The Inaugural Adventure: A lighting crew chief's tale

Jan 23, 2009 17:01

Howdy! What a whirlwind these last 5 days have been ( Read more... )

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audionymph January 24 2009, 00:43:17 UTC
Awesome! You have all the fun. I'm jealous. :p

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djluminal January 24 2009, 01:07:47 UTC
It was a good time, for sure. the vibe was incredibly positive everywhere -- even amongst those of us working back-to-back 22-hour shifts on our feet. I just couldn't get upset about much for very long! There truly was magic in the air for those five days.

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audionymph January 24 2009, 01:10:44 UTC
I can only imagine how it felt. Watching all the events on television was amazing. The inauguration itself gave me goosebumps. It's definitely an all around positive time for people, and you're lucky to have been part of it. :)

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xale_d January 24 2009, 00:44:20 UTC
Uh, dude, we were at the space at 6a on Monday, not 10. Other than that, great recap, mind if I link to it?

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djluminal January 24 2009, 00:59:57 UTC
Noted, and corrected. Thanks! Go ahead and link away -- it's here as a record for EVERYONE involved.

P.S. Everyone, this (xale_d) is Nate. He came in on a day off from his regular job in a Northern Virginia theater to help us get the rig up. He is hardcore, and I'll have him on my crew any day. anushin, thanks for letting your man out to play with us Bad Kids :)

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xale_d January 24 2009, 02:01:58 UTC
Hey, it was a pleasure to work with you again, and I'm seriously looking forward to Feb, but dreading it as well.

And for the sake of completeness, here's more of the tale regarding that "misplaced" truck.

I hit the 14th St bridge at 10p to deliver the truck for an 11p load out. Normally this is a pretty easy trek up 14th to Constitution, left on 12th, and it's done.

HOWEVER, this was not a normal day. I hit Independence on 14th and was greeted by barriers and cops forcing everyone to turn left, regardless of the fact that there are signs saying "No Left Turns". Cops out-ranks signs any day. So I hit Constitution on 15th where I'm greeted by cops and barriers forcing everyone left or right. No problem, I want to go right anyway. Except that 12th was still closed at Pennsylvania. At 9th, cops were again forcing right turns. Now, this wouldn't be a problem, except that the 9th street tunnel basically forces you onto 395. After going through this bullshit once, I stopped an asked a cop at 9th if there was any way to get north of ( ... )

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djluminal January 24 2009, 02:26:58 UTC
Man, I just took a look at that route... way to Fuckin' Figure It Out. You really ARE hardcore, man. Thanks again, for everything - both of you.

Regarding the motor: somehow the contactor had fused in the "up" position, which is why it would start climbing uncontrollably the second the "kill" switch was released. We ended up sending up a spare 1-ton up on a line from the grid, attached a fresh set of softies to the truss, shackled and hooked it, swapped the motor cables over, climbed the entire truss up an inch or two to take the weight off the bad motor, then unhooked the dead motor and sent it down on a line.

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trishalynn January 24 2009, 11:52:35 UTC
Dude, all y'all are hardcore and I have to say that it was very nice of Jay-Z's manager to let you guys nap in the bus. That's care, and respect for crew, and that's always good to see from top guys, y'know?

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rivettwitch January 24 2009, 16:58:47 UTC
When I first read this I was jealous, and then I thought about how happy I am for you and that you deserve it. I'm still a little jealous though! :)

I'm glad everything's panning out so well for you.

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djluminal January 24 2009, 17:35:02 UTC
Thank you sweetie! :)

It certainly was a lot of work, but it was a labor of love all the way.

Things seem to be going well for us. Duncan keeps getting work from Live Nation, and I keep doing a good job on the shows we do for them, so we keep getting the gigs -- and the cycle continues. The experience I get from doing these Big Shows definitely trickles down into the smaller shows I do on my own (e.g. FaerieCon, WickedFaire, shows for Dancing Ferret, etc), and it's contributing greatly to my skill-set not only as a designer/programmer/board op, but also as a crew supervisor.

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(The comment has been removed)

djluminal January 26 2009, 18:36:55 UTC
Epic Gig was Epic.

And yes, I have permitted my hair to grow significantly longer than many are accustomed to seeing. :) I like it: what do you folks think?


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