It rained for about 10 minutes today....

[Miking]

The unfortunate part is that it rained indoors and directly on my backpack.

Summer is theatre maintainance time, there isn't much time during the regular season to do much of the work that needs to be done to keep the theatre in tip-top shape so with that small window of time there are all sorts of workers coming and going. I was up in the grid of a theatre retrofitting some rigging hardware at the same time as technicians were testing the fire alarm system.

They screwed up and triggered the fire curtain, which is a big, heavy fire retardant curtain made out of woven fiberglass that automatically drops in the event of a fire and creates a barrier between the stage and the seating area of the auditorium to protect the audience from fire, smoke and falling debris if a fire were to happen on stage. Not too much of a big deal, kind of a pain to reset, but no one hurt, nothing damaged.

Then the deluge sprinkler started, 2000 gallons per minute directly over top of my synapse 25 I had left in the front row of seats, this went on for about 10 minutes before they managed to shut off the sprinklers. I went into the house and fished out my poor soggy bag, most of the water had beaded off, there were a few spots like where the seat touched the bag that the fabric was a bit damp but besides that not too worse for wear.

And the best part, and probably what everyone reading this is wondering. Everything inside... BONE DRY!

Thanks TB for making such awesome close enough to waterproof bags!

[dalupus]

That is great. I am taking my synapse 19 with me next week for a gorilla trek in africa. Glad to know my equipment will stay dry inside the bag.

[Pokilani]

That's amazing!


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[itsablur]

That is great. I am taking my synapse 19 with me next week for a gorilla trek in africa. Glad to know my equipment will stay dry inside the bag.

Good luck! Are you going through Uganda, Rwanda, or Kenya? I have a short paid sabbatical next year that I'm thinking of spending in Africa, and this is pretty high on my list.

[Ilkyway]

Miking all I can think about (after I checked that the bag-story had a happy ending of course!) how are you going to get all that water out of there? You say there is little time to fix all these things that have to be fixed and now drying this place up is to do on top of this. All the seats wet, the floor... what a mess!
They should have done seat-covers in dyneema or something.

Ilkyway

[Miking]

Miking all I can think about (after I checked that the bag-story had a happy ending of course!) how are you going to get all that water out of there? You say there is little time to fix all these things that have to be fixed and now drying this place up is to do on top of this. All the seats wet, the floor... what a mess!
They should have done seat-covers in dyneema or something.

Ilkyway

This is what the theatre looked like today, fans everywhere! And in the auditorium it was worse! The flood remediation company showed up within a few hours of it happening and all hands were on deck trying to minimize damage as it happened there were some lighting and sound electronics in the cable troughs that were obviously ruined and the motors for all five of the stage elevators were fully submerged and presumed dead. Luckily they were in their proper configuration for the next few shows. The lighting dimmer and audio amp racks also sustained some damage. As for the seating the first few rows were soaked through so they are trying to save them but they may need to be re-upholstered, I'll recommend the dyneema! Luckily all the seats are arranged on pallets so the theatre can be reconfigured from proscenium into a thrust stage so they can be easily swapped out for dry ones.



I don't think they will have any problem opening on time, I will be back here in November doing flying effects for one of the shows they are putting on so I will be able to report back then.

[luvdabags]

flying effects? what is that--sounds amazing! pics, please!!

[dalupus]

Good luck! Are you going through Uganda, Rwanda, or Kenya? I have a short paid sabbatical next year that I'm thinking of spending in Africa, and this is pretty high on my list.

Rwanda and Kenya. Don't let me forget to let you know how it goes.


I hadn't heard of a company giving a paid sabbatical since the dot com boom days.

[Miking]

flying effects? what is that--sounds amazing! pics, please!!

I posted a picture in this thread I would have more but I am away from my computer and I cleared all the photos off of my iPad to make room for movies and music.

The term "Flying Effects" covers everything from the usual theatre shows that feature flying like Peter Pan and Wicked (I constantly have "I'm Flying" and "Defying Gravity" going through my head) to aerial acrobats to flying performers like Carrie Underwood in arena concerts to flying props and set pieces as well as moving modern art installations and museum displays. Right now I am in the process of designing the automated flying systems for a dozen or so aluminum reinforced resin pterodactyl skeletons and lifelike models for a new museum expansion ever so classily dubbed Pterodactyl Pterrace.

[luvdabags]

Miking, that is so cool!!

[itsablur]

Rwanda and Kenya. Don't let me forget to let you know how it goes.


I hadn't heard of a company giving a paid sabbatical since the dot com boom days.

Awesome. I'll remember to bug you about it in a few months.

I was the first non-management employee of a start up a few years ago. We really try to stress work life balance and a work hard, play hard ethos. The paid sabbaticals seem to be a good incentive and hiring hook. No one can believe we give you money to go away for 4-8 weeks. I'm certainly not complaining!