Hurricane Hugo and the Arrow

We were on a show called When the Arrow Flies. We pulled into Providence Rhode Island, and the load in was the biggest nightmare you could ask for. The loading dock was on the side of the building that was on a hill, so the 45' tractor trailer parked face down hill. The loading dock door was 14' above us in the air, and there was a steel I-beam that protruded from the building above the door with a chain hoist mounted to it. Everything that we had that wouldn't fit into an 8' deep elevator had to be lifted by union workers with the chain hoist. probably 80% of  everything in the truck did not fit in the elevator. So, from the second we pulled up to the venue, we were way behind the 8 ball. 

The other contributing factor to our madness, was that this was a brand new show, and we had barely fit it into the truck because there were so many new set pieces. We were not practiced at this show as we were with the other ones. As I remember, (and believe me... it is really foggy) The union guys were experts at this process even though it was crazy for us. So, the load in really went with out a hitch. It took a lot longer than we were used to, so once we got in, we really had to work hard and fast, but it all went with out much problem. 

During the show, the weather outside turned really bad, and Hurricane Hugo slammed into providence with a fury.

The load out was enough to make a grown man cry.... let alone, me a 20 year old kid. The next day we were supposed to do a show in Bangor Maine. So, at the end of the night.. and considering that the load out was going to last forever, we sent most of the kids home before it was finished so that the host families didn't have to wait around till midnight, and about 8 of us stayed to pack the truck. 

I just remember getting soaked. It was raining so hard, and the wind was blowing so fiercely, that as I was carrying one of the set pieces to the truck, a gust of wind picked me up off the ground and spit me into the street like I was a kite. As I lay there wondering if I was going to make it through the night, I looked up to see Scott Freeman soaked to the bone as well... water dripping down his face... giving me words of warm encouragement. "Come on buddy... we can do this" That was enough for me. I still had a lot to prove and I knew it. So, I got up, and picked the set piece up and headed for the truck. 

We finally had everything out of the venue, all sitting on the sidewalk, and we were trying to figure out which piece of the puzzle to put in the truck next. The Union crew closed the doors and went home. I can't recall, although I am sure Jimmy and Scotty could, how much stuff we left sitting on the sidewalk in providence, but we had had enough. So, we emptied out boxes, and racks that held set pieces, put the goods in the truck and left the containers for them sitting in Rhode Island.

Then About 5 of us plus the driver hopped into the truck and drove all night to maine. A couple guys sleeping in the sleeper cab. Me sleeping on the dash of the truck. We must have looked like a bunch of clowns as we rolled out of the cab at a Dunkin Donuts to get late night food and coffee.

The next day was Sunday and we had an afternoon matinee show, that started around 2:00 pm. That is why we had to drive all night. We needed an early start. At some point all the kids arrived, after we had unloaded the truck. They were all happy and excited... just enough to make us even more crabby having been up just about round the clock.

The show ended, and the tear down and load out was rushed, because we had to get to the local church and the kids had to perform a few songs during the evening service. Then finally we got to go home with a family... completely exhausted. Milk and cookies, scary breakfast, ham and cheese sandwich, and then off to the next city to do it all again.

10 gallons of crap in a 5 Gallon Bucket.

I was on this show called the Passion Play, and the final scene consisted of, all these kids on stage in white robes, Dry ice fog rolling all across the stage and then this 30' wide crown that stood about 7 feet tall, complete with flashing strobes in the face to make the jewels stand out. Behind the beautiful crown was a mess. There were platforms where angels stood, then closer to the top and center were platforms attached to hand cranks where angels would stand and guys would turn these hand cranks on a cue, and lift more angels into the sky, and in the center of the crown was the tallest lift where Jesus would stand and go about 12 feet into the air.

This entire crown was on wheels and would usually sit off stage left, till the last part of the show. A narrator would intro the final scene with a poetic mantra, trying to build the energy for the music to roll, and then we would light up this magical heaven scene. 

It was never perfect though. 1000 lbs of crown rolling out on to the stage with 6 or 8 kids pushing it, guided by a stage manger that was just going to be lucky enough to get off stage before the narrator finished his shpeal was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. 

You could hear it rolling out onto the stage every night in the dark. The audience being gracious enough to pretend that they were paying attention to the narrator instead of squinting in the dark to see our little circus act. 

So, this one high school we were in was a really tight stage set. Scotty Philips was stage manager, and the crown was set up back stage all ready for its appearance.  The music ends, and the narrator kicks in. I am squinting watching for the first sight of the crown in the dark, and I am not seeing anything at all. Scotty is off his headset, and there is a lot more noise than I would normally expect. 

It turns out, that the way the pull strings for all the stage curtains and travelers are fixed in this theater, there just isn't enough room to roll the crown out onto stage. 

At this point.. the narrator is just about finished, and there is just no crown on stage. 

Now Scotty Philips is a short scrappy dude.  This guy makes up for in pure determination any limitations that he has physically for sure. Maybe even the hardest working guy I ever saw in this business.

The narrator finishes, and his light goes out.. we are now officially in dead air... it is agonizing.... Then from 70 feet away... I hear a grunt, and a loud crash. Scotty basically lifted the end of the crown by himself up and over the curtain pulleys and it crashed down on to the stage. I see the shadows of the actors scurry around climbing onto the crown, and I am just waiting to hear someone on headset tell me we are ready. 

I hear the headset bouncing around backstage, and Scotty comes on breathing so heavy, you would think he just ran a marathon while smoking a carton of filterless Camels. "ROLL IT" he heaves.. and then goes back to his deathbed. 

I hit the play button on the reel to reel, and the lighting computer gets the cue, and we light it up and crank the sound like we are at the pearly gates of heaven. The show must go on!

Bill The Pervy Spot Light Operator

This one tour that we were on, we had this spot light op who was this real skinny kid. He basically had no people skills, none of us liked him, and he really did a crappy job. In retrospect, I kinda feel bad for him, because we were all so tight, and even though he was part of the crew, we basically ignored his existence on the show. You could hardly blame us though. I think his name was Bill. Bill would walk around dressed in clothes that didn't fit, and every time you saw him, his hands were in his pants pockets, and he was adjusting himself, or playing with himself... it was just disturbing. 

So, Bill would be operating the spotlight in the show and Jimmy would see that the spot was not totally lighting the narrators head.. so, he would ask things over the headset to Bill like, "Bill, do we have to pay extra to light his head?"

We would all be rolling as poor Bill would snap to attention.. jerking the spot light around like a bouncing ball... 

Bill went home early on that show.. I inherited the job of spotlight op.

Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

The way it worked when we traveled with Word of Life, was that we would do the show at a venue, sometimes it was a theater, sometimes a high school, or sometimes a church. At the end of the night, wherever it was, local families that went to the sponsoring church would stay behind after everyone left, and wait for us to finish breaking down the show, and packing it in the truck.

Then we would get paired up and sent home with a family. This family was supposed to give us some kind of snack, a clean bed, and breakfast, a bag lunch for the next day, and a ride back to the church where we would meet the group and head to the next venue.

After working as hard as we did, a light snack of milk and cookies just sucked. You were starving by the time you got to the family's home. So, it was a total crap shoot as to whether or not you went to bed hungry or not. Now, I am not complaining that my health was at risk, but when you are hungry... you are frigging hungry!

Sometimes they would stop by a restaurant and by you a cheeseburger, and if that happened.. you had hit the holy grail!  A lot of times you got pizza, which was alright in my book. Hot food was hot food. Then a good percentage of the time, it was more like a light dessert, cookies, ice cream, cake. The next morning it was a total lottery as to whether breakfast was edible or not, and almost always, at breakfast, the inevitable question would pop up. "Do you guys like ham and cheese?" 

Now, you can't really complain about ham and cheese.... it is the american sandwich for Pete's sake! I only ask you to think about this. A bag lunch sitting around everyday with the same ham and cheese sandwich that you had yesterday for lunch in Lousiville Kentucky, and are going to have today in Valdosta Georgia, and then tomorrow in Huntsville Alabama, and most likely, the day after that in Pensacola Florida. Give a guy a break!

So, occasionally, the host family would give you an option. In addition to the standard apple or banana, ziplock bag full of stale, flavorless chips, they might say something like, "we have ham and cheese, or if you want, PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY" 

You had to take a deep breath and control your excitement... they might misinterpret your shaking voice for disappointment if you weren't careful. You would try to sound as casual as you could when you responded "I would like Peanut Butter and Jelly... Please"

Once you had let that slide out of your mouth... you could then do an invisible fist pump, a silent..."Yes!" and go back to forcing down what some people think are scrambled eggs.

So, this one day, This 70 year old lady takes 8 of us guys home to this ancient house, and sends us all up into the unheated attic to sleep on old mattresses, under dusty blankets. We are all carrying on, and I suppose at that point in our 20 something year old lives, we didn't have life experience enough to know it was that bad, so it was ok. 

The next morning, we are all sitting around the living room and the old lady comes out and asks us if we want ham or p-b and j. All 8 of us ask for the Peanut butter and jelly, and the lady hobbles back into the kitchen and proceeds to lay out 16 pieces of bread and gets out a butter knife and dips it into the jelly. 

From the chair that I am sitting in, I can see into the kitchen and I am watching her make the sandwiches. Feeling good about avoiding the ham and cheese dilemma, I am just hanging out. None of the other 7 guys can see what I am seeing, as I watch this sweet, gray haired old lady spread jelly over the bread, and then I feel like I am going to puke. Out of her 70 year old mouth, comes a 70 year old tongue as she licks the knife, dips it back in and spreads more jelly on each sandwich. This continues to happen after each dip into the jar, and I sadly realize that our lunch is ruined and useless. I think to myself... "I wonder if I can trade some sucker on the bus for a nice Ham and Cheese Sandwich"

Who needs a Commercial Drivers License?

Jimmy was the official truck driver, but while the rest of the drivers would get to the venue and relax, He had to work straight through till the end. So, by the next day, when we had 600 miles to go to get to the next venue, driving the truck and staying awake was pretty difficult.

One day, Jimmy looks over at me as we are flying down the highway and says, "you wanna drive?"

I get all excited and reply "Sure!"

Since we are in a convoy with a few vehicles, stopping to change drivers was not really an option. 

Jimmy scoots forward all the way up to the steering wheel, I walk over the bench seat hunched over and slide in back of him, he bails out to the passenger seat, and I take over. 60 miles an hour with a 22,500 lb truck that is 2500 lbs overweight, and we are rocking down the highway with me at the wheel and a big smile on my face!

Jimmy watches me for a while, and then falls off to sleep. I woke Jimmy up as we approached a weigh station wondering if we should switch back, since I wasn't licensed to drive this truck, and Jimmy looks at me like I am a dumbass and says, "they aren't looking to stop guys like us.. we look like Harry Homeowner moving our personal belongs" I shrug my shoulders and say ok. After all, I really look up to Jimmy, and believe that if he thinks it is ok, then it probably is.

We pull into the weigh station, and the voice over the speaker says, to pull forward. We bounce on the scales, and the green light comes on, and away we go.

This continues to happen all over Florida, and I stopped waking Jimmy up after the first or second time. One day we are rolling through Knoxville TN, and Jimmy is awake, but I am driving, and there is a weigh station. I am an old pro at this by now, so, we go rocking into the station only to find out that the scales are closed, and this is not a weigh station, but a DOT truck inspection.

The State Trooper hops up on the cab, sticks his head inside and looks at both of us, and then at me, and asks me for my drivers license. I give it to him... Scared to death, we are both dead quiet, and Johnny law asks if I have a log book. I look at Jimmy. Jimmy says no. Johnny law asks if I have a medical card. Again I look at Jimmy. Jimmy says no. The officer takes off his 1972 Johnny law sunglasses and in a thick southern, (don't mess with me) accent, says "boy, do you know what you need to do to legally drive one of these trucks?" I am shaking like a leaf. I don't look at Jimmy this time. I say with my voice quivering, "No Sir" he then raises his voice, and says, "you are facing up to $5000.00 in fines, I suggest you get off the road until you do!"

I say yes sir, and he hands me back my license, and jumps off the cab and with a violent swing of his arm, he motions for me to get out of his sight!

I slowly take off, my hands shaking, and my adrenaline rush wearing off. I pull over to the side of the road, and We switch drivers, and that was about the last time I drove the truck on that tour. 

It all worked out, and probably, it was better that I was driving than it would have been if Jimmy was, because Jimmy hadn't been filling out his log book for weeks, so the officer might have ticketed him instead of just letting this 20 year old idiot go.

Professional Electricians

Our rig required a single phase power distro. Unlike the distro's of today. We would connect 4 single lines of feeder to our huge 800 lb dimmer rack and then the entire show including audio would power from the dimmer rack. Now I was about 20 years old at this point, and between Jimmy and I there was really a lot to get done every day when we would load in. So, once the first couple of shows happened, I inherited the job of doing the tie-in. 

This was pivotal in my career... understanding electricity... being too young to be scared of it. Having to figure out amperage, voltage and doing these tie-ins in theaters, schools, and churches all over America. 

I was doing these tie-ins at many different venues along the tour. Some of them were easy because the venue had a proper disconnect on the stage, so the tie-in happened while the power was off, and then it was easy to meter the lugs and make sure that they were dead.

Other times, I would be in the electrical room of a church, and have to unscrew the cover of the panel off and then with an allen wrench covered in electrical tape, unscrew the main feed to the panel and then slide our tail up inside the 200 amp lug and tighten it back up risking life and limb. 

There were times when I unscrewed the main leads of an 800 amp service with the power till live. So, ignorance is bliss. I really didn't understand how dangerous this whole process was. I just knew that it was in my best interest to do it right.

 

So, we landed at this one high school and I talked to the maintenance guy and found that the auditorium had no proper power disconnect. He grabbed a 6' ladder and went out into the hall behind the stage and climbed up into a drop ceiling to reveal some kind of power distribution/breaker panel. I climb up there with a screwdriver, set and my allen wrenches. The four leads hanging around my neck so that I could maintain control over them, and unscrew one of the main power lugs so that I could slide my own hot lead in next to it. KABAMM!!!

Sparks everywhere... I am still holding on to their power lead trying not to move it, my hair is singed and all the hairs on my arm are totally burned off. There are kids screaming.. running around freaking out, and I am 6 feet in the air on a rickety wooden ladder. 

Turns out that the box that the maintenance guy told me to tie into, was feeding a large HVAC unit, and while I had the lug loosened, the HVAC unit kicked in and drew a huge load, causing it to arc and explode in my face. I held fast, and got the lug tightened back up. I suppose the adrenaline helped me get through it. Climbed down off the ladder, and Jimmy who had heard the commotion came around the corner and looked at me, and in a very calm voice,  asked...  "you ok?" I said yes.. he said.. "ok" and went back to work. 

Thats what I loved about working with Jimmy.. no drama. 

Certified Riggers

We rolled into some high school in what I remember as somewhere near Richmond Virginia, and we had a scaled down version of the big truss rig.

This truss was about 2' x 2' or so and came in 2 or 3 sections as I remember.

The stage hand asked us how the thing was, and we told him 750 lbs. I think that was just the best guess that we had between Scotty's guess, and Jimmy and my guess. 

We really didn't include the weight of the cables powering the thing as well. So, the guy goes up into the fly gallery, and lowers a pipe, and we haul out our spanset and shackles, make a quick basket and up it goes.

This is our first show of the tour, so we are feeling pretty good that we have trimmed the truss up there.

We do the show, clear the stage and stagehand dude, flies the pipe back down so we can take off the spanset and shackles. The pipe comes down and it is bent like a roller coaster. The weight of the truss hanging from two points has made his iron pipe look like a piece of spaghetti!

The guy comes down from the fly rig and sees it, and says... I thought you said that your truss was only 750 lbs. We look at each other, and say to the guy, It is!

The guy should have known what the weight was when he was loading the weights into the arbors in the fly rig. We had no real idea up until that point. Thank goodness that we didn't have a fly cable failure and have the whole thing crash down to the stage and kill someone. 

This was one of the first bonding experiences that Jimmy and I had. Know when to keep your mouth shut... and back the other guy's play. 

Thats what the cool guys do!

The Rig, the Setup, and the Break Down

These stories are not chronologically in order, but I don't think that really matters.

First I should pay tribute to a guy named Scott Freeman. 

Scotty was the Technical Director of Word of Life Tours. 

A guy named Harry had these visions for shows, and Scotty would create them technically. 

Scotty was way ahead of his time, and was working in what now I see was a totally underbudget endevour. 

The Rig that Scotty designed and built... welding it by hand was just amazing. 

The rig consisted of 3' x 3' aluminum box trusses that were between 8' and 12' long. these sections connected to each other end to end to make about a 48' long front section and 36' back section. These trusses were connected with sections in between them perpendicularly to form a square. 

Then inside the trusses there were about 60 Par 64 lighting cans mounted to uni-strut with spring nuts. the rig was wired with electrical cable and all of that was fed to boxes with multi-pin connectors to the Stage Right side. 

We would bolt four towers to the ends of the trusses, and then CM lodestar chain hoists would attach to the top of the tower with the motor at the bottom sitting in the truss. Once everything was bolted together, we would activate the chain hoists and the truss would climb the towers. 

We would stop at about 5 feet and then roll speaker cabinets with two 18" subwoofers, two 10" mids and a huge horn that I have to believe was a 2" driver as well, under the truss and attach them with chain. there was a  huge roll drop that was mounted to the front section of the truss where we would attach a 45' scrim curtain to it and roll it up. We would then connect as much cabling as we needed to at "work" level, pre focus some of the lights, and try to get as much done on the truss as we could before it climbed to 15 or 18 feet depending on the show. 

Once everything was as ready as it could be, we would raise the truss to show level. Once it was trimmed off, we would slide aluminum pins under the cradles that held the motors and then lower the rig down onto the pins to relieve the stress from the chain hoists.

On the back section of the truss, there were curtain traveler tracks and a 10' x 30' screen that could fly up and down via electric motors mounted on the top of the truss. 

Behind that was a 15 slide projector multi image show that was driven by a 4 track reel to reel at the Audio position. This whole rig was hidden by royal blue curtains.

 

The part of this whole production that I am leaving out, is that the stage hands that we had to work with were all college kids that were the performers and singers in the show.

90 kids would roll off the busses and start unloading the truck. The local union stage hands, what stand around in disbelief at the ants scurrying around the stage doing tasks that they apprenticed for years to accomplish. So, Scotty had a lot on his plate to ensure that everything was being done safely. When I think about that, Scotty was really a tremendous manager. To be able to utilize the talent of these kids, encourage them, motivate them and do this all without having ever met them prior till about 3 weeks before opening night, was really something special.

Once the rig was up, it was usually about 4:00 pm and we would send almost everyone off to a local church to eat dinner. This was our chance to tweak the rig, EQ the sound and organize the props.  Also a chance for us, the tech crew, to crank some of our favorite tunes and bond with each other through work. 

Some of my favorite tunes from the day came from the Imperials, Truth, and Gary introduced us all to Tangerine Dream. The album was Optical Race. 

Somewhere around 6:00 pm the kids would all come back and bring us food. Styrofoam containers filled with potluck supper. Baked ham, mashed potatoes, corn, beans, Cole slaw, all tossed together never tasted so good. 6:15 sharp was stage call. The kids would all come out and we would roll the opening of the show. Then they would all scurry off to get makeup and costumes on, and we would get ready to open the doors.

About 15 minutes before the opening scene, we would roll the 4 track reel to reel, and the slide projectors would race into action like little warriors. Music would play, and a voiceover would narrate a slide show all about the organization. The show was called the Word of Life Experience.  At the end of the Experience, a host would come out and greet the audience... your palms would get sweaty, the anticipation would be incredible, and you would just wait for the first cue to roll. The show was on!

There is so much to tell about the show, that this entry is just not the place for it. 

At the end of the show, all the kids would get changed back into work clothes and then back out to the stage to tear it all apart. Everyone had a job, and was responsible to put things away in road cases and boxes to ensure that tomorrow night, it was all ready for the setup.

Once the last truss, and case was in the truck and the door closed, we would head back to the edge of the stage to get assigned to a local church family that would take us home, and we would try to get some sleep. 

Back at the local church in the morning, Hop in the truck and haul it all over to another city to do it all again starting at 2:00 pm. 

That is a general idea of what we were trying to accomplish!

 

The Mission Statement

This blog is being created to capture the magic that causes me to love this business so much. I will do the best I can to recapture past events that shaped my life, gave me laughs, made me cry. 

Much of this will involve a gentleman named Jimmy Deyoung. One of my mentors in my early career. 

Jimmy and I traveled the east coast from Florida to Maine most of the time in a 24 foot box truck. Listening to our Sony Walkmans in absolute silence. Every once in a while, you could legally break the code of silence to inform the other guy of a radio station that you were listening to that had a good song on it. 

The the thing was, that just before we left to go on this tour, Jimmy broke up with this really hot chick. So he was in no mood to be stuck in a truck with little 20 year old Steve for the next 8 weeks. He immediately made a few rules. Rule Number 1 No love songs.... Classic Rock only!

8 weeks of listening to Steppenwolf certainly had something to do with my love for the industry... or at least it shaped how I viewed it.

Rule Number 2 You can fart in the truck, but you have to roll your window down.

Rule Number 3 A clean truck is a happy truck. 

Everytime we would stop at a rest stop Jimmy would throw everything out that wasn't attached to the cab. If we stopped at 9:00 am then you better have eaten your lunch, because if it was sitting on the bench and you left to go to the bathroom... it was gone.

Rule Number 4 You can't pick up chicks while you are driving a big yellow truck. 

I would see a hot chick in a car down below us and start trying to flirt with her... Jimmy would say... Steve.. you can't pick up chicks in a yellow truck.. it just doesn't work.

those are the rules I remember right now.. there were plenty of unspoken ones but this is 20 years ago, so I will be hard pressed to remember them I am sure. 

I hope you enjoy this attempt to capture what I consider to be one of the most fun times in my life.