How many convention booths can you look at in a day? They all are dsplaying such amazing products as in wall speakers, household lighting dimmers, and flat screen TV integration. They all look the same. Little boxes on a huge convention center floor.  I have no idea what Cedia even stands for. 

And then there is Speakercraft. The owner of Speakercraft went to Coachella and was impressed by the Do Lab’s installation.  Now the Do Lab has never done a convention instalation before. They just do what they do. “Go Big or Go Home” has been the motto of the Do Lab since before there even was a Do Lab. So they designed something extreme. The Denver Convention Center has never seen anything like it. 

Four raised, carpeted lounge pods, filled with recylced furniture.

Lucent Dossier doing an aerial performance. 

More truss and lights than any booth by far. 

A 22′ x 40′ bamboo wall supported by the truss (they made us take it down because it was too tall, so we made it BIGGER, BETTER, and CRAZIER!)

Hanging Lumi chandeliers. 

Booming sound. 

A three tiered stage.

Tentacles everywhere! Speaker stalks growing up from the ground.

Nobody has known what to make of it and us. Some of the local union labor calls us the nightmare booth (The lazy bastards). We don’t fit with their picture of how a booth should be assembled and how the assemblers should look. We are so far out of the box, we hurt their heads.  Others don’t mind bending the rules just a bit if it means we make some cool art. I guess that’s at the heart of it. We are making Art, and most of the convention center people have never seen anything like that when trying to sell speakers.  We’re going to blow their minds. 

It’s the first Labor Day that I have spent not leaving Black Rock City with a few thousand of my closest friends trapped in our car for Exodous. Man, Exodous always sucks. The entire population of BRC compresses to a single lane and heads out into the desert. 

It’s an interesting holiday, Labor Day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day It Celebrates the spirt of the worker and how awesome Americans are at working.  But, as I have spent more time in the workforce and specifically this week working directly with union labor organizations, I can’t help but think that the American workforce is a little bit broken. I personally have tried to get my days to be in the Grip Local Union for the last 5 years, and there has been no access. While I can respect that generally if someone is in the union they do have a basic modicum of expertise, It is no guarantee of excellence. 

I can’t say that I am all that into working as something to celebrate. Instead, lets celebrate self expression, or health, or love? Is that so much to ask? At this point I am completely uninterested in working at anything other than something that gives me great joy and has me surrounded by people I love. Working hard is no problem, when it’s surrounded by your people. It becomes easy and fun. It is a bold thing to require. But I deserve it. 

But taken to an extreme, what would our world look like if everyone worked their passion? What if everyone was having fun and loved their life?  Well, now that I think about it, it would look a lot like Black Rock City. 

Just don’t wear white after Labor Day, I’m just saying.

So yesterday was a bit of a peel.

14 hours in the blazing sun by a pool. Big maxi-brutes and dinos (large lights with an array of individual lights, think stadium lights on stands) competing with the sun. One hill to load in, one hill to load out. Lots of gear. Not enough guys.

And the tease of being right next to the pool, all day, and roasting and sweating, knowing that the pool was the hero, and there is no room in there for a sweaty grip.

That said, I usually forgive all of it at the end of the day. A job well done and all that. I also liked the material more than usual. Liking the material, that is kind of a unique thing, now that i think about it. We were shooting Santa hanging out by the pool, being harrassed and stalked by Melissa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Peterman), who was HILARIOUS! If you find yourself in front of a TV on 4th of July weekend, watch lifetime. The promos between all the christmas movies will be what we shot. We shot like 14 bits in the day. A pretty serious number.

One thing I notice about my job being a grip, even when it is hard, or even hellish, I still enjoy what I do. I have a really specialized skill that I have practiced and mastered and I still get to keep learning. I get to connect with people on a profound level, you go to war with these people. I got a serious grip workout yesterday, carrying 70 pounds of dirt (sandbags) and piles of metal up and down an incline all day. And, finally, the girls who work in production are cute. This is important.