opps, forgot

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, I completely forgot to include our dressers, reserve crew and sound engineers in the crew.

So here goes...

Phil Goldsworthy - Sound Engineer – Phil works for the legendary Wigwam and had been working with Luv Esther from the beginning. Phil currently tours with us, making sure the cast can be heard clearly and that it sounds good. Phil also worked on some of the pre production for the show, working on the sound equipment that we tour with.

Tim (Strat) Stratton - Sound Engineer - Strat also works with us as an engineer, Tim spent some time working for NGM and now works freelance for lots of big names through out the UK and Europe. Strat has also done a stint as far out as Africa, (and they call it hard work....all that sun).

Cate Mills - Dresser - Cate works on stage right; she has the hard and critical job of ensuring that the cast have clothes on! Cate will prep the dressing rooms so they are ready for all the quick changes that go on and will assist in undo/doing up all the differing costumes that are worn in the 2 hour ish show.

Rachel Elliot - Dresser - Rachel has the same job as Cate but on the other side (left). Both dressers also work on the organisation of how it all gets packed away, so not to be damaged. They pack them with precision into a touring wardrobe where they stay on the truck. All the costumes need to be maintained, cleaned and generally well kept and the Ladies work really well as a team ensuring all is done, on time, every time.

Alex (Dot com) Smith - Crew - Alex is a technician at our home base in Thornbury. Dot com works with the mission teems, going into schools, putting on events, engineering our church services and maintaining the gear that we use. Alex spent allot of time with us at the beginning of the tour, when we were short.

Ben (Pixel) Peters - Crew - Pixel was our fulltime follow spot operator, he has now left the team but continues to serve as a back-up, just encase. Ben also had a time on stage, playing the part of Hegai. He is now working on one of our mission teams in Thornbury.

Gary (Tuttle) Tuttle - Crew - Tuttle just arrived one day. He is the older brother of one of our dancers and came to help with a get in one time. Gary was so good that we just about offered him a job, unfortunatly he had one already so now he helps out where he can. Legend!

Adan (no nickname but funnyist statment ever award, "is this pannel bent or is it just me?...") Evens - Crew -Again Adam is like Tuttle, we were doing the first gig in Littlehampton and he was there. Adam has helped with a few now and we are always pleased to see him.

God bless.

Well, its been a while now so I thought I would update in the crew situation. We have some new, some old, some leaving, some joining so lets get on with it

Anna Kendall - Tour/Stage Manager – Anna has just married and so is now no longer Anna Westwood. Mrs. Kendall is the big boss. It is her job to organize all the cast and crew to be on time, she is the venue liaison and make all the calls through the show. Anna also works on the administration team and so has a huge insight into the venues, tickets, costs and personnel.

Craig (Crusty) Cursiter – Crew – Now no longer the baby he is one of the more experienced members. Crusty now floats between lighting and video operating and is a general all rounder. Crusty heads up the load in and out and can be seen bashing his belly into stubborn flight cases and shouting commands for ‘decking next’ or ‘not that bit’.

Stephen (Sven) Jolly - Lighting Tech - Is relinquishing his responsibilities to other members of the crew. He is training Ginger up on the lighting and soon will be able to sit back with his feet up… Sven still puts all that weight to good use pushing and lifting heavy set and flight cases. He is part of the fatty crew, with Crusty and Twix.

Tim (Twix/Timmy Two Shoes) Wickham - Video Tech - Tim is responsible for all the video stuff that goes on. He is the main man during the show as he press the button that sets it all rolling. He has a cool toy called a DoReMi which is basically a posh video player. Note: same as written before as nothing has changed. He has however now got a baby boy, but daddy tim just seems weird so he remains Twix.

Paul (Sconners) O’Conner – Follow Spot – Paul is the sharp shooting follow spot operator. He highlights the main characters in the show, making sure they can be seen at all times. Sconner’s also is our Strength, where Sven has fat Paul has muscle.

Sam (Little Sam, Shocking, Sammy) Hocking – Stage Hand (right) – Sam is the bloke you see changing scenes on the left (from an audience point of view) As well as assisting the in and out, Sam is responsible for set moves, helping the cast with props and is ready on coms for any emergency that may occur.

Neil (Beardo) Aston – Stage Hand (left) – Beardo works like Sammy but on the opposite side. He also has the great responsibility of ensuring all the cast have Mic’s and IEM’s. Neil will check battery levels, clean, pack, and assist cast with all their vocal and fold back issues.

Edward Martin (Ginger) Ashton White – Lighting Engineer – We all love Ed dearly but being ginger he is unfortunately the butt of all jokes. Ed is training in lighting, making sure they are all plaitted in the correct places and operating the desk during the show.

People to come…..

Sam (New Boy) Lynam – Not sure – Sam is the latest crew to join the team. He has not started with us yet so we don’t really know much about him. Check you his myspace - http://www.myspace.com/soundiesam

Sven and Sconners will soon be leaving so we are looking for crew now. If you like the sound of what we do ring us on(01454) 414880 and say ‘gosh I rather see myself as a crew member!’ on a seirous note we do need more crew and cast, please do ring and ask for a application pack, we would love to here from you.

another pastime

the truss and set are up, sound checks done and cast rehearsed. What else is there to do in a hot sports hall?

that right naked volleyball, watch out ladies...




p.s we are not posing, well Sven might be, if you look closely the ball is just visible at the top.

when the crew get bored.....

so, its late at night, all very tired and were sitting in a Mc Burger just of the M5. What could be done to save the crew who are bordering on insanity.....

.....colouring in!

here's the evidence

Low Smoke Extraction System

As Ed skimmed over the genius invention that is our "Low Smoke Extraction System" or LSES. I thought it would be timely to divulge some more information about the whole affair.

The basics are quite simple - it consists of seven small steel decks (built in a very similar manner to the main decks) which are approximately 4 foot wide by 1 deep. These bolt onto the front edge of the main stage area.

Mounted on the underside of each deck is a "Low Smoke Extraction System Module". Each module consists of 4 x 92mm low noise, high capacity fans. Each module has a power supply input on one end and a power thru on the other end which enables all the modules to be daisy chained together.

As the show approaches the point at which low smoke is needed the fans are switched on, Neil crawls into place with the Low Smoke Ducting and the LSG (low Smoke Generator) is fired up the low smoke cascades across the stage and upon reaching the LSES is sucked down under the stage and away from harm.

Here's a picture...



cheers,
Sven

A bit late....

Well its been a while coming but here is a picture of all the crew so you can see what we all look like.

From L - R: Craig, Phil, Ed, Anna, Paul, Rachel, Sven, Tim, Cate, Sam and Neil.

It's been a while coming but there you have it.

For those of you who are interested the techie details run a little as follows.

Minimum Stage footprint: 10m x 9m
Minimum Grid/Ceiling Height: 6m

Power: 1 x 32A 3-Phase (on Cee-Form), for Lighting
1 x 63A 1-Phase (on Cee-Form), for Sound

Load In Time: 8am
Venue Cleared: 1am approx.

Truss: Tomcat Touring Ground Support Truss System
4 x CM 1T Lodestar (L Configuration)
Tomcat Chain hoist Controller

Set: Luv Esther Touring Set

Sound: Yamaha DM1000 Sound Desk
FOH Rack c/w CD/MD Player and EQ’s etc
2 x D&B Audio C7 Stack (2 Subs, 1 Top)
4 x D&B Audio C6 c/w Flying Frames
2 x D&B Audio MAX15
Amp Rack c/w 1 x QSC, 3 x D&B P1200A
Radio Rack c/w 7 Sennheiser UHF Radio Systems
IEM Rack c/w 5 Sennheiser UHF In Ear Radio Systems
Audio Multi-Core 100m 24 pair (DDK Terminated)

Lighting: Jands Hog 1000 Lighting Desk
Custom 32A 3-Phase Distro Rack
22 x Martin Mac300
14 x Martin Mac250 Krypton
4 x SGC 4 Colour Starcloth (3m x 7m Drop)
4 x JC Joel Black Wool Serge Tab (4m x 7m Drop)
2 x Egg Strobe Festoons
1 x Robert Juliat Topaze Follow spot
1 x Unique2 Hazer (Water Based)
Lighting Multi-core (100m 2 pair)

Video: Sanyo PLC-XF45 Video Projector c/w Flying Cradle
Video FOH Rack c/w Digital Video & Audio Streaming System
Magenta CAT5 Video Transmission System

Crew: 7 x Full Time Touring Crew Members

Catch you soon.
Sven

London - Hackney Empire

We finally did it! - our week in London is now finished!

We have been building up to this set of 6 gigs now for a long time and all the hard work has paid off. The crew was a little larger as we had Gary with us and some extra helping hands on the get-in. We were able to fly our truss, which meant that we diddnt need any of our ground support system. This meant the truss went up pretty quick and the sight lines for the audience were fantastic. We also had the premiere of our new stage fan system which sucks all the low smoke under the stage so it doesnt cover the front row of the audience. It worked brilliantly and we gave each other a well deserved pat on the back for coming up with a working solution.

The new lower stage decks look great but we can no longer crawl under them, so the bolting procedure now requires some male-bonding....

The shows went really well and everyone seemed to be loving it, including the VIP's on the first night. Everyone involved had an aftershow party on the thursday night....






Sven did the lighting on the last night, so craig and I had the opportunity to take some photos and video back stage during the show....

Ipswitch

Hello blog lovers!!

well... we had a lovely time in ipswitch, we got there the night before and did the travelodge thing. i bravely got the guys to cut my hair again, and this time as far as i know there isnt a big wedge cut out the back of my head. the following morning the get in went well apart from a zig zag disabled access ramp that everything had to be wheeled down, but things went up without any major issues. It was fun to have the legend tim strat with us doing the sound this time.

Lunch and dinner was provided by the lovely local church organisers, which definately beats the usual mcdonalds.

Bournemouth

So its the evening before the show and we arrive at the travelodge in Bournemouth. Much to everyones suprise and enjoyment the travellodge had a bar! we had a swift pint before bed and paul met a random bloke who insisted on talking to all of us about the 'wonderful game of poker' all night.

early morning on show day and we start the get in, which went reasonably well, though a little slow. the projector needed a replacement lamp, and it took a while for use to get used to working with the new, lower and extended stage. As we neared completion tim started to look a little uneasy as the projector wasnt quite working properly from where it was positioned on the truss. A quick discussion and we needed to place the projector on a drop bar suspended from the truss. unfortunately the entire set was up and we couldnt lower the truss, so craig and myself ended up on ladders about 9m up from the orchestra pit, attatching safety cables to the projector. after much fuss and vertigo induced leg wobbling we lowered the projector on ropes and fastened it to the drop bar. Just as we were tidying our ladders away the doors opened and the public started to come in!. phew.

The show went well, it was my first time operating the lighting, and the cast seemed to get on ok with the lower stage and larger step blocks.

Get out was similar, ok but slow, unfortunately the pro crew arrived an hour late which slowed us down a bit. We were finished about 2 and then we made the long drive back to bristol, finally getting some much needed sleep at about 5am.







All in all, another action packed day.

Ed