Alice in Chains Video

You may remember that I posted last week about the Alice in Chains project.  Although I included linkes to several videos in that post, I just found out about another great video from their current tour, so I thought I’d post a brief update.  The video is a great compilation of scenes from the show.

And while I’m at it, here is another great photo!

Design: Mike Baldassari @ Mike-O-Matic Industries www.mike-o-matic.com;  Photo By: “Iron” Mike – SavoiaPhotography.com

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Alice in Chains Project

In late January, we worked on an interesting project for the 2010 tour of Alice in Chains.  The primary pieces that we made were a series of Single and Double Kabukis. 

The Double Kabuki, at 25′ h x 45′ w, was made out of Silver Poly Silk, and then the 5 Upstage Single Kabukis (all at 22′ h and ranging in width from 10′ w to 44′ w) were of a silver textured satin.  We also made a number of pieces for the stage (drum riser, amp panels and floor light coverlets) out of Black 16oz Commando Cloth lined with Aluminum Mesh, as well as some black masking drapes. 

Design: Mike Baldassari @ Mike-O-Matic Industries www.mike-o-matic.com;  Photo By: “Iron” Mike – SavoiaPhotography.com

Rent What? also provided some pieces, including a Classic Theatre Header (Red) from their Timeless and Traditional Series, along with a number of Borders in Black 15oz Encore, and furnished the 44 piece Solenoid System with controllers (used with the Kabuki Drapes).  Check out the Classic Theatre Header in this photo:

Design: Mike Baldassari @ Mike-O-Matic Industries www.mike-o-matic.com;  Photo By: “Iron” Mike – SavoiaPhotography.com

We were all really proud of how the pieces turned out, but you never know how the client will react.  Well, I am happy to report that the client loved them!  Yesterday, Megan received a thank you letter from Mike Baldassari, Production Designer for Alice in Chains, and it is such a great letter that I have to share a little bit of it: 

Dear Megan,

I’m writing to again say thank you for all of your help, hard work, expertise and most especially your “do whatever it takes” attitude in support of Alice in Chains’ current tour…. I was also impressed with the quality, workmanship and organization of the delivery of the goods that Sew What built.  You have my sincere gratitude for a job very well done, and I look forward to working with you and Sew What on other projects as well in the near future.

Best Regards,

Mike Baldassari

It is so rewarding to get such positive feedback from our clients, and to be able to share it with our employees, especially those who worked so hard on this project.

By the way, if you’d like to see Alice in Chains in action, with some of our drapery providing the backdrop, I found several videos on YouTube.  I think this one highlights (yet again) how perfect silver / gray fabric is for projection, whereas this one shows the drapery in its actual silver color at the start of the video and then shows how it can become almost any color with the proper lighting (you can also see some of the mesh pieces on stage in this video).

Note: Want to see a Kabuki Drape in action?  Check out this video.

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Focus On: Poor Man’s Kabuki

Previously, I told you about the Single Kabuki and the Double Kabuki.  Now, as promised, here is the scoop on what is commonly called the Poor Man’s Kabuki.

Also called a Tearaway, a Poor Man’s Kabuki has two parts – the kabuki-style drape and the header.  The drape is sewn with loop velcro at the top in back.  Then, to make the header, a piece of webbing (usually 3″ wide) and a piece of hook velcro (usually 2″ wide) are cut to the same size as the width of the drape (for example, if the drape is 50 feet wide, a 50 foot piece of webbing and a 50 foot piece of velcro would be used). 

The velcro is then sewn onto the webbing, leaving room at the top of the webbing to add grommets and ties (which are usually spaced every 12″, aka 12″ on center). 

The header is attached to the top of the kabuki-style drape via the velcro and then the drape is hung on truss above the stage.  When it is time to “drop” (remove) the drape, someone from the crew pulls the drape – because the drape is attached to the header by velcro only, the drape releases from the header and falls to the ground.  The crew quickly bundles up the drape and takes it offstage.  At the end of the show, the webbing header is untied from the truss and stuck back onto the drape in preparation for the next show.

When would a Poor Man’s Kabuki be used rather than a traditional single or double kabuki?  Generally when the purpose of the drape is to hide a second band’s equipment while the first band is onstage in front of the drape.  Once the first band has left the stage and their equipment has been cleared, the crew member quickly pulls down the drape to reveal the second band behind it.

Yes, this could be done with a Single Kabuki – however, a traditional kabuki system is more expensive and more complicated to set up, since it uses a solenoid system – and so a solenoid-based kabuki system is generally overkill in a simple “hide the second band” situation.  The Poor Man’s Kabuki isn’t meant to be used for dramatic reveals, but more as a masking piece.

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Focus On: Single Kabuki Drapes

Picture this.  You are at a concert.  The opening act has just finished playing, and the crew has removed all of the band’s instruments and equipment, leaving only the drape that the band played in front of.  The music starts, signalling that the main act is about to appear.  Suddenly, the headlining band appears on stage, as if from nowhere.  What just happenned?  Another piece of stage magic, called the Kabuki. 

There are two types of Kabukis, the Single Kabuki and the Double Kabuki, but they both work on the same principle – the use of electrically-powered magnetic systems called solenoids.  A solenoid resembles a small box with a pin sticking out.  A series of small solenoid boxes are attached in a daisy-chain row on a truss.  At one end, this chain of solenoids is plugged into electricity and attached to a controller switch.

For a Single Kabuki, the drape is sewn with loop velcro on the top, on both front and back.  D-Ring Velcro attachments are then made by taking a single piece of hook velcro, looping it through the flat edge of the D-Ring (with the hook side facing in), and then sewing the Velcro together tight to the edge.  This leaves a D-Ring with an upside-down V-shaped piece of Velcro attached.

The D-Rings are then attached to the top of the Kabuki Drape by sandwiching the top of the drape, with its loop velcro on both front and back, with the hook velcro on the D-Ring.  (Think of the Velcro on the D-rings as the bread and the top of the drape as the filling).  The result is a drape with adjustable D-Rings across the top.  Adjustability is key as solenoid placement on the truss can vary, and it is essential that the drapery D-Rings line up to the solenoid.  This is why this velcro system is generally used, rather than sewing the D-rings directly to the top of the Kabuki.  The best thing about using a Velcro D-ring is that the drop can be manually pulled down if a solenoid fails to release.

The Single Kabuki is then hung on the solenoid pins, appearing to the audience just the same as any other drape.  However, when the time comes to reveal to the audience what is behind the drape, the crew pushes a switch.  The switch causes the pins to retract and, as a result, the pins release the D-rings and the Kabuki drops to the ground.  And the band appears as if from nowhere.

So that’s a Single Kabuki.  I’ll tell about two other similar pieces, the Double Kabuki and the Poor Man’s Kabuki (also called a Tear-Away) in a future post.

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