No, I haven’t seen your rider. Or maybe I have, because I happen to have a conscientious production manager today, but maybe you haven’t, because your agent sent out their boilerplate lighting rider without your knowledge. The 400A service they requested is 90A. Have you seen my tech specs? Never mind, just hand me the pointy ends of your orange extension cords and I’ll stick ‘em somewhere. Speaking of riders, your agent contracted my employer to provide you an in-house lighting tech to tie in power, assist with focus and run opening acts. That’s it. Everything else I do for you is, from a contractual standpoint, a favor. This brings us to a basic cultural fact of nightclub people. In the venue, everyone is, as I once heard a security guy call himself, a mirror. The attitude of security and the bar staff reflects that of the patrons and the attitude of the house crew reflects that of the tour crew. A spirit of camaraderie will be met in kind, but an attitude of entitlement may get your expectations managed.
—Stosh Rickenbach from ‘LD-at-Large,’ PLSN, Jan. 2016
