Coldplay at Super Bowl 50: The Guitar Wrangler

Coldplay at Super Bowl 50: The Guitar Wrangler

Travelling with Jonathan M. "Jonny" Buckland brought out the best in me as a guitar player, but it's time to move on.

For three years, almost like an understudy, I’ve been his instrument “Wrangler” in charge of all his 20+ guitars: repair, maintenance, packing, moving, tuning, cleaning, and readying each one, for each song, of each set in Coldplay concerts.

Playing alongside him in rehearsals, bouncing riffs back and forth like Lebron James’ practice dummy: catching the ball, throwing it back… catching the ball, throwing it back… riff after riff after riff. While I’m actually doing Jonny’s mundane tasks I don’t think about it; it’s events like the NFL's Super Bowl 50 that make me think about what's next?

Wearing all black from head-to-toe, the best part of the job is bringing Jonny guitars onstage, sometimes changing in the middle of a tune. I pick up a little extra cash from Under Armour, one of the Coldplay tour sponsors, by wearing everything they make from shoes/socks, pants, hooded sweat-top, even black, sticky, football receivers gloves all sporting the interlocking “UA” symbol—I can’t drop guitars!

With the white-hot spotlight on the star and me in all black, I slip on and off the stage cat-like, never tripping on pedals, cords, amps, or speakers; each guitar is tuned-up, set to the right volume, and ready for another solo. The cat-burglar gets away.

It’s not quite like a NASCAR pit crew, but we have to keep accurate timing for a performance choreographed much like a Broadway play; what looks like a free-form, extemporaneous detour by one of the world’s best guitarists, has been practiced and tweaked like a daytime soap opera. 

The timing of a concert is exact, down to the last song. Only the encores are off the clock… The audience earns the encores, which are truly made-up as they play them. Coldplay’s Super Bowl 50 halftime is scheduled by the second, and we’ll probably only play three songs (that's a secret). 

http://www.levisstadium.com/

As big as the band is, we're just a few chaps from University College who'll get to perform in front of 100 million people on a stage in the middle of a bloody football field. (They're so humble they are performing for free; ironically, Jonny's favorite "football" team is the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, which plays a different kind of game):

"I think we're firmly split down the middle between those of us who know absolutely nothing about football, and those of us who know almost absolutely nothing about football," said Buckland.

The instruments are Jonny’s tools, like a surgeon, and he principally uses a '72 Telecaster by Fender, which is like a Strat. Jonny Boy occasionally straps on a Gibson Les Paul, and sometimes even a Rickenbacker. More than 20 guitars used by Buckland provide a unique sound to accent Chris Martin’s lead vocals. 

In the last two CDs there have been guitar solos revealing his incredible talent:

Look to "True Love" off of Ghost Stories CD at 2:57 on the track; compared with "Up&Up" off their latest album at 3:19 in the song. There are more guitar solos I could quote you, but those two will do the trick.

Through the years, working with Jonny helped me develop the craft of songwriting, mostly considering the context of my work and the audience for whom they played. But songs are also written to express my own thoughts as a reflection of my ideas, or an expression of my personality. In a purely binary, economic analysis, songs are considered only on popularity or commercial success; but that structure has changed, music has more channels now in which to be discovered. My creativity cannot be too heavily influenced by my background as Coldplay’s guitar wrangler, as enjoyable as that experience has been. The music means more than the medium.

For me it has always been about the guitar. As an aviator or driver it is all about the vehicle, for a singer it’s about the voice, and in coaching, the victories. For me it is about the instrument. The rhythm, which provides structure for the song, the tone, which provides melody, and the chords, which undergird the accent of the words; all come from the lead guitarist: he’s the straw that stirs the drink. My inherent talent uses my eyes, ears, and fingers in coordination to play one of the most important instruments in the music industry. It was what I was made to do, and now I must be more purposeful about this gift.

After our 15-minutes of fame end with the halftime of Super Bowl 50, and I take off my black ninja suit; we’ll probably finish the evening back at the hotel playing our guitars, inventing new riffs. I may not even remember who won the game?

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#FanFiction (2016) ©Mark H. Pillsbury

Ultimate Texans » Photos: Texans fever

Ultimate Texans » Photos: Texans fever:

'via Blog this'

After ten years in this city, the Texan franchise has finally reached the high plateau of the NFL meritocracy, The Playoffs.

Like a contagious disease, Houston's citizens caught fan fever this week, and across the 4th largest city in the US, today they suffer from Texanitis.

As the sun broke over clear blue skies this morning and Houstonians got out to youth games, the grocery store, or the local coffee shop, all the talk was about the game this afternoon at Reliant Stadium, in the shadow of the old AstroDome. Fittingly, the new breed of professional football players see the shrine to the Oilers right next door, the 8th wonder of the world: the AstroDome. The creepy, dark, out-dated, concrete monolith to the past; where the last Houston playoff victory took place over 20 years ago.

There is nothing like the football euphoria of the playoffs. In a town that prides itself in entrepreneurial grit, civic pride, teamwork, courage, and success--which has largely eluded the city on the gridiron since the Texans started ten years ago; this football team overcame years of under-achieving and the hardship of a roller-coaster season to land its first NFL party since Super Bowl XXXVIII was played in Reliant Stadium in February of 2004.

Predictions are bold. Chips and salsa are flying off the shelves. Only the lucky and the patient are actually going to the game. Traffic around my neighborhood will be terrible this afternoon. But the city is buoyant with excitement. Being a life-long Dallas Cowboy fan spoiled me, but not anymore! The Cowboys are no shoe-in, having one playoff win in the last 15 years. Since I arrived in Houston the fall the Texans started, I have followed them closely every year and could not be any happier to see them succeed. Like any of the millions of Houston transplants who want our team to do well, I'm riding high today, waiting for kickoff.

used with permission: ©K. Woolet 

It should be a low-scoring affair, and with our 3rd QB starting the game, the Texans will have to rely on the Defense (led by the last Cowboy coach Wade Phillips). Turnovers usually change momentum, so look for that to be the pivot-point.

The buzz in the city today is red-hot (Battle Red), the fever is true-blue (Liberty Blue), and for one bright shiny day in Houston, we are all Texans!

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Thoughts on the PGA and golf (Aug. 10, 2011):

I don’t believe golf is like life. It’s more complicated than that and golf has facets to it that are inscrutable.

However, as we approach the final of the four “Majors” which tees off Thursday morning, I want to talk about golf and tell what it means to me:

Golf is a jealous mistress, requiring time, money, attention, long-suffering patience, and secret obsession. Egalitarian and often blind, watching others play golf sometimes confounds: I have seen people who “look-like” golfers play poorly, and those street urchins on a public sandlot play like Seve Ballesteros, always known to attack the course and any opponent on his way to par. Real pressure in a golf game with Seve would be playing for $10 when you only have a $5 in your pocket!

Because golf has gone global (as FedEx® says it has) its future is probably as bright as any major sport. Like basketball, with numerous multi-national stars, and competition played worldwide, the post-Tiger era seems promising. A strong wave of young guns arrived on the golf scene a year ago, comers who surely began the game as 8-9 year olds when Tiger started his legendary run.

It is a unique game, historic and humbling; anyone can play, the great players with the hackers, boys and girls, old and young. It affords players a social opportunity as well as one grounded in nature.

Truly hitting the ball without “thinking about it,” when it leaps off the clubface with the crack of a good shot, gives me a childishly fun and pure reaction. Like life, the hazards along the course infuse fear into the average player, taking away the trusting mindset required to swing freely. The combination of physical, mental, and natural processes make it a challenging, lifetime sport, requiring concentration, dedication, and ethics. I’ve learned a lot about respect, about values in life, to be honest with yourself whether you hit it well or in the hazard because you're the only person who can give yourself a penalty, if you do something your playing partner hasn't seen.

The year’s last major is the PGA played in Atlanta (AAC). The PGA suffers from a bit of an infereriorty complex, the tournament invented a tagline with a branding twist: “Glory’s Last Shot!” Mathematically it is one-quarter of all majors just like the other ones, except in almost all the metrics of modern golf it comes in fourth place in importance.

Maybe it is just so damn hot in August, football is heating up, baseball going into a pennant race; nevertheless, hoisting the huge Wannamaker Trophy pays in multiple exemptions for the winner (means he gets invited to lots of tournaments without qualifying), as well as a $1 mil check. It was once the only match-play major until television convinced the PGA to change the format in 1958. With this year’s field almost 156 players (98 out of top-100 ranked) including Mr. Woods, any golf fan can find a horse on which to bet. Speaking of football and heat, the PGA was twice played in Dallas!

It does help that almost a third of this tournament’s champions are big names, such as: Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Lord Byron Nelson, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Walter Hagen, and Sam Snead (28 PGA titles among those names).


“You know, I started thinking back there on that last hole. All I’ve done my whole life is play golf, work at golf, study golf, listen to golf, read about golf. I’ve worked to build a game I can rely on, make a living with. Find a ‘repeating swing,’ as Hogan called it. I’ve experimented with all the equipment—graphite, metal, titanium. I’ve found what works best for me, for my body, my swing. This year I come up with some solid chances to win a big one. After all the years and all the hard work out here, my game’s ready to win a major. But what happens? I get a lousy ruling in Augusta… I get a lousy ruling at Pinehurst… and I get another one here. Each time I let it beat me. I really let it beat me. So I’m thinking my hard-headed ass has finally learned something. Golf’s not about equipment… technique… distance… practice… saving shots… the putting stroke… any of that. Once you know how to hold the damn golf club, golf is only about one thing. How you handle bad breaks.” –Bobby Joe Grooves in Slim and None, by Dan Jenkins (Doubleday 2005)

If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf. It strips you naked and forces you to strategize in an area as small as 5-inches across: your brain!

Every hole contains chapters like a book: the big opening salvo off the tee, winding through the hazards finding the way home to the green—the climax. Then the soft finish as the putting closes the story. I find the chance at renewal after each hole refreshing; as you walk to the next teeing area, leave what happened yesterday at the previous green. The new day dawns as you push the tee into the ground and look forward down the fairway, new opportunities and dangers await you.

Dealing with the reality of my game, I have come to the conclusion that it is more satisfying to be a bad player at golf: the worse you play, the better you remember the occasional good shot! That shot is the one that brings you back next time, the one fantastic glass of Cabernet in a week full of $9 Chardonnays.

Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you're not good at them, so the best thing you can try to do, is go out there and have fun!

©Mark H. Pillsbury