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.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
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.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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'?
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'?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
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.
Still the best was when we had 5 understudies go on.
Now that was a show and after that a single understudy seems routine.
Friday, January 14, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Watson Wisdom Wednesday
When having a shit day try this:
Go home, drink TWO beers, go to sleep, wake up and do it again.
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.
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.
Monday, January 10, 2011
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.'
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.'
Friday, January 7, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)