The start of Memphis Concrète
Jun. 11th, 2025 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ateolfOkay, so the festival's happened and it's even been a few days. I guess I've been putting off posting about it all. Let me see if I'm able to catch up. In the afternoon on Friday I ran that ladder up to Crosstown. I cleaned it first 'cuz it was dusty as fuck. At least gave it a little bit of a wipe-down. I tried to make some animated schedules (animated highlighting what's next...just some basic gifs like I did last time), but the way I was doing it the image files being layered were too big and it would take forever and when I tried one it crashed anyway. So kinda a waste I guess. Also tried with making some more videos for the projector. Anyway, the time I spent on all that (even if low effort)...well, you'll see why it's funny. But in the early evening I went up to the print shop for a rehearsal for the pre-show collaboration thing. I just grabbed a few of my more peripheral things from the live score the night before. Turns out though that that building is one of the ones that makes my Monorocket case shut down. So I used it some here and there but it shut down a lot so it didn't get used a whole lot like I was planning. Otherwise I had the Minibrute and the "drum synth" made from my other modular case. After a little run-through of the process where we do a round-robin as kind of "conductors" (pointing to different people who to play with), I went back home to pick up Mary Beth and come back. The show was fun. Ipek Eginli came into town a day early to it and she started off playing with us but then left the stage area pretty soon into it, found out later she'd had a migraine. I mentioned the round-robin thing but it almost immediately devolved into no one knowing who the "conductor" was (conducting and telling someone else to play with you vs conducting and passing it along to the next person to conduct was kind of confusing to distinguish...and then, the thread just got kind of lost anyway and people just dropped in and out when it felt right after a while). I should add that Schaeffer of Drop Ceiling organized this so it was like another Drop Ceiling big band collaboration. Anyway, it was pretty fun. I got a couple Liarsserum cds from Justin while there (he'd just put them out): Audience to the Void and Emma Lee's Most Delectable Pudding.
Okay so I got some sleep and almost kind of caught up but I had such a deficit that I was still a little out of it on Saturday for the festival. Yay. So Crosstown was also having this fucking Crafts and Drafts festival so the whole thing was crowded as fuck during the day (it went until 5 and the festival started in the 3-hour). Anyway, I got there to load in and start setting up, like around 11-something or noon or whatever. One funny thing, Lichi one of the volunteers (recognized him from the symphony, he plays cello with them sometimes) was filling the cooler with ice and I came into the green room and saw him walking from far away with this tiny little ice bucket that sprinkled a little ice into the cooler. So I suggested we get closer to the ice machine. Then he goes to the break room ice machine that's smaller than the industrial one on the other side. And it's pretty slow at getting ice too. He was saying he enjoyed the walk or whatever. But we moved the cooler to the big ice machine and filled it up fast and normal. This description did not sound funny, but it was a little amusing in person. Anyway, getting ready for the festival and blah blah. I was a little annoyed at Fino's because I'd set up some sandwich trays to pick up for backstage and I thought I could get a volunteer to come pick them up but they wouldn't let me pay on the phone (oh, that's another thing I did on Friday). Oh yeah, and also they were kind of weird on the phone. I placed the order and the guy said the manager would call me back. I wait the rest of the day and never hear back so I called again and they were just like, yeah we've got your order. But I didn't tell them WHICH sandwiches I wanted (maybe there's a default, but still, wasn't even asked) and what time I'd pick them up. Also I'd wanted to pay in advance in case I needed someone to pick them up for me and they said they had some issue with their system or something and couldn't. So I had to leave in the afternoon in the midst of Crosstown being crowded. I had meant to get drinks ahead of time but didn't get around to it so I thought I'd make a quick run to do that while picking up the Fino's. But then it took me fifteen minutes just to get out of the parking garage. I was able to ask Jacques and he was able to pick up and bring the drinks. Then of course getting back into the garage was a pain too. It didn't take quite as long, but I still was stuck waiting in a line for a time. Sound checks happened from noon til probably close to when the festival started. They seemed to go off alright that day. Liarsserum started things off and his set was really good (they were all good so I guess I'll refrain from just saying it every single time...it's implied!). Next up it was neon glittery. Then Art Edmaiston with Logan Hanna, some nice spacey jazz! Then it was Noir Walls. He took a while to set up. Actually he arrived pretty close to when he went on (and he'd originally said he was going to get there super early to set up) and I had texted him to make sure he was still coming, but then immediately went backstage and he'd just arrived with his cart. He was a trooper though and made finishing his setup part of the beginning of his set with a drum machine pulse going. Okay...now I have something to do and need to drop off and finish later!
Okay so I got some sleep and almost kind of caught up but I had such a deficit that I was still a little out of it on Saturday for the festival. Yay. So Crosstown was also having this fucking Crafts and Drafts festival so the whole thing was crowded as fuck during the day (it went until 5 and the festival started in the 3-hour). Anyway, I got there to load in and start setting up, like around 11-something or noon or whatever. One funny thing, Lichi one of the volunteers (recognized him from the symphony, he plays cello with them sometimes) was filling the cooler with ice and I came into the green room and saw him walking from far away with this tiny little ice bucket that sprinkled a little ice into the cooler. So I suggested we get closer to the ice machine. Then he goes to the break room ice machine that's smaller than the industrial one on the other side. And it's pretty slow at getting ice too. He was saying he enjoyed the walk or whatever. But we moved the cooler to the big ice machine and filled it up fast and normal. This description did not sound funny, but it was a little amusing in person. Anyway, getting ready for the festival and blah blah. I was a little annoyed at Fino's because I'd set up some sandwich trays to pick up for backstage and I thought I could get a volunteer to come pick them up but they wouldn't let me pay on the phone (oh, that's another thing I did on Friday). Oh yeah, and also they were kind of weird on the phone. I placed the order and the guy said the manager would call me back. I wait the rest of the day and never hear back so I called again and they were just like, yeah we've got your order. But I didn't tell them WHICH sandwiches I wanted (maybe there's a default, but still, wasn't even asked) and what time I'd pick them up. Also I'd wanted to pay in advance in case I needed someone to pick them up for me and they said they had some issue with their system or something and couldn't. So I had to leave in the afternoon in the midst of Crosstown being crowded. I had meant to get drinks ahead of time but didn't get around to it so I thought I'd make a quick run to do that while picking up the Fino's. But then it took me fifteen minutes just to get out of the parking garage. I was able to ask Jacques and he was able to pick up and bring the drinks. Then of course getting back into the garage was a pain too. It didn't take quite as long, but I still was stuck waiting in a line for a time. Sound checks happened from noon til probably close to when the festival started. They seemed to go off alright that day. Liarsserum started things off and his set was really good (they were all good so I guess I'll refrain from just saying it every single time...it's implied!). Next up it was neon glittery. Then Art Edmaiston with Logan Hanna, some nice spacey jazz! Then it was Noir Walls. He took a while to set up. Actually he arrived pretty close to when he went on (and he'd originally said he was going to get there super early to set up) and I had texted him to make sure he was still coming, but then immediately went backstage and he'd just arrived with his cart. He was a trooper though and made finishing his setup part of the beginning of his set with a drum machine pulse going. Okay...now I have something to do and need to drop off and finish later!
