Watson Wisdom Wednesday

Rich smoked.
I didn't.
Rich being an older guy and having his routine down for years knew when it was time for a smoke break. After I'd been working with Rich for a few months he began being a bit more liberal with his smoke breaks and one day he tells me, 'I feel bad since you don't smoke' and I replied, 'Why? When you leave I stop working and grab a coffee. Don't want someone to come back, me be working and you not be there and then get you in trouble.'

He just gave me a look and smiled.
A few years later Rich and I would be hanging out behind the theatre him smoking, me drinking coffee and us talking about all manner of bizarre crap. Leads, managers, other hands would stop by and we'd talk to them, engage in our weird banter and generally keep things interesting. Often those smoke breaks would end with a quick trip to the bathroom before returning to work.

It's important to take a breather and better if you bring someone along.

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

It didn't happen often but once in a while there'd be free food. Mostly it was just ok but it saved thinking about a meal and once in a while it'd be something good.

So Rich looked as forward to these days as the rest of us but he had a secret. Took a while to figure it out but Rich would wait until people ate their fill and then he'd disappear. A while later he'd return with a tuperwear, fill it up and return it to his bag. It kept him from worrying about dinner, and sometimes breakfast and lunch.

Always carry a corn-tainer because you never know if there will be free food.

Loading out

The posts were carefully boxed, loaded onto a truck, driven to the next town, delicately unloaded and set up. All of this done with great precision and attention to detail by the folks at
Chin off the Pipe

Ok so maybe it was more of an AV pack

Letter to my Phone Pouch

Dear Nite Ize,
Why did you move to plastic clips on your pouches?
This is the second one I've broken on a lift.
I <3 belt loops.
Please bring them back.
Your Valentine,
That One Guy

Where do I go?

A hospital had speeches,a walk through and activities for kids in preparation for its grand opening.
Yeah hospitals have grand openings now.
I was never told where to meet.
Like a game of stagehand hide and seek.

Double Time Equals Doubly Exhausted

Friday I began a call at 11:30 pm.
It ended Saturday at 10am.
I made a lot of money and went home to hang out, nap and go to sleep.
That didn't work out for me.
My phone rang with a desperate plea to help out.
After being awake well over 24 hours I'm still up and coming down from 2 separate gigs.

As I posted on Friday my phone and I were having a fight. At around 10am I awoke wondering the time and since my black out curtains were drawn I had no idea the time. It was then I discovered I missed an 8 hour call as an AV assist and my phone and I had a falling out. I managed to go back to sleep pissed off at my phone and how smart it is in a stupid way and woke up at 4pm, fucked around for six hours or so, stayed pissed at my phone and then drove to scenic Everett Washington.

When I first got this called I had 6 choices: Trucks, Overnight LX, Overnight Carp, Daytime LX, Daytime Carp or Projectionist. I asked for projectionist but my skills weren't quite up to snuff so I took the overnight LX figuring it wouldn't be too bad, it'd be a check and I wouldn't have to do much heavy lifting. As it took us under 2 hours to unload the 5 trucks and the 8 loaders were sent home in time to make last call. I was jealous but figured my choice was right. It was a gamble, especially if the trucks had been staggered and some got to sit around doing nothing most of the night, but I took my chance.
Turns out a guy no more than 30 names below me got none of those choices so it was in my best interested even if I would have preferred to be a projectionist.


I didn't sign a NDA for this gig but let's say I was working at the factory of a company that's name can become Boring by adding 1 letter. They were very up on security as was discovered when the van at the parking lot could take us to the security gate but no further. Not much help since this plant is huge and none of us knew where we were going. Standing at nearly midnight in the parking lot one guy went out as a scout. Traveling with the van the rest of us waited and stood around in the cold.

This was the trend of the gig. Waiting for the van, waiting for security, waiting to get to the job site, waiting for carps to finish making the truss, for the riggers to drop points, for the truss to be rigged and then flown, and waiting out the clock for breaks and meals. Then at the end of the day waiting for the van to go to my car to go home.


There was one question I kept getting on the job: Where were you on Monday?
It seems there was some screw up and I was supposed to be on a load in. My name was called and I wasn't around. A few of my fellow stagehands were concerned that I wasn't there. Like some Mitch Hedberg sketch they feared something happened to me since I don't bail on gigs. One guy even took me aside saying he was concerned and asked around about me. I wondered if this was some sort Mitch Hedberg style routine.

I can't be too certain but it sure felt that way. What I am certain of is people kept telling me that I was replaced by Budgie and they would have much preferred me being there. And I'm not a huge fan of this guy because he talks more than works, is a big annoying and has this need to tell you his resume of work on a regular job site. As if the fact him working in San Jose is impressive.
In fact can San Jose ever really be called impressive?

But I digress. I'm supposed to be talking about an overnight.

The first 5 hours weren't too bad. There was a safety speech about wearing a hard hat and safety glasses. Ok it's a factory so it makes sense and those of us that didn't have some were issued some. The hard hat wasn't great but wasn't horrible but the glasses had this odd distortion around the peripheral that was odd but not too bad. Like having a few drinks before jumping on unloading the trucks.

We made quick work of the truss and lights. Arranging movers and laying out cable. Setting up for when the truss flies and we can get it in near show readiness. And waiting the waiting continues. Coffee comes and goes and a bit more is done on the truss and then breakfast. Eggs, bacon (the crunchy bacon was on the bottom), sausage and potatoes.
Good offerings at 4:30 am, some toast would have been nice but the bacon was crispy, the eggs not too bad and the potatoes had peppers and onions in them so it was bonus.

The problem on the overnight is gorging on free food, getting weighted down and passing out on a road case, ending up back on the truck and then you're in another city with the faint taste of breakfast as a reminder of when things went wrong. I only had a bit of eggs, crisp bacon, sausage, potato, a 5 hour energy, 2 cups of coffee, and some oj before returning but still the near dawn drudgery set in. It got tougher, time moved slower. I hated the fact I wore a watch as I'd check it and time slowly ticked past. At one point my cloudy mind forgot how to put a choke on some cable for strain relief. The distortion of the safety glasses gave me a near hang over headache and the lack of natural light, slow moving time and Niacin flush made this post breakfast time harder.

Second coffee came and I sat at a table talking with some friends and one put down his head and nearly passed out. I drank a pepsi and some coffee. Still felt a bit warm and my mind was cloudy but I wasn't too bad. Just getting off the glasses and hard hat made this break worthwhile. The pinch and distortion were much harder than the exhaustion of this random overnight. Yes I wasn't totally prepared for it but doing it without those safety devices would have been much easier. I need to get my own cover and glasses because it would have made a huge difference.

The last two hours were cloudy but past constantly. I watch the sky lighten through a sky light that was pointed out to me by a fellow electrician. And we did a few things trying to save a few tasks for the day crew. After all why should we get all the fun? Eventually 10am rolls around, I sign out, wait for the van, get in my car, onto the highway and head home. Debate whether getting a bloody mary and some breakfast, or maybe a beer and burger, either way some sort of alcohol to celebrate a night well done.

The jitters of too much caffeine, the after effects of the 5 hour energy and just a plateau of exhaustion led to the decision to get some teriyaki, drink plenty of water, curl up in a warm bed and get some sleep. And as I lay in my warm bed, full and content I drifted off to sleep for a while listening to Rick Steve's Europe.

Snapped out of a groggy exhausted state I get a call from my head boss at a theatre. They were ass out, needed a tech to come in for a few hours to be there for a rehearsal. He wasn't begging but he was in a rough spot not being at the theatre and needing someone to come in. Allowed me to park in an exclusive spot to show the urgency and despite the level of my exhaustion I throw back on my blacks and head out.

That second gig wasn't hard as I patched a DJ into the sound board. Answered a couple of questions, drank a second 5 hour energy (the grape is pretty good), and waited for that shift to be over. I was tired but the edge was taken off. In the end this bit of exhaustion would work in my favor and as there's a quick blackout down town knocking out the elevator and making our house lights act odd I accept that I made the right choice. Going to regret it later but right now I'm content with my decision and should get some shut eye knowing I made a good chunk of change and my phone and I have made up.

Letter to Auto Ring

Dear Auto Ring,
You cost me a gig by not ringing a number that you were instructed to always ring. You are dead to me.
Get off my phone,
That One Guy

Saved the Day?

I'll say this about this co production I've been getting more work. Like this dinner before opening night. Once again running mics for a room full of board members and major donors of two theaters. Folks more important to my field than I'm fully aware.

And it was a well planned event except for house music. In the rush of opening night, tech and other things the sound designer spaced on this.  But there was some jazz left over from another one of these I did which I had playing.

The designer thanked me for having it running and saving the day.
Yeah not so much.

Just Add Bleach

My blacks go through stages before my life style and work ethic forces me ton replace them.
It usually goes:
Corporate blacks
Show blacks
Work blacks
Painting blacks
Distressed blacks
Rags

Today I did a load of laundry and some bleach joined the party.
Unfortunately I was doing a load of blacks since it'd be a bit and I have a few gigs that call for them.
Suffice it to say a pair was permanently dropped a level.
Not so good since they were relatively new blacks (about 3 months old) and I liked them but it could have been worse, I suppose.

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

Rich, me and a few of the crew of the ice show would go to vegas once a summer. Being 5 hours away and having a day off we'd leave after our last show, spend the day there, and then come back the following morning before the first show. This was Rich's one vacation a year and he'd usually start it in the same way: he'd drink a beer, then go into the bathroom to take a shit and have a smoke.

The things you find most enjoyable things usually the ones you can rarely do.

Mistakes were made

A friend texted me this
Friend: Dammit!! way to drop all the half-hats into the wrong slot ;p
Me: Just keeping it interesting for you and I swear I put 1 in the proper slot
Friend: That's what she said!! (LX #2) put all of his in the right slot. =/
Me: I'll show you the color slot; bend over
Friend: yes, please!!

Loading Bricks...

And reading about orcs.
Now that's a super Sunday.

Last Day of Camp

I never read “Anne of Green Gables”. Call it a failing of my public school elementary education, a lacking of my catholic high school, and my college level children’s lit having us read “Little Princess” instead but I’ve never read the story about a plucky red head that gains acceptance in a Canadian town. In fact my understanding of the Maritimes comes from Kate Beaton and a few Vinyl Café episodes. Mind I did watch mini series of “Anne of Green Gables” in Las Cruces in ‘02 and my sister watched “Avonlea” back in the early 90s but I’m hardly an expert.

For me it began on October 29th when I got a call from dispatch asking me if I wanted to do a deck run on this show. I texted a 4 friends and 3 said ‘yes’ 1 said ‘no’ after a month it was apparent the dissenting vote that was right. That show was dull. A wasted three hours of show that went nowhere.
If there is a conflict it is a superficial one between Anne and the town. An orphan up against the Victorian ideals of Canada, a youth with no family and no history dropped into a Podunk town where her nature and looks cause her to stick out. So let’s call it an Anne versus society but this is never resolved. In fact beside a few hints when she is first introduced to the town and by a resentment by Josie Pye this conflict goes no where. Mostly it is resolved by the beginning of act 2 when Anne saves Minnie May but instead of the show ending with everyone accepting this ginger and bringing her into her fold in a fools-esq song the show continues for a hour where Anne goes to college, Mathew dies and things are dragged out so the show runs nearly 3 hours.

No conflict is fine if the show has great characters but no so much this one. All of them are one dimensional characters. The closest any character gets to change is Marrilla because she goes from not wanting Anne to finally accepting her with a hug and revealing how much love she actually had for Anne in a sentimental moment right before the final number. The change is never shown. Marrilla mentions it but there isn’t a sequence of scenes with Marrilla and Anne getting closer and closer or even having a close and tender moment after Mathew dies, possibly in song, how much he meant to them and how he brought them together and revealing their feelings that way it has some depth and seems natural instead of coming out of nowhere.

In fact there is a line just before what could have been a romantic scene where Anne and Gilbert Blythe finally express their feelings and end up kissing or at least something beside ‘being the best of friends’. Not saying we need to pull out the shed again and then they have a hot, steamy time inside the shed but something beside this banal moment where they want to be friends. I digress the line was one of the guys says ‘It’s too bad Gilbert won’t be going (to university) we always had such fun’.
When?
When did you guys have fun with Gilbert but in the first school scene where everyone runs amok. Outside of that moment Gilbert goes fishing (or rather says ‘Put down your poles and join me’… which might have been fun) with these guys after seeing Anne but I see that as a moment where a guy tells his friends ‘Bros before Hos!’ after being spurned by a girl and possibly trying to have sex with them in a fit of desperation and Budweiser. But I’m a cynic.

I don’t say anything about this show that reviewers didn’t beat me to. The songs are boring, they go nowhere and are slow. As Michael Strangeways at Seattle Gay Scene said “The music also fails. A fellow theater critic whispered into my ear at intermission, “They have two melodies; a slow one and a slightly faster one…” And, I added, “Neither one is very interesting.” ( source) It’s absolutely true.
In fact nearly every review said the cast was great but the music wasn’t. And these critics saw it maybe once. I saw it 84 times and the bonus of it being so lackluster is no song got stuck in my head. There was one moment that did and it was the final song of Act 1 when the much of the ensemble goes ‘Marilla”. There was some words before it but I have no idea what they are it all seemed noise. Blurred together by my standing by to fly the BOC and the fact it was mixed for audience and I was standing in the wings.
So bonus?
I think so.

This will be a show I forget fairly soon. It’s something that wasn’t great or memorable and I didn’t even have some great backstage antics. I had a few but most happened last year and those are a different story.

Really Audio

And you wonder why you get a bad name.

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

One time Rich and I were loading in a new show, we showed up at 5 am, finished loading it in, took breakfast, came back prepped for a run, did that, went into the house to be reamed by the TD about how we didn't do it so well, did another run, back for a reaming. One final run at around 5pm and we knew once again we were going to be reamed for not doing a perfect run.

Now the odd thing was the TD told us we did a good job that day, we'd have it perfect for opening in 5 days and suggested we take a break and then clean up and call it a night. After a long day of being told we sucked Rich spoke up, 'Look Jack we've been here since 5am, how about we just clean up and go home?'

There's no point in taking a 15 minute break 30 minutes before going home.

Should Have Cooked It Longer

Personally I like them a little runny with salsa on toast.

Stats

Weeks I worked on it: 13
Number of shows: 84
Length of Show: ~ 2 Hours 45 Minutes
School shows: 4
Set pieces used once: 6
Miles I drove to Issaquah: 21
to Everett: 31
Total miles driven: 1976
Poinless scenes: 7 (at least)
Songs stuck in my head: 0
Days I came in sick: 0
Caricatures drawn: 40
Set pieces I was behind: 1
Huge Set pieces: 3
Times I pilled the wrong line: 3
Show Crushes: 2
Hours I wasted per day: 5
Missed cues: 2
was it important? No really
Calls I missed: 9
Late Cues: 6
Reason: I spaced out
Number of Red Heads on the show: 3
Crew that made it the whole run: 3
Crew members replaced: 7
Who was allowed to park in the loading dock: Not me
Sexy Costumes: 0
Total Moves I had: 38

It Ended with an Odd Dream

Since the End of October I have been working on a boring show.
A 3 hour musical lacking conflict, character development, catchy songs, flashy dance numbers or sexy costumes which makes it barely seem like a musical at all. In fact it was more of a series of vignettes featuring a number of the same characters and the plot was merely a series of events that followed each other. Eventually I'll write a more detailed entry of my experiences.

This morning I awoke from a dream where me and a few stagehands were discussing excel formulas.
That's right I dreamt that a group of fellow workers and I were exchanging the best way to calculate your hours. Not the sort of dream people find interesting. Hell even in real life that isn't the thrill a minute conversation that occurs on a call. It happens but it's hardly the sort of thing people enjoy discussing... unless you really like excel.
Which I don't.

Consistency

The second to last day isn't a time to try something new. Especially when that change puts the stagehand on a collision course with a set piece. The time to discover was weeks ago now it's all memory and that little change can cause disaster... good thing it didn't.

Quote of the Moment

When I start complaining I can't see is when people should be worried.

School Show Day 3 of 3

Ahh Everett.
I'm gonna see you a little more at this ungodly hour but at least I won't be doing this dull show. This nearly 3 hour monstrosity that is slow, lacks characters and who's plot is merely a series of events that follow each other. But that's another post entirely.

Yesterday it became known that the director wanted to give a tour to 50 students, sounded like 15 at first on com but on second hearing it was 50. Plus side of not being in charge: I got to sit in the green room and drink coffee while this occurred. This made the show start late, of course, and why didn't it happen after the show?
'Because the buses would leave'
Apparently schools in Everett charter their buses with Greyhound or Public Transit because most charter buses I've been on won't leave without you. Especially if you're a child. In a seedy downtown. During the day. At a theatre. But I digress.

While this tour went on I sat in the greenroom drinking coffee trying to wake up enough to remember my track. I'm no morning person but I'll try dammit! And eventually we begin and the first 90 minutes goes well enough. Kids don't get it but honestly neither do I expect for an odd mic problem.
Then intermission and this director wants to do a little presentation but wants a mic for it. Which can't be turned on because audio is fixing a show issue. Now with an additional audio person this wouldn't be a problem but you've got to cut somewhere right?

Intermission runs long, act two begins, the kids have woken up a bit and get into it. The awkwardly tacked on romantic story gets a better reaction than any adult crowd but the inflation laugh doesn't get any. ($250 for 4 years in Redmond)It goes on and on and at some point it becomes apparent we might get some overtime today.

Just need to break that hour and we get overtime to do the reset.
Don't break the hour, don't do the reset and go to lunch get the usual wage.
Curtain call ends and I see this.

So close to getting that extra bit of money but 3:30 too far. Just sooo close. So I do what reset I can, check my watch at 1 and ask 'Are we doing overtime?' 'No', my master says 'I'll see you at 7' and I walk away for my break.

Or rather I try to but my car is blocked in by other cars, 2 buses and some traffic. Now I could go and finish my preset (off the clock) or I could go sit in the green room, eat an orange and wait for the blockage to move on.

That orange was delicious.

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

An FNG once asked Rich what he was doing on a day off.
Rich's response:
Here's what you do you go by del taco 'cause they got TWO tacos for a dollar, then you go by the liquor store and buy TWO beers, go to the store across the street and get a magazine (they're cheaper there), then go home and lock the door.

You’re not working?

Each time I have an evening off my family ask me this. And yet for the first time since January 1st I’ve had one.
And then I had a second.

The first day started late, was filled with plenty of couch time, internet surfing and not grocery shopping. It ended with me catching a friend’s band play at a small venue in the Market.
Spent a good chunk of their time looking at the powered speakers on truss, led lighting and doing the general facility critique that is all too common, my opinion: not a bad space but for what they charge people for a table I’d have expected more. But hey that’s me.
Good show glad I went.

Next day also started late. Checked movie times, swung by the library, post office, got lunch, and deposited a few pay checks. Then I caught an early afternoon showing of ‘Black Swan’, tried to go to a drunken doodle night at a bar but it wasn’t happening, saw a bit of the State of the Union at another, went to the cell phone store with a friend and then bubble tea, topped the night off with a trip to another bar for taboo, peanuts, Doctor Who pinball and inventing rules for shuffleboard as we couldn’t understand the rules for it.
I blame the rules having too many words so we played a bocci ball like game and then see who can get closest to the other side without going over.

And this morning I wake up at 7am for no apparently reason.

Tweeting who?

Regret is something I often feel.
Maybe it's taking the call instead of sleep, going back for thirds at catering or deciding to try for a life but today is my first regret of the new year.

Working an event where people discuss the importance of having a social media presence to CEOs, excs and other people of importance with a chamber of commerce and there's a twitter feed of the event.

I have a smart phone.
I may have made a twitter account at some point.
I was playing with my phone.
How is it I didn't tweet 'says hi from the sound board'?

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

During my first Haunt Rich and I were sent to get some plywood from the Asylum Maze. Being new I had no idea where the maze was so trusted Rich that it was on the Stagecoach Trail. Now a big thing to remember is that carts weren’t allowed to drive on the trail during park hours but I follow Rich’s directions.


On the way onto the trail some our fellow techs may have called at us from near the main gate or may not have I’m not sure though Rich swears it happened. So we get to the entrance to the ride and the coach departs, Rich tells me to turn around and head back the way we came. So there we are two tech in an area we shouldn’t be, doing something we shouldn’t, trying to out run a stagecoach in a taylor dunn cart and if we get caught things won’t be good. It was a good thing we had ‘The Fast One’ that day because we beat the coach, avoid trouble, remain unknown (or at least no one mentions it), and don’t discover if a cart will beat a horse in a crash. As we leave the trail the coach goes by, I’m shaken and Rich is laughing.
Finally he says, ‘I think they moved the maze this year.’

Always find the humor.

Easy Gig

They told me to show up at 4 and I'd be done at 10.
I showed up at 4 quickly taken through that today is going to involve a mic check, then a quick show and one by 6:30.

Mic check happens and it's a song from a musical to open in a few weeks performed by the female leads that are rather good. Goes well no problems. Then I wait.
Not too long and the Executive Director from one theatre and the Managing Director for another talk about the co-production and introduce people and I realize I'm in the room with a number of the board members of 2 major theatres perhaps not movers and shakers but damn these are the ones that call the shots in my field. And to believe I thought this was going to be nothing big.

Event goes up a bit late, no problems and then people mingle, have food and drinks and I hang out and wait. When the place is nearly deserted I'm called down to take some food home. Delicious deserts, some savory wrapped things, and veggies. I power down, say good bye and head home for an early night.

Don't worry free food I'll give you a good home.

So Very High School

My first theater was a converted chapel hidden near the freshman lockers and activities director’s office. A small speck of a building with more potential and energy than it deserved. A fixed grid above a slight rack above the upstage with the apron being well over double the depth and width of the rest of the stage, there was some circuits at the grid, we’d put booms on the apron and we had a FOH pipe. All of this was controlled by 24 dimmers and an ancient lepercon board.

To this day I look fondly on this space and assembling the scaffolding to work on lights FOH, the odd ladder work on the grid and just how the space wasn’t really useful for the shows. A few people influenced me enough to try it professionally. Had that small push not happened… well my life would be quite different.

My High School dreams of sets like this.

Today I had the fortune of working for a friend at a privileged high school on the Eastside. The place is ‘Three Penny Opera’ and the director is strange but the facilities were so much better than what I had over 10 years ago. The high school me looked at this space with shock and awe. A 500 something house, half fly with more lights than the board can handle, a decent looking sound system, spot lights and a person in charge of the whole thing.

Down side is the cynical bastard that has been working in the trade started finding the problems. Poorly maintained equipment, strange positions, odd design features and a whole mess of things that show time and skills were lacking perhaps not both but each in its own way. I sat in the cats and watched part of the ‘run through’, though it was a start and stop rehearsal, and wondered if these kids knew this would be fleeting. There were a few of talent who might go somewhere but by and large they were there for fun.

There was also a high schooler helping us and he seemed interested and took it more seriously than I did. He had reason to be invested this was his school, his play and people would talk about his work. I am just some guy that was brought in a for a day and it’s hard when I’m not getting paid and it’s a favor. He was good if I was lacking and if he wants he might find a life in this business and some might not curse the kid but it’s his choice not mine.

Still it was a hard day. Things didn’t work, plans changed, we lost 5 hours because of the rehearsal where ‘tech talk’ was restricted. Didn’t help we were understaffed and by the end of the day all of us were tired, one guy was rather sick and another had to leave for dinner. It was harder and harder to keep going but at least we got it hung, colored and I got a picture in a Sergeant Pepper style coat.

Understudy-tastic

This show has had some odd understudy shows.
Still the best was when we had 5 understudies go on.
Now that was a show and after that a single understudy seems routine.

School Show Day 1 of 3

Being a night person has it's advantages in stage work. Mostly those late nights don't weigh as hard, getting used to a world of night is easy and sunrises are things that spell bedtime. Yet even I must break that routine and have to work a school show.
A school show in lovely Everett.
On the plus traffic was going the opposite direction but on the minus I wake up early to make the drive.

Show should have been easy with a cast performing for kids but a spot ops bus was late, I was asked to step in and be ready to cover the opening until he arrived. Going over the light, checking cues and getting myself into a state of mind to spot the show he rushes in as we begin.
(after holding for 7 minutes)

Damn foiled by someone's close call and I actually wanted to run that spot even for a moment but alas I was denied. Oh well some other time.

Then automation decided to be difficult and that caused an interesting turn of events but mostly the show ran okay beside coffee making its way through people's systems all at about the same moment. Luckily it was slow and turns at the bathroom were staggered.

Between shows I went 7 miles up the road to a casino.
Lost 2 dollars, got a meal and had a good time. A good way to kill hours between shows.

The evening would have been fine had an actor not become hurt thus creating some tension, confusion and taking an otherwise dull second show into a flurry of worries and planning. None of it affected me beside having to announce my own complete but I am, after all, a professional ;)

On a side note is the Zodiac changing really a big deal? Facebook seems to tell me it is but I'm not sure becoming an Aquarius is that big of a deal beside now Age of Aquarius by the Fifth Dimension can be my theme song.

Regardless of Zodiac confusion tomorrow's going to be understudy-tastic.

Watson Wisdom Wednesday

When having a shit day try this:
Go home, drink TWO beers, go to sleep, wake up and do it again.

Last Minute Add

It was cold last night. Sitting at home trying to decide if I'd watch Nova or some other program, maybe put on a movie. Just relax on a day off and I get a call around 8pm, 'Can you be at WaMu Theatre in an hour?'
Consider a few things here:
I'm ready to have a night off
It may or may not be snowing outside (I don't know but there's a weather advisory)
My tools are in my car which is being worked on
And if it runs 4 hours I'll be back at 1am

I say yes and am asked to let anyone I know that might want work (and knows audio) there's an emergency. So I call a friend and her and her boyfriend decide to do it. An hour later the gig starts and we have to take down the house system and a guy known for his ability to talk is there. I tell my friends I didn't call him.

Easy call and I'm glad I was on my crew because the crew stretching and straightening the projection screen and surrounding set pieces weren't having as much fun. Nothing like hearing 4 adults all giving instructions at once and none are repeated. It's comic but only from the outside.
Good call, 3-0-2 which isn't bad for a night that I might have been at home on my duff watching tv. And again dispatch knows I'll do most calls if asked.

Nothing like walking away from a night with money you didn't expect to make that trip to Beth's so much better.

Focus

The other day while ground supporting a genie I was told smart phones are a great thing.
Each focus when I'm in that lull waiting for instructions from the guy in the bucket am I reminded how nice smart phones are. Be it a phone or someone to talk with having something beside reading the safety placard because that can only lead to defacing those things and on the spot the witty plans of safety defacement escape me.

I'm also rather good at ground support. I've focused in this theatre a
number of times and am used to the odd backtracking and bizarre finesse that it takes to get a lift just where you need it. Not sure if I surprised the guy in the basket but I did get him into some odd spots and only hit the set once. So if it were a driving test I would have failed but at least I got the car parallel parked, right?

Easy focus, unit set, no flying scenery, no huge complex moving set pieces that require systems to be focus, set moved and then a nearby set focused. Cake to the point where a group of people could work on a few practicals and rigging a release for a fogger.

Unfortunately on the way home my car dies. Not a great thing and I'll deal with it tomorrow but as I told a friend on the way to the bar, 'That problem ain't going anywhere.'

Tech-tastic:

Or why I am a Sarcasm Hypocrite
Moved a show from one place to another. Not on tour or anything cool but from one venue to another. It went in alright, space difference and such nothing major except a BOC traveler is not rigged properly. What's wrong is anyone's guess but it threw off a screw and nut at 2 separate points today.
My fellow deck hand found the nut before lunch and I told him to hold onto it. During our run after lunch the BOC launched the screw. On headset I asked him if he still had the nut.
And here is where I'm a hypocrite.
he says, '(lead deck)?' and I reply 'Is that a joke or she has it?'
Yes I probably would have done the same but chances are I would have quickly said I had it and this hand didn't. So while I too would have made the same joke the circumstances might have been different.

Still a hypocrite though.

Memories of Gigs Past

Did an Out this evening it was easier than the In. In fact quite a bit so, so much that despite having less people, taking less time, and being colder it still wasn’t so bad. At home I followed links, checked blogs and ended up wondering about a theme park I worked for. Some how I found a video of the new Christmas show which is a remount of the first Christmas show I did there. No faux PC happy holidays inclusiveness here. An example of a Christmas show that wouldn’t bow to pressure to include a Menorah or leave out a bit of religion in favor of a generic Happy Holidays message.

Yet I found myself missing it. Recall, I tell myself, it could have been me working on it instead of the run I took. (and regret) Me behind the chair and receiving the briefcase and insisting on doing my old track instead of being forced into a new one but mistakes are made and I just have to deal with that. In the video I caught the chair move from SL to center and than quickly upstage and I wanted to know if the hand had the spots telling him to shimmy like the soloist or if there were snacks left by secret santa and if a worry about tripping during the dash into the wing lingered in the hind brain just before starting to run.

It’s not high art and I wasn’t a great stagehand but it was a good time and many small things came back making me want to return and do it again: complaining about the doves, racing center to move the building and falling, the subtle adjustment of the snowflakes so the video was centered on them, the time the scrim tore, maintaining the foggers and when the tank blew a seal, sitting on the chair the time it rained watching movies waiting to see if we would get to go home, stealing a Christmas tree from props, drinking beer whilst wearing a giant sombrero in Fullerton, discovering Man4Sale was afraid of the snowmen and using it against him, when a couple folks from production made plywood trees for our Christmas party, when people would sit ‘below cracker level’, and how it was such a great experience even on the days it wasn’t.

Still it wasn’t to last. I was getting worried working there. Worried that it’d become my life. That in a decade I’d still be a part time tech, living at the Halfway House, it consuming my time and causing me to pass up other opportunities as I sink more and more into the company’s mindset and their way of doing things. It was only a few years before I got my 5 year pin and did the same thing everyone else did: get it, look at it with a mix of shock and wonder, let out a sigh and wonder where the years went. I didn’t want that life and I decided to leave.

My final show was a fitting end, a new ice show, the floor hadn’t been maintained and broke forcing the rental of a freezer unit, the zamboni’s near death forced odd solutions to scrapping, we had to ‘proceed with caution’, there were no cheddarwurst that xmas, the TD and I were having major problems and I nearly stopped caring. Still when
I watch the video I’m reminded of the good times and wish they’d last a little longer.

Programming

Turns out it's more like falling off a bike than riding one.
Everything went well but then in the bits where it gets hard those pot holes come out of nowhere... yet somehow you manage to do that trick, you know the one you used to practice in the driveway in an attempt to impress the neighbor girl, yeah that one gets pulled off.

Yet after a bit of embarrassment things get sorted out and you don't have to steal some training wheels from a neighbor kid.

Small things that tend to slip by when doing a festival show:
Don't make the second group of sound checks more complex, more numerous as the first group with the same amount of time. The quality sometimes slips.

Inform everyone of special additions. It's not fun being informed of a surprise right before it occurs if you're running the gear it occurs on.

Things will not run according to plan. Won't happen, something'll come up and things will get off schedule. If by some miracle they do find out who made a blood sacrifice.
So far New Voices is my favorite gig of the year.

Just remember:

even though I had to tell them how to fold the soft good and one was in a higher job class it makes the strike go faster... right?
Now if you believe that noise I've got several well known edifices for sale.

And yes I am bitter but at least I was an electrician instead of a carp so more of my skills were utilized and I got to work with some friends.

New Year, New Idea

Since I ignored this blog last year it's time to try something new.

This is now Dead Hours: My Year on the Bounce. 365 days of me attempting to document my time bouncing between various gigs and the sort of things I do.

Why?
Because I can!