1000 Cats, 1000 Stories, 9000 Lives...

That damn lyric keeps running through my head. But I guess when you hear it 25 times in a row, it's bound to stick.

On Wednesday of last week, I got a call for a last minute gig on Saturday called, "1000 Cats". It was going to be a simple day, bring up some lights on stage, key and fill the actor portraying 1000 cats, and call it a day. But by Thursday afternoon, it was turning into more than just a one look wonder.

The LD sent me a 15 minute song and three page document detailing each lighting cue that the performer and director wanted. 3 pages is a lot of cues. And we had about 3 hours to program it all in.

They were doing this shoot on the cheap. They were stuffing it all into one 10 hour workday, from set up to shoot to strike, all in 10 hours. Which means, once the lights were up, I was programming until they started blocking and camera testing, and even then I was programming up until they started shooting.

And then they ran it at least 25 times. Because it was on they cheap, they had two cameras and 150 hired extra's as audience. They set up the cameras in one position, run the scene three times and shoot it, then reposition the cameras and run it again, three more times and shoot it. And so went the afternoon, a constant repeat of "1000 Cats, 1000 stories, 9000 lives." The nice thing, is that I couldn't change lighting cues between takes for continuity sake. I pointed out to Nicole a few nights back a major continuity mistake on American Idol. In once scene there was one gobo rotating on the floor and when they cut to the next scene, it was a completely different gobo. We'll have none of that for 1000 cats.

Here's so it sticks in your head, here's a one minute sample of the 15 minute opus. Hopefully enough to stick the lyric in your head too...




And that's just one minute...

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Take Two, They're Small

I haven't posted in at least two weeks. I apologize. I don't know where the time went really. I was in Seattle one week, then last week, I was busy around the house when I wasn't feverish and laying out on the couch. I started at least two blog entries in that time, and didn't finish either. So I'll just write this one, and hopefully keep it short.

Seattle. Love that city. I'd move there in a heartbeat. I don't know if Nicole could handle the rain and dreariness they have there for most of the winter. I was joking with my friend Lindsay while I was up there that Seattle has two seasons; Winter and July. Yes, it was rainy while I was there, and yes, it did snow. But that wasn't all the fun I had.
Why yes, we did have to evacuate the ballrooms at the hotel, thank you for asking. I was there for the Microsoft Start! conference, which I signed a confidentiality agreement for so I can't really talk about it. But on the third day of the conference, the fire alarms went off and we had to evacuate the ballrooms on two levels. I've been in many buildings where the fire alarms have gone off. Most of the time, people look around at each other and continue on their merry way until someone tells them otherwise. The first time I was force to evacuate a hotel was in England on tour, but that's another story. This time, we all stood around looking at each other until the production manager got a call on his radio tell him it was a real fire and we all had to leave.
I took the above pictures standing outside in the valet area waiting for the all clear to re-enter the building. Just so you all know, I was supposed to be across the street because that's what you're supposed to do an evacuation. But since people were still pulling their cars in and walking in and out of the lobby, I wasn't too concerned.

My big concern was that the fire was caused by lighting. We had several rooms with a couple of lekos (theater lights for those who don't know) pointed at the podiums that no one managed. Maybe one of them melted a ceiling tile and there was a little smoke.

Thankfully, it wasn't us. It was the HVAC system in one of the smaller rooms that burned up. After about 1/2 hour of milling about we were finally let back into the building to continue on our merry way.

As I said before, I signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can really talk about the conference, nor was I allowed to take pictures. But I did anyway...Nothing incriminating. It's a picture of the "Green Hippo - Hippotizer" media server I was running for the general session. For those who don't know, now days, video is so integrated into lighting you can actually run video clips from a lighting console using a "media server". Basically, a PC with a special program for the video and all the video clips money can buy. It was another "monitor city" for me. I had 6 flat screen monitors surrounding me. Lots of information to keep track of when you are programming both lights and video. Please note the apple and bag of beef jerky next to the mouse. We were so short on time, and it was so chaotic that the only breakfast I normally got was what I could scrounge from the catering table. What it also translated to was a couple of "turnaround penalties", which is when work starts the next day less than 8 hours from the finish of the previous day. $$$.

It wasn't all work in Seattle. I did get one evening off before my flight home and I spent it with my friends Lindsay and her husband Creighton. Lindsay is the event manager at ShoWare arena in Kent. It's a brand spanking new arena, built for the local minor league hockey team, the Seattle Thunderbirds. And since they have a big sheet of ice, I asked Lindsay if we could go skate. She was able to arrange for some rental skates and got a bunch of people who work at the arena interested in joining us. I haven't been on ice in a long time, so it took me a while to get used to standing on the blades. I found a goalie stick sitting in one of the team benches and as luck would have it, it bent the right way for me to shoot with it.
One of Lindsay's co-workers plays in the local club league so he brought out some pucks. Don't I just look so professional? Gliding on the ice like a gazelle prancing the African safari. Shoot that puck!



Well, it ain't hockey if you don't fall down.

And finally, here's the reason leaving home for shows is tough.

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Oh Crap, It's Snowing...

As you can tell by the map above, I'm not in Altadena anymore. I'm in Seattle for the week on a show, which I'll get into later. I flew in yesterday (Saturday) and I start work this afternoon and pretty much work non-stop until Thursday night, then fly home Friday morning. I'll blog about the gig later, when it starts and we'll see if it's interesting...

I pulled open my curtain in the hotel room to get a gauge on the day, I'm meeting friends for breakfast in 20 minutes... Oh crap, it's snowing. I did not pack for this. I was figuring, I'm going to be working non-stop, no need for a winter coat to take up suitcase space.

If anything, I knew I'd be going out last night for a meal, so I packed a hoodie sweatshirt, which I can also wear at the gig if I get cold there too.

That was enough for last nights dinner adventure, which included a trip to a place called, "The Tap House Grill" for a meal and then midnight snack at "Dragonfish" with my friends. Walking distance.

But today, it's snowing, and I'm supposed to go with my friends to a cafe on the water for brunch... Hmmm... We'll see what happens...

In the meantime, I just have to say this about my restaurant choices of last night... "The Tap House Grill" has 160 beers on tap, impressive to say the least, it's got a contemporary vibe in it's design and decor, which is really nice. Beer, good. Atmosphere, good. Food, well, let's just say a contemporary place, in my opinion, shouldn't put a contemporary spin on traditional pub food. Namely, Guinness stew. I'm not saying I'm an expert on the subject of stew, I'm still trying to perfect my own recipe. I will say that making traditional Irish Guinness beef stew should not have a spicy twist to it. Yes, it makes you drink more beer, but I couldn't taste the bready deliciousness you usually get when mixing Guinness into anything. Next time, I'll get something contemporary off the menu.

And "Dragonfish", oh how I love your Portland Oregon branch. Contemporary Asian vibe, traditional Asian foods. Sake. All good. I just wish the menu in Seattle is as extensive as the one in Portland. Perhaps it's because it's a smaller restaurant, or perhaps I was with my wife in Portland, and company can make all the difference, but where the heck are the pork bows?

I brought my camera here to Seattle so I can post pictures... but alas, I left my sync cable in Altadena, you'll just have to wait for the photos.

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