It was a great weekend! Two shows! and grand success!
FRIDAY:
The weekend was busy starting Friday evening, when I headed out for the Tamil Play rehearsal to a school in 4S Ranch. Everyone came there and there was a full rehearsal with the audio and video cues and lighting cues and all that. It went on well. It felt like a big family, really. We had pizza for the dinner. We finished past 10pm and loaded the keyboard in Ramesh's car. That was the most painful part - the loading and unloading of the keyboard. It is really heavy and everyone was really surprised at how heavy it was. Anyways, I went back home, tired. My wife had been waiting for me. The next day was the day - our final show at Escondido California Arts Center.
SATURDAY:
We arrived at the center at 11:30am and began setting up the various things. I got a bummer that I wasn't going to be visible to the audience. So, I was a true back stage guy. I set up my keyboard and there was another bummer - there were going to be no lights for me to play. I of course revolted and got a couple of table lamps for me to play. Then they closed a curtain around me such that I wouldn't be able to see the play happening - I didn't even think twice, I just removed it. I watched the whole play from the side, and hence couldn't see the vidoes and all that. It started off very well. It went at great speed for the first four scenes. I was supposed to play a filler between scene 4 and scene 5 and I started doing it, but there was no sound from the speakers! I didn't realise that that's how it has been for the past scene as well. I played a lot of stuff but the audience didn't hear it. So then the technicians came and try to repair the glitch adn it was taking way too much time, so they had to announce intermission. Right after 4 scenes, there was intermission in a 17-scene play!
The audience got restless as usual, but my problem was fixed fortunately. The guy blamed my keyboard but he was just blabbering. Then another problem occured - the projector failed. May be it got over heated or something, but it stopped functioning as well. Two things going wrong at the same time was just sheer bad luck. Anyways, they found a work around - I think they bought another projector within that short time. Things were fine before the intermission was over. We resumed and my keyboard was heard properly. The second half didn't contain much work for me, but I played some fillers between the scenes. It had a good reception. I received a lot of appreciation from various people. I don't know why though - I died preparing for the tamil light music show that happened in January, but didn't get any response at all for that. That's how life is I suppose - people don't really care when you want them to and vice versa.
So after the show, we packed our stuff, dumped it in the van and headed to the director's house. We had dinner waiting for us there. Lot of people - about 60 of them, including the cheif guests and all. That dinner was a lot of fun - good food and lots of appreciation, toasts and what not. It all felt like a big family. I enjoyed it. It was past 10pm when we headed back home. The director later came and dropped off the keyboard after everyone left their place. Nice. I was tired though, both from the day and from lifting the keyboard.
SUNDAY:
The next day - we had this NETip thing. One of the singers came in the morning, a little past 10am to come and grab my keyboard. He fit that in his car and drove off to JCC, where the show was being held. I followed him and we reached there approximately at the same time. We did a rehearsal of the song and it was already 11:45 am before I could leave for my friend's baby shower party. We also managed to get a gift card from GAP before we went there, so it was very hectic. My friend had planned a surprise birthday party for his wife. So, they were out when all the guests gathered at his place. He had planned it very nicely. When she entered the place, she was shocked and surprised to see so many people inside, with the house neatly decorated and all that. There was lot of food, sweets and what not. She was totally taken by surprise and never thought her husband could have managed a party of that magnitude! Unfortunately, we had to leave at 1:45pm, so we just got to talk to everyone, eat food and dessert. We don't know what happened afterwards. There was supposed to be some kind of game and all that, but we didn't get to do it.
So, we got back to JCC a little past 2pm and did a small rehearsal in the green room. It came out well. I had kind of made up my mind not to worry about the quality any further. The singers were also good, they had improved quite a bit since we started rehearsing. I set up my keyboard behind the stage and ours was the very first program. I played without mistakes and the anthem came out very well. Then I moved backstage and watched the other events until the intermission. There was a guy who played piano and sang simultaneously - he is of Indian origin, but was born and brought up here. He did such an amazing job of playing the piano - I was very jealous. But I've been through this feeling before when I met other great pianists, so it was not all that entirely new and by the end of the show, I was over it. He is a composer and has released albums and all that. I should try to do it one day. You know, I may also be capable of doing it. That's what I am supposed to tell myself (Artist's way) Ha ha. I had a tough time getting the keyboard back in my car. It is an expensive piece of equipment and I can't be careless about it. We got it and headed to California Pizza Kitchen along with some 40 other people. Had a great dinner with some good company and headed back home at 9pm. The same guy came home and helped me put my keyboard back on the stand. I didn't get to wear the veshti that I was thinking of wearing during the show 'cause I didn't have much visibility. Our song was less than a minute and I didn't want to go through that trouble. So I didn't care all that much. But I do want to wear the south Indian attire at some point. I would very much love to wear the veshti. We crashed at 10pm and here I am, at work again :)
FRIDAY:
The weekend was busy starting Friday evening, when I headed out for the Tamil Play rehearsal to a school in 4S Ranch. Everyone came there and there was a full rehearsal with the audio and video cues and lighting cues and all that. It went on well. It felt like a big family, really. We had pizza for the dinner. We finished past 10pm and loaded the keyboard in Ramesh's car. That was the most painful part - the loading and unloading of the keyboard. It is really heavy and everyone was really surprised at how heavy it was. Anyways, I went back home, tired. My wife had been waiting for me. The next day was the day - our final show at Escondido California Arts Center.
SATURDAY:
We arrived at the center at 11:30am and began setting up the various things. I got a bummer that I wasn't going to be visible to the audience. So, I was a true back stage guy. I set up my keyboard and there was another bummer - there were going to be no lights for me to play. I of course revolted and got a couple of table lamps for me to play. Then they closed a curtain around me such that I wouldn't be able to see the play happening - I didn't even think twice, I just removed it. I watched the whole play from the side, and hence couldn't see the vidoes and all that. It started off very well. It went at great speed for the first four scenes. I was supposed to play a filler between scene 4 and scene 5 and I started doing it, but there was no sound from the speakers! I didn't realise that that's how it has been for the past scene as well. I played a lot of stuff but the audience didn't hear it. So then the technicians came and try to repair the glitch adn it was taking way too much time, so they had to announce intermission. Right after 4 scenes, there was intermission in a 17-scene play!
The audience got restless as usual, but my problem was fixed fortunately. The guy blamed my keyboard but he was just blabbering. Then another problem occured - the projector failed. May be it got over heated or something, but it stopped functioning as well. Two things going wrong at the same time was just sheer bad luck. Anyways, they found a work around - I think they bought another projector within that short time. Things were fine before the intermission was over. We resumed and my keyboard was heard properly. The second half didn't contain much work for me, but I played some fillers between the scenes. It had a good reception. I received a lot of appreciation from various people. I don't know why though - I died preparing for the tamil light music show that happened in January, but didn't get any response at all for that. That's how life is I suppose - people don't really care when you want them to and vice versa.
So after the show, we packed our stuff, dumped it in the van and headed to the director's house. We had dinner waiting for us there. Lot of people - about 60 of them, including the cheif guests and all. That dinner was a lot of fun - good food and lots of appreciation, toasts and what not. It all felt like a big family. I enjoyed it. It was past 10pm when we headed back home. The director later came and dropped off the keyboard after everyone left their place. Nice. I was tired though, both from the day and from lifting the keyboard.
SUNDAY:
The next day - we had this NETip thing. One of the singers came in the morning, a little past 10am to come and grab my keyboard. He fit that in his car and drove off to JCC, where the show was being held. I followed him and we reached there approximately at the same time. We did a rehearsal of the song and it was already 11:45 am before I could leave for my friend's baby shower party. We also managed to get a gift card from GAP before we went there, so it was very hectic. My friend had planned a surprise birthday party for his wife. So, they were out when all the guests gathered at his place. He had planned it very nicely. When she entered the place, she was shocked and surprised to see so many people inside, with the house neatly decorated and all that. There was lot of food, sweets and what not. She was totally taken by surprise and never thought her husband could have managed a party of that magnitude! Unfortunately, we had to leave at 1:45pm, so we just got to talk to everyone, eat food and dessert. We don't know what happened afterwards. There was supposed to be some kind of game and all that, but we didn't get to do it.
So, we got back to JCC a little past 2pm and did a small rehearsal in the green room. It came out well. I had kind of made up my mind not to worry about the quality any further. The singers were also good, they had improved quite a bit since we started rehearsing. I set up my keyboard behind the stage and ours was the very first program. I played without mistakes and the anthem came out very well. Then I moved backstage and watched the other events until the intermission. There was a guy who played piano and sang simultaneously - he is of Indian origin, but was born and brought up here. He did such an amazing job of playing the piano - I was very jealous. But I've been through this feeling before when I met other great pianists, so it was not all that entirely new and by the end of the show, I was over it. He is a composer and has released albums and all that. I should try to do it one day. You know, I may also be capable of doing it. That's what I am supposed to tell myself (Artist's way) Ha ha. I had a tough time getting the keyboard back in my car. It is an expensive piece of equipment and I can't be careless about it. We got it and headed to California Pizza Kitchen along with some 40 other people. Had a great dinner with some good company and headed back home at 9pm. The same guy came home and helped me put my keyboard back on the stand. I didn't get to wear the veshti that I was thinking of wearing during the show 'cause I didn't have much visibility. Our song was less than a minute and I didn't want to go through that trouble. So I didn't care all that much. But I do want to wear the south Indian attire at some point. I would very much love to wear the veshti. We crashed at 10pm and here I am, at work again :)
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