St. Louis, MO
It's pretty odd to say that I'm in all these cities because I don't actually get to see them. I'm sleeping during most of the traveling, and pretty much the rest of the time is spent in the venue. I knew it would be like this, so I'm not complaining. I'm just letting you know how it is.
So today we had another 8am call. We loaded in a lot faster than yesterday. Brandon (the other video tech) and I actually got a little break around 3:30 because we were all set by then. Hopefully as we get better at this we'll have more time between load in and the show. We're still working out issues with the projector and rack patching. We've had a different set up for the projector every time so far. Tomorrow will be different again because we're in a theater rear projecting.
I haven't actually met Jeff yet. We've met and talked to Brian, his opening act, and he's really cool. Jeff is very talented though. I think some of his humor isn't very exciting, but seeing him in person really makes you realize what a talent ventriloquism is. People get so caught up in it and forget he's the only one up there. At one point Walter makes a statement and Jeff says, "What?" and Walter says, "What do you mean 'What?' You actually don't know what I just said??" It takes people a minute to get the joke.
Tonight's show went well. Marnell the tour manager said we did "fabulous" and they want every show to run like that. I was surprised to hear that on our second show. Definitely a good thing though!
It's been a bit odd being the only girl on the crew. Mostly because of the showering situation. We have to shower in the arena after the show's done and the trucks are all packed up (unless it's the rare occasion that we're in a hotel). Most of the showers are locker-room style. Steve said he wants to make sure I stay safe and comfortable so if I can't find a room with a lock, I have one of my co-workers (who is very cool and I know I can trust) guard the door. It's worked out fine so far.
It's also a bit empowering being the only girl though. Matt, our lighting director, said he noticed the stage hands listen to me a bit better, so I guess that's good.
It's tough, but I'm glad I'm doing it. I just can't believe what a big deal this is. I had no idea he was so popular until we started this thing.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
12/27/08
Kansas City, MO
Last night (it seems like longer ago) we got on the bus and left from the shop. The bus is super nice. It was built in 2005, but just got refurbished before we used it. It has a front lounge and back lounge with leather seats and flat-screen tvs. The back lounge has a PS3 and xBox360. There is plenty of food and drinks on the bus too, and the tour manager said just write down what we want and he'll have it on the bus for us. There are also 12 bunks and a small bathroom.
We mainly watched TV, ate snacks and talked last night. Then we had to be in the arena by 8am the next morning. I did not sleep well at all. I don't know if it was all the movement or what.
It was a busy day for sure. We pretty much loaded in until about 5pm, and soundcheck was at 6. I don't know how much I'll be able to write because I'm really tired. I'm sure it will be like that every day. As usual, we had problems and snags to work out but the show went off fairly well. Pretty good for our first one. I'd go into more detail but it's almost 3am and I'll probably be getting up around 7:30.
Last night (it seems like longer ago) we got on the bus and left from the shop. The bus is super nice. It was built in 2005, but just got refurbished before we used it. It has a front lounge and back lounge with leather seats and flat-screen tvs. The back lounge has a PS3 and xBox360. There is plenty of food and drinks on the bus too, and the tour manager said just write down what we want and he'll have it on the bus for us. There are also 12 bunks and a small bathroom.
We mainly watched TV, ate snacks and talked last night. Then we had to be in the arena by 8am the next morning. I did not sleep well at all. I don't know if it was all the movement or what.
It was a busy day for sure. We pretty much loaded in until about 5pm, and soundcheck was at 6. I don't know how much I'll be able to write because I'm really tired. I'm sure it will be like that every day. As usual, we had problems and snags to work out but the show went off fairly well. Pretty good for our first one. I'd go into more detail but it's almost 3am and I'll probably be getting up around 7:30.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Welcome
Hello, and welcome to my tour blog! I've had a few requests to keep some kind of journal to share, so this is it! I'll be posting some pictures as well.
You probably already have a basic idea of what I'm doing, but I'll use this first entry to go into a bit more detail.
I've worked for a stage production company called Live Technologies since June 2007. We provide lighting, audio, video and sets for live events ranging from music festivals, award shows, concerts, and corporate meetings. A few months ago people were talking about a new business opportunity which would be going on tour with the comedian, Jeff Dunham. Our company has never provided equipment or crew for a tour, so it would be a whole new thing for us. This opportunity came about because the head of our fabrication shop, Steve Quinn, knows Jeff's touring manager. They were not happy with their current production crew, so to make a long story short, we took it over!
Steve is pretty much our guy in charge on the road, and he has quite a bit of touring experience. He was on the road with Loverboy and AC/DC back in the 80s. Our audio technician also worked on the road with Fastball, Duncan Shiek and others. But this whole thing is pretty new to the rest of us. There is a total of 8 Live Tech employees on the tour. This has been good for the company because we've been losing quite a bit of buisiness lately since many companies are trying to save money because of the economy. It's also good for the tour crew because it's job security for at least the next 6 months, and we all got a decent pay raise.
They basically asked everyone if this was something they would want to do instead of throwing them into it whether they liked it or not. Not too many people were completely willing to do this, but I was! I knew it would be different and a challenge, but also a once in a lifetime experience. Before we left Steve was telling how how happy he was to get back out on the road, and that this should be a lot of fun for us. I still can't quite believe all of it. I just think of it as a job, but every once in a while I stop and realize what a big deal it is! It's been great so far, and I feel very lucky to be doing this.
So thanks for stopping by! I'm excited to share things with you. I started to write things in a little notebook for the first week of the tour so I'll be adding that here shortly. I'm sure after a while there won't bee too much to write because it will be a lot of the same thing going on. But for now, I hope you enjoy it!
You probably already have a basic idea of what I'm doing, but I'll use this first entry to go into a bit more detail.
I've worked for a stage production company called Live Technologies since June 2007. We provide lighting, audio, video and sets for live events ranging from music festivals, award shows, concerts, and corporate meetings. A few months ago people were talking about a new business opportunity which would be going on tour with the comedian, Jeff Dunham. Our company has never provided equipment or crew for a tour, so it would be a whole new thing for us. This opportunity came about because the head of our fabrication shop, Steve Quinn, knows Jeff's touring manager. They were not happy with their current production crew, so to make a long story short, we took it over!
Steve is pretty much our guy in charge on the road, and he has quite a bit of touring experience. He was on the road with Loverboy and AC/DC back in the 80s. Our audio technician also worked on the road with Fastball, Duncan Shiek and others. But this whole thing is pretty new to the rest of us. There is a total of 8 Live Tech employees on the tour. This has been good for the company because we've been losing quite a bit of buisiness lately since many companies are trying to save money because of the economy. It's also good for the tour crew because it's job security for at least the next 6 months, and we all got a decent pay raise.
They basically asked everyone if this was something they would want to do instead of throwing them into it whether they liked it or not. Not too many people were completely willing to do this, but I was! I knew it would be different and a challenge, but also a once in a lifetime experience. Before we left Steve was telling how how happy he was to get back out on the road, and that this should be a lot of fun for us. I still can't quite believe all of it. I just think of it as a job, but every once in a while I stop and realize what a big deal it is! It's been great so far, and I feel very lucky to be doing this.
So thanks for stopping by! I'm excited to share things with you. I started to write things in a little notebook for the first week of the tour so I'll be adding that here shortly. I'm sure after a while there won't bee too much to write because it will be a lot of the same thing going on. But for now, I hope you enjoy it!
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