Sunday 17 June 2007

Weekend 1 - Sleep 0...

Shhh, don't tell my mom, but I stayed up ALL Saturday night at a party in Essex!

Last weekend
I did monitors (sound on the stage) for Essex University's Summer Ball, along with a few other engineers for a PA company I'm friends with.

Essex Uni is a massive place and rather grand.
After setting up, Friday night was pleasant and was spent in this hotel on site. The evening meal was fab and I tried PawPaw fruit for the first time.

...After then, some sleep or a nap or even the prospect of a bed became very appealing!


The main event was held in this MASSIVE marquee

The organisers spent days setting the interior up for the guests


They cleverly installed a grass tile, which was rather novel ;0)


Crewman Glen AKA 'patch guru' setting the last few lines up


The main act was 'Jamelia'
She came in early to do a sound check ready for her midnight performance.



The stage was then set for the night.
Don't touch AAANYTHING... Or even think about it!



It was quite a posh do too; a brass band greeted the arriving guests

The first band up was 'Fake That'
A Take That tribute band




Next up was 'Colin Murray'
A DJ from Radio 1, who actually played a good couple of sets and boy he was trollied :]
He pulled a rather smart stunt of playing 'Oasis - Cigarettes and Alcohol' and went down to the audience with a bottle of vodka and got the crowd to take a swig each and pass the bottle along the front row!


The vodka-guzzling crowd


There's nowt like a mixing console to get the old noodle working full steam ahead, especially while under pressure!
Due to the usual kind of technical hitches one expects on a gig, arsey artists and having 1/10th of the time actually needed, Jamelia's set was a little stressful at the start, as was the preceding 'Queen' tribute band.
Phhheeewww is all I will say :[]



The Queen B tribute band front man ended up in his boxers by the end of their set, as you do!

YAWN
Local DJs then played through until 5:20am!!!

...Then we all packed the PA system away
...Then drove home


Essex wide-boy Stef, the owner of the PA company Audio Plus.
At gone 6 in the morning, he turns up from being at another gig to lend a hand.
Having zero sleep, he still manages to completely crack me up and have me in tears of laughter with his, quite frankly, rather piss-taking humour. :)




Today, I'm Most Angry About: Being on day 4 of a headache!!! Grrr :'(
Grrr-O-Meter Rating: 7/10

Today's Top Tip:
Fool everyone into thinking you have just eaten an apple by rubbing your tummy and saying out loud, "Mmm! That was a lovely apple."

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats pretty cool. Seems like everyone I know is turning out to be a closet sound engineer at the moment. Although I suppose I only know you electronically so far, so not sure if that counts.

Anonymous said...

That top tip is absolutely marvellous. I might just try it...

Oh... and good blog, too :)

Phil said...

You lead a very interesting life Dogga, I'm happy for you.

The apple, nature's filthy little dentrifice

Phil said...

Rob:
Hehe, that's becuase everyone is a sound engineer at heart!
Yeah, electronic / virtual DoGGa is almost as good as the real thing... no, actually better :]

Stu:
LOL, it works with any food or drink - very versatile really :0)
Cheers Stu!!!

Phil:
I do lead an interesting life, although I an knackered :]
Hehe, the apple yes, mmm, I gotta go for two fillings next week :`(

b o o said...

*rubs your temple instead of a fake apple*

hey that rhymes

so you poor thing, having a mother of a headache eh?

HUGS

p/s "fake that" is horrigible

Jenny! said...

Why wasn't I invited???

Lord Hutton said...

I used to work a mix of days and nights. Result: permanent headache.
I bet those kids at Essex Uni paid a large part of their loans for that little gig

Kayla said...

Wow, Essex U looks beautiful.
I'd love to take a tour.
The tiles in the tent are cool!

Poor Dogga..hope your headache gets better soon.
I suppose you've tried Motrin/Ibuprofen? I take 800mg three times a day until the bugger is gone

Phil said...

Boo:
*mmm* I wish you were ya know! :X

... No it doesn't rhyme LOL

Fake That were slightly, I dunno, fake. AND there was a tubby one - Since when was there a tubby one in Take That? :0)

Jenny:
'Cos you live like a billion miles, but basically you're not posh enough :0)

Hutters:
I wasn't a cheap do, by any stretch of the imagination - Prob government grant? :]
What was best for your headaches sir?

Kayla:
It's a fab place, from what I saw of it anyhow. There were also large fountains etc behind the hotel.

I hope my headaches get better soon too!
I don't know what Motrin is, but when it gets bad, I take 800mg Ibuprofen and 1000mg Paracetamol - That normally does the trick.
Ship me some Motrin over would ya? :]

Andre Veloux said...

Stay up all night at a party, you're a nutter! You need to find someone to stay up all night with mate! I think you should have packed up after Jamelia.

Phil said...

Andre:
I know - Not something I'm going to be making a habit of :[]

Yeah, Essex+girls+uni+summerball+allnighter= waaahaay, but sadly no! :[

Phil said...

Jenny:
LOL - Nope that's what I do, hence I'm not even slightly posh.

However, if you did that it would make me smile a lot:)
...and if you do, you're definitely invited to the next one!

Me Myself and I said...

that tile is a novel idea! I was at a wedding this past weekend that was held on the lawn under a tent, and everytime I stood up from my chair my heels sunk into the ground! that one would have gotten a grr-o-meter rating of probably 8/10

Anonymous said...

Day 4 of a headache? You should get that checked out...

and where's the Video top tip?

Phil said...

Photogirl:
To be honest, I didn't get the heel problem personally :0)
Phew, that's a high GRRR rating though :[]

Sarah:
I have and I'm on tablets :[ I need ot learn to chill out too - I'm far too stressed.
Audio tip I said, not a video tip :]
It's coming soon...

Jenny! said...

Sweet!

Anonymous said...

No no! I said video tip... :p

mellowlee said...

Four day headache! AGH! I hope it's over with by now! (and caught up on your sleep too!) Glad you did have fun though :O)

mellowlee said...

PS...what's paw paw fruit?

Anonymous said...

Looks like a goodnight MrDogga - what were the loos like? Score any good drugs?

That Radio one geezer - is it true he was arrested for indecent exposure?

Phil said...

Jenny:
Ayeee :]

Sarah:
No no! I said audio tip... :p

Mellow:
Headache well and truly gone thanks... for now :[]
I think PawPaw fruit is actually papaya? Very fleshy, a but like melon!

Mutley:
The loos were fine - portaloos, but clean :]
I have no idea if Colin was arrested for indecent exposure, but it wouldn't surprise me and hats of to him if he did LOL :]

b o o said...

where u at love?

Phil said...

Boo:
I'm here chuck!
New post coming soon, honest guv :X