Have you met a Rock Star?

I have worked with a lot of bands, entertainers, lawyers, doctors, you name it. People find out that I work in stage lighting as a profession and they generally have two questions.
1. Do you get to see a lot of shows for free?
2. Have you met a Rock Star?

The answer to #1 is yes, I see a lot of "shows" for free. Shows about economic reforms in Washington, Plastic Surgery, stock valuations, and lots of music that I end up not liking. The unfavorable outweighs the favorable most times, but that is why it's a job and not a vacation.

The answer to #2 is yes, I've met Vanilla Ice. I've worked with many many bands over the years, some professional, some more challenging to get on with. One of the most professional bands I've had the pleasure of working with is Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and they put on a very impressive set as well.

My Vanilla Story

This was many years ago, probably around 2002. I was subcontracted by the staging company to provide the lighting package for the Vanilla Ice club show. The venue was Arundel Mills mall at Jillians in a back club room. Jillians went belly up a few years back and is not Dave & Busters for those of you familiar with Arundel Mills Mall.

We get there early to set up some moving lights, some conventional lights and a strobe. Pretty easy load in. Lunch is at the venue which is always nice, so off to lunch we go. In the middle of lunch Mike Scarfe of MHA Audio comes out to us and says "you guys better get in here, they are taking apart the drum riser right now". While we were at lunch the band arrived and got right into it. I get on stage and saw that someone was under the drum riser trying to take it apart with only his legs sticking out. We say that we can handle whatever is needed and Vanilla Ice slides out from the drum riser. I guess he's a take charge kind of guy.

He explains that the drum riser is too big and needs to be moved to the other side of the stage, okay, no problem, we'll take care of it. After the riser is moved Vanilla comes up to me to ask about the control of the strobe light. I explain that I will control it from my console out in the house. He says that his DJ needs to have control of the strobe. I have a small remote for the strobe but the cable is very short. He says we should hook it up with the remote set to full and his DJ will simply use a power strip to turn the strobe on and off with electric. This blew me away because I've never had a musician trouble shot a problem, and his idea was pretty good. Okay, I'm impressed at this point. A musician with a clue about lighting.

Everyone has seen Vanilla Ice on MTV interviews and media and probably thinks he a real ass. NOT the case what so ever. He was great to work with and a good communicator and problem solver, definitely not typical. I went into this job expecting the MTV persona and found out that he's really great to work with.

Now it's time for sound check. WTF - Vanilla Ice is now a hardcore act? Weird, but okay. VI is checking vocals. Then he's on the drum kit, AND he's rocking out. Next over to the bass. WHAT - he knows how to play multiple instruments? At this point I'm really shocked because my expectations from what the media showed me are totally reversed. In summary Vanilla Ice is a pretty cool dude. And that was the time I met Vanilla Ice.