Spring Racing Carnival Final Planning

[Ehn Farad]

Actually Kro that's been a bit of a pet peeve of mine too. We seem to stand on top of each other a lot, and our instruments cut into each other, etc. and I think it looks unprofessional and immersion-breaking as well. There's no reason why we should be so tightly cramped. I think it should be a standard that we set, to never cross into each other's space and if we do, to move. Ideally we should also stand in such a way that every player can be seen by the audience.

I think it's a good idea for us to practice this. If not for the racing carnival, definitely for Weatherstock.

[Ice Weasel]

A lot of bands that I've worked with or guested for use the patterns on the stage to help space. Harder when it's wood planking, but for the tile patterns, each character has a whole square, at least. With Starlight, we actually drilled for a cumulative hour on "hitting our mark", and Lilikate did an image file with the overhead view of the stage with each place labeled. Granted, that's sort of over-kill, but shows how seriously some take it.

I think in terms of animations. I think the Theorbo is the instrument needing the most space, so if we were at least "a Theo-neck" apart... I think that would look better. That avoids the Horn-in-the-head the front row gets, too. LOL

[Ehn Farad]

And the Theorbo could always be on the far left so that it sticks out into thin air, instead of into other people. :)

[Ice Weasel]

I just learned that Andune Ensemble, who will play 4:30 - 5pm Servertime for the Riding Team Demonstration at Horsefields will be playing a version of  "Calling Baton Rouge".

There's half an hour in the schedule between that and the start of the Rodeo at Hengstacer Farms (our Sore Thumbs set).

 

[Briallan]

Well, no argument on the issue that we should stand so that our animations don't conflict with each others. I'll think more about on how we should stand and when/who will be on horses, since we should work out something before the concert if possible. If we have one character (Jebbob?) playing theo during the whole concert that issue would be easier to manage.

Thanks, the fact that someone else will be playing a version of Calling Baton Rouge is good info.

[Ehn Farad]

Yeah, I'm sure we can wing it on Saturday and then do some more dedicated placement testing and practising leading up to Weatherstock.

[Briallan]

I have added a spreadsheet to the song folder with proposed song status for the Saturday show .. with a key indicating what the status designations mean (at the bottom of the sheet).

The question mark after a status means that the song might be still be cut depending on various issues. You can comment on the status in this thread, or via PM or email to me, if you think something should have a different status than it currently has.

I will contact the transcribers of some particular songs individually where I have some particular issues I would like to discuss about those songs.

EDIT: setlist needs to be finalized soon, so please provide any feedback by 6PM EDT Thursday.

[Ehn Farad]

This looks good to me. Thanks for all your hard work!

[Briallan]

OK! After last night's mini music test play session, and further discussion with band members and Kiralynn, the spreadsheet in the song folder has been updated to reflect the final cut of songs -- but I do not have the song order for the main concert yet (the song order is set for Bree Cup).

We have 26 songs scheduled for the main concert. Since I know that Kro and perhaps others have definite ideas about song order and pacing, I will hold off till tonite to let people weigh in on that if they want to .. if I don't get any feedback by this evening, I will just go ahead and create the order for the main concert at that point.

Then, all we need to do on Friday, I think, is to set the announcements (hoping Kro will do that, but if he's too busy with his other concert preparations, I will do it if no one else wants to do it), and hopefully get together for a comedy routine run-thru.

[Briallan]

And .. here are the details on the Bree Cup and concert flow:

First we will set up in the yellow area in the Procession picture below. We need to avoid the hobbit NPC carrying water back and forth.We will play some music to draw the crowd (Chariots of Fire and Ben Hur Prelude), then the racers will enter from behind the house and cross in front of us along the path shown by the red arrow while we play Parade of the Charioteers - we may play this piece twice if things get delayed and the whole procession takes longer than expected. The idea is that the crowd will be in the pink area, so there will be a path for the racers between the band and the crowd. The racers will proceed to the starting line (off screen), and Kiralynn will start the race.

Once the race starts, we will move south and set up at a point off to the side of finish line, marked by the yellow box in the Finish picture below. The race should take about 4 minutes, 20 seconds (so we have a few minutes to get down there and hopefully bring the crowd along with us), and at the finish the racers will race in thru the gate along the path shown by the red arrow. Hopefully the crowd will be in the pink areas and not get in the racers way. We will stay here and play our 'interlude' music -- however we need to make sure we don't start playing the interlude music until after the first 5 or 6 racers cross the finish line, since otherwise the racers may be annoyed by the lag our music causes.

When they are ready for the award ceremony we will move back up to the original position we were in for the procession, and play the final piece Chariot Race Music Long. Then we will stay here and play the concert -- the pyro team from LMB will set up in the blue areas and set off fireworks behind us for the first 10 minutes or so of the concert.

 

Here's a youtube video by Kiralynn advertising the event!

 

Procession

 

 

Finish

 

[Ice Weasel]

Cool deal.

The actual race time won't need announcing, of course, but I'm ASSuming that I will announce during the Concert at the end of the day?

Also... about our placement "on stage"... I've usually taken the down-stage-left position, so I can stand out on announcements, but I think I really need to be down-stage-right, instead.  That would open DSL for the Theorbo player, as well as positioning my "good ear" to the band, which means I can hear the VOX line better when I'm singing. (I'm stone deaf in my right, and while I mix my audio into the left earphone, I think the character picks audio up stronger to the ear they have to the music, so I would get a clearer feed using Kro's left ear. Some of that is conjecture, but some is based on turning different ways during rehearsals.)

I know you asked for final comments by tonight, Bri; does that mean you will have the set list up by Friday?  I'll need the list in order to write the announcement file.

Deep breath, everyone, and forward into the weekend!

[Briallan]

Yes my plan is that you would do the announcments as you usually do during the concert. I do not see any need for announcements during the Bree Cup .. except that you might want to announce some or all songs during the interlude portion of it (e.g. for the Tenbrook5 song for example).

Your placement ideas seem fine to me. We should put some people in the back row on horseback during the interlude section of the Bree Cup (as was discussed earlier).

Yes, I will have song order done by sometime tonight so that it will be ready by first thing Friday AM.

[Ice Weasel]

Awesome.

I'll watch for it.

Would you believe that, with all my cosmetic slots "unlocked" I now have only the "Equipped Gear" and one other slot open, after setting costumes for the weekend? LOL

Krohkur may spend Tuesday at the beach in Evendim, drinking... well, whatever seriously strong drink the Evendimmers make with fruit and umbrellas in it.

(Actually... I haven't had time to actually adventure with any of my nine characters for about two weeks.  )

Did I mention that NEXT Friday is another big gig with Abby/Vanimor? And Saturday following is the first rehearsal for TSO Swing Band then Full Orchestra? /faint

[Ehn Farad]

Yeah, that all sounds crazy. I totally empathize with your situation. I have currently got on my list:

• Two livestream transcripts from today and yesterday that each take probably 3 to 4 hours
• The tumbling act to finish blocking out and create the files for
• Jokes, banter and comedy to fill up some time during the other parts of the performance, perhaps a sketch although I'm going cold on that idea just because of the complexity and time left
• Song files for the songs I will be doing as part of the Sore Thumbs stuff
• A fair bit of Council stuff to put some effort into in the next few days

At this particular moment I have no idea how one little me is going to get all this done. hehe.

I haven't been able to actually play the game for ages. I am really starting to miss it. Can't wait until this weekend is over so I can relax and lay low for a bit, maybe actually login to my characters and run around Middle Earth a bit.

[Briallan]

Here is my understanding of who is doing what lyrics .. Kro and Rho please respond to fill in missing details so I can do parts assignements (its usually better if the person singing the lyrics is not playing an instrument with their mouth at the same time) and correct any wrong information

Tenbrooks                               Krohkur
Beer for my Horses                  Krohkur
Boot Scooting Boogie               Krohkur
City of New Orleans                 Rhovanael
Kawliga                                  Rhovanael
North to Alaska                       Rhovanael
This Kiss                                 Briallan          
Mama's Don't                          Krohkur
Bubba Shot                             Krohkur
Dont Fence Me In                    Krohkur         
LoneStarAmazed                     Krohkur 
she's in love with..                   Krokhur
Streets of Laredo                     Jebbob
Brooks Rodeo                          Krohkur
Snowbird                                Rhovanael

This post has been UPDATED according to updated discussion following in this thread