WEBVTT 00:00:02.339 --> 00:00:04.339 Hi, I'm Colleen Jennings Rogan Zack the executive director of Arizona 00:00:07.009 --> 00:00:14.867 State University Gammage. And I am here with Clyde Parker, the famous 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:21.806 technical director of tissue damage 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:27.407 Clyde. Why don't you tell us when you first came to A. S. U. What you were 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.276 doing? And were you fact or staff? Well actually I came here as a student 00:00:31.309 --> 00:00:37.006 . I transferred from phoenix college as a junior 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.807 actually I was going to become a teacher. So I was in the College of 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:46.446 education with the theater major actually speech in the theater Because in 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.997 the early 60s they didn't have enough of anything to make it a single 00:00:51.030 --> 00:00:57.726 major. So you have to combine it. Uh huh and became involved of course 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:01.707 with the theater department was working for the for the shows. Again it 00:01:01.740 --> 00:01:06.107 was a very small department. There were two people 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:11.867 jimmy carter who you know still does the audio description for our 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:18.016 broadway shows. I was one and frank buyers. State grand old man I called 00:01:18.049 --> 00:01:25.557 him was the other um so it was pretty small. We we did some shows, I 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:33.590 remember doing the first show in the then brand new remodeled lyceum 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:40.266 has since added a stage house and made it into a real theater. And but we 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:44.617 did the first show in the newly remodeled brand new theater is a 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:49.096 delightful place. Well during that period of time as I was a student and 00:01:49.129 --> 00:01:56.307 then stayed on as a as a grad student. Uh They started building damage. 00:01:56.340 --> 00:02:04.340 UU 62 when they started I transferred over here in 61. 00:02:04.909 --> 00:02:08.207 Hard to believe. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:13.256 Oh dad anyway and I was living across the street during a part of the 00:02:13.289 --> 00:02:18.707 construction. So I watched it go up and was, I didn't realize then that 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:23.856 I've spent the rest of my life here. But those of us who are involved in 00:02:23.889 --> 00:02:28.707 in tech theater 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:33.837 students and so forth became the, what I call the nucleus of the crews 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:39.106 began working shows here, which at that time weren't too many. And what 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:47.139 were those shows? Oh God fred Waring always, you know, what was happening 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:50.596 at A. S. U. At this time? Remember the number of students on campus? What 00:02:50.629 --> 00:02:55.876 was the environment line? Well, when I came here, the students of the 00:02:55.909 --> 00:03:00.186 campus was a totally different place. I mean it's, it's blossom so much 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:06.106 since then. I, I, I think, you know, the enrollment was probably somewhere 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:11.987 between 20 and 30,000 students and you know, well maybe I could be just 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:17.987 very wrong with that. But I remember, you know, the, the, the malls on 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:21.936 campus, Katie Mall in Forest Avenue Mall, the streets do you drive down 00:03:21.969 --> 00:03:29.969 the street? Sure. And the campus wasn't so much a commuter campus as it is 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:36.886 now people, there was more of a, of a home atmosphere. I felt I lived in a 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:42.337 dorm as a matter of fact, I live a very traditional, pretty much so. But 00:03:42.370 --> 00:03:48.186 the draw I was in was so Warhol, which is long since gone, but it was so 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:51.767 far off campus that we were considered off campus men a variety of things 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:59.800 . I remember that that one of the first season brochures 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:05.207 was Uh an eight by 14 trifle 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:11.686 And it listed 15 events, wow. And I think in three different series, one 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:18.226 series was sort of a cultural arts series, you know with the White Turkey 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:24.286 , the symphony concerts and ballet and the other was more Pop oriented. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:29.017 There was a 3rd sort of a special events. Uh huh You know, kind of a 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:33.666 natural thing and I think there were five events seriously. The rest of 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:39.096 the schedule of what it was was filled out with rentals. Um the phoenix 00:04:39.129 --> 00:04:43.596 symphony before they had the home at Symphony hall. Uh Yeah and they would 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:47.767 rehearse here on saturday and sunday play the monday night concert here 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:55.046 and then Tuesday night concert in a high school. Um So we had we had them 00:04:55.079 --> 00:05:02.087 in here twice a month, theater used the facility for Maybe three 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:07.406 productions a year. Other dads department had their big, so the schedule 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.606 was filled out with those kinds of things and the other other things would 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:16.197 come down the pipe, a lot of campus activities then that gave it a homier 00:05:16.230 --> 00:05:21.627 feeling. one of the things I remember specifically it was kind of a fall 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:26.736 festival carnival. The annual birthday party is what it was called, party 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:33.507 , birthday party, birthday party and there was a long uh just north of the 00:05:33.540 --> 00:05:40.606 emu we're the library now sits, there was a long between the emu and what 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:45.267 was then East hall. So there was no Hayden library. It was Matthews 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:47.536 library 00:05:47.569 --> 00:05:51.957 where jerry lewis filmed the nutty professor if you're quick and if you 00:05:51.990 --> 00:05:56.707 watch the widescreen version of that you can barely see my left foot 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:00.067 exited. The 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:04.317 other funny thing about that, that movie. Yeah. Well a lot of us were 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:09.236 hired as extras and then everybody and their brother showed up. Uh one of 00:06:09.269 --> 00:06:14.306 the the opening scenes of the movie or at least of the filming ah 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:17.637 supposedly the nineties professor. 00:06:17.670 --> 00:06:23.916 Yeah, yeah. Science and there's filtering out the window and their music, 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:27.627 you know the building with the sciences building because that's it says 00:06:27.660 --> 00:06:33.726 science and so there's all this smoke billowing out and what does this 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:38.666 shot show a bunch of students running into? 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:44.777 I'm going over that and most of them wound up on the cutting room floor 00:06:44.810 --> 00:06:50.207 things. But were we the Sun Devils then? 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:56.916 Yeah, I I wasn't here when we were the stc bulldogs. Although I do have a 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:02.507 recording of fred waring's pennsylvanians singing the bulldog fights on 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:04.806 recently 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:11.697 that was able to dig out from from somewhere. It's uh fight on 00:07:11.730 --> 00:07:17.587 bulldogs. Bulldogs, you know you have you know the homecoming parade and 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:23.306 and all that. But it just didn't seem like today what it was then. It 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:30.306 seemed like it was just a closer did everyone live on campus actually 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:34.207 there are students who commuted 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:39.587 but now it seems like, well having not lived on campus, having not been a 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:43.637 student for umpteen years. I don't know what the sense of feeling is now, 00:07:43.670 --> 00:07:48.056 but it seems like, you know, like even though the student body officers 00:07:48.089 --> 00:07:51.637 seem to have something really important to do and then or whatever now, it 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:57.707 seems to be a little perfunctory 00:07:57.740 --> 00:08:05.096 Clyde. Who was the head of damage then? David School are oh, mr school and 00:08:05.129 --> 00:08:10.377 the very first And he was the director of for for 10 years. It was not, it 00:08:10.410 --> 00:08:14.207 wasn't a full time job for days. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:21.507 We we only had when, when the building opened. Uh two full time employees 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:27.296 by full time. I mean full time for the auditorium box office manager. And 00:08:27.329 --> 00:08:33.106 who was that? You know, 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:38.187 Vivian came in about two years, two years later maybe. Okay. By the name 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:43.396 of Lillian armor, who essentially was Dave school, our secretary before 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:47.407 before. Those are the only two full time employees. We had a custodial 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.557 supervisor actually was working for the facilities manager. He was there 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:57.476 all the time. It was our first stage door attendant and did all kinds of 00:08:57.509 --> 00:09:00.817 things. He worked on the crew to, I mean, he was a part of the family 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:06.067 school are of course came, I was on the music department faculty, it was a 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:12.437 coral director then and still had a class load with with music. David Hale 00:09:12.470 --> 00:09:18.177 who was the first TD also worked part time or think of something like 60, 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:22.006 whatever the theatre department the university just didn't think that 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:25.346 running damage was a full time job, things have changed. I think things 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:30.337 have changed, have they not now? Was the light opera shop always in the 00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:36.337 back of damage? Uh every couple shop. Well that had always been a scene 00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:43.116 shop when when uh damage opened the theater department was using it and 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:51.149 did so until they built facilities for them and the newly newly redesigned. 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:53.669 And then that's when the Lyric Opera theater and quite over the years 00:09:55.980 --> 00:10:02.047 you've seen great technical changes this building. So at that point in 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:07.626 time you were doing most setting most of those cues by hand and today so 00:10:07.659 --> 00:10:12.356 shift forward to today. How does that? Well now lining is is done by 00:10:12.389 --> 00:10:16.817 computer. It just takes a sort of a different, totally different frame of 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:20.846 reference. Uh huh. If you've had the chance to go through and the program 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:24.407 , although I didn't get 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:31.657 you can you can create fantastic effects, moving lights and flashing this 00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:37.427 and all kinds of things by simply pushing a button. That's it. That's all 00:10:37.460 --> 00:10:43.307 it takes because the computer says this is what I want to do next. 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:48.037 If something goes wrong or if something is not right, changing that Q. Or 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:53.907 changing that look or whatever it takes, it takes knowledge and skill of 00:10:53.940 --> 00:10:58.937 what all this equipment is and how it all operates and yeah and so if 00:10:58.970 --> 00:11:02.187 you're running things manually, if you're running by hand you have a sort 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:08.207 of a greater sense of feel of control. It's not like pushing the artistry. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.807 The artistry now is created before the fact a lot of times the artistry 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:16.986 then you're creating it. 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:21.307 When did you begin to get company now you said there were three to begin, 00:11:21.340 --> 00:11:26.506 when did the staff begin to grow? And when did you get? Well I was a 00:11:26.539 --> 00:11:30.717 graduate student for the first couple of years working in and damage and 00:11:30.750 --> 00:11:35.337 there's a faint picture. People actually believe damage was built around 00:11:35.370 --> 00:11:40.187 you. There's a picture of you on over there. I'm working on a piece of 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:44.797 scenery and people are building building and that's that. Well that's that 00:11:44.830 --> 00:11:50.687 was a set for I think Marriage of Figaro which was a lyric opera theater 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.256 production one of their production they would they would combine with the 00:11:55.289 --> 00:12:00.427 theater department on a major production like like a larger opera. They 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:06.996 did La Traviata or the trivia trivia the marriage of Figaro and other 00:12:07.029 --> 00:12:11.077 productions where they would use and we would buy the set building was 00:12:11.110 --> 00:12:16.177 done on stage. Ah But and I and I was a grad student for the first couple 00:12:16.210 --> 00:12:21.437 of years I had a teaching assistantship and that was a part of that 00:12:21.470 --> 00:12:28.876 assistantship. Then the second tv Came on to replace the 1st 1 frank was 00:12:28.909 --> 00:12:35.207 his name and I became a staff person at that time as his assistant teeth. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:41.287 So at that point there were two, a full time tv and an assistant A lot of 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:43.996 times we simply work together, he'd be backstage, I'd be running the 00:12:44.029 --> 00:12:48.567 lights or vice versa or whatever it will take both of us because again, 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:55.266 the crew, although we had a nucleus of crew and people shows we'd all have 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:59.856 to, you know, nobody could just sit there or trade off or whatever. When 00:12:59.889 --> 00:13:05.606 frankly left after his third year, I stepped into the full time position 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:12.787 as tv and higher unassisted for me. And then for a while and I had two 00:13:12.820 --> 00:13:19.177 assistants. Those two assistant TDS ultimately became full time TVs. So 00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:22.827 for the rest of the time there have always been three of us and we, we 00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:26.006 sort of rotated shows. I'm doing the one this week, you do them one next 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:29.096 week, you do the one after that, you don't like that show. Okay, well, 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:34.067 yeah, I always sort of work all that out and then you or somebody else is 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:38.346 coming at a show and I would just screw that all of that. And in addition 00:13:38.379 --> 00:13:43.746 to here, you also were doing things and what is now called Wells Fargo 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:48.297 Arena, which was then the activity, the activity center and in Sandal 00:13:48.330 --> 00:13:51.996 Stadium. Then when I first started working here, it was a comedy 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:58.407 auditorium and that was it. Yeah. And then all of a sudden they add 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:02.136 the activity center. Wells Fargo Arena, we started doing shows at Sun 00:14:02.169 --> 00:14:07.547 Devil Stadium, they gave us the care cultural thing. Right? And, and, and 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:15.580 , and then, and then the Sun dome. So, so then we started to expand out 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:20.567 and working shows and events in all of these other facilities we became 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:25.707 active in and running commencement and, and so forth. So yeah, in time, 00:14:25.740 --> 00:14:29.896 those kinds of things have have greatly expanded placing greater and 00:14:29.929 --> 00:14:34.797 greater requirements on, on the staff. As far as time is concerned, just 00:14:34.830 --> 00:14:40.776 being able to Sometimes have to be in two places at once. I and with the 00:14:40.809 --> 00:14:46.327 three of us is we've been able to, to juggle that around enough that we've 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.787 been able to handle it, it should, should somebody gets sick or something 00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:53.417 happen, you know, throw the whole schedule to it is a lot of times would 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:57.177 happen instantly. Sub for somebody else walking into a show, having no 00:14:57.210 --> 00:15:02.606 idea what's going on 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:07.457 Now Clyde over the period of time and it's been 45 years. Do you have a 00:15:07.490 --> 00:15:14.256 standout moments in that 45 year old Thailand sort of marks the decades 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:19.996 and go along? Not, not, not in that way. The things that it's always stand 00:15:20.029 --> 00:15:26.266 out in my mind and when I go back and and reflect on, on all that's 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:31.506 happened In the last 40, some odd years, 00:15:31.539 --> 00:15:39.207 all of the shows, small ones, blockbusters, whatever, all those shows and 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:43.907 all of the people who have been here 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:50.447 have become sort of a big blur. You know, there's just so much, just so 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.707 much, 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.447 people always ask me what's been my favorite show and it's a question I 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:59.136 can't answer because because there's just so much to choose from, I could 00:15:59.169 --> 00:16:03.016 sit here for days. Well, I like this show because and I like this show and 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:08.307 I was overwhelmed by the it's those special moments, 00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:11.807 those fleeting moments 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:19.840 that happened. It'll never happen again or that that affected 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:25.506 I I remember mentioning this before, so you're familiar with, I remember 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:29.807 my Eddie Jackson for example, and every time I think about this, I always 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.967 well up and will before we're done with this, but I remember she did this 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.486 , you know, her concert, 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:43.697 the audience wouldn't let her go, she should finish the show, she'd walk 00:16:43.730 --> 00:16:48.307 off and they would be on their feet, applauding and cheering more and more 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:51.797 and she didn't come back out and she would do another song and she'd go up 00:16:51.830 --> 00:16:56.407 more and more. And finally 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:03.707 she came out and she had she had a few backing musicians, organ piano, No 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:08.506 , you know, I'm not a big concern. She just turned to them and just 00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:15.306 Abraham and she stepped away from the microphone out on the apron 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:19.506 and sang, were you there, 00:17:19.539 --> 00:17:27.539 no compliment, no reinforcement, her voice, just allowing them, that is ST 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:37.806 deadly silent. Just no noise as she said. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:43.806 And when she finished the song, 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.407 the silence continued 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:52.826 that magic moment and then all hell broke loose. 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:56.006 Me too. 00:17:56.039 --> 00:18:03.107 Let me see that is the kind of moment I cherish. 00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:09.766 It's not it's not the star. It's not shaking hands with the mirror and 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:17.799 great and and whatever it's almost like that the face, whatever I did just 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:23.576 so with what and there were a lot of those just a lot of or things that 00:18:23.609 --> 00:18:30.947 just happened some funny some tragic and you know some major screw ups we 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:35.387 were setting up for Flamenco dance company and they had dancers anna Maria 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:39.006 japan and whatever. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.927 And one of the last things we're going to do before we were done for that 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:46.107 afternoon and getting ready to open for the show was to set sound levels 00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:50.627 on the microphones for the bariatric group and also just the sound level 00:18:50.660 --> 00:18:55.476 for the recorded music essentially the show. The singers and dancers would 00:18:55.509 --> 00:19:00.066 do a number and as they were on stage changing costumes, the mariachis 00:19:00.099 --> 00:19:04.717 would would play a song and then then come back out. We had some sound 00:19:04.750 --> 00:19:11.607 levels to set and some of the dance numbers were tape recorded. So 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:19.506 at they start to take to set the level and nothing 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:22.756 and the guy running sound. He realizes well there should be something he's 00:19:22.789 --> 00:19:25.877 checking this that's well that's up. That's up. That's something he looked 00:19:25.910 --> 00:19:31.707 at the tape deck and he's actually punched record, 00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:37.786 He's erasing the tape now I was only taking him you know, moments 00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:44.576 discovered this. He's racing the tape being a dancer. You know what that 00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:49.286 means. Not only was he erasing the tape, he he was racing their backup 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:55.506 tape because they had left their main tape probably. Well, so 00:19:55.539 --> 00:19:59.246 now the good news out of all of this, if there is such a thing as good 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:01.306 news 00:20:01.339 --> 00:20:04.887 Was that the the the group playing the music was on the tape was the same 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.347 one attribute that was here with the show. And they were just so probably 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:13.937 about 15 minutes before we were supposed to open the house, drag the 00:20:13.970 --> 00:20:19.347 mariachis out of catering and onto the stage, make them play what that 00:20:19.380 --> 00:20:23.187 piece is. They listen to it. Let's let's try it again. So they played it 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:28.276 again and that was the version of that particular thing. And so we we had 00:20:28.309 --> 00:20:34.417 rerecord that particular number, you know, and and it's going by the time 00:20:34.450 --> 00:20:38.687 we were doing dans is Venezuela 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:45.387 ethnic dance company from Venezuela. Yeah. And nobody with, with the group 00:20:45.420 --> 00:20:53.420 spoken, english, My spanish is pretty well limited to phrases like holy 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.607 yes, anyway, 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.907 but as we were setting up, you know, finger pointing this, this whatever 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:05.207 you, you know, you could relate. 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:12.637 So I was running the lights for the show and we had finished. We while the 00:21:12.670 --> 00:21:20.306 audience was coming in, the stage manager for the show. 00:21:20.339 --> 00:21:25.207 Uh, and I were back in the back room 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:33.240 with the ambassador to Venezuela who was acting as interpreter, wow! Now I 00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:39.296 had to tell him, don't try to understand what he is saying, just 00:21:39.329 --> 00:21:46.306 translated. I don't know what he needs and of course the ambassadors. So, 00:21:46.339 --> 00:21:51.607 so we go through the entire show, the first dance, this is what we want. 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:56.957 And basically, there's a particular lighting look on the stage, whatever 00:21:56.990 --> 00:22:03.467 it is, uh, blue backdrop with uh, this particular wash and whatever. And 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:07.417 then as the curtain would open, I would add the appropriate frontline. And 00:22:07.450 --> 00:22:12.597 that was kind of the routine you can see coming down the pipe. So we go 00:22:12.630 --> 00:22:18.506 through the entire show and, and I have all those notes. 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:23.526 So the show starts and I get things set up and everything is fine and all 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:26.907 of a sudden, you know, after the curtain closes, I set up the backstage 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:30.117 look for the next dance and the stage manager gets on the headset and he 00:22:30.150 --> 00:22:36.107 says, no, no, no, no, no 00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:41.506 God, but you know, 00:22:41.539 --> 00:22:49.246 okay, put in the world, you know, he wants a red psych 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:55.457 oh, he wants the side lights up. My notes, say blue psych, no sidelights 00:22:55.490 --> 00:22:59.097 or whatever, you know, just the opposite. And so I make that change and 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:02.207 goes, 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:09.197 you were speaking techies. Yeah, from that moment on and this was about 00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:14.107 the, maybe the third piece in the program. 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:18.907 None of my notes were correct. None of 00:23:18.940 --> 00:23:23.056 and it may have been something as simple as them just shifting the order 00:23:23.089 --> 00:23:29.427 of the pieces sure. Or anything like that. You know, I just would not, but 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:34.546 that was just not right. Well, the stage manager realized the problem I 00:23:34.579 --> 00:23:38.276 wasn't upset over. So as soon as the curtain closed, I'd start setting up 00:23:38.309 --> 00:23:41.917 what I thought the next look would be and he would say no, no, I'm making 00:23:41.950 --> 00:23:44.816 changes. I asked you 00:23:44.849 --> 00:23:48.657 and so I would have to visualize what the stage looks like. So I would 00:23:48.690 --> 00:23:53.937 know what colored bring up or whatever. And so and that went on and 00:23:53.970 --> 00:23:59.207 everything went on and then every once in a while I would say, 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:05.246 and I said, I'm ready because usually a stage wonder would be warning que 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:09.046 here and he would say attention, attention and I'd say on here and then I 00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:14.086 would see that that would be a dancer or somebody in an area of the stage 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.917 where I knew we had focused on a light, so I would bring that light up 00:24:17.950 --> 00:24:22.967 here in high school. So then I realized that when he said attention, he 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.756 meant he wanted me to do something with the lights. I wasn't quite sure 00:24:25.789 --> 00:24:30.486 what my notes were not right. So I was having to follow the action and do 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:35.306 it and I came out of the boost after that. 00:24:35.339 --> 00:24:40.486 You don't forget things like that, you know, you go back and you just muse 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:46.207 over it. Years ago we were at Miriam beagle was the director of the whole 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:52.607 them, we have booked Vladimir Horowitz concert pianist 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:58.177 who had the reputation for being just very, very finicky. Somebody who 00:24:58.210 --> 00:25:04.207 just wanted to treat with kid clubs. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:10.217 It was also known for canceling at the last moment. For whatever reason he 00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:14.607 so chose. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:20.496 And he also, Well he would he would only do his concert at 4:00 on Sunday 00:25:20.529 --> 00:25:25.816 afternoon. That's the only time you do it. Okay, that's fine. Oh he would 00:25:25.849 --> 00:25:29.427 not stay in a hotel room. He'd want to move into somebody's house, they'd 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:34.066 have to move out. He'd bring in his valet and his entourage or cook or 00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:38.996 whatever and they'd take over for the few days he was here. So we had to 00:25:39.029 --> 00:25:43.407 find somebody who'd be willing to allow this to happen. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:49.937 Okay. So a few days before he is scheduled to arrive, we get word from his 00:25:49.970 --> 00:25:53.407 management. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.717 He's not coming. He wants to not cancel postponed. Well, that's a relief. 00:25:57.750 --> 00:26:05.207 I mean, there's there's some hope there. He wants to be scheduled. Okay. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:09.536 The concert was rescheduled and now we have to find somebody else who 00:26:09.569 --> 00:26:13.006 wants to move out of the house all the time to go through all this again. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.407 Mm hmm. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.536 Okay. So now they're at the airport to pick him up. He gets off the plane. 00:26:20.569 --> 00:26:28.569 Things are looking good. No, and at least he's in town. So it comes out 00:26:28.569 --> 00:26:35.107 of the hall. He uh, he wants to, you know practice for, he was here for 00:26:35.140 --> 00:26:40.407 quite several hours practicing, you know, for coming in. And he was also 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:44.607 known to what piano placed anywhere on stage. That is not the best to him. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.627 It could be anywhere. No, it sounded good for him. Over there in that 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:53.286 corner, that's where he'd be. Well, I had it down here where we were 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:58.066 normal, but he came out and yeah, 00:26:58.099 --> 00:27:05.826 and we had a chance to talk into chat and in that that few moments, you 00:27:05.859 --> 00:27:10.056 know, he knew, you know, got to know why I was there, what I did and you 00:27:10.089 --> 00:27:13.717 know, all that, you know, we've established somewhat of a rapport in that 00:27:13.750 --> 00:27:16.506 brief amount 00:27:16.539 --> 00:27:20.427 and I told him when he was part of saying I was over on the side stage, I 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:24.786 was working on a quiet project, but I was available to something, let me 00:27:24.819 --> 00:27:28.976 know and I'll take care of it. Otherwise I just I said, I'll just leave 00:27:29.009 --> 00:27:34.546 you alone, okay? And we were chatting about who knows what And I, every 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:38.657 once in a while I pop my head out, how's it going? Anything you need one 00:27:38.690 --> 00:27:44.147 and would chat woman again, establishing that rapport. And we were not 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:47.407 just total strangers, 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:51.306 Miriam did not know this, 00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:56.117 a form of cancer. She was backstage, we're escorting him out down the 00:27:56.150 --> 00:28:04.150 hallway backstage, kind of actually nice little lapdog, 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:07.907 come around the corner and walks up to me, I'm standing there ready to 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:15.806 cinema, I turned to him and I say ready to go to work 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:23.839 and I looked at that expression on her face, I'll never forget that. 00:28:29.190 --> 00:28:37.107 And she held that until Horwood said yes, it's time to go to work. 00:28:37.140 --> 00:28:39.957 That's why he was there, you know, and we had, we had talked about that 00:28:39.990 --> 00:28:44.207 before, you know, it was his job. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:50.276 But but that expression, you know, those kinds of things, many things have 00:28:50.309 --> 00:28:54.617 happened on this stage and in those places that have very little to do 00:28:54.650 --> 00:29:00.707 with performance and I think about other kinds of things you've done like 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:08.740 the presidential debate, the presidential debate. It's a road show, 00:29:09.539 --> 00:29:14.907 you know, as as as special as it was. 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:20.137 Yeah, Well I approached it as another road show is like, well the trucks 00:29:20.170 --> 00:29:23.286 are going to roll up, they're going to unload the set, they have a crew, 00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:27.687 they're going take instruction from the people traveling with it and how 00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:31.397 to build their set sure there was a lot of other stuff we have to prepare 00:29:31.430 --> 00:29:36.907 for. It was like preparing for another show 00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:44.940 and so kind of putting it in that respective it was another event 00:29:47.339 --> 00:29:51.316 one president has obeyed in them and one papal visit in a lifetime is 00:29:51.349 --> 00:29:56.437 enough is enough. And were you part of laying Senator Goldwater to rest 00:29:56.470 --> 00:30:01.847 for, for Senator Goldwater state fuel. Yes. And that sort of three 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:07.776 monumental kinds of things also for the carla Hayden funeral 00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:14.157 and that was with johnson and Goldwater were the as Secret Service would 00:30:14.190 --> 00:30:18.306 refer to them as the principles 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:24.707 and if if they, you know, they would say or or to Lyndon johnson 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:29.967 specifically, they would refer to him as our person. I think at that time 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:35.447 he was I had just left office or hadn't been out of office very much so he 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:40.167 was immediate past president, it was our person. And if you would say, you 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:45.006 mean mr johnson, they sort of look at you like 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:47.917 who said, 00:30:47.950 --> 00:30:55.207 I remember when they lost it, they lost him, they lost him, 00:30:55.240 --> 00:31:00.627 his his limousine was gonna pull up uh in the back, he was going to come 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:05.627 into the classroom bedrooms, down the elevator to the to the shop and then 00:31:05.660 --> 00:31:09.506 to addressing the web 00:31:09.539 --> 00:31:15.607 and we were just kind of waiting for his arrival. Nothing special. Just 00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:19.316 and all of a sudden you saw this activity, you know, talking to, you know 00:31:19.349 --> 00:31:24.806 , the people standing around, talking into the closely okay, he's here, 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:29.677 look us up and and I walk around to the to the elevator that's in the shop 00:31:29.710 --> 00:31:34.847 , you know, just waiting for him because he's got help, elevator door 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:38.806 opens elevators and 00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:41.857 and the Secret Service person who was standing right there expecting him 00:31:41.890 --> 00:31:46.707 to be in the elevator goes, starts talking and 00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:53.607 he'd gone up one to use the restroom and nobody got that clearance I 00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:58.776 suppose anyway, that moment of panic and they lost the President meeting 00:31:58.809 --> 00:32:02.207 with Hayden, see Hayden, 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:04.707 we knew 00:32:04.740 --> 00:32:12.117 the service was imminent because of carl Hayden's condition and so you 00:32:12.150 --> 00:32:16.197 know, they had planned or started to plan for the service, several of 00:32:16.230 --> 00:32:20.996 these in advance, you know, and it was just a matter of when he caught 00:32:21.029 --> 00:32:26.976 himself and we're dealing with us of referring to the funeral service as 00:32:27.009 --> 00:32:33.266 another show, you know, when does the show start? Oh 00:32:33.299 --> 00:32:41.299 and he'd catch himself. But it's a great man. 00:32:41.740 --> 00:32:48.336 How many university presidents has your tender taken? How many presidents 00:32:48.369 --> 00:32:51.407 have trained? 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.976 Well, several of course joe McDermott was the president when I came here 00:32:55.009 --> 00:33:03.009 remember john Schroeder who was very, very staid and very distant kind of 00:33:03.069 --> 00:33:07.417 person, was not very warm and outgoing every once in a while as we would 00:33:07.450 --> 00:33:14.407 be backstage, ready to start something, the program, he hated ceremony. 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:18.407 You just load that to a passion. 00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:21.776 If he had been president much longer we would have eliminated commencement 00:33:21.809 --> 00:33:28.387 altogether. He just standing there, come on, he had a very wry dry sense 00:33:28.420 --> 00:33:32.336 of humor every once in a while, I just sort of catch that little clint in 00:33:32.369 --> 00:33:37.147 his eye that and that was it. Russell nelson, I think it was dave school 00:33:37.180 --> 00:33:42.917 arts retirement reception we had here on stage and I was relaying some 00:33:42.950 --> 00:33:44.976 stories 00:33:45.009 --> 00:33:50.177 I have Russ nelson rolling on the floor, laughing at whatever it was I was 00:33:50.210 --> 00:33:53.907 talking about. So he started calling me the world's greatest comedian and 00:33:53.940 --> 00:34:01.940 good after that. Yeah. And we had, we have built up a certain report 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:06.687 because I was dealing with him a lot with with commencement, my wife and I 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:10.796 have had talked him into playing a practical joke on me. They pulled just 00:34:10.829 --> 00:34:14.916 before commencement started one year, she asked him if he would be a 00:34:14.949 --> 00:34:22.907 willing participant and then I'm told his comment was oh yeah, 00:34:22.940 --> 00:34:28.106 but I have not had a chance to 00:34:28.139 --> 00:34:33.307 established much of a rapport with with dr Crow because the situation is 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:40.840 not been there where we've been associated. How many directors again? Okay. 00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:43.239 Been training us difficult to train, 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:51.287 Miriam Beagle the director following day school or was born Summers and 00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:57.157 mary and Beagle followed him and then we had no director for a while, jim 00:34:57.190 --> 00:35:00.407 McConnell this tractor, 00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:05.006 you came to us. And oddly enough, the, the interesting thing was that the 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:08.287 person who became the director would step into that position from, you 00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:12.517 know, essentially associate director or assistant director and that 00:35:12.550 --> 00:35:17.077 position was usually the money person, you know, like the business manager 00:35:17.110 --> 00:35:21.916 or the finance manager and that that was all that background and you, you 00:35:21.949 --> 00:35:29.949 changed all that came in as an artistic director. What's the most unusual 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:38.000 thing you've ever been requested to do on the stage? 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.506 The thing that made it comes to mind, I don't why it does. 00:35:43.539 --> 00:35:50.486 How do you come out and tell the audience? Yeah, 3000 people that there is 00:35:50.519 --> 00:35:53.606 no fire, 00:35:53.639 --> 00:35:57.807 no fire. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:01.876 We were, we were doing a show or I think it was for a show that started 00:36:01.909 --> 00:36:06.997 that the house was in. We were getting ready to start. 00:36:07.030 --> 00:36:14.456 Uh there was a major fire on the east side of campus 00:36:14.489 --> 00:36:22.227 and the wind was blowing the smoke in this direction and the aroma was 00:36:22.260 --> 00:36:24.947 being brought into the building so you could smell it and there was some 00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:32.816 concern. So we wanted to tell people that, oh you know the fire is way 00:36:32.849 --> 00:36:37.947 over there, nowhere near here, don't worry. How do you tell the people 00:36:37.980 --> 00:36:43.456 there is no fire Right? And I create that panic and be able to do that. 00:36:43.489 --> 00:36:48.657 You know somebody is saying go and tell them this is of course pre-9-11 of 00:36:48.690 --> 00:36:55.796 course, yeah. But yeah, at just a moment's notice, how do you do that? 00:36:55.829 --> 00:37:03.829 What what do you say? I forgot what I said. Okay, it was you know, so 00:37:05.230 --> 00:37:09.936 there are some unusual things. What do you think has been the major 00:37:09.969 --> 00:37:13.697 challenges for Arizona State University? 00:37:13.730 --> 00:37:21.097 Yeah. And what, It was a major challenge 45 years ago and major challenges 00:37:21.130 --> 00:37:28.396 I think, I think just just growth, dealing with the growth 00:37:28.429 --> 00:37:33.256 budgeting accordingly, having the funds to be able to do that? I think 00:37:33.289 --> 00:37:36.747 that's been a major challenge 00:37:36.780 --> 00:37:44.780 to the good, the bad. If you had bushes were horses, what change would you 00:37:45.230 --> 00:37:51.177 either here at gamut or at the university if money time and space object. 00:37:51.210 --> 00:37:56.836 If there was no object, I pushed the back wall of stage back about 20 more 00:37:56.869 --> 00:38:03.077 feet, I'd love that. Absolutely, Absolutely. Because many people probably 00:38:03.110 --> 00:38:09.077 don't realize that damage. Mr Wright designed it as an opera hall, which 00:38:09.110 --> 00:38:16.137 meant this stage was to have been replicated behind it as well. Well, in 00:38:16.170 --> 00:38:23.686 the original drawings for the Baghdad Opera House, that was the case. Um 00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:25.787 and 00:38:25.820 --> 00:38:29.486 multi use auditoriums 00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:33.356 that were built all over the country and opened about the same time, 00:38:33.389 --> 00:38:40.186 organically open have all gone undergone major revisions 00:38:40.219 --> 00:38:45.486 in order to accommodate the big blockbuster shows that are on the road now. 00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:50.787 And most of those revisions have incorporated blowing out the back wall 00:38:50.820 --> 00:38:56.117 and extending the stage just enlarge the stage because usually the back 00:38:56.150 --> 00:39:00.046 wall in stages, the back wall of the building. The problem here, of course 00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:04.006 , is that the stages in the middle of the building, we have a whole 00:39:04.039 --> 00:39:10.436 another building back there that most people don't realize. Ah and so 00:39:10.469 --> 00:39:15.057 we're, you know, we're we're stuck with what we've got plus the fact that 00:39:15.090 --> 00:39:17.086 that 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:22.066 when the original designers, when they, when they actually were working on 00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:25.986 this particular building, 00:39:26.019 --> 00:39:31.186 they thought well if 00:39:31.219 --> 00:39:36.186 they would have a basically a theatrical opening 00:39:36.219 --> 00:39:44.219 and then a concert opening as far as size is concerned. Mhm. And and They 00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:48.697 was they were thinking that the theatrical opening wouldn't be anything 00:39:48.730 --> 00:39:52.646 any wider than about 40 ft because in new york, that's a that's a pretty 00:39:52.679 --> 00:40:00.679 wide stage and with without opening and something maybe 25 ft tall, 26, to 00:40:01.329 --> 00:40:08.776 most that opening, you know, everything backstage, work size wise. 00:40:08.809 --> 00:40:13.756 Um and then, you know, they didn't have big blasters, blockbuster shows to 00:40:13.789 --> 00:40:19.046 deal with, It would be, you know, a venue for the theater department for 00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:24.477 some of their shows or productions of the fit that we're traveling about 00:40:24.510 --> 00:40:29.057 for concerts, there would be a larger stage with a wider opening, would 00:40:29.090 --> 00:40:34.577 accommodate a full sized orchestra, 00:40:34.610 --> 00:40:38.847 literally, they consider, you know, ballet openings which are much wider 00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:45.787 or grand spectacles or lavish productions. Uh huh. So there were 00:40:45.820 --> 00:40:50.876 essentially those designed in limitations 00:40:50.909 --> 00:40:56.316 that we've had to deal with over over the and uh have done so marvelously 00:40:56.349 --> 00:41:00.807 well. Extraordinarily well, I think many people mr Wright did some 00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:05.066 incredible things with this building and made it a landmark monument. Um 00:41:05.099 --> 00:41:09.447 some of the things he did not do so well and he had no idea, and could not 00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:14.947 foresee was a curved loading dock. So when you began, how many semis would 00:41:14.980 --> 00:41:21.077 unload a show 45 years ago versus phantom of the opera today. Oh yeah, 00:41:21.110 --> 00:41:27.896 yeah, it was not the loading dock of course, was it was designed to fit 00:41:27.929 --> 00:41:35.106 within the, the overall design plan, the curves, circles, the interlocking 00:41:35.139 --> 00:41:39.367 inter meshing circles and so it was, it was designed to fit into that 00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:46.307 space, hmm, trucks on the road weren't nearly as big and so some, most of 00:41:46.340 --> 00:41:50.936 them could, could get somewhere closer with that. Now there's both open 00:41:50.969 --> 00:41:55.626 the world, did that happen? Most of what formulated I had for for the 00:41:55.659 --> 00:42:02.606 building was a series of sketches uh, and and some detailed works, basic 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:07.416 ideas. The, the balcony is separated from the back wall for acoustic, 00:42:07.449 --> 00:42:10.367 detailed sketches, whatever they would take that over and turn it over to 00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:18.400 his minions to say I want to do business. Um, a lot of concessions uh, in 00:42:20.090 --> 00:42:25.046 the original scope of things because the legislature required that the 00:42:25.079 --> 00:42:28.896 building had an academic function, otherwise they would support any 00:42:28.929 --> 00:42:36.367 funding. So there are a lot of changes, wow and 00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:42.497 they did a lot of redesign and redevelopment. And so this building is 00:42:42.530 --> 00:42:49.177 considerably different from the initials concept that, that he had for the 00:42:49.210 --> 00:42:53.447 grand and glorious Opera house sitting out on the island with. So it's 00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:57.356 different and in many respects, well then Clive, you talked briefly about 00:42:57.389 --> 00:43:00.867 if you had your wishes, you would blow out the back wall because of the 00:43:00.900 --> 00:43:06.356 broadway shows and kind of the size of shows for going that wish you got 00:43:06.389 --> 00:43:11.747 part of that wish in a pretty unusual way as it relates to the sound shell 00:43:11.780 --> 00:43:17.166 behind us. Would you talk about that briefly, when 00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:25.199 again the stage for its size and and the venue for its size. The stage is 00:43:26.699 --> 00:43:32.566 a little too sharp uh from the proscenium, the picture frame to the back, 00:43:32.599 --> 00:43:39.717 It's about about 33 ft, it should be No less than 40 ft 00:43:39.750 --> 00:43:43.467 or were already. 00:43:43.500 --> 00:43:47.407 And so the depth of the stage has always been a problem has always made 00:43:47.440 --> 00:43:51.467 things very crowded backstage. 00:43:51.500 --> 00:43:58.916 And as, as the big show's hit the road, the first big blockbuster I think 00:43:58.949 --> 00:44:01.356 probably was fantastic 00:44:01.389 --> 00:44:03.947 and believe it or not, they were actually able to do the show the first 00:44:03.980 --> 00:44:11.980 time they were here with Shell in place, please shoehorned it in damn. 00:44:12.380 --> 00:44:17.947 And and the, the set that they're designed for that. It was a set that was 00:44:17.980 --> 00:44:21.517 designed with this stage in mind and with essentially smaller stage in 00:44:21.550 --> 00:44:25.057 mind, they designed to fit. 00:44:25.090 --> 00:44:30.456 Um Then later on 00:44:30.489 --> 00:44:34.657 Miss Saigon came over 00:44:34.690 --> 00:44:40.026 and we were told, uh, I don't even think about bringing this show. If 00:44:40.059 --> 00:44:42.856 you've got this thing there, 00:44:42.889 --> 00:44:47.447 we need the depth. It's not a matter of choice either get rid of this 00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:50.557 trail or 00:44:50.590 --> 00:44:53.356 you don't get the show. 00:44:53.389 --> 00:44:58.557 And so that's, I guess that's when the thinking began about what can we do 00:44:58.590 --> 00:45:04.206 with the shell. One of the ideas was to get rid of it all together and all 00:45:04.239 --> 00:45:11.066 hell broke in the global music world. Very true. Just the idea of getting 00:45:11.099 --> 00:45:13.657 rid of the show, 00:45:13.690 --> 00:45:20.157 replacing it with with a more portable show, 00:45:20.190 --> 00:45:23.847 it was another idea that people didn't believe because it was also at the 00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:29.756 same time, Carnegie Hall had been reconfigured and it ruined the acoustics 00:45:29.789 --> 00:45:33.606 in Carnegie Hall. So musicians who had played it damaged and at Carnegie 00:45:33.639 --> 00:45:40.267 Hall were anxious, livid and furious. Well sure any any, any idea of 00:45:40.300 --> 00:45:46.117 changing the, the nature and the acoustical properties of the existing 00:45:46.150 --> 00:45:50.867 shell wasn't anathema to anybody who would think about that. So they were 00:45:50.900 --> 00:45:56.867 trying to come up with some other ideas. One was to build a big elevator 00:45:56.900 --> 00:46:02.686 in the middle of the stage. Mhm Yeah, 00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:09.177 roll the, roll the shell, the whole thing out onto this elevator something 00:46:09.210 --> 00:46:15.677 yeah, and drop it down below the stage. So essentially at the top of the 00:46:15.710 --> 00:46:20.767 shell then would be replaced by, you know, just below the stage, which 00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:28.800 will mean digging this huge hole down there. Uh huh. Well, that probably 00:46:29.289 --> 00:46:35.037 it was a little more expensive than than um and so the engineers came up 00:46:35.070 --> 00:46:41.057 with the idea of, of picking up on a cushion of air and floating it into a 00:46:41.090 --> 00:46:46.586 storeroom off the stage and that's the idea that they finally, the space 00:46:46.619 --> 00:46:53.347 shuttle idea how the space shuttle and so they built a room extending off 00:46:53.380 --> 00:46:58.816 the side of the damage, which I never liked because it spoils the, the 00:46:58.849 --> 00:47:05.747 exterior integrity of the exterior curves. We actually had faculty members 00:47:05.780 --> 00:47:10.747 who complained because when they came here for convocation and smaller 00:47:10.780 --> 00:47:14.646 commencement exercises for the colleges, they had to walk around instead 00:47:14.679 --> 00:47:17.776 of following the sidewalk straight down into the building and it was 00:47:17.809 --> 00:47:21.847 inconvenient. 00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:29.577 Oh, but and and we wanted it to match as much of the building as as we 00:47:29.610 --> 00:47:35.157 could considering it's going to be this straight wall room, we wanted to 00:47:35.190 --> 00:47:42.097 spend as little money on it as possible. Um So the you know the stuck 00:47:42.130 --> 00:47:48.617 along the side was it was kind of a little bit the layering, the 00:47:48.650 --> 00:47:52.546 horizontal layering which makes it look like a seven story building sat 00:47:52.579 --> 00:47:58.847 upon by a 00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:03.807 one of the things that always bugged me about the design of that was the 00:48:03.840 --> 00:48:07.637 fact that the half moon windows 00:48:07.670 --> 00:48:14.807 that surround the rear of the building, That architectural feature was not 00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:21.407 extended out to carry that design element to tie it into the building. And 00:48:21.440 --> 00:48:25.356 this was not done and it didn't have to be elaborated and just be a little 00:48:25.389 --> 00:48:30.997 suggestion of that. And I've never forgiven them or not. And by then it 00:48:31.030 --> 00:48:36.986 was who we actually brought in to design that portion. So it stayed true 00:48:37.019 --> 00:48:41.327 to the integrity of Mr Wright's initial vision. I mean yeah, they were 00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:46.307 only involved in in the design of that and I still wanted to punch their 00:48:46.340 --> 00:48:48.736 lights out. 00:48:48.769 --> 00:48:55.197 Um So we built this store route during its construction, we were in 00:48:55.230 --> 00:48:57.477 production 00:48:57.510 --> 00:49:05.510 what a mess, but they didn't shut us down. Most of the major work was done 00:49:06.969 --> 00:49:13.336 semester between semesters, semester break over the summer, whatever 00:49:13.369 --> 00:49:21.369 I had to cut out an entire floor, right are just a story uh on the second 00:49:22.739 --> 00:49:27.606 level. Had to cut all that out, all the utilities, the air conditioning, 00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:32.876 the pipe work that was underneath that floor had to be raised up another 00:49:32.909 --> 00:49:40.909 level. Ah So there was a lot of work involved and then just devising a way 00:49:41.820 --> 00:49:46.017 of picking up this 100 ton thing that's designed to move like a 00:49:46.050 --> 00:49:53.617 telescoping drinking cup this way, pick it up and move it this way. Uh It 00:49:53.650 --> 00:49:58.727 was quite a quite an engineering feat. Uh George Eisenhower, one of the 00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:01.756 original designers of the show, was involved with that project because 00:50:01.789 --> 00:50:05.747 many people don't realize George neither Mr right nor president damage 00:50:05.780 --> 00:50:10.307 lived to see Gammage completed. And George Eisenhower actually did the 00:50:10.340 --> 00:50:15.146 acoustic completion and some of the interior and for news and of course 00:50:15.179 --> 00:50:20.217 was the acquisition who actually was the one who, who set the shape of the 00:50:20.250 --> 00:50:23.126 interior walls. 00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:31.159 Yeah. And uh huh plaster 00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:36.727 korean. That was very new person who did that and that's Eddie. He had 00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:39.356 figured out mathematically what the Reverb time would be and I think he 00:50:39.389 --> 00:50:43.477 was off by by a 10th of a point or something like that. He was very, very 00:50:43.510 --> 00:50:50.006 good. Very good. Do you have I think the other a large proportion of your 00:50:50.039 --> 00:50:53.977 life which we have not touched upon are the number of students that you 00:50:54.010 --> 00:50:58.416 have influenced over the years and we've got to see and hear from many of 00:50:58.449 --> 00:51:05.097 them when we celebrated your retirement. So you gotta pay homage or say a 00:51:05.130 --> 00:51:09.206 few things about that because many of them, some, you started off into the 00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:13.927 tech business and someone, some of them, you chased out of it 00:51:13.960 --> 00:51:18.727 about everything I was able to accomplish. 00:51:18.760 --> 00:51:24.927 I was able to accomplish because of their talents and their abilities 00:51:24.960 --> 00:51:28.227 more so than anything that I did. 00:51:28.260 --> 00:51:34.427 So I am beholden to all of us. 00:51:34.460 --> 00:51:38.267 A lot of times, I would just be the person backstage saying this is what 00:51:38.300 --> 00:51:43.827 we need to do next and they're the ones that would do it. 00:51:43.860 --> 00:51:48.477 If I try to do it, I'd probably screw it up. Don't tell my boss. I said, 00:51:48.510 --> 00:51:51.626 yeah. 00:51:51.659 --> 00:51:59.659 Uh, but yeah, you just, you owe what you've been able to accomplish two in 00:52:00.829 --> 00:52:06.316 every case and yeah, we've, we've had, we've had some students come 00:52:06.349 --> 00:52:10.876 through here, There's been dogs, you know, it just didn't work out and 00:52:10.909 --> 00:52:16.316 that's because they came here thinking 00:52:16.349 --> 00:52:21.967 or seeking the romance of the job. I mean, yes, I'm working with the stars 00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:30.000 and all this stuff And after they have pushed the 10th box up the ramp At 00:52:30.530 --> 00:52:37.807 2:00 AM, the romance of the job, it's going out the window, right? And 00:52:37.840 --> 00:52:41.117 they realize it's hard work. 00:52:41.150 --> 00:52:46.347 Uh, and then, you know, so they would leave and that's fine. The students 00:52:46.380 --> 00:52:54.017 who were bitten by the bug stick around, 00:52:54.050 --> 00:52:58.566 some were just truly dedicated. There were years where we had just this 00:52:58.599 --> 00:53:04.256 core crew of a small number of students who are on the five or six year 00:53:04.289 --> 00:53:07.416 plan, I must say, 00:53:07.449 --> 00:53:10.316 um, 00:53:10.349 --> 00:53:13.967 that, that they did everything, you know, somebody's gonna fall spot, 00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:17.577 anyone of them could do that. And it was just, and we just got all 00:53:17.610 --> 00:53:22.247 accomplished with, with a court group. A lot of them have become technical 00:53:22.280 --> 00:53:25.617 directors and other facilities. 00:53:25.650 --> 00:53:32.396 We've had some people come here just out of curiosity, having virtually 00:53:32.429 --> 00:53:37.217 little or no theater background at all, 00:53:37.250 --> 00:53:45.250 um, who got bit, they have that stick to itiveness and that drive ah and 00:53:46.300 --> 00:53:49.816 willingness to learn and they have become 00:53:49.849 --> 00:53:55.307 excellent technicians in, in their own right. So yeah, you, you all are to 00:53:55.340 --> 00:54:00.456 those people, I think it's, it's marvelous. I also know that in this kind 00:54:00.489 --> 00:54:06.677 of work, everyone becomes family. Oh sure everyone does. And we were very 00:54:06.710 --> 00:54:12.046 fortunate Over the 17 years, I've been here to watch our family grow. You 00:54:12.079 --> 00:54:19.867 met Caroline here, who was that a techie and one day said to us, I'm going 00:54:19.900 --> 00:54:24.477 to make her my wife and we had the opportunity to all participate in that 00:54:24.510 --> 00:54:29.686 way. That was a great blessing. And she left us much too soon if she 00:54:29.719 --> 00:54:37.307 didn't, but she was and we, We, we have 10 years together. 00:54:37.340 --> 00:54:41.347 I, yeah, I met her, she was, she was on the student crew. I was a 00:54:41.380 --> 00:54:48.447 confirmed bachelor at the time shocked us all. She, she shocked me. She 00:54:48.480 --> 00:54:55.206 was more determined than, than I thought she was. Um, but 00:54:55.239 --> 00:54:58.776 we, we, we shared a lot and, and of course she, she works in other 00:54:58.809 --> 00:55:02.657 facilities around the, around the valley. So she was very active in 00:55:02.690 --> 00:55:10.006 technical, just a fun person. Is there anything we haven't covered? Ah 00:55:10.039 --> 00:55:16.876 45 years, 45 minutes. And I think Clyde enclosing one of the great joys 00:55:16.909 --> 00:55:21.557 that I have In the 17 years here has been when I've traveled around the 00:55:21.590 --> 00:55:25.867 world and people have said, you know, there was a tech director damage. He 00:55:25.900 --> 00:55:29.977 was there a long time ago. His name was Clyde Parker. I said he's still 00:55:30.010 --> 00:55:35.256 there and they're high school, he's still there, he's still there. And I 00:55:35.289 --> 00:55:41.006 think Clyde, you will always still be here and we advantage at A. S. U. 00:55:41.039 --> 00:55:48.807 And our community are all the better for it. Thank you for that. 00:55:48.840 --> 00:55:51.170 Very good.