GAAHHH

Today at work was crazy. As you may know, I work at a roadhouse a couple blocks from where I live. I work chiefly on electrics crew and lately I've been working 40-50+ hours a week. Being a roadhouse, we get shows in and out at blinding speeds (having a production manager who was incapable of asking the question "is this possible?" didn't help. Fortunately, they're gone now).

The first part of the day was great--5 hours striking the light plot for a modern dance show (over 90 instruments that had to be preped to get shipped out within the next couple of days) and return to our rep light plot with some of my favorite people to work with and spend time with. That went great. Then, I was asked to wait for another hour and a half to give my coworker a hand loading in a chamber orchestra. We did as much as possible to prepare before they arrived, but since they had a vague tech rider, there wasn't much we could do. They came in, took over, and were unclear as to what they wanted, making our lives a little difficult. We did what they wanted (scrambling to set up shells that had been covered in sawdust by a pair of carps a couple months ago while roaming orchestra members prowled areas where they shouldn't have been) and they set to rehearsing as we set up what they needed.

Then, their egos began to kick in. For some reason, people who pay to use our theatre feel entitled. Wrong, they are in our space and there is a lot of etiquette that non-theatre people overlook entirely that can make an experience very unsatisfying.

Now, as you may know, stage lights are BRIGHT. That's a good thing. That means people can see you, right? Orchestras need to be able to see the conductor and they need to be able to see their music and there are many ways, especially with our excellent rep plot designed by our technical director, that the musicians can be comfortable and seen at the same time, however the group in today refused to cooperate. They wanted no front light, no side light, no back light, and there was no down light that I could offer them at the time. They wanted work lights that could not be turned on. No music stand lights (apparently, they make them look too much like a pop band?? )...aagh and they were so RUE and INCONSIDERATE about it. Unbelievable. Would it kill them to chill out and try and work with what they paid for? Agh...it's difficult to explain my situation and my frustration and the kind of degradation that I had to slog through with them. When 20 people who have no idea what they're talking about all have better ideas about how to light them than you do when you have some experience with such matters, it's very, very stressful. At last, my coworker found a look that was horrible but allowed them to see their music, we decided to just leave it. That's what they want? It's their money. That's a battle we were poorly prepared to fight.

And that's how orchestras are. Imagine 20-40 Yngwie J. Malmsteens with violins and bassoons telling you what you're doing wrong. I'm sorry to say, that's just how it normally is. The disrespect and undercutting is fantastic. It's what I expect, but after working with such cool people the past week, it was quite a shock. So no complaints, I'm just exhausted. And that's a show I wasn't scheduled to work...

Bah I'm just rambling at this point. But rrgh. Kinda makes me want to impale myself.

Ramble away, Martin. That's why we're here.

Mhmm. But the 35 hours of overtime is going to be sweeeeet

Mo' Kahlers and X2N's?

The breakfast of champions!

Or maybe, in our cases, chumpions!

EricHaven wrote:

The breakfast of champions!

Or maybe, in our cases, chumpions!

Thats it!


Hmm, eyeballing an average bass, I could fit 5 X2N's between Kahler and Neck(20fret)..................................


I wonder could I make an extended headstock with a second Kahler.....................


Thats a plan right there!

Sounds similar to what Michael Manring does. He uses detuners on all keys, and on his bridge, and he flips them around right in the middle of songs to change the tuning structure on-the-fly.

But you might be on to something there, Bill!

Or perhaps, just plain on something!

Darkstrike wrote:

Mo' Kahlers and X2N's?

One can hope! My goal is to get some pickups to retrofit my friend's new guitar. Promised him that'd be his birthday present and I'm overdue there. I'd like to finish my BTB project and tuck some money away to put towards other projects (my Roadstar, Charvel, and Destroyer being at the top of my list).

Or something like that...but this quarter is going to be busy.

EricHaven wrote:

Sounds similar to what Michael Manring does. He uses detuners on all keys, and on his bridge, and he flips them around right in the middle of songs to change the tuning structure on-the-fly.

But you might be on to something there, Bill!

Or perhaps, just plain on something!

Like that only with whammy bars!


Only thing I'm on is cider............

Chowderboots wrote:

Darkstrike wrote:

Mo' Kahlers and X2N's?

One can hope! My goal is to get some pickups to retrofit my friend's new guitar. Promised him that'd be his birthday present and I'm overdue there. I'd like to finish my BTB project and tuck some money away to put towards other projects (my Roadstar, Charvel, and Destroyer being at the top of my list).

Or something like that...but this quarter is going to be busy.

Sounds like a lot of fun and work is ahead!

There's something about an Irishman on the cider that just makes plain sense!

I wonder if you had a nut system similar to the rollers on a Kahler trem--could that help achieve better intonation? It would definitely be a help when using a bass tremolo!

Man, my Scene Design class is going to be brutal...huge expectations that I'm nut sure if I'm going to be able to live up to there. Not sure if I have the background or artistic knack to succeed in there...but we'll see. And with my other two classes on top of that. It could be another heavy, heavy quarter.

EricHaven wrote:

There's something about an Irishman on the cider that just makes plain sense!

Probably the Irish + Booze bit...............

Aah you know...

Hey! I'm part Irish! So is Linda! Does that count?

I think we're all a little Irish inside

I'm gonna say, Hell Yeah! to both of you!


And Martin, you're after reminding me of my one of my fave lines, from Phil Lynnot on Live and Dangerous,

"Hey, any ladies here with a little Irish in them?"



"Woo! Etc."



"Anyone want a little more?"

Both Linda and I have seen video of him saying that, and it's a colorful metaphor that for us....well....I shouldn't say anymore than that.

EricHaven wrote:

Both Linda and I have seen video of him saying that, and it's a colorful metaphor that for us....well....I shouldn't say anymore than that.

Man....she's gonna kick my arse when she reads this thread!

Oh well!

Hah! Good times...

Darkstrike wrote:

And Martin, you're after reminding me of my one of my fave lines, from Phil Lynnot on Live and Dangerous,

"Hey, any ladies here with a little Irish in them?"



"Woo! Etc."



"Anyone want a little more?"

I love that album! And that line! Actually, I just love Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynott (I'm pretty sure we both misspelled that) in general!

Thin Lizzy are excellent