LOAD-IN

I got out of bed at 6:30 AM, showered and headed downstairs. I got my car from valet and drove the short distance over to the venue, the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum. I had to drive past the Maxwell House Coffee factory; the smell was incredible, all that coffee being roasted!

I parked in the backstage compound and made my way into the gig. Atta introduced me to my lighting crew over breakfast. They all seemed very nice and keen. I was happy. Lowell is my dimmer guy, Dan, my Icon tech and Mike is the general lighting guy.

After breakfast, we proceeded to load in. We had four trucks of gear, two of which were for lighting alone. I will give you a description of how load in goes on the road:

Each truck is backed into the loading bay. We generally have about 12 or 16 stagehands to help us at this point, plus truckloaders. The gear is either rolled down the ramp or taken off with a forklift. The lighting crew place themselves in strategic positions so that as each piece is offloaded, there is someone there to direct the equipment so that it ends up in the proper area. Our tour rigger, Lee marks the points where the chain hoists are to hang. The hoists are what hold the trussing up in the air above the stage. The house riggers climb up into the roof of the arena and lower a rope in to pull the rigging up and attach it to the steel beams.

Meanwhile, the lighting crew are doing their various jobs- Lowell, the dimmer man, is running the power cables to the house electrical system. The cables we use are huge, as there is a great deal of power running through them for my lights. The size of the cable is "0000," so we call it "4-ott." Lowell also places the dimmers in their positions on floor next to the stage.

On the stage, the crew are bolting together the lighting trusses, and rolling them in place so they can attach the hoists to them. At this point, they start running the power cables from the dimmers to the various items that need power on the trusses, such as the lamp bars, truss spots, hoist power, moving lights, intercom; there is a lot of stuff on the trusses and it can become a tangled mass of spaghetti if this is not done properly. Not to mention that we have serious time constraints on show days, so it not only has to be done correctly, it has to be done fast.

Once the cables are run and plugged in, the hoists lift the trusses to about waist high so that we can hang the moving lights underneath. There are also many other details that have to done at this point. I walk around the trusses and do a "pre-focus" of all the par cans, so that once it is at trim in the air, it makes the focus easier and faster. It is at this point that all the lights are turned on and checked, to make sure there are no burnt out bulbs and that everything is plugged in properly.

I also take this opportunity to focus the "ACL's." ACL's are a type of lamp, the letters signify "Aircraft Landing Light." These are actually the same type of bulbs that aircraft use as landing lights. They are very bright and the beam is very tight, much like a car headlight, but the light reaches a much greater distance. We use these in rock and roll to create a very tight beam of light on stage, and the generally come in banks of 4, as the are each 28 volts, so 4 wired in series becomes a 112 volts. They are focused in what I call a "4-finger fan," and it is a very pleasing and "rock & roll" lighting look. These have to be focused almost perfectly, otherwise they look like crap. Generally, they are focused once the lights are up in place, but I try to do them while the trusses are still hanging low, using the stage deck seams for reference. Usually, I can get a good focus that way, and it save an enormous amount of time if someone has to go up and focus them.

Once things are in order, we attach tape measures to the bottom of the trusses and raise them up to where I want them. This is a decision I make solely based on what I think "looks good." We start at certain heights and then I go out front and adjust the trusses accordingly. Once I am happy with the way it looks, we make a note of all the measurements and we call it "trimmed." We then try to achieve that same "trim" at every venue we play at.

Anyway, that is a brief synopsis of "load-in." This being the first load-in, it takes a lot longer to assemble the lighting rig. Once we get into the tour, the lighting will be up and to trim by around noon every day. Attaboy and the rest of the crew really put the system together well in the shop; that fact coupled with the knowledge that the Superbowl starts at 6 PM has us hoping that the rig will be up and to trim rather quickly.

The backline crew came in around noon, and started working on their gear, which has been sitting in a container on the ocean for the past several weeks.

I think that the band may want pyrotechnics on this tour, therefore I am having Mike, who has done pyro for me on many previous tours come up from Melbourne, where he lives, to bring a couple of effects to show the bands. He also did a rehab on the "Scorpions" sign and drum riser, so he is also bring those up. I have known Mike for several years, and we have become great friends. He is from Florida, but lived in Vegas for a while, but he moved back to Florida a few years ago, so now we are practically neighbors. Mike's nickname is "Otis," and, without going in to detail, I will simply say that it comes from the "Andy Griffith Show," and leave it at that. You figure it out from there…

Anyway, Otis turned up around 1 PM with the sign, drum riser and his pyro package.

The day seemed to be going rather well, and the lighting rig was up to trim around 2 PM. I decided that I would focus the rig tonight after the Superbowl. The plan was to leave the venue around 5:30, head over to Hooter's to make sure our reservation was in order and watch the Superbowl.

I met all the Whitesnake crew, and informed everybody what time the Superbowl party started. A few expressed reservations about being able to get away because of their workload, but they all had hope of being finished before the big game was over.

My lighting console is called and "Icon" desk. It is a computerized lighting console. I can actually "save" an entire show onto a floppy disk and reload it onto another console at a later date. I am using a very similar lighting system to what I used last summer touring with Scorpions/Deep Purple, so I can actually use the same program as a base to get this show going. Since I have most of the Scorpions show already programmed, I can devote a little more time to programming Whitesnake's show, as their show I have to start from scratch.

Tonight, I plan to get the old show loaded, patch all the lighting into their proper channels and go through all my older program cues to make sure they are right. I generally wait until the other crew, backline, production and sound are finished, that way, I can turn off all of the lights and program in peace and quiet. I figured I would go watch the Superbowl and leave the other crew to finishing their gigs, then I'll come back later and get started.

I left at 5:15, piled into the car with Otis and Lee, dropped Lee off at the hotel, Otis and I drove the two blocks to Jacksonville Landing, parked and walked in the cold to Hooter's.

Upon arrival, I found Tony, the manager, and he led us to our tables. It seems that someone else had commandeered our main table, so we were stuck along the side of the restaurant with limited view of the big screen television. I was pretty disappointed, as, with big screen projection TV's, the quality of the picture from the side leaves a lot to be desired. The restaurant was pretty packed, quite the opposite of what I was originally told. Oh well, I was happy to be able to see the game. I ordered a beer and waited for kick-off. Lee arrived, and so did several other crewmembers, Atta, Lowell, Dan and Mike among them.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, despite the letdown from Hooters. I only had a couple of beers, as I had a long night ahead of me and needed to stay awake and program. I was happy to see the Buccaneers win the Superbowl, I mean, I am a Miami Dolphins fan, but living in Florida also makes me a Bucs fan. But as far as the Jacksonville Jaguars go, well, I go back and forth. I mean, I am a true home team guy, so I root for all the Florida teams, but that's a whole other chapter…

We left Hooter's at 10:15 PM, I dropped the crew off at the hotel and I ran up to my room to get a couple of things I would need for the all nighter. Dan and I met back in the car and we headed back to the gig.

I stopped by the Production Office, dropped off my bag and jacket and went out to the front to my console to start programming. I went through all the Scorpions cues, refocused all the moving lights and then went to work on Whitesnake.

Around 2:30 AM, I decided to take a break, I had made good progress and was nearly ready to call it a night. Or a morning, anyway. I walked back to Production, and went online to check my email. I decided to call it a night and went to find Dan to tell him to shut down the system. I packed up my computer and started gathering my things, but I didn't see my jacket. I swore I had left it on a chair in the Production Office, but it wasn't there. I decided to go look at the lighting desk area, but I was SURE that I hadn't brought it out there with me. No, it wasn't there, either. I went back to Production. I was SURE that I left it there- someone had taken it! I called Attaboy to see if they may have taken it by mistake- I woke him up and he said no. In disbelief, I finally realized that someone, somehow, had come into the Production Office and actually stolen my jacket!

I grabbed the two security guards, who, of course, saw nothing. Suddenly, I remembered that my rental car keys were in the pocket. Great. Now I couldn't drive my car. After searching everywhere Dan and I possibly could, I called the police to file a report. An officer arrived, I filed a report, and he left, and I knew by his attitude that I would never see my jacket again. I was very disinheartened. I bought this jacket at the Hard Rock Café in New York on September 11th, when I was up there for the Anniversary. I had managed to hold on to this jacket throughout 2 months in Russia, yet here I was in Florida, HOME, and someone rips off my jacket.