We’ve had a lot of life things happen recently. The kid’s last semester of school and graduation were busy! Lots of senior events, concerts, and performances. Also, since we were no longer selling the house on our countdown timeline, we were a little lost as to how to move forward with the blog.
In the last few weeks we’ve decided to keep going and document this time of limbo as best we can. Timeline-wise, we are seeing housing prices move in the direction we want, but we’ve missed the window to sell this season, so we’re looking at next spring at the earliest.
In the meantime, let’s fill you in on a big (heavy) development here in the DeClue household.
Gene and I have been married for almost 35 years. From early on in our marriage, Gene started collecting sound equipment. Over time, that collection grew to a full sound system capable of supporting a 5-piece band in a variety of settings, complete with a 16 foot trailer to store and haul it all.
It has been very convenient for the band to have exclusive access to sound equipment. Bands that hire out for sound have to hope they can find someone who is available for each show. Cherry Bomb has been able to say yes to some last-minute shows over the years thanks to having their own sound system.
But that sound equipment also comes with maintenance and upkeep, repairs, and upgrades. It means watching the weather for outdoor shows closely to make sure the equipment is not in danger of being ruined by rain, hail, etc. Most importantly, it divides Gene into two people on stage – the bass player and the sound engineer, always trying to do two full jobs at the same time.
As you may remember, we were supposed to be “homeless” by now. It’s a little hard to live a nomadic life with this kind of baggage in the garage. And so we decided, it had to go!
We listed both the PA and the trailer on Facebook marketplace and sold them within a few weeks (we priced them to SELL!). The trailer is now a horse grooming trailer (we love this) and the PA is at a church (we also love this). Both are getting new life with people who are excited about the opportunities this opens for them.
And now Cherry Bomb is like every other band in Kansas City, hiring a sound company to handle that part of the show. They have been lucky to find a great sound engineer who has become their “go to” guy and has worked hard to learn their show.
You may be curious, since we aren’t moving yet, why not just keep it until we sell the house? Short answer, we didn’t want to. Owning and maintaining the PA and the trailer is WORK. Unloading it, setting it up, tearing it down, reloading it – all of it is hard. The band has worked hard for decades and are now enjoying the luxury of showing up and focusing on the music!
Funny side note, the intersection of the sale of the trailer and PA and the start of our Airbnb bookings made for an interesting and hectic few weeks of scrambling (they both occupied the basement apartment garage), but that is a story for another day. Stay tuned!
Leave a Reply