Festival drop

oh look. a computer. *my* computer, that is; which i've not used nor looked at in days. Been on other ones, primarily the windoze machine that runs the lighting board software. And a bit online as FB/myspz/twitter friends know. But not where i could sit and think in pixels uninterrupted.

So. yes. Currently suffering from a bad case of festival drop, or near as dammit. We put on one HELL of a show/party Sat. night. Depending on where i post this, some of you may even have been there. For those that weren't, well. i kept saying beforehand that afterwards people would/will be saying Damn, sorry i missed it; i'm expecting that even more now as word gets around. While it didn't go off flawlessly - at least one major technical hiccup, though it didn't interfere w/running the show - the flaws were of the sort that only the run crew would be aware of. For everyone else, it was an amazingly good time.

Should some be out of the loop, we did a major concert/performance/video shoot at the MC warehouse Sat. night, attended by over a hundred of our closest friends. The space belongs to bass player Frank, who realized somewhere along the way that this was his version of a midlife crisis. Glad he figured that out on his own; i wasn't going to break it to him lol ;-} Srsly, tho, if ya gotta have one, what a way to go about it. We have a stage thats inspired by the bridge of the starship Enterprise, 1960s version. We have a lightshow that maybe isn't quite Pink Floyd at the Stadium c.1978 - but knocks socks off some local concert clubs.We had four bands, tho two of them were different configurations of the Center for Rock Research, which in turn shared members with the other two (RYDR and Morticia's Chair). We had props, costumes, skits between bands and an overall concept underlying the whole thing. And one HELL of a good time putting it all together.

At this point, the days and nights have rolled into one for me; i'd have to consult my dayrunner to figure out what days i *wasn't* there. i think i lived there from Thurs thru Sunday; tho was i there Weds night too? i was, just don't recall where (if?) i slept. Several marathon sessions on the lighting console - i'm not ready to go pro with the thing by a long shot; otoh, i can now program a basic lightshow, which i couldn't do a month ago. And after staying up all night a couple nights in a row, i've gotten to where i'm itching to move on to intermediate level.

It was very apparent to me that the last songs in MC's set were much better lit than the first; evidence of my learning curve in action. i didn't even get to rehearse running their cues til they were live on stage - the drummer's had health issues, so their Weds. night practice was to the drum track of recent recordings, and i wrote cues listening to studio versions on an iPod. CRR fared better, as Frank had a bit more time to design some truly gorgeous lighting for the Radiohead set, much of it timed and themed to match the music. Their Rush set, well, matched the band name; but Matt got put in charge of running that and i think he was better up to responding to playing the console on the fly. Me, i need cuesheets unless i REALLY know the material - like i do w/ MC.

But now what? Well, car repair alas - aside from the audio glitch, the only other snafu of the evening was that someone tried to jack my car late Sat. after it was all over. i honestly don't recall leaving my window open enuf to fit an arm thru, nor my passenger door unlocked; but i must've done one or the other as that's how i found it. At least they were able to get in w/out breaking any windows. They smashed my ignition w/a brick but only succeeded in knocking the module out of the steering column; fortunately, they weren't then able to use the screwdriver trick to get it going; or else were interrupted, don't know which. Either way, the car was still there, not a thing stolen, only damage the ignition module. We can pop it back in and get the engine to turn over but it won't stay running; some internal failsafe i guess. Don't yet know if i can get just that fixed or if its going to mean the whole steering column; hoping the former coz its not like i have bucks to throw at car repair just now :-\

However, Big Love beckons - yeah, not that kind, don't get your hopes up ;-p Big Love is the summer play; rehearsals began last week so as of tonite i'm back at the theater every evening there isn't a performance. i'm housesitting over this weekend, which will mean unlimited access to internet; tho with this self-imposed fast, i find that after checking all main accounts & sites and doing a few updates, i'm too bored to sit around looking at anything else (the main reason i'm no longer active on Living Room Salon; i'd really prefer to hold conversations live and in person). Hoping i get called for an interview this week, tho if that can wait til after i have a car again, it'd be nice. i did have a phone interview last week so its not entirely wishful thinking.

Now, tho, i've a bike tire to put air into, a garden to check in on, stuff to do at the library, then eventually make my way to Tremont one way or another. All of which will have happened, in theory, by the time this posts. And the next thing i know it'll be Solstice, which already has several competing demands on my time; followed by Somebody's birthday weekend and ditto; then July 4th and - uh-yah, ditteaux it is. Which leaves one whole week before i fly to Colorado to surprise my folks, see my broheim and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Who, aside from parents and brother, i haven't seen in - twenty years? Or so? Then Big Love opens when i get back and runs thru August and then summer's over and i'll be booking into fall before that happens. For somebody who was never too good with time to begin with, my concept has gotten both more flexible and more precise at once.

Anyhoo. Sounds like Bloo is repairable - magician to the rescue! - so i need to shower, dress, and make like a tree. Laterz, good people. Love ya all.