philosophy

As a designer who also dabbles in “prep”, or “The Fine Art of Putting Things Together To Make A Lighting Rig”, I often spend a great deal of time in warehouses of various repute. For those playing the home game, this is the big physical space where all a company’s equipment is stored, pending rental or sale, and many also have spaces for various maintenance tasks, such as fixture repair or tour prep. And as an independent contractor, I’m never working directly for the companies whose warehouses I use. And much like another space we as people in this industry spend our time in – the tour bus – there is a set of common rules and courtesies that act… Read More »Shop Etiquette

Taking a break today to talk about some tour theory, if you will. This will be one of those posts that isn’t really gear or project-related. What I want to instead focus on today is leadership styles on touring. If one takes away nothing else further from this screed, take ye this, because its the core of my philosophy on tour: people, in general, hate being given direct orders. What I mean by a direct order is any imperative that comes in the form “X, go do Y.” Language needs to do two things: it needs to convey some sort of content, such as an imperative. “Stagehand, run this cable.” But further, it has to negotiate a relationship type. It… Read More »Tour Theory: hierarchical relationships