Flamenco en Flagrante
Today I worked 12 hours.
Technically I had a lunch break when I arrived at noon.
Meaning that I hurriedly ate lunch
while doing only 3 or 4 other things at once.
But then again,
4 hours of my workday included watching/photographing
a live flamenco performance.
For the 10 of us on crew... it's a live performance.
For the thousands who will eventually watch it
it is just another video.
Yesterday was a 4 hour performance from a 22-year-old singer/songwriter
who went viral with some videos last year.
He forgot he was coming to record with us,
and went on a hike in the outback.
I called his mom/biz manager,
and she had him in the studio, showered and ready
two hours later.
Moms, yo.
Yesterday I also organized the successful delivery
and stowing of a 540 pound
9 foot tall shoe
to our studio.
The aforementioned mom said,
"WOAH! It came HERE?!
I saw them hauling it out of the mall on my way to work this morning!"
Because it's actually a small little world
in a city of 300,000 people.
Today I learned our studio was gifted a Steinway baby grand piano
if we agreed to pay for it to travel from Cincinnati.
We agreed.
I AM VERY EXCITED!
We also agreed to buy a new mixer,
which we have needed ever since we started to record bands in studio.
It was a job of YEARS convincing our sound engineer
that it was BETTER FOR HIM
if we had a sound board with enough channels we can ISO
and master in post
rather than relying on him
to be the ONLY PERSON insane enough
to WANT to MacGuyver solutions
to record AND live monitor
a 9-piece rock band
(with three percussionists)
on our 15 year old
16-channel soundboard
which was purchased to manage sound for
topical round tables,
therapeutic gentle exercise shows,
[FYI, this shit works. Maryann is almost 90 years old in that video!]
and the occasional live political debate.
Last Tuesday was our first band recording of the season.
I've been working toward this VERY busy week for 4 months.
I picked an 80 year old solo singer/songwriter
who has self-published several albums
but a literal unknown
(for multiple reasons).
I didn't hire him because I thought he was the best I could find,
but because:
- He is an older person
- He is accomplished
- He is communicative and responsive
- His brother HAUNTED my inbox and phone for two years saying,
"We love your show! Please hire my brother, he deserves his shot!"
- His albums range from "okay" to "not bad"
- His good tracks WERE good, even if they were few and far between
- He is a soloist (ie: affordable to pay and easy to record)
- He has many instrumentals (most people do not write instrumentals)
- He was conversationally kind
- He is from a rural area further afield than most guests
- It was the first recording of the TV season,
which means the crew is rusty
not having recorded an episode since January.
What I did not take into account:
- The recordings I heard where he sang
were 15 years old.
Womp. Womp.
The next day after the performance my boss approached me,
"Um,... that last guy was not the quality
we've come to expect from your bookings."
I'll take that as a compliment,
AND I do not regret the choice.
I really do believe in ensuring showing a diversity of:
gender, personality, age, ethnicity, instrument choice, identity, style, genre,
... and yes, even diversity of quality/skill/talent.
However, I redeemed myself in the crew's eyes
when the next band came in and blew everyone's socks off for 4 hours.
And then the next band did the same thing.
And the next band did the same thing.
And the next band did the same thing.
And then today's performance had EVERYONE in the crew saying,
"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever worked on!
This is going to be amazing."
I hope this means
they'll stop complaining
when I keep hiring dancers
even though it makes for much longer recording days.
I was ushering out one of the musicians.
She's a violinist for the symphony
and gig musician for a dozen different bands.
She was talking about how she's VERY busy,
but it doesn't feel like "work"
that her life has been "all play all day"
ever since she decided to dedicate her life to playing music.
I am so busy
(and so tired!!)
during these short and tight production windows,
but I am SO happy, too.
I absolutely love it.
At work I get to say things like,
"Hey Angie!
Mind if I borrow the bubble bazooka I made you buy for the office,
and take it to the Production Crew pool party we're having
when we're done with all the recordings?"
or,
"Hey Neil... since you're standing in the bassist's light,
while we set lights... would you air guitar a little for me while I take your picture?"
and,
"Hey [other] Neil... since you're standing in the guitarist's light
while we set cameras would YOU air guitar a little for me?"
and then,
"Hey EVERYONE!! Which Neil air-guitar'd better?? CLICK FOR PICS! VOTE NOW!!"
or,
"She's going to sing from within the giant red shoe
while her friend does a burlesque-style tease dance
AROUND the shoe... I think?
Oh, wait! Nevermind her set plot looks like it's the swing dancers
dancing around her singing in the shoe. Sorry!"
In April I wrote about some doin's
like raising money so my friend could get eyeball surgery,
and booking the production window I'm working on right now
and the vacation with my brother that I just came home from.
It feels like the last 3 months barely existed....
they flew by in a whirlwind of plotting, planning, sittin' on the occasional baby,
and more!
Well, my friend got his eye surgery two weeks ago.
For the last year
one of his eyes was reduced to
obfuscated dark/light sensitivity
and SOME shapes.
Detail was GONE.
There was only light and shadow and movement
and even those were not CLEAR
due to the corneal scarring he had.
He called me and choked up talking about
seeing leaves shimmering on trees.
Not just LIGHT shimmering and blinking...
but the leaves dancing and shimmering.
His once-bad eye
is now his best eye
and he keeps surprising himself
with his eye's new ability to see;
and more than that...
to see clearly.
More clearly than that eye has seen for the 10+ years
BEFORE the home injury that blinded it.
July has been fruitful.
There are more fruits to harvest this month, though.
July isn't over.
There are two recording days,
several more artist interviews to get,
and a big concert coming up.
There is no break to be had... YET.
But THIS year, I know words like
"backlining"
and
"cartage"
and it's helping me run this year's concert better than last year's.
People I don't actually know
have started to ask to have their picture taken with me.
That's new.
What a hot July it's been
(and will be, looking at the weather forecasts)
in SO MANY WAYS.
And I don't even mind, really.
Has the summer been fruitful for you so far,
or just... a record-breaking sweatbox?
Technically I had a lunch break when I arrived at noon.
Meaning that I hurriedly ate lunch
while doing only 3 or 4 other things at once.
But then again,
4 hours of my workday included watching/photographing
a live flamenco performance.
For the 10 of us on crew... it's a live performance.
For the thousands who will eventually watch it
it is just another video.
Yesterday was a 4 hour performance from a 22-year-old singer/songwriter
who went viral with some videos last year.
He forgot he was coming to record with us,
and went on a hike in the outback.
I called his mom/biz manager,
and she had him in the studio, showered and ready
two hours later.
Moms, yo.
Yesterday I also organized the successful delivery
and stowing of a 540 pound
9 foot tall shoe
to our studio.
The aforementioned mom said,
"WOAH! It came HERE?!
I saw them hauling it out of the mall on my way to work this morning!"
Because it's actually a small little world
in a city of 300,000 people.
Today I learned our studio was gifted a Steinway baby grand piano
if we agreed to pay for it to travel from Cincinnati.
We agreed.
I AM VERY EXCITED!
We also agreed to buy a new mixer,
which we have needed ever since we started to record bands in studio.
It was a job of YEARS convincing our sound engineer
that it was BETTER FOR HIM
if we had a sound board with enough channels we can ISO
and master in post
rather than relying on him
to be the ONLY PERSON insane enough
to WANT to MacGuyver solutions
to record AND live monitor
a 9-piece rock band
(with three percussionists)
on our 15 year old
16-channel soundboard
which was purchased to manage sound for
topical round tables,
therapeutic gentle exercise shows,
[FYI, this shit works. Maryann is almost 90 years old in that video!]
and the occasional live political debate.
Last Tuesday was our first band recording of the season.
I've been working toward this VERY busy week for 4 months.
I picked an 80 year old solo singer/songwriter
who has self-published several albums
but a literal unknown
(for multiple reasons).
I didn't hire him because I thought he was the best I could find,
but because:
- He is an older person
- He is accomplished
- He is communicative and responsive
- His brother HAUNTED my inbox and phone for two years saying,
"We love your show! Please hire my brother, he deserves his shot!"
- His albums range from "okay" to "not bad"
- His good tracks WERE good, even if they were few and far between
- He is a soloist (ie: affordable to pay and easy to record)
- He has many instrumentals (most people do not write instrumentals)
- He was conversationally kind
- He is from a rural area further afield than most guests
- It was the first recording of the TV season,
which means the crew is rusty
not having recorded an episode since January.
What I did not take into account:
- The recordings I heard where he sang
were 15 years old.
Womp. Womp.
The next day after the performance my boss approached me,
"Um,... that last guy was not the quality
we've come to expect from your bookings."
I'll take that as a compliment,
AND I do not regret the choice.
I really do believe in ensuring showing a diversity of:
gender, personality, age, ethnicity, instrument choice, identity, style, genre,
... and yes, even diversity of quality/skill/talent.
However, I redeemed myself in the crew's eyes
when the next band came in and blew everyone's socks off for 4 hours.
And then the next band did the same thing.
And the next band did the same thing.
And the next band did the same thing.
And then today's performance had EVERYONE in the crew saying,
"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever worked on!
This is going to be amazing."
I hope this means
they'll stop complaining
when I keep hiring dancers
even though it makes for much longer recording days.
I was ushering out one of the musicians.
She's a violinist for the symphony
and gig musician for a dozen different bands.
She was talking about how she's VERY busy,
but it doesn't feel like "work"
that her life has been "all play all day"
ever since she decided to dedicate her life to playing music.
I am so busy
(and so tired!!)
during these short and tight production windows,
but I am SO happy, too.
I absolutely love it.
At work I get to say things like,
"Hey Angie!
Mind if I borrow the bubble bazooka I made you buy for the office,
and take it to the Production Crew pool party we're having
when we're done with all the recordings?"
or,
"Hey Neil... since you're standing in the bassist's light,
while we set lights... would you air guitar a little for me while I take your picture?"
and,
"Hey [other] Neil... since you're standing in the guitarist's light
while we set cameras would YOU air guitar a little for me?"
and then,
"Hey EVERYONE!! Which Neil air-guitar'd better?? CLICK FOR PICS! VOTE NOW!!"
or,
"She's going to sing from within the giant red shoe
while her friend does a burlesque-style tease dance
AROUND the shoe... I think?
Oh, wait! Nevermind her set plot looks like it's the swing dancers
dancing around her singing in the shoe. Sorry!"
In April I wrote about some doin's
like raising money so my friend could get eyeball surgery,
and booking the production window I'm working on right now
and the vacation with my brother that I just came home from.
It feels like the last 3 months barely existed....
they flew by in a whirlwind of plotting, planning, sittin' on the occasional baby,
and more!
Well, my friend got his eye surgery two weeks ago.
For the last year
one of his eyes was reduced to
obfuscated dark/light sensitivity
and SOME shapes.
Detail was GONE.
There was only light and shadow and movement
and even those were not CLEAR
due to the corneal scarring he had.
He called me and choked up talking about
seeing leaves shimmering on trees.
Not just LIGHT shimmering and blinking...
but the leaves dancing and shimmering.
His once-bad eye
is now his best eye
and he keeps surprising himself
with his eye's new ability to see;
and more than that...
to see clearly.
More clearly than that eye has seen for the 10+ years
BEFORE the home injury that blinded it.
July has been fruitful.
There are more fruits to harvest this month, though.
July isn't over.
There are two recording days,
several more artist interviews to get,
and a big concert coming up.
There is no break to be had... YET.
But THIS year, I know words like
"backlining"
and
"cartage"
and it's helping me run this year's concert better than last year's.
People I don't actually know
have started to ask to have their picture taken with me.
That's new.
What a hot July it's been
(and will be, looking at the weather forecasts)
in SO MANY WAYS.
And I don't even mind, really.
Has the summer been fruitful for you so far,
or just... a record-breaking sweatbox?