Senior year at UB.

I still had many plays to work on, some new adventures and plans for my future.
My senior year I got to design the lighting for two more plays and served as the Technical Director for another, but I was looking for some other challenges and opportunity and that is why I decided to work with the concert committee designing the lighting for a number of events.

On larger concerts I would help setup the sound and lights that came with the bands and often run a follow spot during the concert itself.
The 70’s were, the 70’s, and there was always too much parting before, during and after the concerts.
It was normal that there would be 10 cold cases of Molson Golden Ale backstage, although most would be saved until after the show was over and the equipment was loaded back onto the trucks.
On smaller shows I would design and run the lighting for the concert, calling out cues over a headset to my follow spot operators.

One of these concerts was with the Punk Rocker Patti Smith.
This was just before her peak, while she was still on the rise.
We really did not have that much lighting equipment, but it was enough to cover the stage and have some flashing colors.
Wild time.
Just before the concert I got a message that Patti wanted to see me backstage.
I was a bit excited to meet her and went into the dressing room area and was introduced to her and this is what she had to say to me: ”Have fun with the lights man”.
Wow, I never would have thought that.
I smiled and just as I was about the leave her guitar player grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside.
With a very serious tone he said that I could do what I wanted, but NEVER completely black out the stage as Patti was afraid of the dark.

It turned out that she had once fallen off the stage and hurt her neck badly.
I assured him that there was always going to be some light on, as I knew that we had too many lights for our dimmers and a set of backlights were just plugged directly into the wall outlets.
I never was a fan of Punk Rock, but Patti Smith put on a great show that included all of the songs that she would become famous for.
http://www.pattismith.net/

Gilda Radner would make fun of her a few months later on Saturday Night Live.

I also got to do lighting for the comedian Robert Klein.
I got to talk with him before the show, but I did not like how he talked down to me, just barking out orders and demanding things that I had no power to give him.
The show was OK, I did the best I could, but I never really found him to be that funny after that.
(He has website too, you can find if you really want to)

I worked on a number of other concerts, large and small, including some Rock, Jazz and even a Folk Festival.
We did concert with one local band whose name I knew from the radio but had never heard play.
To my surprise the band turned out to be Spyro Gyra, a successful Jazz Fusion band that went on to record over 25 albums and had hits with the "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance".
I did another concert with them later in the year.
Gee maybe it was my lighting that helped them on their way to out of Buffalo and to world tours?

http://www.spyrogyra.com/generalinfo.php?type=history

In the spring of 1978 I was hired to design the sets and lights for a local high school production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor”.
As I was getting near the end of my time at UB it was nice to be hired for an off-campus job, even if it was only for a high school, and it paid, not something that all my Theatre jobs have done.
I did a nice job and was happy with the result.

Each year I was in college I saw upperclassmen go off to Graduate School.
By the time of my senior year I had thought that I might try to go on to Grad School and had started to investigate my options.
One former classmate went on to the University of Michigan on a full scholarship.
It seemed like a good idea so I applied and waited to see what would happen.