Some Days, I'd Rather Be Unimportant.

I apologize for not writing for a while. I had 5 long days of work, followed by, well, just read on. I started writing this on a day off, but chose to just not finish and take the day off... So here it is, I'll finish it today while I sit at a taping and do nothing.

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Here I am, at the end of a stretch of days off, or what was supposed to be a stretch of days off. I finished a stupidly long day on Wednesday at Jingles and have, since Thursday, been go go go. Thursday was supposed to be the first of my days off, but Jingles decided they needed another day of shooting, so I had to get up early and go turn on some lights before picking up my sister in law who's staying with us for 6 weeks. Then Friday came an went in a whirlwind of preparation for yesterdays big yard sale, where we go rid of tons of stuff, including our big couch. So now our living room looks like this:
One big comfy chair and two folding chairs in front of our fancy new TV. And speaking of TV's we still have our old 32" TV if anyone in the L.A. basin needs a new old TV.

Hopefully, I can turn today into some sort of day off, but I can already feel it in my bones, the need to continue to clean up the house.

But that's not what I wanted to write about.

I wanted to talk about one of the big differences I've been noticing about TV lighting and live "rock-n-roll" lighting. In live shows, like rock-n-roll; rephrase; especially rock-n-roll, lighting is the least important element of a show. Yes, lighting is important. It paints a visual picture of the music, it can dance along with the rhythm, it's a key element. But without the guitars and drums, it's not a live musical performance. Without the sound system, it's not a live musical performance.

Without the lighting, it's still a live musical performance, just not as pretty to look at. You can cut a few lights, but you can't cut a few guitars. So lighting is always the first place the budget is cut, the first place people look to save some money or criticize for over spending.

In TV, lighting is the most important element, without the lighting, the camera can't work. Without balancing the levels and the colour, people look blotchy or sickly on TV. Without lighting, we'd be staring at a blank screen.

That makes for high pressure during set up and taping of shows. I find I spend lots of time rolling the dimmer up and down to find the right level. Blending ever so slight amounts of magenta or CTO (Colour Temperature Orange) into the light to get the balance right. Zooming, panning or tilting in millimeters to make it look even on camera. It's high pressure for sure, and very very stressful when you're trying to work fast, but move slow.

That's why, some days, I miss being unimportant. I miss complaining about having my budget cut or not hanging lights because it's going to save money and time. I miss the low stress of an all day load-in, into a show and then sleeping (granted uncomfortably) on a bus. And I miss the ability to laugh when I make a mistake during a live show, can't fix it. Can't say "Cut!" and re-shoot the scene. If the guitarist stands in the dark, there's no running out there with one more light, running a cable to it, patching it, focusing it and then putting in the cue. The guitarist will just stand in the dark.

I complain, but the pros far outweigh the cons. I'm home every night, sleeping next to Nicole. I can watch my TV, and sit at my desk. I can go sporting clays on my days off without having to rent a car (although I still don't own a shotgun). I would say I'm eating better, but that's really toss up with what they serve at the shoots.

Only two things can make life better right now... A couch and a shotgun. Couch first.

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Non-Disclosure Disclosure.

I've never been much of a reader. I like books, especially ones with pictures, and I like to read. But the book really has to capture me and take me for a ride. I used to read one book a tour, it would take me 6 weeks to get through most of them. I don't usually read much when I'm home. Lately it's been mostly manuals for all the crap we've been getting for baby, including a 50 plasma TV (or was that for me?).

But in the last week, I'd have to say, I've read at least a novels worth of contracts and Non-Disclosure agreements for these two shows I've been working on, America's Best Dance Crew, and Jingles. Both are "reality game shows", and most of the contract stuff really doesn't pertain to me. Although it would be nice if they gave me float money, paid my mileage and cell phone bill. But I signed a paper that says I won't charge them without first getting written authorization from the producer... Whom I've never met.

But the non disclosure section seems to be the thickest chapter in the novel. They use a lot of fancy words to basically say, "Don't talk about this show, we don't want the public to know the outcome." So, I won't. I won't talk about who's on the show or who's winning or losing.

But what I will talk about is the craziness that is TV lighting. Remember I said it was 3 hours of sitting around followed by 3 minutes of panic? That's true when the show is up and running. On Sunday, we had our first camera block for Jingles, and it was crazy. My fingers hurt from pushing so many buttons and touch screens trying to keep up with the constant changes to the show.

I won't go into too much detail but needless to say, we worked hard on a bunch of stuff all day long, adding and taking away for what the director thought was what the show look needed. And then the executive producer show up at 7PM at night, and pulls aside the director and lighting director and tells them 90% of the look was wrong. After the half hour talk, we had a half hour left before everyone was cut, and we got stuck reprogramming an afternoon of work in 2 and 1/2 hours (We pulled in two hours of over time). I got most of it to a starting point, but no one has seen how the show is supposed to end, therefore, we have no idea how to light it. Another fun trick these "reality game shows" pull. In order to prevent the information to about who wins and who loses from leaking, they don't rehearse the ending until the very last minute. Thus, the 3 minutes of panic.

Isn't that why I signed a non-disclosure agreement?

Wednesday, when we do our first shoot, should be a very interesting, if not long, day. Thank goofness I have Thursday off.

I was back at America's Best Dance Crew again today, and will be there tomorrow. I won't disclose anything here before the show airs on Friday night, but I will say this... It's getting closer to Gladiator.

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And just a little side note, I was thinking about something on one of my drives to or from work. I think I have been preparing myself for this job since I was a kid. When I was but a wee lad who had an active imagination, I would often find old sheets of plywood and I would take chalk and draw fake buttons and switches all over them. Then I would use them to pretend I was a tank commander or astronaut and I was busy piloting a large vehicle by the buttons and switches. I bet if you dug around in my dad's woodshed, you'd probably find a few of these sheets of plywood.

Now here I am almost 40 and I've spent most of my life piloting lighting consoles around the world. Probably not as many buttons and switches as I had drawn as a kid, but still...

So all you new parents out there (including me) watch what your kid does during play time, it might turn into a career.

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The Fall Of The Roman Empire?

I'm not a fatalist by any means. I just think I'm a bit of an observer. I started out this week working on an MTV show called, "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew" and ended this week working on a new "reality game show" called "Jingles". What I observed was something that made me think of the Roman Empire and it's demise.

Below is a video from "America's Best Dance Crew" or as the kids shorten it, ABDC. It's from the episode I worked on, so if you are curious about what I was doing, just watch the lighted pillars and florescent tube looking things, I'm controlling those. You can sort of skip the first 54 seconds, where they have the interviews and rehearsal tapes, and get to the live performance.

I'm sure we've all seen the movie, Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. If you haven't, below is movie trailer. I caution you, it's kinda loud, so be prepared to turn down your sound.

Notice anything similar? I certainly did.

- In Gladiator, the coliseum is round. In ABDC, the stage is round.

- In Gladiator, the audience is seated 360 degrees around the coliseum and the gladiators enter through a iron gate. In ABDC, the audience is seated almost 360 degrees around the stage, and the dance crews enter through a sliding door.

- In Gladiator, the audience screams,waves their hands, and call out the gladiators names. In ABDC, the audience screams, waves signs, flash what look like gang signs (it's not, it's just the different dance crew hand signs), and call out the names of their favorite dance crews.

- In Gladiator, Joaquin Phoenix plays the emperor, and at the end of battles, he gives the thumbs up or thumbs down to the winning gladiator to either end or spare the life of the loser. In ABDC, JC Chasez, of N'Sync fame plays one of three judges who either gives the thumbs up or thumbs down to the performing dance crew.

Is this the fall of our empire? Reality TV has brought a new spectacle to television. Many TV shows used to follow a formula that often involved conflict resolve, and everyone ended the show happy. But with reality TV, we tune in to see people either meltdown or be scolded or praised by people considered "experts". Think of American Idol, The Next Top Model, Top Chef. All shows where a battle or sorts is held and then the winners and losers are then judged.

America's Best Dance Crew was just the most blatantly obvious show to date that mirrors Roman gladiatorial combat and it's spectacle.

Crazy isn't it? Is this what we have come to for entertainment?

The next show I'm working on, Jingles, will feature people competing to write the next great commercial "jingle". It will, by formula, feature three judges who will give the thumbs up or thumbs down to the competitors (FYI, the only famous judge on the show will be Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS). We shoot for the first time next Wednesday. Stay tuned for an update on that.

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Ha Ha! Got My Wish?

So it happened, hooray for me. Manuel Beltran of the Liquigas team had a positive test for EPO, a banned substance at this years Tour de France. So the tour is not as clean as everyone thought! People are still trying to dope, even with all the fighting with the UCI and the signing of contracts to say "I promise not to dope." Someone was caught.

But strangely, something happened that I did not anticipate. The media has actually turned against the rider. As the rule states (or as I think the rule states under UCI laws, but then again, the Tour is not under UCI regulation), after the "A" sample test positive, the rider is removed from the race and disqualified, but then the "B" sample is tested. If that test is also positive, then the rider is fired from his team, the contract terminated, and he is banned from the sport for 2 years.

This is not what has happened to "Triki" Beltran. Beltran was taken away by the French police for questioning, his team has already fired him and terminated his contract. The media has already persecuted him as guilty and are calling him a fool for even trying to dope during the Tour.

What about his "B" sample? Will everyone eat crow and apologize to him if it comes up negative? It wouldn't be the first time it has happened.

I doubt it. It seems everyone wants to be high and mighty and run with the ASO. When something bad happens, it seems everyone hold their breath until the ASO says or does something. It certainly doesn't help that the newspaper that broke the story (L'Equipe) is also owned by ASO.

I'm not sure how to feel on this one. I wanted people on my side saying, "Ha! The doping test have failed because the UCI is not involved!" But instead everyone is saying, "See the testing works. We're on our way to a clean sport."

I want a clean sport too. But I also want peace and harmony. And a big plasma TV.

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Ah, Television.

For now, I'm off the road. I'm thinking most of you knew that, and the reason why. For those of you who don't, here's a quick review...

Nicole is pregnant. We're expecting our first child, a boy, at the beginning of October. The "due date" is October 9th, and anyone who's had a kid before, knows this is a guess-timate. But for those of you who know Nicole, the child will be born on October 9th because we must adhere to the schedule.

So that is why I'm off the road. No touring for a while, if ever again. Nicole and I have talked about it and we've agreed that the following terms must be met in order for me to take a tour, or any job really that is out of town:

- No tour or taking a job outside of L.A. until at least next summer, possibly as late as October of next year.
- Tour/time away from home, can be no longer than 6 weeks. Only exception I can think of, is if I'm the actual designer for the show. However, most tours don't do more than one month of rehearsals.
- Any tour must meet all items on my salary/touring requirements sheet. This sheet basically states all the things I expect the tour to provide in order for me to go. Things like travel/hotel, per diem, salary. If they don't meet everything, or negotiate something satisfactory, then I'm just gonna stay home.

That being said, I'm starting to pick up more work in lighting for television. I've essentially taken a step backwards in my career. I've gone from designer to programmer, which is fine I guess. I've not got the experience in television lighting to be a designer/director. So maybe if I stick at it, I can step up the ladder eventually.

I will admit this, television lighting can be terribly boring. With live shows there's no "Cut, back to one," and then re-shoot the scene. If a Blue Man falls on his way out to front of house, 8,000 people including me, get to see it and laugh. I think that's why Jackie Chan movies are so popular, because at the end, you get to see all the mistakes they made during filming, and you get to laugh along too.

Working in television has often been described as 3 days of standing around followed by 5 minutes of panic. That was pretty much the case for this last show I worked on. The show, Clean House, is a big hit on the Style Network, if not their biggest show. For those of you who haven't seen it, 3 designers and their leader go into peoples homes who have a real problem with clutter and messes. The convince the people to sell the crap at a yard sale, and then take the yard sale money and redesign the house. There are lots of tears and "Oh my gods!" at the end. And everyone leaves happy. Nicole loves the show, and I must admit, I rather enjoy watching it myself, because I can look at my messy house and say, "At least I'm not that bad".

It was the 100th show that they were taping, and it was sort of a spoof on awards shows. The Clean House team gave out awards to families from the first 99 shows. Some for the cleanest, some for those who relapsed into their messy ways.

And it was, for me, 3 days of standing around, followed by 3 hours (the length of the taping) of sheer panic. We loaded in on Monday, and I basically sat around until the gear was set up, then I set up the lighting console. Day 2 was a lot of programming of looks, not really in a hurry to do so, but getting enough in the console so when the lighting director showed up, we had a good start. Day three, was rehearsals, adjustments of looks so that the background looked good on camera. Then we sat around for 3 hours while the audience was seated and fed dinner.

Then there was panic for three hours while they tried to tape the show. The director screams at the mixer and the camera operators. The lighting director barks out panicked bursts of orders, "More key light! More key light! OOOOOH!" And then the show ends and we all smile at each other while the electricians run around taking down the lights and striking the consoles.

Still not sure how I feel about it. I guess its work and I can probably make as much money doing this as I could touring. Well see how long before I crack. I did it all last summer, but as Nicole will attest, by the end of it, I was pretty bored and ready to go back out on tour. Stay tuned.

And finally, a picture for Jade. I didn't bring my camera with me so I had to snap this one on my cell phone. I'm guessing Jade is a fan of Clean House, but here's all four of them standing on stage, about to announce the winner for the "Cleanie", the family who kept their house the cleanest.
Quality sucks I know, but it's my phone, not my camera.

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Just A Filler.

Apologies for not keeping up. I've been working on a TV show for the last few days. If anyone watches the Style Network, I'm working on an "awards" show for Clean House. If you've never seen Clean House, it's show worth seeing. Makes me think my house is clean by comparison to some of the people they help.

Tomorrow is the taping, so Thursday, I can hopefully regale you all with stories of complete and total boredom on a TV set. And I'll tease you with promises of stories about my butt falling asleep in the uncomfortable chair.

How fun!

And It Begins...

Today, I've hit a crossroads. I don't know what to do. I promised myself months ago at the start, I wouldn't give in. But now that the day is here, what do I do? There was a glitch this morning. Is this karma telling me not to?

But I took the initiative and immediately had the glitch fixed. Now I can go ahead, and give in?

We will know in 20 minutes what happens. The air is so thick with anticipation you can cut it with a spoon...

(20 minutes later...)

What can I say, I am a weak soul. I gave in, and watched the first stage of the Tour de France. Today was stage one, from Brest to Plumelec and won by Valverde, who gets to wear the first yellow jersey of the tour.

I know I said I wouldn't watch. That I would boycott to show support for Astana, the team that was denied entry, and has the reigning champion from last year, Alberto Contador. I know I wrote these things here.

But I can't seem to stop my love for the sport. I want to watch this years Tour just to see what happens. I want to see if a train wreck in publicity happens. If there is a doping scandal of some sort. If people who win stages or wear the jersey are constantly asked, "Would this tour be different with Astana riding?" or "Do you think you'd be in the yellow jersey if Contador was here?" I want bad things to happen to the Tour de France and I want a front row seat.

I'm not going to beat the dead horse anymore and talk about how unfair it is to not have Astana in the tour. Nor will I again discuss the division between the UCI and the ASO and how it's more damaging to the sport than the Astana debacle. I'm done with that.

Okay, one more tidbit. In an interesting article you can find here, the current battle between the UCI and ASO has been compared to a battle once fought here in the U.S. between CART and IRL automobile racing. To boil it down, if this battle continues on the same path as the CART/IRL battle, UCI will lose and the ProTour will be dissolved leaving the door open for race organizers to invite whomever they want to their races. A position the ASO already takes. The battle could be all about money, namely the revenue generated by advertising.

I await the train wreck that is about to happen regarding the UCI and the ASO.

In the meantime, I'm going to watch the Tour, and wait for a doping scandal. Give the UCI a little lever to say, "See, no matter what you do, the cheaters will keep cheating. Bad press, bad press!"

I hope they put an asterisk next to the winners name. Just like they did two years ago, when Floyd Landis was removed from the win and it was given to Oscar Pereiro. The asterisk should say, "2007 winner, Alberto Contador was not allowed to defend his title."

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On a lighter note, Nicole and I celebrated a quiet 4th of July at home. We honored the United State of America, and it's independence by having a tradition American meal of Korean barbecue and fried rice.

Here I am preparing the traditional fried rice. Some vegetables, a little garlic salt, butter, and there you go. Note the little beagle head near the back of my knee, waiting for the scraps to hit the floor.

Is there anything my sexy truck can't do? Here it serves as, you guessed it, the table for the barbecue. Wonder where they got the name "tailgate party"? Last year Nicole and I bought a folding furniture set that we've been setting up in the driveway during the summer and having dinner al fresco. Although the days have been unbearably hot, the evenings have been quite nice. And why not sit outside and enjoy the air.

"MRE honey MRE". The Meal is Ready to Eat. Delicious American food. Hats off to our founding fathers...

Who gave us the right to bear arms. And no, it's not real. It's an airsoft pistol I bought years ago on a whim. Looks real though doesn't it? I was armed to the teeth to once again, celebrate 4th of July. That and to scare away that damn neighborhood dog that comes to our fence and drives Pekona nuts.

Geez Dad, your embarassing me! Put away your silly toy gun.

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Finally, Some Sleep.

I'm back in L.A.. Got back yesterday, but I'm not officially home until Saturday (don't tell anyone). Usually need a few days to acclimate myself to my surroundings. Not to mention catch up on my sleep. Got nine today, but I'm still trying to catch up from a couple of red eye flights.

My flight to Honolulu from Seoul Korea was a weird red eye. I took off on Monday night at 8:50 PM, flew 8 hours to land Monday MORNING at 11AM. I got to live two Mondays. I don't think that's what messed me up, Not sleeping much is what messed me up. I spent most of my time in Hawai'i trying to catch sleep. I had it in my head that this was my last vacation before fatherhood, I best do all that I can. So I went to the beach, I hiked, I snorkeled, I went to the beach again, I had a nice dinner with my dad. I slept when I could and it was never regular.

Then it was a red eye to Los Angeles. I got lucky and was able to upgrade to first class. Granted, there isn't anything really fancy about domestic first class, but it sure is nice to have a wider seat and more leg room. I did catch maybe an hour of sleep on the flight. And I took a 3 hour nap when I got home. It sure is nice to be back in my bed.

What could be better than sleeping in your own bed? Sleeping on your own pillow. Yes, my bed is comfortable, love the pillow top (not so much in the summer). Most hotels now days have decent beds. Some even have pillow tops. And I can usually sleep on anything. But getting the right pillow, there's a challenge.

I've had the same pillow since I was a teenager. Which kind of grosses out Nicole. But I have yet to find another pillow that is as comfortable. My pillow is pretty solid. It's soft, but it's not squishy soft. I've never opened it up to see what's inside, but the closest thing I've found to match it, was a goose down pillow at a hotel in New York. Every where else has big fluffy pillows that your head sinks into. I like to have my head propped up, so in hotels and on tour buses, I find myself rolling up the pillow to get the right height and then sleeping on the corner.

I slept nine hours last night, and should really start my day. Got to walk the dog and go shopping at Ikea, they're having their big summer sale and we need a new sofa.

It's a good thing I'm mostly well rested.

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