Well it is that time of year again. I went to run sound for the Traditional Music Festival at Berea College, and as usual it was quite eventful. This year was slightly different from years past in that I just went to run sound for the Saturday evening wrap up concert. I arrived and had a very easy setup (just a couple of mics) and we launched into sound check. Everything went really smoothly. I got about an hour break before I had to start getting into position for show time. So I sat around and ate candy :). As I was heading to the booth I felt a chip in my mouth and when I took it out it seemed to be a bit of tooth. Sure enough my tongue felt a rough spot in the enamel of one of my molars. I really hate going to the dentist. When I got into the sound and lighting booth I met a young student from Ukraine. I told him I would love to got to Ukraine someday and visit the cathedrals of Kiev, because I was Orthodox. He said I should that it is a beautiful city and there are many beautiful churches there. He also told me he was Orthodox and if I gave him my email address he would send me a bunch of pictures he has of the cathedrals. I hope he does. The concert got off to a pretty good start. The first band is from the college and got everything off and rolling as they usually due. I will have to say that they seemed like a really strong band this year and that all of them were freshman save one. So they should have a pretty good run over the next four years. The next group was a mother-son combo. They were really good and evidently the son had been playing fiddle since he was six and he was just now 17. But this is were events began to turn for the worst, bar the tooth. The boy’s father came back to the booth and very rudely demanded I turn up the mother’s guitar because no one in the audience could here her. This was news to me because I was all the way at the back of the room in a semi enclosed booth and could hear her fine, which meant that the audience could also hear her given the acoustics of the building. So I tried to explain this to the gentleman, and told him I would not be changing my mix. So he stormed off. After 2-3 minutes he came back even more enraged. Once again he demanded I turn her up. I told him I was sorry that he could not her the guitar but since I was running sound and I could hear the guitar, and had this verified by several other people who said the mix was great, I would not be changing my mix. Again he stormed off and went directly to the event coordinator and chewed her out for 5 minutes. She then came to me and said I know you know what you are doing but please turn the guitar up so he will get off my back. I told her that she had done as promised and talked to me but I am still refusing, because I was not going to ruin a perfectly good mix and some very talented musician’s despite there patriarch. The boy and his mother got a standing ovation. And for the time being that was the end of it. The next guy got up and played his numbers and did a good job playing a dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, and sang, of course not all at the same time. The last band got up and from there very first note blew me away. They were The Reeltime Travelers. They were amazing. Words cannot even describe. They finished up with a standing ovation, which signaled me to start tear down and load out. As I began this unpleasant task I was confronted by the “father” again. He proceeded to tell me how stupid and inept I was at the top of his lungs, and how it is amazing I even have a job. I took this all in stride and told him to believe what he wanted and to please leave me alone. Which he did for a time. After he left me several musicians, volunteers, and staff came up and apologized to me hoping he did not bruise my confidence to much. I assured the that I was ok and had dealt with worse and found it kind of amusing at his ignorance. Well evidently he heard some of this because as soon as I was away fro the others (proximity-wise, not hearing-wise) he confronted me again and got right into my face and asked if I had anything else to say to him. With his face only about 1″ away from mine I said no, however if he came near me again (he interjects “ARE YOU THREATENING ME!) no ,however if you come near me again I will call the cops. He backed off and left me alone for the rest of the night. Well that was the big time abridged version. On my way home I began contemplating why would someone due this, and feel sorry for him and his son. During this contemplation I began to realize that despite the scales on my eyes this man was created in the image of God and therefore shot through with HIS glory. I began to wish I could see that God-likeness, but I could not and can not. Then I began to wonder if I handled that the best way I could. Should I may have just given in even though it would have mad the sound worse, or should I have apologized. I am too broken too even know.