Roadies?

   I guess an explanation is needed.  My assumption was that the connection was fairly straightforward…apparently not, based on some verbal questions. So…

   First, roadie is a derivative of the “road crew” phrase used in the entertainment industry.  Your average person hearing “road crew” would think of a highway project, so roadie is better.  I thought this definition might be interesting to parse and explain the parallels:

The road crew (or roadies) are the < technicians > who travel with < a band on tour >, usually in sleeper buses, and < handle every part of the concert productions  except actually performing > the music with the musicians.

I added delimiting pairs of brackets.  Technicians – well that shouldn’t be a giant mental leap for anyone.  A band on tour.  An information provider must be agile in its mobility.  While the brick-mortar portion of the operation isn’t moving, the content gathering and content packaging will be tremendously mobile.  Band on tour.  Hand every part of the concert productions except actually performing.  Here’s where the strongest parallel exists.  What decent technology operation succeeds without knowing their customer.  You have to understand the endeavor, the goals, the processes, the tools, the players, etc.  Its Successful IT 101 stuff.  Roadies don’t do lights, sounds and FX on their own agenda.  It all has direct linkage to the musicians and the show.  Show me an established crew of roadies and there is at least one person who knows guitars like the back of their hand, can restring a Gibson SG under 60 seconds and knows every stomp box combo used in the business (sorry, closet guitar freak…it comes out once in awhile).  That doesn’t mean that person can carry a tune to save their life, though.  They are a roadie and they make it happen.  They also exist in a world of shadows and wear black, because nobody is forking over money to see a roadie caught with a dumb look on their face in the spotlight.  Wizard of Oz – pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

   I hope that might partially explain the title.  If not, that’s okay.  Call us what you want…just don’t call us out on stage!