• About Bill
  • Work With Bill
  • Contact
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

BillHibbler.com

Small Business Marketing, Networking & Social Media

  • Home
  • Social Media
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
  • Marketing
    • Affiliate Marketing
  • Networking
  • Customer Service
  • Bill Hibbler TV
  • Blog
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Tech, Drugs and Rock & Roll

Bill Hibbler · 4 Comments

In My Day We Didn’t Have Fancy iPhones, We Talked Through Two Rusty Soup Cans and a Piece of Twine… And That’s the Way It Was… And We Liked It

I often talk about how different my days as a tour manager for bands like Humble Pie would have been if I’d had access to the today’s technology. Although we were living the rock star lifestyle in a luxurious custom tour bus with front and rear AV systems, kitchen, central air and roomy bunks, the only outside communication involved the driver talking to truckers on his CB radio.

This was the early to mid-eighties before we had:

  • Cell phones
  • Fax machines
  • Email
  • Internet
  • Laptop computers (A few bands had Radio Shack TR-80’s)
  • Voice Mail (If you think phone tag is bad now…)

Imagine trying to coordinate the band, road crew, agent, record label, merchandisers, publishers, promoters, venues, fan club, sound and lighting companies, publicists, media as well as wives, girlfriends, family and friends from a different city every day which usually included several hours isolated on the bus.

An iPhone would have completely changed my world.

By the time I managed Glenn Hughes in the mid-nineties, we had the technology but the cost was astronomical when dealing with contacts all over the world. My average monthly phone bill in 1995 was $2,000 (and once as high as $6,000). Not to mention when I paid several hundred dollars a month to CompuServe to get email and retrieve basic files before they started offering unlimited access plans.

But what are the drawbacks to all that technology?

Just recently, I considered something that hadn’t crossed my mind before. How would technology have changed my relationships with the other guys on tour?

On most tours, I traveled with four musicians and three to four roadies plus a driver. A sense of camaraderie develops that’s unlike most friendships I’ve had before or after. We watched Monty Python so often that most of us could recite entire films. We partied, came up with elaborate practical jokes, talked music, books and the news of the day. And what’s interesting to think about is how different things would have been if we’d had something like the iPhone or Blackberry then.

I can picture it now. Half the guys, including me, would probably be on the phone 24/7. Others would be texting, checking email, surfing the web, playing games or connecting with friends elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if those same bonds would have developed.

For better or worse, technology has changed the way we interact with people. Let me tell you a funny story…

Last week, I attended a Meetup on how to speed up your WordPress website at a local restaurant. After saying hello to a few friends, I grabbed a seat at a table for four. The guy across from me was Toff Ward, one of the presenters. The guy to my right was playing with his iPad and never even looked up the whole time Toff and I were talking, even when his food was delivered.

Once the presentation started, the guy put his iPad away although he’d pull it out from time to time during the presentation. I did the same with my iPhone as I tweeted a few things I was picking up from the presentation. At one point, while the presenter was taking questions from the audience, I peeked at my email and saw that an email had come in from someone named Alex that belonged to this group. I assumed Alex was someone that was unable to attend and hoped someone would see the message and ask his question for him.

So I raised my hand and asked the question. After a burst of laughter from behind me, I heard  Steve Kuntz, the group’s organizer, say, “Bill that’s from Alex Sian, the guy sitting right next to you.” Yep, Mr. iPad (aka Alex Sian) had asked his question via the Meetup group website. Without us having spoken a word or even made eye contact to that point, Alex asks a question that traveled from his iPad to Meetup.com to my iPhone which I end up asking on his behalf.  How often does that happen?

Technology is a wonderful thing and I think things like smart phones can actually add to some social and business get-togethers. However, I think there are also times when the people we’re meeting with in person deserve our undivided attention. What do you think?

How do you feel technology has affected your life?  Please share your comments or stories below.

About the Photo

The photo above was taken on tour with Humble Pie circa 1984. I forget why everyone was making goofy faces but it’s possible alcohol was involved.  We were in the stateroom of the bus which we’d leased from Marianne Gordon-Rogers, then Kenny Rogers wife.  Marianne was a star on Hee-Haw and her bus had cowboy hat and boot images everywhere, which was pretty amusing for a band touring with bands like Dio and Quiet Riot. 🙂  From L-R: Bassist Keith Christopher, the late Steve Marriott, myself and sound engineer David “Turtle” Tykson.

Tweet
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Technology

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bob Callahan says

    September 20, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Hey Bill,
    I read the “Drawbacks to Technology” and remembered who might be to blame for all this. Some think this just happened, but read this and clearly you will know who to blame.

    TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

    1930s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s!!
    First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or
    drank while they were pregnant.

    They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and
    didn’t get tested for diabetes.

    Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

    We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads.

    As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no
    booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no
    brakes..

    Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a
    special treat.

    We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

    We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one
    actually died from this.

    We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid
    made with real white sugar. And we weren’t overweight.

    WHY?

    Because we were always outside playing….that’s why!

    We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
    back when the streetlights came on.

    No one was able to reach us all day.

    –And, we were OKAY..

    We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill,
    only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a
    few times, we learned to solve the problem.

    We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs,no cell phones,no personal computers,no Internet and no chat rooms.
    WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found  them!

    We fell out of trees, got cut,broke bones and teeth,and there were no lawsuits from those accidents.

    We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles,
    or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report
    abuse.

    We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

    We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks
    and tennis balls, and -although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many
    eyes.

    We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or
    rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

     Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.

    Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

    Imagine that!!

    The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard
    of. They actually sided with the law!

    These generations have produced some of the best   risk-takers,problem solvers, and inventors ever.

    The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new
    ideas..

    We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how
    to deal with it all.

    If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS!

    You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow
    up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our
    lives  for our own good.

     While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how
    brave and lucky their parents were.

    Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t
    it ?

    The quote of the month by

    Jay Leno:

    “With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,
    severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and
    with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a
    good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”

    Reply
    • Bill Hibbler says

      September 22, 2010 at 3:38 am

      Gee, Bob, you wrote your own blog post. 🙂 I do remember those days well. There are many aspects of those days I would never want to return to but many I miss. And I bet my sister, who commented below, cracked up when she read your line about scissors. She tried to get me in trouble once by calling our Mom at the office and telling her I was chasing her around the house with a butcher knife.

      Reply
  2. Misty Khan says

    September 21, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Bill, totally had not thought about that. The interesting thing is that we do still have some groups that we bond with and they usually have some sort of rule about turning off electronics during a meeting. But those groups are formal and I wonder about the informal bonds like the ones you have with your old touring buddies. Kind of makes me wonder what opportunities some of us are missing out on.

    Bob, you make many good points and I’m always all about critizing the government for over regulating our lives. I fall into your age range, BTW. But as a Mom, I still can’t help but get a little nervous at the thought of my sons running through the house with a pair of scissors. ;-D

    Reply
    • Bill Hibbler says

      September 22, 2010 at 3:45 am

      But Misty didn’t you report your brother once for running around the house with a sharp object?

      We wonder why we have issues with ADHD but our TV programming is produced to have a cut every 3-4 seconds (lest we get bored and change the channel) while text messages, ringing phones, chat windows, Twitter and Facebook streams and real live humans compete for our attention.

      I love and use the technology but when it comes to talking and truly listening, it frequently gets in the way.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

About Me

BIll Hibbler

Hi there, I'm Bill Hibbler. Marketing and Media Consultant, Best Selling Author, Speaker & Recovering Music Biz Exec. CEO at Gigtime Media and Gigtime Dental Marketing.

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

READ THE BEST-SELLING BOOK

Buy the book »

Archives

Instagram

billhibbler

Good morning, Ella Good morning, Ella
Onstage with a bowl of fresh beer. :-) 🎩 Onstage with a bowl of fresh beer. :-) 🎩
The first day of the year was also the first day o The first day of the year was also the first day of Covid. I’ve worked hard to be careful since I’m a Type 1 diabetic. But it got me. Ironically, T1 diabetes has made me constantly monitor my body and take meds as needed so it made taking care of myself this week far easier. Thanks also to my remote healing friend who likes anonymity but is appreciated. Btw, if for any reason you’re tempted to make any kind of political or conspiracy theory comment, please resist the temptation.
Instagram post 17986425283642069 Instagram post 17986425283642069
Instagram post 18260898196140804 Instagram post 18260898196140804
Instagram post 17955386447200236 Instagram post 17955386447200236
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Please Visit:

  • Dental Websites & Marketing
  • Mastermind Groups
  • Social Media Management & SEO

Contact

Bill Hibbler

606 N Presa St, Ste 503
San Antonio, TX 78205
(512) 298-4005

RSS Get Blog Updates via Email

  • Goodbye, Amanda.
  • Manny Charlton RIP July 25 1941 – July 5 2022
  • How to Spot a Scammer When Buying an RV

Copyright © 2023 · Daily Dish Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in