I'm working a half day tomorrow and half day Friday, probably the same thing next week around New Years.

I worked 14 years for one theatre, but only about 6 months a year. Then for about 6 years I worked for 2 theatres, about 6 months each, with some overlap. Stagehands generally work for multiple employers every week, sometimes even daily. Being a scenic carpenter, I tend to get longer gigs. Where I'm working now, I was supposed to be there a couple of weeks, that was 6 months ago

Mark

 

Just interested Mark what you do for 6 months at a theater? Does your work depend on plays and such so your busy before the debut then not so during the run? What kind of things (other then bucket carts) do you build for the theater?

 

He has a cousin named Guido who keeps burning down the sets before opening night.

 

been working on cleaning up my room all evening last night...
still haven't tried out my new mogami cables on my new keyboard.

been having some kind of ground loop/static problems on the instrument
and can't figure out the last 10% of where the error is coming from. so
going to work on that today.

i already took it back to the store and called up Roland as well since
there seems to be some other folks with the same problem. it happens
randomly so can't track down exactly where it's coming from but 90% of
it i found it to be the problem with their sustain pedal's male plug
tolerance.

the store's got a backup keyboard coming in probably today/friday with
my name on it so if all fails im getting it exchanged. thing is over 74lbs
and a monster to carry around (bookcase size) so it's not so pleasant to
be going back and forth with it.

wish me luck.... but first, i must shovel the snow so my wife can get
out for work. wife said 'dont you wish we had a 4 car garage?' so
i told her 'no, wont make a difference cause then i'll have 6 cars.'

 

any of you guys know a good way to test the grounding of a
powerstrip? im starting to suspect my 15yr old power strip
might be causing this ground loop... (?)

it's not an audible problem, it's more like a spike and sends my
keyboard into the abyss... my previous keyboards never had
issues but then again, they are not as hightech so never know...

any tips? ofcourse i have several new powerstrips
so testing those right now. it happens at random so hard to
determine the root cause.

ps: good news. my wife called and said the legacywgn is acting
up again! woohoo~~
man i want to get rid of that pos.

 

Sorry, can't help you with your electical problem, Ken. But if you're using other power strips and still having the problem, I'd say it's not your old powerstrip causing the problem. But hey, what do I know, I'm a Claims Adjuster.

Anyway... I'm impressed that you spin car problems into a positive thing. With that kind of attitude, you'll live to be 115 years old. Of course, that's not so cool if you become bedridden at age 90.

 

yah, ive been testing all the different cords and everything but it's
still having issues. the store just call me and said there's a brand
new one that came in with my name on it so come in any time.
man, if i can only load up that damn book case by myself...

well, i only plan to live till 65 so im already past my half way done mark.

 

actually i was thinking about all the car parts i had
installed in the past while carrying the monster to the car
and it didn't feel too heavy. at least i have all this
room to work around in, not cramped under a car.

got a new board and testing now... hope this one works.
i video'ed the problem on my bb so i have proof.

 

Ken, you need to either buy a ground loop isolator, or, run a single circuit to the keyboard, and assorted computer/sound system gear, ONLY. You can take it a step further, and run a separate ground from the outlet, to a metal plumbing pipe. Or better yet, drive a grounding rod into the ground, and isolate the ground to it.

MiniMaybee, most producing theatres have a "season" made up of a certain numbers of shows. The ones I worked with mostly had 5-6 mainstage shows, traveling mainstage shows, plus small touring shows. All these shows need to be built, and set-up, run, torn down, and either stored, or thrashed. While a show runs, about a month-6 weeks, we build the next show, tear down the one on stage, set-up the next, start the next build, repeat.......

Now I'm building for a company, as in comercial, that builds scenery,displays, TV news sets, product images, trade shows, conferences, corparate lobbies, boardrooms. Same poop, better pay rate. I do miss "live" theatre, but this is good

Mark

 

lotsie- thanks for the input. for the ground, i can basically stick a
probe in the ground pin on one of the open socket in the power strip
and ground it that way too, right?

right now im powering the keyboard through the regulated line (UPS backed)
and running a separate powerstrip from another outlet. seems like the
grounding is fine... might've been just the instrument itself.

been running the new one for the last couple of hours and it hasn't
gone to the abyss... yet.

 

We went to the Denver Theater's production of A Christmas Carol the other night. The set was very good with old-time London buildings and what-not. It must be fun to build that stuff. Depending on the set designer of course.

 

went into hiding to wrap some presents.



i need to pressure up and turn my MCS's and G's tires this weekend.

 

First one up in the house this morning. Just popping in before all hell breaks loose to say, Merry Christmas my OCDetailer Peeps !!

 

my kids, wife, and in-laws all had a good time today.

my son gave me a picture he drew of john deere excavator and
a dumptruck. that was my favorite present. i finally got
my griot's goodies from the wife (4 drawer storage bin),
protective sockets for wheels, adjustable wrench, and got some
cool decorative pieces for the home from my family. haven't
started on my LEGO excavator yet, maybe tomorrow. been kinda
busy playing with my son's new skidloader wired remote thingie and
his new LEGO's...yah, i let him use it a little too.

my new keyboard (the one that replaced the defective one i got last
weekend) has been running straight for over 13hrs with no issue.
been playing off and on the entire day; just kept it turned on to
make sure everything is normal. these studio equipment typically
runs days if not weeks without powerdown so 13hrs should be nothing.

 

I just want to say before the day is over, Merry Happy Festive day, my friends

Mark

 

happy holiday season indeed!


im still re-organizing my room and wife's room and everything in between.
looking for something small to use as a side stand... im 95% done with my
music room but that last 1-2yards to touchdown is tough.

this am i after im done eating my waffles im going to psi-up and turn
the tires on both cars. will also take some quick shots of that new
drawer.

 

Kids got new netbooks, legos, Guitar Hero World Tour (which is awesome - with the drum kit). I got lots of DVDs and clothes and a raincheck for the poor-man's version of kenchan's tool chest.

 

sounds good blimey. lol on poor-man's verison of kenchan's economy
tool chest... did you get a picture of a shoebox?

here's some picts of the new stuff. first the griot's drawer.



protective sockets.


the socket case is cool, but i rather just have to open one
case instead of two, so did this.



the protective sockets are nice, but that protective plastic is
pretty thick material so may not fit in those tight bore lug holes.
the adapter is nice, ball bearings and all.

also got an adjustable wrench but it's not really worth taking
a pict (no different than the pict at Griots).

 

My chest is the $200 Harbor Freight version of the $500 Northern Tool Torin chest (which is physically the same chest, with a different sticker) which is the economy version of a $1500 professional chest.

So yeah, pretty much a shoebox.

 

sounds good. as long as the tools fit and the drawers are smooth
it serves the purpose. heck, one of my drawers is a $79
friction type.

here's the keyboard side of things... haven't had a chance to get the
adapter needed for the LCD upgrade for the old powermac7100 i have
for the mastering booth so placed the order today. it sits at another
part of the room.

from the bottom up: RolandFantomG8, Fantom(original), and one of my
old time favorites, the Korg 01/W FD. you can kinda tell from
the pict how mosterous the new one is... the one i had to carry back
and forth 3x.

 

Lets see, I got a watch, a cardigan sweater, money that is going towards Poco's new exhaust, a gift card to Lee Valley tools. I did pretty good

Mark

 

ken - I'm jealous. Sweet setup.

mark - nice sweater!

 

blimey- thanks. i found a book of chords... cover to cover all
cord progressions. going to memorize all and then practice like hell
to play it in all keys.

might take a while. but i'll get there.

 

so we had a power outage this am while i was at home in the
restroom and everything went black.

glad i had one of those push on/push off AA lamps on the tank
to finish my business (in style ).

im also kinda glad my new higher power UPS (battery backed power
regulator) is coming in a few days. man the flickering on/off
before the power went out was insane. glad my music gear
was off at the time. only the sensitive stuff is currently on the
regulator. the new one will allow me to put the entire system on
the regulator.

now power is restored.

 

the legacy is seriously misfiring today due to the high humidity.

im going to replace it next week with a 09CivicLX. since it's for
the wife and she has previous good experience with my 06CivicEX,
we decided to take the safer route... actually, i convinced her not
to get the odyesse since i want to get the A4Wgn when im done
with the FitS... didnt want to use up our budget for a minivan. .