Setting the Stage

My younger son, Alex attends classes at Metalworks Institute where he's studying Show Production and Event Management. Metalworks is an education facility, production group and Canada's leading recording studio which was established in 1978 for the Canadian group Triumph, and is still owned and operated by their drummer and vocalist Gil Moore.

Alex fell in love with the music scene since the day he first picked up a guitar in his early teens. His passion lies with playing metal but through the years, his repertoire has expanded and really, he can manage to go with just about any musical flow.

A natural aside to playing with a band, is setting up equipment and making sure that everything functions well. Alex seemed to be particularly suited to this, and enjoyed that aspect every bit as much as performing. He knew that he needed to follow a career path which would allow him the opportunity to find work in the industry, so when he heard about Metalworks, we all knew that it was right up his alley.

One of the requirements for his class was to organize every aspect of a live show - securing a venue, finding the entertainment, advertising, acquiring items for raffle, providing security, setting up equipment, lighting, monitoring sound and disassembling everything. This event occurred this past Sunday evening at a local bar called Crocodile Rock. I was only able to stay for about half of the show, missing out on three rock bands and a raffle draw or two, but when Alex came home later that night, he said that the evening was deemed a success. Below are a few photos from the earlier part of the event.

Here's Alex up on stage, making sure that the microphones are set up properly.

Checking out the audio equipment just before show time.

Once everything was set up, Alex's job for the event was as monitor engineer. I turned to Wikipedia for their definition of the role. "Each performer on stage has their own individual mix that is custom tailored by the monitor engineer to suit their audio needs. The monitor engineer is then faced with the challenge of pleasing anywhere from four to ten or more musicians with a good mix. At shows with a separate monitor mix position, that mixer is typically located just off-stage, to provide easier communication between the performers and the monitor engineer."

Alex takes his place just off-stage and the show begins.

The Ruben Diaz Flamenco Band was up first and they sounded amazing.

I wonder if they thought it strange of me to be photographing the monitor engineer much more than the artists.

Next up (and the last performance for me) was a young comedian. He was a friend of one of the students and I found him to be less than impressive. Once his routine was done, he was asked to announce a round of raffle wins. The first item was Triumph's Greatest Hits Remixed CD. The kid went on at length about how he'd never heard of Triumph and how they must be some unknown band. This was an unfortunate time and place for such antics because as I said early on, Gil Moore of Triumph operates Metalworks which was facilitating this kid's performance and free exposure. He was also present at the venue.

So up on stage he went to have a friendly chat to educate this kid, bolstered by the Metalworks gang's supportive shouts of "Lay it on the Line." It was really all good-natured ribbing, delivered with only a touch of tension and everything was fine in the end. I still don't think the kid had a clue though - neither about Triumph nor about what makes for good comedy.

I'm thrilled that Alex has found his niche and I'm incredibly pleased with how comfortably he fits into this world. He sure seems to be a natural. I'm extremely proud of you, son!

At some point, I'll take you on a tour of the Metalworks studio. We were able to accompany Alex there one evening when he helped a friend out with his class project. But that's for another time.

Wishing those who celebrate a very Chappy Chanukkah and Many Menorah!