Job Type: One-off special.

Venue: The State Room, which is very arguably THE premiere Salt Lake City venue for “human scale” shows.

Load-in: Parked on the wrong side of the building, but I discovered the fact after I paid. Whoops! Not too much gear, though, so carrying it in through a fire door wasn’t a big deal.

Load-out: Moved the vehicle to the dock, and everything was so much easier!

What Went Well

• Eating at the cool-kids’ table, metaphorically: A lot of people who would appear in a “Who’s Who Of Salt Lake City Live Music” were either playing the show or working the show. Most of them I had met, and it was excellent to be introduced to those I hadn’t. I may also have gotten on the State Room’s call list for crew. (Maybe.)
• Eating at the cool-kids’ table, literally: Talia invited me to partake of the goodies in the green room, which is a very generous and classy thing for an artist to offer (especially when you’re ancillary crew and not a “must have this person for the show to happen”). I was overjoyed to discover an abundance of raspberries and blackberries, two of my favorite things in the world.
• Collaborative environments: As I just said, I was an ancillary. I was there to multitrack the show for the sake of posterity and video, but if I hadn’t been there the actual gig would have gone on just fine. With that in mind, the courtesy and help I received from both the cast and crew (especially Adam, the A1) was stellar.
• Well equipped venues are the best: I didn’t have to bring a split, because The State Room’s main stage box already has one. No muss, no fuss, no “figuring it out,” just plug, play, and go.
• Hooray for digital: The aforementioned split went to my digital stagebox, which then had an AES50 line attached and run to the backstage area. This got me out of the way of everybody else – mostly, with one connection and one easily run cable.
• This is a low pressure center: Not being directly part of the “live loop” meant that it was a very “chillaxed” evening for me. I got to just sit back, hit record, and dial up a quick mix for myself to enjoy the show. It was about as close as you can possibly get to being paid just for showing up.

What Could Have Been Better

• I just remembered: We got part of the way through setting me in the upstage right corner before I remembered that I had brought my stagebox for the purpose of staying out of the way. Duh! Luckily we only lost a few minutes to that brain cramp.
• Accidental displacement: I ended up in a back room that was supposed to have been the dressing room for the aerialist. She ended up having to share with some other folks, which wasn’t horrible but also not what was expected. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that…

Conclusion

It was my very first time at The State Room, and I got to experience it in grand style at a killer show. I don’t think you can top that.