Wed 29th – It’s Like Pointing Paper At A Helicopter!

(Simone & Kev The Artsist & 'City Of The Future'.)

Another fairly peaceful day around the Compound. Not a lot happening. Rehearsals brought around our second time with an audience – this time there was probably double the numbers of the one previous. There was a bit of rain but nothing that I hadn’t already sat through! As they were also doing some of the preshow stuff, myself & Kev bartered the fact that we should be allowed to stay down an extra hour! Myself & Kev have a laugh everyday re. the wicket we’re on. We’re either making up for the all the dodgy gigs and stuff in the past or, we’re going to have a bitch of a time upon our return! We’ve got our money on the year that it’s been – him vs Disney & Workcover, me with all the Arts Centre stuff – standard really. We’re both having a ball and are loving it with not a care in the world.

Anyway, because we were allowed to have another cuppa whilst everyone reported for duty, we were asked if we’d be able to assist in the White Balance for the cameras as it was also a final chance for them to get their shots etc. We happily obliged and turned up to the Eastern Stage with paper taped to our fronts & backs and with a large sheet of white paper. Who ever thought that letting myself and Kev, with an audience, go onto a stage was a good idea – especially with time to prep – is a fool! I have no idea if anyone else was entertained but the spot ops were as all 14 others had their beams angled at us!

At one point they asked us to turn, and as rehearsed, myself and Kev turned different ways and ‘accidentally’ ripped the large sheet of cardboard in half – we didn’t really, it was about 12 pieces of A4 paper stuck together and we’d been holding it against the cardboard! I was then asked one of the weirdest things I’ve ever been asked, “Can you please point the cardboard at the helicopter?” Sounds easy you say…? Well, until you’ve been asked the question, you have no idea how to do it! If they’d asked us to hold it up to the helicopter, it may have computed easier but to point paper…? We did a little dance and then started to sing ‘Glory Days’ and were shooed off stage by the over zealous MC’s – I don’t think they appreciated us at all! Myself and Kev left, after a bow of course and then proceeded to suit up and climb the Arch.

Rehearsals went pretty well. This time there were extra bits that hadn’t been on show to the last audience and some that had been were kept quiet. A few more pieces were added to ‘City Of The Future’ and it all went pretty smoothly. The rain kind of held off – small patches of drizzle but nothing too bad. The crowd seemed to really love it. Myself & Kev had to clear our position again due to the pyros. Around came Hero Horse time… it worked, kinda. There was no flame used this time and the Prince got halfway up before the horse decided that it wanted to stop on the middle platform – after some coaxing, the Prince managed to get it all the way to the top but well after the music had finished. They didn’t use the Cauldron again as it’s the main event of the night. It was unnerving but it was better than last time…!

I hung back after work to send off a couple of emails and mess around on the office computers that have guaranteed Net access and when I got home an hour later than the rest, walked into my lounge to find Kev with a semi naked girl sprawled on the couch with markings all over her stomach! Now before you take the visuals you have any further, Simone had come across with Henna paint and as she was no good at drawing, she was silly enough to let Kev have a go at her stomach! The end result was quite impressive! The talking point of the evening!

It was a decent gathering on the Stoop but a pretty quite one. We’ve now finally taken to moving furniture outside of an evening, much more comfortable and adds to the status that the Stoop has earnt! All the regulars popped over but passed through pretty quickly. The need to have a quiet beer and to actually stop and unwind from the day is even more important now that we’re a couple of days away and there’s still certain elements that need tweaking. There’s tension in the air but it’s calm all at the same time – well it looks that way from the Stoop!