No Reason For Delay

[BNBSound]

I just worked a CD release party for a friend's band. The production was one of the largest I've ever worked on. The headliner had 11 members, the opener had 14, there were 4 live sound techs, a recording tech, 2 house techs, a 5 man video crew, a 3 man projection crew, the headliner's PM, a dozen volunteers and the house security team, over 60 people in all.

There was no schedule to speak of except that we get the whole thing ready by 7 pm. We made it and all stood ready at our posts at the stroke of 7. Then nothing happened for twenty minutes. When I finally stepped away from the monitor mix at 7:20 I found that the only reason we hadn't started was that no one had told the emcee to go out and start!

For the size of the production, if that was the biggest snag of the day, I'll take it and call it simply: fashionably late. The whole rest of the day we ran like a well-oiled machine.

 

[mnfreelancer]

I've worked shows where all technology aspects were ready to go, just waiting on the "talent", then an organizer will come out on stage, grab a mic and cite "technical difficulties" as the reason for the delay - techs become scapegoats once again. I wanted to get on the "god mic" and correct her but thought better of it...

 

[Techiegirly]

mnfreelancer: That would be hilarious! Of course it would be deserved. I hate it when people do that. The funny part I'm learning after 10 years in the boz is that a lot of people don't even realize that there's a "technical aspect" to shows. People think this stuff just sets itself up.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Gotta tell you a little story. Billy Joel was conducting a master class in composing music. During the class, his mic starting cutting out and he began screaming because something was wrong with his mic. When a tech came out, Joel belittled him in front of the class. That was the day I threw out my Billy Joel CDs and swore I never spend anohter penny on him. That whole 'no repsect' issue can work two ways and I've been sure to spread the word around. It just really pissed me off. Just because we aren't 'big name entertainers' or the like, let's just see them do a show without us!

Char5lie

 

[LD4Life]

Yeah. In a way (aside from being wholly irate) I find it funny when some of my lights go out. It shows the actors how much that light is needed for them to perform.

 

[punktech]

hehe, i tell dancers in my school's dance concert one little thing and it make them be on time for everything. i tell them i consider being late for my cuing times with them to be a personal affront, and then i site my favorite t-shirt: "**** with me, dance in the dark!"

 

[Marius]

Once, in grad school, I was LD for a student directed thesis project. The SM was one of my techies, and the director was doing a terrible job coordinating a reimagining of The House of Bernarda Alba.(if you ever have to endure this show, you have my sympathies) Well, it was getting closer to tech week and I requested that they take that night's rehearsal into the rehearsal hall so I could work on the set in situ. The SM later told me how the director had gone off on a rant about how 'once again we have to make up for tech's delays' and various other reasons why her bad direction was my fault. I am proud to say that I didn't torpedo the show, but it was my most basically functional and lackluster lighting design ever. The best directors are the ones who ocassionally say thank you, and then get out of my way. I'll work myself to near death for them. Piss on me, or even worse one of my crew, and you'll get a lights up/lights down show.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Yea, Marius, you're my hero. We had two resident directors, both of whom fall under your first catagory and they wondered why no one wanted to work tech on their shows. We had two others that were dreams to work with and who would call the crew on stage during the final dress so that the cast could applaud them and their hard work - never had a major thing go wrong on any of their shows. Beware the ungrateful cur that feel our wrath...

BTW - we have lived through "House of BA" - the designer created all this torn fabic that hung like a ceiling over the set, then we had to try and light through it. Very nice effects, but the set was much better than the show.

Char5lie

 

[Marius]

Yea, Marius, you're my hero.
Char5lie

Stop, I'm blushing.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Stop, I'm blushing.

It wouldn't be the first time I'd made a guy blush...heh, heh, heh...

Seriously though, I do hate it when tech becomes the scapegoat for everyone else's lack of planning, professionalism or just because they're envious that we get all the cool toys to play with. Perhaps it's because what we do is such a mystery to most people, they have no trouble believing that it's something we've done.

Char5lie

 

[howlingwolf487]

My signature sums up my attitude towards those who would scapegoat their lack of planning, etc. on me/us. I came from a school where I was the only and all I had to work with was a small mixer, amp, and speakers; needless to say, I became used to doing everything for everyone. When I came to college, it became apparent that people would step all over me if I didn't tell them, "No" sometimes.

Point-in-case: If it's their responsibility, and not yours, they need to suck it up and take the fall that was coming to them due to little/no planning or whatever.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Ah, but, Wolf, as you know, the hardest word to learn in our business is 'no' - we tend to avoid it like the plague, especially if we like the director, a cast member, a promoter, etc. I still take on too much, but not as much as I used to. It pays to remember that other folks can do stuff too.

And you are correct, if it's your responsibility, then take responsibility - good bad or indifferent. That's the sign of a real adult in my opinion.

Char5lie

 

[mbandgeek]

It wouldn't be the first time I'd made a guy blush...heh, heh, heh...
Seriously though, I do hate it when tech becomes the scapegoat for everyone else's lack of planning, professionalism ...

Thats why we're here. We are professional enough to take it and not fight back, after the night is over, we post about our experiences here.

 

[museav]

Gotta tell you a little story. Billy Joel was conducting a master class in composing music. During the class, his mic starting cutting out and he began screaming because something was wrong with his mic. When a tech came out, Joel belittled him in front of the class. That was the day I threw out my Billy Joel CDs and swore I never spend anohter penny on him. That whole 'no repsect' issue can work two ways and I've been sure to spread the word around. It just really pissed me off. Just because we aren't 'big name entertainers' or the like, let's just see them do a show without us!

Had exactly the opposite experience with James Taylor. He came out before his show and after asking if he could please have one of the Programs (for his show), he hung out with a handful of the us for a bit, telling us how much everyone from the people in the parking lots to security to ushers to the techs affected whether people enjoyed his show or not and how much he appreciated it when we did a good job since it made his job so much easier. Real class.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Brad - you can always tell class! We used to handle the Business Summit for Stockton and about eight years ago, one of our speakers was Barbara Bush. After addressing the pyaing customers, she came in to our smaller theater to chat with the volunteers and techs. When one of the Secret Service folks came to usher her off stage, she gave him 'the look' (all mothers have one) and said that these were the people responsible for making the even happen and she'd darn well talk to us as long as we wanted her to.

Too bad it didn't trickle down to the son....

Hey, I'm just sayin'!

Char5lie

 

[herr_highbrau]

I've had a couple of good experiences with artists too, including having a high up west end producer and his musical director buy me a beer after a particularly good tour! That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

The way I look at it is I'm paid to do my job to the best of my ability and to demonstrate professional values throughout. These do not include loosing my rag with the directors, actors or anything. If they want to blame their problems on technical issues then I'm not going to get on the God mic and set things straight, because then I wouldn't get paid. Most professionals won't do that though - they realise the best solution is to apologise for the delays and say we'll be back on as soon as possible. If they do, then you don't take the job again.

And hey, things aren't as bad as they were for Funktion 1 at Glastonbury last year! That was messy . . .

End ramble!