So the deadly winter drought of 2009 seems to be coming to an end. After months of everyone looking for a gig, I am finally starting to fill holes in the schedule.
But when I look at the diversity of stuff I have agreed to do, it becomes almost comical. Yesterday I was in meetings on the left coast for a summer heavy metal festival that I do every year. Except this year my friend Sonny Saterfield is designing the rig. That would be because the 2 headline bands are3 both clients of his. It wouldn’t make sense for me to design the light rig if he’s operating both bands. But I may just go out and be the lighting crew chief for this 6 week run. Something I haven’t done in 20 years.
Today I am in the lovely Detroit FoxTheater. I will be lighting a comedian for an HBO shoot. A friend of mine is the LD who got the gig. But he can’t be here for the actual shows tomorrow. So I am his programmer today and will run the thing tomorrow. Then jet back to Minneapolis for a leisurely Sunday with the family.
On Monday I go to Upstaging to start pulling a medical show I have booked for the next week down at McCormick place. That’ll load in at the end of March and last a week for me. I won’t be there for the show, just the in and out. As a lighting tech. Of course I will program the console and leave it to the union guys to turn on stuff daily..
But on Tuesday I have to go to Atlanta for one day. I am meeting with another client to finalize a theater tour she will do this May. This client also has a reality show on a certain TV network. She thinks I’m funny and talented. She wants me to meet her on her set/house while they are taping her. Not sure if I will ever appear on an episode, not sure I want to. Of course if I was being compensated, I would gladly take the money.
On Wednesday and Thursday I will return to the Upstaging shop to finish prepping the medical show and put the gear in a truck for a Monday load in. Then Friday I need to be back home in Minneapolis to watch my kid for the weekend while my gal is off doing a show of her own (she’s an associate producer of corporate events). On Sunday I will hand off the kid to her and head back to Chicago for my show.
The next week I am off to Madison Wisconsin for a big pep rally for the University. The marching band there is supposedly world reknown. Upstaging needed a bunch of guys and was nice enough to let me work as a tech on this one as well. I will never have to touch the lighting console.
Once done with all this, I have a couple of tours to program. I will use a few young lads to help me out on this. I can teach the young techs how to program the consoles, while they write the lighting and video cues for me. I like this method and so do the kids. Then I will have to train a director on when to hit the cues for the tour but that’s a cinch.
