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November 19, 2006
Like Operating a Transportation Device Which Would Be Completely Superfluous to a Fish
It's not the same, it won't ever be the same...
Two of my very good friends - Wayne and Lizanna - came up to visit DC this weekend. I missed them on Friday night, as I was seeing the fantastic Cirque Du Soleil which is playing in the parking lot formerly known as the Convention Center. So on Saturday I met up with them at the Clarendon Grill for the Gonzo's Nose 10th Anniversary show. I have spent multiple new years and other evenings with the Nose, back during my days as a lighting tech. Wayne and I would often tag-team these shows at very clubs around, and when I wasn't running the console I would occasionally be guitar/backline tech. I wasn't quite anticipating that Wayne would behind the board when I walked in, and yet there he was. A few minutes into the gig I offered to "drive" - it'd been at least 2 years since I'd lit a show.
A quick once-over of the board (a Chauvet DMX-40A) and I was off to the races. Certainly it wasn't the pro consoles I was used to jockeying back in the day, but they all do the same thing. The rig didn't have much programmed in it - so I gave myself a crash course during the set break and managed to program 3 banks worth of scenes. I've always had a bit of a tendency to over-program shows - you can ask my buddy Scott who'd back me up on gigs down in Florida (One Gargamel! show featured an average of 20 cues PER SONG in a 12 - 14 song set, with two particular songs featuring over 50 cues a piece).
I finally started to find my groove after some initial shaky-ness. The last gig I lit was a Honda Booth at the Orlando Auto Show in 2004. The last concert I lit was probably Gargamel!, but it may have been G-Unit. It's been a long time now, and I honestly don't remember.
As I continued to get back some of my old chops (the half-second pre beat anticipation), Wayne kept brining me beer as a thank you for running the board while he went to dance with Lizanna. This contributed to a bit of a beer haze that caused some of my photos from later in the evening to be a little shakier, but I compensating by taking over 100 pictures over the course of the evening.
At the end of the evening I traded cards with the house guy. It felt good to be back behind a lighting desk. This is definitely going to inspire me to hit up the 9:30 Club for some weekend work - it's a lot more fun when you're not relying on it to pay your rent. It's also more fun when you don't have to load anything out.
After the show we headed off to Bob & Edith's for some well-deserved omellettes.
More Photos from the Night on Flickr
Posted by MikeSager at November 19, 2006 11:00 PM
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