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Saturday, December 10, 2005
12/10 Trans-Siberian Orchestra


What a fun night. Sabrina and I got to the Palace and picked up our tickets & Passes around 6pm. We went down to catering (the 1 place you can always find a musician) and saw some of our friends.

First I ran into Kenny Kaplin, one of the bands managers. I’ve know Kenny for about 8 years now, and we’ve only see each other about 4 times, so it was nice to catch-up in person.

Next I made my way over to Alex Skolnick, one of T.S.O.’s guitarists. As we were talking I noticed what a strange feeling it was to be back stage as a guest, without working. I didn’t have to keep track of the time, track someone down to make certain that the interview took place, find out where to be to bring the band on….It was just Sabrina & I hanging out with the band.

Next Alex introduced me to Greg Hildebrandt, Greg is the band’s artist who has painted too many treasures to name, including the original Star Wars movie poster and comic book work for Superman, the X-Men, and Spiderman. (check out his work at www.spiderwebart.com
After some wonderful conversation with Greg and several others, I made my way over to see Dave Wittman. Dave is the main sound engineer for the band both on the road and in the Studio. I consider his mixing to be some of the best in all of recording history, and he is a great guy. I’ve know Dave for about 8 years now as well, and it’s always fun to sit down and talk music with a guy who help record records like Led Zeppelin "Houses of the Holy", Kiss "Alive" and countless others.

After that we worked our way up to the WRIF Both to say hello to Anne and the crew who were working the show, and then met our guests Steve & Beth Mosshart at our seats.
Since I first played Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the air back in 1995 (as Savatage, from the Dead Winter Dead CD) we have been close to the band. And for the last 6 tours we have taken a different couple to see the band every Christmas, as our own tradition.

The show was one of their best ever, and the Mossharts enjoyed it a great deal.

To wrap up the night we went backstage to thank everyone, and wish them all well. I gave Alex Skolnick & Chris Caffery each a Chop Shop T-shirt for being my guests on the Chop Shop Christmas Special again this year (on WRIF Christmas morning at 9am), and had a quick but fun radio discussion about the failure of satellite radio with Mark Wood (lead violin) that we did not get to finish….something to look forward to next year!

Black out.
11:30 AM

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