My first serious drink spillage.

COSM · Post by **COSM** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:50 am

After a good 45 minutes trying to hail a cab in the torrential rain on a busy Friday night in Melbourne, I turned up to the venue with about 20 minutes to set up.

The area I was playing in was outdoors, out the back.. and it was still pissing down! there were about 30 brave people huddled under a little tarp while the majority of the party were inside keeping dry.

The ground was flooded which was a little bit stressing, all power supplies seemed to be isolated up high which was good, but I had no where to put my bags down to set up!

Somehow I managed to get everything working and was pretty much on time to start. The rain had stopped, people were outside and people we're obviously in full force party mode. I was getting a bit concerned about the looseness of it all as people were huddled right up the front, knocking shit around, but I had dealt with worse.

Then I did the ultimate stupid no no. I put my full glass of beer down on the table next to my gear, It was for a few seconds while I did something, but it was too long.

An old friend appeared in front of me that I haddn't seen in a long time, gave me a huge hug, and knocked the full glass of beer over my laptop and sound card.

I was pretty quick to act, but the soundcard (presonus firebox) had been to soaked, and wasn't doing anything.

I did the usual emergency spillage routine, ran inside and gave it to the bar people to put somewhere safe and dry, while the promoters madly ran around trying to find an alternative. Some fantastic woman went home without telling me and brought hers back! but forgot the power supply so that was no good. A few other dudes using laptops offered theres but no one had the right drivers...

After about 90 minutes of explaining the situation over and over to people wondering why I wasn't playing, I tried one last time and it bloody worked!

It had dried out behind the bar, and from what I could tell, was fully operational. I tested it for another 15 minutes or so, and no issues!

I played my set, 2 hours later than I was scheduled, and it was one of the best this year... very happy. People were even looser two hours later, and it was a great medium to test some new ideas out on.

So I guess my moral of the story is keep being strict about not letting liquid near your shit!

BTW, here is a direct link to a recording of the set, enjoy.

http://www.cosm.co.nz/music/Tom%20Cosm% ... 202008.mp3

-Tom

jeffplaysmoog · Post by **jeffplaysmoog** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:56 am

Yeah, you did well. I have seen this many times (for me it's mostly college kids dunking their phones in their beer) and the worst thing you can do is turn the device on. Let it dry out as long as possible and things usually come back to life. Radioshack sells some corrosion cleaner which is great as well if you feel like opening the device up (brought so many cell phones back to life!). So, yeah, awesome! I am always so paranoid about this happening to me...

dubpixel · Post by **dubpixel** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:32 am

nice one, my spillage story is when i decoded to knock a full cup of coffee into my first computer- a very early series ibm thinkpad(wasn't even on live, i think it was acid 1). best thing that ever happened to me, i hated that pice of shit and my inability to have the patience to deal with pc's. waited a couple more years for software to catch up, then went to mac.
that's 2 happy endings to spillage stories..

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:47 am

if you have a Dell laptop, the complete care warranty option covers spillages, Applecare does not.

I use both platforms every day and just amuse myself when rabid haters of one platform post nonsense. You can run Live very well on either platform, it might need a bit more tweaking on a PC laptop, but unless you are a total noob, even most beginners can work out how to do it or follow instructions. Occasionally, you get the odd PC laptop whose hardware combination is very frustrating, then again you get Steve Jobs taking Firewire ports out of new Macbooks with no warning !!

Mac computers are great, but I have witnessed plenty of crashes and nasty hardware and software glitches on them too, given we use them on a daily basis at work.

The main thing is, COSMs laptop seems to have come away unscathed. The story wasn't set up for another endless PC bashing.

How is the computer functioning now Tom? Did the firebox survive with a drying off period, or is it toast ? This is what I'm interested in

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:56 am

It might be the only possible proof of a higher power when you think of how often we do gigs in this type of environment surrounded by drunks with their open containers whisking around along with our own and this kind of disaster doesn't happen more frequently.

If you've ever stayed long enough after a gig to see the aftermath and every inch of every possible flat surface (including the floor) covered with drinks and spillage, it really is a small miracle when your gear gets out untouched.

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:16 am

You call a beer a "serious drink"?

Fast action saved the day, sounds like.

Sibanger · Post by **Sibanger** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:44 am

You just can't trust those bloody Aussies!

Especially when they are pissed or wasted.

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:58 am

I spilled a beer on a cheap foot controller a few years ago. it was done for. but it only cost me like $30 at a pawn shop.

a friend spilled something on my nord lead 2 years ago, he didn't admit it but I went to bed and it worked and in the morning the pitch bend and mod wheel didn't work and there was a little dried drop of something next to the mod wheel opening. the mod wheel and pitch bender don't work to this day.

at some point my powerbooks monitor stopped working. I shipped it in and they said "looks like someone spilled something on it so it's not under warrnety anymore" then a few weeks later it showed up fixed and I called them and they said "opps, we fixed it by accident. we can't charge you though as you didn't approve the work. enjoy..." that was totally awesome.

these days I don't allow any drinks to be placed on my studio table. there is a small fridge underneith the table that usually serves well for a table top for drinks. it's a good rule to live by.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:36 am

cosm wrote:

So I guess my moral of the story is keep being strict about not letting liquid near your shit!

or use a griffin elevator[s], keeps equipment high enough so that no dropped glass or bottle can create a damage, i learned that lesson after a bottle of beer standing next to my comp dropped into it.

LithiuMind · Post by **LithiuMind** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:16 am

Cosm!!! Props on the set...is this a live pa or a DJ set? Sounds good either way. Nice fusion of funk and psychedelia.

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:39 am

The most important bit of kit in my live setup!

UKRuss · Post by **UKRuss** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:41 am

What concerns me most about this story is that no-one seems to have offered to buy you another beer...

Surely a criminal offence in Melbourne.

UKRuss · Post by **UKRuss** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:43 am

ollyb303 wrote:The most important bit of kit in my live setup!

Heh hehhhh, you just need to add "NO REQUESTS!" to the top of that.

pix · Post by **pix** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:27 am

LithiuMind wrote:Cosm!!! Props on the set...is this a live pa or a DJ set? Sounds good either way. Nice fusion of funk and psychedelia.

yeah man, that what i always loved about tom's sets. he can blend all genres seamless.

and it keeps sounding better all the time. this set is freakin awesome!

thanks for sharing once again.

rozling · Post by **rozling** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:49 am

I feel your pain Tom, delighted you got to play the gig in the end! Looking forward to checking out the set.

I've had two spillages which f-d me up badly. The first happened, luckily, at the end of the night at a house party with all my friends - I should have seen it coming: I'd been letting one or two people have a twist of the BCR knobs mapped to bitcrushers etc as they were all so interested in my setup.

Anyway I was about 3 songs from wrapping up, turned my back and a girl's bacardi & coke was cascading through the keyboard. I went into panic mode... turning it upside down etc, setting a hairdryer on the thing & removed the HD straight away... actually I think that all helped. Acer had my laptop for a month - I'd been thinking of looking for more DJing work but that episode put a stop to things for a while.

Second time was the dregs of a cup of tea resting on the arm while sitting on the couch - some stupid movement caused it to spill, & instantly half the keyboard didn't work. Yeah I pretty much deserved that one

Oh yeah and I ordered a replacement keyboard off a dodgy computer parts website *** DO NOT USE POWERTOOLBATTERY.ORG!!!**** which after I paid them decided they'd actually rather hang on to the keyboard, thanks very much. Another €40 down the drain...

Some fantastic woman went home without telling me and brought hers back! but forgot the power supply so that was no good.

She is a legend. Unfortunate about the power supply, but she's still brilliant!