|
|
Slim Price Inner circle 1935 - 2006 1326 Posts |
sanscan@tds.net
"I will never bitter be, as long as I can laugh at me!" "The people who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music" |
gsidhe Inner circle Michigan 1725 Posts |
I hate that this ever happened. It did damage to so many lives all because someone thought it would be cool to have pyro in a place that obviously couldn't handle it.
ALWAYS have any show with more fire than a match checked by a fire marshall, then LISTEN TO WHAT HE TELLS YOU! ALWAYS make sure that the Venue you are performing in has permits to do fire and has been checked out by the fire marshall. NEVER do a show that involves fire by yourself. Have at least one other person there to help if you get in trouble. Have a fire extinguisher within easy reach. My watcher has it in their hand. Also wet COTTON rags or fire blankets are a bonus (In fact, in most of the places I perform, the marshall REQUIRES that I have two or three handy (But we do a lot of contact fire, so that might just be us) Store your flammables safely- Metal Fire and Pyro boxes are a must, clearly labeled as flammable, and what sort of flammable item they contain. USE YOUR COMMON SENSE. I went to see a fire show a few weeks back by a nearby group. I had heard great things about them, their skill, their look, was excited to see it. I got there, and it was in a basement club. 2 visible exits, no windows. Look at the "stage". Untreated Polyester Curtains. Celing height- 10 feet, drop panel, but only 8 feet above the stage. No fire extinguishers in sight. I sit to watch the show, figure they'll do a little painting, a little eating... Nope. They pull out two Human Volcanos (Breathers), and they start to do their show, bottles of citronella lamp oil in hand. Not safety bottles of an APPROPRIATE fuel, but screw top bottles of CITRONELLA! But these guys were good. One leaned back and blew a 9 foot long fireball. Did I mention that on the stage the celing height was 8 feet? His fire not only touched the celing, but rolled along the drop panels for another 6 feet. This was not a safe show. Common sense. Use it. Gwyd |
Trinket New user Baltimore, MD 40 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-05-11 09:19, gsidhe wrote: I have been there. (This will probably be long winded) A couple of months ago my boyfriend's band, Telesma, was going to perform at this fashion show event. Not only was there going to be music and fashion but also body painting, dance and fire performances. A very ambitious undertaking... The venue was fire friendly. The woman running it was a micro manager but never followed through. It was her way or the highway and for some reason nothing got properly thought out or done. Because I was going to be there to support my boyfriend, a couple of weeks before she called and begged me to be in the fashion show and do my contact juggling as I walked down the stage... "um... but I'm 5'1...ok... sure" she also wanted me to spin fire with her and two other people, I do staff everyone else would be doing poi. I told her that I would do it on three conditions, 1. she have a safety for each of us and 2. that we were a safe distance from the crowd and 3. all guidelines of the fire marshal were followed. She said that was no problem. I thought they were very reasonable and legal demands. The night came. The stage that I had been promised was nowhere to be seen. We were to perform on the catwalk, our flames would be maybe 2 feet from the ceiling. The people would be standing around the catwalk with no barrier to keep them a reasonable distance back. Basically their faces would be staff and poi level. Also she had beautifully decorated the stage leading to the catwalk with a gauzy, etherial, poly mesh... I started to sweat... The lineup had me walking the cat walk and then immediately spinning fire.... the dress was flimsy polyester... I told her I couldn't spin in the dress, and she just looked at me confused. I told I wear leather and cotton when I work with fire. I also asked who was going to be safety? She looked as if I spoken in Swedish. I said, "I'm sorry I wont spin fire for this" A nasty battle of hard stare's followed and she walked away. The fire event started with someone standing on the stage, inches away from the beautiful curtains freshly hung and only 3 feet from the ceiling blowing several fire balls. He slurped out of a lamp oil bottle, and blew the spray upward. They hit the ceiling and lazily rolled out in a fascinating liquid effect. I started looking for my boyfriend and a safe exit and slipped backstage where the stampeed would hopefully be less. I saw one of the poi dancers take a large swig from a red cup and stumble past me reaking of alcohol before he went on stage, I grabbed my towl that I had wet earlier and ran up on stage, trying to be as close to the cat walk without being noticed and felt ill as the first two spinners swung flames inches away from the drunk crowd. I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the organizer who started yelling at me accusing me of hiding her poi. I asked her who was in charge of them before and she pointed at the drunk poi spinner now attempting to remove more than just the audiences eyebrows. I yelled back, "HE'S DRUNK, he probably misplaced them"...she stormed off. Just then the music was ending and the poi folk were walking back up the catwalk to the stage... not seeing how high her poi were spinning and how low the curtain was, the young (sober) woman caught her poi in a swag. It immediately melted and fused to the poi, detatched, and became a flag extention to the flames... Fortunately not only did the upper swag not catch but she managed to realize what was happening and spin it out, as I stood by with the wet towl. Never Again.... |
gsidhe Inner circle Michigan 1725 Posts |
Ugh...
Another pet peeve...Fire performers who drink before a show... My group, you have even ONE drink before a show, and you are out for the next two. It's just two *** dangerous to do anything but. Kudos to you to act as a spotter for those who don't have the sense. I started in the fire biz as a spotter and I can't even begin to tell you how many times I had to tackle a drunk as he stumbled up onto the stage, grabbed a dropped tool as it fell off of the stage or even the one time I had to go smack my fire breather on the bum because she lit the hem of her skirt on fire. She's good, she's safe, but accidents do still happen. Spotters are a MUST! Someone who is not doing anything else but watching. And always stick to your guns when it comes to safety (Bravo Trinket!) I know...The show must go on, but not like that. Gwyd |
Trinket New user Baltimore, MD 40 Posts |
The funny thing is, the organizer still doesn't seem to understand why I am cold with her. I tend to have issues with someone who is making their best effort to kill a ton of people in one firery swoop. I also didn't appreciate being yelled at for other people's stupidity. How rude can you get. We live and learn. It drives me crazy when I see irresponsible behavior with people who claim to be pro's. GRRR. Well I got a nice picture of me contact juggling on the catwalk... so I got a great piece of promotional material. Nobody was really paid for this event (another pet peeve) so I was pleased with the picture and that nobody was hurt.
|
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Up in smoke! » » R.I Fire (0 Likes) |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.03 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |