Ar-twha?

Perhaps the saddest thing about being an artist who works around artists all day is...how quotidian it all becomes.

Art that once moved me is now something that I study to determine how it achieved its effect.

I suppose this is a bit like a Wall St. kid complaining that making money isn't as fun as he heard. All apologies...

Spider Pan

Rode home with a friend from work today and ended up discussing the rubbernecking-worthy spectacle that is Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

My friend observed that at this point--after a concussion, broken wrists, broken ankles, and all manner of other rigging related, um, mistakes--that most people are now attending the show out of the morbid hope that they'll witness some poor, anonymous actor's death.

Which made me think, that Taymor bitch has managed to turn Broadway into NASCAR...

Deep In Vein: Here

O Devoted Readers, I have obviously let this blog slip. It's not that over the last couple months I've had fewer condescending thoughts about Sarah Palin, or the Republican party, or tall people's feet. Far from it.

Mostly, I just didn't have time to write about anything more than the occasional announcement about events which, let's face it, I could more easily communicate to the 10 people who read this blog through other forums. (Facebook, sure, but I think my text messaging reached more people too, actually.)

This pattern isn't about to change, mind you.

On June 21st and 22nd, Deep In Vein is set to release "Mantra," our new, full-length album, and oh we're gonna do it in style!

We'll be performing both nights at HERE Arts Center, in their glorious main stage theater, with a full light design my yours truly, and a kick-ass video design by Blue Man Group designer, and "don't-choke-a-bitch" sage, Matt Tennie. Also: the sound. The sound system in this place will shake you like a baby. This is gonna be the kind of theatrical event most NYC bands really only dream of.

Do come by...

What The Cool Kids Are Wearing

I post this here because this blog, of all places, may actually reach several of the roughly more than one person who not only works in tech theater but is, further, Aware Of All Internet Traditions.

A rare breed indeed. Yet, it is a breed who will understand the glory of an image, revealed to me but weeks ago, that is shortly bound to ironically grace a plain white work shirt.

Behold!:
Lo, I shall sear it to a spherically-woven, t-shapen textile and bear it proudly upon my breast! Let the geekiest of theater geeks tremble!

...And then let all few of us lose interest and return to skimming Failblog...

How To Disappear Completely

I'm in the middle of doing lights for this, which opens tomorrow. I would stay and chat more but I'm not doing sound right now.

I'll come up for air soon, and what a whooping inhalation it will be...

The Voice In Her Head

I helped a friend record and mix a charming and amusing inner monologue--made into an aural thought bubble through the generous use of reverb--for one of the puppet pieces in Attraktion. (The piece, appropriately, was called "In'ermingling.")

Just happy to note that it seems to have gone well...

Los Grumildos, A Review

If I learned anything from the presidency of George W. Bush, it's that sometimes you have to go above the filter and take your message straight to the people. Cut out the middlemen of elitist reviewers from fancy Northeastern publications! Let the People decide for themselves!

And then let them write down what they think in a little black book that you can, in turn, leaf through over a glass of Pisco with your new Peruvian friends. Of course.

So, after taking your medium above the media, then having people use a separate medium to share their thoughts on the quality of your medium--could there be a more concisely worked referendum?--what, you ask, do the People have to say for themselves?

"Delightfully grotesque. Excellent lighting."
-- Very Discerning Anonymous Theatergoer

I do so enjoy a friendly pat on my ars...

Welcome (Back) To The Machines

Okay, I confess: earlier today I engaged in a shameless act of self-pleasure. It had been a long time, though, such a long time since I'd indulged myself, that I thought "why not? What's the harm? Everyone does it! Why are my palms sweaty?" And after my equivocating, I cast a furtive eye over each shoulder, opened my web browser, rubbed my grubby hands together, and--for the first time in many months, months, I tell you!--I did a vanity google.

I wouldn't be admitting to this sordid act so openly if I hadn't discovered something funny: how is it that I never saw this while Machines x7 was still up and running?

There are so many layers of awesome here--a veritable deep-fried artichoke blossom of "heh, neat"-ness--that I'm not sure where to begin. First, I guess, would be that I reviewed theater for this site for well over a year back in 2005-06 and still maintain a deep respect for the fine folk I met there.

Second, I continue to hazard, would be that I am mentioned as a major force behind the production. Mr. Coyle, whom I do not think I've ever met, writes:

The real stars of this production are machine designers Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala, Technical Director Derek Cook and Marlon Hurt, the Master Electrician. Creating a stage-world of working contraptions and low-tech gadgets is not easy, and their creativity is often staggering.

Dude, did you catch that? I effing staggered someone! Often! I am the Master Electrician...of the synapses in your mind!

Ahem.

Artichoke leaf number three, sadly, is that I think Mr. Coyle is very wrong in his assessment of my impact on the piece. Yes, Steven and Billy deserve the kudos he hands them, but Derek--not to diminish his significant contributions--simply assembled the mass of lumber dumped on our doorstep into a pre-designed set and, other than the house lights, I did nothing fancier than make sure everything turned on. That hardly makes us the "stars" of anything except utilitarian fetishists. Not what I would call an aesthetically refined crowd, they.

I'm also disappointed that he knocked the idea of the show being "deeply profound." Granted, in certain contexts words like "deep" and "profound" rank up there, in my opinion, with made-up words like "frustrational." When used to describe the quality or content of a work of art, "deep" and "profound" have essentially zero meaning. What they indicate, though, is that thought went into the project. With Machines x7, this is a fair assertion: it never smacked anyone over the head, but the entire exercise was a meditation on American militarism in the age of Bush. Our paranoia, our overcompensation, our propensity to turn into a mirror image of the monsters we're fighting--all of this was quietly addressed by Trey, Geoff, and Quinn. One just had to stop laughing long enough to examine why one was really laughing to begin with.

Not that Mr. Coyle was laughing, or necessarily should have been. To each his own. But for me that's the heart of this tasty thistle. I didn't realize it, but I've honestly missed slinging hash with fellow opinion-mongers like my former colleagues at OffOffOnline.com. I used to find such calisthenics so brutally rewarding. (Scroll toward the bottom to find my piece.)

I may be the Master Electrician in question, but when I think about disagreeing with someone whom I have every reason to respect--and the kind of multi-layered awesome such a disagreement reawakens in me--well, consider me staggered.

Often.

Los Grumildos...Now In Panorama-Vision!

As promised, a few pics of my accidental light design for Los Grumildos at HERE Arts Center.

I would note that while the show is apparently a pleasure to human eyes, the low light and saturated reds make this exhibit hard on our digital counterparts. Ah, les yeux mécaniques! Le sigh....

And yes, there are panoramas. Oh, are there ever!

A Word From Beyond The Veil

Well, beyond the veil that separates a person forced to cram a 39-hour work week into three days from his more free time-enabled counterparts, anyway.

The upshot of the insane hours--but not quite insane enough to qualify for a thorazine drip; for that, catch me after HERE's CultureMart this coming January--is that I inadvertently ended up doing the light design for the North American premiere of Los Grumildos.

I'll post pics tomorrow. Most likely in panorama format. As the prophecy of...squints at panorama post time stamp...two days ago foretold, the panorama-ing begins!

sigh...

I am such a dork.

Slide Show!

All right, gather 'round my little kiddies. By...um, regular demand, I have finally documented the critically acclaimed house lights I built for "Machines x7" (now playing at HERE Arts Center, check ovationtix.com for ticketing inform...). Behold! The electrical fires that could have been!

Leaf blower, prairie-doggin' a 40w! Yeah, I said it.

Caution sign. I actually wanted to use this in its standard upside down 'V' shape, but the other half was assimilated into the Borg...er, I mean, the set, so I made do with the one.

Picnic cooler. For those light lunches. Buh-dum!

Milk crate. Yup.

Small fan. Getting the motor out of this was actually quite the bitch. In the end, a not-at-all-frustrated lob down an 18-step flight of stairs did the trick. (Electrician's note: this method works on almost every household appliance.)

Hard hat. I was very pleased with this one since the shell actually gives off quite a bit of yellow light.

Space heater. What I like most about this one is that I was able to use the metal lining as a reflector for the two bulbs. This was also the trickiest piece because we use the heater during the winter months, which meant I couldn't just deconstruct it (i.e., no trip down the stairwell). So, this is still a functioning space heater, to be put back into service soon after it comes out of the air.

M&M dispenser: but more like if it had been made in China; i.e., a possible fire hazard, but for children most of all. What can I say? I love my job.

Printer. After so many battles with this thing's ill-tempered brethren, I admit I took a certain sadistic satisfaction in driving in the two drywall screws holding the socket to it.

And finally, the umbrella.

I present the above last, because the lesson I want to leave you with is that 18 gauge zip cord powering basic type-A sockets with only a sliver of electrical tape between live current and the open air is the perfect way to stay warm and dry in a downpour, while adding only pennies to your monthly utilities bill.

On the upside, in a lightning storm this thing powers itself.

Go on, give 'er a try!

Obie Won!

This is a little after the fact, I admit, but HERE Arts Center, the theater that is my home away from home--and, sometimes (like this week), my just plain home--won an Obie this past Monday for Sustained Support of Artists and Creativity in the Theatre!

Appropriately enough, the reason I haven't written about it till now is I have been at the theater all week supporting our artists in a sustained manner.

Nice how that works out, huh?