Been climbing up a storm!

Hey all

Been getting quite a bit of work this month, and the best part is its been mostly climbing and rigging work. It's pretty exciting because I love rigging and climbing steel, and I am looking forward to much more.

I also had the wonderful experience of being one of the eight front of house Follow Spot Operators for Metallica. I had done follow spot work for small theatre shows before but really nothing of that scale. It was pretty exciting, ESPECIALLY because right when Metallica was supposed to go on stage, five of the eight follow spots crashed! Up till then I was really nervous but luckily, my light was one of the three that stayed up! with this development being the first of many missed cues on the part of Video and Pyro, and technical difficulties (none of which were my fault). With the Lighting Designer screaming profanities into the clear-com headset, I felt any and all worries I had as resident rookie, lift from my shoulders and quickly realized it was going to be pretty easy to do a good job. by the last third of the show all the spots were back up, and I was rocking the follow spot. By the end of the show, I had a smile that nothing could have ruined.

Me rigging a point in the roof of "The Black Monster" The stage for  Rock The Hill 2011 featuring Metallica.
Picture by Duane Dodge

My view from the front of house, stage left follow spot tower.
Picture by Cody Hatt

 The next week Cirque du Soleil's touring show Quidam Rolled into town, and after a smooth setup and more then enough days to recover I strolled in for the out as a Rigger and feeling more confident then ever, little did I know I would be thrown a curve ball. Marcel the Head Rigger informed me I would be a Ground Rigger instead of a Climbing Rigger. this caught me completely off guard, and with zero instruction in ground rigging my confidence went from soaring, to crashing through the floor. But I put on the white hard hat, and bright yellow safety shirt and walked onto the deck at least trying to pretend I had an idea of what was going on. It worked out well, I worked my guts out, and the other ground riggers were more then patient with me and always willing to give me tips. After the call, the Head Rigger and I went over what I learned (or should have learned in some cases) and how it applied to working in the air. It was definitely a good experience and I am sure it won't be my last time ground rigging, and though ground rigging has its advantages, I much rather be in the air.

That's what has been happening with me, there doesn't seem to be much more more concert work till the fall so if some one is looking for an enthusiastic tech give me a jingle.

Thanks for reading!