Console Cocktails

Normally, when you’ve decided that you want to learn a new console, you might take a leisurely path to becoming comfortable. In other words, it’s pretty typical to start by researching what the console does, how it does it, and how your friends like it. After that, you’d probably start playing with the offline editor (which should be free) and hopefully take a training class. Remember, I didn’t say you HAD to read the manual. I have a love/hate relationship with manuals. I love using the index to find what I need to know quickly. I don’t read the manual cover-to-cover because, no big surprise here, they’re boring. Regardless, you normally find your own path to becoming comfortable with a new desk in a somewhat controlled environment before launching it on to something large scale.

That’s not always the case, though. This year, Allison Brummer decided that she wanted to upgrade from the console she had been using on the Regina Spektor “Far” tour to a grandMA Full Size. This meant re-programming basically from scratch. Allison took the grandMA class from Joe at ACT Lighting, and then worked with a programmer in NY to put her show together on the MA. After using it on a few shows, she wanted to come back and get a little more in-depth with the console and really set it to fit her style. That’s when I got to come on board.

I had the pleasure of working with Allison for two programming sessions and then for a performance at the Greek Theatre. We updated some of the existing programming (which was already very clean and well organized) and tweaked some existing timing and effects before we wrote any new programming. As a designer, Allison looks at the show very theatrically and it’s fun to see a designer be able to mix the two genres. Anyone who’s worked in theatre and concerts will tell you that the two styles very rarely meet.

Having only used the console on the last few tour dates, she already looks like a pro – even busking some new looks at the end of the set. The tour still has quite a few North American dates left, followed by a European leg at the end of November. It’s a beautiful show if you get a chance to see it. I wasn’t very familiar with the music beforehand, but I’m thinking I need to hit up iTunes now because I really enjoyed it.

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This was a really simple recipe that Joe covered in our announcement video. We’re drinking these again in the first episode (“Busk, Busk, Baby”). I’m not even sure this constitutes a “cocktail” since there’s really only one ingredient and one garnish!
The details:

Ingredients:

1 part Black Vodka

1 orange peel, cut in a circular shape

The vodka we used was Blavod.  For some reason, when you buy it: it comes in a wetsuit. I’m serious. It’s cute, though. Not my favorite vodka, but certainly good enough to drink on it’s own without any sort of mixer. Plus, it looks cool, and that’s important.

To get the perfectly circular “trackball” orange garnishes, we used the lid from the vodka like a cookie-cutter. Blavod has a tin (or aluminum, I don’t know)  lid, and it worked perfectly. Then, just pop out the orange pieces and pull off any extra orange guts that may still be clinging on.

It’s a little sweet, but it sure does look like the trackball corner of the grandMA 2′s front panel. In fact, the more you drink from it, it almost starts to resemble the console PERFECTLY. At least, that’s what I thought.

-Cat

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Here’s the video to give you the details on how and why this series got started.  More importantly, you’ll also learn how to make a grandMAr2ni.

 Console Cocktails: An introduction: Download (628)

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