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You Learn Something New Every Year Pass aka...This space reserved...
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Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
Inventory is complete, everything looks good! Beads look like they're doing their thing and everything was/is packed nice and tight. Two of the cigars were switched in the wrong numbered bags, I fixed that.
This is just about all packed back up! Robbie's been pm'd and answered back already, he's ready!
This is just about all packed back up! Robbie's been pm'd and answered back already, he's ready!
grateful1
Oh My!
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 19,599
So, you looked at them and packed them up..and shipped them back out?
Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
No, I'm just causing trouble and trying to hold this up with my puts and takes...
Here they are for everyone's perusal:
Take #9 BTL Put #66 ESG Churchill
Take #20 Graycliff Elegante Put #67 Partagas 150 AA
Take #22 ECCJ Put #68 Tatuaje Cojuno 2003
Put #69 Tatuaje Especiales
grateful1
Oh My!
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 19,599
No.
Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
Sweet! I've got Gary's approval, I guess we'll get this in the mail!
Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
My Lesson:
Has anyone ever been to a concert and wondered how on earth this:
Becomes this:
It is something that happens in a very quick turnaround and I'm guessing most of you will be surprised. Hi, I'm Andy, most of you might remember me from my previous engagements, "How to get along and welcome refugee members" and "Oh my god, there's a cancerous lung on my RyJ's". In my life before being a stay at home Dad, among other things I worked as a high rigger in Las Vegas and Denver, and as a climber/high angle stunt rigger in NYC on the off-broadway show De La Guarda. Many years as a rock climber have given me an unhealthy comfort level with heights, so these jobs were perfect for me, and something I was always amazed they paid me for since it was so much fun. So this lesson is about Concert Rigging in an arena setting, which is what I did at Pepsi Center in Denver, as well as other smaller Denver area venues.
So here's the schedule, and times that things happen usually depend on the size of the show (i.e. Is is someone basic and boring like David Gray or is it someone huge and exciting like The Rolling Stones):
Early morning (6 a.m.-ish) - The semi trucks show up with the equipment. Again depending on the size of the show this could be anywhere from 5 to 15 trucks full of shit. We're talking all the instruments, speakers, lighting, truss, rigging equipment, power and sound cables, backstage/dressing room furniture, clothing and stage apparal, and of course the catering equipment.
At this point there will be anywhere from 25-100 stagehands and 5-20 riggers ready to go. The stagehands do most of the ground work, lots of basic labor. The ground riggers set up all of the truss and equipment on the ground, and the high riggers install all the anchors to pull everything into the air. We'll focus on what I did as a high rigger. The picture below is what things look like when we're done:
If you look closely, you'll see lots of cables going from that truss up into the air, disappearing into the ceiling. What the high rigger does, in a nutshell, is walk out 100 ft off the floor onto a 6-10" wide steel beam, drop a rope which gets tied onto the steel cable seen in that picture, then pull the cable and a length of chain all the way up to the ceiling where we wrap an anchor around the steel beam I'm standing on and secure it. Then repeat anywhere from 50 to 120 times. That chain that I pull up runs through a chain motor similar to what lifts an engine out of a car, and the motors, in unison, lift all of the truss and speakers into the air above the concert-goers heads. So you can understand the consequences of failure... Also, while I'm working all the way up there besides the risk of falling I have to be careful not to drop anything onto the people working on the floor, hence killing them. But don't worry, I'm wearing a full-body harness and I'm clipped in to a very sophisticated fall-arrest system.
Below is a closer look at a very basic lighting truss before it goes up.
So, we work all morning and will have the entire concert stage and rigging installed and ready to go by early afternoon. If we're there longer than 5 hours we get fed (that semi full of catering equipment is essentially a full commercial kitchen that can prepare kick-ass meals). Essentially, in about 6-8 hours time we go from an empty arena floor to a full concert stage ready for sound check then the show.
But that's not all folks!
4:00 p.m.-ish - Sound check, a few riggers will need to stay for last minute adjustments to speaker columns and lighting truss.
7:00 p.m. - Showtime! Often times, the local riggers will also run the spotlights for the show. In the picture below you can see a small ladder ascending up to the truss, where a spotlight and comfy chair await a rigger who will run/move the spot during the show on cue from the lighting director. It's truly one of the best seats in the house!
10 p.m.-ish - The show is over, time to break it all down. Otherwise known as the loadout, what took us up to 10 hours to install will be out and loaded on the trucks generally in under 4. The industry standard is that I get paid for 4 hours worth of work minimum just for showing up, so if we get the loadout done in 3 hours I'm still paid for 4, hence everyone's motivation to move fast. Also, the trucks need to hit the road and get to the next venue to repeat the process.
So that's it, I hope you all enjoyed my lesson!
Has anyone ever been to a concert and wondered how on earth this:
Becomes this:
It is something that happens in a very quick turnaround and I'm guessing most of you will be surprised. Hi, I'm Andy, most of you might remember me from my previous engagements, "How to get along and welcome refugee members" and "Oh my god, there's a cancerous lung on my RyJ's". In my life before being a stay at home Dad, among other things I worked as a high rigger in Las Vegas and Denver, and as a climber/high angle stunt rigger in NYC on the off-broadway show De La Guarda. Many years as a rock climber have given me an unhealthy comfort level with heights, so these jobs were perfect for me, and something I was always amazed they paid me for since it was so much fun. So this lesson is about Concert Rigging in an arena setting, which is what I did at Pepsi Center in Denver, as well as other smaller Denver area venues.
So here's the schedule, and times that things happen usually depend on the size of the show (i.e. Is is someone basic and boring like David Gray or is it someone huge and exciting like The Rolling Stones):
Early morning (6 a.m.-ish) - The semi trucks show up with the equipment. Again depending on the size of the show this could be anywhere from 5 to 15 trucks full of shit. We're talking all the instruments, speakers, lighting, truss, rigging equipment, power and sound cables, backstage/dressing room furniture, clothing and stage apparal, and of course the catering equipment.
At this point there will be anywhere from 25-100 stagehands and 5-20 riggers ready to go. The stagehands do most of the ground work, lots of basic labor. The ground riggers set up all of the truss and equipment on the ground, and the high riggers install all the anchors to pull everything into the air. We'll focus on what I did as a high rigger. The picture below is what things look like when we're done:
If you look closely, you'll see lots of cables going from that truss up into the air, disappearing into the ceiling. What the high rigger does, in a nutshell, is walk out 100 ft off the floor onto a 6-10" wide steel beam, drop a rope which gets tied onto the steel cable seen in that picture, then pull the cable and a length of chain all the way up to the ceiling where we wrap an anchor around the steel beam I'm standing on and secure it. Then repeat anywhere from 50 to 120 times. That chain that I pull up runs through a chain motor similar to what lifts an engine out of a car, and the motors, in unison, lift all of the truss and speakers into the air above the concert-goers heads. So you can understand the consequences of failure... Also, while I'm working all the way up there besides the risk of falling I have to be careful not to drop anything onto the people working on the floor, hence killing them. But don't worry, I'm wearing a full-body harness and I'm clipped in to a very sophisticated fall-arrest system.
Below is a closer look at a very basic lighting truss before it goes up.
So, we work all morning and will have the entire concert stage and rigging installed and ready to go by early afternoon. If we're there longer than 5 hours we get fed (that semi full of catering equipment is essentially a full commercial kitchen that can prepare kick-ass meals). Essentially, in about 6-8 hours time we go from an empty arena floor to a full concert stage ready for sound check then the show.
But that's not all folks!
4:00 p.m.-ish - Sound check, a few riggers will need to stay for last minute adjustments to speaker columns and lighting truss.
7:00 p.m. - Showtime! Often times, the local riggers will also run the spotlights for the show. In the picture below you can see a small ladder ascending up to the truss, where a spotlight and comfy chair await a rigger who will run/move the spot during the show on cue from the lighting director. It's truly one of the best seats in the house!
10 p.m.-ish - The show is over, time to break it all down. Otherwise known as the loadout, what took us up to 10 hours to install will be out and loaded on the trucks generally in under 4. The industry standard is that I get paid for 4 hours worth of work minimum just for showing up, so if we get the loadout done in 3 hours I'm still paid for 4, hence everyone's motivation to move fast. Also, the trucks need to hit the road and get to the next venue to repeat the process.
So that's it, I hope you all enjoyed my lesson!
br174
Lifelong Fan
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2008
- Messages
- 1,821
I don't miss the work (Local 11 Boston Stagehands) but those meals and perks were fabulous. Was always able to hang around to see some of the show and got T-Shirts from every show we did. Not to mention always catching a glimpse or able to talk to the preformers.
Brian
Brian
Gonz
Ultra Runner
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
Honestly I miss the rigging a bit, but I'm too far from any decent venues to do it anymore. It was a ton of fun, like Brian said the free meals, often times free shows (if running a truss spot), and of course a tour t-shirt at the end of the night was always nice! Nothing like seeing The Rolling Stones from 30 feet above the stage! And of course the looks I get when I wear my Neil Diamond New Year's show t-shirt, or even better my Nsync or Britney Spears shirts!
insight
Making friends everywhere!
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2006
- Messages
- 8,233
All, Tim let me know earlier he will be out of town on vacation when this is due to hit him so we will be bumping him until later. I will figure out where sometime soon but probably sometime right before this thing hits KC. So Mark, you are sending to John when this gets to you. I will also update the first post to reflect Andy's P/T and his lesson (yeah fuckers he posted one of those!)
ELittle
Snowman Cage Inventor
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2007
- Messages
- 807
I hope these are acceptable:
T: Macanudo jamaica
T: Acid Kuba Kuba
T: Teamo blah blahblah
P: Rocky patel does it matter what stick
P: Camaco foil wrapped churchil
P: Swisher sweet with plastic tip (circa 2006)
Thanks for lettign me play!
T: Macanudo jamaica
T: Acid Kuba Kuba
T: Teamo blah blahblah
P: Rocky patel does it matter what stick
P: Camaco foil wrapped churchil
P: Swisher sweet with plastic tip (circa 2006)
Thanks for lettign me play!
