A Husker Saturday

We were in Lincoln all day Saturday for Husker madness. We started at the volleyball game in the afternoon and finished the night off with the football team's first Big 10 win!

The view from my seat inside the Coliseum. The Coliseum opened in 1926 and was the arena for the basketball team until 1976 when the Devaney Center opened. It is know the exclusive home of the NU Volleyball team. The volleyball team holds the NCAA record for consecutive sellouts at the Coliseum. In 2014 they will be moving to a newly renovated Devaney center.

It's like playing Where's Waldo, now find Steven!

My attire for the football game.

The rain kept the balloons lingering over the stadium. It was a magical night. Well the T-Magic started in the 3rd quarter.

Harvest

It's harvest time in my parent's backyard. Their house sits in front of 37 acres of farmland. This year they planted corn. Here's a few pictures from my favorite time of year.

Race for the Cure

On Saturday my friends and I ventured down to the Qwest Center (well now it's the Century Link) to join 20,000 others and run the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. 

It was an inspiring event and the number of breast cancer survivors generated a lot of hope.

Here's a blurry picture of us after we finished the 5K.

more facts for you

Some additional answers brought to you by our dance captain, Jason Ostrowski.


LOAD-IN
-80 local stage hands
-16 hours

LOAD-OUT
-80 local stage hands
-8 hours

PROPS
-5,000 props in the show
-8 loaves of French Bread and one Angel Food Cake each week

WARDROBE
-Over 5,000 costume pieces (some from past Les Mis shows)
-57 brown shawls each unique and subtly different
-Over 30 quick changes in the first 15 minutes of show

ELECTRICS
-Over 400 lighting cues in show
-350 lights (100 conventional, 250 movers)
-10 foggers that produce 4 different kinds of smoke
-1600 amps of power to run the lighting package
-9 Computers run the lighting package
-500 pounds of C02 are used per week

SCENERY
-55,000 pounds of scenery and weight in the air
-Show travels in 9 semi trailers
-16 Automation effects in the show

SOUND
-42 wireless microphones for the cast
-60 microphones for the orchestra (wired)
-32 onstage monitors

Questions and Answers

Here's the answers to questions we get asked the most.

How many people are in the orchestra for Les Mis?
Fourteen- 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 bass trombone, 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 2 keyboards, 1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 bass, and percussion

How do you travel?
We either fly or take a bus. It all depends on how far away the next venue is.

How many people do you travel with?
There are 15 musicians (that includes the conductor), 43 cast members, and 25 crew members
We either travel together or in 2 or 3 separate groups depending on the size of the planes.

How long is the show?
The running time is 2 hours and 58 minutes

How many "songs" are in the show?
We have 32 numbers in our book. However, one number could have several songs.

Where do you stay?
We always stay at hotels. We can choose to find our own accommodations and or stay with family. If that's the case, we get a small buyout from the hotel cost.

How many cities have you and Steven played?
We are in our 16th city. 

Why do you get laid off?
There's a certain rule in the musicians' union called rule 24. The locals who have bargained for this rule must have local musicians play in those cities. That means, we are laid off. These cities include Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. There might be more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

What's been your favorite city so far?
I'd have to say Seattle. We were there at a great time of year and the weather was perfect. We were also able to get out and really explore. However, any city with family members ranks VERY high.

What's been your favorite hotel so far?
Louisville, KY
I know, random. But they had tennis courts and a nice gym. They also had a great bagel place in the lobby. The staff was very nice too!

What's been your favorite theater so far?
Columbus, OH
The pit sounded great and the place was just beautiful. 

Peabody Ducks

Legend of The Peabody Ducks

How did the tradition of the ducks in The Peabody fountain begin?

Back in 1932 Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Jack Daniel's Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.

Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Soon, five North American Mallard ducks would replace the original ducks.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991.

Here's our video from the duck walk on Wednesday morning.

Snippet of the Johnny Cash Tribute Band

everyone's favorite. . .  Ring of Fire