Elf on Tour: Detroit, MI part 1
Nov. 6th, 2024 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Sunday, I was up early to have breakfast and finish packing.
A 40-minute ride to the airport, returning the rental car, checking bags, through security. Easy.
This was a Delta flight so I was excited to pester some pilots for trading cards again!
(CLICK HERE to learn about Delta's trading card program, an ongoing employee initiative since 2003)
Lexington airport is relatively small, so I only found one pilot, but he had a card to give and it's a new one for me!
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)
I thanked him and walked back to the tour group, many of whom asked, "What's that?" so I got to show it off. Most people look at me like I'm insane, but one or two always get SUPER excited and start looking for cards themselves.
The flight was short and uneventful, and in the Detroit airport (which is much larger) I approached three pilots, one of whom didn't have any cards and two others who had giant stacks of them!
The most exciting card was this special edition square-shaped one, minted this year to commemorate the 2024 Paris Olympics and Team USA! How pretty it is!
The other two new ones were an A330 and a 757. I do have cards of these planes, but they're from an earlier year and so these are not duplicates.
I did get two duplicates which I gave to two people on tour who were excited about them :)
We got to the hotel only to find that our rooms weren't ready (it was only 1pm) so I dropped my luggage in a storage room and walked to a Whole Paycheck for groceries. I figured by 3pm our rooms would be available, and I was right. Put groceries away, unpacked, ate dinner, and just as I was finishing my next transcription project showed up in my inbox. I set up my formatting and transcribed up to the Q&A point, then made tea and chilled for the night.
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Monday, breakfast in the room since this hotel doesn't have complementary. The coffee I bought in Kentucky is very good!
Worked on transcription for the entire morning. It's an expected 1:4 ratio for actual audio vs. audio processing time. I worked from 9am-11:30am and fell just short of an hour of actual audio, so my ratio was approx 1:2.5. Considering I got up to pee and stretch and write emails during that time, that's pretty good!
For lunch I decided to get a real taste of Detroit. There was a Buddy's Pizza just a few blocks from our hotel.
The carry-out counter is pretty much the same as one you'd see anywhere, pick your slice and they warm it for you. It was $3.50.
I took it back to the hotel, popped some Lactaid, and enjoyed the cheesy goodness.
After that I took a little time to figure out my macros for coming days and chat with Jameson, then it was back to transcription until 3:30. That left me about halfway through the audio which I'm very pleased about. Went for a short walk to a local grocery just to check it out. It was like one of those tiny NYC convenience/grocery stores, tightly packed like a little maze but with everything you could imagine. You can kinda see by the ceiling lights how far the maze extends.
I got back to the hotel just in time to get a text from our MD that we have ANOTHER day off tomorrow, and did anyone want their instruments now? (per IATSE rules, we won't be allowed in the theater until the show day.) I said yes and hustled over to the stage door to get my trombone and practice mute.
Back at the hotel, got an email from the Orlando Philharmonic with an offer for a Holiday Pops gig! Obviously I can't take it and am pretty sad, but grateful to have been asked, and hopefully they'll consider me for other work after the holidays are over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday. It is so weird to have a second day in a row with no shows or rehearsals. I wondered if it's because of the election, or just coincidental?
Breakfast and straight into more transcription until noon, lunch, then brushing up on my memorized Disney music. It's been a while since I've practiced at a hotel and I felt shy about it, but used a practice mute and I would hope that between 1-2pm most people would be awake anyway...
After that finished my transcription (still need to do the edit/review), had dinner, made tea, felt depressed about the election. I kept CNBC on with the sound off so I could see the disaster unfold without having to hear the tittering.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday. Under His Eye.
Breakfast and packing some snacks before heading to the theater.
The Fox in Detroit is an exact copy of the Fox in St. Louis; even the backstage area is the same. It gave such a strange feeling of deja vu, to be in a city I've never visited before yet to feel so familiar in this space.
The lights weren't up yet.
The iconic chandelier after the lights were brought up.
Backstage, it's just like in St. Louis: The stairs and halls are covered in signatures and wall tags from artists all around the world, famous and forgotten, spanning decades.
I found two Elf tags, one from 2017 and one from 2022. Certainly we will get one, too.
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)
We did a run-through of the show that went pretty well. Tonight is opening night, and I hope the show will go smoothly and people will have a lovely time. Laughs are certainly needed today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight is our opening night party, so you'll see pics of that in the next post :)
I'm looking forward to meeting people, and I know that there are some My Fair Lady and Tootsie cast in this ensemble as well!
Thursday: Finishing and sending transcription project, groceries for the weekend, if there's time I'll sightsee before the show.
Friday: Laundry, possibly another transcription assignment, possibly lunch with a local relative whom I don't know well, a show at night.
Saturday: Three shows! Oof. I won't have time for anything but that most likely.
Sunday: Only one show. Packing, transcription, and saying goodbye to Detroit.
A 40-minute ride to the airport, returning the rental car, checking bags, through security. Easy.
This was a Delta flight so I was excited to pester some pilots for trading cards again!
(CLICK HERE to learn about Delta's trading card program, an ongoing employee initiative since 2003)
Lexington airport is relatively small, so I only found one pilot, but he had a card to give and it's a new one for me!
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)
I thanked him and walked back to the tour group, many of whom asked, "What's that?" so I got to show it off. Most people look at me like I'm insane, but one or two always get SUPER excited and start looking for cards themselves.
The flight was short and uneventful, and in the Detroit airport (which is much larger) I approached three pilots, one of whom didn't have any cards and two others who had giant stacks of them!
The most exciting card was this special edition square-shaped one, minted this year to commemorate the 2024 Paris Olympics and Team USA! How pretty it is!
The other two new ones were an A330 and a 757. I do have cards of these planes, but they're from an earlier year and so these are not duplicates.
I did get two duplicates which I gave to two people on tour who were excited about them :)
We got to the hotel only to find that our rooms weren't ready (it was only 1pm) so I dropped my luggage in a storage room and walked to a Whole Paycheck for groceries. I figured by 3pm our rooms would be available, and I was right. Put groceries away, unpacked, ate dinner, and just as I was finishing my next transcription project showed up in my inbox. I set up my formatting and transcribed up to the Q&A point, then made tea and chilled for the night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, breakfast in the room since this hotel doesn't have complementary. The coffee I bought in Kentucky is very good!
Worked on transcription for the entire morning. It's an expected 1:4 ratio for actual audio vs. audio processing time. I worked from 9am-11:30am and fell just short of an hour of actual audio, so my ratio was approx 1:2.5. Considering I got up to pee and stretch and write emails during that time, that's pretty good!
For lunch I decided to get a real taste of Detroit. There was a Buddy's Pizza just a few blocks from our hotel.
The carry-out counter is pretty much the same as one you'd see anywhere, pick your slice and they warm it for you. It was $3.50.
I took it back to the hotel, popped some Lactaid, and enjoyed the cheesy goodness.
After that I took a little time to figure out my macros for coming days and chat with Jameson, then it was back to transcription until 3:30. That left me about halfway through the audio which I'm very pleased about. Went for a short walk to a local grocery just to check it out. It was like one of those tiny NYC convenience/grocery stores, tightly packed like a little maze but with everything you could imagine. You can kinda see by the ceiling lights how far the maze extends.
I got back to the hotel just in time to get a text from our MD that we have ANOTHER day off tomorrow, and did anyone want their instruments now? (per IATSE rules, we won't be allowed in the theater until the show day.) I said yes and hustled over to the stage door to get my trombone and practice mute.
Back at the hotel, got an email from the Orlando Philharmonic with an offer for a Holiday Pops gig! Obviously I can't take it and am pretty sad, but grateful to have been asked, and hopefully they'll consider me for other work after the holidays are over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday. It is so weird to have a second day in a row with no shows or rehearsals. I wondered if it's because of the election, or just coincidental?
Breakfast and straight into more transcription until noon, lunch, then brushing up on my memorized Disney music. It's been a while since I've practiced at a hotel and I felt shy about it, but used a practice mute and I would hope that between 1-2pm most people would be awake anyway...
After that finished my transcription (still need to do the edit/review), had dinner, made tea, felt depressed about the election. I kept CNBC on with the sound off so I could see the disaster unfold without having to hear the tittering.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday. Under His Eye.
Breakfast and packing some snacks before heading to the theater.
The Fox in Detroit is an exact copy of the Fox in St. Louis; even the backstage area is the same. It gave such a strange feeling of deja vu, to be in a city I've never visited before yet to feel so familiar in this space.
The lights weren't up yet.
The iconic chandelier after the lights were brought up.
Backstage, it's just like in St. Louis: The stairs and halls are covered in signatures and wall tags from artists all around the world, famous and forgotten, spanning decades.
I found two Elf tags, one from 2017 and one from 2022. Certainly we will get one, too.
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)
We did a run-through of the show that went pretty well. Tonight is opening night, and I hope the show will go smoothly and people will have a lovely time. Laughs are certainly needed today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight is our opening night party, so you'll see pics of that in the next post :)
I'm looking forward to meeting people, and I know that there are some My Fair Lady and Tootsie cast in this ensemble as well!
Thursday: Finishing and sending transcription project, groceries for the weekend, if there's time I'll sightsee before the show.
Friday: Laundry, possibly another transcription assignment, possibly lunch with a local relative whom I don't know well, a show at night.
Saturday: Three shows! Oof. I won't have time for anything but that most likely.
Sunday: Only one show. Packing, transcription, and saying goodbye to Detroit.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-06 10:57 pm (UTC)Hope the tour goes well!
no subject
Date: 2024-11-07 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-07 08:10 pm (UTC)Saw your vacation recap and gonna read it later today!