So I go to my sons first big Band concert. It's District Wide ! Hundreds of kids from all the schools that feed into the High School. The whole high school Marching band, the Jazz band, what a cool evening!
Most of the program is complete. The high school concert band had left earlier, " To get ready for their big performance", They start marching back into the Gym. The music starts, Oh Lovely! it's a montage of Danny Elfman movie themes. Personally I think all his stuff sounds completely alike and like a Tim Burton Film if you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all..... but I digress. They get to the theme from Batman, I see one of the Drum Majors come running ti from one door in a Super girl Costume. Then Everyone starts looking behind me, over my head, I turned looked up and noticed a rope stretched across the ceiling of the gym. OMG! Yes there's the other drum Major clinging onto the rope. She slides in, zip line style, to just above the front of the band then drops. Some might say she rappelled, but honestly she was almost completely out of control. I though she had broken an ankle when she came down as hard as she did. Then I watch her wiggle out of the climbing seat she was wearing. Yes just a seat, what we used to refer to as a diaper, and then hop up on a chair and start conducting.
Let's just say my mood went from delighted to foul in about .000002 seconds. Did I tell you she was trailing a piece of rope, I think it's what she used to lower herself down on, and smacked one audience member right across the face. He had just turned to look but luckily got his eye closed just before it hit him square in the socket.
As soon as the concert was over I headed for the floor straight to where a kid was holding on to the end of the rope she rappelled down.
" 'Scuse me, did you rig this?",
" Uh, nope my Dad did."
Really, " Is he a Licensed rigger?"
" A what? Oh no, He does this kind of stuff for the BSA all the time....."
"Yeah but is he a licensed rigger ?"
"Well we took like six hours to get all this stuff up..."
I gave him my card, told him to give it to his dad, and have his dad call me. I sent an email to the Band director yesterday, informing him of the risk he had put his DM in, links to three stories of people dying because of flying accidents, the risk of injury to audience members, and last bu not least the Risk of Liability exposure he put the school in.
I haven't heard a word from either yet and no I don't think I'll be letting go of this one, until someone tells me it will never happen again.
Most of the program is complete. The high school concert band had left earlier, " To get ready for their big performance", They start marching back into the Gym. The music starts, Oh Lovely! it's a montage of Danny Elfman movie themes. Personally I think all his stuff sounds completely alike and like a Tim Burton Film if you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all..... but I digress. They get to the theme from Batman, I see one of the Drum Majors come running ti from one door in a Super girl Costume. Then Everyone starts looking behind me, over my head, I turned looked up and noticed a rope stretched across the ceiling of the gym. OMG! Yes there's the other drum Major clinging onto the rope. She slides in, zip line style, to just above the front of the band then drops. Some might say she rappelled, but honestly she was almost completely out of control. I though she had broken an ankle when she came down as hard as she did. Then I watch her wiggle out of the climbing seat she was wearing. Yes just a seat, what we used to refer to as a diaper, and then hop up on a chair and start conducting.
Let's just say my mood went from delighted to foul in about .000002 seconds. Did I tell you she was trailing a piece of rope, I think it's what she used to lower herself down on, and smacked one audience member right across the face. He had just turned to look but luckily got his eye closed just before it hit him square in the socket.
As soon as the concert was over I headed for the floor straight to where a kid was holding on to the end of the rope she rappelled down.
" 'Scuse me, did you rig this?",
" Uh, nope my Dad did."
Really, " Is he a Licensed rigger?"
" A what? Oh no, He does this kind of stuff for the BSA all the time....."
"Yeah but is he a licensed rigger ?"
"Well we took like six hours to get all this stuff up..."
I gave him my card, told him to give it to his dad, and have his dad call me. I sent an email to the Band director yesterday, informing him of the risk he had put his DM in, links to three stories of people dying because of flying accidents, the risk of injury to audience members, and last bu not least the Risk of Liability exposure he put the school in.
I haven't heard a word from either yet and no I don't think I'll be letting go of this one, until someone tells me it will never happen again.