Fear, Loathing and a Mackie Movie Emergency…
…or something like that – to be explained by the end of this post, surely.
Mackie loves summer events… especially summer events involving beer, bands and outdoor movies. Redhook Moonlight Cinema Series is just that, and is yet another of our longstanding Mackie traditions, dating back to the late ’90s. Since the Redhook Brewery is a favorite of many Mackoids, and since it’s right down the street from our home office, many of us would be attending the brewery’s outdoor movie night anyway…so why not show up with a mixer, a few speakers and a sound crew, too? Running sound is what keeps us all ticking, so getting out and doing it is a must for many of us.
Let’s allow Thursday, August 16th, 2007 to be a perfect example of what it is we do at these things:
The scheduled movie was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – to be shown after dark on a giant, inflatable screen put up by Easter Day Promotions – but said main event was foremost to be preceded by the local, lovable five-piece of musical chums known as Thee Emergency.
Thee Emergency is a seriously kick-ass group of female-fronted, riff-driven “rootiness” that’s both for the masses and from the heart. As the only band to play Redhook this year, Thee Emergency took control of the stage and taught the masses to rock using their unique brand of amplified osmosis. Attendees continued to pile into the grassy knoll of the Redhook “lawn” that hosts this 1000+ viewer event, and as they did they were greeted by not only a great band, but a great band rocking on a modestly massive speaker setup comprised of two Mackie SA1530z loudspeakers on top of two SWA2801z subwoofers per side.
But that wasn’t all we brought.
The band plays on a stage on the west side of the lawn while the movie is shown from the south side, so a SECOND speaker setup is needed as well. For this we ran two SA1532z loudspeakers on top of two SWA1801z subwoofers per side, with just the right splay angle to cover the whole park. The goal is to make no seat a bad seat, which we strive to achieve each and every time we run sound.
So as Thee Emergency wrapped up a rockin’ hour-long set, the lawn’s attention shifted to the big-screen where Fear and Loathing started to spin up. The band at these events typically finishes while the sun is setting, just in time for the lighting to be perfect for an outdoor movie. Some viewers bring chairs, others merely tarps or blankets to lay on while the effects of the delicious Redhook beer they’ve been drinking all evening start to take hold.
What a wonderful tradition indeed.
Redhook has shown everything from The Princess Bride to Beerfest, and these movies are always a great time. The crowd reacts; everyone is in good spirits. The good folks at Redhook scratch our backs – or pour beer all over them, if that’s the analogy of choice – and we scratch their’s in return with as many speakers as we can get our nerdy little hands on. Oh, not to mention the TT System32 that we ran the whole thing from…
So let’s all of us together – you, me and ours – look forward to next year’s Redhook Moonlight Cinema Series in Woodinville, Washington and, if you’re in the area, swing on through to join us for our next series of beer, bands, Mackie, movies and more!
-This post brought to you by Mackie Product Evangelist Matt Redmon
