OA Shows Blog - NOAC 2006

We came in today to do some minor touch up prior to the show and then start striking everything we are finished with. However, the minor touch up turned into major changes. We had to stop thinking about packing anything as ideas changed and new props were created.

Door handles were constructed out of the light racks that were used during the opening show. All of the Styrofoam that had been painted and cut until 2 A.M this morning was mounted up on top of the store fronts as moulding. However, the pyrotechnic crew had also been on stage during the night placing their effects throughout our scenery pieces. Then someone decided the Styrofoam might ignite, so all of that had to be taken down and trashed. New wood was purchased, painted, cut and installed.

The carpenters constructed a display unit for movie posters. Plexiglas was installed in this unit, as well as all the door and window frames of the stores. At the base of the top flight of stairs, an ATM machine was created, in case any of the shoppers tonight need ready cash.

Things are finally coming together and should all be completed in time. We also have to strike tonight after the show and load the trucks coming at 11 P.M. All of us are super tired and hopefully can make it through the load out without falling asleep. We had a great week together and look forward to our future encounters.

We have no show tonight, but the day is planned as a major catch up time to get ready for the big one. We unloaded the Indian scenery and un-taped the floor last night. The tile patterns turned out just like they were supposed to.

The guys broke down the store front framing they had been building out on the ramp and brought it in to the stage. It is really massive, since so many stores had to be created to make it look like a mall and not just a local grocery store. Once the shopping center was framed out on the stage, it was necessary to add more downstage area for the actors to move around on. Extra platforms, legs, and decking had to be brought in from various places in the arena where we had been storing them.

Actually constructing the mall from the various store fronts, steps, planters, fountain, etc. turned out to be a major undertaking. It is definitely a team effort. It reminds me of a stage set-up that would be used for weeks or months at a time, not just one 2-hour show. For some of the crew, this was a “walk in the park” type of thing that they would do everyday anyway in their jobs/careers. For others of us, it is an amazing accomplishment that will stand out in our minds forever.

I have been pretty happy with the teamwork of our crew so far. Sure, a few of us have some mild idiosyncrasies, but Jack and Jeff put us into smaller groups where our strengths and weaknesses tend to support each other. Our smaller groups work independently to handle various projects simultaneously.

But last night, we all attempted one massive project together. We needed to convert the cement floor we had created on the stage for the firsts two shows to a terrazzo tile floor by the time the theme show rolls around with the shopping center. In between those shows, we have to make a tribal environment for the Indian dancers.

As most of the guys removed the film strip framing and steps, Bill and Jack taught Heather and I to snap a chalk line. George, Jim and Jeff started marking off 38” grid lines around the outer edge of the stage floor. As people finished removing scenic parts, they started measuring, marking lines, or laying tape along the grid lines. Paul, Floyd, and a couple of Jims joined us on stage. Alan and Gary started measuring and hauling paint and water in from backstage. Pretty soon, almost all of us were on the top of the stage caught in the middle of a maze of criss-crossed masking tape. It was a bit confusing as we called out measurements, threw rolls of masking tape back and forth across the floor, stepped around each other, and over the chalk lines. But once everyone got off the stage again, we had a neatly taped set of grid lines.

We painted the whole floor a reddish color. Then some of the guys added yellow dabs, while other people used a watered down mixture to smear everything together. Max and Scott came along behind us pulling buckets and pails to unpainted areas as we worked our way backwards across the different wings. Dave and Te had to keep wiping the edges to keep large amounts of wet paint from dripping off onto the ground.

At the end of it all, we had our tribal environment spread out before us. After the Indian show tonight, we will pull up the tape to reveal our shopping court and be ready to set up the mall on top of it.

This morning the scenic group put up the big filmstrip. Our job was to put more of these LED bars around the edges. Our hopes were to get the lights to chase each other but we weren’t quite successful. Afterwards I did a job for Johnny Westmyer and Ryan Bushore, who are from my lodge, to go do some printing in the office.

After the history show, down came all the LED lights. It took us a day and a half to get them set and only 30 minutes to strike. WOW!

This time I actually got some good sleep. But I’m sure we’re all still tired from this weeklong event. We have the Indian dance show tomorrow night. I’m still trying to support Evan through his struggle on the theme show. I really want to support him through this. It’s hard to think that in 72 hours it will all be over.

We spent the major part of the day getting things ready for tonight’s show. The muslin inserts of the film stirp weren’t hanging right, so they had to be unstapled and straightened. Stage techs hung light bars to the top and bottom of the strip as Zach, BJ, Tim and Jim went up and down the ladders shooting staples through the fabric. The red steps had been warped during the truck drive from Nevada to Michigan, so they had to fix a few gaps in between the pieces.

After lunch, our focus shifted once again to future shows. Some of the guys started fixing large western posters for the Indian show. Bill and George created a large black staircase out of four pieces that came out looking like a living room sectional sofa. (Actually, they didn’t make it black. They made it wooden looking and we painted it black.)

Most of the crew has continued onward with scenery for the theme show on Wednesday night. The Jims and Paul have been cutting, framing, bolting and creating a magnificent shopping center. The painters have transformed it from a wooden image into the common stores we recognize today such as Starbucks, Panera Bread, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Fitch, etc.

I’m still trying to get an OA logo on the lectern for tonight and make the new red wedges match the same color red as the rest of the steps. Then we are a go for the show.

Today was another fast day, need I say more. The project for the day was configuring the LED lights going around the edge of the stage. Two problems. These things never go on straight. You have to use tape to attempt to straighten them. When you look at them from a distance it looks OK. But the closer seats can tell a difference. The other problem is that when “red” is triggered, some lights showed green and blue. Apparently this was some kind of addressing problem with the controller. All of these LED bars have a number on them that must be installed in order. The LED bars were taped down to the stage so movement wouldn’t bounce them around.

We had a special catered dinner just for us upstairs in the concourse. It was nice having good old food for once. I’m tired of this fried chicken that MSU is cooking for lunch and dinner.

The arena opened after 7:00pm. I saved a spot for Steve Burinsky. During the preshow, Sparty, the school’s mascot, went a little crazy and ran up on stage, almost kicked over some of the lights, and picked up some props, leaving Steve and I on the seat of our pants. Fortunately, nothing was knocked over. I’ve had my share of close calls with local section and lodge shows back home. I hate it when this happens. You don’t want to seem judgmental but you also don’t want to have problems at showtime.

Evan got in at midnight. It looks like the script was finished. We practiced for about 30 minutes before he called it quits for the day,

Tomorrow is our history and awards show. See you there!

What’s good? Rich Heier here, stopping by to sat that the shows committee is off the hook at NOAC so far. Walking around today I saw a lot of staff working on different sites, setting up stations, etc. and it just motivated me to think that all of the lodges are going to be here TOMORROW! NOAC 2006 kicks off in less than 24 hrs. from now.

It came quick but everyone out here on shows has been busting to make this years show experience the best it can possibly be. We’ve taken technology to a new level in the shows and some things in the show are “legendary”

I can’t tell you how proud I am to be part of the of this stellar team of arrowmen that truly see ourselves as brothers. Just think…we are the messengers at NOAC. The section chiefs decided on a theme in Dallas and that theme is what the shows committee started out with. With just 4 words, “The Legend Lives On…” the shows committee has created everything you will see from us this week.

It’s amazing what can happen when brothers from all over the country come together to create with just a four simple words to start off with. Well anywho if you guys have been on the staff before, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. All I can really say is that I’m excited, nervous, and confident at the same time.

Well, I hope to see all of you soon but for those of you that can’t make it I know many of you have helped make this event happen and I thank you for that. Your service has not gone unrecognized. To everyone that’s here or are coming out let’s git er done!

Today is the day for the first arena show, and it is also the first day of the actual convention. Everything has changed because of all the boys showing up. The university has gone from being fairly isolated to totally packed. The sidewalks are crowded, traffic is terrible, and parking is impossible.

Inside the arena, things have changed as well. We have less than twelve hours to fix all of the problems that are not yet resolved—at least the problems relating to the stage and scenery. The cast has the same amount of time to learn their lines and blocking on the same stage. The video and sound people are also trying to perfect their skills, practicing on people on the same stage.

My carpenters built extra steps in the sound booth and the sky box. They built railings around the video platforms to keep their tri-pods from falling off. They fixed a ramp over all the cables and attached lighting to the I-pods. As I was painting these things, I realized the camera operator couldn’t keep his video camera steady, since his platform was shaking. And some of the sound guys got black paint on their legs, but basically we were all able to get our jobs done in the same space.

In the arena, a recliner took a back flip off a fork lift, damaging the sky box that had already been repaired. Some of the stage floor needed a painting touch up and an entire section of steps needed to be changed from black to red.

Eventually, everyone turned to working on the other upcoming shows as tonight seemed to be ironing itself out. We found a place to get the red carpet flattened out for the awards show tomorrow night. We are making doors, windows, and awnings to turn stage framing into a shopping area. All in all, things are coming along pretty well.

Wow! Are my feet tired! It’s been a long day of pulling wires, finding tables and chairs, stringing lights, building the director’s platform, and the list goes on. This day went much quicker. Things are progressing well. The screen was finally finished. It’s the widest that I have ever seen. My guess is it’s a 16:9 aspect, but it looks much bigger. I hear it’s a 12:4 maybe?

I ran into a new showman today, Brian, from Virginia. He’s working with FX. I talked with him for about an hour on his journey through scouting and how he ended up working with OAshows. It’s nice to meet new people here and there to see how far people have gone in the program and to be here with us today.

Evan came into the room after 2am. Those cast members go through a lot.

Tomorrow is our opening show and the rehearsals have begun. Until then readers, take care!

More staff members have shown up today, so the “space wars” continue. Also, the video screen ripped, so that has thrown off the time schedule for everybody. The only place to work on the screen is on top of the stage, where everyone else needs to be working. This was an unforeseen event, however, so people have been keeping their tempers under control and just finding other areas to get some side projects completed. We have to get four separate shows ready anyway so there are plenty of things to be working on.

Once we painted the stage floor gray, the powers that be decided to make it a darker color. So we had to speckle it with other paint on top of the gray. We made up two pails of watered down paint, one blue and one darker gray. I felt like I was feeding chickens, by trying to broadcast little drops of paint over a wide area. At the end of the process, Zach, Jeff, BJ and I were covered head to toe with blue/gray measles. The floor looked pretty decent though, so the idea worked.

What was evident last night became critical today as everyone realized their assigned areas weren’t adequate for the projects they had planned. In my specific area, I was painting props as the video guys were hanging their cables over my head. Union guys were loading tables with a fork lift, just 12 inches behind me, and BJ was welding about three feet to my right. Similar problems were happening on the stage. The lighting crews were putting their trusses up and the video guys were trying to hang their screen before we painted the stage. But things worked out, as they always do.

My main problem today was the fact that no one recognized the props I was painting. We had created two I-pod Nanos that were over seven feet tall. Everyone that came by asked me what they were. Okay, I can see that the usual hand held programming device wouldn’t be taller than you are, but still a little recognition would have been nice. The same thing happened with our film strip. It ended up being more than 12 feet tall, so was a bit mind boggling as well. But I think that from an audience perspective, the props will be fine.

We finally made it on site today, after leaving Las Vegas at 4 A.M. Monday. I always enjoy seeing everyone again that I haven’t seen since the last OA Shows “get together”. Plus it is always good to meet the new folks, to see where they are from and what their talents are.

We all worked during the day. The guys started cutting lumber and making the usual sawdust mess, as they create pieces of the stage and props. I went through all of the painting supplies from last year to see what we had and what we needed.

At 8 P.M., the truck showed up from Las Vegas with all of the staging parts, frames and tools. Another truck also showed up with all of the things needed for the lighting and electrical folks. As the equipment was unloaded, it quickly became evident that this arena was a lot smaller than ones we have used in the past.