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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => The Basement => Topic started by: Justice C. Bigler on September 15, 2022, 03:22:59 AM
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Last night I worked my final show with the Blue Man Group North American Tour.
The journey that started for me over three years ago and included 304 shows, many dozens of rehearsals, spanned most of the United States and a brief run to Mexico, covered thousands of miles on a bus or airplane, hundreds of nights in a hotel, four show tech revisions and weathered more than two years of a global pandemic that nearly destroyed my career along with the entire performing arts industry; ended with a solid show in Indianapolis after I spent a week training my replacement. The new A1 will do a great job and I made sure that he is better prepared than any of the other department head changes we have seen since the tour began in August of 2019.
I’ve made lots of new friends, worked with people I’ve met as a house tech while they were on the road, worked with others that I worked with 15 years ago in summer stock, have had four different head carpenters, three different stage managers and three A2s. All told there have been 38 crew members that have worked on this tour at different times (so far). I was the only crew member to return after the restart this past February, and am the last of the original crew to leave. I built this show from the ground up and have had my hands on every cable bundle, every rack, every XLR connector, and applied most of the labels to everything, and programmed large sections of the audio system. Like raising a child, it has been both the most difficult and the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had.
But it’s time to move on.
Later today I head home for a few days. And then on Sunday I fly to East Rutherford, New Jersey to join the shop build already in progress and start my new tour. (More on that later).
Yes I’m moving on for better pay and a much better schedule.
And though this is the end of the road for me and this Blue Man Group Tour, I suspect that it won’t be the end of me and Blue Man Group. Just a brief intermission.
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Last night I worked my final show with the Blue Man Group North American Tour.
The journey that started for me over three years ago and included 304 shows, many dozens of rehearsals, spanned most of the United States and a brief run to Mexico, covered thousands of miles on a bus or airplane, hundreds of nights in a hotel, four show tech revisions and weathered more than two years of a global pandemic that nearly destroyed my career along with the entire performing arts industry; ended with a solid show in Indianapolis after I spent a week training my replacement. The new A1 will do a great job and I made sure that he is better prepared than any of the other department head changes we have seen since the tour began in August of 2019.
I’ve made lots of new friends, worked with people I’ve met as a house tech while they were on the road, worked with others that I worked with 15 years ago in summer stock, have had four different head carpenters, three different stage managers and three A2s. All told there have been 38 crew members that have worked on this tour at different times (so far). I was the only crew member to return after the restart this past February, and am the last of the original crew to leave. I built this show from the ground up and have had my hands on every cable bundle, every rack, every XLR connector, and applied most of the labels to everything, and programmed large sections of the audio system. Like raising a child, it has been both the most difficult and the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had.
But it’s time to move on.
Later today I head home for a few days. And then on Sunday I fly to East Rutherford, New Jersey to join the shop build already in progress and start my new tour. (More on that later).
Yes I’m moving on for better pay and a much better schedule.
And though this is the end of the road for me and this Blue Man Group Tour, I suspect that it won’t be the end of me and Blue Man Group. Just a brief intermission.
Wishing you the very best of luck sir! Will be anticipating updates on your new adventures.
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Last night I worked my final show with the Blue Man Group North American Tour.
The journey that started for me over three years ago and included 304 shows, many dozens of rehearsals, spanned most of the United States and a brief run to Mexico, covered thousands of miles on a bus or airplane, hundreds of nights in a hotel, four show tech revisions and weathered more than two years of a global pandemic that nearly destroyed my career along with the entire performing arts industry; ended with a solid show in Indianapolis after I spent a week training my replacement. The new A1 will do a great job and I made sure that he is better prepared than any of the other department head changes we have seen since the tour began in August of 2019.
I’ve made lots of new friends, worked with people I’ve met as a house tech while they were on the road, worked with others that I worked with 15 years ago in summer stock, have had four different head carpenters, three different stage managers and three A2s. All told there have been 38 crew members that have worked on this tour at different times (so far). I was the only crew member to return after the restart this past February, and am the last of the original crew to leave. I built this show from the ground up and have had my hands on every cable bundle, every rack, every XLR connector, and applied most of the labels to everything, and programmed large sections of the audio system. Like raising a child, it has been both the most difficult and the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had.
But it’s time to move on.
Later today I head home for a few days. And then on Sunday I fly to East Rutherford, New Jersey to join the shop build already in progress and start my new tour. (More on that later).
Yes I’m moving on for better pay and a much better schedule.
And though this is the end of the road for me and this Blue Man Group Tour, I suspect that it won’t be the end of me and Blue Man Group. Just a brief intermission.
All the best for your new vocation Justice.
Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
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I helped with load in and load out of Blue Man at the Grand in Wausau, WI earlier this year. An AMAZING amount of gear stuffed into that tiny stage! But with all of that, it was relatively organized chaos for as much as was moving around. Couldn't imagine doing that on a daily basis at a different venue every time.
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Today I started shop prep for my new job as the Head Audio/A1 for the North American tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
My team came in last week to get things started while I wrapped up Blue Man Group.
We're at Masque Sound in East Rutherford, New Jersey; reconfiguring and scaling down the show from the previous tour which ended over the summer
We're running a Digico SD10T, the same as BMG, it's a Meyer PA with Leopards and 1100-LFCs for left and right and UPQs and 900-LFCs on the truss for balcony and down fill, all Sennheiser wireless with DPA elements and Aviom monitoring for the band--pretty standard stuff for theatre these days.
I'd post some pictures, but the picture function of the forum sucks, so I'm not going to bother.
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I'd post some pictures, but the picture function of the forum sucks, so I'm not going to bother.
Agreed! While sometimes it's nice not being inundated with pictures, there are times where it's necessary and it's a bit of a bear on here!
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Today I started shop prep for my new job as the Head Audio/A1 for the North American tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Congrats, Justice! Sounds like you're working on really nice gear. Good luck on the tour.
Dave
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Agreed! While sometimes it's nice not being inundated with pictures, there are times where it's necessary and it's a bit of a bear on here!
This is the quickest way to go, it's free too. Go to [size=78%]ImgBB (https://imgbb.com/)[/size] choose bbcode for output. Upload your pictures as many as you like, no limit on number or size. They are hosted at IMGBB. Once your pictures are uploaded it will give you the BBCODE to paste into your post. The BBCODE will properly size the picture.
Try it, it's aawesome.
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I don't know of you know the answer to this but I am just curious. How is the actor playing Jesus mic(ed) when he has no shirt on? I could see if he wears a wig and you have the ability to put the pack in the wig.
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Today I started shop prep for my new job as the Head Audio/A1 for the North American tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
I believe you'll be in El Paso, TX at some point on this tour! I'd love to say hi and have some Mexican food if there's time. (I'm not sure if it's a one off or if you stay for a bit.) I usually take any Broadway call that is offered, so there is a good chance you'll have opportunity to abuse me as a local hand, anyway. lol.
The theater here is a pretty cool building with a lot of history. (it was originally an old movie house and still has the original, though upgraded, Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ. During the annual film festival, the first movie of each day is usually a silent film with organ accompaniment, as it would have been done in 1913. It's a pretty special experience.
Congrats on the new gig!
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I don't know of you know the answer to this but I am just curious. How is the actor playing Jesus mic(ed) when he has no shirt on? I could see if he wears a wig and you have the ability to put the pack in the wig.
I can't answer the question about his pack, since it's a trade secret...J/K, actually, it's because we're still in shop build and haven't started tech so I haven't seen him yet. I Don't think he has a wig though. But his primary mic is a wireless handheld., with a lav and body pack as a back up.
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I believe you'll be in El Paso, TX at some point on this tour! I'd love to say hi and have some Mexican food if there's time. (I'm not sure if it's a one off or if you stay for a bit.) I usually take any Broadway call that is offered, so there is a good chance you'll have opportunity to abuse me as a local hand, anyway. lol.
The theater here is a pretty cool building with a lot of history. (it was originally an old movie house and still has the original, though upgraded, Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ. During the annual film festival, the first movie of each day is usually a silent film with organ accompaniment, as it would have been done in 1913. It's a pretty special experience.
Congrats on the new gig!
We're in El Paso at the Plaza Theatre for a two night stop in January. I've played the Plaza already with BMG. Pretty sure it's a union call. We have two evening shows, so I should have a but of time on our second day before the show call. Let me know if you end up on our crew.
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Lol! (Good luck finding anyone at that wage!)
https://jobs.lever.co/cirquedusoleil/8170c131-6030-41ad-9e27-7ef2f996a319?lever-source=Indeed&fbclid=IwAR1p8_5i3dKvR9-teFCiSYFTrih-AhnJ0iE_VI7upGVKfTfrToxQRNTIy1E (https://jobs.lever.co/cirquedusoleil/8170c131-6030-41ad-9e27-7ef2f996a319?lever-source=Indeed&fbclid=IwAR1p8_5i3dKvR9-teFCiSYFTrih-AhnJ0iE_VI7upGVKfTfrToxQRNTIy1E)
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Lol! (Good luck!)
https://jobs.lever.co/cirquedusoleil/8170c131-6030-41ad-9e27-7ef2f996a319?lever-source=Indeed&fbclid=IwAR1p8_5i3dKvR9-teFCiSYFTrih-AhnJ0iE_VI7upGVKfTfrToxQRNTIy1E
I wonder if BMG's traditionally-vehement anti-Union stance has softened any since Cirque's take-over? (I suppose the current tour's Yellow Card would suggest so?)
-Russ
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Lol! (Good luck finding anyone at that wage!)
https://jobs.lever.co/cirquedusoleil/8170c131-6030-41ad-9e27-7ef2f996a319?lever-source=Indeed&fbclid=IwAR1p8_5i3dKvR9-teFCiSYFTrih-AhnJ0iE_VI7upGVKfTfrToxQRNTIy1E (https://jobs.lever.co/cirquedusoleil/8170c131-6030-41ad-9e27-7ef2f996a319?lever-source=Indeed&fbclid=IwAR1p8_5i3dKvR9-teFCiSYFTrih-AhnJ0iE_VI7upGVKfTfrToxQRNTIy1E)
Yeah, that rate is less than I make as a dept head for the House... the kind where my responsibility involves showing up with a C Wrench and steel toe shoes.
Might need to ring up one of the Vice Presidents of the Stagecraft Dept at the IATSE.
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I wonder if BMG's traditionally-vehement anti-Union stance has softened any since Cirque's take-over? (I suppose the current tour's Yellow Card would suggest so?)
-Russ
No yellow card without a Pink Contract. And the 'yellow card' is now a on-line form, no cards to mail out.
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I wonder if BMG's traditionally-vehement anti-Union stance has softened any since Cirque's take-over? (I suppose the current tour's Yellow Card would suggest so?)
-Russ
Blue Man Group was never really anti-Union until Equity refused to let them join because they weren't considered actors because they don't speak (which was 25 or so years ago). After that they sort of wrote off unions. The current North American Tour is an IA represented tour because it is managed by NETWorks Tours, amd NETWorks has a CBA with the IA. Cirque du Soliel is pretty damn anti-Union. And the currently BMG International Tour is a non-Union tour, managed directly by the Cirque mothership.
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Blue Man Group was never really anti-Union until Equity refused to let them join because they weren't considered actors because they don't speak (which was 25 or so years ago). After that they sort of wrote off unions. The current North American Tour is an IA represented tour because it is managed by NETWorks Tours, amd NETWorks has a CBA with the IA. Cirque du Soliel is pretty damn anti-Union. And the currently BMG International Tour is a non-Union tour, managed directly by the Cirque mothership.
Something went down years ago in Toronto with a boycott against BMG, I wasn't close to the situation but it seemed like a big shake up at the time.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/doors-to-close-on-toronto-s-blue-man-1.601024