So I started my new job yesterday...

...as a security guy, for rock concerts.

My uncle's worked for this protection company a few years, and he suggested I go down and help him guard the new year's eve Tragically Hip show at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. I thought, "I can get paid to stand around for eight hours and see a rock concert? Beats hanging around here watching Regis Philbin... sign me up."

Well, my uncle convinced his boss to give me the Stage Left position so I could guard the bands going on and off, make sure nobody unauthorized got onstage, keep an eye on the barrier between the fans and the band's family, and scope out what the guitar techs were doing. I also guarded the monitor mix board while the support acts were on.

There were about 9000 people in the auditorium (a hockey arena... the ice was still there, with just a layer of plywood between it and everyone's feet), and my interaction with the fans was pretty much limited to that arms-crossed glowering that all "event staff" are required to affect. I had to ask some guys who were yelling at the band from the backstage entrance to return to their seats, and warn a couple of people not to sit behind the stage.

But for the most part, I just stood around and watched three fairly decent bands (the Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir, the Weakerthans, and finally the Hip who rang in the new year with some massive indoor fireworks). The Hip's drummer gave me a drumstick and I got a setlist off Gord Downie. I think I've found my new summer job: concerts every day, a chance to fraternize with the tech guys, and a snazzy red golf shirt with "SECURITY" written on the back.

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what do you teach your children about me?
what do you teach your little children about me?
pimp, thug, bling drug lord of the undergrounded kings
how can you be so sure i won't call down the rain?
what do you teach your little children about me?
you point your gun, wait, hide and run. i see it plain