The shots here are all from the street around the hotel. One of them is of a barber on the sidewalk. I finally got a good picture of a goat, guys.
Friday, November 16, 2007
2 More Days
I managed to make it to Crawford Market yesterday. It's one of Mumbai's oldest markets and the architecture was by Lockwood Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's father. I would have loved to take a picture of it but that was an impossibility. This outing was by far the most overpowering event in my life. There wasn't any room to fall over if you got knocked to the ground. There were taxis driving down the 1-lane road that was already packed with people. Everything was on sale, from flowers, to shoes, to freshly killed chickens. I couldn't believe how many crippled people I walked by who weren't even begging. A man with his ankles bent up to his chest hobbled by on his hands and didn't make any attempt to get any money from me. The children were relentless, too. If you stood still they just flocked to you in search of food/money. And the vendors were vicious! Every 3rd one told me I was a movie star and to shop there. It was getting exhausting ignoring them. Another curious thing I found was all of the women in burkas who were looking at cloths. I wondered if they can dress down at home, or if they just like to look, but it was bizarre.
The shots here are all from the street around the hotel. One of them is of a barber on the sidewalk. I finally got a good picture of a goat, guys.
The shots here are all from the street around the hotel. One of them is of a barber on the sidewalk. I finally got a good picture of a goat, guys.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Finally
Well, I made it to a different part of the city today.... however, it wasn't for an entirely good reason. On the way to the theatre, we stopped at a clinic so that one of the dancers who is staying at this hotel could she why she was getting sick. All I did was walk around for 20 minutes while she found out she had food poisoning , but here are some pictures of a different part of the city. Sorry this entry isn't more exciting. Later.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
I'm Back
Ok, here I am. I don't know if anyone is still visiting this page due to the fact that I haven't posted anything in nearly a week, but if you are, enjoy.
We had our first show last Saturday night for the sponsors and another showing more more sponsors on Sunday. The opening was last night, technically. We had some long damn days, one where we got home a little after 4:00am, and then had to be at the theatre at 9:30 the next morning. That's the reason why there are only pictures that have been taken either in the theatre or from the car on the drive below.
I've worked on shows that get edited as they go along, but this was nuts. Remember that Shiamak sign that was hanging above the audience? It's next to the dumpster and has been since Shiamak first saw it. He saw it as bragging; so I can't imagine how many man-hours must have gone into making and hanging that thing, and it's gone like that. Things change nightly. The order of the show, for example! Luckily, we made a good decision in light boards to run this show. I won't bore you with the details, but we've found it very applacible to our situation on this show. Not only to we have this board, we got an Australian for a few days. The guy in the picture with David over the light board is Alex Mair and he was one of the developers of the console. It was a blessing to have him there, he answered a lot of questions and got us out of some tight spots. He smoked a lot of cigarettes (miss you Katie, Sonia, & Brian) and played a lot of solitaire on his computer, but it was still a blessing to have him there. Oh, CJ, this board stole your idea. Sorry.
The picture of the other pasty white guy down there with the saxophone is this guy named Nigel. He's a world renowned sax player and has played with a lot of musicians and at countless festivals, he plays Englishman in New York with Shiamak here... and to make it better, he's from the Isle of Skye in Scotland where I visited this summer. He even played at the music festival that I went to.
We had our first show last Saturday night for the sponsors and another showing more more sponsors on Sunday. The opening was last night, technically. We had some long damn days, one where we got home a little after 4:00am, and then had to be at the theatre at 9:30 the next morning. That's the reason why there are only pictures that have been taken either in the theatre or from the car on the drive below.
I've worked on shows that get edited as they go along, but this was nuts. Remember that Shiamak sign that was hanging above the audience? It's next to the dumpster and has been since Shiamak first saw it. He saw it as bragging; so I can't imagine how many man-hours must have gone into making and hanging that thing, and it's gone like that. Things change nightly. The order of the show, for example! Luckily, we made a good decision in light boards to run this show. I won't bore you with the details, but we've found it very applacible to our situation on this show. Not only to we have this board, we got an Australian for a few days. The guy in the picture with David over the light board is Alex Mair and he was one of the developers of the console. It was a blessing to have him there, he answered a lot of questions and got us out of some tight spots. He smoked a lot of cigarettes (miss you Katie, Sonia, & Brian) and played a lot of solitaire on his computer, but it was still a blessing to have him there. Oh, CJ, this board stole your idea. Sorry.
The picture of the other pasty white guy down there with the saxophone is this guy named Nigel. He's a world renowned sax player and has played with a lot of musicians and at countless festivals, he plays Englishman in New York with Shiamak here... and to make it better, he's from the Isle of Skye in Scotland where I visited this summer. He even played at the music festival that I went to.
First Day of Tech
We spent 12 hours in the theatre today, but less than 2 in the car... which is surprising. It was the first major day of tech rehearsal with dancers on stage. The scale of this show is so big. The number of dancers on the sheer enormity of the set to the deafening level of the music is still awesome, and I'm sure it's getting a little annoying to hear me say it again and again. Maybe it's because I can't believe I'm taking part in it. I didn't take too many pictures today because we were busy with the lightboard. Alex Mair of Jands Vista traveled to Mumbai from Sydney to coach us while we programed the show. Alex spent the day with us trying to resuscitate the board, it got a little damaged in shipping. It's great to have him here, this show is going to look great with the board.
Oh, there's always a huge expanse of people playing cricket on the drive to the theatre. Cricket?
Oh, there's always a huge expanse of people playing cricket on the drive to the theatre. Cricket?
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
untitled
Last night we saw a guy send a chicken burger back to the kitchen in the restaurant of our hotel. There was mayonnaise on it and he apparently couldn't eat it. Tonight on the drive back from the theatre David saw a teenage boy on crutches go to a trash can, presumably for something to eat, then he was actually frightened by something inside and recoiled from the can. But then he came back and looked some more. To see someone send a sandwich back because of a little bit of sauce and then see that on the street was numbing.
The 2 to 4 hours spent in the car each day allow for a lot of opportunities to see horrible things like that. The hotel and the theatre are paradise compared to the street. It's dirty, polluted, and dangerous. I can't believe that I haven't seen any traffic accidents yet. However, the one thing that I find absolutely beautiful about traveling through the streets here are the women and how colorfully they are dressed in their sari's. Even if the mother is bathing a child in a puddle full of dirty water on the curbside they are dressed in a radiant dress. (Speaking of motorcycles, we saw a family of 4 riding 1 the other day on the highway. I guess it's illegal, but nobody cares). It's gorgeous. They ride side-saddle on behind their husbands on motorcycles dressed like this. It's like seeing these vibrant colored birds fluttering throughout a forest, (how's that for schlock?).
Back at the theatre things are coming together rapidly, but not without issues. I won't get into those yet for the sake of keeping moral up, plus this is still the most incredible spectacular show I've ever worked on. Shiamak's name is up in the house, we had to argue with the designer to have the sign moved to below the Front of House electric, otherwise none of our lights would have reached the stage. This is why a section and ground plan are so valuable, and I imagine that this won't be the last ground plan-less related issue we run into.
We saw the dancers on the set for the first time too, and they fill this space much better than the the rehearsal hall I first went too. We've been able focus some of our lights now too. The crew is great, fast listens well, friendly. There's one atop an even scarier ladder than the one I mentioned before, and there are about 6 people carefully moving him around.
The 2 to 4 hours spent in the car each day allow for a lot of opportunities to see horrible things like that. The hotel and the theatre are paradise compared to the street. It's dirty, polluted, and dangerous. I can't believe that I haven't seen any traffic accidents yet. However, the one thing that I find absolutely beautiful about traveling through the streets here are the women and how colorfully they are dressed in their sari's. Even if the mother is bathing a child in a puddle full of dirty water on the curbside they are dressed in a radiant dress. (Speaking of motorcycles, we saw a family of 4 riding 1 the other day on the highway. I guess it's illegal, but nobody cares). It's gorgeous. They ride side-saddle on behind their husbands on motorcycles dressed like this. It's like seeing these vibrant colored birds fluttering throughout a forest, (how's that for schlock?).
Back at the theatre things are coming together rapidly, but not without issues. I won't get into those yet for the sake of keeping moral up, plus this is still the most incredible spectacular show I've ever worked on. Shiamak's name is up in the house, we had to argue with the designer to have the sign moved to below the Front of House electric, otherwise none of our lights would have reached the stage. This is why a section and ground plan are so valuable, and I imagine that this won't be the last ground plan-less related issue we run into.
We saw the dancers on the set for the first time too, and they fill this space much better than the the rehearsal hall I first went too. We've been able focus some of our lights now too. The crew is great, fast listens well, friendly. There's one atop an even scarier ladder than the one I mentioned before, and there are about 6 people carefully moving him around.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Diwali
Well, they picked a good time to have this show, there's a festival called Diwali going on while we're here and it's perfect for lighting designers. It's the Festival of Lights and I guess it's the new year here in some respect. It's great to just walk around at night. Practically every shop and tree near out hotel is swathed in lights. It's beautiful. (for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali).
Today was hot, and exhausting. It started out productive but we hit some bizarre obstacles. Our ride to the theatre was supposed to be at the hotel to pick us up at 1:00, but he arrived just before noon with 4 other people in our car already. They were the puppeteers and they were late, so there was talk about shoving 6 people in the car, but that was stupid, so David and I got a cab. We asked the hotel front desk what to expect to pay, and they said 150-200 rupees. However, after about a mile or 2 David noticed the meter wasn't running and the driver said it would cost 400 rupees. Well, now everyone was mad and it made the hour+ ride even longer. The driver eventually turned the meter on and I think the total was around 190 rupees.
Anyway, things at the theatre are going great. Ronnie and his electrics team are just amazing. The crew is cranking out the light plot, despite all of the obstacles that we're encountering. The biggest issue today was how to light the thrust from the side without the truss we need. It took all damn day to find a solution, but we think we have it. Watching the rest of the set go in is extraordinary. I can't tell what any of the set is for. Between the gigantic lady, the tree made out of naked people, and the parachuting cars I'm totally lost. At least the title of the show and the star's name are there in big, bright letters. There must be thousands of light bulbs on the set, I hope not too much of a load for the dimmers.
Today was hot, and exhausting. It started out productive but we hit some bizarre obstacles. Our ride to the theatre was supposed to be at the hotel to pick us up at 1:00, but he arrived just before noon with 4 other people in our car already. They were the puppeteers and they were late, so there was talk about shoving 6 people in the car, but that was stupid, so David and I got a cab. We asked the hotel front desk what to expect to pay, and they said 150-200 rupees. However, after about a mile or 2 David noticed the meter wasn't running and the driver said it would cost 400 rupees. Well, now everyone was mad and it made the hour+ ride even longer. The driver eventually turned the meter on and I think the total was around 190 rupees.
Anyway, things at the theatre are going great. Ronnie and his electrics team are just amazing. The crew is cranking out the light plot, despite all of the obstacles that we're encountering. The biggest issue today was how to light the thrust from the side without the truss we need. It took all damn day to find a solution, but we think we have it. Watching the rest of the set go in is extraordinary. I can't tell what any of the set is for. Between the gigantic lady, the tree made out of naked people, and the parachuting cars I'm totally lost. At least the title of the show and the star's name are there in big, bright letters. There must be thousands of light bulbs on the set, I hope not too much of a load for the dimmers.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Day Three
Well, I think I'm over my jet-lag, although there are points in the day when David and I have been working so enthusiastically that we crash hard. The beds in the room are really comfortable, so waking up is difficult.... however, there is no cold water at all in my shower, so I wake up quickly.
The shots of the dancers are from this school were they were rehearsing for the day. They all fit into this great concrete building and we managed to have a production meeting in the middle of them all. The dancers are the most disciplined performers I've ever encountered, it's fantastic.
I visited the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre where the show is being held for the first time and was blown away. First of all, it takes an hour to get there, on a good day. I hear that 2 hours is an average travel time. However such a long time spent in the car allows for good opportunities to take some pictures. We saw this billboard for the show with Shiamak that's below. There are 16 across the city. The first 2 nights are sold out already.
These pictures on the water were taken at sunset just outside the theatre, it's going to be a great place to be working every day. And the blue one with the guy walking in the bottom left corner was snapped in a split second from the car before a line of traffic drove by. I love how well it came out for not aiming.
The shots of the dancers are from this school were they were rehearsing for the day. They all fit into this great concrete building and we managed to have a production meeting in the middle of them all. The dancers are the most disciplined performers I've ever encountered, it's fantastic.
I visited the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre where the show is being held for the first time and was blown away. First of all, it takes an hour to get there, on a good day. I hear that 2 hours is an average travel time. However such a long time spent in the car allows for good opportunities to take some pictures. We saw this billboard for the show with Shiamak that's below. There are 16 across the city. The first 2 nights are sold out already.
These pictures on the water were taken at sunset just outside the theatre, it's going to be a great place to be working every day. And the blue one with the guy walking in the bottom left corner was snapped in a split second from the car before a line of traffic drove by. I love how well it came out for not aiming.
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