Catch up time =)

Saturday was a great day at the fair!  We got to work with two very professional setups with Curtis Stone and Trace Adkins.  Yes, we're multi-functional.  TV newscasts, ABC previews of their upcoming shows, country stars and CHEFS =)  Curtis Stone was such a pleasure to work with as was his assistant Steven.  I was really worried we weren't going to get Curtis here.  He got stuck in Chicago with a delayed flight of over 4 hours.  We were up until about midnight waiting to find out if he got an earlier flight and arrived.  Thankfully, he did.  Steven and the fair's chef had spent the day before getting the food, dishes, pot, pans...ya know all the things you need to cook, together and ready for the demonstration.  Chevy Court turned in to a national cooking stage for three hours.  Curtis is as cute as everyone thinks he is but he very tall as well. =)  As Steven was scurrying around I asked if there was anything I could do to help.  He said "in 5 mins get Curtis dressed."  Yes, he sure did and I had witnesses.  LOL  Unfortunately, Curtis was able to dress himself without any help.  The show was very entertaining and comical. 

Prepping for Curtis Stone

Then we had a great time with Trace's crew.  They are a great group of guys.  With a video wall, full set, and backline we dumped two trucks and were set in 1.5hrs.  Record timing for a show like that.  The stage crew here is just fabulous! (as well as the crew in the back that I work with)  Trace is a great guy and another big boy.  He had to duck to get in the door of the building.  Of course I loved the show...of what I actually watched.  He drew a huge crowd of 16,000!

Trace Adkins on Chevy Court

Sunday was a rough day.  We weren't really affected by the hurricane but she definitely stretched her wrath with wind and rain on this day.  With 1.1" of rain in about 15 hours we were all soaked rats by the end of the night.  Allstar Weekend was a bunch of young poppy stars.  It didn't help that they were all hungover and eating us out of house and home.  =)  They did a good show but unfortunately the crowd didn't turn out.  The 200 or so young, screaming, crying girls that were there braving the weather really enjoyed though. 
Next up were KC & The Sunshine Band.  Now, our stage is a painted concrete base.  While it had been raining all day the stage was definitely wet on the front end.  We knew if the weather broke (as predicted) we could get it dried up.  Unfortunately, Irene had other plans and we were stuck with the rain up until showtime.  Given KC's show is extremely choreographed we knew having a 60+ year old man dancing and all his lady dancers up there the stage would not be in good condition.  We decided at the last minute to buy carpet...a huge piece of 40'x12' to cover the front half of the stage.  Carpet arrived, went down, taped and it was perfect.  I mentioned to the crew that they didn't bring the Sunshine...15mins before the show, the sun came out.  Go figure!

KC brought the...carpet

And now were here to the present, Monday.  I had been dreading this day ever since the date was booked.  Yes, I'm talking about REO Speedwagon.  They have a specific regimen they stick with on the schedule of their day.  This stage does conform to specific.  With a lot of back and forth I knew it wasn't going to be a good day.  Fortunately, it turned out better than I thought (I tell ya those morning prayers of..Please God just get me through this day work!).  I got my early morning greeting of screaming and complaining but once we got them in just so we could sit around for 4 hours in the afternoon proved my point.  They could have conformed and it would have went well.   We did the 2:00PM with The Glenn Miller Band which was a perfect fit for Senior Day.  They were great to work with and put on a great show.

REO made it on stage (10mins late...typical rock stars.  I had to put Kevin's bracelet on before he could go on stage) and when they came off I heard something I've never heard before.  The guys were freaking out over the crowd.  I'm pretty sure they stuck another song in because they were having fun.  They were seriously have emotional breakdowns because of the crowd, the size of the crowd and the fact that K. C. could say on stage, in his own words, that he's better than Journey.  The show was great and they sound really good.  I can say I'm not sad to watch them go.  Hopefully in an hour I can be home, in bed and sleep for 9 hours. =)  Tomorrow is going to be a blast with Midtown Men and Ronnie Dunn!