On the morning of September 11th 2001, I was in Las Vegas, on the "From Chaos" tour with the band 311. I was training our new road merchandising guy, Alex. The show was to be at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel's club- the Joint. My hotel room window at the Hard Rock provided a veiw of the Maccaran Airport tarmac directly below, and the mountains to the distance. The crew and I arrived early on the morning of September 10th, after a bus ride from California after the show the night before in Fresno. The band slept at home after the Fresno show and flew in to the Hard Rock later that day. From my bed on the night of September 10th, I could see the long lines of planes on the runways waiting to take off , the long lines of planes on the horizon, waiting to land, and the general hustle and bustle of Las Vegas' biggest airport.

At about 6 am I was awoken by a phone call from my wife, in Boston. She told me that the same flight that I had flown several mornings earlier, Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles had, this morning, crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC. I, like most of the rest of the world, was stunned. We stayed on the phone as the other planes crashed that day, and cried. It was terrifying. As I stood next to the bed, 2,500 miles away from home,watching the sunrise, it was announced that all air traffic in this country was being grounded. Out of the corner of my eye, and almost in unison , I saw all the planes outside of my window halt right where they were. Some were in line to take off, some just landed, some were mere feet from reaching their gates. Many hours later, I could see some of the planes, letting people off onto the runway, right where they'd stopped, sometimes by scaffolding stairs, ladders and emergency ramps.

As the morning wore on, that nights concert at the Joint was cancelled. It is the first and only Rock show that was ever cancelled on the day of show in my then 8 years in the business. It practically never happens. The band had a meeting to discuss whether the tour should be postponed, or cancelled and decided that it shouldn't because it would be giving in to terrorism. My flight home from San Francisco was cancelled by the  national ban on air travel, so I instead was resigned to continuing with the tour and spending a few more days training Alex. When we left for San Francisco late that night the planes were still exactly where they'd stopped hours earlier.

The laminates and tour books for the Three-Eleven "From Chaos Tour" were given to band and crew on September 7th. The designs were laid out weeks earlier. Five days later, they had to be completely revised and reprinted. The one with buildings and fire was the original theme. The "lady liberty ala flag" was the revision. None of us could believe the irony of the initial choice.

I am currently auctioning this pair of ALL ACCESS laminates from that early September tour, over 5 years ago. Although the laminates are in great shape as collectables, their true value is in the history and story of their production.

311 | Shopping

311 | Itinerary

When I received this from the band 311 almost a decade ago, it was the first award any band had ever given me. The merch guy on concert tours of any size generally works for a big merch company to which the band has signed over its tour merchandising rights to. I had worked for one of those companies and had never been recognized for my efforts on the road promoting a current album like this before. I am sure that the companies I worked for received awards from some of the artists sometimes, but not the road guy. I could not believe it! I was so pumped. Later I learned from Yonnie ( their tour manager) what a big deal it was getting the management to agree to send them to any of their road crew. I know that everyone who got one really appreciated it. I also know that over the years , those who did not, came to resent it. Any band relies on many people to help in the promotion, production, and distribution of a CD. To thank ALL of them whenever a CD goes Platinum, would be a major expense ( one which the band would pay the cost of. ) The band goes on tour to promote their CD and over the course of a few years ends up living with the road crew more than the "home" crew. So it makes sense that they'd want to thank the road crew in a very special way, like this. Since, I was one of 311's partners in a newly formed merchandise company called 311merchandising, and not just a swag guy from "Winterland/Brokum/NiceMan/FEA Merchandising" I really was honored by the fact that they'd thought of me too. Of course, for many years one hung in the greenroom hallway at the Howard Stern Show in NYC also. I guess he probably did as much a Trevor Cole to promote the Blue Album.

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and also http://stores.ebay.com/merch311days-Store

After touring with Bryan Adams for 3 years as well as the Allman Brothers, Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors, Sugar Ray, Shaggy, Sass Jordan, James Taylor, and Guns and Roses, among others, I was psyched to be heading out on the 311 tour.
The year was 1995 and a song called "Down" was being played all the time on the radio.
"oh that's 311 !"
Somehow I hadn't heard very much of 311's music, but everything I'd heard about them sounded great. Most of the artists I'd traveled with played practically, if not exactly the same set of music, night after night. I liken it to Chinese water torture. I had heard that 311 was different. Down, sounded good, although at the time, I think I still really liked Blues Traveler and Phish, and remembered fondly the days in the of the late '80's ,when I would spend a week or so following the Grateful Dead. I, at that young age, was not as “dead” a “head” as were so many whom I partied with during those summers. I didn't know the stats of the last time they played “St. Stephen”, when they apparently did, at Saratoga Springs NY one night. Jerry Garcia, was always gray when I'd seen the band. Still, those were some of the BEST road trips I'll barely remember. Those trips were made in the company of old friends, girlfriends, and usually new friends met at the last show. We had no backstage access, and traveled in an 1972 Dodge Econoline with a couch that was moved to the roof of the van at each concert parking lot. Those were the last summers that places like Oxford Plains Maine ever let, people camp for days around festivals, or the Grateful Dead to come back. Those were the best fireworks I have ever seen in my life.

I'd heard that 311 played a different set every night, that their music was positive and full of energy and power, and that people followed the tour.

When I arrived in LA, the first crew member I met , was Yeti. He was in the lobby of the hotel waiting for the bus to arrive. He wanted to be sure to beat Scotch (Ralston), Trevor, and the other crew to a good bunk. (A good bunk is an arguable matter. Though the top bunks do have their disadvantages, at least no one is ever using the edge of your bunk to climb, thereby wiping their nasty tour-toe cheese on the edge of your bed.)
Yeti immediately gave me an extra 311 laminate he had on his lanyard from the last leg of the tour, which was very generous and unexpected. I appreciated his immediate friendliness. Yeti was about 200 lbs and covered in tattoos, shaved head, and looked as though he could tear my head off with a backhand. He was in contrast kind of a gentle guy. Though an avid mouth breather, I think he was smarter than many of the others of 311's early crew. In retrospect, I think Yeti, always honest, wanted to make a gesture of good will toward me with the laminate, after divulging his otherwise covert intentions of beating the rest of the crew to the brand new tour bus. He knew I was no “bunk” competition as the new guy, especially since I'd be driving the truck. He also knew that I was now in charge of all the cool swag that 311 carries on tour. Having the last tours laminate was an unusual gesture to a new guy from another crew member. I liked collecting the tour passes I had gotten over the years, and rarely if ever acquired one from a tour I had not been on.

The next day was my first show with 311. I arrived driving a 24 foot Ryder truck, packed the night before by Yeti, Trevor, Yonnie, and others full of 311's gear and merchandise. I arrived at 8 am for a 9 o'clock load in. I walked out on the beach at the Ag. Center in Ventura and bought some coffee. I noticed some fans hanging around already. I went inside and met the local crew chief. I told him I expected the the bus with 311's crew to arrive soon, before 9 am................
At 9:20 20 local stagehands were standing on the stage doing nothing (being paid by 311 and the promoter ), and asking me where 311's crew was. Other than t-shirts, I had no idea, where any of the road cases were supposed to go. Additionally, I did'nt know the local stagehands any better than I know 311's crew, and I'd be damned if I was going to be blamed if anything came out of the truck and went missing on the first day, probably paranoid, but nonetheless. I waited......I decided at 9:45 to back the truck up to the stage, and sit on top of it, and watch the cases be rolled off by the locals and try to keep an eye on all of them. Soon there after came Yonnie, Adam, Yeti, the rest etc. late, and relieved that the truck was being unloaded. Adam (311's manager) turned to Yonnie ( 311 tourmanager) and said “he's hired”. Yonnie, stearnly retorted- "I Already hired him." It was so close to a "thank-you" that I have always remembered it.

The show that night was breathtaking to me. The crowd was so friendly, and in love with the band. The band played amazingly. After the show, the crowd waited patiently in line and bought a ton of merchandise. I heard many people mention how they had been fans of 311 way before "Down" was popular. They were the "Grassroots". Yet they seemed to welcome the new comers with smiles. They smelled like patchouli sometimes, but seemed to not mind Korn and Rage.
This was truly a different band, and their fans.
And so my trip began.


CHECK BACK SOON FOR SOME VERY RARE AUCTIONS OF 311 COLLECTIBLES FROM MY PRIVATE COLLECTION.

In the Autum of 1995 I worked for a multinational entertainment merchandising company. One of thier clients was Shaggy. I had been on the Shaggy tour for about a month, travelling with the band and crew of 12 on thier bus. During Shaggy's show, the merchandise booth was normally set up in the back of the bar, next to the "shout out" table, or the photography vendor, or bathrooms. Shaggy sold very little merchandise.No one on the Shaggy tour smoked, except for me.One night I got a call from my boss."311 needs a merchandise manager and backline truckdriver, asap. We still have not worked out a deal with them, so you'll be paid directly by the band until we land the contract. Please do your best to persuade them to let us handle all of thier merchandise. We currently only have the rights to one shirt (the blue cloud logo/ alien ONC on back) in retail. The band has thier own inventory on the road. The road manager's name is Yonnie, he will be calling you tonight. get all of your stuff off of the Shaggy bus, and tell his road manager that we'll send a new guy to the next city.....