WEBVTT - Marc Brickman 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.480 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob left That's Podcast. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:18.360 My guest today is writing a production designer extraordinaire, Mark Brickman. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.880 You know Mark from his work with such acts as 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.600 Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Bruce Greenstein. He even lit up 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.120 the Olympics. Mark. Good to have you on this show. Hi, Bob, 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.920 how are you. It's good to see you. Against be 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.879 in a few years. So what exactly is it you 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:38.519 do explain to my audience, Well, best way to describe 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.360 as our visual producer slash artists, just like you would 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.920 have when a band have songs and they get out 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.640 of the garage and they need a audio producer to 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.120 take them into the studio to make an album and 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.199 then they release it. I do the same thing for 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:57.440 live shows. So starting back in one, it wasn't really 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:02.120 much of an industry back then, and so um I, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.440 I and a bunch of other guys turned it into one. 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.280 And so I really what we do what you see 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:12.880 now in two are extravagance as lots of visual material, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.360 and it's really putting all of that together to translate 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.360 and tell the story of the music. It was a 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.280 lot easier earlier on in my career. These days it's 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:29.160 pretty complicated. I hope that made sense absolutely. Now some 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.959 tours have lighting designers and production designers or separate. Where 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.160 is the line between the two, if there is one 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.360 at all? There used to be a really strong line. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.360 I kind of blurted myself back in the eighties, um 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.800 and and I didn't do it intentionally, but I probably 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.720 was a bit of egomaniacal and young, and so I 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.080 was one pink Floyd. I was a lighting designer, but 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.960 then I would get up set because the set designers 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.880 would come in and they would use the lighting to 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:03.279 light their sets, not to the music, because I'm music 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.360 is my life. It just always has been since I've 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.720 been very small, and so I always saw music, heard music, 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.359 colored music in my head. So probably in the mid 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.960 eighties I started designing. Actually around seventy nine with Ricky 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:24.360 Lee was when I actually became the lighting designer slash 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.720 set designer. Then I realized I was the production designer, 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.440 so I started asking for those credits um and I 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.080 think people copied my and then I became the visional 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.320 artistic director and the visual producer, and I would always 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.880 keep changing the title, and then I would see other 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.760 people using it. So there maybe I had a little hand, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.400 small hand, Okay, so need let's just say the last 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.800 two years have been interrupted by COVID, But what is 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:56.400 occupying your time now? Well back probably around twenty after 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.200 Roger Waters, we mounted the Wall Show again, which myself 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.480 and Mark Fisher, UM, we're instrumental in putting that together 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.720 with Roger. After after I was finished with that project, 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.240 I realized it was I also had a one year 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.440 old daughter and it was time to actually pay attention 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:20.519 to real life. So I started UM transitioning it's good 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:24.160 work to to UM to really what I love doing. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.840 And I could thank my wife for really getting me 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.640 into painting, probably back in in two thousand and two, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.880 and UM, I really wanted to become an artist now 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.080 to talk about labels, it was time to really hit 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.320 the art world. So UM in the last two years 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:47.680 and and also my whole team, we started remotely being 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.440 in control of places like the Empire State Building. So 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.680 when there I was actually in New York when on 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.000 my way to Germany when COVID hit, UM came home 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:04.400 and UM I realized, UM, we didn't really miss a beat. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.760 We were really lucky. I feel horrible about what happened 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.120 to a lot of my friends and and you know, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:14.360 and and collaborators, but we were we were actually set 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:18.360 up to do everything Remotely, nothing really changed with us. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.720 We never saw each other anyway, except maybe twice three 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:23.680 times a year when we had to be in the 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.520 same place. So um and I gave me more of 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.039 an opportunity to start painting, to start working on n 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.119 f T s, to start doing everything that I really 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.680 been wanting to do all these years. So that's how 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.160 I've been spending my time. Okay, so things have started 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.040 back up. Do you want to do tours? Do you 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.840 want to do stuff? Or you really pretty much transitioned 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.880 out of that. Well, you know, I'm a bit older. 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.760 So when I was young and coming up, and I 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.560 started when I was eighteen, you know, they were older 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:03.160 lighting designers and set signers, um and they I used 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.919 to look at them and think to myself, Wow, I 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.800 don't want to be that old and like still doing this, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.480 but I hope I'll be doing something else. I didn't 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.520 know what it was so right now to answer the question, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.240 it's difficult. I pretty much have a very small roster 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.200 of clients left, it's Steve Miller, Neil Young. Um, that's 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.799 if they remember me and David Gilmer. Um. But who knows, 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.120 maybe they hate me by now, I don't know. I 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.279 do speak to two out of this ree quite regularly. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.000 Which one don't you speak to so regularly? Now? You 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.320 know Neil's Neil lives about a mile and a half 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.400 from our house, but I don't think he's been here 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.880 in Malibu for a while, so I haven't seen him 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:50.040 at the local Italian and I, uh, you know, I 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.800 don't know. I don't think I could. I don't think 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.000 I'll go out if somebody called me. Sure, I'd love 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.680 to do something, Um, I always do. I love live, 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.400 I mean live, experience nothing better in life, you know. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.560 I even I don't watch my shows on after they 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.839 shoot them and they put them on YouTube. I don't 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.159 watch them. I can't. It's not the same thing. It's 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.200 being in that crowd that's so exciting. But I'm probably 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.000 actually nervous to find out that the crowd maybe isn't 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.919 as excited anymore. I don't know. I don't know if 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.200 I wanted to find out that answer a little bit slower. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.640 You think that the crowd might be a little less 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.520 excited just because of the transitions in life in general 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.760 or specifically because of COVID. I think because things have 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.599 changed quite a bit, and I think people, you know, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.120 I think, you know, the whole world has changed, and 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:43.680 I think people's excitement. I don't know. I don't have 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.800 the answer. I just I just have great memories of 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.359 what I've done in my life, and I don't know 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.200 if I want to go out there. I've talked to 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.279 a couple of people very recently that are out there 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.440 touring with bands, and it doesn't sound like it's a 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.400 very happy camp, you know. It sounds like it's it's difficult, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.880 it's really and my heart goes out to them. It's 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.719 really you're talking about because of COVID restrictions. Yeah, because 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.520 of the restrictions and the restrictions on the audience and 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.360 just restrictions on the band, and that's got to take 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.760 a toll. I can't believe it's not that happy playland 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.680 that we used to live in, you know. I believe 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.640 I know some specifics where you know, if you're working 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:25.840 for the band, you couldn't even watch the show. It 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.680 was really crazy. Never mind that third parties come back. 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.600 You know that's funny you said that, because who wasn't Oh, 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.480 the Stones were in town and I remember Chuck Level 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.520 was playing keyboards and you know, hit him on text, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.760 invited him out for pizza, and then you know he 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.320 went back on Man, I'd love to do that, but 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.520 I'm not allowed to leave. I happen to know that 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.840 I'm close to that camp. It's like, you can come 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:52.800 to the show, but we can't see you. We can't 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.240 see you, and I'm not allowed to leave the hotel. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:57.800 I was like, And when he hit that was like 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.240 somebody through a cold water on my face. It really 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:06.400 woke me up too, just wow, Like I was speechless. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.680 I really was. Okay. So let's say, you know, you 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.800 say you talked to Steve Miller and David Gilmore in 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.880 a regular basis. What what do you talk about? Hey man? 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.480 How are you were you doing? We're you know, Steve 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.800 and I became we have a really long relationship and 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.160 often on you know, things come in and out. But 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.760 right before COVID we we reignited our our love for 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.080 each other um in New York City and and then 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.560 I mean he went to see David Byrne nine times 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.120 on Broadway, and he took me six of the nine 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.600 times to see, you know, the Utopia and and because 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.760 we were both so blown away by it um and 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.600 and we just I was going to do his tour 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:57.000 in Um and we had a really um different approach 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.200 to the visual element of it UM. And I understood 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.800 his he he does have some parameters you have to 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.640 work inside, especially you know, he's he's a great producer 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.720 in terms of keeping his camp really tight. So but 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.200 I came up and that's what challenges me. It isn't 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.600 so much that I need lots of trucks with lots 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.400 of equipment. It's actually that back and forth with the 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.000 artist really trying to figure out, you know, how can 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.200 we do this and also be relevant and be and 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.480 be able to really translate what he's who he is 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.880 and what's what's going on. Okay, let's go back to 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.280 David Byrne show. What was so mesmerizing and would you 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.560 have done anything different? Well, it's funny you said that, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:45.600 because David had called me um in twenty I think 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.600 it was, I can't remember. And I went to New 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.440 York and met him, met him for the first time, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.480 and and I'd made some dry and he laid it 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.320 out for me what he wanted to do, but he 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.080 didn't quite have it in his head, but he had 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.760 some really great, really the ideas. I immediately just went. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.200 I was right there with him because it was deconstructing 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.560 the concert. It was it was deconstructing and reinventing the 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.400 live experience. So I was there. I did a lot 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:19.319 of pre visualizations drawings for him. Um, something happened. It 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.600 wasn't me for the first time ever, but something happened, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.560 and he didn't go out, and then I think he 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.360 had a shake up in management or record I don't 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.400 remember what happened. And then he went out on the 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.960 road with this version, and then it ended on Broadway. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.880 So by that point they had hired somebody else. Um. 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.280 And when I remember was probably the second or third 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.280 time that I saw it. I remember sitting in the 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.800 audience next Steve, and then I suddenly went I remembered 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.840 that I had collaborated with David. I had forgotten the 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.559 first two times. So, um, it was it was just brilliant. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:04.360 It was brilliant. It was Yeah. I can't really describe 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.080 how I felt the first time I saw it, I 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:10.600 just really was really so impressed and everything was just perfect. Okay, 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.480 let's go back to Steve Miller. Some acts like David 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.880 Gilmore go out and money is not He is not 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.760 really a constraint. I mean from the inside sometimes even 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.600 isn't even worried about making money, where Steve Miller traditionally 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:28.280 tours every year. So there you talk about parameters. When 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.360 you talked about working with Steve, how much of it 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.079 was pleasing Steve, how much was it interfacing with third 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.440 parties were part of his team, how much of it 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.480 is the constraints, the money, the stage, etcetera. Well, that's 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.200 a that's a really great question, um, and you and 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.000 you were spot on in your description. Absolutely. But Steven said, 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:51.520 let me just look, Steve's always been an outlier his 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.240 whole career. You know, he's he is his own man, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.760 and he's always been in control of his destiny. So 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.680 he loves going out. He just loves playing. He's actually 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.800 the times that we change emails everything, he really he 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:11.120 misses the connection of the audience. That's his main purpose. 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.160 But he's not going out there and lose money, and 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.960 he's not gonna let and he's realized what his niches 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.320 and he's happy in it. He's very very happy. So 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:20.959 you gotta fit if you want to work with him, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.360 You've got to fit inside of the construct that he's 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.400 made over the years of going out playing the sheds, 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.920 his his crew, he's very loyal to the band, to 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.880 his tour managers and managers, you know, so all that's 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:40.480 in place. So yeah, to fit in and be successful 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:45.720 is not an easy task. Um so, and I hope 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.360 I answered the question. Let's be very specific, so you 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.559 have the parameters of the type of buildings he plays, 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.120 and he wants to be involved. The tour didn't go, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.160 but what did you suggest? It was pretty simple. The 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.240 best way to describe it as Steve Miller Neil like, Neil, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.960 did you go to Coachella? Ocella? I purposely didn't go, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.920 But that's a whole another story. When you go to 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.920 shows now, mostly the lighting is all just flashing lights 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.920 in people's eyes. That's it. I mean somewhere along this 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.800 it got very blurred and they took the lights off 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.200 the acts and he decided they're gonna light the audience 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.360 the whole night with what they call air graphics. They're 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.920 gonna build these crazy sets, um spend all kinds of money. 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.400 The audience it's coming to see. I mean, when I 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.760 was a kid, the anticipation was so great to go 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:37.560 see live entertainment that you know, I would accept anything. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.640 I think that the audience still feels that way. And 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.200 so the one thing I said to Steve was they're 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.360 coming to hear the hits. They're coming to hear the music. 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.040 And he agrees with that, you know, And I said, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.760 so we don't need really a lot of flashing lights, 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.319 and we don't need it distract the audience. They need 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.120 to really be able to tune into you. So we 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.920 came up came up with a very modern way of 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:03.920 kind of the best way to describe it was gonna 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.160 look like a bit of a James Terrell art installation. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.319 Well we'll explain that not everyone's gonna know what that 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.880 it's more of a ambient using L e D s, 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.920 using the L e D screens, but using them as 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.959 light because that's what they are, they are light and 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.720 um and configuring them so not so much as you're 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.040 watching all these images all the time and getting even 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.320 more distracted with the image because your eye is either 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.040 going through the flashing lights or your eye is going 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.400 through the screen, but it's not going to the artist. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.960 And what I do, and what my practice has always been, 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.960 is to really highlight not only the artists, but musically 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.840 where it's at in the moment. It's you know, it's 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.120 it's it's you know, Steve stops playing, the keyboard player 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.040 takes a solo, you're on that. That's you take the 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.040 audience's eye to that, so they're feeling the emotion. They're 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.760 really connecting with the band playing. Um, so I focused. 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.760 I was bringing it back to him that way, but 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.200 finding a way to do it inside his budget, which 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.440 I did. But let's let's be very specific. You have 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.680 a historical relationship with Steve Miller, you decide to work together, 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.120 tell me that. I mean, I know the show didn't 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.760 go out, but most shows do. From the moment you say, hey, 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.960 you'll be interesting to work together to the first show, 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.320 what's the process, It's well, it starts with ideas. It's 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.160 like whoever it is, it starts with that. So we 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.600 I do pre visualizations. Um, and I do it in 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.120 a little bit. Let's slow down for a second. You're 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.080 gonna work with the act. Do you ask them what 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.280 they're looking for? Now? What does some acts tell you what? 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.200 Or do you just say, hey, Mark want to work 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.000 with you come back with ideas. I have a reputation. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.320 I just have an unlisted phone number, and my phone 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.840 would just ring. And you know, I got hired for 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.480 The Wall the night before they opened at the Sports Arena. 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.520 The night before I had less than twenty four hours 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.080 to turn that show around. My phone rang. The day 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.400 after Ricky Lee Jones played Saturday Night Live, was Bob 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.120 ri Gear from Warner Brothers saying, You're meeting Mick Ricky tomorrow. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.400 I mean, I can go down the line of Um, 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.440 I met Bruce Springsteen at the Widener College. Um, Mike 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:21.400 Capelle had his his drill sergeant had on and he 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.200 would call the lighting cues. And but I knew all 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.120 the lighting cues without that. I just met them. Um. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.520 Clyde Davis told them at the bottom line, don't let 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.840 that guy go. I mean, my whole life has been 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:40.160 these moments in time where um, I'm honored, but people 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.680 come to me and they go, Okay, let's work together. 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:49.120 I think there's a there's a moment that happens where 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.360 I'm I'm accepted and respected as an artist. It's a 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.520 it's a not just as a lighting guy. You know 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.080 that they understand the drama that I bring and also 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.600 the I'm trying not to be ego maniacal and describing it, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.359 but it's because man, it's your window busykommiacles you way, 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:14.399 that's dangerous, um, but but I it to me. I 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.280 always designed the shows for the last kid in the 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.040 last row, UM, because it brings the energy forward if 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.120 you could, and that was before there were video screens, 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.439 because if you could really bring that music out through 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.840 the audience, it was important. And I realized early on 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.639 that lighting was the most powerful tool we had in 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.560 the toolbox out there in the in the arena. The 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.600 same thing on Broadway. Some of my you know, some 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:42.560 of my famous lighting designer friends aren't Broadway who I 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.360 looked up to when I was a kid, like Jules Fisher, 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.879 Baron Musterer all. You know, they were just geniuses that 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.000 doing that in the theater. Um and and Jules and 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.560 I became and Peggy became friends many many years ago. UM. 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.919 But you know he I was in awe of jewels. Um. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.080 So it's it's the idea of being able to focus 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.439 the audience. I think that's really what it's about. So 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:09.600 the artist, the artist kind of the manager has found me. 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.480 Suddenly I'm delivered in their in their presence. So we 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.000 start talking. I listened to what like Roger Waters, for instance, 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.240 he has a very definite idea what he's trying to do, 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.000 so I'll hear the story. He doesn't know how to 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.879 do it, but he does know that he's not happy 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.480 right now, right and so I have this moment to 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.520 prove myself. Well, let's be very specific. You know they're 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.840 doing the wall. You know it's it's not a tourist, 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.520 just limited shows. They've obviously built the set with the world, 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.040 with the bricks, etcetera, etcetera. They call you and what 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.200 if they're opening the next day? Well, what happened was 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:50.320 and once again I'll get back to what I just said. 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.199 A few minutes ago I walked in. I mean it 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:57.040 was it was total chaos. It was two d people 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.200 working last minute to finish this, and we all know 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.800 I was sitting. They were spending two million bucks in 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.320 the nine nine of their own money, and I mean, 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:11.879 like so I watched the rehearsal. What they had was 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.359 they had these things called cherry Pickers. I mean they 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.959 were the best known art band ever, you know, like 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.760 nobody really knew what they looked like. They were anonymous. 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.320 It was about the light show and the and the 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:30.040 but that light show was more abstract. He was now 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:34.080 doing a rock opera, very exact rock opera in terms 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.760 of queuing, blocking musicians here there, you know, you know 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.280 it was it was full on. But all the lights 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.800 when I walked in and they did the rehearsal, we're everywhere. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.960 They were on the whole time, flashing and just there 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:53.560 was no continuity. So after after the after they did 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.440 the run through, I went through his caravan and he said, well, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.000 what do you think? And I said, I told him exactly, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:01.720 And I just said and then I said, he says, 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.040 give me example, just like you're saying. I said, okay, 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.120 at the beginning of the show, the cherry Pickers get airborne. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.720 They go up there hydraulic, they fly around. Said, but 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.120 in another brick in the wall, it gets really quiet 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.040 and there's a helicopter sound, and it's dark. You know, 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.879 there should be darkness and you should hear nothing but 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.560 the helicopter sound. And then suddenly five seconds in a 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.560 five count in suddenly the cherry pickers with white lights 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.640 beaming straight down start lifting off up into the air. 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.919 You don't know what they are. They're very ominous, you know. 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.440 And then they come toward you just just as the 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.280 drums hit, you know, and let that down beat right. 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.760 And he looked at me, and he looked Steve Rourke 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.720 and he said, get Graham was the manager, just to 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.760 be clear, Yeah, yeah, Steven Rekers, no matter. And Graham 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.120 who was Graham Graham Graham Fleming was he? I guess 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.840 he was part owner. He was a lighting designer for 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.119 Pink Floyd, part owner Britannia row Or he had an 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.800 interest in it, which was Pink Floyd's sound and light 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.479 company back in seventy nine. So Roger, after I explain 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:11.639 what he just said to Roger, Roger, he says, get um, 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.560 get Graham. You know. Graham comes in and he looks 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.000 at Graham, he goes, you have cotton in your ears, 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.560 you know, And he goes and then he looks at me. 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:25.160 He goes, you're hired, and I'm uh, And Graham gave 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:27.040 me a look like I'm going to kill you. You know. 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.000 I don't know what. I don't know what you said, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.159 but I'm gonna kill you. And then he says to Graham, 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.840 you're dismissed. And then he turns to me and he goes, 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.960 you have you know, tonight and until we go on 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:45.119 tomorrow night to fix it. And I said, okay, you're dismissed, 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.560 and I left. You know, I walked, so I walked 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:50.320 out into it was a sports may and I walked 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:54.800 out into the vomitorium. I always remember this. It was 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:56.680 like one of those commercials. I think it was a 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.879 Merrow Lynch commercial where wait wait, wait, you called it 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.560 right here, right, You called it the vomitorium. Yeah, it's 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.480 a volmatorium. That that's what they're called there. The old 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:12.160 theatrical term is vomitorium. It's it's the entrance way into 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:14.720 the arena on the floor. I've never heard that, Okay, 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:17.399 I've always called it that. That's what I've was taught. 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.879 Maybe it was a joke. We'll find out from your listeners. 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:23.480 Well that's what I remember, But keep keep going with 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:25.879 the narrative. So you walk out through the vomitory anyway, 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.560 I walk I walk out there and I stopped. Suddenly, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.920 all the work that had been going on that also stopped, 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.800 and everyone looking at me, the whole crew, because Graham 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.000 had gone out there first, and you know, he was 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:41.640 just and he should have been just really at piste off, 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:45.360 wanting to kill me, and the words spread like wildfire, 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:48.119 and everybody was just looking at man. I thought to myself, 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:52.679 oh shit, you know, like now what And then suddenly, 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:55.959 like almost like a dream, these I see two figures 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.840 approaching me, and the one guy reaches out his hand 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.399