Dear South Florida Volunteers,
We know how you feel.
Now that the smell of the pyro smoke has faded away, you begin to wonder if it really happened, yet you know it did. So much time, drama and feelings invested and it is over in less than 15 minutes.
You are happy and you are sad. So are we. Just another part of show business. It happens to us as well. On every gig. This part is always shot through with joy and sadness. It is also, in show business as in life, inevitable.
We have returned to our homes or to another project. Your beloved staging carts and radials have been stripped of their state-of-the-art electronics. The wheels and some re-usable parts are in the back of two semi’s somewhere between Sun Life Stadium and Carmillo, California. The rest of it has been dismantled, cut to pieces and fills six 60 yard dumpsters somewhere in Miami-Dade County.
You did an incredible job. Everyone was very pleased and for that, the credit goes to many, but it could not have happened without you. Of that, one can be certain.
We hope you made new friendships or renewed old ones. Many Halftime cart crews still get together on a regular basis, especially around Super Bowl time.
As we all go forward, try to remember a few things we shared.
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The value of stories. The human mind is not made for emails and instant messages which say C U soon or luv U 2. It is hard-wired for stories and what they teach us. We are hopeful you have a few Super Bowl stories of your own.
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How to stand around and wait and wait and wait. (We call this standing still at breakneck speed.)
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Drink water. It is good for you.
- The most critical measurements in this show, the precise positioning of the stage and video screens, were made using a yellow nylon truck strap.
- What it feels like to unplug from the Internet, cell phone, iPod, Facebook, MySpace, twitter, TV and video games for a while and look into the eyes of another human being. See them. Feel their presence. To mutually strive for and accomplish a very complex and difficult task, under the most rigid of timelines, at absolute ground zero of the hottest, most intensely focused media spotlight in the television world. The Who was there with us. That place where magic is.
I received this email, as did the rest of the entire SB XLIV Halftime Show staff, from Ricky Kirshner, Executive Producer of the Halftime Show (our immediate boss). We share it with his permission. It was sent to us, but is pertinent to you as well.
As I go through my emails from many different people expressing how great tonight's show was, from lighting to scenic to lasers to pyro to rockin tunes, etc etc.
I know that none of that happens without a fantastic team.
So, I want to thank you all for a great experience. There were many new elements in this show, and many new people too.
The integration of those elements and people is a tribute to all of us...and making it all happen in limited time is a tribute to the team all coming together.
Thank you for a great EXEPERIENCE as well as a great show!!!
You all are the best at what you do.
Ricky
And this one from Roy Lamb, The Who Production Manager
Hi
On behalf of the Who crew I would like to thank everyone for your help, co-operation and expertise. I think the team all jelled really well to produce an outstanding spectacle.
Well done everyone !!
Roy
Thanks, again South Florida Volunteers. We are crazy about you!
-Cap Spence-
Staging Supervisor
On behalf of the Staging Team: Tony Hauser, Marcus Lopez, Glen Ingram, Graeme Lagden, Doug Cook, George McPherson, Aaron Chawla, Hans Wert, and TJ Iannacco, the Volunteer Team; Bryan Ransom, Holly Silber, Casey Henry, and the ENTIRE production STAFF AND CREW
THANK YOU! SEE YOU IN DALLAS??!!
