What will we do this term? What WON'T we do is more like it ...

Kalamazoo Kevin

Ah, here we are: the second term. It's that time in our year where we don't have a big set to build, and speech and show choir tend to dominate the performing arts landscape. Seems like this is a time for the techies to put up our feet, wrap a blanket around us, enjoy a cup of hot cocoa or tea, and relax until Spring.

Seems like you'd be wrong.

As you may not know (and many don't), this is "Wombat Day," the day where Kalamazoo Kevin, the most famous wombat in the northern hemisphere, comes out of his little blue box and looks at his calendar to determine how this term will progress in terms of providing technical support for WHS events. The legend goes something like this: if he grunts and goes right back to his box, there's six weeks of nothing to do. If he shrieks, tears at his hair, and then runs in circles at a hundred miles an hour, it means that events requiring techies are right around the corner .

Today, Kevin fell back straight, eyes wide open, twitched a little bit, and softly moaned "but it's not even December yet" over and over. This means that there is no corner - we have events staring us in the face, and lots of them. It's not often that he has this reaction, but it wouldn't be the first time that this has happened, either. (Don't worry about Kevin. A few crackers, some 7-Up, and a shot of oxygen got him back on his feet soon after his spell. He'll be fine.)

I don't know if you recall last December - and if you're like me, you've unsuccessfully blotted it from your memory - but we didn't have much time to rest. This December looks much the same. Read carefully and prepare thyself for hand-to-hand tech activity:

Saturday, December 10th: Cocoa and Carols. There are officially two shows - one at 11:00 and one at 2:00. We will do some set-up on Friday, and then we'll come in at about 9:30 on Saturday to get everything else up and running. We'll need a good sized crew for this: a couple of people on the light board, the Slice sound peeps, a couple of follow spot ops and a small but dedicated running crew (and this might be a good opportunity for those who will be crewing for show choirs this winter.) Wear your PArTs black shirt - and if you haven't been given one yet, you'll get one soon. We also have a snarky little tradition of wearing holiday headgear, scarves, hoods, etc. so see if you can find one for the show. When we are done, we'll get the sound stuff stowed, and then we'll need to strike the lights from the auditorium loft for the next big thing, which is ...

Thursday, December 15th: Academic Letter and Numeral Assembly. We'll begin the set-up for this on Wednesday the 14th. I'll take a small group of people in the morning of that day to get the lighting set up and working. We cannot set up the stage until after the last basketball practice, so we'll need a bunch of people to help with that at 7:00 that evening. It won't take long if we have enough people there to help. After the assembly on Thursday, we'll strike the stage, lights and sound, and we'll get the lighting back up in the loft and focused on the stage for the next big event, which will be ...

Thursday, December 15th: Instrumental Music Holiday Concert. Yup - same day. Nutty, isn't it? We'll need to be efficient in getting the lights set for that evening. For those who aren't going to be participating on stage, I could always use a little help in the booth running lights and a mic. Talk to me if you're interested. From this concert, we go to ...

Monday, December 19th: Vocal Music Holiday Concert. If we do everything right on the previous Thursday, there will be little need to change things up too much for this concert. Again, if you wish to help, let me know - this will be a small crew event.

And then, we have the lovely break. We'll need it because when we come back on Tuesday, January 3rd, we'll need to get ready for ...

Thursday, January 5th: AP Award Assembly. See Academic Letter And Numeral Assembly info, because it will be deja-vu all over again. The bright spot here will be that we don't have to get every light back in the loft and focused for a concert that night - but we'll take the time to at least get them up in the loft, because the next week will feature ...

Tuesday, January 10th: Eastside Band Concert, &
Thursday, January 12th: Eastside Orchestra Concert. I thank my band and orchestra colleagues for scheduling these events during the same week - it makes the set-up a whole lot easier for us. Small crews for these events, so again, let me know if you want to push some buttons.

I could go on, but that's enough heartburn for one evening. Kalamazoo Kevin did us no favors by keeling over this morning. We'll be busy, but you need to remember two things. The first one is that we provide a pretty nice service for the Washington community through our "fun." It's a lot of work to make these events look and sound as good as we can, and you have always come through in the clutch. I think there was a previous post about hard work and talent, and it takes both. So, enjoy this week and next - you'll need the rest. The second thing you need to remember? Simple:

TECHIES RULE!