Since moving to Los Angeles in 1993 to go to school, I have not missed a Christmas in Hawai'i yet. I've missed a few New Year Eve's, but that's always been for work. Even flew out to a gig on Christmas day. But opening presents on Christmas morning and being with family, I've not missed yet.
This year is no exception. It's always expensive to fly to Hawai'i during the holidays. But last year it started getting really expensive since we now buy a third seat for Sean Patrick. Yes, we could put him in our laps and fly with him that way, but it's just more comfortable for everyone if we strap his car seat into the window seat and pull him out only when necessary.
We were supposed to go to Hawai'i for Sean Patrick's birthday, but I ended up getting on the Maxwell tour, so we took the tickets we bought for that trip and applied them to are tickets for Christmas.
The beginning of October is not the optimal time to be buying plane tickets to Hawai'i. Airlines tend to jack the prices right about then since that's right about the time everyone is thinking, "I wanna go to Hawai'i for Christmas."
So this year, I went to Kayak.com and put in a search for the possible dates that we'd be flying to Hawai'i. And it's sort of become my stock market.You'll probably have to click on the above picture to enlarge it, but as you can see, there's a little graph on the top of the page that shows you the fluctuation for the price of the plane tickets to Hawai'i. The current price you see, is more than what I paid (and don't ask, I'm not telling you what I paid). There was a few days where the price dipped below and I was kicking myself a bit, but so far, I've paid less than the average.
We did have to buy our tickets on Continental since I had the credit to apply from Sean Patrick's birthday tickets. And that was a tough one since Continental is often not the cheapest airlines.
I look at each airline as a different stock. And like the stock market, you have to guess when it's "buy low" and so far, I think I've guess right.
If you don't play the stock market, this may be a safe way for you to have some similar fun. Try it!
Gone. Don't know where it is, don't know how I lost it. It was in the car one moment, and gone the next. All I can think is, it fell out at one of the stores.
Someone in Freeport Illinois just got themselves a really nice camera. I was hoping that the good people of a quaint small town in middle America would be decent enough to turn the camera into the lost and found at the store that I may have dropped it at. But I guess when you get a Super WalMart, it's no longer a quaint town.
Thankfully, I was able to dump all but the pictures I took the day I lost the camera onto my computer. Here is the last official photo I got off the cameraThat's our friend Geno chasing Sean Patrick around the Irish Pub we had dinner at with them.
It was a good camera, and with any luck, I'll be able to buy a new one with the crazy holiday sales coming up. If not, oh well.
Where do I fly in February? I was looking at my Continental Airlines frequent flier account and after our trip to Hawai'i this Christmas, I'm going to be roughly 4000 miles short of keeping my elite status. I want to fly to their hub in Newark, that way, if I'm wrong on the mileage count, I've put in the most possible miles at the cheapest fare. I'd fly back to Hawai'i, but somehow I don't think that'll be as cheap as flying to Newark.
The only reason I speak of this is because I'm sitting in the Presidents Lounge at LAX waiting for my flight to Washington D.C. in a couple of hours. Going to do a Robin Williams special for HBO. Look for it in December.
This is also the first blog on the new toy. With my design fee that I got from Eminem in New Orleans, I was able to get a new MacBook Pro 17" laptop. It was much needed. I've had a G4 for years, and it just became time to move on up. So far.... I like it.
We the design fee I got for the 48 hours I spent in New Orleans with Eminem, I was able to get the new toy. People always joke that when you buy a new computer it's obsolete the moment it goes leaves the store. Which is sort of true, that's why I like to buy the latest and greatest just to make sure. I souped it up with the fastest available chip and the most RAM I could stuff into it. Should be a reasonable computer for at least 4 years (fingers crossed)
Although I am a little perturbed at Apple for what I think was an "up-sell". I went to a couple of Mac stores in the area to find out about transferring all my data from my old G4 to my new MacBook. The first store wasn't very helpful, I think I caught the salesman off guard since I know a little bit about Mac and he's probably used to spending his day trying to convince PC users to convert. The second store's salesman told me that in order for me to transfer my information over, I had to sign up for their "One-To-One" service, which is like personalized classes that you can take with a single instructor.
When I bought the computer online (we got money sent to Upromise because of it) I also signed up for the one-to-one since I thought I needed it. I signed up for my class to transfer my information. The only day I had to do it was yesterday, before today's flight.
I got to the store, sat down with the instructor "kid". I say kid because now that I'm 40, I'm middle aged and everyone else is a "kid". Although this guy was really a kid. He couldn't have been over 22. I told him the entire reason I signed up was to get my data transferred over and for him to show me how.
Turns out, they don't show you how, they do it for you by taking your computer for up to 48 hours. Seeing as I'm flying today, I couldn't leave my computer for that long. He went and searched out a manager to see if there was anything they could do to help. As they hemmed and hawed, I said, "Is there anyway you can just show me how to do it?" They looked at each other and said, "Sure, it's really easy," you just need to buy this $35 cable.
Want to know how easy? Plug the cable into both computers. Turn on the old computer and hold down "t" until it the firewire symbol comes up. Then turn on your new computer and follow the set up instructions until, get this, it asks you, "Do you want to transfer data from an old computer?" Click yes, follow instructions to choose data, wait an hour or so and... ta da! All your old files and applications are on the new computer.
Yep, didn't need the one-to-one classes, just needed the cable and someone to tell me how to do it. I also noticed when I cracked open the box for the first time during my one-to-one session, it tells me right there in the "quick start" guide, how to do it! UGH. Well, at least I have these sessions and I may use them for advanced classes on some of the applications I don't know well. Stay tuned.
So, this blog topic had popped in my head a few days ago and until I write about it, it's not gonna leave my head. So here it goes, out into the ether for the world to laugh at.
I remember 8th grade art class. The teacher was kind of strange (then I got into art at a later age and understood why), and she always had interesting projects for us to do. Although most kids didn't really participate because she usually had grand ideas of showing the art we produced to the school. In 8th grade you always worry about what other people think, and you certainly don't want anyone judging something created by you that was supposed to be "art".
But there was one project that she had us do that I seem to remember most of my classmates participating in. One day, she handed everyone a 8 inch square of muslin cloth and said, "This weeks project is to come up with a designer label using your initials," She got the glossy "art" eyes and continued, "Imagine if you will, that you are designing a new pair of jeans and you want to put your initials on rear pockets. How would you want that to look?" I looked around the room and I saw peoples minds start working. Normally the girls would participate in any art project while the boys were always more interested in not doing art. But this time, the boys were thinking hard too.
And then she said the one thing that she always says that makes most of the students not want to participate, "And then we'll sew all your muslin squares together to make a quilt and show it to the rest of the students." I saw some of the boys shut off, but most were still interested.
So I thought hard. It was a two day project. We had art class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so one day to come up with a design, and one day to create it on the muslin. The design I came up with that day, I still have and use today.
For some reason, I liked the idea of having sort of rough paint brush strokes, where it wasn't defined edges, but rather, like some one quickly swiped these lines. Like painting your butt. I don't know what ever became of my final muslin square, but here's a picture I just drew of what the design sort of looked like.The final design I drew using black, lined by gold and silver ink. I liked how I used and reused lines of the big "D" and "K". I remember trying to do the same with the small "B", but it always looked like I had two "K"s so I had to add the extra lines within the big "D".
In 8th grade, to me, that was sexy, very hot. I'd want that on the pocket of my jeans.
Today, not so much.
But that design has stuck with me. I still use it today, mostly when someone hands me a contract or car rental agreement and says, "Initial here." When I first started using it, I was careful to make all three letter readable. Over time, the "DKB" has devolved into this:It sort of looks like an asterisk or something, but if someone ever showed it to me, I would have to say it was my initials.
I'm still proud of the original design. I find it amazing that something like that has stuck with me all these years. Maybe I'm just reminiscing because I recently turned 40. Nicole won't let me buy a motorcycle or fast car, which I guess I'm supposed to do when I turn middle aged. Hey honey, how about a shotgun or another racing bicycle? If not, I guess I'll keep reminiscing.
I put it to you, what has stuck with you since the 8th grade? Hopefully, a happy memory like the one I have of coming up with my hot sexy designer label.
Didn't carve a pumpkin this year. Didn't even have our annual pumpkin carving and chili cook off party. It's mostly, if not totally my fault. In addition to the commercial shoot I talked about in my last post. The 48 hours leading up to the Halloween weekend found me in New Orleans doing the one and only performance this year by Eminem.
Had to be done. Don't want to loose Eminem as a client, and since I've been involved in all but one of his tours, I think I have a pretty good grip on his music. So it makes sense to call on me to do even just one show with Slim Shady. Means at least 50% of the lighting will be right and in time.
The day before the show, I fly out to New Orleans. I take the latest possible flight (Nicole was in the hospital the night before and wanted to make sure she was okay before I boarded a plane), and went straight to the venue where I spent the entire night programming.
Hit the pillow in my hotel room at 7:30AM the next morning only to be drawn out of my room and sent back to the venue at 3PM that same day. The management was "worried" because they hadn't seen any of the lighting and video work during the previous days rehearsal (I was on a plane while Marshal Mathers was rapping away), so I had to be there before they showed up to calm their nerves.
Show day was your standard day in New Orleans. Warm with about 120% humidity in the air. All your clothes are damp and sticking to you. At least it was October so it wasn't hot, just warm, comfortable really. The opening acts were playing on our stage.As you can see there's plenty of lights on the stage to make a good show. It was a little overcast, but slowly the clouds grew gray and more and more ominous.
About 4 in the afternoon, a cold front blew through. This was the first time I had ever experienced anything like it. One moment, it's a comfortable 76 degrees, and the next it's like someone opened the refrigerator door and the temperature dropped 15 degrees easily. I looked around in the crowd and could see everyone who was sitting around in shorts and bikini tops, pulling on sweatshirts and hats. It was, for me, rather surreal.
Then this happened:
Yes, that is rain coming down. The music you hear is the second stage playing behind me as I film. I hadn't seen rain like this since living in Kane'ohe, and even then, at least it was warm. This was cold and miserable. I could see the field in front of me slowly turning into a pool of brown mud. And all I had was a pair of sandals (I was packing light for the trip, you see)
The strangest part about the rain, it only rained when the other acts were playing on the second stage. It never rained when any act was on our main stage. It was a rather strange phenomenon. I'm not complaining, I was glad of it, because there was talk of postponing the show if the weather got too severe. Granted it's raining hard, but at least it wasn't thunderstorms. I wouldn't want to be one of the 60,000 + fans standing outside when a bolt of lighting cracked a surrounding tree. Which I saw happen on a tour back in 1996.
In 1996, I was just a lowly moving light tech on the Furthur Fest. Which was basically the guys from the Grateful Dead still trying to make money. Anyway, we were in Colorado at the outdoor venue called Fiddlers Green. It was mid afternoon, the show had already started, and I was standing backstage by the buses watching small funnel clouds touching down in the fields behind the venue. I knew this was not good, so I headed into the venue and stood on stage, ready to help in anyway possible. While standing there, I saw a bolt of lighting strike a tree at the back of the lawn seating yards away from some dancing hippies. I jumped preparing for the worst. The hippies cheered and carried on dancing. Go figure.
Moments before Eminem was to step on stage, the rain stopped, they roadies ran around and took the protective plastic sheeting off the instruments. A couple quickly mopped the floor and moment later, the band ran on stage and started the show.
If anyone is sensitive to coarse language, don't watch the following video clip. They swear a lot.
And so it went. Eminem did his one show in 2009 with all of us hoping he does a tour in 2010. The show went well, management was very happy, and I can only assume Slim Shady was happy too. Fingers crossed.
14 years in the business has culminated into this?
I got home from tour on a Sunday with no real plans for the week. I had a couple of days on the books, not hard ones, but at least some work to keep the money flow coming in.
But on Tuesday, I got a call to do "some programming" for commercial shoot coming up that weekend. At first I didn't think it was a big deal. I get last minute calls all the time. But this one had more going to it than I thought.
Long story short it turned into cranking out a lighting design, bidding, approving, and then getting gear and personnel for the shoot in 2 days.
The gig? A new video game called, "Band Hero". A game on the same lines as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but this time with modern songs. Featured in the commercial, Taylor Swift.
As a matter of fact, the commercial is already available on YouTube. Check it out. Everything was shot with green screen. Taylor wasn't even there on the same day as the band. Amazing what they do now days with filming. In the picture, they are filming the close ups of the band members. Behind them, you can see the green screen and all that pink lighting, that's me.
I don't know if this is how they do it all the time for commercials. But man, I need more lead time than a call on a Tuesday for a load in on a Friday. After speaking with the production designer who hired me, turns out they had a meeting on Tuesday and the director (Brett Ratner, if that name rings a bell for anyone) asked who's doing the "rock and roll lighting" and he (the production designer) looked at the director of photography and gaffer who looked back with just as blank faces. So everyone knew from the beginning they were going to need "rock and roll lighting" but no one took responsibility for it.
Ah well, it was work. And money rolling in is always nice. Not to mention, now I can make a link on my website to YouTube where everyone can now see my work. If I ever update my website.
Maxwell ended over two weeks ago, but life has been pretty much a whirlwind since then. This is finally a quiet week where I can catch up on a few things, like this blog and cleaning up around the outside of the house. A few days after returning from tour, the neighborhood was visited by Santa Ana winds.
For those who don't know what Santa Ana's are, they're very warm strong winds that blow in off the desert to L.A.'s northwest. It happens every year around the start of fall. The winds are strong enough to topple trees, and knock out power lines.
I remember the day two weeks ago when it happened, I was sitting in the office doing work on an commercial shoot that landed in my lap (next blog) when around 4 in the afternoon, I heard the first wind blow through. I looked out my window and in the distance I could see a wall of dust and debris heading my way. My first thought was a sand storm in Baghdad. Normally it's just wind, but since the Station Fire burned down all the brush in the hills and valleys above us, there was nothing left to keep down the dust and ashes. It was all in the air and heading our way.
It made for a long night. Every now and again, you'd hear the house buffeted by a blast of wind, and you'd hear branches from the surrounding trees creak in the wind. The ladders I had leaning up on the back of the house would thump when the wind would pick them up and drop them back against the wall.
Ah the Santa Ana's. I'm sure there will be more this season, but at least we survived the first round with no damage. But here's some photo's of the aftermath.Although this is just a small sampling of what we found littered about the house. The pine tree in our front yard pretty much dropped all it's dead needles on everything.Including the bed of my truck.And the hood. To this day I'm still picking needles out of the little crevasses in the hood.
Here's a picture of the mountain behind our house. You can't really see it in the picture, but there's still a dust cloud lingering around from all the loose dirt and soot.You can also see the difference caused by the fire. The smaller hill in front didn't burn in the fire, but the mountain in back did. You can see how the hill is slightly green with shrubs. Normally the mountain would look the same.
You'll probably have to click on the above picture to enlarge it, but as you can see, there's a little graph on the top of the page that shows you the fluctuation for the price of the plane tickets to Hawai'i. The current price you see, is more than what I paid (and don't ask, I'm not telling you what I paid). There was a few days where the price dipped below and I was kicking myself a bit, but so far, I've paid less than the average.
