Local stagehands escape Silverdome with their lives

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/06/22/news/local_news/doc4c1fd417969fc357332898.txt

The stage roof for a Saturday concert at the Silverdome in Pontiac collapsed before the show started.

The stage roof for a Saturday concert at the Silverdome in Pontiac collapsed before the show started.

The stage roof for a Saturday concert at the Silverdome in Pontiac collapsed before the show started.

Local stagehands are calling it a miracle that no one died when the stage they were working on for a Saturday concert at the Silverdome collapsed.

“I had to dive off the stage to not get killed,” said one stagehand, who asked not to be identified. “I dove headfirst, landed about 7 feet under on the concrete, on my face.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”

The man described looking up just in time to see the truss on the roof of the stage snap.

“I saw it coming down and I didn’t want to look back, I just dove,” he said. “I had to dive to avoid getting crushed.”

The local stagehands were hired to help set up for the Jai Ho concert featuring A.R. Rahman, the composer of “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Emergency responders from the Pontiac Fire Department were called to the Silverdome around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, before the show started.

The stagehand described the moments of terror as “like being in a dream and you try to run, but you can’t.”

Like many stagehands, he says he has always been aware that disasters like this can strike and now that it has, he’s pretty shaken up.

Stagehands ( Things we often forget )

http://www.roadogz.com/stories/stagehands.htm

For those people who travel with the tour, we often forget about the locals. The stagehands are often the ones with the sore backs at the end of the day. Often they get put on the lower end of the food chain at the gig. Depending on the venue, you will face a plethora of different types of stagehands. Some are union, others are freelance or college students. There are even gigs where they are prisoners doing their work release. Each type of stagehand requires a different approach. There are a number of Roadogz out there that abuse stagehands, often because they are having a bad day, frustrated on a tour, or just tired of being on the road.

More and more these days you will find freelance stagehands at your gig. With corporations constantly buying up venues, unions are often pushed out. When I say freelancers, I'm talking about guys who work solely in this business full-time as stagehands. The most common place to see these guys is at amphitheatres. If you're doing an amphitheatre tour at the beginning of the summer you may have a tougher time finding knowledgeable hands. Normally as the season progresses, they get more experience. Most often these guys are pretty gung ho - you may have to be a little more patient on giving stage directions. You really wouldn't let them patch a stage or run data to your moving fixtures unsupervised. Each amphitheatre varies. Sometimes you will get union guys, others have the same hands come back season after season. The great thing about freelancing stagehands is that they usually have energy and want to get the gig done. You will also find fellow Dogz who are of the road earning a little extra cash. It's cool to work along with these guys, grabbing your cable looms to get your hands started is perfectly acceptable. The best way to keep these guys happy is to have fun with them.

Again, union guys vary from city to city. Unions work a system where they look out for their brothers. Walking into any venue with an "I'm in charge attitude" is never a good outlook in any situation, but especially not in a union house. Some people have caused a union to stop working or sent a Roadog to his bus for the day. They have certain rules that apply, like; specific brakes and the don't touch your own gear attitude. Again, this varies from venue to venue. The best thing to do is respect their rules. Many times when you're working with local 1 in New York, it's best to prepare yourself before you give directions. Ensure that you have made the right choice before you make it an action. If you stand back and give directions on the way things go together you will find that the crew will work with you. If you find that you're having fun with the crew you can always ask them if it's ok to grab your own gear. You'll know if you're in good with the crew if their response is, "yeah, why wouldn't it be ok to touch your own gear?" If you make a mistake? Honesty is the best approach. Just say " Look, I am really sorry guys, but I f**ked up." You'll get the flak over with faster. Just don't make it a habit.

The Universal Amphitheatre in LA is a prime example. You already know that these guys work their way. They have a minimal amount of guys on the crew, which could be a maximum in other venues. They are a departmentalized crew, which means there are lighting guys to do only lighting, and only sounds guys to do sound. They will not crossover like freelancers. In situations like that, it's best to tell the department crew chief what you need done, and he will make it happen with his/her guys. Personally I enjoy days like this, you have a great time chatting with the crew chief and everything remains a very relaxed atmosphere. The rig won't go up any faster no matter what you do. If you piss off the crew chief, he will certainly make your life hell. Chances are that if they choose to go into overtime, it's a decision that you can have no impact on whatsoever.

In some union venues you play 'find the stagehand' game. In situations like this, you will find it best just to keep them busy. If you don't feel right, don't send guys off into oblivion to find your dead roadcases at the end of the night. They will take the scenic route. Motivation is everything, as soon as one gig is finished, start them on the next one.

College Students are a whole other ball of wax. You can really start to play mind games with these guys. If you are doing a gig on a college campus, chances are you will get a new crew member every 2 hours. Simple reason being that they have class schedules. Not only that, logic for some reason in most college students' minds don't apply. You have to be very precise in your description with college crews. They will strip your cable looms to pieces if you aren't careful. They will also discus their class subjects between each other, and completely forget about the task at hand, which we call work. A little side note: The 2 most common majors you will find in your college crews? Psychology and Communications. Also, it would seem to me that women students work harder then their opposite sex. Their maturity level seems higher.

Some gigs you will even find high school students. If you've done Christian or Country music tours you'll know what I mean. This can definitely be the worst situation to be in. You are dealing with inexperience, and they are volunteers. You will find their energy to be the greatest before the event. At that point they are are getting excited about the show. When it's over, you'll be lucky to get half of them back. Best solution? Put them on a pedestal. Tell them that the show cannot happen without them. Find the volunteers that are curious about what you are doing. Hold onto them, they will come back for loadout.

A different scenario comes in to play with prisoners or work release programs. The only bonus is that they are excited about being outside the prison walls. They aren't allowed to have tools since they are considered weapons. They're good at lifting stuff, but the more delicate projects you may want to handle yourself. Even if you don't smoke, keep a pack of smokes in your workbox, you'll be the most popular Roadog. Be direct and concise with your stage directions. Don't be afraid to be assertive.

If you are in a foreign country, realize that you are in their domain, respect their place. There's always going to be one crew member that speaks English - get on his/her side. Even if you're in Glasgow, Scotland, realize that if you piss them off, all of a sudden they speak English with a very heavy accent.

Many Roadogz forget to respect the venue they work in that day. Many things depend on the attitude of your local crew. No matter what type of hands you are dealing with, if you are grouchy and mean; you will in no way get the best cooperation. You are hired to dictate the direction the gear needs to be put together and taken apart safely. Being positive, confident (but still willing to listen to suggestions), and in a good mood will set the day for a great experience with those people. The thing we often forget is that we will come back to that venue again. Great friendships are made if you leave with a great result. Just like any job, you should leave your personal problems out of the working Environment.

Have a good day, and good luck.

Stagehand work isn’t like other work

http://backstageat.backstagejobs.com/?p=694

–As always, the views expressed here are my own, and are not to be considered an official position of IATSE or its Locals.  Nothing in this post should be considered, nor is it intended, to be disparaging to any of the parties involved.–

By now most of you have heard of the IATSE member who was taken off a call, apparently due to his clothing choice that day.  The story has been picked up by many conservative and anti-union outlets, as well as by some mainstream media, primarily because the call was to construct a stage for President Obama to speak from, and the clothing in question had the word “Bush” prominently on it.

An article and video report can be found here.

Now, I am not in L.A.: I didn’t work on the call, and I have no firsthand knowledge over what happened in this instance.  But as a professional stagehand, I can give you some realistic possibilities.

What most of those angry about this seem to forget, is that stagehand work isn’t like other work.  Our job is to help to present: something.  Whatever the something is.  Appearance sometimes does matter.  Usually, we will be told in advance of the particular call/job what dress code requirements there may be.  Sometimes we need to have a suit.  Other times no shorts, or no t-shirts with potentially insulting text/images.  Or sometimes just to be dressed in black, with no lettering or images of any kind.   There are also times when no information about dress is given, at which time you just assume you need clean clothes without profanity or references to male or female anatomy (in other words: “relax, but remember you aren’t in your backyard at home”).

That said, we are always aware that the dress code may change once on-site, for any number of reasons.  Sometimes, an issue can be resolved simply be reversing a shirt.  Other times, an inside-out shirt may also be a problem.

Something to keep in mind: most of the time an IATSE Local acts as any other traditional union: taking care of its membership who are employed at given companies.  But some IATSE Locals also serve as “labor providers,” advertising the services of their membership and acting as a hiring agent for one-time events (Need a stage crew? Hire our team!).  And sometimes the client hires a production company to deal with doing the production the client wants, and the production company hires the IATSE Local to provide the crew.  As such, there are different scenarios for who is in charge of the show/crew at any given time.

Now, many outlets are reporting that the stagehand in question was “fired” by the IATSE Local.  This is unlikely.  A union works for its members, not the other way around.  A member cannot be removed from the union by one person while on a work call.  Such a drastic move would require a vote of the membership.  More likely he was simply sent home from call.  Could this result in not getting paid for the call?  Yes, but unlikely if he was not informed of a certain dress code (reports indicate that the Local will make sure he is paid for the call if indeed he was sent home due to the what was written on his sweatshirt and hat).  If you show up for a call without the tools or clothing you were told to bring, you can be sent home without pay, as bringing what was asked is part of the job.

But let’s look at this from the “show” appearance point of view.  The most prominent wording on the sweatshirt is “BUSH.”  The text about the ship is much smaller.  From a distance, most people would not see that the shirt is referencing the ship, they would only notice the word “BUSH.”  If the client is the Democratic Party, do they really want to take the time to explain to everyone that may happen to see this shirt from a distance that it is referencing a Navy ship?

To look at it another way: if the stage was being built for a Microsoft event, and a stagehand arrived wearing a shirt with a large image of an apple on the front, does it matter if there is smaller lettering saying “ABC School PTA” on it?  The most noticeable part of the shirt is still the apple.  As we are in the business of presenting a certain look, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the representatives from our hypothetical Microsoft office would rather not have a reminder of one of their major competitors at an event they are paying for.  Just because there is no ill intent from the person wearing it does not change the first impression the shirt gives to representatives of the client, and in the end, the client is paying the stagehand.

Even a shirt with a large US flag printed on it may not be allowed, if it is considered distracting to the production.

For those conservative or anti-union outlets: If the crew was non-union, would you have reported this story?  The union status of a stagehand does not change the basic job description of a stagehand.  If I was put on a call to set-up a Republican event, and was wearing a black shirt with only the word “CHANGE” and a US flag on it, and was asked by the client to change my shirt or go home, would you be up in arms about it?  I doubt it.

Again, not all the facts in this particular case are known.  But our appearance on our job sites is not a freedom of speech issue, as our appearance is part of the job.  We are paid to help the producer present a certain look, and our job is to do that, regardless of if we agree with how they regulate that look or not.