Chapter 14 -- The Videos - Show 2 - Cameras, Cameras, Everywhere
As announced earlier there was going to be some videos shot during the concert tour. It was going to be one more product that Bill could add to the business. "The Girls Playground Music Inc." would be doing more than just music. The first release would be on tape but as soon as the DVD format gelled, Bill was already planning on that medium as well.
They all sat down before the second show which was the first to have cameras on the stage. The girls were a little concerned about the camera people getting in the way, but Kenny, the video producer, assured them that the camera people doing the handheld work would be away from them as much as possible doing close in shots using a zoom feature on the cameras, but they would get close at times. The "trainees" would not be doing any close in work.
He told them if there was an issue during these preliminary tests, to point them out so that it could be fixed for the later "live" runs. The close in guys are all professionals and this isn't their first rodeo, they know what they're doing and have no problem dealing with the musician's requests.
After the video briefing the band all sat down to review the play list for the second show to make sure it was adequate for a video run. For videos they wanted to make sure that they played some relatively difficult music showing what they could do. After about a two-hour discussion they came up with the following list that they were all happy with.
Show 2 Set 1 41:18
The Feeling Begins - Peter Gabriel
Strange Brew - Cream
Lady - Beck, Bogart & Apice
Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees
Heart of Glass - Blondie
The House is Rockin' - Brian Setzer -- Big Band version
For What it's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Forty Thousand Headmen - Traffic
Jamie's Cryin' - Van Halen
Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
My Future's So Bright... - Timbuk3
Low Rider - War
Show 2 Set 2 41:24
Freedom '90 - George Michael
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
Lola - Kinks --- Sing along
Playin' with the Boys - Kenny Loggins
Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey
Whatever gets you through the night - John Lennon
Forbidden Fruit - Leah West
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Show 2 Set 3 42:45
Fanfare for the common man - ELP
Timothy Leary - Moody Blues
Dance Sister Dance - Santana
Dueling Banjos - From Deliverance - Done by Heather and Maryanne/switching once
Beach Boys Medley 22:37
Be True To Your School
Dance, Dance, Dance
Catch a Wave
Little Deuce Coupe
Fun, Fun, Fun
Shut Down
Surfin' Safari
Surfin' USA
Surfer Girl
In My Room
California Girls
Encore - (2) 13:08
Walking towards Paradise - Robert Plant
Dust in the Wind - Kansas
Where Have all the Flowers Gone - Kingston Trio
Find the Cost of Freedom - CSN (Acoustic) -- Vocals a Capella
In choosing that list their level of difficulty went up tenfold from the first show the night before. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Moody Blues, Big Band music, Stairway to Heaven, Won't get Fooled Again were all very musically intense pieces. Chelly would be spotlighted on much of it because ELP was orchestrated with synth, Moody Blues would have to be synth for the orchestra, and she'd have to play the orchestral part of the Big Band selection. Then Heather would be featured in Stairway to Heaven. Chell was also going to play the simple synth routine in "Won't Get Fooled Again" which the Who couldn't seem to do without a tape player on the stage. Everybody was going to be highlighted on that piece including Bob.
Show number two in San Francisco was upping the ante by a lot, but the girls were excited about the program. They knew the music cold and it was challenging which really brought out the best and made them shine the brightest. Those lucky enough to have been able to get tickets for both shows were going to be stunned by the second show. If they thought they were impressed Friday night, wait until things play out on Saturday night.
Videos would introduce the girls to people that couldn't get to a concert or afford tickets. As quickly as the shows were selling out there was a demand that live shows couldn't meet, at least on a schedule that Bob was willing to put the girls on.
Bob was being very careful to make sure Bill didn't over schedule the girls live performances. Bill being on the tour with them helped him keep his perspective. Bob knows how easy it is to get "burned out" on the road. The last band had taken on a fourteen-month two hundred eighty-show tour, which almost had them in a different city every night. It's one of the things that caused the band to split up.
That tour had been so grueling that by the end all the members were at each other's throats. The petty bickering wore them down more than anything else for the last few months of the tour. Oh, they made a LOT of money, but at what cost?
There was no way Bob was going to allow that to happen this time for any amount of money. Bill and Bob didn't really need any more money. The girls were quite happy with the income they were already getting from their talents. There was no reason to burn them out with overly ambitious tours. The prospect of the international "Around the World" tour was daunting enough, and he knew the weeks they were going to schedule in Hawaii would be badly needed by the time that tour was over. He had warned the girls about over extending, and they took it to heart, so when Bill scheduled four short tours a year, they were not unhappy. Each tour was between two and eight weeks and had eighteen to twenty five shows. The girls still made a lot of money but held on to their sanity. Some will argue the point but money can't buy your sanity back, and even if it could, what's it worth?
So to meet the demand of the public, bring on videos.
They started acclimating the girls to a camera crew at the second show. There was a hand full of roadies that didn't have any activities once they had set up their assigned equipment, so they were given instruction on doing camera work. There would be at least 18 cameras shooting the highest quality video that was possible at the time.
Eighteen cameras you ask? Yes eighteen cameras.
They wanted to capture everything they could get so that the producer would have a multitude of shots to cut with. There were three cameras in front of the stage, one on the right, one on the left and one in the center. Those cameras were duplicated further back in the venue, usually much higher up and into the balcony of the hall. Those six cameras were on remotely controlled X-Y-Z axis mounts so that the video "producer" could sit in the booth, move and focus each individually with a joystick and a knob.
There were to be another three cameras that were on the X-Y-Z axis mounts that were to either side and slightly behind and above Janell to be able to catch all of her drum action as well as other activities on the stage. There was also one on the same kind of mount directly behind and way above Janell that could pan the entire stage and audience.
Something Jan never compromised or really thought about until the first video came out for their review was what she wore to work. There were a few chuckles, but about the middle of the second set it was very obvious that Jan was soaking in sweat. It was also noticed that she was constantly drinking from the water bottles or Gatorade. It gave everyone an additional appreciation of Jan's abilities and physical condition. The young woman worked her ass off every performance. Afterwards she was as "bouncy" and energized as during the first few numbers of the show and that was after two and a half hours of work. She was soaked to the skin, but not even breathing hard.
The other nine or ten cameras were hand held. Five were in the control of "professional camera people" and the newly trained roadies would handle the other four.
Each hand held would be "steered" by the producer using a small radio link to each individual. When he wanted a particular shot, he'd call the camera that he'd staged for that area of the stage and tell them what he wanted. That camera would do what was requested until the producer confirmed it was in the right place and to hold the shot for now. The inexperienced road crew personnel handled these kinds of shots from a distance, but by the fourth show, they were also veterans of camera work and it showed in the video quality obtained. They certainly weren't pros yet, but their work improved at each show, and by the end of the tour Kenny alluded to being able to use them for other camera work.
Those four roadies were filming every concert. The rest of the crew didn't always come to all the shows and what the four roadies did was fill work. Similar to an audio fill-in, video works the same way. The overall producer would give them a list of things he'd like for them to capture so that at the end of the tour it could all be mixed into a cohesive film. The fixed 10 cameras were also at each show, and Billy would manipulate them at times to focus in on something that was happening so that the producer would have that to look at and use if he wanted. It turned out that Bill was pretty good at working with video as well as audio.
One of the problems the video crews and producer had was that the girls didn't play the same music or sequence at each show. The exceptions were the encore and the Beach Boys Medleys. Some of the tunes they did were repeated in those thirty scripted sets, but not very many, so if the producer needed a fill in for a specific song he'd ask the girls to play it at some point in the show. They would always insert it somewhere so the cameras could get the shots. They also managed to tell the camera people before hand where the tune would be in the sequence so they could be ready to fill the producers request.
Individual close ups were done by the 5 professional camera operators. They were familiar with how to get close in shots of each musician without disturbing or distracting them.
It was interesting to watch the girl's reactions to having cameras that first time. Bob thought Maryanne was going to falter during the opening because the camera was nearly in her face to catch her playing the doudouk, but she managed to ignore the distraction and carried it off perfectly. She did mention it after the show.
After each show the entire crew would meet and discuss the methods, what worked, what didn't, and this was the opportunity for the girls to express their feelings about having a camera that close while she was playing. Adjustments were made, so that some of the close ups were done with zoom equipment so the operator could stand back a little further allowing the subject to play without having to worry about running into a camera.
That made a big difference in the process of filming, so when all the raw video was reviewed and the music mixed with it no one would know that the camera was fifteen feet away when it showed a close up of one of the girls faces during a tune. There were times when the camera had to be close to get the effect, but the girls knew ahead that the cameraman was going to move in close so were ready for the intrusion. It all worked very well in the end.
You would think that the girls were professional actresses the way they handled the camera crews after about the third or fourth go around. They seemed oblivious to the filming going on and just did their "act" the way they would if there wasn't a film crew crawling all over the stage. If you asked them, they would tell you that they just ignored the cameras. Their comment was, "even when they were "in our face", we were busy doing something, so it was fairly easy to just "pretend" that they weren't there.
Of course it took a few shows before they could do that, but it was the reason Bob and Bill had scheduled the beginning at show two. They wanted the girls to be very comfortable with the camera when it came time to do the "complete show" video."
Other than Jan, none of them was particularly over active while playing; I mean Heather didn't jump around like Pete Townsend. Chelly and Maryanne were a bit more animated, but they had varying things to do. Bob? Ever see John Entwistle? For the most part that's about all the action you got from Bob, but like anything there were exceptions, but it seemed it was part of the "fun" act they did because they'd all dance around together.
They also played to each other as much as they played for the audience, and it was very obvious that the entire band really enjoyed what they were doing. Bob sang songs to each of the girls at some point. Everly Brothers, "Let It Be Me", Jefferson Airplane, "Today", and a multitude of others. The girls would sing certain songs to him as well making it obvious, even to a casual observer, that there were a lot of feelings between the band members.
They talked about filming the instrument swap medley just to see what it looked like. They would bring the film crew into their "Playground" to do the filming on the medley. Playroom three was large enough that the camera crew could work it like a stage. The fixed cameras were no problem either, so there was some consistency in the look. That session could be used as an extra on a tape, but when DVD's were out they could put all kinds of things on a disk. It would have to be a two-tape set, but that's all right, it would bring more income.
Then it was on to Seattle, Portland, San Diego and LA before returning to San Francisco to close out the tour. Maryanne's folks attended the second San Diego show while Judy, with Janell's mom and brother, attended the second show in LA. All thoroughly enjoyed the performances their daughters had put on and were beaming with pride when the shows were over.
In San Diego, the Ellis' danced around backstage with the roadies and probably passed a doobie around with the group while enjoying the performance. They seemed to be pretty stoned by the end of the show and Maryanne just looked at them and laughed.
Looking at her father with a big grin she asked, "Enjoy the show stony?"
He sheepishly looked at her and nodded his head with a huge "shit eating grin" on his face. Must have been a "Sativa" and not an "Indica"...
In LA Michelle and Janell's moms were a little more subdued, but not a whole lot! It was very apparent that all the parents were having a lot of fun.
It was during the second night of the fourth stop, in Los Angeles they ran through an entire filming sequence. They tried a couple of the things they had been working on to see how they played on video. This was to be the "first" live video that was supposed to be recorded for release, but the last show in SF was the targeted performance in reality. All the other stuff was practice to get the girls used to cameras.
Most of that practice video wasn't usable but there were a couple numbers they did in Seattle that were priceless and would either make the "show" video or be one of the out take bonus extras.
One was an interchange between Michelle and Maryanne. They were both doing the keyboards, Michelle working the synth while Maryanne played it straight at least in the beginning. Bob and the others didn't know that they had practiced this so it was a total surprise when they began their "act". Bob and Heather were both blown away by the routine and Janell, unflappable Janell, just played right with it like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
While Chelly was playing a section, Maryanne switched her Korg into synth mode. Chelly had made sure that hers and Annie's were set up exactly the same and when they started their fun they got precisely the reaction from Heather and Bob they had expected.
When Maryanne had switched her Korgs into synth mode she began to play "Battle of the Synths" with Michelle. The body language between them was priceless as each tried to one up the other, but the whole thing was totally scripted by the two of them.
When Bob heard the "conflict" happening he looked over to see the two of them playing at each other drawing Heather's eyes to the pair as well. In disbelief both Bob and Heather stopped playing, almost simultaneously they were so shocked. As soon as they had both stopped to stare Maryanne picked up the bass and lead guitar on the synth while Chelly continued the battle of the synths by herself playing both parts. It had worked exactly as they had figured it would and both were laughing hysterically by the time the number ended.
Heather just joined the laughter along with Janell. "What the fuck was that?" was definitely heard over a mic and it was obvious to the crowd that the girls were having a blast. For that routine they got a 5-minute standing ovation from the appreciative crowd.
Bob had told them to have fun!
Bob stood there shaking his head, and when the crowd noise dimmed down he spoke into his microphone to the two. "What the hell was that ladies?" he asked.
Both Michelle and Maryanne just shrugged their shoulders with huge grins on their faces. They'd pulled it off and it had worked perfectly. They were really proud of themselves.
As soon as the two girls behind the keyboards had shrugged their shoulders at Bob, "Admiral Janell", as always, took control again. She put her hand over her vocals mic and said so everyone on stage could hear, "Ready." She gave them about five seconds to let it sink in then started clicking the next song on the list. The show continued flawlessly without any further incidents."
When they got to the dressing room, all laughing like usual, Bob looked around the room then at Chelly and Maryanne and asked again, "What the fuck was that, you two?"
"Oh, just something Chelly and I worked up to try," chuckled Maryanne.
Then after a brief pause for the chuckles, "Well, you told us we needed to have more fun and that was hilariously fun!"
Chelly nodded her head, "It worked perfectly. You guys are so predictable, it wasn't even a challenge."
Bob looked at Janell since she had just kept playing along and asked, "Did you know anything about this?"
"Nope, I heard music in my headphones and just kept playing. Sorry, but I think it was brilliant!" She laughed as she looked at the two perpetrators.
Heather popped in, "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was so out of character for what we normally do, it distracted me enough that I had to stop, and Bob stopping at about the same time just happened."
She looked at Bob with a grin, "Jan's right Honey, they did pull it off brilliantly. When Maryanne started playing the bass and lead part on the synth, I thought my jaw was going to fall off my face."
Then looking right at Maryanne, "Shit Annie, I don't think there's anyone in the world that could have pulled that off as seamlessly as you did, and Chelly picking up both parts of your "battle" was fucking insane!"
Bob looked around the room at all of them and said, "Okay, you got us fair and square and it worked. I'll agree with the brilliantly word as well."
Then with a big grin asked, "Do you smart asses have any other tricks like that up your sleeves?"
Chelly looked at Maryanne and they both giggled. Then Chelly looked at Bob and just said, "Oh yeah."
Bob just groaned shaking his head. "What have I gotten myself in to?"
That was one piece of video that would probably make a final cut somewhere.
They had all worked the swap in "Dueling Banjo's" from the Movie "Deliverance" in the second show ... You remember don't you? Squeal like a piggie!
The way it happened was that Maryanne with a banjo and Heather with an acoustic guitar sat in a couple of chairs front and center. They began the routine, with Hey's guitar and Annie's banjo answering. When it got really into the play, Bob came in and spoke into the microphone, "Whoa. Whoa, wait hold it... What's going on?"
Of course both of the girls slowly stopped and looked at him.
With a big grin, "You have it backwards ladies, that's not how we practiced it."
Maryanne and Heather looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, then swapped instruments.
Looking at the crowd once more they shrugged and shook their heads, looked at Bob, and then began to play the song again.
When it finished, the crowd went wild. They marveled at what they'd just seen. Two young women equally proficient at either instrument, swapping them around without any problems. The part that was focused on was the fact that Maryanne didn't normally play the guitar or the banjo. She played keyboards, or congas, or sax, or something else. Doing this number the way they did just showed that she was adept at the stringed instruments too. Just wait until she picks up the violin later.
It took about ten seconds for both Maryanne and Heather to put the instruments down, and pick up what they needed for the next number, while two of the roadies jetted out to grab the instruments and chairs.
As soon as the crowd settled a little, Janell gave them the usual clickety-click and they went on to play the rest of the show.
One piece that nobody could believe was their version of Yanni's "Within Attraction". When Yanni did the number he had a full orchestra and a couple of the best violinists anywhere. If you ever saw the Yanni concert at the Acropolis, Karen Briggs was the "premier" violinist and Shardad Rohani who was conducting the orchestra picked up the "battle" part on a violin. Briggs may have been the premier, but he was no slouch!
When the girls did the number, Chelly did the entire orchestra on the synth, while Maryanne did both battling parts on the violin, with the exception of those parts where both needed to be played. Chelly added that to her orchestration when necessary, but that was when the "world" learned that Maryanne was a classically trained violinist, and that she could play it!
The critics went overboard heaping accolades on the band after that show. It was almost as if they could walk on water, and by the time they returned to San Francisco for the last two shows, the girls true talents were being recognized in much the way Bob had hoped.
These diamonds were now well polished and shining brightly!
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The rest of the tour went off like clockwork just like the first show. The band was getting more acclaim from everyone than they could have expected in 100 years. After the LA shows even the curmudgeons had come around, were smiling and saying nice things.
When the last show was over, the cameras and the instruments put away, there was a kick-ass thank you party for the entire staff of roadies that had traveled with them to move and set up the equipment for each show. They took the whole floor at the Mark Hopkins and partied pretty much all night.
Janell was extremely pleased that her drums were set up exactly the way she liked, which was done without error for every show. Jerry got a huge hug and kiss from Janell, which I'm sure blew him away, but she wanted him to know that she was very pleased with how well he had done his job.
As the kiss went on they both heard a loud, "Ahemmm".
Breaking it, Janell looked at a very disturbed "Jerry's girlfriend", but she took the bull by the horns and rushed over to hug the girl, which took her aback totally.
"Ginny, oh my god. Jerry was perfect! He took such good care of me." Innocently not realizing what that had sounded like, she continued, "I didn't have to worry about anything, when I came to the stage everything was absolutely perfect. I didn't have to do anything but play. He even kept my water bottles full for me.
Then with a giggle, "But it's over for now so until the next tour he's all yours again." Then Jan kissed her softly on the cheek, turned around to say "Thank you" to Jerry once more, and then skipped off disappearing into the crowd undoubtedly looking for Terri.
Who? Patience my dear reader, patience.
Jerry looked into Ginny's eyes and with a chuckle said, "You don't have to worry about Janell making a play on me, Sweetie. She likes girls, so you might want to talk to her," he said with a big grin.
Ginny looked at him with surprised eyes and chuckled. He leaned in and gave her a very tender kiss. Then Jerry took Ginny by the hand, and they also walked off into the crowd to enjoy the end of the tour party.
As it turned out, Jerry, "Janell's roadie" stayed with the band, as did most of the original staff, for the entire six year run. Once they were trained, it was always a pleasure to work with a good crew, and these guys and gals knew how to take care of a band.
By the same token, Bob and Bill made sure that they were very well taken care of also. They were paid extra because the tours were so short. Bill knew that longer tours would make them more money so he just sweetened the pie as much as he could. They were making about 85% of what they'd make with other tours, but were only working two to eight weeks every three months. They also stayed in "class" rooms, and ate great food; all on expenses, so they knew which side of the bread the butter was on. Money isn't everything!
Speaking of Janell, at the party after the last show, it was decided that Jan's SO, Terri, would begin to accompany the band on their tours. Terri and Jan had gotten together seriously just before the first tour started.
Janell had been fairly distracted, and Terri understood so stayed pretty much in the background until the party after the tour was over. The reason she was being invited on the tours is covered in a little while, but let's just say Bob was thrilled!
Like Janell, Terri was a very pretty girl. Not in the same way as Janell, but they made a really cute couple. She was also bi-sexual, but like Jan preferred girls and rarely ever entertained a man. It would be interesting to see if she had the same draw to Bob as Janell.
It also didn't prevent Janell from seeing Bob regularly, but she was still solidly in the "girl" corner. Terri didn't seem to have any problem with the fact that Janell would spend a night or two with Bob. Usually either Heather or Michelle, sometimes both, would make sure that she was "taken care of" so she just became part of the family.
Heather, Michelle and Bob managed to keep their relationship out of the press until after the last tour was over. They all thought it would be better that way, but it also added to the paparazzi frenzy because it was known that Heather and Michelle were "taken", but there was never a man. What's with that? You have to know it was driving the editors absolutely mad. Every time they thought they had something, it turned out to be a red herring. It also turns out that Bob is very good at spreading fish.
When they weren't touring they hung out at the ranch most of the time, practicing or rehearsing for the next tour. Heather had enrolled in Mendicino College and was well on her way to a music degree. She ended up dragging Chelly with her, so Chelly was also well on her way though just a little behind Hey. It's just another example of how close Chelly and Heather really are.
When they enrolled they had talked to the chancellor about having some level of anonymity so they could do their studies without causing problems for either themselves or for others. They didn't want to be a disruptive force, to which the faculty heartily agreed.
So both girls were registered under assumed names known only to the chancellor. Not even the faculty knew who they were. They wore wigs or colored their hair to disguise their appearance. Heathers hair was so long and thick that it was impossible to put it up under a wig so she dyed hers black and straightened it, then had to go back to blonde and kinky when they went on a tour. Chelly just became a blonde and had three or four wigs to choose from. Having shorter hair had its advantages. I'm sure that those blazing green eyes turned more than a few heads on campus!
Changing hair colors and using some really gaudy makeup disguised them well. Of course all the others laughed like hell when they left for school. Terri, Janell and Maryanne had a sign made up for the doors to their rooms, as well as the master where they stayed most of the time, that said, "These Girls are Clowns".
Both Heather and Chell took it all in stride, laughed with the rest of them and went to school every day. They also left the signs on the doors discouraging any further pranks from the other three.
Bob was thrilled that the both of them were pursuing their education. Maryanne and Janell had personal things going on that distracted them from school, but soon Janell joined Heather and Chelly, and Maryanne worked with them doing correspondence courses. Terri already had a Masters in finance and business, so as will be mentioned later, Bob gave her a job.
Once they all had their two-year AA degrees, they'd wait for a few years to see how things played out then they would all go to the same four-year school. The overall goal was for all of them to obtain at least a Masters level in music.
They protected their identities fanatically. Personal lives were nobody's damned business, and the girls were religious about protecting that aspect of their lives. Nobody, and I mean nobody could ever do an Enquirer story on any one of them. A few tried to their peril, but that was the exception not the rule.
Bob was fair game, but he didn't care. The girls knew that it was all bullshit anyway, so he just let the paparazzi chase him around and write anything they wanted. At one report he was shown as an alien which, according to Heather and Michelle, may not have been all that far from the truth.
In another he was secretly a woman, so he donned a wig and a dress, but didn't shave the beard or mustache. He ran around like that for a few hours so that they could get their "photos" while chasing him around town. Bob loved a good game of "Mind Fuck" and he played at a master's level.
He actually made a game out of it most of the time and more often than not, he'd lose them somehow so they had no idea where he was. If the group had pulled it off right, the paparazzi didn't even find out where they stayed until after they were gone.
The Secret Service has nothing on this bunch, and they could probably take a few lessons.