Monday, September 25, 2006

Spring has sprung in fall?

I have been bogged down with work on both ends, so I hardly have any time to post, until now. Work has been better--they finally are getting some changes that needed to be implemented. Doesn't mean that I am content with the peeps above me.

But the one perk I like is that I get to shoot celebrity interviews. And I got to do that last weekend.

One of our anchors is a big Rick Springfield fan and arranged a few superfans to tag along to meet him at a concert in Ft. Lauderdale. My chief photographer wasn't able to do it, so I immediately volunteered to do it.

We left in the morning for the Hard Rock Seminole Casino. I was in the car with three of the five women on the trip. One was the anchor, one was one of our producers, and the other used to work at the station. Right before we hit the highway, we got into the confusion of some people between Springsteen and Springfield. The only similarities is they are both working class singers, they both have a song called "Human Touch" and they both have "Spring" in their names. But there were at least five or six references to "The Boss" all day.

We get to the Hard Rock and did some pre-interviews with the superfans. The management at the casino and Rick's management both were very accommodating. We were going to interview Rick at sound check, but Rick was a little sick and needed some rest. Management promised he would be available before his set.

That gave us time to eat lunch at this place called "The Cheesecake Factory". It was a very nice restaurant with huge portions of food. I had the opportunity to try kobe beef for the first time (see here for definition.) This was American kobe. It was pretty good. A friend of a friend of the anchor's picked up the tab, which was cool.

We hit the casino for a bit, which they only have slots and poker (if I had the time I would have played for a few hours) but basically we look around the shopping plaza. I got a massage from one of the chairs at Brookstone's, which was great after walking around with a heavy camera and tri-pod all day.

We get to the venue and have to wait until an hour before Rick's set, so we enjoyed the show. Scandal was great. Patti Smyth still has it at 49. She did "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" from her solo album, which was awesome. Loverboy was good, although I didn't really get into it until the last two song, which were their biggest hits. ("Turn me Loose" and "Workin for the Weekend".) We left during Eddie Money's set, but we heard it wasn't good at all. Two hits then a lot of his new material.

We got to the green room, and waited for a while. The girls, I mean women, were excited. We finally got the go ahead to come up and I start to roll. The closer we got to his door, the more giddy and nervous they got. We finally get to the door, out anchor knocks, and we come in.

"Hello ladies"

The girls start to giggle a bit, and ask how he was.

"I'm okay, want some coffee?"

Our anchor says, "No, but can we get some hugs?"

The girls get hugs from Rick and we sit down with the interview. He was a great guy--great interview. He spoke well, with a little Aussie accent in his voice. He talked about how "Jessie's Girl" and that it was like having a child--you could never stop loving her. Our anchor wanted to come on stage for a song, but Rick jokingly said "Maybe I'll come to you."

After the interview, they took pictures with him (I didn't get one, which the anchor apologized to me about) and we said our goodbyes. I recorded the whole time we were in the room, and it was a great experience.

We back out to the concert, and I was allowed to record 90 seconds of the first song Rick performed. I got some good stuff and returned to my seat to enjoy the rest of the concert. He had a smattering of new and old material, and after five or six of his songs, he went into the crowd and had people sing the chorus to "Don't Talk to Strangers". Then his next song, we started to walk through the crowd, up to the second teer, and then headed right towards us. He did as he promised--he came right by us.

He came out for an encore, and did a song, and then did something I think 99% of the crowd didn't get. He ended with the "Bulls on parade" riff from Rage Against the Machine. I yelled "Bulls on Parade" and one of the superfans started laugh. Yes, she was one of the only ones to get the joke.

It was a long day and I didn't get home until 3:00 in the morning. I was tired, but I did see a little of what I shot, and it will turn out great when we run the story.

The hip hop magazine I was in is out on newsstand now, and it looks sweet. I am currently get a few copies for friends and family.

Laters.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Blame it on the rain

To the say least, I am not happy anymore about working here.

Not to say that the people I work with aren't great, or that I like doing my job, but it's the management I am having trouble with. I made a few mistakes last week, which I considered only minor parts or a bigger problem, but when I admitted it, a lot of the blame was handed down to myself and a reporter, when there are others that got no blame at all. Some people not involved got blamed as well, which was wring as well. Plus the technical problems we have had with everything here at the station and I am getting some blame for that, which I don't deserve either. But after all I have been through these past few months and knowing I'm not getting the raise I want, it has come to the point I am not happy here.

A friend of mine got me a little paranoid that my boss actually reads my blog, and he also goes to see employee's myspace pages. He is internet savvy to say the least, but if he has time to look at people's myspace pages and my little blog, then he has way too much time on his hands. And I don't like being looked over my shoulder. Even though this is online for the whole world to see, the thought that my boss is taking the time to read my stuff without letting me know is wrong. But at least he maybe getting insight into how I feel how things are operating.

Let's just hope I survive for the time being.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Capt. Time crunch

It's nice to know even with a full photog staff, that you are still reminded that we still have half the staff we should for this market.

Monday was a total disaster. Due to a certain Florida gubinatorial candidate being two and a half hour late and by-passing the media, I wound up missing slot for only the second time in my career. We are in the midst of flooding stories down here, which means flooded roads, which means more time getting to people. Right now, though, we are getting a little tired of saying the same thing over and over again. But that's what the station wants to air.

So it took me a while to get around and get to a live location. Which wasn't much time at all. Not time enough to edit and set up a live. Plus how complicated the staff back at the station is to take feeds and let us know what's up. Organization is something they never have nearing showtime.

In other words, everything was against me that night, and there was no way my story was going to make air on time. It happens--which the chief doesn't seem to understand well. I did get some blame for it, which one thing was my fault (I had to retrieve a tri-pod from a previous location) but still, I get basically chewed out for my time management. The last few days it wasn't an issue. Just some technical issues that have always been a problem. But we won't dive into that.

The bar is still short dj's, and with me not leaving station as late as midnight sometimes, they have been having to improvise. I am trying to recruit peeps to cover Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but nine-to-fivers don't like to do those shifts. Hopefully we can get some college students who's schedules are more open. For right now, they'll just have to make due when I can't get there on time.

That's it for now.