Quiet Before the Idol Storm

It's been an eclectic weekend with lots of nice things happening. I made it to SSK on Saturday where I caught up with Peter, down from Armidale, and Lara and Emily and the usual SSK suspects. I then went on to work slightly late because I misread the roster but I think that was subconsciously intentional.

I thought I was just in to prep the bigger-than-Ben-Hur Australian Idol scream feast but got a bit of a shock to find I was operating a full SSO Rachmaninov performance conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy!

Another case of me being on the ball - not. I must say it was a stunning performance even to such a Philistine as myself, the piano concerto was exceptional and the choral piece was awesome. Bigpond supposedly webcast it but I can't get the link to work-I'm not sure if it was just a one-off live stream.

After this pleasant bit of entertainment - with knitting of course - I then had a few hours of Idol frenzy as the rigging crew swarmed over the stage with road cases full of chain motors, hardware and lengths of truss. Even though I was pushing a few 'meat racks' full of Par Cans myself and carrying bits of rigging equipment for the one Audience Bar the SOH crew was responsible for (don't know why the strange demarcation) I felt such a girly wuss around the serious faced roadies with attitude - and that's just the women. I suppose you've got to walk the walk and have a bit of 'tude to make it in the Crewing industry.

The images show the SOH forecourt at 1230 am - before the screaming fans descended to see their Idol wannabe win or lose. It was a very peaceful sight (and site) with lots of interesting shadows and colours and a nice cool breeze off the harbour.

I think I'm a bit like Sir Humphrey from Yes Minister who liked his hospitals without patients - I like my Theatres without punters.