allannathan

Well take THAT, me. I didn’t know anybody read this half-assed blog, and that’s why I had this coming. SJ has a few good points such as the show being boring at times. It appears that SJ is  unaware of the prep-work I did that did yield any results just as I was unaware of the work SJ did. Changes to make names nonspecific have been made and are in bold.

From SJ:

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Allegedly? In the future it would be smart to contact me about what you allege and don’t allege on a public website. I.E. get my name off your site. It’s great to jump through a million gear hurdles to make your broken system work for you and then catch you talking behind my back. You’re welcome kid.

For the record: I had nothing to do with power distro and you should know who that was. I’ve got enough class to leave his name out of the public eye but I’ll let him know what you said. You could say the the person responsible left a free circuit open on ever 208v multi in the same place. If plugged in order to the distros 1-1 then you are leaving one leg with a lesser load than the other two (observed after the fact). I was hired 100% to do data, networking and programming as well as help manage the southern crew. So get your blame straight and off a public forum.

Hog3K: I have extensive but not often used Hog 3 experience since every real programmer on the planet knows what crap they are. I’ve got over ten years experience on the Hog2, MA, Avo, Chamsys lines plus the five years straight I wasted trying to get High End to listen to the problems we were having with the Hog3. Rusty from using it so little and not liking the system I still could program circles around most people.

As far as the networking goes I am very up to date on networking Hogs, Ma’s, Chamsys and just about everything else. There’s very little to get wrong or change. Just lots and lots of rebooting (unlike MA and Chamsys!). Both X and I found that the “provided” Hog 3ks and Dp2000s had numerous glitches and errors from bad cables, bad network hubs and the crap Dp2000 code causing all sorts of problems. Not to mention it was supposed to be 1xDp8000 and two Hog3’s.

We were connected and working 100% several times and lost connection over and over despite changing cables and hubs (+dozens of reboots!). If you prefer next time we can just leave you flailing on two consoles that kept dropping their network at least every 30 minutes. I don’t think you appreciate or even understand the amount of troubleshooting required to solve that puzzle: all for you. I challenge you or the sub vendor to setup the exact same system and conditions and prove me and X wrong. We did everything right and by the time you showed up we had made the decision to move forward to a more reliable but lesser system given the time we had left. Within that we went out of our way to preserve your original setup as best we could with the gear in front of us. Anybody with any real experience knows the DP2000’s are buggy as hell…that’s why most people with any clue gravitate to the Roadhog that doesn’t use outside dmx processors.

The consoles that Lumatech provided had issues that were all witnessed by Z, X, Y and myself. The Hog500 and 1000 both had issues from the power drop outs and poor treatment on previous shows. The DMX system was working fine. Consoles left out in the sun all day on previous jobs were not (surprise!).

Maybe next time you might want to be on-site for the load in and provide us with a patch on time. Then you might see what went down instead of talking about it after the fact. Or maybe next time just try talking to your crew instead of posting your “issues” online for all to see. We set up everything you asked for the best we could with the conditions we had. Even wrote most of your palettes and focus positions for you. You had everything you asked for in front of you come show time except for the gogo pods and special FXs (strobes aside). That’s how Z wanted it anyway so take it up with him. What you did with the show beyond that is all on you. It was bunch of gear but nothing impressive other than the layout. Honest doing parties for over ten years opinion. I could have done a much better job…but I was busy just keeping your system working for you.

If I remember right Z was on you many times during the night because your looks were “boring” him (and the rest of us). You don’t seem to understand how to setup the type of multi layered busking programming that this type of event requires (as opposed to just going from one blocked out cuelist to another). I had previously offered to setup the show the way I have done light shows for over a decade. The offer to share was turned down. Show flow or not…its not that hard to look up at the video and match or contrast your color palette. I didn’t have any trouble…you might want to look at light levels between zero and full from time to time as well.

If you’d like to allege that I don’t know what I am doing then why not put your money where your mouth is and let’s have a little challenge? Anytime, anywhere and on any console. Or is that why you guys are trying to keep me away from the club? Afraid of a little friendly competition?

-SJ

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I took down the original content and emailed an apology for using a name that could be discerned. From now on will remember to keep potentially volatile and/or misinterpret-able points of view private. Live and learn. That’s what this little blog is for.

Wow! It sure has been a while since I’ve updated.
GAYDAY2010: Lots of work, but well worth it. It’s nice to work with good folks like Janbo and the Jess who appreciate honest, hard work. Load in didn’t go at all like I expected. I had a whole gameplan thought out. On site, two of KJHI’s guys didn’t show up, and YTH smashed our 24′ truck into a bridge.

Everyone else on the gig did well. I should have watched them a little more; some of the mac2k’s were 90degrees off. Also, I should have spec’ed AC adapters for the stupid colortubes. Electricity in the park was a bit weird, and I’m still unsure of what’s really there. The Carousel/ Celebration Plaza was a 3phase service via cam tails, but not even the engineers knew how many amps were running through it. At the Papi Stage/ FoodFest area, there is only a single 200A service to be shared by lighting and sound. We had dimming in the area, and a potential audio hum was a bit unsettling. It turned out to be just fine. We used the Chauvet di-fi wireless dmx packs for the second time (first was Wente), and they worked out just fine again. Boyfriend came by to spend the night even though he had work early the next day; Janine said something along the lines of “That’s real love.” =]

I didn’t have anything to do the next day, so after Mane and I hunted down a Starbucks, I went to the park to make some additional tweaks to the video screen and other things. Kelis’ tour guy had no sense of humor and seemed a bit unappreciative. I spent a bit of time getting her LED mic stand to work, and it wasn’t even on during her show. I should have left the battery pack on, but I thought they would check it before she got on. Maybe coms will help next time. Skipp was there too; lasers were good even though he had some physical constraints due to proximity to aerial rides and the airport. Thomas S came by the day of show as well to play around with the board, and he got some (or more?) experience on the hog1k. I got a good first impression from him. He knows vectorworks well enough, he showed up in show blacks with tools, and he seemed to pick up on hog programming pretty quickly. IHJ UYM did their thing when they got there. I should have double checked door time bc I scheduled their call time at what I thought was an hour before doors but it turned out to be AT doors. yikes.

The show went ok. In hindsight, I probably would have used more conventional fixtures for a wide wash in front of the carousel for queercheer and dedicated lekos for the stage. A few cruicial mac2k’s decided to stop working properly RIGHT before kelis went on. wtf. murphy’s law, I guess. One stayed red, and one stayed dark blue.  I visited Harlan’s stage for a while, and he had his stage handled pretty well, but they (whoever “they” are) had him shut off the F-100. So…. next time it’ll be haze for the Papi stage.

I cut out around 1230, an hour after Jake and the load out crew arrived. It was back to the hotel for sleep before Pop.

First of all, I think I’ve changed in the last 8 years. No duh. But one of the major things is that I used to be so memememememememe. Although I still am, I finally found someone who makes me a better person. I won’t risk the barf factor here, but I will say I can’t imagine coming home to nobody or anybody else.

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As far as work goes, things are still a little tight, but there’s still a hint of light at the end of this tunnel. There are shows right around the bend that need attention, and they’re going to be here before I know it. I NEEED NEED NEEED to be on point.

In non-cryptic news, i just checked out “American Idiot” at the Berkeley Rep Theater, and it was AWESOME. I walked in the theater thinking it was going to be a Green Day concert, but I walked out amazed at the great show and didn’t even think about Green Day. I picked up a few lighting ideas AND a few video ideas, so being there was a green mushroom for me.

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The older you get, the faster time goes by, and Fbomb– 2010 is going to be here before I know it. my bday. fresh. sanctuary. mack’s bday. ai afterparty. realbad. symbiosis. skills afterparty. lucashalloween. halloweenclift/ruby/luma. (oooh maybe a breather in november?). lucas holiday. Bebe’s wedding. Christmas. New Year’s.

I’m practically 40 years old already.