Ambassador to rock
The Jefferson’s behind-the-scenes man makes sure the show goes on
“I like to think that my schedule is actually really similar to a lot of other peoples’, except maybe six or seven hours behind,” Warren Parker said. He gets up at 10:30am, but that’s only because a production manager for a music venue may not get to crash until 3:30 on a given morning.
Parker, a Charlottesville native who grew up in Madison, turned a summer job unloading bands’ gear at the Melody Tent on Cape Cod into a career. After he graduated from Guilford College in 2007, he found his way back to Charlottesville and connected with the live music scene here, first working backstage at the Paramount, and then on production at the Pavilion’s Fridays After Five shows. Then the Jefferson opened, and for two summers, he juggled shows at both venues, running up and down the Mall from one venue to the other.
“It made for some long days,” said Parker.
His days are still long. His first job on a show morning is to make a hospitality run to the grocery store to pick up food for whatever band is playing that night—which, contrary to popular belief, usually doesn’t involve picking brown M&Ms out of a bag for finicky rock stars.
“It’s actually a lot of the same stuff over and over,” he said. “Fruit, veggie trays, deli meats, local beer. By this time I’ve been to Harris Teeter on Barracks Road so many times I can get in and out in 20 minutes.”
Then comes making backstage as comfortable as possible for road-weary musicians, getting everything clean, and overseeing the unloading and setup of sound equipment, lighting, and instruments. When the music starts, he might be anywhere: running lights or a monitor, bent over his laptop getting work done, or, if it’s a band he loves, standing out in the front of the house, taking it all in. Even after thousands of shows—about 250 a year since he arrived in Charlottesville, he estimates—it’s still a thrill to put them together and then watch.
“I’m fortunate that because I love music so much, I can still get amped up to go to a show,” he said. “It’s like, I’ve been here before, but it’s pretty awesome, so it’s good to be back.”
Certain moments shine through, like when he set up for the Trey Anastasio Band. It was during blizzard number two of Charlottesville’s 2010 Snowmageddon, and he was meeting his idol. “I’d been listening to him and Phish since sixth grade, and I just couldn’t believe he was coming to the room,” Parker said. “I was so green still. That one kind of had me shaking in my britches.”
The starstruck feeling is rare these days, and he’s not sure if that’s such a bad thing. He used to get terrible stage fright when he’d have to run out in front of an audience to switch out instruments. Now, “there might as well be a wall there.”
Which isn’t to say the thrill is dead. Working behind the scenes gets him closer to the music, the experience of the live performance, and that doesn’t get old.
“The fact that I can buy a deli tray for the Drive By Truckers before they blow the roof off is pretty fun,” he said. And even if things don’t go perfectly smoothly, “When you see 800 people in a room having a good time, even if it’s been the worst day ever, you think, ‘Well, it might have been a bad day for me, but it’s not a bad day for them.’ And that’s ultimately who it’s for,” Parker said—not him. Not the musicians. “It’s for the people who are paying $20 to come see their favorite band.”—Graelyn Brashear