In the middle of the summer I took a week or so off to drive to Ann Arbor to find a place to live in the fall.
On the way to and from Michigan I stopped in Buffalo and got to see some of my friends.
I drove through Canada to Detroit and then on to Ann Arbor.
I had never driven so far alone before and had a scare when one of the tires on the car started to come apart sending bits of rubber slamming into to wheel well.
It was “Fun” changing a tire on the side of the road in Canada with little shoulder space and cars zipping by at 80 miles an hour.
I stayed with a friend from Buffalo that had gone to Michigan and was getting ready to graduate.
While I was there I got to see all four shows in their summer repertory plus a dance concert.
Madonna was still a dance student at Michigan at the time but I have no way of knowing if she was in the concert or was at home packing and getting ready to take the bus to NYC and on to fame and fortune, but I like to think that I saw her last dance concert in college.
There was a party one night when I got to meet some of the students who would be back in the fall as well as those who were getting ready to graduate.
I am always telling my students my Theatre “War” stories, many of which make up this blog, and bits of sage-like advice.
I tell them about the old adage of Theatre being a small world and that you will never know who knows who and that you will always keep running into people that you already know.
I also tell them to look around the room as they may be working with some of their classmates when they graduate and go out into the “Real” world and I have talked about this in some of my earlier blogs.
One of those who I meet that summer and who was getting graduate was C. T. Oakes and although we did not take classes at the same time at Michigan, I would run into him many times over the years.
C. T. was teaching at SUNY Geneseo when I started at SUNY Brockport in 1982 and I worked with him several times when he came to Brockport to design the lighting for Garth Fagan Dance.
http://garthfagandance.org/
C. T. left Educational Theatre and entered the business end of lighting but I would run into him many times at the USITT conferences and other trade shows.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/c-t-oakes/14/40b/8aa
(I just found out that C. T. now lives here in Brockport, just a few blocks away, again a small world)
After a few days of looking I found a place to live but I was taking a chance as it was old house that was still under major renovations.
I saw an ad on campus and met several guys who had found the house and needed a few more roommates.
We met in a local bar and found that we were a mixed bag of students; both graduate and undergraduate students, majors from English to Theatre to History and even Chinese.
A couple of us were from Long Island, a farm boy from Illinois, a pot head, a book worm and the son of a Venezuelan Diplomat.
I returned in the fall and moved in with the six other guys to the upper two floors of a nice old house just a few blocks from campus, we all got along well and had a good time that year.
Before I left Ann Arbor I met with the Lighting Design Teacher and was told that they were short a designer and he asked me if I would design lights for a play that fall.
Normally they would not have new students design their first semester but I jumped at the chance, not really thinking too clearly as it was the first show I the year and my design skills would be given a big test.
So before I even took one class at Michigan I had seen 5 department plays, a dance concert, a rehearsal for an Opera, attended several parties and attended my first production meeting for a play I was about to design.
I was excited and could not wait for the summer to be over and to start on my newest adventure.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
More Summer of 1978
I greatly enjoyed working at Lycian that summer in 1978.
The owner Richard was a good story teller, who liked to talk and I was eager to hear his “War Stories”.
It seems that all us who work backstage in Theatre like to tell tales, like fishermen who tell of “The Big One That Got Away”.
Richard talked about people, theatres and the various shows that he worked on in the New York City area as well as Rock and Roll concerts.
He supplied some of the equipment for the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour and to this now aging Dead Head who was only 22 at the time that was very cool.
When I started working I was the only one there besides Richard and his wife.
He took pride in his products and really took the time to show me the right way to build the different units.
I quickly learned what to do and did not have too rejected parts.
In addition to the PAR Cans and Color Wheels I also had to refurbish lighting equipment that was part of his rental stock.
I would clean-up, paint and re-wire lights and cables as they came back into the shop before they would go back out on the next rental.
Near the end of the summer another guy was brought in to help after I would leave for Grad School in Michigan.
A rental order came in for some follow spots for a benefit gig for the local Democratic Party out in the Hamptons.
The singer Harry Chapin and his band were playing in some rich lady’s back yard I was put on the comp list.
I drove out to the Hamptons and saw a great concert in somebody’s big back yard.
It was very cool to be on the guest list and get waved in and Harry gave a great concert and played all of his hits.
Working in the shop was very cool that summer with little to complain about except that I did get lots of little cuts and burns all summer long plus a big cut when I almost cut my thumb off .
I got lazy and sloppy trying to rush a job as I was de-burring some holes in sheet metal using the drill press just holding the piece with my hand and not with a pair of pliers.
The drill bit caught on an oval shaped double-punched hole and spun around cutting my thumb.
Ouch!
Nice big cut, I swear I saw bone, but I did not need stitches and it healed fine, although I have a nice little scar right next to the dog bite scar I got when I was about 8.
At some point a fluorescent lamp salesmen stopped in the shop and tried to sell Richard some lamps.
He told some big story about how bright they were and of their color temperature.
Richard said “Really, let’s try them out”
So he brought the guy into the shop and put the lights in and brought out his various meters and tested the results.
“Wrong, these do not test to what you said” and the guy was soon sent packing.
I thought it was very funny and I am sure the salesman never knew what kind of business he had walked into until it was too late.
I was happy to run into Richard at the USITT conference in Texas in 1996 and sat with him at the closing banquet.
I asked how things were going and if he still got to do any live Theatre.
He asked “Don’t you know? I built my own Theatre”.
When I later visited his nice new big shop and the Theatres that he built across the road he gave me the full tour.
Again I was glad that I got to work in the shop that summer and I have been happy when I have gotten to run into him at the various trade shows over the years.
The owner Richard was a good story teller, who liked to talk and I was eager to hear his “War Stories”.
It seems that all us who work backstage in Theatre like to tell tales, like fishermen who tell of “The Big One That Got Away”.
Richard talked about people, theatres and the various shows that he worked on in the New York City area as well as Rock and Roll concerts.
He supplied some of the equipment for the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour and to this now aging Dead Head who was only 22 at the time that was very cool.
When I started working I was the only one there besides Richard and his wife.
He took pride in his products and really took the time to show me the right way to build the different units.
I quickly learned what to do and did not have too rejected parts.
In addition to the PAR Cans and Color Wheels I also had to refurbish lighting equipment that was part of his rental stock.
I would clean-up, paint and re-wire lights and cables as they came back into the shop before they would go back out on the next rental.
Near the end of the summer another guy was brought in to help after I would leave for Grad School in Michigan.
A rental order came in for some follow spots for a benefit gig for the local Democratic Party out in the Hamptons.
The singer Harry Chapin and his band were playing in some rich lady’s back yard I was put on the comp list.
I drove out to the Hamptons and saw a great concert in somebody’s big back yard.
It was very cool to be on the guest list and get waved in and Harry gave a great concert and played all of his hits.
Working in the shop was very cool that summer with little to complain about except that I did get lots of little cuts and burns all summer long plus a big cut when I almost cut my thumb off .
I got lazy and sloppy trying to rush a job as I was de-burring some holes in sheet metal using the drill press just holding the piece with my hand and not with a pair of pliers.
The drill bit caught on an oval shaped double-punched hole and spun around cutting my thumb.
Ouch!
Nice big cut, I swear I saw bone, but I did not need stitches and it healed fine, although I have a nice little scar right next to the dog bite scar I got when I was about 8.
At some point a fluorescent lamp salesmen stopped in the shop and tried to sell Richard some lamps.
He told some big story about how bright they were and of their color temperature.
Richard said “Really, let’s try them out”
So he brought the guy into the shop and put the lights in and brought out his various meters and tested the results.
“Wrong, these do not test to what you said” and the guy was soon sent packing.
I thought it was very funny and I am sure the salesman never knew what kind of business he had walked into until it was too late.
I was happy to run into Richard at the USITT conference in Texas in 1996 and sat with him at the closing banquet.
I asked how things were going and if he still got to do any live Theatre.
He asked “Don’t you know? I built my own Theatre”.
When I later visited his nice new big shop and the Theatres that he built across the road he gave me the full tour.
Again I was glad that I got to work in the shop that summer and I have been happy when I have gotten to run into him at the various trade shows over the years.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Summer of 1978
In the summer of 1978 after graduating from SUNY Buffalo I soon started my first real job, and it was even in my field.
I was working at Lycian Stage Lighting as a general shop worker and would learn several new skills by summer’s end.
I had met the owner, Richard Logothetis, the previous summer when his shop was still on Long Island but has since moved to a new and bigger shop in upstate Sugar Loaf, NY
http://www.lycian.com/
I worked mainly on two different things that summer, PAR Can lighting instruments and Indexing Color Wheels.
There was a lot of basic sheet metal work in making both units; layout, cutting, bending and welding.
I used a spot welder to make the PAR Cans and it took about 45 welds to finish one unit.
It is wise to use gloves when you are welding or working with sheet metal but I found it easier not to wear them most of the time.
I quickly learned where the hot spots where as I moved the units around in the welder.
Ouch!
The PAR Cans were a basic part of most rock shows at that time; a simple metal shell that held the PAR64 lamps that looked like old car headlights.
I always thought that the ones we made were better and stronger than others I had seen and whenever I come across them today I look to see if they are ones that I made.
The other big project was making the new Indexing Color Wheels which allowed a designer to have five different colors in one light.
Compared with today’s equipment these seem like nothing special, but back in 1978 they were cutting edge.
They looked like regular Color Wheels that would simply spin in circles, but what made these different is that they could be set to stop at any of the colors the designer wanted.
One order was sent out with Blackstone the Magician and other was used by Tharon Musser on Broadway in the Musical Ballroom.
Some of the parts came in already punched out from another shop but the outside edge of the bigger size frames had to be cut manually with a Foot Shear.
It would take about 100 cuts to make the square frame round and I would go into some Zen moment as I turned the frame a little after each cut.
Crunch, crunch, crunch . . .
There was also some wiring to do on the control boxes and everything had to get painted.
I visited Richard’s new shop several years ago and there is a special paint area that had with a negative air suit and the powered paint sprayed on to the electrically charged units which are then put in an oven to bake the paint on.
Back in 1978 I had a little spray booth with a small turntable that was out the back door of the shop and lots of cans of spray paint.
Today Lycian makes only follow spots which are very popular and widely used, but at the time I worked for him he was just starting to design his first units.
I learned a great deal that summer and enjoyed my time working there.
There was even time for a few fun adventures both in and outside the shop.
I was working at Lycian Stage Lighting as a general shop worker and would learn several new skills by summer’s end.
I had met the owner, Richard Logothetis, the previous summer when his shop was still on Long Island but has since moved to a new and bigger shop in upstate Sugar Loaf, NY
http://www.lycian.com/
I worked mainly on two different things that summer, PAR Can lighting instruments and Indexing Color Wheels.
There was a lot of basic sheet metal work in making both units; layout, cutting, bending and welding.
I used a spot welder to make the PAR Cans and it took about 45 welds to finish one unit.
It is wise to use gloves when you are welding or working with sheet metal but I found it easier not to wear them most of the time.
I quickly learned where the hot spots where as I moved the units around in the welder.
Ouch!
The PAR Cans were a basic part of most rock shows at that time; a simple metal shell that held the PAR64 lamps that looked like old car headlights.
A PAR Can, but not a Lycian
The other big project was making the new Indexing Color Wheels which allowed a designer to have five different colors in one light.
Compared with today’s equipment these seem like nothing special, but back in 1978 they were cutting edge.
They looked like regular Color Wheels that would simply spin in circles, but what made these different is that they could be set to stop at any of the colors the designer wanted.
One order was sent out with Blackstone the Magician and other was used by Tharon Musser on Broadway in the Musical Ballroom.
Some of the parts came in already punched out from another shop but the outside edge of the bigger size frames had to be cut manually with a Foot Shear.
It would take about 100 cuts to make the square frame round and I would go into some Zen moment as I turned the frame a little after each cut.
Crunch, crunch, crunch . . .
There was also some wiring to do on the control boxes and everything had to get painted.
I visited Richard’s new shop several years ago and there is a special paint area that had with a negative air suit and the powered paint sprayed on to the electrically charged units which are then put in an oven to bake the paint on.
Back in 1978 I had a little spray booth with a small turntable that was out the back door of the shop and lots of cans of spray paint.
Today Lycian makes only follow spots which are very popular and widely used, but at the time I worked for him he was just starting to design his first units.
I learned a great deal that summer and enjoyed my time working there.
There was even time for a few fun adventures both in and outside the shop.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finally Graduation from SUNY Buffalo
Since my last blog entry our current production of “The Story” had a four show run at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester and now we have brought it back to Brockport for a two week run.
Trucking the set to and from Geva was lots “Fun” and went better than I had hoped, or is that feared.
Back to 1978 . . .
The last month or so for me in college at Buffalo was a wild, crazy and a lot of fun.
I only had one real class, Art History II on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus an independent study in Theatre so I had plenty of time to work on my last production for the Theatre Department, the outside theatre design job, and one last big music concert.
For the production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” I was designed both the scenery and lighting and was able to bring in one of my friends to help.
Barry helped me put up the temporary lighting trees and wire in the portable dimmers into the church hall we were using.
There was also a shop teacher who also helped me build the set, but I was very surprised when we went to his shop to do some work.
It turned out that he was an elementary school shop teacher, something I never heard of before.
The shop was cute, with small work benches; I thought this must be what Santa’s work shop looked like, but there were no elves to be found.
When the building of a set gets behind I often look but never find any of the magic shop elves who build stage sets.
Often I think many of my students really believe that shop elves build the sets and seem so surprised when they are required to do the work.
Ahh, they might get their wittle hands dirty.
We have soap.
There were still many parties go to and one host.
I used part of my pay from the outside design gig to have a big graduation party.
The party must have been good but for some reason I do not remember it.
I started to sample the drinks a little too early and a little too much and missed most of the party, but from what I found left behind on a table the next day it must of been a good time for all.
There was a baggie with over a half once of really good . . . . . What? No, my housemates and I found nothing, nothing at all.
There were so many things were happening all at once, it seemed that there was too much to do with the end of College and getting ready for Grad School.
Of course it was during this big whirl of events that I picked this time to develop a crush on someone and then found out later that someone else had a crush on me, but I was too busy flirting, too blind or just too stupid to see it.
Well this blog is about my life in Theatre and not my wild love life.
For those stories you will have to read elsewhere:
Dear Penthouse,
After working all day in the Theatre, listening to a friend’s band play all night, I hosted an afterhour’s party for the musicians and a few friends.
What happened later you would not believe . . .
Hey!, Back to Theatre.
As school came to an end I was surprised to find out that some of my friends who were the biggest partiers not only graduated but got into Grad school, some even went to Law School.
One of the last things I did in Buffalo before I left was help a friend move a safe out of his house on the day of graduation.
What a wild way to end four years at UB.
Summer was straight ahead along with some new adventures; working for a stage lighting manufacturing company, going out to Michigan to find a place to live for the fall and a stopover back in Buffalo.
Stories to follow.
Trucking the set to and from Geva was lots “Fun” and went better than I had hoped, or is that feared.
"The Story" 2010
Back to 1978 . . .
The last month or so for me in college at Buffalo was a wild, crazy and a lot of fun.
I only had one real class, Art History II on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus an independent study in Theatre so I had plenty of time to work on my last production for the Theatre Department, the outside theatre design job, and one last big music concert.
For the production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” I was designed both the scenery and lighting and was able to bring in one of my friends to help.
Barry helped me put up the temporary lighting trees and wire in the portable dimmers into the church hall we were using.
There was also a shop teacher who also helped me build the set, but I was very surprised when we went to his shop to do some work.
It turned out that he was an elementary school shop teacher, something I never heard of before.
The shop was cute, with small work benches; I thought this must be what Santa’s work shop looked like, but there were no elves to be found.
When the building of a set gets behind I often look but never find any of the magic shop elves who build stage sets.
Often I think many of my students really believe that shop elves build the sets and seem so surprised when they are required to do the work.
Ahh, they might get their wittle hands dirty.
We have soap.
There were still many parties go to and one host.
I used part of my pay from the outside design gig to have a big graduation party.
The party must have been good but for some reason I do not remember it.
I started to sample the drinks a little too early and a little too much and missed most of the party, but from what I found left behind on a table the next day it must of been a good time for all.
There was a baggie with over a half once of really good . . . . . What? No, my housemates and I found nothing, nothing at all.
There were so many things were happening all at once, it seemed that there was too much to do with the end of College and getting ready for Grad School.
Of course it was during this big whirl of events that I picked this time to develop a crush on someone and then found out later that someone else had a crush on me, but I was too busy flirting, too blind or just too stupid to see it.
Well this blog is about my life in Theatre and not my wild love life.
For those stories you will have to read elsewhere:
Dear Penthouse,
After working all day in the Theatre, listening to a friend’s band play all night, I hosted an afterhour’s party for the musicians and a few friends.
What happened later you would not believe . . .
Hey!, Back to Theatre.
As school came to an end I was surprised to find out that some of my friends who were the biggest partiers not only graduated but got into Grad school, some even went to Law School.
One of the last things I did in Buffalo before I left was help a friend move a safe out of his house on the day of graduation.
What a wild way to end four years at UB.
Summer was straight ahead along with some new adventures; working for a stage lighting manufacturing company, going out to Michigan to find a place to live for the fall and a stopover back in Buffalo.
Stories to follow.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Transition, Hobby to Career
After a little lull at work allowing me to write several entries to my blog, I will be busy again as I work on our next production and expect to take a little break in writing from my Blog, but I enjoy it and may surprise myself.
Having reached 50 entries in my blog I went back and put in topic labels so readers can sort through the blog easily and I found one repeated story, there might be more, and probably will be in the future as I continue to write.
When I have a little more time I plan to go back edit all of my blog, clean up the writing and add new bits here and there as they come to me.
I hope the reader can tell that even though I was often very busy and constantly working hard, I was always having a great time and enjoyed doing it all.
The long hard hours, getting filthy and yes, even getting electrocuted, was all part of the experience and a hell of a lot of fun, I was learning a lot and always wanted more.
At first doing Theatre in High School was just for fun, but then in College I got more serious about it and wanted to learn more about it and wanted to see where a Life in Theatre might lead.
I was just 22, about to graduate from College, go onto Grad School there was more to learn and many more adventures still ahead for me.
I was not sure what the future would bring, but now I really felt that I was on the right path and could not wait to see what was around the next corner.
While driving a rented truck with the set for our current production at Brockport back from the shop in Buffalo, I was reminded of working on my last play at UB in the spring of 1978.
I was the Technical Director for a production of Lanford Wilson’s Serenading Louie and the Scene Designer had arranged for us to borrow some nice, very white, modern furniture from a local store and I had to go pick it up.
When I got the rental truck I found out it was a standard transmission and I had only driven a car with a standard transmission once before.
In addition I had never driven a truck as large as this one before and I knew I was in for either a fun new adventure or crazy big disaster.
Somehow I got the truck to run, did not destroy the transmission, survived the highways around Buffalo to deliver the furniture safely to the Theatre.
We also had to build some additional modern looking furniture for the production; a low cube-like table with two matching seats.
After one of the boxes was done I could not find my hammer and by shaking the box I found out that we had built it inside.
Instead of just cutting a round hole in the bottom, I traced another hammer, cut out its rough shape, and reached inside to retrieve my "Magic" hammer.
As I recall the furniture ended up in the Assistant Chair’s office after the play was over.
It was after this production was over that several of the graduating seniors and I signed our names with a Sharpie on the wall of the main Theatre office.
I was nice to visit some years later and find the wall full of many more names and being able to find my name, a bit faded, still on the wall.
The Theatre office at UB has now moved to a new building and the old building has gone through several renovations, so I am sure that those names are long gone and are just a memory now.
Having reached 50 entries in my blog I went back and put in topic labels so readers can sort through the blog easily and I found one repeated story, there might be more, and probably will be in the future as I continue to write.
When I have a little more time I plan to go back edit all of my blog, clean up the writing and add new bits here and there as they come to me.
I hope the reader can tell that even though I was often very busy and constantly working hard, I was always having a great time and enjoyed doing it all.
The long hard hours, getting filthy and yes, even getting electrocuted, was all part of the experience and a hell of a lot of fun, I was learning a lot and always wanted more.
At first doing Theatre in High School was just for fun, but then in College I got more serious about it and wanted to learn more about it and wanted to see where a Life in Theatre might lead.
I was just 22, about to graduate from College, go onto Grad School there was more to learn and many more adventures still ahead for me.
I was not sure what the future would bring, but now I really felt that I was on the right path and could not wait to see what was around the next corner.
While driving a rented truck with the set for our current production at Brockport back from the shop in Buffalo, I was reminded of working on my last play at UB in the spring of 1978.
I was the Technical Director for a production of Lanford Wilson’s Serenading Louie and the Scene Designer had arranged for us to borrow some nice, very white, modern furniture from a local store and I had to go pick it up.
When I got the rental truck I found out it was a standard transmission and I had only driven a car with a standard transmission once before.
In addition I had never driven a truck as large as this one before and I knew I was in for either a fun new adventure or crazy big disaster.
Somehow I got the truck to run, did not destroy the transmission, survived the highways around Buffalo to deliver the furniture safely to the Theatre.
We also had to build some additional modern looking furniture for the production; a low cube-like table with two matching seats.
After one of the boxes was done I could not find my hammer and by shaking the box I found out that we had built it inside.
Instead of just cutting a round hole in the bottom, I traced another hammer, cut out its rough shape, and reached inside to retrieve my "Magic" hammer.
As I recall the furniture ended up in the Assistant Chair’s office after the play was over.
It was after this production was over that several of the graduating seniors and I signed our names with a Sharpie on the wall of the main Theatre office.
I was nice to visit some years later and find the wall full of many more names and being able to find my name, a bit faded, still on the wall.
The Theatre office at UB has now moved to a new building and the old building has gone through several renovations, so I am sure that those names are long gone and are just a memory now.
Friday, March 26, 2010
My 50th Blog Entry!
As I have already noted I worked on several concerts and went to several others, both on and off campus while at UB.
During my years in Buffalo I got to see The Who, The Grateful Dead (twice), Jerry Garcia Band, Genesis, Jesse Colin Young among a few others.
Genesis is one of the first bands to use Lasers in their show, and in a time before Vari-Lites or any other kind of motion lights and it all seemed pretty cool at the time.
I also got to work on concerts for Jean Luc Pony, Patti Smith, Spyro Gyra, The Breaker Brothers Band, Stan Getz and a few others I have forgotten.
Saturday Night Fever came out late in 1977, my last year in Buffalo, and there was a surge in Disco which had been on the decline.
I always found it funny that so many people loved the movie and disco after seeing the film but they never seem to remember that at the end Tony rejects the Disco scene as shallow and goes off to the big city to follow his dream, and the girl.
I was also “Lucky” enough to do the lighting for a Disco night concert with some local DJ.
I set up the all the lights and sent them to the dimmers through a special little electronic box that we had rented.
The special little box had both lighting and sound input and would “Bounce” the light levels to the music.
After some awful droning song that went on forever the DJ said: “Hey, you all loved that song so much I’m going to play it again!”
I switched the special boxed on and let the lights run themselves and thought it was a good time for a break.
In a recent conversation I found out that the Magic Disco Light Controller came from the lighting supply shop I now use here in the Rochester area.
Applied Audio: http://www.theatresupply.com/
There were a few miss haps along the way.
During the set up for one concert I was working behind the stage running lighting cables when I kicked an electrical cord out of the wall outlet.
No thinking about it I just plugged it right back in.
It was the main power feed to the sound system and the surge cause a very loud BANG and blew out one of the speakers.
Ooops, my bad.
Another time I nearly got electrocuted when there was bad wiring in both of the stand lamps that we were using in for one play.
I picked up both at the same time, got a big jolt and could not let go of them, I was shaking and things started to go grey.
My heart pounded and I felt a bit “Fried” for a while after that experience.
For those of us who worked with lights it is a normal part of the job to be “Bit” by electricity from time to time, but this was bad and hurt like hell.
A while later, after I let go, someone touched the two lights together and they both lit up, a nice example of a short circuit.
There were also great speakers who came to the college when I was at UB.
Some of the people I got to hear included Moe Howard (soon before his death), Noel Neill (Lois Lane from the old TV show), Jerry Rubin, Jimmy Carter, Vincent Price (very cool), Chris Miller (the guy who wrote Animal House) and my favorite R. Buckminster Fuller who I got to meet after his talk.
There were always too many good things to do and see when I was in College and Grad School, but I tried to get to as many as I could.
During breaks when I went home to Long Island I would also go in to NYC and buy tickets at TKTS in Times Square.
I would do this several times a year and got to see many great shows.
Coming in by train I would get there early enough that I was often the first or second person on line and had my choice of any of the plays that were running.
Several times I ran into this couple who were fellow Theatre Majors from UB.
Among the many shows I saw, often with the original cast, were: 42nd Street, Chorus Line, Chicago and Sweeney Todd, all of which have had recent revivals and/or have been made into movies.
I do not go back to Long Island as often as I did when I was younger and sometimes miss the energy of the City.
During my years in Buffalo I got to see The Who, The Grateful Dead (twice), Jerry Garcia Band, Genesis, Jesse Colin Young among a few others.
Genesis is one of the first bands to use Lasers in their show, and in a time before Vari-Lites or any other kind of motion lights and it all seemed pretty cool at the time.
I also got to work on concerts for Jean Luc Pony, Patti Smith, Spyro Gyra, The Breaker Brothers Band, Stan Getz and a few others I have forgotten.
Saturday Night Fever came out late in 1977, my last year in Buffalo, and there was a surge in Disco which had been on the decline.
I always found it funny that so many people loved the movie and disco after seeing the film but they never seem to remember that at the end Tony rejects the Disco scene as shallow and goes off to the big city to follow his dream, and the girl.
I was also “Lucky” enough to do the lighting for a Disco night concert with some local DJ.
I set up the all the lights and sent them to the dimmers through a special little electronic box that we had rented.
The special little box had both lighting and sound input and would “Bounce” the light levels to the music.
After some awful droning song that went on forever the DJ said: “Hey, you all loved that song so much I’m going to play it again!”
I switched the special boxed on and let the lights run themselves and thought it was a good time for a break.
In a recent conversation I found out that the Magic Disco Light Controller came from the lighting supply shop I now use here in the Rochester area.
Applied Audio: http://www.theatresupply.com/
There were a few miss haps along the way.
During the set up for one concert I was working behind the stage running lighting cables when I kicked an electrical cord out of the wall outlet.
No thinking about it I just plugged it right back in.
It was the main power feed to the sound system and the surge cause a very loud BANG and blew out one of the speakers.
Ooops, my bad.
Another time I nearly got electrocuted when there was bad wiring in both of the stand lamps that we were using in for one play.
I picked up both at the same time, got a big jolt and could not let go of them, I was shaking and things started to go grey.
My heart pounded and I felt a bit “Fried” for a while after that experience.
For those of us who worked with lights it is a normal part of the job to be “Bit” by electricity from time to time, but this was bad and hurt like hell.
A while later, after I let go, someone touched the two lights together and they both lit up, a nice example of a short circuit.
There were also great speakers who came to the college when I was at UB.
Some of the people I got to hear included Moe Howard (soon before his death), Noel Neill (Lois Lane from the old TV show), Jerry Rubin, Jimmy Carter, Vincent Price (very cool), Chris Miller (the guy who wrote Animal House) and my favorite R. Buckminster Fuller who I got to meet after his talk.
There were always too many good things to do and see when I was in College and Grad School, but I tried to get to as many as I could.
During breaks when I went home to Long Island I would also go in to NYC and buy tickets at TKTS in Times Square.
I would do this several times a year and got to see many great shows.
Coming in by train I would get there early enough that I was often the first or second person on line and had my choice of any of the plays that were running.
Several times I ran into this couple who were fellow Theatre Majors from UB.
Among the many shows I saw, often with the original cast, were: 42nd Street, Chorus Line, Chicago and Sweeney Todd, all of which have had recent revivals and/or have been made into movies.
I do not go back to Long Island as often as I did when I was younger and sometimes miss the energy of the City.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Spring 1978
Senior year was full for me with classes, work, planning my future and applying for Grad School.
I looked at schools like NYU and Yale, but after doing the math and I saw no way I could afford them.
At NYU they would take about 12 new lighting design students each year and weed them out to just a few and then maybe offer some financial aid.
At the University of Michigan they only took 2 lighting students each year and if you got in you got a full fellowship.
Even as a kid I knew about the University of Michigan and Michigan Football, got to love those helmets, but I had never thought I would end up there.
But I applied and waited to see what would happen.
I was surprised when I soon got a letter inviting me for an interview.
I put together a portfolio and flew out to Michigan.
I stayed at the house of the former Buffalo student who was just finishing up his MFA there.
I got the tour, saw a play in the big theatre and even went to a party one night and most important I survived the interview.
I laid out my work; drafting’s of light plots, ground plans and various working drawings, plus a few painted set renderings and my simple watercolor of a paper bag.
I remember the Costume Design teacher, Zelma Weisfeld, picking it up by the edges as if it was dirty and asked me if I painted it.
I said yes.
She made no other comment good or bad.
I was not sure what to think but I felt I had done OK.
I returned to Buffalo and waited.
A few weeks letter I got a letter from Michigan and was excited and anxious to open it.
I was second runner up and put on the wait list.
Oh well, I was not sure what that would mean so I focused on the current play or concert, went back to work and waited to see what would happen.
There were plenty of other things to keep me busy, good and bad.
College can be isolating, no really do not see many children or old people and the real world seems to be out there but not on campus, but a few events happened to bring me back to reality.
One of my housemates had to leave school because he had cancer and needed treatment.
Wow, very scary and strange and nobody knew what to say or do except wish him well.
Also in the middle of the semester my friend and former roommate Matt was working in the Theatre when he had an accident.
Now a few years before someone had cut his finger on the table saw and I got a nice big electrical shock, but this was serious.
Matt was working in the Theatre, working up on the lighting catwalks when he fell through the trap door that led down a ladder to the floor.
He fractured bones in his back and hip and was in the hospital for the most of the rest of the school year.
He easily could have been killed or paralyzed; although he recovered I know he is in pain until this day.
These events smack you in the face and cut through the fog of youth and make you face the real world whether you want to or not you are ready.
Sometime near the end of the year I got another letter from Michigan, someone had declined admission and I was offered a place in the fall class.
My future, at least for the next two years was set, and I was very happy and excited, and during my last few weeks at college everything I did was fun and looked great to me.
I still had a few adventures left in Buffalo and a summer of work ahead before I moved to Ann Arbor.
I looked at schools like NYU and Yale, but after doing the math and I saw no way I could afford them.
At NYU they would take about 12 new lighting design students each year and weed them out to just a few and then maybe offer some financial aid.
At the University of Michigan they only took 2 lighting students each year and if you got in you got a full fellowship.
Even as a kid I knew about the University of Michigan and Michigan Football, got to love those helmets, but I had never thought I would end up there.
But I applied and waited to see what would happen.
I was surprised when I soon got a letter inviting me for an interview.
I put together a portfolio and flew out to Michigan.
I stayed at the house of the former Buffalo student who was just finishing up his MFA there.
I got the tour, saw a play in the big theatre and even went to a party one night and most important I survived the interview.
I laid out my work; drafting’s of light plots, ground plans and various working drawings, plus a few painted set renderings and my simple watercolor of a paper bag.
I remember the Costume Design teacher, Zelma Weisfeld, picking it up by the edges as if it was dirty and asked me if I painted it.
I said yes.
Paper Bag Watercolor 1978
She made no other comment good or bad.
I was not sure what to think but I felt I had done OK.
I returned to Buffalo and waited.
A few weeks letter I got a letter from Michigan and was excited and anxious to open it.
I was second runner up and put on the wait list.
Oh well, I was not sure what that would mean so I focused on the current play or concert, went back to work and waited to see what would happen.
There were plenty of other things to keep me busy, good and bad.
College can be isolating, no really do not see many children or old people and the real world seems to be out there but not on campus, but a few events happened to bring me back to reality.
One of my housemates had to leave school because he had cancer and needed treatment.
Wow, very scary and strange and nobody knew what to say or do except wish him well.
Also in the middle of the semester my friend and former roommate Matt was working in the Theatre when he had an accident.
Now a few years before someone had cut his finger on the table saw and I got a nice big electrical shock, but this was serious.
Matt was working in the Theatre, working up on the lighting catwalks when he fell through the trap door that led down a ladder to the floor.
He fractured bones in his back and hip and was in the hospital for the most of the rest of the school year.
He easily could have been killed or paralyzed; although he recovered I know he is in pain until this day.
These events smack you in the face and cut through the fog of youth and make you face the real world whether you want to or not you are ready.
Sometime near the end of the year I got another letter from Michigan, someone had declined admission and I was offered a place in the fall class.
My future, at least for the next two years was set, and I was very happy and excited, and during my last few weeks at college everything I did was fun and looked great to me.
Spring 1978
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