How do people survive ailments of import? I had a tough time falling asleep last night just because I had a little head cold! Glarg! Hopefully this shall pass soon. It would be aided, of course, by plenty of sleep, fluids and a modicum of exercise, none of which has been happening for the past several weeks because of all the time I have been spending at The Smith. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have the stuff to do at The Smith. I just also need time to sleep and such. And of course to spend time with my mom, which is my primary reason for being in Geneva.
It was a two movie day Saturday. At the Smith, I projected Michael Cera in Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus. Overall, I thought it was ok. I am not a huge Cera fan. He is good, not great. The story was sort of rambling and all over the place. As many of the theatre goes said, we weren't sure what the point really was. Still, I am glad I saw it.
The other movie was Moonrise Kingdom. Great movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it. A Wes Anderson movie with lots of high powered actors in it. Very quirky and fun. The two lead kids were very entertaining. I had put it on for mom before I left for the Smith not knowing what her reaction would be. Turns out she loved it! Yay! I am sure she missed a lot of the subtleties. Nevertheless, the fact that she liked it is great!
The NY Banjo Summit went really well! The people who showed up to work for The Smith, Kate, Daniel and Charlie, did an amazing job. Kate did lights, Charlie and Daniel moved equipment and helped with set-up and I supervised excellently (if i must say so myself) (and a lot of other stuff...just sayin'). Mark and Bill from Rosewood Sound got their stuff set up and working and Sound Check was right on time. The show went off without a hitch. The music was great, there was a decent sized audience. Load out was very smooth and I think everyone was happy. Can't beat that.
I had a minor Smith epiphany. There is a crunch in a couple of weekends when we have three events right in a row. Dick Clark, Lone Bellow and then Ballet X. Ballet X is the most demanding technically - especially their need for a dance floor and for a completely different configuration of lighting that the house plot. I was trying how to get all of it done between the end of Lone Bellow and 8 am the next morning when the Ballet is to load-in. I think we can get the marley dance floor down to relax after Lone Bellow leaves. The lighting, we might be able to get away with reconfiguring the lights before lone bellow and just using that set-up (minus the side booms/trees) for both Lone Bellow and Ballet X.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Who is the Person?
I am the person! I rocked it at the Smith yesterday. My intention was to get the house lighting plot rehung, recircuited, refocused and regeled. And all of that got done. Well, one bit still remains, one of the two boom boxes or lighting positions in the front of house still has a little work to be done. Hopefully we will be able to accomplish that during load-in. We shall, of course, see. Anyway, I got there and was immediately pulled in three directions. Luckily, Kate was working with me and started to plug along on getting the house ploy back in shape.
First visitor, John from the Geneva Historical Society. He was borrowing some pipe and draping for an event. He had never used it before, so I gave him a quick training, loaded his truck and sent him on his way. Next, Chuck, the guy who seems to run the bar, came and asked me to get the video working. Sigh. I know nothing to less than nothing about what is wired where regarding the video. I tried a few things and then spoke with the man who had actually installed the camera. I had never noticed it there before! Cool! Then he mentioned that there was a plug/transformer that could have become unplugged. Sure enough, it was. So I plugged it in, fiddled with some wires and amazingly got video. Crappy, ugly video, but lots better than nothing, I hope.
Next, I wanted to get the red lights behind the busts house left fixed. I climbed up there with various things - light bulbs, trash bag, step unit etc. and proceeded to a) put in some bulbs, b) started to clean the space and c) helped focus and replace lamps and regel the boom box on that side. Yay!
Earlier, I had climbed the sixty feet, give or take, up to our grid and catwalk in order to add some weight and take some weight off of some battens. It wasn't all that scary. Yippee!
Oh, I forgot. A potential helper/student came to be interviewed and to get a tour of the Smith. Nice person and I hope that we will work together at some point in the not too distant future.
Mixed into all this, I tried to clean up for the upcoming show. Putting away things, neatening and generally preparing. Yay!
First visitor, John from the Geneva Historical Society. He was borrowing some pipe and draping for an event. He had never used it before, so I gave him a quick training, loaded his truck and sent him on his way. Next, Chuck, the guy who seems to run the bar, came and asked me to get the video working. Sigh. I know nothing to less than nothing about what is wired where regarding the video. I tried a few things and then spoke with the man who had actually installed the camera. I had never noticed it there before! Cool! Then he mentioned that there was a plug/transformer that could have become unplugged. Sure enough, it was. So I plugged it in, fiddled with some wires and amazingly got video. Crappy, ugly video, but lots better than nothing, I hope.
Next, I wanted to get the red lights behind the busts house left fixed. I climbed up there with various things - light bulbs, trash bag, step unit etc. and proceeded to a) put in some bulbs, b) started to clean the space and c) helped focus and replace lamps and regel the boom box on that side. Yay!
Earlier, I had climbed the sixty feet, give or take, up to our grid and catwalk in order to add some weight and take some weight off of some battens. It wasn't all that scary. Yippee!
Oh, I forgot. A potential helper/student came to be interviewed and to get a tour of the Smith. Nice person and I hope that we will work together at some point in the not too distant future.
Mixed into all this, I tried to clean up for the upcoming show. Putting away things, neatening and generally preparing. Yay!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Eating for health
Eating to enhance one's health makes sense to me. Seems sort of common sensical in fact. I swear, though, that some food makes me sick. Not food sickness, sick to my stomach sick, but low grade infection or cold sort of sick. Perhaps it isn't the food itself, but a germ that happens to have piggy-backed on it. But though I believe in germs as a transmission methodology for illness, I also believe in the immune system, mine in particular, that prevents such transmission in most cases. I do know that sometimes I eat food from a fast food place and I feel depressed afterwards. I think that is some sort of psychic transmission - not just the normal depression that comes from doing something that really, we know, not so deep down, that what we did was perhaps not the best, most healthfullyness thing to have done. Anyway. I am sick right now. Not Big Sick, but little sick. A little sore throat, a little stuffed nose. Poo.
I swear that I asked mom if she would like to see a Marx brothers movie. And I swear she said she would like to. So I ordered a set of Marx Borther's movies from Amazon. The other day, I asked if she wanted to watch one. Her response? "I never really liked them." Great. Well, luckily, I recall enjoying them! Yay even!
Learned a lot at the Smith today. Played with the fire curtain. Fun and easy. Way too expensive, but that is the price of safety, apparently. I also spent an hour with people who know things about boilers! Wow! We have a boiler in our house, so I was a leg up from someone who doesn't know about steam heat. Still, it will take some maintaining. Joy.
I swear that I asked mom if she would like to see a Marx brothers movie. And I swear she said she would like to. So I ordered a set of Marx Borther's movies from Amazon. The other day, I asked if she wanted to watch one. Her response? "I never really liked them." Great. Well, luckily, I recall enjoying them! Yay even!
Learned a lot at the Smith today. Played with the fire curtain. Fun and easy. Way too expensive, but that is the price of safety, apparently. I also spent an hour with people who know things about boilers! Wow! We have a boiler in our house, so I was a leg up from someone who doesn't know about steam heat. Still, it will take some maintaining. Joy.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Mastication and Fire Curtain
Eww, mastication. In public. Sometimes I have to watch, sometimes I can avoid watching. Sadly, I can't turn my ears off. Sigh.
My friend asked me to talk a bit more about he fire curtain - or as it is called, a safety curtain. In larger theatres that have proscenium arches, there used to be a large fire hazard on stage. Gas lighting, and then early electric lighting was fraught with possibilities for starting a blaze. A curtain was rigged to close off the stage from the auditorium in case of a fire breaking out - allowing the patrons to escape. In the old days, these were often made of asbestos, because they were flame retardant. The curtain was sort of like a wall, only made of fabric.
In The Smith's case, our fire curtain was deteriorating. We had to have it replaced. The modern safety curtain that we have is made of Zetex - apparently made from fiberglass. It was a huge job. The new curtain weighs almost twice as much as the old one. It is run electronically - so motors and winches had to be installed. The old smoke pockets weren't large enough to easily accommodate the track into which the curtain was to be set, so they had to be removed - large pieces of steel reaching from the stage to the grid - about 60 feet worth! Then new ones had to be installed! Add to this all the wiring that had to be done. And a manual release system, so that people on either side of the proscenium (Backstage - not front of stage) could pull a handle and have the curtain lower. Not a small job!
I just got a call saying they were done. Yippee! I am heading down there in a few minutes to lock up and will get training tomorrow. Even cooler, in my book, is that I found out that it is ok to paint on the fabric, as long as we use fire retardant paint. Huzzuh!
My friend asked me to talk a bit more about he fire curtain - or as it is called, a safety curtain. In larger theatres that have proscenium arches, there used to be a large fire hazard on stage. Gas lighting, and then early electric lighting was fraught with possibilities for starting a blaze. A curtain was rigged to close off the stage from the auditorium in case of a fire breaking out - allowing the patrons to escape. In the old days, these were often made of asbestos, because they were flame retardant. The curtain was sort of like a wall, only made of fabric.
In The Smith's case, our fire curtain was deteriorating. We had to have it replaced. The modern safety curtain that we have is made of Zetex - apparently made from fiberglass. It was a huge job. The new curtain weighs almost twice as much as the old one. It is run electronically - so motors and winches had to be installed. The old smoke pockets weren't large enough to easily accommodate the track into which the curtain was to be set, so they had to be removed - large pieces of steel reaching from the stage to the grid - about 60 feet worth! Then new ones had to be installed! Add to this all the wiring that had to be done. And a manual release system, so that people on either side of the proscenium (Backstage - not front of stage) could pull a handle and have the curtain lower. Not a small job!
I just got a call saying they were done. Yippee! I am heading down there in a few minutes to lock up and will get training tomorrow. Even cooler, in my book, is that I found out that it is ok to paint on the fabric, as long as we use fire retardant paint. Huzzuh!
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