Luv esther in bolton 12th september!!

We had a pretty good full show in bolton last saturday, this sadly was the last show for: Rico (Hegai) he will be missed but i'm sure will still be around!!
On a good note it was the 1st full show for the lovely Bolly known as emma bollands, whateva you do don't sing "over and over" to her.. lol!!
anyways thats anough of the cast now onto the beefy crew work, the night before the gig we entered the venue to take down some conference lighting so we could fit the truss height in, and then the next day we turned up early as usual to do the load in, we had some great local helpers to give us a hand, so eventually the gear is up and working which took longer than we thought but it went up in enough time to do some rehearsal with the stage hands (luke and ross)... but unfortunatley just as doors were about to open the set jammed, but after a slight delay the crowd were in and the show went pretty well.. and i was told that it was a record load out which is really cool so thanks to the local crew and pro crew everyone got more sleep!!

more info coming up soon, as to the next phase of luv esther!!! :-)

Scotland tour 08

well we have just completed 3 shows in scotland with a full show in Ayr and edinbourgh and an evening with luv esther in east kilbride...
all the shows went amazing and the new crew have slotted into there new job roles and done amazing!! so gud work guys!! :-)
also if any of our great hosts see this, then thankyou, u were brilliant and make us feel really welcome...

i don't really have much to say other than we will keep you posted on where we go with luv esther in schools in the new year...

chow for now!!! :-p

and the circle of life starts again

well here i am again, making a post for the first time in ages. its been son long that i actually cant remember what has happened since the last one.

I do however have the pleasure of telling you about the new crew.
Lydia, Sarah, Ash, Luke, Chris, Ross, Tim, Will, Andy, Dave and Me.

All ready for the Scottish tour. I will keep you posted and take lots of photos for you entertainment.

Stay tuned.

Craig

Portsmouth, Kings Theater

Well hello there, looks like there has been a lack of interest from the crew. Thay have asconded there duties to the world and not kept this updated. Shocking!
So a quick up date, I am now freelance, I still live in thornbury but work for myself in the entertainments industry as a freelance lighting tech.
NGM & Luv Esther have asked me t come back and help them with the next few shows while there are recruiting new crew. (so if your interested drop them an email mikemaidment@ngm.org.uk )
Obvously the first thing i did was check this blog and to my horror i found that no one has updated in ages, well this will be rectified.

We are all in Portsmouth, in the B&B now relaxing and preparing for tomorrow. We will be setting up in the Kings Theater for a day of rehursals and then the show on the 9th.
I will make sure that either I or some one will post an update to let you all know how it goes.

Craig

Ireland- Land of the Power Shower

So noone has got around to doing this yet so I thought I would just put a post up to tell you about our lovely trip to ireland.
We spent a few days in Northern Ireland, we did 3 shows (two were back to back very tiring)
the first show was in Larne in Larne Leisure centre. The day had it ups and downs but even though it was rather stressful we got it done
with Plenty of time. At this point I would like to congratulate our new production manager Jim and our new stage manger (ex dresser- get you with your promotion) on a really good first show in charge.
The day after Larne we got a day off in belfast where Jim,ED and I had to try the guiness in Belfast it was rather nice. We walked around Belfast for a few hours went had a pub lunch, went to a very nice cup of coffee in a mens clothes show (random I know) and we also went bowling which was rather cool. It was very wet out side though. Dungannon was the next gig a lovely venue with a lovely hill to push the cases up and to carry the heavy bits up! The local crew was mainly rugby players which came in handy especially as we were already preety tired. The get in was really easy and everything seemed to fit (You know when you are having a good get in when you get to sit down for lunch and you get to leave the venue for dinner- we have to fill our bellies some how). Dungannon went really well the show was really well attended and beardo got some funky camera angles (check out the podcast at www.myspace.com/luvesther) so Dungannon was goooooooooood.
Then there was Belfast all I can say is that it was a long day, We eventually got the set up with the help from our very friendly male cast members (you guys rock) but belfast was a fun gig. even with being really tired we still got to have the highlight of the tour which was Ed playing the Ulster hall Organ very impressive.
So that was our tour of Northern Ireland. I would like to take this chance to thanks the many hosts out there your hospitality and breakfasts were amazing!!
sam

Bristol Rehearsal Week

So, instead of going all the waay to oxford every day or clitheroe for the week, we decided to go for the simpler option of Bristol's Trinity Church. WRONG!!!! we knew it was going to be a challenge after the site visit, but when the rest of the crew arrived we were confronted with the get in which was up 3 flights of stairs. uh.oh......









We eventually got everything in, and after the small matter of shaving a metre off the width of the truss we had finished for the day. Certain casualties had been aquired by the crew, including Sam and Sam's comedy 'sliding the van door on the arm' routine, but the most severe (for the rest of us) accident was that craig managed to tear rather large holes in the crotch of both his shorts and jeans. Almost a whole role of gaffa later we could open our eyes again.







The week went by fairly well, with alot of hard work put in by the crew and cast. our jobs involved fixing some broken mac 250 Kryptons and looming up all of our soca and dmx tails into ugly looking tentacles. The new cast members did a fantastic job and have taken up their new roles with great success. but this is the crew blog so thats enough about them.... once the gear is all set up the crew have to just run the show for rehearsals, which leaves plenty of time to build things, destroy things and have a lot of fun along the way. Here are some pictures of what we got up to...



























This week saw our Sam Hocking spending time with Phil from Wigwam, learning the ins and outs of doing sound for the show, and hopefully soon he will be op-ing the desk at regular shows.



















Craig can be seen as happy as a pig in well.. you get the idea. This is becuase he got to cut up wood with power tools. the lesser spotted (working) technician in his true natural habitat is indeed a wonder to behold. Craig was actually doing a good job here, building a serious ramp (fun slide) to get all the flightcases back down stairs for the get out.























On the way out we discovered that there were some branches in the way for the artic to get out. Not any more!!





All in all it went well, we worked very hard, and had lots of fun, whilst still being close enough for a trip home to our own beds every night.



Ed

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Newcastle !!! VIDEO !!!

Hey everybody, Here is the update from Newcastle, it actually happened before Glasgow but i have been busy putting together a little video for your viewing pleasure. We had a bit of a stressful gig and had no time to film anything interesting or technical, but you should find some footage of us all being silly to alleviate the pressure. Hopefully next time I will have a lovely edited documentary of our technical goings on.

Click HERE for the video

The show went well and special guests included murray watts and my mum and dad.

Peace out,

Ed (Ginge)

Grimsby

Power Shower Rating - 6 (good points - nice non-travellodge swanky hotel, bad interesting points - first night sharing a room with craig who has full on conversations whilst sleeping)
Breakfast Rating - 9.5 (Hotel breakfast, including full english)

So then... off to Grimsby, and the Auditorium.

Nice load in this one, straight off the truck up a ramp onto the stage. We had two days instead of the usual one, due to people coming and weight loading our truss, and other complications such as flying our truss and getting a rigger in. It was the first gig for both harriett and sam/disco/des/ (delete as appropriate) and everyone did really well. Sam was supposed to be watching craig do the followspot to learn the cues but he did so well in rehearsal that he ended up doing the show - after seeing the full run through only once before!

Since we had an extra day we all went out for a meal in the evening for sam's birthday and because it was Anna Kendal's last ever gig with us, with Claire taking the reigns from now on. The next day we all enjoyed watching birthday boy sam get chased round the auditorium and beaten up by the local cast girls as they shouted "Sams got a girlfriend; ooooooooo" amongst giggles. we think they were jealous.

The show went well, it had been a while since we had done a show so the pressure was on to get everything right, but everyone did a great job and the show went off without too many hassles. We even had the chance to try out a new preset position for the step and screen set elements before the finale ;-)

Another big thanks to the house crew who were really friendly and helpful, and also the local crew.

Its oh so quiet....

things are quiet at the moment, I am the only one here at NGM from luv esther since everyone else is away for a break. (I guess I should be relaxing or something). The truth is that I'm dying to get out on the road for this next leg of the tour, and have some more fun. (amongst the hard work!). We are all excited about the new crewmembers, it should be a really good few weeks as we all get to know them (and their taste in humour). infact I am typing this from the rrecording studio at NEXUS in coventry, where new crew member Sam just graduated as a live sound engineer. I've been finding out a lot about him from all the staff here!

2 weeks to go till our next post, right after the next gig which is in Grimsby. For all you committed geeks out there, maybe you will spot us if you are at PLASA on the 11th Sep. (If anyone does actually find us, i'll buy you a pint.)

Preston

If you are an avid crewblog reader - and I'm sure that you are, you will no doubt be thinking "hang on, havent they already done preston?" and you'd be right. The boys are back in town...

This was an extra special gig for us, no - we're not talking about the quirky chain hoist load in, the great showers or meeting our friend zach the venue dog again, but the fact that it time to say goodbye to some of our most valued crew and best friends. for Sven, Rachel, Anna and Paul, this was the last show with Luv Esther. And befitting such an occasion, the get in, food, show and get out were great and went without a hitch. Here's a little bit about those moving on...


Sven - Well what can be said about our svender? he was there from before the beginning and without him the gear, the shows and the crew team just wouldnt have worked. Sven has looked after everything technical, including us, and we will all really miss him. He is moving on to do freelance work alongside tim strat, one of our sound engineers.

Rachel - Rachel has looked after the costumes, wardrobes, and pretty much everything the cast need backstage, to ensure that every single show goes smoothly and the cast get on stage, with clothes on, at the right time.

Anna - Anna has been the boss of the team for the whole tour up to now, and has sorted out pretty much everything we do, she tells us when to get up, when to sleep, when to eat, where to go and what to do. She is the person who liases with the venue staff, sorts out the problems and makes sure everything gets done.

Paul - Paul has been the muscle in our crew and also a fantastic followspot operator. He is moving on to study mechanics.


Thanks for the fantastic memories and fun we all had, and may God bless you as you move on. We love you all!

Luv Esther Day Out

After the Liverpool Gig the entire cast and crew stayed up north and went for a day out in the hills, organised by emily aspin and her parents, who made a massive picnic for us. It was a lovely hot day and we arrived in a valley by a river and settled down for lunch.

Well, most people settled down. Being blokes, myself and Craig decided to climb the biggest hill we could see just becuase it was there, and set off...

We made our way back down a rather steep slope and then joined the other cast and crew who were attempting to cross the river on a series of stepping stones. Of course we fell in and ended up swimming down the river and through some little rapids, unaware that we were picking up little leeches along the way....

The day ended with a meal at emily's friends house before driving over to preston for the next gig... the day seemed to tire us all out, as no-one could keep awake on the journey and presented some perfect photo opportunities.

Liverpool

Well.... where do we start... we stayed at a travelodge in Liverpool the night before the gig and the fire alarm went off at 12.30. This is not good news for a sleepy crew. So we ended up outside in the carpark in various states of undress while 2 fire engines landed and every room was checked for a fire. An hour later they left and we were told that it was due to the "hot weather". Back to bed then.

Chhalm down, chhalm down...Now all of us on the crew love liverpool. we really do. But when you see a local running off down the road with your low smoke machine after 15 minutes of being at the venue..... well it doesnt really help a city's reputation now does it!? Well thats what happened, and thankfully some guys from the building next to us managed to run after them and we got our beloved Le Maitre G300 back.

Get in was ok, it was the hottest gig we have done so far so we were all sweaty and smelly. loads of nasty bins by the load in door made matters worse but the team all battled on and got the job done , despite all our frayed tempers. We had the pleasure of having liz green with us for this gig, she came along to see what anna's job entails as this was her penultimate gig with Luv Esther.

Show went well, the venue was set up as a comedy club with caberet style seating and tables downstairs, which was a change for us. Get out was good and we all went back to the travelodge praying that there would be no fire alarms going off.

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....