OK, so now that I have the introduction out of the way. I am going to speed up with the more recent things I’ve been up to. Recently I’ve been running some bigger shows through outside production. I got to run a great club show with an LSC Maxim XL console 6 Clay Paky mirrors and 6 Martin 250 washes with 200 pars at The Rams Head Live in Baltimore, MD. They have a fun rig and I think the pat pad on the Maxim was fun. You can pretty much use this pad like a touch screen but instead you can assign parameters by moving your finger right or left across a certain part of the pat pad.
Another show we did at the PGA Phoenix open for about 3,000 people. Not only was the crowd big, but the rig was really fun too. I got the control Avolites Pearl 2004 with 6 Martin 500s and 4 High End Studio Color Washes. First off I got to say the Pearl was super fun to work with. I hate going through pages a lot of the time so when you can just roll to your cues it just make it more efficient and quick to call up cues.
I wish it had a better effects engine but lets face default effects are cool but it’s really fun to customize your own. Although for me I can’t ever do it because of the programming time I’m allotted in the first place. I have to make sure I have the looks I need to run my show before messing around with extra programming.
EastonAshe, the band I run lights for (get used to their name) has been evolving a lot not only musically but geographically. We are still doing the bar/club scene weekly. It’s a pretty cool schedule we have going lately. Literally I’m chilling at this wine bar in downtown Scottsdale drinking some red wine (half price!) writing this to you all. I just get to come down and chill with the band and do things like writing this blog to you, and get some new ideas from observing the show perspective rather than running the console. Tuesdays are rehearsals which I sit down with my note book and write up cues while the band is learning new songs. It’s cool because I get to move at the same pace with them when new material comes along. Wednesdays are at a cool national venue called Martini Ranch in downtown Scottsdale. They have an old high end intellabeam system which is pretty cool. I am stoked that they’re upgrading their system soon and I get to come in and program their new console. I’m not sure what it’s going to be yet, so we’ll see. What I like to do there is take out my console and use 4 of my lighting to keep the flavor of the show I’ve written for EastonAshe. Thursdays we’re at San Felipe’s Cantina for ladies night. The only fun part of that gig is running lights from a VW Bus.
I’m actually convinced that I will buy my own someday, put my rig in it, load it in the trailer, and drive that thing to the FOH every gig. Friday’s we’re down in Tempe right by Arizona State University which really hones in the collegiate crowd to come out to our show. Why the f*$k not!? It’s all top shelf 99 cent you call it from 9 to 11pm. Saturdays we’re usually somewhere back home in Cave Creek to close out the week. So if any of you are looking for something to do while in the Phoenix area. You’re more than welcome to come chill with me and EastonAshe. Thanks for reading and if you feel like dropping me an email hit me up at tonycap22@hotmail.com Peace out! ~Tony
