Real Time Gig Report

[bishopthomas]

Maybe a little off-topic since we're not recording, but it's live so what the heck. So, every year Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ has a 32-hour dance marathon to raise money for the Embrace Kids Foundation. This year we are providing lights, hired by the sound company. This is my first real lighting gig so I thought I'd report during these 32 hours of basically sitting here. Between my friend and I we own the trussing, lifts, and all conventional lighting. We rented the moving head fixtures and Avolite lighting controller. Here's a picture, more to come later. Line dancing is about to start.

[bishopthomas]

Well, two bands down and a lot of DJ crap in between. Only 23 hours remaining...

[bishopthomas]

Audio and Lighting Worlds:

[marty lester]

hang in there man! let us know when you start hallucinating.

marty.

[Remoteness]

Nice racks Bro!

Is that your work box you bought a while back?

[bishopthomas]

Thanks, Steve! Yeah, that's my workbox on the right. The left is my sound guy buddy's, but it doesn't have a table. Don't worry, I don't let him forget mine's better.

It's square dancing time now. Tracks are from 45's.

[Remoteness]

Grab a picture of the 45s!

[bishopthomas]

As per your request.

[bishopthomas]

Half way there! Only 16 more hours to go... The "big event" is over and here are a couple of pictures.

[bishopthomas]

So I've been laid up for the past three months with a broken leg. Getting 10 hours of sleep every night, watching TV and stuff during the day. This is my first gig back and it's definitely showing that I haven't done a damn thing this year. The hour of sleep I got under the stage on the gym floor just isn't cutting it....

[Fuzzy Logic]

wow 32 hrs thats insane but i bet the overtime is awesome.

how difficult is it to work with a broken leg?
do you have a plaster cast or a light weight one?

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy Logic

wow 32 hrs thats insane but i bet the overtime is awesome.

how difficult is it to work with a broken leg?
do you have a plaster cast or a light weight one?

It's finally over. Loaded out, home, showered, now off to bed. But to answer your question first: It is almost impossible. I've only been able to put weight on it for about 2 weeks, and not 100%. So I'm walking with a crutch which leaves me with one hand for carrying. And then nothing too heavy because that's more weight I'm putting on that leg. I can push cases with wheels fairly well, just not up ramps since the incline would put stress right where I broke it (two breaks each in both tibia and fibia). I've just started working again this week after three months of sitting around, so anything I can do to get out of the house keeps me sane!

I never had the plaster kind, only the standard fiberglass wrap. For the first 5 weeks, though, it was up to my hip. It was a great day when that thing came off!

[Remoteness]

Soon enough you will be back on your feet ready to get out there again!

[opentune]

Totally digging the VRX stuff!! Thanks for posting!!

(it is VRX, right?)

[Fuzzy Logic]

that couldnt be easy for you. when does that cast come off?

[bishopthomas]

opentune - Yes, VRX tops and subs, all run from two QSC PL380 amps. It was the first time I had heard 4 boxes a side and it really did the job quite well. Most of our gigs are a pair of subs and pole-mounted tops per side. It always sounds good, is easy to setup, etc, but four tops 16 feet in the air is really the way to go.

Fuzzy - A week from Wednesday (the 15th)!

[strewnshank]

Originally Posted by bishopthomas

It's finally over. Loaded out, home, showered, now off to bed. But to answer your question first: It is almost impossible. I've only been able to put weight on it for about 2 weeks, and not 100%. So I'm walking with a crutch which leaves me with one hand for carrying. And then nothing too heavy because that's more weight I'm putting on that leg. I can push cases with wheels fairly well, just not up ramps since the incline would put stress right where I broke it (two breaks each in both tibia and FBI). I've just started working again this week after three months of sitting around, so anything I can do to get out of the house keeps me sane!

I never had the plaster kind, only the standard fiberglass wrap. For the first 5 weeks, though, it was up to my hip. It was a great day when that thing came off!

First of all, congrats on a sweet gig! It looks like you nailed it.

I feel like I must chime in, however, on my experience trying to do live shows with a broken leg. I was pushing a pretty large and heavy rack up a ramp with my leg in a cast (that I could put some weight on), basically just pushing with my good leg, and then using my bad leg to hold me upright as I brought my good one back around....the rack didn't have the best wheels, and one of them kinda spun around while I was repositioning myself. Long story short, the rack ended up falling on me, and while trying to prevent it from doing so, I half tore my ACL in my good leg and set me back 4 weeks with my bad leg. Luckily I didn't get hurt by the weight of the rack on top of me!! Anyways, that's when I was new to the game and was trying to show how hard I could work. Lesson learned...just thought I'd share.

[bishopthomas]

Thanks for the kind words and sharing your experience. I've been extremely careful and will continue to be for a while after having the cast removed. Thankfully we had loaders for both the in and out so it was nice to just point and direct the eager college students. Thankfully my colleagues/friends are very understanding and would not let me do anything stupid even if I wanted to.

[bishopthomas]

Well, it's been a couple of years since I started this thread and this is now the third year at Dance Marathon. Same concepts but we've made some major changes (improvements) to the technical aspects. The main one would be that we have finally obtained permission to fly the rig from the I beams overhead. This greatly improved both the look and the functionality of the setup. Anyway, enough chatter, here are the pics. If anyone is interested in the gear or any other questions shoot.

http://nomadicpro.net/photos/DM11Setup01.JPG
http://nomadicpro.net/photos/DM11Band01.JPG
http://nomadicpro.net/photos/DM11Club01.JPG
http://nomadicpro.net/photos/DM11Club03.JPG

And a video during the "club" part:
YouTube - Rutgers Dance Marathon 2011

[boojum]

Yes, flying the rig is much better. It looks great. Onward and upward for a great university.