Behind the scenes

Shaw went to work on a big event with me this week at a really cool concert venue in Scottsdale.  Those two road cases that he's sitting next to- he wheeled those up the ramp in the loading dock and up on the stage.  He's having a snack break now- union rules...  

Another company called Creative Backstage setting up an LED screen at the rear of the stage.

Shaw took the camera and to get a shot of his old man but only got a silhouette of me as the LED screen was being tested.  I was setting up the sound equipment. 

More testing...  Those speakers on the floor at the foot of the stage will be going back up to sit on the edge so that the musicians performing later will be able to hear themselves properly. 

"Recharge!" was the name of the event.  "Venue" (in red) is the...well... it's the venue... it's very posh and Scottsdale-ish- kinda like a singer with one name like "Sting" or "Cher" or "Madonna"  I'm not sure it flows as nice though..."Venue..." nah...  I wasn't sure it looked very good to have left a hole in the LED screen so that the Venue sign would show through.  There are some support cables holding up the lower sections since they aren't attached to a section of screen above.  When the theater was darkened and the screen and everything came on, it looked really good.  You could see the violet lighting behind the screen shining upward on the brick wall and creating really cool shadows.   

This next shot is taken just as the event was about to start and the room was all set.  The balcony on the upper right and behind my head makes this bigger than one would think.  Our event had 500 people but they put about 800 people in for concerts.  There is an expansion going on that will accommodate 1500 people in this space soon.

My friends- The Lisa Pressman Ensemble playing some great jazz.  You can see my DJ workstation just going out of the shot on the right.  The combo played a 45 minute set and I played the rest of the night before and after them. 

Shaw had already gone home by this point but here's the load out... breaking down the trusses and getting everything back in the road cases and heading home.