The Carnage Of Flight 151

The standard shot of Times Square by night! It's actually not that square at all!

The standard shot of my shadow! This time in Central Park!
When I actually have a home again I'm going to have to get all my 'Shadow Shots' printed & framed & put them on display! Got a few of them now in various places around the world.

This Proclamation hangs in The Joyce and it is a thing that I never knew actually happened/existed. The Mayor declared October 3rd, 2002 to be "The Joyce Theatre Day" as they'd been running for 20yrs! Myself & Dan thought it was the coolest thing and ran around saying it in our best Mayor Quimby voices from The Simpsons!

Myself, Dan's mum Bev, Dan, Toni (Company Manager), Nicole & Andrew (Dan's cousin & wife) @ Christmas lunch.

A view of part of the NY skyline from across the lake within Central Park.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Ours over here was not really an event per se but a chance for us all to go out for a meal. Dan has his mum here & his cousin and wife flew in from Seatlle to join us. We ended up going out to a seafood restauraunt & then basically worked our way through a couple of bottles of Christmas Cheer!! It was the weirdest Christmas that I've probably ever had. I've spent a few Christmas's away from home due to travel but that's been at my own choice & with close friends. For this Christmas I didn't have a choice! I'm not complaining in anyway or saying that Dan isn't a close friend & that I didn't have fun but it was a slightly weird & strange non-event!! Next year we're supposed to be in China! Maybe '09 I'll have roast turkey, stuffing & pudding in 30deg heat - & get to watch the Boxing Day Test! The Yanks just don't care for it & I haven't been able to find anywhere that screens it, even on delay! I reckon it'd be a great night out, starting to watch the cricket at 1700 in the arvo!

The weather here was pretty good for Christmas, no snow as hoped but we got the other end of the scale. Typical Melbourne Winters day. Bright blue sky, cold but warm in the sunshine. It was the same weather for Christmas Eve so I went for a massive walk through Central Park. Walked the entire length of it up one side and then back down the other! Took about 4hrs all up. You could walk it quicker if the paths were straight but as they meander around & there's heaps of stuff to look at etc, time gets swallowed up! It was really nice. It'd be great to see it again in Summer when all the leaves are on the trees etc but it was a nice afternoon stroll.

Well last night, Dan, his cousin Andrew & wife Nicole & myself crash landed on 8th Avenue! Myself & Dan had decided that we'd head home after the show as today, Thurs, was our only time off before doing 2 x shows a day on Fri, Sat & Sun. Andrew & Nicole ended up having dinner with friends right around the corner form the venue so we went to have one, ONE, drink.... Ain't it funny how plans can change! We found a bar called Flight 151 & it was decked out with all sorts of plane memorabiliea. The first few rounds were actually quite quiet... then the barstaff made an announcement that they were about to draw the lucky number from the barrel to determine which shooter was now going to be $2 for the next hour... We had been unaware of this & this is where Flight 151 developed engine trouble...! Each hour there was a new shooter! After 3hrs, we'd worked our way through vodka, a sweet kind of one & tequila...! We'd also worked our way through Jack Daniels & Cokes, Black Russians & Long Island Ice Teas!! Zoowee! It was a great night but it completely wasted the idea of having today free to play tourist! The total bill was $380 - and that didn't cover any food!

The toilets in Flight 151 were also strange & at one stage, gave me quite a fright! We were well immersed in shooters and I went off to the restrooms. Whilst in there, this announcement comes on & states that the Captain wishes for us all to be seated & fasten our safety belts! Was freaky! There were a few other announcements made & I guess it keeps that whole airplane theme going!

Tango Fire - It's All Coming Back To Me Now!

The following photo's are basically of signs that I've seen when out strolling & exploring my area!

Even though I'm not a fan, Dave Letterman is shutdown @ the mo' due to the writers strike - gets some coverage back in Aus. Just cause it's something funny to do, it'd be great to sit in the audience. Maybe by the time Ric (Lil' Brudda) arrives...?

Haven't quite mastered the Times Square Shuffle yet - hey, I'm a Tech not a dancer...!

Hello once again. It's just ticked over into Christmas Eve here. We've just completed 4 shows in 2 days and we've got both Christmas Eve & Day off - yeah!! We had made plans to go and explore Beaker St tonight where there's supposed to be live music etc. but after the gig both Dan & myself decided we weren't up for it and have gone our seperate ways in the hotel.... The hotel doesn't even have a bar.... I've barely even tried alcohol in the States..... Are we the same two techs who recently completed the UK Tour...?

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I basically arrived in New York 9hrs before I started work. I was pretty foggy in the head when we arrived @ The Joyce at 0800. The rig was all up & coloured - which was great but by 0830 I had crew chomping at the bit to start focussing...! I have NEVER focused that early in the day before & the routine Dan & I had in the UK was, Tim focus from upstage to downstage after lunch!! My brain had to work extra hard as we'd had to adapt our rig or look into their Repretory Rig. Due to the Joyce doing 47 straight weeks of 1 week Dance Seasons all year, they have 1 rig that stays in poition and that's what's there. Saves on bump out & bump in (set-up) time if they don't physically have to keep swapping stuff around.

Therefore, when I had crew wanting to focus @ 0830 my head was a mess! As soon as the first few lights came up & I'd remembered how to interpret my own Joyce Light = Tango Light sheet of paper, it all came flying back. This little section at the back of the brain, that had been trodden down over the last few weeks, pulled itself up, pushed the jet-lag aside & kicked into gear! If I'd actually had to wait until after lunch to focus, I probably would have been a mess! It was a great focus session, we had the lot done in no time at all.

Due to having to adapt my rig to their rig - which wasn't that hard - I had built in a few 'safety nets' (read ass covering) lights to ensure we were covered. In their rig they've basically got 7 overhead bars and most of them are covered with Source 4 profiles that still seem prety new. Not a fresnel in the building with 4 way S4pars Batterns overhead. As we were focusing I realised that a couple of things weren't going to work & the 'Safety Net' Lights came in very handy!! All lights that I'd channelled ended up getting used, just not neccessarily as I'd originally intended!! The main factor was that The Joyce basically has no Flytower, so the LX Bars only go out to (from memory) 23 feet, so getting some shots US without hitting borders etc. was tricky to say the least.

The crew are easily the best I've encountered. Very disciplined & professional but they've all got a wicked sense of humour and as they were used to hard & quick turnarounds, they were kind of surprised when we unloaded 4 red legs & a guaze to hang & that I wasn't being to perdandict that the lights weren't working the way I wanted them too - & that we were relaxed & not walking around like we owned the joint! The show looks a little different due to different angles etc but it's come up a treat. It's the nicest thing to actually have to drop levels down and leave you with somewhere to go if you do need more light rather than having everything @ full & still needing more light! The show is always evolving, partly to keep me sane but also because you find a look due to venue restrictions that actually works etc. Also you start to see new places where there could be another queue or fade of the spots quicker etc.

Now, having been in New York for a week it's proven that Tango is firmly in my blood. As we were doing Opening the music, the cue points & spot plot all came flooding back far easier than I thought it would. It feels as if we basically went from the UK to here, not that that there was 6 weeks in between. It's nice to know that it has all stuck & that some part of my brain has actually stored the info. I had been expecting a far worse set-up - just due to jet-lag and not having done it for 6 weeks but, honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. A great kick off to the US Tour - many more cold & windy adventures to come I'm sure!!

Also, as I have no idea what I'll be doing over the next couple of days, a big Merry Christmas to you & yours this holiday season & a happy & healthy start to 2008. Take care out there & catch you again shortly.

Snaps 'N' Stuff!!

These guys were our crew in Malvern, UK. Damn fine bunch & were one of only 3 Regional Crews who came out for a drink after the gig! Toad (the guy far right making the rock'n'roll sign) is the UK version of Kev O'Brien for those who know him. He was an absolute hoot!

The three members (as well as their personalities) of Mirra Vanless Tango & their trusty vehicle.

Me, Dan & Ange out for my Birthday in Liverpool @ a pretty decent live music venue that we found.

Canterbury Cathedral as seen from my Control Room balcony! Nice!

Me as Chief Table Maker & Breaker, atop my tables for the final time in Basingstoke - our last UK gig!

Myself amongst most of the kids on our "End Of UK Tour Drinks" in Basingstoke. Was a grand night out & was great to have all the Company together in the one room!

And this is some of us later on in the night.... From L-R. Back Row : Hugo, me, Dan & Javier.

Front Row : Maritzio, Ange & Christian.

Giz, all dressed up & onstage, at The Joyce, New York helping me check my prac lamps on Opening Night.

Here's Giz getting interviewed by Annie About Town. She works on "Good Day New York", which is on the Fox Network. They did a few live crosses to us the morning after Opening - we were at the venue from 0600 - 0900 the morning after Opening...! Please cut & paste the link below to see one of the live crosses. Pity they didn't post Giz's interview! You may not be able to tell put they're both wearing the same colour schemed outfits!

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=5262215&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.7.1

Yep, Summertime Is Way, Way Behind Me Now!

Well, if you're still checking in & even reading this then I thank you! I'm yet to alert the wider public that I'm back 'online' and willing to share stories of woe & hilarity! No pictures downloaded yet & yes, I know I haven't seemed to have finished off the UK leg section of the Blog but that will come!

I'm currently holed up in my hotel room on West 29th Street, New York! We're about 15hrs behind (for those in Aus) & approx 20-25 (minimum) colder! Today, it was a barmy 1 deg all day! Yeah! Doing hotle living is a bit crap for three weeks - we were supposed to have mini apartments (like London) but they were sold a few months ago & are now luxury condo's! They were apparently really lucky to be able to secure us rooms in Holiday Inn Express (sounds as good as it is!) this close & for the length of the Festive Season!

The flight here was SO long! Due to weather delays and re-diversions etc, I ended up getting into my room at 2345 Sun which was 8.25hrs before I started the load in in our New York Venue, The Joyce!! Oh yeah - especially as I'd flown out of Melb @ 1300 on Sun and according to 'local' time it was only 10.5hrs later... try telling that to a body/mind that's just done 27hrs of plane & 5.25hrs (NOT counting before we flew out of Melb) Airport time...!! Zoowee!

To top it off, the Duty Free nerds at Melb Airport owe me $35 odd bucks! Bought Duty Free alcohol on the way out of Melb and checked with them 3 times (3 x seperate people) if I could take liquids into the US, especially as I was going 'Domestic' from Los Angeles to New York. "Of course" they said, "No you can't" said 8ft tall black guy with a gun (I kid you not at LA!) When he scanned my carry on I was declared as "We got an 1156!" & it took 3 armed people to put my 'Special Edition' Kalhua in the bin...!! (Not that I fought them - internally yes, externally, no!) Lovely cherry on the top of the delays etc. I'd already been experiencing!

New York is pretty cool though - gotta admit that. My body clock is still way off centre & if this leg was the UK leg, I'd be in a really bad place but because I've done it 40 odd times now, most of them one after the other, as soon as the lights turned on Mon morn, a little piece of my brain set aside for Tango (that I didn't know had been created) kicked in!!

Basically, that's my story up til now with more & photos of both end of UK & up til now to follow. Oh yeah, don't even get me started on what's been organised for us the DAY AFTER OPENING NIGHT!! No point even thinking about getting the body clock aligned until after that....

All that and other non-senscile ramblings to be revealed later than now.

Bali - Paradise By The Pool Side Light

Hello There Reader (if there are any of you left!),
There is still some stories to be told from the UK but for those of you who aren't aware, I'm currently on a 10 day holiday in Bali whilst on my 6 week break between the UK & USA Tours. I have finally become a millionaire thanks to the Indonesian Rupeha - $1 AUS = 8,180 something!!

It's been a realy hectic time since arriving back in Melb - a mate's Buck's Night, my best mate Adam's Buck's - where I have the honour of being Best Man @ the actual ceremony, Adam's wedding and then another mate's wedding - Ange & Ray. In between all of that I worked a chunk at the Arts Centre as a Casual - the way I started way back in early 1998! It was GOLD to head back to the old stomping ground but basically having no 'responsibility', especially after the UK Tango Tour. All I had to do was get given a gig and when it was done, report for more work! Didn't have to worry about everyone else, that there was a show to do, no calling of cues etc! Heaven! I also had the opportunity to light the Nick Cave Exhibition in the George Adams Gallery - which was a great experience & actually meeting & chatting with Nick was quite cool.

Anyhoo, enough of that boring stuff...! After all that ended & before kicking back into work I had 4 days down in Portsea (that also covered Ange & Ray's wedding - thanks Rel for organising a mini holiday with the guys & girls) & from Portsea drove to Melb Airport & went down to Tassie to catch up with Dad & Kerry for 4 days before heading here to Bali, just out of Depensar in Kuta. I'm forever in debt to one of my best mates Suzie for the opportunity. She herself has recently come off an Australian Tour & one of the guys on that, Todd, has a wealthy friend in Bali who has a spare house on his block of land - as you do! I'd met Todd a couple of times whilst Suze was on tour as I'd drive down to catch up with her whilst she was close to Melb. He said to Suze that it was cool to invite me, which she did, & I accepted!!

The place is GOLD! It's nothing too flash but it is prob of the 4-5 star quality if it was classified as a Hotel! Staff come in each day & clean etc., we can get massages & there is prob the best pool I have ever seen. It has a narrow channel (for use of a better word) that links the two houses but otherwise you'd have no idea there was even anyone else on the property!! Between the two houses there is this great wall of palms, plants, flowers, trees etc & you have complete privacy. Laurie & Raphael (Raph) who live here permanently pop on over every now & then & they are both fantastic guys. We've had many laughs and devoured many bottles of vodka/wine/beer & other assorted Duty Free things...!

Raph is a great cook & we have been treated to a couple of dinners that he just creates! Absolutely fantastic! Todd's really cool too. We knew each other as we'd met briefly before but it really only took us a day to cerment a friendship of our own! The clincher was when I provided instant back-up & support for him when he was attempting to add chilli flakes to Suzie's food....! He made a play & I just did what came natural as if it was Adam, Bernie, Ric or even Suze herself & ran with it!! He was the 'Tainter' & I was the 'Eyes'! After the first two 'taintings' didn't work, we went for OVERDOSE... still nothing, so we eventually fessed up...! We had visions of Suze jumping into the pool and errupting into a cloud of steam but to no avail! A lovely bonding moment after drinkng "Caniptions" - basically we all took it in turn to make beverages out of what was in the kitchen....

It's been SO relaxing to actually finally stop. It has been SO long since I've had a holiday of this calibre. First few days were literally spent lounging around the pool. We have ventured out to the beach - the water is so warm - and shopped a little. Last night, Wed 5th Dec, we all went bowling. Was a hilirious night out. In the cab ride there we were all from Norway - thanks to Todd speaking first.... Todd could speak English & myself & Suze couldn't - the translations & converstaions that went on were hiliarious. At bowling we met a few people & told them that we'd just come off a tour of Cats in North Korea....! I have never told such stories before & had backed it all up from knowledge of North Korea that I'd absorbed during a Forreign Correspondance report on the ABC!! Kinda wrong but they were people we were never going to see again & it did make us mingle! If you're shaking your heads (or maybe even laughing) we did buy them a couple of rounds of drinks - one it backed up our story & two, it helps them believe the stupid stories we were telling!!

On the way home, for some reason we decided to go on a "Slingshot" Ride - basically you get strapped into a steel framed ball between two REALLY tall posts, with a bunge type cable (stretched) attached about half way down back to the ball.... You get titled back, so your looking at the sky & then they release you.... Oh my God....! For about 5 sec's you have no idea where it is you actually are, just that you're not on the ground and getting thrown around alot!! Apparently you travel at 5G's...? Don't know if that's true but it was definately a rush. I went on it first with Todd & we paid to have it videoed & copied onto a DVD - the camera is mounted in the ball and basically records your faces as you yell, scream & contort!! As we were being lowered you can hear us on the DVD discussing how we're going to convince Suze to do it... It actually wasn't that hard & Todd got off & I stayed strapped in for a 2nd run! 2nd time, especially striaght after becasue it had only just happened and my body memory was still fresh, I basically kept my eyes open for the whole thang. Man you move fast & have no idea where the ground actually is! Poor Suze - as we were tilted back I started talking to her & said that the man counts down from three before you're released. As he started counting down from 3, Suze turned to me & said "What happens when...." GONE! We were off!

After we got off another couple got on & we stayed to watch them and I have to admit, watching it from on the ground it seems as if the ball stops bouncing severely after 10-15secs. In the actual ball, feels SO much longer - prob something to do with the brain processing everything as it's happening quicker than you could possibly compute!

I haven't downloaded any of my Bali photos yet but will endeavour to do so as well as finish off the UK leg of the tour. Anyway, nobody's probably reading this by now as my last post was over a month ago!

If you are still checking in once & awhile & especially if you've returned knowing that I should be in the US and might be writing again & even more so if you've backtracked to make sure you haven't missed anything, then I thank you. Take care friend & standby for more posts where I'm sure you'll hear the question asked whilst in New York - "Why do I shave my head when it's below freezing...?"

Trevor Pastrami, On Fasari...!!

Giz all crashed out after a long week of One Nighters.

Pastrami & Bakersfield (read on for an explanation!) meeting on the site of where Lennon & McCartney 1st met!!

Giz on stage @ the Royal Sumphonic Hall in Birmingham.

Rachel & Dave - two friends we met randomly @ our Hotel Bar.


Giz with 3 Americans we met in Cambridge. The guy is ???, Kristin in the stripes & Andi. They were really cool. Giz had a couple fo rounds of shooters with them!!

Gavin, myself, Dan & Russ. Gav & Russ were two of our techs in Cambridge. Every photo of Gav, he's pulling the same face....?!?!

Carolina (Artistic Director), Javier (Singer), Dan, Ange, myself & Christian (Dancer) having an extended session @ the Hilton Bar in Bradford. Everything else was shut!!

The bright light is the one that I get a clap for each night - or buy the 1st round!!

Me eating a deep fried jam sandwhich.... wasn't too bad!!

Me messing around with my shadow in one of my effects during the show in Nottingham.

A stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral.

The Tango Fire Production Crew has grown extensively since we’ve started the Regionals!! There’s a large group of us now that travel everyday in the truck… Yes, we’ve hit that part of the tour where we’re getting tired and Dan, Ange & I basically spend 16-19hrs a day in each other pockets!! Ange gets a little reprise as once we hit the venue, she get’s to hide in Wardrobe!! So our Company has grown out of delirium, aches & pains & just our general unspoken motto of “You Just Gotta Laugh”.

The current cast of characters are Lyle (me), Gareth (Dan) & Ballzetta (Ange). They’re all from the South as one day we were predicting the type of people we were going to encounter in where ever it was we were heading and it appeared to be people who had Southern US Accents…..! Myself & Dan went completely off on the wrong kind of voice!! Lyle & Gareth are slightly gay & have heavy undertones of the Community Service Guy from Family Guy.

Next up is Trevor Pastrami (me), Lionel Bakersfield (Dan) & Victoria Cockthorn (Ange). They have the classic ‘On Safari’, toffee nosed voices – lots of “What Ho” & “Smashing, smashing idea” kind of thing. They were born from Ange trying to say the word Safari & could only continue to say Fasari and well, I couldn’t let that go & Trevor Pastrami (named by Ange) was born…! Dan & I will answer our Hotel Room phones & will answer as either Trevor or Lionel expecting it to be either Pastrami or Bakersfeild on the other end – it has backfired on me once or twice….!

Richard & David Attenborough (both wild life experts!) pop in & out and describe various things we see as we drive on.

There’s a few others who make cameos every now & then but the above mob have back stories & come in to the venues with us!! Venue crew definitely think we’re nuts sometimes!!

Then we have Tim – who was our first GPS voice & now we have Sean. Tim’s voice was English & quite polite but wouldn’t repeat instructions that often & meant we had to drive crazy around roundabouts trying to follow the green line! But at least Tim was polite. We now have Sean who has a delightful Irish twang and we are convinced Sean is drunk. He repeats everything about 6 times – which can be helpful but it does get annoying!! His favourite lines are “Turn left & the turn left again”, “After 200 yards, stay left” – which we yell back at him “Don’t go right!” He LOVES the left – it’s really weird! The other day the case was closed on Seans sobriety – he was babbling on about “At de roundabout, take the tird exit. Take the exit & then……” He just left…! Nothing! Head down on the counter, nursing his pint of Guiness!! Leaving us with no idea what we had to do….! We yelled at him to wake up but Sean was down for the count. This was proven the next morning when we required his services to get out of town & his hangover kicked in! We’re driving along towards an intersection & he goes “At de roundabout, take the 2nd exit.” Um, Sean, it’s a T Intersection…. We turn left & then he started giving us more bogus directions about turning right in 300 yards when the road naturally turned to the left….!

Well, if you didn’t think I was crazy before, you definitely should now & Dan & Ange are just as certifiable as I..!! Ah touring, where one must become a little insane to remain sane!! Catch you all soon – gotta go, Pastrami just lit his pipe up & this is a no smoking room…!

North Hampton-day - The Happiest Day Of The Year

The attached photo is of Ange with her Firemen in North Hampton - that's what happens when you put the Steamer underneath a heat/fire detector.....

Firstly I want to pass on my thanks to all & sundry who chimed in on my Birthday via phone, email, SMS, Facebook etc. Was great to hear voices from home & was great to chat to some of you. Thanks again.

Due to the nature of touring doing One Night Stands, we basically forget what day it is and each day is known as "Which Town Are We Heading To Now" Day - hence North Hampton-day!! We arrived in the morning about 1000 and it was like we'd worked there for years. After the previous few runs of venues we walked in, battle armour on, shotguns @ the ready, poised for action.... The boys were great - extremely welcoming, my ENTIRE rig was rigged, patched, coloured & focused & they had the best sense of humour & working style. It was like walking back into the Arts Centre in regards to the camaraderie that came out. Myself, Dan & Ange threw down our arsenel of weapons and basically kissed their feet!! I was focusing before lunchtime - a first & I got to play on the new ETC Congo desk & managed to get an entire version of the show plotted on disk - using my channel numbers!!

It's been weird with most venues - if they don't have a Strand, they're very hesitant to patch their dimmers across to my channels.... Which is especially weird when it's a one to one patch in their system.....!! For you non-theatre people - they have Switch 1 turns on Light 1, Switch 2 turns on Light 2 etc. and all I want to do is make Switch 3 turn on Light 1, which is very easy. Because we ended up with oodles of time in North Ham, I took the opportunity to get a full copy of the show on disk. It's not a bad console, some of the functions are slightly weird & not as easy as on a Strand but it wasn't terrible. I even went as far as editing cues whilst the performance was running - was very scary hitting "Yes" & "Enter" on a console I had only met that morning but the show continued on without a hiccup.

North Hampton was also one of those venues where, at the end, you want to cry. The show looked fantastic, prob the best it has been since Melb!! Just came back brilliantly & the terrible thing is we had to pull it down as soon as the curtain came in.... Nooooooooooo! That's the worst thing about touring - you do 2-3 shows and it looks OK but when it looks brilliant & it just happens, it's for one show only! D'oh!! Not to be - somewhere, out there, through the fog, down the motorway & around the roundabout it will look that good again......

Evoking The Tango Fire Demon....

St Albans – what a town. The worst town I have ever toured through or visited & I pity anyone who must head through it or even venture near it! Over phone conversations, the resident Tech had said that he could provide me with a 4 colour wash using Par Cans – fair enough I said, it’s your venue, you know what works best. We get to the venue, called St Albans Arena mind you, to find a school hall… Each colour was done with 3, yes THREE Par Cans….! It basically made up ONE wash if you turned all the Pars on at once!!

After a bit of rejigging etc I came up with something that was remotely passable. Went to focus some of my profiles & gobo’s and do you think I could get sharp edges… Oh no. “Yeah, some of the lamps are rusted shut”, “Be careful adjusting that, the front lens tends to fall out”, “They’ve got 500w globes”, “We haven’t done maintenance in a number of years” & my favourite “A lot of Companies say that”!!! Hello St Albans – listen to the masses!

Went off to lunch shaking my head but looking forward to another hearty English Pub Meal. “I’ll have the Chicken BBQ Melt please”. Pimply teenager presses a button on the till, up comes Rump Steak. “Sorry mate,” I inquire, “That says Steak & I ordered Chicken.” (insert pimply Simpsons Teenager Voice here): “I’m sorry Sir. Was that the Chicken BBQ Sandwich or the one on the Grill Menu?” “The Grill.” Says I. Button pressed on the till again – up comes Steak. Same lines of dialogue again ending in Teenager saying, “Some of the menu items are under the same button”. “So it’s definitely registered as Chicken…?” “Yes it is.” Guess what….? I got a frickin’ steak that was crap & it wasn’t even a Rump & it was dry & I didn’t want it & the staff were horrible when I went up to the bar & threw the meal at them (well, that’s what I wanted to do but soothed my anger with a half pint…!)

Back to the venue & I decided I was going to focus – off this weird ass metal ladder kind of thing - basically a Tallescope without wheels! Two of the techs – Alex & Nick were great & were running around backing us up. One of the crew (who was also one of my spots) never spoke a word! Weird! Got the rig focused and then replotted, not really liking the look of it but did what I could.

Diner rocks around, we head to a different pub for dinner. Decided on the BBQ Bacon Burger & went & ordered. Was enjoying my pear cider when my meal was delivered. Nibbled on some of the chips and then opened up the burger & realised that… there was no burger in it! Just this huge wad of bacon! I started laughing & took it up to the bar & the look on the guys face when I asked, “This might sound dumb but do all the Burgers come with a burger?”, “Yes.” Said the barman slowly. I showed the man and he went & called down to the kitchen and then said that yes, I was correct – all burgers should come with a burger! Go back to the table & about 5mins later they bring me another burger - only it isn’t! It’s the same one just with this wedge of meat inside. I could tell it wasn’t new due to the half eaten chip that was on the plate when I took it back and when they’d speared the bun with a tootpick, it was right next to an identical hole!! The burger was cooked, but cold ! I just wet myself laughing! Stoopid bloody town – 2 completely farked up meals!! And we were her for 3 shows…..!

Show actually didn’t come up that bad under the haze – I kept it pumping for the whole show as the beamage (being able to see the beams of lights through the smoke) was gold as there was no flytower and the bars were so low!! After the show, we went out for an ale – every pub appears to shut or has called last drinks. We get to this bar called Ice. We walk in & it’s like an old Ice Cream Parlour set up, all in white, with those really small, crappy & annoying moving lights. Bad music, bad, bad music. I had to buy the first round, which I have to do everytime one of my cues in Act II doesn’t get it’s deserved applause – with the assistance of a dancer…! Not a clap in St Albans, not once but twice – bastards. So I order our standard knock offs – 2 x Double JD & Coke & 1 x Gin & Tonic. 17 quid 60p…! Standard prices are about 8-12 quid. I said something in Spanish & just looked at the guy. That was the last straw – I’d had enough of St Albans!! We drank pretty quickly & bailed & could not find one more pub open!!

I made a solum vow that night that I was going to burn St Albans to the ground….!! Some of it still smoulders to this very day!!

High Wycombe - What A Day!

Man, what a bad few days! High Wycombe was Sun for one nite & then we had Monday off there. Beh!! We had the D Crew - quote "We've had a really big week & get out last night & we've got another big week next week so you've got a few of the newer guys." That's always the nicest thing to hear as a Hirer! Part of it was our own fault as we may have had a few beverages after finishing off in Canterbury but when you walk into a new venue & there's only 4 out of 6 crew and 2 of them look like they haven't even had the birds & the bees speech, you get that feling deep down that, today, you have dance!

We had a couple of colledge kids & one of them spent most of the morning on the phone. At one point I did ask her if she was learning about theatre & when she said "yes" I told her to get off her phone & watch me dance!" A bit gruff but the phone was turned off after that! Kyle (our Head Tech) had bth me & Dan asking him where the crew was & all he could do was stammer, point at himself, Dan & I and then say "They're around her somewhere!" Grrrrrr! It was also weird thatthe crew wouldn't listen to me! I would walk up to a bunch of them and ask them for assistance or somwthing & get nothing & then Dan would yell from across stage and they'd all saunter off together - I've never seen tech's work in packs like that before! Because I was being ignored (& at this point I hadn't yelled & wasn't being rude) I just went on weird litle rants of irelevant stories of my youth, yesterday etc. No one seemed to mind cause NO ONE COULD HEAR ME! Ran that crew into the ground, they all earnt their 8 quid an hour. It was fun being up the Tallescope, telling the crew what buttons to press on the riggers and then focusing! By the end of it, my short grunts from the top & I would be moved, stopped & the channel I wanted brought up everytime!

Was a day where we didn't get a break - finally had a chance to sit down and stop @ 1840, 20mins before the curtain went up! Busy day & funny in reflection now as Dan & I were basically the crew but it's nice to have one of those types of days notched up. We know we can do it & we have been blessed with a really good run so far.

Wait til you hear about St Albans - bad, bad place! Kil 'em all!

Happy & Silly Snaps

Myself, Dan & 3 of the 4 members of Quatrotango (The Band), L to R - Marcelo, Chooky, Hugo.

Dan & I with an intriguing sign in Bournemouth. What happened when we went thru the door is not for this Blog.....

Dan & I with Marie - the waitress who kept on serving us Tequila when we went out for a slap up Mexican meal.

We found one of Gizmo's realatives in Camden Markets. Looks a little sad...

O'Neills, where about half of my per diems disappeared over the Peacock Season.

Me with a splitting headache that I picked up on our tour of the Royal Opera House.

Dan, me, Prentiss & Ange having a snack whilst touring the Royal Opera House!!

The Sun Tavern - where the other half of my per diems went...! Double House Spirits for the price of a single... yes please!

No More Mister Nice Tech

Hello Reader, been a bit slack at the mo' re posts but it'sbeen a pretty hectic time now that we've hit the Regionals. This week has seen us pass through & conquer Oxford, Dartford, Canterbury & High Wycombe. Dan, Ange & myself must look a sight when we first enter the venue - Me - the Bald Thug who then talks in Donald Duck, Dan - the wanna be Rock Legend with his ever so effeminate nature & Ange - 50's chic & glamour!!

Oxford - show didn't look the best at all because they basically had nothing to put a show on with. Which is weird seeing as the venue was called The New Theatre...! Crew were great though & Oxford has the record for our out - 42mins.

Dartford... hard to remember Dartford..! Strange little venue. Had a full rig which was nice but they were more interested in doing stuff for their own venue rather than assist the Hirer! They were very precious about their desk as well & didn't want me to change their one to one patch to match my channel numbers.....?!? Where we're going, we don't need roads! The one plus side was their FOH rig - was nice to actually have to lower levels rather than demand lamps that are at full give me at least another 40%!

Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre - really steep venue & the crew were all over it. Fantastic mob who bent over backwards to get us in and the show was in, focused & re-plotted by 1600! Unheard of. Fantastic & we were there for 4 shows so we got a little time off. They were a really relaxed venue and there was much witty banter over cans.

High Wycombe, The Swan - myself & Dan have sworn to burn it to the ground as we depart tomorrow. We got screwed re crew as they've had this massive Russian Opera all last week that finished on Sat night and have a masive American Dance Co. bumping in today so their A thru D crew were all used up so we got the 1st Year Uni students and a couple of homeless people...! Not neccessarily their fault & our show isn't that hard to get in but when someone asks, "What's a Colour Frame...?" one does wonder! Didn't have a break all day & finally got my table pracs & hazer plugged up & checked at 1840 - 20mins before Curtain Up! Was a hard day but we got it in & it looked really good from my end!

Tomorrow we head to St Albans for 2 x shows & we've been told it's quite pretty. Canterbury was really cool - lots of narrow winding little streets - just ask Dan re our side mirror (or lack of!) Went through & explored the Cathedral - impressive but Notre Dame still holds the mantel to ye olde curches. Was very grand.

Well, I'm off to walk down the main street & find some food and slap the first High Wycombian who looks at me funny! Catch you soon & hope all is well.

Fair Thee Well London

Holla. This post finds us in Bournemouth on our day off! It's wet & miserable but that's OK cause my hotel room ROCKS! It's bigger than everyone elses - I have a couch & a bath! Ah, thank God for no water restrictions over here! The room here, with sea views, is about 3 or 4 times as big as our London digs! Shame we're only here for 2 nights! The lift access is very cool - like the one James Bond has a fight in during Diamonds Are Forever but the overall design of the hotel does have a Norman Bates feel to it. Mmmm paisley lime green wallpaper!

Well, The Tim, Dan & Ange Show somehow made it out of London & to Bournemouth without getting lost! It was a hilarious 2.5hr drive with much merriement. We pulled out @ 0645 and were parked at The Pavillion (our venue) by 0930! We even had time for breakfast where I had my first coffee in about 2 weeks - bad idea, bad, bad idea! About 5mins back into our journey, caffine hit... I scared even myself in such a confined space! They don't do coffee well over here and they sure haven't heard of soy milk. The advertising sign at the Roadhouse said it all - "Good coffee. Honestly!" With signs like that, why would you trust them...?

London Season went really well & a big shout out to the crew of The Peacock. They were a great venue to have as a first & we've sworn that there will be times on this tour where we'll wish we were back there. The Pavillion crew were great too but we only knew them for a day but they did their duty & took us to the pub for lunch & tea! Show went really well in Bourne. Came back really well & only needed to butcher the rig a bit. Learnt another couple of small lessons. Scary relly seeing as it was our first One Night Stand & the three of us hadn't really done it before but we were bascically ready by 1630.... ain't gonna be like that every time. Probably tomorrow when we hit Oxford!

We went out & explored the night life of Bourne last night in the rain. It's basically a student town & also where old people go to retire (I was going to say die but that wouldn't be right!). 1st pub was in, beer, shaking of the heads & then bailing. Same for the second but the third place was great. A kind of African decorated place that was playing retro/80's music which kept us entertained. They also served sheesha - one of my old friends form Doha! Yay! We sat out on the balcony section & all these students kept rotating past us and chatting. It's their O Week & it was a great night. Met a whole bunch of weird & crazy, well, kids I guess! By the end of the night we were all dancing up a storm! My highlight was starting a huge kickline, can-can style, to the part of "Come On Elieen" where they start chanting & it builds up faster & faster. Thankfully there's no footage.

Speaking of footage. When you walk the streets in England, this loud voice comes on & says "You are being filmed on CCTV. If anything is reported in this area, we have a record of the time you were here." It's scary & I suppose it's meant to make you safe but the first few times it's quite wrong. It also happens around Car Yards.....

We've got 3 days in Canterbury later on this week & I hope to post some more photos then. Hope you're well dear reader & catch you soon from somewhere in the UK.

My Fat Fingers & Haunted By Dolphins...!

Dan, Jules, Me, Ange & Prentiss.

Gizmo befriending the Crew Room Guardian

A sign in a cool place called Bar 12. Great little pub band bar.

Me actually proving that the show is playing in a venue in London and that I'm not just on a drinking holiday!

The previous post shouldn't have been posted - clicked the wrong button & no, I'm not drunk or even have a hangover as I bailed from the venue last night and came straight home! The photo on the previous post is me & my 2 x Spot Ops, Jen & Mik.

Yesterday (Sat 22nd) was a weird afternoon show & it was just one of those freaky days in the theatre. When I left the Arts Centre I was given a soft toy Gizmo, a Mogwai - the fluffy creatures in Gremlins before they change. He's had a few adventures around town so far but yesterday was the first time he'd entered the venue. I think the venue Gremlins sensed him and just went to town! My operation of the cues was OK but my calling of the spots was completely off. If it hadn't been Jen & Mik up on the spots with knowledge of the show, it would have been messy. The Artistic Director changed the order of a couple of pieces about 15mins before curtain up so I was replotting blindly right up until curtain up. In three of the pieces, the guys nearly dropped their partner and it was highly visible. The band completely messed up the intro into the start of Act II - which doesn't help the LX Op when he has snap cues that 'Go' on particular beats!! 2 of the boys T-Shirts went missing from Dressing Rooms & all their Act 1 shirts all had this weird black oil substance on them after Ange had washed, dried & iorned them....! Really weird. What was different - I brought a Mogwai into the venue....! D'oh! Evening show went far better - guess the Gremlins (or ghosts) had made their point.

Speaking of ghosts - as all good venues are, The Peacock is haunted but not by a 'normal' ghost. Years ago the venue was a Burlesque Venue & you can still see the tubes where cages were lowered from out over the auditorium. Also, the main stage had this huge trap in it where this massive tank was rasied up for the finale. The lift under the stage, although not in working order, is still there. In the tank were 2 x performing Dolphins. When the club went broke, everything was abandoned & boarded up, years later the tank was found along with the 2 dolphins. Really sad I know but I ain't ever heard of a venue being haunted by animals before, let alone Dolphins!!

I've been out exploring a bit and have started to take my standard shots of signs, alleyways etc. Much better way to remember a place than the 'tourist' places. My good mate Julia came across for a few days. Haven't seen her in 6 months since she moved across to Amsterdam. She somehow managed to make it across just in time for the Opening Night Drinks...! Cunning! She then bailed back to the Dam on Fri but it was great to see her and we'll see her in another 6 months when we hit Holland!

A cool place to visit in London is a place called the John Soames Muesum. It's free to get in (they heckle for a donantion). Jen took me there the other day. This Soame bloke was a complete nutter! He was an architect back in the 1700-1800's and designed (from memory) the English Bank and numerous other London buildings. His house is just amazing - he bought 3 houses next to each other and then just remodelled & turned them inside out. As they had no electrical power in those days, his use of natural light is just amazing. As is his use of perception & space. He uses mirrors and all these little periscop type towers to capture & disperse the light! And the wierd thing is he actually lived in the house! It's a weird eclectic mix of all sorts of styles and it was all obtained thru auction - he only ever travelled abroad twice & they were both to Paris! It's really hard to describe how it all worked & photography was banned but it was an amaing little place. Would have loved this guy to have designed theatre sets. My favourite part is The Picture Room - just a room that has paintings hung in it but then the walls open up like a picture book to reveal even more paintings etc! Absolutely amazing!!

Anyway gotta go, Sunday maitinee awaits. Take care all catch you soon.

Lessons Learnt

Hello Reader, Well, we opened in London @ The Peacock on Tues (tis now Sun) & the show went really well. It came back better than I thought it would. They've got a Strand 520i so it was nice to have a familiar console to work on. The show was very well recieved & the Big Boss Andrew was over and said that he thought it was the best the show had ever looked - the whole package of the show was really tight! Phew - pass me another free glass of red!!


The bump in brought with it a few lessons - and there will be more to learn. Have already decided to change positions of a few lanterns and even swapout some from fresnels to profiles etc. Stuff that will only help/quicken the process for the future, especally when we hit the one night regional leg. Same for what to focus 1st to last & what I can afford to loose if time gets too tight.

The crew @ The Peacock have been fantastic. A great bunch of boys & girls that have the same attitude as us - know their venue but don't take it too 'seriously'. Within the first hour I think I'd had 2 gaffa (tape) balls thrown at me - mainly due to me singing and getting really annoying songs stuck in people's heads!! Ha! They've taken us under their wings & have taken us out for many an ale and O'Neill's, their local pub has now become my local and it's really scary when both the day & night staff know your first name after 3 days...! A large portionof my per diems have been left behind @ that pub! They do really good food and I've had their Irish Breakfast numerous times now.

We've caught up with a number of Aussies who are living over here at the mo'. Which has been great. It's been nice to have familiar faces around for the first leg, which also means that it's been hard not to go to the pub each day as there's always someone who wants to catch up for a quick one...!

A Few Happy Snaps & Stuff

Have had a walk thru the venue - bout 1,000 seats and quite quaint. Apparently the Season is over 50% sold which is apparently great news! They seem like a decent bunch and the space is quite intimate. I'm operating from quite a way back but I guess in the long run I'm gonna see the show from all sorts of different angles!

We're apparently only having one dome op (gotta get used to calling them spots) for the season and the other one wil rotate thru about 3 or 4 people cause that's the way things are done here in London due to people needing to work as much as they can to live! Quite different to Melb/Aus.

It's been great to catch up with a few familiar faces. Some I haven't seen in years. Have met a few new ones - a guy called Phil& I hit it off straight away. No getting to know you stuff, chinked a pint and then it was like we'd known each other for years. What was going to be a quite eve turned into a bigger one than planned to the hilarity myself & Phil inflicted upon our drinking companions!

It's been fun getting back on the Tube. Puts our PT Network to shame - as do alot of other cities in the world. It's pretty easy to navigate, especially for the second time around as it's marked out really well.

Hope all is well in your world and cacth you via SMS/Blog/Email or that highly stoopid & addictive Facebook soon!

Photos - 1) Adam,Flea, Me, Stackers & Dan. 2) Gizmo familiarising himself with the Tube layout (his knowledge has been invaluable!). 3) See, Speak & Hear No Evil - not that we've ever upheld it! 4) The L7 Workshop Crew - GP, Ron & Me.

And Reality Crashes In...!

Well hello, hello from Hyde Park (near Notting Hill) in ol' London town! It's begun...! Still a bit weirded out by the whole thing but was just hunting for a shower after 32hrs of being in airports or on a plane. The 7hr stopover in Bangkok was SO much fun! The lady at the bar looked at me funny when I ordered a beer @ 0630 in the morn but the body was thirsty and it was kinda humid!
A big thanks to one & all for the best wishes and meals/beers/laughs etc that I managed to squeeze in before I left. Just been chilling out today & it's been great not to have to do anything & to just have some TFT (time for Tim). Went out and explored my local area which I'm already familiar with as it's where Adam & Flea lived & where I stayed when last over here, so it's not 'new' per se. Forgotten how crap UK coffee was! Breakfast was pretty decent - a good ol' English fry up!
My little apartment is just that, little but it's got a kitchen and I'm all settled in. Found the local cinema & will finally get to see The Simpsons Movie on Sat morn. Off to the pub (surprise, surprise) 2nite to meet up with some of the Aussie's who are over here and meet some theatre people.
Stay tuned for more adventures as they happen...!