America's Largest Festival
An Interview with Gregg Brunclik, President, Clearwing Productions, Inc.
On the day I visited Summerfest, Gregg was managing an impressive schedule that included putting the finishing touches on a system for a local appearance by President Bush, minding Summerfest and preparing for a quick turnaround for events associated with the Major League Baseball All-Star game. Live Sound! caught up a few days after the dust had settled.
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Live Sound International (L.S.): Tell us about Clearwing's relationship with Summerfest.
Gregg Brunclik (G.B.): We initially evolved into the relationship by servicing non-Summerfest events like fund-raisers, Winterfest and the Polar Bear party. We started working Summerfest events, providing sound only as existing vendor contracts expired. We evolved into the primary vendor position over the next few years, as we quickly grew into supplying all the staging, backline, lighting and sound for nearly every stage for Summerfest, as well as all the ethnic festivals that utilize the site from early June through mid-September.
L.S.: It seems like the Summerfest load-in is a gargantuan task.
G.B.: Mounting a production on this scale [16 stage/areas in 2002] has been a learning process. But, we've come to know every nuance of their infrastructure, and we get a jump on Summerfest every year via our involvement with the three to four weekly ethnic festivals immediately prior to Summerfest. They provide us the opportunity to install much of the gear required for Summerfest at a more relaxed pace, and allow for several weeks of stabilization before the grueling musical schedule Summerfest presents. The ethnic festivals in turn enjoy superior sound systems to what budgets may warrant. For instance, we'll put a 12-box V-DOSC system in at Polish Fest immediately preceding Summerfest. Obviously, V-DOSC wouldn't be required for primarily Polka music, but it's one less system that must be installed in the three days available during the actual Summerfest start up week. And every festival appreciates the savings on the stagehand calls, as the labor gets amortized over multiple events when the systems don't move week to week.
L.S.: What type of maintenance challenges do you have?
G.B.: It's no different than any other show, except that Summerfest is an 11-day run and the gear never moves. Should you have the misfortune of losing a cone in the third cabinet from the top on any given day, or a console input dies from solar exposure, the system must be right and ready at 9 a.m. the next day. With the festival running until midnight every night, spare parts and technicians amenable to third shift maintenance are a critical asset.
L.S.: I was surprised by the close relationship between Clearwing and the Local 18 IATSE stagehands, and more of the stagehands in skilled/operating positions. Every city the size of Milwaukee has a few good union audio persons, but this was a real departure.
G.B.: We may enjoy an over abundance of knowledgeable IA here, I'm not sure, but the pure demand for operators at this venue alone over the summer may have been the initial impetus for their training and experience. Summerfest alone has eight to ten relatively large music stages, depending on yearly site alterations, requiring two audio techs each. And several of the ethnic festivals, especially Festa Italiana and Irish Fest, do even more music stages than Summerfest. So, demand has mandated supply from the IA. We've also appreciated this anomaly though, as we now only supply floater/supervisory technicians to support the IA. The minimized labor investment negates the dilution of equipment rental revenues to meet client budgets. We also do our best to provide the latest technology at each major stage so they see equipment they may not normally get their hands on in a smaller theater or music venue. Therefore, we are part of the training/experience factor for them as well. From a business standpoint, it all works well for us. We can more accurately predict net revenues on the equipment rental side without it being diluted by less predictable overhead or labor/overtime costs that we may not be able to control while being locked to "not to exceed" quote. Overall, I feel we have a really good relationship with the stagehands.
L.S.: Last week was a pretty heavy week for any service company. What with Summerfest, the President and the Major League Baseball All Star game in town. How many events did you cover in total?
G.B.: Without sounding too over the top, there were too many to list efficiently, but I would be glad to summarize for your readers. It was extremely busy. In addition to Summerfest, we had support for a Presidential visit here in Milwaukee, many large pre-game events and the Commissioners gala before the All Star game, a stage for ESPN, another large festival in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, a society wedding, a video shoot in Tennessee, a corporate gig in Detroit, and a tour starting in California. There was more but you get the idea. Our crews did a great job, and we were happy to have the work. We'll rest in mid-September and wait for the ice fishing to begin. n
Danny Abelson enjoys a good summer concert as much as anyone, but always bings his ear plugs just in case.
September/October 2002 Live Sound International