I keep relatively busy these days…you might find me DJing a club, mixing a radio show, or chatting with an Events client about a Wedding or School dance…sometimes I get to do even cooler stuff. You see, I freelance as a Sound and Lighting guy…I put on concerts and other theatrical events inside big theatres, casinos, stadiums, and the like.
It’s really fun, I get to work with a lot of great creative people, and I get to play with a lot of expensive toys. After nearly a dozen years I thought I had seen it all. But today, I learned that was simply not the case.
I had arrived at Gold Country Casino in Northern California to do a pre-production meeting with the Casino staff, the Sound Manager, and my client, the ISCCD, who had hired me to help them produce a “Coronation Event”. I would be Directing the show, two Stage Managers, two Spot Light Ops, and a Lighting Director…plus…I will be operating the video system, doing all of the sound, AND DJING! Talk about MULTI-TASKING! But I’m up for a challenge, and ya gotta love what you do…
I checked all sorts of stuff out this afternoon. We focused some lights for the show, hung a disco ball…I ran a Cherry Picker inside the Casino, which is always a good time. It was funny though, as I was hanging the Disco Ball, the trussing the lights were hanging on started to sway from their chain motor mounts, and I got disoriented big time for a second. I thought my lift was moving! Really disconcerting feeling when you’re 20’ above the floor.
Can I just say for a minute how much I love Clear-Com? We spent a good amount of time checking and double checking the communications system. You’ve seen the guys at concert’s with the head-sets on right? That’s Clear-Com! It allows me, as the Director, to talk to everyone else. It also allows them to talk to each other, or me. It’s basically one open line between everyone on the system. Your microphone is either open, or closed…typically, the show Director is the one with an open mic, calling the shot, and everyone else listens, unless they need something.
My client and I went out to the front of the Casino, looking for a knife to cut some zip-ties. When we walked out the door, a car in the front parking row was smoking. It looked overheated. Our path would take us directly beside this smoking car, so of course, we exercised a bit of caution. Good thing too. First we saw the plastic dripping off from something underneath the car, dripping and flaming at the same time.
The Casino staff brought a fire extinguisher out to try and help. Of course, I was barking orders, telling them NOT to open the hood. If something was burning in there, a rush of oxygen might cause it to explode. I’m not a jerk, I was just REALLY concerned by this point. I had never seen something like this, and I immediately began expecting the worst.
Nearly 8 minutes later, after the car had dumped some of its fuel into the fire, completely engulfing the older sedan, causing 20 foot flames to shoot out of the roof, the Fire Department and the CHP had gotten the blaze under control. But seriously people, I saw an exploding car in the parking lot of a Casino I was prepping for a show. I love this business!
