Tonight's the show in Tucson--thought I'd try to squeeze in a quick update about the past 48 hours or so of craziness here in Arizona!
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After arriving in Phoenix on Wednesday morning, I spent most of the day assisting my mom in preparation for the Barrage dinner at my house on Wednesday night (e.g. vaccuuming, making a playlist on her iPod entitled "Beef: It's What's For Dinner,"etc.).
It was pretty much awesome having Barrage over for dinner. My mom made my favorite soup, and with my dad's hard work in the backyard and the near-perfect weather, it probably couldn't have been more wonderful. As I told John, one of our managers, having been a huge Barrage fan prior to joining, it was pretty much a "dream come true" to have Barrage hanging out at my house; John then sardonically noted that it probably actually resembled more of a nightmare, as in, "Now they're at my house! Am I ever going to get away from these people?!"
Please note the pumpkin centerpiece my dad carved with the Barrage "B" logo.
Wednesday was also Kristina's birthday, so my mom baked her a chocolate cake!
Mandatory group photo with the band, all three managers, and one of two sound guys.
The next morning, Kiana and I drove down to Tucson to meet up with the rest of the gang (who had left for Tucson the night before--I stayed with my family and Kiana stayed with her grandparents).
Kiana and I before the drive.
We met up with everyone at Southwest Strings, Barrage's main sponsor (they provide our violins, bows, cases, rosin, strings, etc.). Upon arrival we all changed into our new costumes (!) and did a photo shoot in their studio. After individual and group photos, we headed over to Sahuaro High School here in Tucson, the location of tonight's benefit performance for OMA.We arrived at the theatre for what was to be an incredibly tiring night: my first video shoot with the band. Not having previously known myself what actually goes into a video shoot, I'll give y'all a quick synopsis: you basically end up performing the same number over and over and over again, with the camera at different locations (e.g. fixed downstage right, fixed downstage center, hand-held close up, on a giant pole so you can get those shots from up above, etc.). And keep in mind, there's no audience...so, not only are you not actually performing for anybody, but you also don't have any energy off of which to feed (a good audience always helps provide performers with more stamina).
We were at the theatre filming from 5 p.m. to midnight, with short breaks for dinner, two trips to Starbucks, and touch-ups with the make-up artist/hair stylist backstage. Though unbelievably exhausting, it somehow ended up being incredibly fun. I can't put my finger on an exact reason why, though...I think the fun just came from the prolonged hours of delirious work with a hilarious group of people. I especially enjoyed when they'd be doing hand-held camera shots, so we'd know when we weren't in shots...because then we'd usually goof off while playing (e.g. making up absurd choreography, making ridiculous faces, etc.).
Note the camera rig for shots from above.
We even have new backdrops!
The crazy schedule continued this morning when we headed over to the local CBS station (KOLD 13) for an appearance on the noon news.Right now we're on a short break at the hotel, and then it's over to Sahuaro for an educational program this afternoon and the show tonight!
1 comment:
All I can say is, I can NOT even IMAGINE you having to do those numbers over and over with no audience. The fact that you could still stand when it was all done is amazing. But, what a fun and awesome experience to be able to record what you do. Will this be for a DVD that people can buy? 'Cause I'm telling you now, we WILL be buying it.
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