Still Hanging On.

Today is my third day an Mun2 since I wrote that dire blog post about the forthcoming demise of this studio. I'm not saying that this gig will last forever, but I will say that the end is not as near as I thought.

They still film ENG style and are really doing things on the fly. We are banking 4 shows today for Reventon, but I've already been asked to come back next Tuesday.

I like this gig now. It's pretty easy and I am for the most part, my own boss. The gaffer and I confer when they have lighting issues and make what we think is the best levels for camera. But they usually don't stop to correct anything for very long. Again, very much on the fly.

I do, however, have to stand up because my butt is asleep in this uncomfortable chair...

See you next Tuesday.

...

I Should Have Known B.E.T.ter

I knew it. I knew it going in. When ever I agree to a job at less than my normal day rate, I have the worst day(s) ever. This past weekend was not fun. It wasn't Nigeria bad, but funny story about that in a minute.

I took the gig, because, well, because there was nothing else on the books and money coming in is always a good thing, even if it isn't as much as is normal. I was going to work with a new lighting designer and new company, so I thought taking a pay cut would be sort of like auditioning for future gigs. If they like me, they can hire me again at my normal rate. After this weekend, I don't know if they will ever hire me again. Not because I wasn't good to work with, but because when I ask for my normal rate, I'm sure they are going to balk.

B.E.T. Pre Party was this weekend. It was held in a large room above the Drago restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles. I was hired to run the lighting for both the room/dining area, and the musical acts and dance floor. At first it didn't sound like a hard gig, I've lit parties before and we all know I have some knowledge about lighting for music. It was a little bit of back and forth with me, the LD and the company to get things squared away but as I said before, I felt this would be an "audition".

About 5 days out, my email inbox starts getting flooded with forwarded emails from the LD. Normally when someone forwards an email, they put an explanation on it, like, "See below, list of gear," or "Read the thread below, referring to possible fixture placement." All the forwarded emails said nothing of the sort. It was always a cryptic thread talking about something that I had to figure out. This was my first indication this was going to be a bad weekend.

The second indication was the fact that there was no light plot drawn, and if there was one, I didn't need to see it because, "The lights are going to be evenly spaced on the trusses." Fine, where are the trusses hanging? How many lights are there? How many, and what different types of lights do I have?

The day of programming, I'm a little late because there was no instruction as to where to park, so I drove around for about 10 minutes trying to find a public lot. I get to the venue, and of course, they are behind on setting up the rig. Long story short, I showed up at 4PM, and didn't get a fully working rig until about 11:30PM. We had only the night to program, but were kicked out by the salesman from the lighting company at 4AM because he didn't have any money budgeted for overtime. Which was fine because I was tired and deflated at 7PM and wasn't looking forward to sitting in a room programming on the wrong console (I asked for one thing, they gave me 1/2 of what I asked for, i.e. full size Grand MA vs. a Grand MA light) and watching the sun come up.

As an added bonus, the set designer installed a wall right next to my console. I actually had a half heated exchange with the set designer because this silly wall he put up blocked all entry onto the riser where my console was, not to mention it blocked my view of half the room. I don't normally get riled up, but when I ask a simple question like, "How do you expect me to get off the riser now?" and the answer I get back is full of attitude and bile, I'm going to be a little mad (especially when I'm tired). Calmer head prevailed and the wall was cut in half so I could see 3/4 of the room and had to suck my belly in and get on the riser sideways. Not easy to do when the riser is 2 feet tall.

I returned the next day, well rested and with a better outlook on the whole situation. I was given 5 hours (from 3PM until doors at 8PM) to fill the console with a series of room looks to match the video (they had done the walls with huge video projections), and a bunch of looks that I could refer to for the musical acts and speeches. That was about as much direction as I was given by the LD, who, by the way, wasn't even showing up a the venue until 6PM. But when I got up that day, I remembered something a rigger said to me in Indianapolis, "If you don't care, I don't care." That was my attitude (more or less) for that day. It's not that I didn't care, but the fact of the matter was, I had 5 hours and the party was going to happen whether I had a console full of cues and lighting looks or not. Just work work work, and hope it turns out.

By 7:30PM I had 8 pages of looks and 20 effects and chases (for you non-lighty people, think strobes and colour chases) plugged into the console. Then everyone was kicked out of the room so the official photographers could take pictures of the beautiful decor. When the party started, I was able to snap off a few shots of the room with my trusty camera phone.As you can see the opening of the party was very red and pink. They had lots of pink and red roses as center pieces as well as red and grey furnishings. I was told the room had to look "dirty pink" when the crowd entered. I think I did great. I also think the projections of the walls/bay windows was quite nice.As the room began to fill with guests, that was the moment, the LD decided it was time to get involved with the lighting. I would be sitting at my console and I would hear, "Dan! Dan!" and see the LD's eyes looking at me over the wall in front of my console. "There's a dark spot over in that corner, pan a light over there and fill it." So I would and that would cause a dark spot where the light was, and no sooner would the LD come over and say, "Dan! Dan! There's a dark spot over there now, fill that with another light". So the entire walk in (of the guesst) was spent with me chasing my tail moving lights from here to there trying to fill in the "dark spots" or dim out sections that were too bright.

The LD joined me on the riser just as the opening act went on, and then spent the entire set leaning over me and telling me to change or move things. Again, chasing my tail with the lights on stage. Now the room was full of guests and he decided to give me notes about what he wants for lighting on the main act. I told him flatly, "I will do what I can, but you realize I will be swinging lights around and changing colour and effects with people in the room." His reply was, "I understand, do it anyway, because it's not our fault that we weren't given enough time to put this together."

After that response, all I could think was, "Where were you from 11:30PM to 4AM the night before and from 3PM until 6PM today?" It's very frustrating spinning your wheels and creating looks without much direction and then having it all change moments before execution. I hate that.

So I started crunching cues, wiggling lights, changing colour all while famous people (including Morgan Freeman) were trying to enjoy their lamb and lobster. I got most of it done, and no one seemed to notice, or care.

The main entertainment was Chaka Khan. All I have to say is, wow. She's really good in concert and sounds amazing. Of course, the LD was over my shoulder constantly giving me direction. Most of which ignored (also he was dancing).

Then came the fun part of the evening. Chaka Khan finished her set about 11:30 and at 11:35, this happened. Total lighting blackout. All the was left lighting the room was the video and the candles on the tables. Everything else, gone.

The generator had blown up. Not ran out of gas, not over drawn on power, it blew up. Billows of black smoke pouring out of it. It was done. Fried. The LD panicked. The lighting company salesman panicked. The crew chief and all the electricians panicked.

I, ate a sandwich.

There was no reason for me to run around and scream at people. The generator blew up, we have no power, I can't make lights move without power.

The LD was running around moving candles from table to table, the lighting company salesman was on the phone with the generator company yelling at them, the crew chief and electricians ran around trying to reroute cable to the generator that was running the air conditioning for the room.

I, sat at my console and played Bejeweled on my phone.

45 minutes later power was restored. Half the rig was turned on and I wiggled lights over the dance floor, while Micheal Jackson songs filled the air. No one had noticed the lights had gone out. Or if they did, no one cared. Well, except for one person, who asked me what happened and I told her.

I didn't see the LD for a long time after that. I did see him sitting at one of the tables eating desert with some of the guests. At the end, he came up to thank me, said his work was done a while ago and he was out being social. I don't blame him really, I'm beginning to realize that 50% of an LD's job is sucking up and being social with the client, often to make them comfortable.

The night ended promptly at 1:30AM, the DJ stopped spinning, the dance floor was empty, and I stopped wiggling the lights. The bar however was still hopping with the final remnants of the guest. Seems free liquor is quite a draw for some people.

Looking back, I think I'd do it again, the party anyway, perhaps not with this LD or with this lighting company. And if I do, I'm getting my full price or I'm saying no.

If you don't care, I don't care.

...

Oh yeah, funny story about Nigeria. The LD I worked with for this BET party was also the LD for the show I did in Nigeria with Shakira. I never saw him in Nigeria. I spoke with his programmer there who, at the time, told me he went back to the hotel because, "There was nothing for him to do." Go figure.

...

No You Can't. No You Can't Do That Either.

I always talk about something I call, "Nashville Logic". Now before anyone gets into a huff about any sort of prejudice thoughts for that title, I call it that because the person I relate the attitude to, was from Nashville (no slight against all southerners). Calling it "Mike Logic", was to specific in my mind.

Mike was a stage manager on a tour I did once. Part of a stage managers job is to manage where all the empty cases would go backstage after the contents were taken out and set up. I remember more than once pushing an empty case towards Mike and asking him where I should put it. "Not there," was often the answer, which was always followed by the question, "Okay, how about here?" Which would always garner the answer, "No, not there." Which brought the follow up, "Well, where then?" To which Mike always replied, "Not there."

"Here?"

"Not there."

"Here?"

"Not there."

Never would there be a direction where to go, just where not to go.

I bring this up because I read an article on line today about the continuing saga of the Hawai'i Superferry. To sum up the article, the Superferry has gone bankrupt and they can no longer support the maintenance of the ships, but the state government of Hawai'i and creditors of the Superferry, don't want them to give up. Quoting from the article:

"The state, which is owed about $40 million for dock facilities, and other creditors said Superferry should make more of an effort to revive the business."

Make more of an effort to revive the business. A business that has constantly been prevented from running by groups of people who oppose it. It appears no one wants the Superferry to operate (although I know this not to be true, more in a bit), and yet, no one wants it to go out of business.

"Where can I park this boat?"

"Not here."

"How about this island?"

"Not there."

"Here?"

"Not there."

"Well, I guess I can't operate a business, I'm going bankrupt and I have to abandon my equipment."

"No, you can't do that either."

Maybe I'm over simplifying things. Granted, the Superferry tried to skirt the law and not do an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Bad Superferry. But then they tried to make good by doing the EIS, which would be impossible to do without funds, which they could generate by running the ships, but by law they can't until the statement is complete. So the governor and state legislature step in and pass a bill that allows them to operate at a higher safety standard than other businesses (i.e. observers on board the vessels to watch for whales and inspectors on the docks to monitor cars for foreign species, think - Koki frogs). And the ships make the rounds between O'ahu and Maui only.

But then the district court of Maui rules that the bill that the legislature passed is unconstitutional. Bad legislature. So the Superferry is no longer allowed to dock on Maui. Kaua'i was already out because of too many protestors, and the Big Island doesn't have a dock yet. So now the Superferry has no where to sail too. Business is done, time to file bankruptcy.

No, you can't file bankruptcy, shame on you says the state and the creditors. But wait, where were you Mr. state and Mr. creditors when the Superferry (a business I assume you guys like and want, otherwise why invest in it) needed help to continue operating? Maybe shovel a few more bucks their way so they can get the EIS done and can resume business? Bad creditors.

Then again, why would the Superferry want to stick around when it seems nobody wants them? People diving into the water in front of the vessel on Kaua'i, people blocking the roads on Maui. Because I know there are people out there who thought that the Superferry was a good idea. I am one of them. But we are a silent majority. I read a poll once that said a majority of people want the Superferry to operate, but they also agree that the EIS needs to be completed. A squeaky wheel gets the grease, or in this case, the loud minority got the media coverage.

I don't know what the solution is. I just know that this Nashville logic has to stop. Either help the Superferry become a viable business (and take a ride, I hear from a friend who went to Maui while it was operating that it was really great), or let it file bankruptcy, take the economic hit you are going to take and move on. Find a place for them to put the empty case.

...

I Don't Know If Heartbroken Is The Right Word.

Monday, I worked on the Linkin Park performance for the "Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen" premiere. I guess Linkin Park performs the theme song. Sorry, I don't have any pictures, as I mentioned before, my camera is broken. But if you want, picture the Transformer "Bumble bee" in life size standing at the buffet.

The nice thing about working these "rock shows" for TV is that I get to see old friends from the road. I was backstage talking with the gaffer when I saw the stage manager from the Black Eyed Peas, then later I saw a sound guy I had toured with back in 1997 on Santana. It was good to catch up with them, to see that we've all moved on from our humble beginnings to higher paying positions.

I think the most interesting part of the day was running into an old friend from Amsterdam. Here's a little back story of our friendship.

Back in 2000 when I was touring with A Perfect Circle, we made a stop at a little club in Amsterdam. There I met Anna, she was just a stagehand, pushing cases, running cable, and constantly being verbally abused by her male counterparts, but working twice as hard as anyone else. When the day slowed down, she came up to me at the lighting console while I was programming, and we started talking. She was interested in touring (mostly interested in sound) but didn't know how to go about becoming a "roadie". I gave her what little advice I had, we exchanged phone numbers and emails and promised to stay in touch.

And we did. I would get an email or phone call from her at least once a month if not twice, telling me what she was up to, that she was still working at the club, had moved to a new apartment, started taking sound design classes at the local college... Then one day the phone calls changed tone. They started to be about boys she was dating, about the trouble she was having with friends or getting kicked out of her apartment. It felt to me that we were becoming more than just work buddies, we were become friends.

I saw her in person a few years later, when I was on tour with Usher, we hung out for a few days and had a great time. Since working at the club, she's met a lot of people and made a few contacts. Later that year, she was offered a job touring with a band (I don't remember who), and she called me to ask my opinion. The offer sounded fishy to me. If she wanted to tour, she had to buy her own plane tickets and had to share a room with another crew member. She wasn't being offered a lot of money, and no per diem. I told her not to take the gig. If anything, for the fact that if she worked for those terms, she would always be expected to work for those terms.

She took the job anyway.

When she came to the U.S. she had no money and no U.S. cell phone, she got lost in Washington D.C. trying to find the gig and ended up in a dangerous neighborhood. She ended up calling me on her European cell phone, panicked and worried. I calmed her down and eventually helped her find the gig. The next day I mailed her my a cell phone that I had gotten for my dad and said she can use it, but don't go crazy, it's just for emergency use only.

A month later, I got the first phone bill, $600. I immediately called her and told her. She had taken the job as t-shirt girl and had to advance all the performances on her own. Another bad part of her deal. Normally, she should be able to go into the production office and just use that phone to advance.

She agreed to pay the bill when I saw her a few weeks later in Los Angeles. She had a couple days off so we would hang out.

When I saw her in Los Angeles, she gave me a big hug and was very happy to see me. She gave me the $600 with an apology for using the phone so much. We went to Melrose Avenue where she spent the rest of the money she had made on clothes, the tour was paying her under the table and in cash (another fishy thing). A few weeks later she mailed back my phone before she flew back to Amsterdam.

Then another bill for $600 came in. I tried to get a hold of her via her phone number, but it had been disconnected, I sent her a few emails to tell her about the bill, but never got a reply. Finally, I got a call from her telling me she was moving to Detroit to be with her boyfriend (Who, oddly enough shared hotel rooms with her on the tour) and that she had no money to pay me. She was a little defensive, falling just short of making it my fault for giving her the phone in the first place. So I dropped it.

That's about when I stopped hearing from her. Nicole ran into her a few years later when she was on tour. Nicole was the assistant tour manager for one band and Anna was the assistant for another. They crossed paths a couple of times, but that was about it.

Over the years, I stopped caring about the bill and the money. It's no longer a big deal to me. I've sent emails to Anna just to check in, see what she was up to, try to reconnect, but I never heard back.

Flash forward about 5 years to this past Monday. I'm sitting at my console, and Anna walks by in front of me. I called out to her, she turned to me and said, "Hey." and came over and gave me a hug. I told her how glad I was to see her, what had she been up to? She's been touring she said, "You know how it is." She was on her way some where, running an errand for the band, but she'd be back in a bit to catch up.

After she left, something did not feel right. It may have just been me, but after all the water that is under the bridge between us, it felt like she was very cold to me. Almost as if she couldn't remember my name, but she recognized the face.

She never did come back to see me. At the end of the show, I went up to my stage manager friend and asked him if he knew where Anna was. He called her cell phone but she didn't answer, so he told me to check the production office. I found her there and told her goodbye and asked her how we could keep in touch. She replied, "Oh, I'll be around, I'm sure I'll see you." I agreed and hugged her goodbye. But in the back of my head, I sort of knew, this was the last time I'd see or speak to her.

I don't know if heartbroken is the right word, but I do feel like a just lost a friend. It's sad really to think of all the time we had known each other (granted most of it over the phone or via email), and it feels as if she dismissed me out of hand. Am I wrong for having expected a warm reception? Who knows. Something just doesn't feel right.

Have a good life Anna. Maybe I will see you down the road, hopefully, you'll remember my name.

...

Sound Advice.

The last day we were at the San Diego Zoo, I broke my camera. Sean Patrick had once again fallen asleep in the backpack and as I attempted to take a picture of him over my shoulder, the camera slipped out of my hand and cracked to the ground. Sucks. It still takes pictures, sorta, it appears the white balance is off and most pictures are a little washed out. It also seems to only write every other line of code so some photos are really grainy.

I tell you this only because I didn't have my camera handy to take the following photo, I shot it with the camera on my phone, which we all know is poor quality. Shooting into backlight also didn't help.

Had I seen this sign in 1995, my life would have been different.
It really is sound advice. Stop Ikea! They're taking over the world of interior design with their cheap throw away furniture that becomes tacky and outdated in three years. Stop them! Stop them!

I first discovered Ikea in 1995 when I just graduated from CalArts. I had moved into a house with 3 other guys and I needed to furnish my little corner. We bought a sectional couch from a friend and had the required bachelor pad coffee table, an empty industrial cable spool. But we had no dining room table, no pots and pans, not even a fork. Mike Hooker, a professor at CalArts told us of the magical land of Ikea. A cheap way to furnish the basics (and not so basics) of a home. And off we went.

Long story short, I think I got rid of the last piece of furniture (an old arm chair) that I bought from that first shopping spree last summer during our garage sale.... I take that back, I still have my dining room chairs. The last remant of that time.

Since 1995, I've bought 3 different dining room tables from Ikea. Each serving the same purpose (table) but each a little different in design sense. And all three went of out style.

The dining room table we have now is from Pottery Barn. It is our wedding present to ourselves. Bought mostly with the gift cards we got at our wedding.

The couch however is from Ikea. 4th one I've ever bought from them.

...

Mun2... For The Last Time???

At Mun2 on City Walk again today. I like this gig because it gives me time to surf the net and get things done... Like writing my blog. I was down in San Diego over the past weekend. For a recap of the activities, check out my post on Sean Patrick's Blog. No point in posting the same information here right?

This may be my last day here. Not because I hate the gig and don't want to do it. On the contrary, it would be a great gig if it was a little more regular. It seemed like it was going to be earlier this year. They had redesigned the sets, they added a show, changed hosts, and for a couple of weeks, I was getting steady work.

Then it all changed. They stopped shooting weekly and since then, it's been more or less shooting monthly. They now shoot what is called, "E.N.G." or "Electronic News Gathering", which is a fancy way of saying, "one host, one camera, no crew". When they do shoot in the studio, they need the lights turned on, which gives me a day of work. They don't really use the sets anymore, they just sort of use the studio and I just turn on the lights that light the set. Key and fill light on the host, well, they get what they can.

Easy day for me.

Although today, I just over heard a conversation between a PA and a director for one of the shows. The PA asked him if this was the last day they were shooting in the studio and he didn't know. At first, I didn't think too much of it. I thought what the meant by "last day" was last day of shooting for this episode. But then the gaffer on call with me was filling out an inventory sheet, walking around the studio trying to find all the bits and pieces listed. Then it occurred to me, is this possibly the last day of shooting in the Mun2 studio ever?

Makes sense, they shoot only once a month, and they don't use all the equipment in the space, (they have 3 cameras on pods and one on a boom that aren't used for E.N.G. shooting, nor do they use the control room upstairs, or the sound room downstairs). The gaffer is checking an inventory list which could possibly mean they are trying to find all the gear to collect it and move it out (I asked the gaffer, he didn't know why). If they are no longer using the studio to full capacity, why keep the gear here? Why not ship it back to Miami where the main studios are, or better yet, sell the gear off it you are tight on money. If that turns out to be the case, I may have to buy the lighting console.

It would be a pretty smart investment on my part. Any show I do, I'd just rent my console to them and make the money back. I have a lot of friends who do exactly that.

This much I do know, the reason they don't shoot regularly in here is because they shows they were shooting weren't getting the audience they expected, thus there was little money from sponsors. The only reason this space exists is because it was moved out of Miami because of hurricane threats almost three years ago. There is a lease on the the space. Although I don't know the terms of the lease, but if the lease is up, they may as well pack it up and stop paying rent on a space they don't use regularly.

We'll see. It should be a sad day if today is the last day of Mun2 shooting. But I may never find out. Seems nobody here knows what's going on either.

...

To Answer A Question...

The family is leaving tomorrow for a few days in San Diego. I will be playing Mr. Mom, while Nicole runs about working on her NARM show. I just finished purchasing my membership to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. With Matthew and family moving halfway between us and San Diego, we figure at some point in the next year we'll make the trip to the Zoo with them. Thus paying for the membership.

But before we go, I'm going to answer Carla's question about the last blog post. Here goes...

A cyclorama is a large curtain or wall, often concave, positioned at the back of the stage area. It was popularized in the German theater of the 19th century and continues in common usage today in theaters throughout the world. A "cyc" (U.S. theatrical abbreviation) can be made of unbleached canvas (larger versions) or muslin (smaller versions), filled scrim (popularized on Broadway in the 20th century), or seamless translucent plastic (often referred to as "Opera Plastic"). Traditionally it is hung at 0% fullness (flat). When possible, it is stretched on the sides and weighted on the bottom to create as flat and even a surface as possible. As seams tend to interrupt the desirable smooth surface of the cyclorama it is usually constructed from extra-wide material.

As the name implies, it often encircles or partially encloses the stage to form a background.

An infinity cyc (found particularly in television and in film stills studios) is a cyc which curves smoothly at the bottom to meet the studio floor, so that with careful lighting and the corner-less joint, the illusion that the studio floor stretches on to infinity can be achieved. Cycloramas or "cycs" also refer to photography curving backdrops which are white to create no background, or green-screen to create a masking backdrop.

Cycloramas are often used to create the illusion of a sky onstage. By varying the equipment, intensity, color and patterns used, a lighting designer can achieve many varied looks. A cyclorama can be front lit or, if it is constructed of translucent and seamless material, backlit directly or indirectly with the addition of a white "bounce" drop. To achieve the illusion of extra depth, often desirable if one is re-creating a sky, the cyclorama can be paired with a "sharkstooth scrim" backdrop. A dark or black scrim, by absorbing the extraneous light which is commonly reflected off the floor of the stage from the acting areas, can help the lighting designer achieve deeper colors on the cyclorama. Cycloramas are also often illuminated during dance concerts to match the mood of the song.

Occasionally the cyc may be painted with a decorative or pictorial scene to fit a specific show, however these are generally referred to as backdrops.

Hope that answer the question. But if you want the rest of the article (including pictures) it can be found here.

See you in a few days. I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories then....

...

Two... Two... Two Shows In One...

Work has been really slow for me. There hasn't been much to do, thus not much to write about. Last week and this week, there was finally a couple of shows I got on. I knew about the E3 show I just finished on Tuesday for a while, but the show last week sort of came last minute.

I have to give a shout out to lighting designer Tom Beck, he does his best to keep me busy and I appreciate it very much. He got me on the show last week. It was a pilot shoot for a possible up coming weekly show on Comedy Central called, "Ron White's Daily Buzz". I'd not heard of the comedian before, but I will admit, I found most of his stuff quite amusing.

It was two days of work, one day of set up and step thru rehearsal, and the second was a dress rehearsal and taping. Day one, pretty easy, I was able to snap a couple of photos, neither of which will give away the "plot" of the show.
This first picture is just an overview of the set as it was being completed. The lighting was quite nice if not very basic. We had a wrap around cyclorama that kept the background lit no matter what the angle was that we shot at.

This second photo is my "art shot" for the day. I was going to do a whole series with this being the first shot. In the background is house lighting console covered with paperwork and a bagel wrapped in a napkin. I thought this would be a great series of shots of food and the lighting world, but then the house guy came over, collected the paperwork, threw out the bagel and finished his slurpee and burrito. We decided we were kindred spirits the house lighting guy and I. Both of us love slurpees and burritos from The Cactus Taqueria.

The taping went fine. The big wigs seemed very happy and Tom Beck and I are hoping it gets picked up and we can have a weekly gig in the fall. Fingers crossed.

...

The second show I did was part of the massive E3 Expo in town this week. E3 stands for "Electronic Entertainment Expo". It's basically the largest convention on the planet for video games. I remember working one of the first ones back in 1998 in Atlanta, and here we are, 11 years later and the thing is huge huge huge.

So huge, my little part was just a party for the Xbox 360/Microsoft console and it's games. We were holed up at The Standard Hotel in downtown L.A. setting up two rooms full of high definition flat screen monitors attached to many many Xbox gaming consoles. The lighting was minimal in the rooms, lots of LED lights and green gel (green is the colour of Xbox, FYI. No blue. That's the colour of Playstation). I wish I had pictures of the rooms to share, but security was being a bit snotty and didn't want people taking pictures. Although I'm sure somewhere online, someone has posted pictures of the rooms.

I was able to sneak a couple of pictures of the main event, a rooftop pool party for the release of the new game, The Beatles Rockband. For those of you not familiar with gaming (I'm talking to you dad and Sandy), the Rockband franchise is a series of video games where you and 3 friends get together and play fake guitars and drums, and sing the music for different bands. It's like souped up Karaoke. On the screen is a representation of a fret board and these little coloured circles float down the screen and when they get to the bottom of the fret board you have to physically play the note (delineated by coloured buttons on the fake guitars and coloured drum heads on the drum kit) in order to score points and win the game. The better you play, the more songs you unlock and can play. If you suck, the game lets you know so.

The Rockband's latest release is The Beatles music. As you can imagine, this is a big deal. Xbox sunk some money (not a lot in lighting) to set up this stage on the roof of The Standard Hotel so that the big wigs and game reviewers could come up and try their hand at the game. Anyway, here are the pictures. Whoa, how about a little vertigo? The Standard Hotel isn't terribly tall compared to the buildings around it, but where I had to set up my console, I was on a secondary roof above the fire escape stairs for the main roof. Needless to say, there were no handrails since no one was supposed to be up there in the first place. I didn't fall off. Here's the stage as it's getting set up. Not terribly huge, I only had 5 moving lights and a bunch of LEDs to light the wall and The Beatles sign. It would be sufficient since I had no idea what was going to happen during the night and if anyone would actually get up on stage and sing and play the fake guitars and drums. And they did. The evening was supposed to kick off at 8PM with a demonstration by the design team. That didn't happen until about 9:30PM and from that point until 1:30AM, the stage was full of people trying their hands at different Beatles songs from different eras. By the way, that's me cheating and lighting up the buildings across the way in green. The big wigs loved it, but the production people kept coming up to me and asking me if that was legal and if we obtained a permit to do it. We didn't, but if someone was to complain, I would have just pointed the lights back on stage, which I did every now and again. And finally, what big Los Angeles party wouldn't be complete without a celebrity sighting. I was honestly hoping Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would show up, but I guess that had already made an appearance at the big press event for Xbox earlier in the day. Can you guess who we had playing fake guitar? Closer look? Yep, that's Fogel aka McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) from the movie "Superbad". Not the biggest star in the world, but the only one to get up on stage and play fake guitar for the crowd. Other celebrities could have been there, but I didn't see them.

And that's my new excuse for not writing in my blog. I was working. My next excuse is already lined up, I'm going to San Diego with Nicole for a show she's working on and I'll be spending my days playing "Mr. Mom" with Sean Patrick.

See you again in two weeks (but hopefully sooner).

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