Ironically, moving into the Ice Dome made things tougher. We'd got into a rhythm on the road, and some of the obstacles we faced made us able to cope with what was thrown at us with a half-finished Ice Dome.
I think part of the frustration was that we had waited so patiently for our own home, looking forward to being able to settle in and instead of being able to relax and enjoy it, we were continually faced with lots of problems. None of which were anyones fault, but it meant we found we were just constantly battling little, niggly problems night in, night out. With no time to rest and fix them in between games, it drove us all quietly mental. Little breakdowns in communication and misconceptions strained things quite badly between everybody.
Bridges are being repaired, our natural optimism conquers all. The weirdest season possible is in the history books - time to move onward and upward.
The Phoenix is a 12 month operation - the on-ice staff are recruiting, the off-ice staff prepping for the new season, whether it is merch or for us, game night. Finally we get our reward for hanging in there, which is a chance to really show what we can do, to play with the big toys like a screen and video. Richard is prepping bits and pieces, figuring out how the Match Night should run. To give you an idea of the complexity, so far his draft plan of how a night should run consists of 10 A4 pages. And that is before some of the other ideas get bandied about, or we actually get down to the nitty gritty of scripts, playlists, videos, so on and so forth.
We're approaching it a bit differently this year. Last year was a ride, a journey in to the unknown. It was probably a good thing that we were so naive about it, because we would accept things that this time around we won't. This coming season will be more professional, more planned. Much less seat of the pants, fewer workarounds and cobbled together fixes. I hope it will show. I lie, I know it will show.
For a start we'll have a production area to call home, the deck of the Serenity as Richard has allowed me to christen it. At the very least, this should allow us to sort of "plug in and go", without worrying about setups and all that jazz. Theoretically, we should be able to turn up, switch on and do the show - if that blessed day ever arrives, we'll simply moan that its all too easy these days, and long for a dodgy cable to deal with or something.
Unfortunately the Three Musketeers will become two for 2007/08. Fishcake won't be our button monkey for the season, as for entirely understandable reasons he's taking steps away from the laptop and mouse. Since stepping into the audio role a few games in, he's been the perfect foil for Richards stresses and my ineptitude. The Boy Fish has had a lot of input into the playlist, with success - and he managed to drop "Boom! Shake the Room!" from the playlist without Richard noticing, so full marks there. Its been a lot of fun working with him, and he leaves big stinky shoes to fill. I look forward to us fluffing a cue next season, and him leaning over and saying "Get a grip you bunch of cocking amateurs!" and quite rightly so.
We saw him off in the only way we know how:
(Viking funeral. Any excuse to burn something.)
So long, and thanks for all, Fish.
1 comment:
Sorry guys, I've only just seen this :)
It's been fun and it was a really really hard decision, but with too much on my plate, I wouldn't have been able to commit 100% to the team. I'll still be at the games though.
Post a Comment