12.11.08

LAW FIRM HOLIDAY PARTY, 33RD FLOOR WESTIN ST. FRANCIS, SAN FRANCISCO.

This is the 3rd time we have entertained for this law firm. This event was on the 32nd floor of the hotel right above Union Square. This event required a box truck. I didn't want to go into the city with a 13 foot trailer. The load in required us to go down multiple hallways and then use a service elevator to the 32nd floor. Then everything had to be moved through the kitchen and then through the room. The tough part was, there was another event going on in the room which only gave us an hour to actually set up. I am really glad we got there early. Just getting everything upstairs took over an hour. I will never forget walking off the elevator and into the room. The view out the windows literally took our breath away. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge on one side and then Union Square down below on the other. This was the most beautiful location for us yet. We did 6 par 64 up lights, and then dance lighting. This is a fun group with a lot of energy. We were allowed to keep the truck right in the loading zone, which is very rare. Great event.

12.05.08

NIELLO MASERATI, FURNITALIA FURNITURE, SACRAMENTO.

Niello Maserati has a relationship with a fantastic furniture gallery that specializes in Italian furniture. Furnitalia was doing a grand opening, so they invited Niello Maserati to bring some cars along with one of their Ferrari's to display out front. The cars needed to be lit, so we brought two 12 foot truss segments. The power draw of our lighting was too much for the building to handle. The circuit blew a few times. We decided to turn off the ellipsoidal which had a 750 watt bulb in it. The other 8 lights worked fine after that. A splendid event with beautiful furniture and breathtaking cars.

12.04.08

NIELLO MASERATI BEST OF SAC EVENT, SACRAMENTO CONVENTION CENTER.

The Niello Dealerships are voted Best Place To Buy Your Dream Car year after year in Sacramento magazine. They are invited to display the brand of their choice at the event. We were asked to light the booth and run video on 2 LCD monitors. This was a simple set up and the booth looked great.

11.22.08

NOVATO FIRE DEPARTMENT & MIKE BROWN ELECTRIC, ROHNERT PARK.

Yep, two events on the same night. They also happened to be at the same time, in the same hotel. I brought in Alan for this one and sent Paul with Talitha to help her set up. I DJ'd for Mike Brown Electric and Talitha DJ'd for Novato Fire Department. It was a lot of fun for both rooms. Talitha easily kept the room moving with great music and we were doing video projection/production for Mike Brown Electric.

11.21.08

UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION, RANCHO CORDOVA.

The USTA had a major tournament in Rancho Cordova and they needed event entertainment for their end of weekend celebration. That's where we came in. This group had close to 500 people. The ballroom could not hold them all, so the dinner took place in 3 different rooms. We brought in a lot of sound and lighting and the event was a total blast. The unique part about this event was these people were from all over the United States. The music requests were all over the place which made for a really random, but fun event. I would love to DJ for them again.

11.7.08

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR SHANNON BOAZ, THE RAVEN THEATER, HEALDSBURG.

A good friend called me and I was honored to be a part of this special evening. A fellow paramedic had a close friend, who's wife had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The bills were piling up, so My friend organized a fundraising event in Healdsburg. There were a few hundred people there and the bands were spectacular. I was honored to sort of MC the event. Shannon passed on November 21, 2009 in the arms of her husband, Jason, and one day before her 39th birthday.

10.31.08

CANAAN HALLOWEEN PARTY 2008, WEST SACRAMENTO.

For a couple of years, we have hosted our own Halloween Party. The advantage to being an event production company, is the caliber of events you can do for yourself. Talitha is an Anesthetist at UC Davis and her friends Kim and Terra enjoyed dressing up as CRNA's also.

10.16.08

NIELLO PORSCHE 2009 CARRERA LAUNCH, ROCKLIN.

This was one of the most fun events we have done. We were hanging 23 feet of trussing, 8 Pars, and 8 intelligent color changing lights above a $120,000 Porsche Carrera. We were also doing a lot of sound and projecting video content onto two 8 foot rear projection screens which had to be hung 18' above the showroom floor. The projectors were placed in two area in the upstairs offices and projected through the windows. The dealership did not have the kind of power we needed so we had to bring a 100 amp generator. When the car was unveiled, we played a great song by Rammstein. A German hard rock/Industrial music group. Don the General Manager was awesome about having this be a unique event. To reach the 23' high ceiling, we had to bring in a large man lift. Talk about heavy! It had to be forklifted into the 16' box truck we rented. On a side note, I usually go overboard with safety. I didn't want to leave anything to chance with this trussing hanging from the ceiling with our chain lifts. I called a friend of mine who we DJ'd his wedding. He happened to be the architect for this exact building. What a great connection to have.

10.03.08

EVERGREEN ELEMENTARY 9TH ANNUAL WALKATHON, ROHNERT PARK.

My 8th year of doing this annual event. The school invested in a stage system, and not only is it brand new, it looks awesome. This was the first year the event didn't start at 8:30 am, which meant I always had to leave Sacramento around 5 am. The event now begins at 1 pm. This school also absorbed another local school which increased their size 30%. There were about 470 kids at this event. It was a lot of fun, but with a new school coming in, comes changes to the routine. Stay tuned.

09.27.08

PATRICK AND ROSIE WEDDING, FRIEDMAN EVENT CENTER, SANTA ROSA.

This was a rather special event. I met the groom in 8th grade. We remained close friends through high school. We both got our EMT certification at the same time in 1991. We kind of drifted apart. I was really excited when he asked me to DJ his wedding. I had never seen the venue before, and we were delighted by the amount of space and the abundance of power. They also had two dressing rooms backstage for our use. We usually need to change in the car. I also enjoy entertaining in places with room for my 12 foot tall truss towers. The event was a great time, and for the first time ever at an event, I did the back spin. I really should have spoken with my doctor beforehand.

09.20.08

RICH AND SHERENE WEDDING, MORGAN CREEK COUNTRY CLUB, ROSEVILLE.

We have done events at some rather elegant locations. Morgan Creek is in my top 10. The ceremony took place in a gazebo over looking the golf course, and the reception area was 40 feet away in a very large room. The actual room was considered a temporary structure, and Morgan Creek obviously spent top dollar on the facility. The staff was also wonderful. I only had two small issues. The staff was not allowed to turn on the air conditioning, that was powered by a generator bigger than my truck, until 1 hour before the event. We started setting up 4 hours before the event and it was rather toasty the entire time. The 'building' also did not have sufficient power for everything and 2 songs into the dancing, the circuit tripped. They had to call an engineer who knew where the breaker was. It took a while. Luckily, I distributed my power needs apart, so I only lost half the sound and half the lights. The crowd didn't even notice. We provided two light trees, the subs, and we also did up lighting on the walls with the wedding colors, turqoise and red. It was a very pretty wedding and the guests were very nice. I hired Patrick to do videography along with Talitha.

09.13.08

LDS CHURCH, DANCE ON THE BAY, SAN FRANCISCO

This event was an absolute joy. I hired Alan and my brother Scott. We were not allowed to load in until around 7:20 PM. We rolled everything on the boat when we got the okay. I decided to use all 4 of my Mackie 450's and both QSC subs. This is my 7th or 8th one of these events so I sort of have it down to a science now. This year they had 487 people on board, and everyone was great. I played a wide mix of 80's, disco, funk, current and old school hip hop, some techno and even an AC/DC song. The highlight of the night was watching one of the boat attendants dancing in his life jacket with some of the ladies. The clean up was rather quick, we dropped off Scott in Novato and Alan and I got back to Sacramento around 3 AM. I love those events.

09.6-7.08

2 DAY MUSIC FESTIVAL, ICE HOUSE ROAD, POLLACK PINES

This event was a two day music festival in the mountains. 8 bands were lined up over the two days. I hired Alan for this one. We arrived Friday night around 9 PM. We tried to place as much equipment as we could on the stage and the sound booth area, in the dark. We then camped and did not get to sleep until 3:30 AM. The event was supposed to start at 10 AM Saturday, but didn't ACTUALLY begin until 1 PM. The day didn't end until 11 PM. It was a long 10 hours of mixing. The next day started at 11:30 AM, and then ended around 5:30 PM. All of my speakers, cables, mixers, clothes, car, canopy, laptop, food, road cases, etc. was covered in dirt. It took me 2 days, and a bottle and a half of 409 to clean it all off. Other than all that, we met some really cool bands. I was told we would have a full 50 amps of power right where we were setting up. It ended up being 100' of my 50 amp cable and my 50 amp power distro box, which was hacked into by the on site electrician, to 30 amp solid core romex cable, back to the 50 amp cable. I have no idea how the guy got it all to work, but we had rather solid power the entire two days. On Sunday, the $70,000 generator that was 300 feet away started to overheat, so they shut it off. Apparently, the radiator was too full of dust. I know the feeling. I don't think I will ever do an event in the solid dirt again. Glad we did it, but it took some years off my gear for sure.

08.29.08

NIELLO AUDI QUATTRO CUP, CATTA VERDERA COUNTRY CLUB

A golf tournament in support of Diogenes Youth Services, Inc. They are a 'bridge to the future for at risk teens'. Registration began at 7:30 am, but I started playing the music at 7:15. The course is in Lincoln and was beautiful. There were about 100 golfers. They all got loaded in their carts and as they drove past me, I played Low Rider by War. I think that should be the international song for golf carts. I then moved all the sound gear into the club house in preparation for the luncheon. It was nice being so close to the Audi R8, which is still one of the sexiest cars I have ever seen or heard. My friend Mike took over at 11:30, and I started the 2 hour journey to Novato for an evening wedding, at another Country Club.

08.09.08

ERIC AND SHANELL WEDDING @ PRIMUS WINERY

Talitha and I met Shanell while we were enrolled in a 10 First Dates class for married couples. She was one of the assistants to the instructor. We did the Ceremony sound on the hill side and then DJ'd the party near the tasting room. This winery was awesome. It's all brand new and this was the first wedding they have ever had. In the bathrooms and the tasting room were LCD screens. The owner of the winery took these pictures with a small point and shoot camera. I had no idea the images were instantly uploaded to his website AND onto the LCD screens in the winery. I did not know that technology was around. It was impressive. The crowd was a lot of fun. The party had to stop right at 10.

08.08.08

NIELLO MASERATI GRANTURISMO S LAUNCH

The event was held on 16th and J in front of Makuni's and PF Chang's. The new car was covered prior to the unveiling. There were plenty of Maserati cars on hand and they were certainly impressive. If you have never heard a Maserati engine, take the time to do so. I hired my friend Paul to help out with this event because we had some lighting to do on the sidewalk. We set up two 12 foot truss towers with 8 intelligent lights, and projected the Maserati logo onto the side of the car. After the unveiling, Niello Maserati General Manager Mario Biundo hosted a VIP party in the corner loft 4 floors up. We projected the Maserati video on the wall and played a collection of Buddha Bar style music mixed with down tempo beats. It was a cool event. The images were taken from my iPhone.

06.07.08

NIELLO APPRECIATION NIGHT, SACRAMENTO CONVENTION CENTER.

Every year, the Niello Company honors their employee's by hosting a huge party. This year, the event was held at the Sacramento Convention Center. Preperation for this event was huge. I made a few investments in new equipment and put my good friend Alan to work fabricating and welding a few required pieces of new gear. One such piece of equipment is my new par can cart. We came up with the design, and spent about 4 hours fabricating it. This event required so much equipment, I had to rent a 26' truck. Other new equipment was my 23 feet of box trussing, 16 black par cans, and two industrial lifts. The Convention Center charges a LOT to have the union labor guys come in and hang your equipment, so I decided to lift it myself instead. I hired Mike Weissmann, Alan Dees, and Paul Chamberlain for this event. Other support came from my wife and Alan's wife who had to break into my house twice to fetch things I forgot. The event required two 12' x 16' rear projection screens, 100' of black pipe and drape, a lot of lighting and a very special touch, gobos all over the place. I ordered 12 cut steel gobos with each dealership logo. We then projected the logo's all over the room, which had 870 people in it. It was a lot of space. We spent close to 8 hours setting this event up. I then did sound in the VIP reception which was a seperate room. Then moved to the lobby where there were six bars. I then set up to DJ in the back of the big ballroom at the conclusion of the main stage events. We ran video, audio, and lighting and it took all of us to make it work. This was the most challenging event we have ever done, so next year we will have to step it up another step. We all didn't get done until 3 am.

05.17.08

NEW EQUIPMENT ARRIVES.

We had an up and coming event at the convention center that was going to need a lot of stage lighting. The plan was to lift the lighting, instead of hang it. We bought 23 feet of trussing, 2 lifts capable of lifting 500 lbs. 18 feet up, and 16 black Par 64 lights at 500 watts each. The plan was to also hang two speakers from the trussing being lifted, so appropriate slings and shackles were bought as well.

04.27.08

REACH MEDIPLANE ANNUAL WALK/RUN, SANTA ROSA AIRPORT.

This was the 6th time we have had the honor of providing sound for this annual event. This event raises money for the Dr. John MacDonald Paramedic Scholarship Fund. The event starts around 7:30 AM. This year was a record setting one. They had over 450 participants. The event seems to get bigger each year. The owner of the company usually twists my arm and throws me in the front seat of one of his helicopters and then I am wisked off to the coast for a while. Good times.

04.06.08

NIELLO VW RANCH RUN, RIDE TO WALK RANCH, LOOMIS.

Niello VW is involved with a really cool organization. It is the Ride To Walk Ranch. This place helps children with development disabilities by teaching them how to ride and take care of horses. It costs a lot of money to keep the place going, so Niello VW now sponsors an annual event on the property. Over 200 VW owners drove together from Niello VW, with a CHP escort to the Ranch. We were set up for a few music acts, MCing, and playing cool music. The weather was perfect. I hired Mike to help with this event. Talitha came out around 3 in the afternoon. Close to 600 people came to the event and a lot of money was raised. I enjoy doing live sound outdoors. I look forward to next year.

02.22.08

NIELLO MINI CLUBMAN LAUNCH

I worked for Niello MINI as a Motoring Advisor for about a year in 2004. My wife and I have also owned two MINI Coopers. We simply LOVE doing events at MINI. This was the unveiling of the new MINI Clubman. There were about 100 people, and the caterer was really good. We lit the place up with the mirror ball and all. This was a Disco theme launch which made it really fun and unique. Dave Bashaw is the store manager and he is always great to work with. He is always very trusting in what we want to do with his dealership. In fact, if you visit Niello MINI, in the bathrooms, the walls are all different MINI colors. I did all that painting when I worked there. I guess I got the assignment automatically when I was the one who thought up the idea in the first place.

01.04.08

MARRIOTT HOTEL EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION PARTY

While I was the Director of the Audio Visual Department at this hotel, I had the chance to do live sound for this event. The hotel hosted a party for their employees and a good source of entertainment is the band which is composed of hotel employees. They set up a stage and I brought in all the sound and lighting. A really fun event for super great people.