Madonna - Sweet & Sticky Tour...Steel Day 3/Show/Strike
It took forever to get firm crew numbers from the Production... There was basic info. things like 90 fresh stagehands, Start TIME : 23:30 -curfew TBD. No info on how many Lighting crew, sound crew etc. Not once did we ever get a phone call or visit from production before, or during the setup. Except when they were angry they didn't have crew at their disposal. We, the two dispatchers had to guess from basic scaled info, all end times TBD. We had no idea if crews overlapped or cut short. How many in each Department. Everyone was called as either a Stagehands or Steel Hands.
The hardest thing about crewing the production call was, due to stiffer Worksafe B.C. regs. We had endevour to not over book crew and force massive overtime. Because, if a worker gets injured and it can be shown that they were offered too excessive hours in at row. That could be a factor in that injury. And we the local could face fines. Years ago, we could just let people work til they dropped. That was fun....And the Old cats...They didn't quite get that when we were calling them. But, they avoided the steel call setup quite well. Those days were full of bright newbies.
The ESS Steel Production crew were great. Telling us as much as they knew from day one of the steel in, what they knew of how the Production side went. Their steel pieces by day three however, were only 7/8ths there. Why I have no idea... but the steel crew was missing one side of the steel supertower support for the stage right P.A. With less that 24 hours til show.
So. it was flown in from AUSTRALIA to SEATTLE and then shipped to Vancouver. At, I guess some mindbogging expense. ( imaging having to rush ship several tonnes of steel trussing.... what are the charges on that.) Only to have the steel show up right at the same time as a Canucks game was getting out, next door at G.M. Place. This put a large number of the steel crew into double time. And many were rolling into production that early morning
But, it was all up before the rest of the production team were scheduled to be in. making it a happy day for most of those on the deck.
While we, the poor suffering 2 dispatchers, desperately tried to fill the remaining Production out Crew and Steel Strike Crew. While trying to fill holes where people bailed, with members who lost out on the calling circus the day before. Which wehad to do, to get the bulk of the calling done before they needed 90 Stagehands at: 23:30. Plus, a Fresh 24 and 24 Steel Hands who were all expected to work from 7am / or Noon til 11pm on..... Halloween night.
Yeah right... I'm going to find almost 30 some odd fresh people on top of the 91 man production strike crew. On the biggest adult party night in North America. So, I just told everyone I called except the senior riggers and show crew to expect to be there til 8am. just to cover the possible lack of fresh guys the next day.
When the British steel crew seemed perplexed as to why we couldn't just call up tonnes of guys. We just had to translate Holloween into Guy Fawks day. So they figured out quite quicky that people just at on that holiday didn't know where their allegiances lay. Getting drunk with various women in skimpy costumes. Or, tearing down super heavy, dirty, Lights sound staging and Sub grid and supertowers. While other guys got drunk with various women in skimpy costumes.
Problem was I kept telling people I knew, how it was hard to find crew. And I remember telling them to call their friends and give them my phone number if they wanted work. But, one or two just told their friends to just, "Come on down....."
So, while trying to check in all the 90 and 30 guys I did get. These, other people were in the line up saying names I didn't have on my dispatch list. Bogging down the process and driving me nuts. All while the local Head carpenters where giving out work shirts to them. Which possibly meant that the guys I did call. Who were at the back of the line. Would end up getting no work. But, I couldn't explain that to the HC's as we were rushing to get this huge group of guys into different colored work shirts so that the show guys could know who their people were. And there was still a stack of T-Shirts there on the table. This is all happening while Madonna's music was blarring all around us underneath the stadium's seating risers. So we were yelling at the crew to say their name and what they were called for. And they stared at me blankly. Thankfully their were a pile of no shows. My Niece got on the crew. I made her and her BF Pushers. The easiest gig ( Push set carts to the truck - Coil feeder. ) So I didn't freak her out. ( Later... She said it was the hardest she'd ever worked. But, I think her BF wants more. )
Right as the shows ends, a road guy comes in blarring at our HC's that he's missing wardrobe assistants. Which we, the dispatchers were told we didn't have to call. In fact it was one of the only few things we did really know about what was our responsiblity. This was insanity...But, we still got the show down in record time. All these young guys were so keen to work for huge bucks on such a massive show. That when we went to cut the crew down. Nobody wanted to leave...
On top of all that... I was so busy sorting out huge numbers of crew at such a last minute. That I didn't really get to flog my Union shirts...So, I have tonnes left....here in my apartment. I'd wear them for halloween.... but I'm so tired...I can't even bother to go out.
It took forever to get firm crew numbers from the Production... There was basic info. things like 90 fresh stagehands, Start TIME : 23:30 -curfew TBD. No info on how many Lighting crew, sound crew etc. Not once did we ever get a phone call or visit from production before, or during the setup. Except when they were angry they didn't have crew at their disposal. We, the two dispatchers had to guess from basic scaled info, all end times TBD. We had no idea if crews overlapped or cut short. How many in each Department. Everyone was called as either a Stagehands or Steel Hands.
The hardest thing about crewing the production call was, due to stiffer Worksafe B.C. regs. We had endevour to not over book crew and force massive overtime. Because, if a worker gets injured and it can be shown that they were offered too excessive hours in at row. That could be a factor in that injury. And we the local could face fines. Years ago, we could just let people work til they dropped. That was fun....And the Old cats...They didn't quite get that when we were calling them. But, they avoided the steel call setup quite well. Those days were full of bright newbies.
The ESS Steel Production crew were great. Telling us as much as they knew from day one of the steel in, what they knew of how the Production side went. Their steel pieces by day three however, were only 7/8ths there. Why I have no idea... but the steel crew was missing one side of the steel supertower support for the stage right P.A. With less that 24 hours til show.
So. it was flown in from AUSTRALIA to SEATTLE and then shipped to Vancouver. At, I guess some mindbogging expense. ( imaging having to rush ship several tonnes of steel trussing.... what are the charges on that.) Only to have the steel show up right at the same time as a Canucks game was getting out, next door at G.M. Place. This put a large number of the steel crew into double time. And many were rolling into production that early morning
But, it was all up before the rest of the production team were scheduled to be in. making it a happy day for most of those on the deck.
While we, the poor suffering 2 dispatchers, desperately tried to fill the remaining Production out Crew and Steel Strike Crew. While trying to fill holes where people bailed, with members who lost out on the calling circus the day before. Which wehad to do, to get the bulk of the calling done before they needed 90 Stagehands at: 23:30. Plus, a Fresh 24 and 24 Steel Hands who were all expected to work from 7am / or Noon til 11pm on..... Halloween night.
Yeah right... I'm going to find almost 30 some odd fresh people on top of the 91 man production strike crew. On the biggest adult party night in North America. So, I just told everyone I called except the senior riggers and show crew to expect to be there til 8am. just to cover the possible lack of fresh guys the next day.
When the British steel crew seemed perplexed as to why we couldn't just call up tonnes of guys. We just had to translate Holloween into Guy Fawks day. So they figured out quite quicky that people just at on that holiday didn't know where their allegiances lay. Getting drunk with various women in skimpy costumes. Or, tearing down super heavy, dirty, Lights sound staging and Sub grid and supertowers. While other guys got drunk with various women in skimpy costumes.
Problem was I kept telling people I knew, how it was hard to find crew. And I remember telling them to call their friends and give them my phone number if they wanted work. But, one or two just told their friends to just, "Come on down....."
So, while trying to check in all the 90 and 30 guys I did get. These, other people were in the line up saying names I didn't have on my dispatch list. Bogging down the process and driving me nuts. All while the local Head carpenters where giving out work shirts to them. Which possibly meant that the guys I did call. Who were at the back of the line. Would end up getting no work. But, I couldn't explain that to the HC's as we were rushing to get this huge group of guys into different colored work shirts so that the show guys could know who their people were. And there was still a stack of T-Shirts there on the table. This is all happening while Madonna's music was blarring all around us underneath the stadium's seating risers. So we were yelling at the crew to say their name and what they were called for. And they stared at me blankly. Thankfully their were a pile of no shows. My Niece got on the crew. I made her and her BF Pushers. The easiest gig ( Push set carts to the truck - Coil feeder. ) So I didn't freak her out. ( Later... She said it was the hardest she'd ever worked. But, I think her BF wants more. )
Right as the shows ends, a road guy comes in blarring at our HC's that he's missing wardrobe assistants. Which we, the dispatchers were told we didn't have to call. In fact it was one of the only few things we did really know about what was our responsiblity. This was insanity...But, we still got the show down in record time. All these young guys were so keen to work for huge bucks on such a massive show. That when we went to cut the crew down. Nobody wanted to leave...
On top of all that... I was so busy sorting out huge numbers of crew at such a last minute. That I didn't really get to flog my Union shirts...So, I have tonnes left....here in my apartment. I'd wear them for halloween.... but I'm so tired...I can't even bother to go out.
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