sound system we use and laser show not to mention the sausage catapult machine, JP2 T-shirt gun and the 50 foot Nomad limo that would roll on stage for our stage entrance. Nothing would get done if not for them.
Peas…Cazek
