3.26.11 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dinner and a movie. Fisheye-style.

I've actually been in Buenos Aires since Thursday morning. We were given an extra day off to refuel from our long flights, and I definitely took advantage of the time. Someone in our party befriended some Argentinian girls last time he was here, and they took us out the very first night! Pretty much the only item on my Buenos Aires bucket list was to have steak... They do that here. The restaurant the girls took us to had an all-you-can-eat buffet-style spread, and there was a chef cooking any kind of meat you can imagine on a grill the size of Texas. I pigged out.

 Kevin (assistant tour manager), Gus, Clay (sound engineer), me. Cheesin'.

The crew. Really, really fun crowd!

One of the girls dared me to try this super hot pepper.

Everyone laughed at my expense as I cried at the dinner table. Never again.

My hotel is absolutely gorgeous! It's right next to a palace that was built in the 1930s, and there's an awesome outdoor patio. The complimentary breakfast is killer, too! These dudes make the most perfect eggs I've ever had. Omelets, scrambled, anything. I make sure to get my ass downstairs in time for breakfast just so I can have some.

This is where I desk out.

Baff-room.

Free grapes. Thanks, Hyatt!

We found the American Embassy.

  A fan outside our hotel gave this painting to Adam to give to Ozzy.

Ozzy wanted to take everyone to a graveyard near the hotel where loads of royal and/or wealthy families were buried. Obviously this is a good video opportunity: The Prince of Darkness in a graveyard? Yes, please.

When I tried to walk through the entrance, a security guard stopped me and let me know that my camera wasn't allowed without permission. So I went and asked permission.

"No."

Whatever. The graveyard was still pretty awesome. People slowly started to realize who was with us, and cameras came out from everywhere. We went to an outdoor cafe afterwords, where the fans got worse. I feel pretty bad for Ozzy, the poor guy can't go anywhere, not even a cemetery, without loads of people asking for pictures and autographs. I'm surprised he's as grounded as he is. I'm not sure I could handle that kind of pressure.

Maybe this guy invented wreaths?

Every single mausoleum was at least this extravagant.

The boss.

I mean, I would probably do the same to be honest.

It's not every day Ozzy Osbourne strolls through your neighborhood.

The show was an absolute crazy-fest. We played at a soccer stadium that was just enormous! I went out into the crowd with my camera just to look for some shots, and I was approached instantly by people because they knew I was on the inside. Plenty of fans tried to give me personal items to bring back with a signature. Sorry, it's out of my control.

"Well, will you at least take a picture with me?" Sure, why not!

 Martin!

 Alejandro!

This was the best audience we've had thus far. It was the sort of passion you might see from a crowd at the World Cup, I kid you not. As the stage crew was getting everything ready for Ozzy's set, I walked to the front of the stage in front of 22,000 people and provoked them to cheer for my camera. Suddenly, an entire chant swept the stadium, and I definitely got more than I bargained for. That was a chilling feeling, no doubt.

Sepultura, openers for Ozzy.

This was my body guard for the night whenever I went out in the crowd for some shots during the set. We became great buddies even though he didn't speak any English. A great dude!

Also, I might have the roundest head. Challenge me.

GEBA Stadium definitely came out to play.

After the show, we met up with our Argentinian friends who wanted to take us to a nightclub called Roxy. Look, I didn't come all the way to Buenos Aires to not go to a nightclub. Get real, everyone. So I hopped in a caravan with Gus, Clay, Kevin and Big Dave, and we found ourselves in the VIP room of the club. In Argentina, the night life doesn't come alive until around 3:00am, so we were out pretty late. I wandered onto the dance floor on my own for a while, inserting myself into random pockets of people. The crowd was mostly high-school/college kids, and pretty much everyone accepted me with open arms. I made a few friends without having spoken a word. It was pretty amazing to notice how much the language barrier didn't matter last night.

This guy!

These homies were a ridiculously fun crew.

Whoever you are, I hope we can hang together again!

Today is being spent editing, and tomorrow we head to Santiago, Chile! Later.

2.26.11 - Jacksonville/Puerto Rico

I've been extra behind on this blog, sue me. Wait, don't please. Videos from the end of the last leg:

Jacksonville

I gotta talk for a minute about the space shuttle launch. This was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen. Adam stumbled upon four passes to this at around 8:00pm the night before from his friend Marciano, who happens to be the vice president of marketing at Converse. An invitation was extended my way. I almost didn't go, under the fear that I wouldn't be able to finish all my work in time for the next show. Sure enough, Adam pressured and heckled me enough to where I thought, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I'd be insane not to get in the car with him.

So after a 3.5 hour car ride to Orlando, we arrived at one of those fantasy hotels you might have been to as a kid on that Disney World vacation. It had an entire indoor park, complete with wild animals, a pirate ship, gift shops, you name it. We hopped aboard some buses with families of the astronauts aboard the mission. I was starting to realize that the group we found ourselves in was pretty exclusive. We were on our way to the closest possible viewing site for the launch. You ever see the movie Apollo 13? There's some benches the astronauts' families chill on while they watch the launch, that's where we went.

Decision time.

Indoor pirate ship? This is like a life-size ship in a bottle. Man, I'm so funny.

Launch time. Camera ready. I really had to struggle between making sure I got a clean shot of the rocket, and just looking at it with my naked eyes. It's much different through the lens. I'll never forget the sound of the launch, it was a rumble that I've never heard before, and likely won't hear again. It's as if everyone there became a toddler again, humbled by the sight of humans going into space. A very nostalgic moment for me. It's like, who didn't want to be an astronaut as a kid? Am I right?

 Clay was nice enough to take some pics from my phone while I worked my camera.

Indefinitely my cell phone background.

On the bus ride home we made buddies with the rest of the hotel managers who were aboard the bus, and they even asked us to grab dinner with them after arriving back at the resort. Free food? I think so. We tried to get a table on the pirate ship restaurant, but it was full for the night, naturally. Sushi was the obvious second choice, I can't complain at all. So we found ourselves having a free gourmet meal with the managers of a five-star hotel chain, a NASA employee, and a project manager for Boeing. All were extremely cool people, and we all traded business cards at the end of the night. This day will be hard to top in this life.

Puerto Rico

I wish we could have spent more time in Puerto Rico. I've never been out of the country before, so this was thrilling for me. "But Colin, Puerto Rico is still U.S. property." SHUT. UP. Let me have my wide-eyed moment...

Everything was in Spanish! Now, I took four years in high school, but my Spanish is rustier than my dad's 1990 Honda Civic wagon. Finding the VIP room to talk to some fans was a challenge, but I could muster enough foreign vocabulary for venue employees to point me in the right direction. It's a pretty rewarding feeling to communicate in a different language. The little victories...

 Adam and I editing on the plane. Work never stops.

Puerto Rico's fans were crazier than any we've had on this leg of the tour. It makes sense though, these guys don't get to see acts like we do in the States. Big name artists rarely come to Puerto Rico, where we're spoiled here. We can go see an arena show three times each week if we really wanted. Ozzy hasn't been there in 30 years, so his show is long overdue. Fans were super friendly though and played to the camera whenever I pointed it at them.

 About an hour before the show.

These guys were rocking out to the music over the PA before anyone came on stage!

Heading home from this leg, I'm absolutely exhausted. I've been in overdrive mode for six weeks, shooting and editing every single day. It'll be nice to have three weeks to recharge my batteries before South America, but I think I'll want to get back to it sooner than that.

2.20.11 - Fort Lauderdale

After the gig in Tampa, I emailed everyone to let them know that I would be filming the sunrise the next morning, and if anyone else felt like watching the sun come up over the ocean, to stop by and chat. This didn't go over too well, and I ended up receiving a load of grief from everyone. They joked about it being an invitation to romantically advance on anyone who'd be interested. It was actually a pretty good laugh. Tommy emailed me at noon today saying, "Did I miss it?!" Whatever. I got some solid visuals from it.

Since the gig was in town today, I thought I would catch a cab and head to the venue early to grab some shots of the crew setting up. Great idea! So there I am in the cab with a smile on my face. "Gosh Colin, you're so ahead of the game, how do you do it?" "Well, not everyone can be born this awesome." I called the head of security for the tour to let him know I was on my way. He told me to just show my laminate to the gatekeeper, and I would be all set to go!

My heart sank. My laminate was back at the hotel. Shit.

So an hour and $80 later, I got to the venue and was able to get a small head start on the day's shoot. Lesson learned: don't forget stuff. Okay.

These are Gus's guitar things. I asked what they do. He said, "I have no idea."

Recreating a moment for me, since I wasn't there the first time.

Probably one of the cooler images I've captured on the tour.

This is Gus, pre-foam-wrath.

Rock n Roll dinner.

I've also been asked to produce some short concert edits for an entertainment show in Brazil called Fantastico. I learned from one of their representatives that this show is Brazil's most viewed, and the audience on an average night ranges between 40-50 million people. Rad!

  Ozzy's actually a really humble dude. He had tons of patience with the reporters.

The TV crew from the show came to the hotel to set up shop for an interview with Ozzy. I was hanging out behind the scenes, because, that's like, what I do and stuff. Anyway, Ozzy asked for a glass of orange juice, see, which meant a gallon had to be brought up to the room so they could pour him some. As I was stealing the gallon (naturally) on my way back to my room, one of the hotel higher-ups saw me with it and asked, "Hey, is that your orange juice?"

"Yup, this is my orange juice." Man, I can't believe how hardcore I am sometimes.

2.18.11 - Tampa

Fort Lauderdale morning.

I went for a run on the beach this morning because, well, when's the last time you ran on the beach? There's not much going on near the hotel. There are a few gift shops, bars, and restaurants, but that's it. Not that I'm complaining, and I guess I didn't even know what to expect from Fort Lauderdale. Go karts? I checked the weather for the next week and it's supposed to be sunny and 75 degrees every. Single. Day.

Swag.

 Can't say I've edited outside before...

Today at the show, I saw something I've never witnessed firsthand. Story:

The meet and greet session with Ozzy and his fans is different for every show. Sometimes there are nine people, other times there are 50. Today was one of the most crowded sessions we've had on the tour. Usually I look for some interesting characters in line to throw in front of the camera for an interview after they meet Ozzy. It could be that someone wears a crazy Ozzy jacket, or a fan has a massive hand-drawn portrait of the Prince of Darkness. You know, anything that jumps out of the crowd is excellent camera material.

No one stood out. What should I do? I didn't want to waste time recording uninteresting people, so I just randomly picked out a few fans as they met the boss for a picture. Turns out I had some great luck and pushed record just before a guy proposed to his girlfriend! Here's the video:

Brian Johnson (lead singer of ACDC) was actually hanging out in the dressing rooms for a while tonight, but I just missed him on his way out. I passed him in the hall with enough time to go, "Where the hell have I seen this dude before?"

Gus, Sharon and Blasko chillin.

This is the goofiest name for a venue...ever.

To whoever decided this was the best name for an arena: "Ya blew it!"

Tampa brought the energy, though. This is during "War Pigs."

Not that I'm any kind of big shot or anything, but do you have anything you're wondering about my experience on the tour? Post a comment if you like, and I can talk about it on the next post.

2.16.11 - Nashville

Detroit Video! If you don't watch many of these videos, give this one a try...

Moline!

The Nashville show was super fun tonight, and I even got to set my buddy up with some dope VIP tickets! I messed up and never took a picture of us.. I tend get caught up in what's happening and forget that I'm trying to document everything for this blog, too. It's absolutely incredible to see friends of mine this time of year in their college states, and it's even cooler to do something awesome for them like extend an invitation to an Ozzy Osbourne show.

 Here's what our plane looks like from the outside.

I met some interesting folks in the VIP room tonight as well. I got to talking with these two younger guys for a few minutes before they headed down to meet Ozzy, and we sort of became friends. On the way back up to the party room, they offered to buy me some beers. A stand-up gesture, but I passed, mentioning I was only 20. Besides, I'm on the clock.

 Buckley and Adam, respectively, respectfully.

Another couple I met had just been married the day before, and the groom's best man was actually Big Dave (host of the tour bus video). His wife was a pretty established person in TV as well, having worked production on CSI and a few other primetime drama shows. An ideal recipient for a Colin Marshall business card, amirite? Points.

Right after the show we hopped on a plane to Fort Lauderdale, where we'll be staying for the next ten days. Jumping jaguars, this place is ridiculous! As soon as I walked into the room, I saw a couch and a TV and thought, "Where's my bed?" Then I found the kitchen. Then I found the bedroom. This place has four rooms! For one person!!! Let me get this straight: I spent a year and a half in a 10x12' dorm room with an additional person, and now I've got a beach-side hotel suite to myself? This isn't real. Wait...yes it is, otherwise I wouldn't be able to show you these pictures of my room:

Living room, where I live.

The room came with all these groceries! No it didn't, sucker.

Those cupboards were stocked with kitchen things though,
fully equipped to make macaroni for days.

All the magic happens here, at this really inspiring desk.

I'm really not one to gripe, because no one likes a whiner,

but for being a 5-star hotel, I feel like I'm in the dial up days.
Get your viral self together, fancy hotel.

Fort Lauderdale in February.

There was a pool across the street from my 12th-floor balcony. One fine morning when no one was looking, I hurled a banana down into the pool because, let's be honest, that swimming area had been a giant projectile target since the moment I laid eyes on it. No regrets. I'm so rock-and-roll.

Nashville Video