Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

Shari Weber has been in the music industry for 13 years. She got her start by doing a favor for a friend; she worked a concert as a local assistant by running errands for a band--taking the group to and from their hotel, setting up their dressing rooms and getting them take away Chinese food. That band was the Counting Crows. It was then that she was introduced to a Florida Promoter and he started using her for all of his shows. Shari's career as a touring production assistant has taken her all over the world logging over 840,000 miles in just the last eight years alone. She's been on tour with the likes of Celine Dion, Coldplay, The Go Gos, Def Leppard and many more.

Shari's years of globe trotting has made her an expert in travel, creating and sending digital postcards from each of the sites she visits. Her travels and time spent with musicians and their production crews have given her plenty of material to write her thoughts out in her online diary "Catch Her If You Can." Shari's insight of life on the road, human behavior and oftentimes witty prose makes reading her updates addictive.

Shari just completed a tour with Def Leppard, and also Evanescence, that kept her busy from January up until only a few days ago. Set to go out on the road again at the end of this month, I took the opportunity to get an inside view of what life is like as a touring production assistant and jet setter.

Shannon: How does it feel to have spent more time on a plane than you have in a car?

Shari: It's crazy to think, but it's absolutely true. I've also spent an equal amount of time in a tour bus. I don't care for the tour buses but I do enjoy flying - flying has become a mental cleansing for me. I fall into the time warp of travel; I can catch up with TV shows on my iPod. Watch a movie, eat & have a glass of wine and take a nap - then magically wake up in another country - its quite amazing still to me after all this time. I prefer flights over 6 hours - that's when I can really relax.

I'm rarely ever in a car. I go usually 2 months before I sit behind the wheel of my own car and its a strange sensation - its like you forget how to drive. Once I returned home from Australia and actually forgot, briefly, where I was and found myself driving down the wrong side of a parking gararge! Thankfully, no one was hurt and telling the story to my Mom gave her a great laugh!

Shannon: Female production crew members being in the minority, is there a bond between the women traveling?

Shari: Yes, there is. Even if you would never socialize with them outside of the tour - being thrust in an extreme environment makes people reach out for the familiar. Its nice to know you always have an ear to talk to and to be an ear for someone else.

Shannon: Did you ever think that just doing a favor for a friend so many years ago would be the beginning of your career?

Shari: I never thought a favor would amount to a career. I'm still dumbfounded by what I do for a living and to revisit the past and remember the day that started it all - makes me realize how lucky I am. I never thought doing a show for the Counting Crows in St. Petersburg, Florida would have open the door to traveling the world and working for the people I have. When days & schedules are challenging - I silently curse my friend, but honestly I am very thankful, its a world I never knew existed and I fit rather well in it.

Shannon: Describe what your typical day is like as a Touring Production Assistant.

Shari: This industry doesn't lend much to typical, but when touring North America & Europe, since we travel by tour bus, the average day starts by loading into the venue around 8am, setting up all production offices & dressing rooms - managing local assistants for the day. The entire day is spent sending the local assistants shopping for band & show needs, multiple Starbucks runs and so on. Usually the band arrives around 4pm for sound check and usually chaos begins once they're in the building. The "need" factor increases the moment the band is in the building. Usually, they take the stage at 9pm and show is down by 11pm. We load out & pack up - usually showering in a smelly locker room around 12:30am and climbing into my bunk on the tour bus around 1am. Driving through the night to the next venue and wake up there and start all over again. Its a bit different when in Japan, South America and Australia - the luxury is, no tour buses and a hotel every night with a private shower! Downside to that is being on a plane every 48 to 72 hours!

Shannon: Spending your days in a hotel room, eating room service and at restaurants, traveling by plane and bus—how do you keep yourself eating right and remaining physically fit?

Shari: It's a challenge- very much so. I seek out gyms before my days off so I have a game plan before I arrive the hotel for a non-show day. I go to the gym every day off and on show days, I will break out my roller blades and do a few laps around the building and sometimes, I will run up and down in the grand stands for a quick cardio work out. Most tours carry juicing machines so I try to make fresh juices everyday. Days off are usually the cheat days because after eating crappy catering for weeks on end - I always treat myself to a proper steak or sushi dinner on a day off! And yes, I do sneak in the molten lava cake!