Gafftaper's Show Report

[gafftaper]

It's great to be back at USITT! The vibe of the show is so much more exciting than LDI was. LDI felt like, "we are almost done with the pandemic. USITT is always so vibrant with all the college students and recent grads, but it's even more exciting this year with everyone saying that they are recovering and starting to do real shows again.

I'll be reporting my thoughts about the show in this thread to give you a taste of the show.

I haven't had a chance to watch the full ETC Apex demo yet, but I did get an up close look at them and they are BEAUTIFUL!

It's great seeing so many old friends again!

If you are here at USITT and we haven't met, please drop me a private message here so we can meet up and say hello. I've got CB swag!

Gonna spend the next hour and a half in a session led by @Ford on maintenance of LED fixtures. I'll report more later.

Also this!

 

[jayvee]

I'll be finding you tomorrow for that swag!

 

[gafftaper]

Currently hanging out at @egilson1 's Entertainment Rigging Services booth. We're going to bust a shackle at 5:30. ETC is demoing the Apex on the hour all day long, hang out afterwards and stop by Ethan's booth next to it on the half hour to see stuff break!

 

[gafftaper]

Here are the results of @egilson1 breaking stuff in the ERS booth. There's a domestic shackle and a Home Depot shackle both stamped rated at 1,000 lbs working load limit. When will they break?

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[gafftaper]

Here are the remains of the domestic shackle from the video.


I didn't film it, but the Home Depot imported 1,000 lb shackel made it to over 10,000 lbs before breaking. Here is what it looks like.


Yeah... Not what I expected either.

 

[gafftaper]

A long tradition at USITT are the bags from Syracuse Scenery and Stage Lighting. They take remnants from their curtain making stock and sew them into bags for carrying your stuff in. This has evolved into a tradition where EVERYONE rushes to the Syracuse booth as soon as the Expo hall is open. It takes about 5 minutes for all the bags to be taken.
Here's what that looks like.

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[dvsDave]

I spotted something new over at Altman...

 

[almorton]

I'm amazed they're using those hideous C-clamps on truss ... aren't they known as truss-killers?

 

[RonHebbard]

I'm amazed they're using those hideous C-clamps on truss ... aren't they known as truss-killers?

Plus the way they're oriented. Maybe they're marketing their new disposable truss??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[almorton]

Well, quite, Ron. Outrigged, so will need to be overtightened to compensate. I'd have used a trigger clamp, or at least a half-coupler.

 

[gafftaper]

Hanging out with Doug Fleenor and @jfleenor this morning. Doug demonstrated his DMX Hammer for us.

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This is day 3 of pounding on nails with the same unit and it still looks great and still works.

And the punchline... "It looks a lot better than the one that got run over by a forklift and still worked."

 

[gafftaper]

Rob Crane from ETC is a saint. This guy would have been kicked out and never allowed in my booth again.

 

[gafftaper]

Well hanging out with @egilson1 again. This time we broke some tie-line. 365 lbs was the maximum force before it failed.

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[gafftaper]

ETC's new Apex line is gorgeous. I can't imagine a better control surface for EOS. Go check out the ETC demo videos. I love the small haptic feedback touch screens on the horizontal part of the console l. You can have your finger on the screen without activating it, watch the stage, then press the pad and feel it kick back so you know that it activated.

 

[jayvee]

I remain swagless.

 

[gafftaper]

I remain swagless.

I'm currently at the ESTA booth for the drawing. At the tables behind the audio recording booth wearing my glow tape saves lives shirt.

 

[jayvee]

Me too, with lightsabers on my shirt!

 

[jayvee]

Successful swaggage!

 

[gafftaper]

For those following along, @jayvee and I did successfully meet up and they got the full CB swag kit.

 

[jayvee]

For those following along, @jayvee and I did successfully meet up and they got the full CB swag kit.

Can confirm we are both actual people!