Saturday, December 7, 2024: Naples, FL. This was some kind of corporate holiday party. No big deal--stakes are low! This was our first gig with Van handling the monitor desk (Zach is out for the foreseeable future on paternity leave), so it was slow going as he worked through all of his responsibilities for the day (also, I think there was some kind of gear issue with the rented gear that further complicated things). The rented gear was not so great here--some worn out looking stuff and cheap microphone stands and mismatched pieces. They also had limited choices for sustain pedals, and none of their options seemed to communicate with the Nord keyboards that Bencuya and I both use. After fiddling with the pedals and the settings on the Nords, the backline guy offered to go to a nearby Guitar Center to buy a different brand of pedal that would work. He soon texted us from the store, saying that the only sustain pedals at Guitar Center were the same brand that he had at the gig, so we we...