Monday, March 22, 2010
501st Catch Up!
Whew, it has been a busy season.
Now, between hockey games, there were 2 major 501st events that happened. First was the 2010 Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown. The number of 501st participants are growing each year. This year there were members from Georgia, Carolina, Alabama and Mid-South. We also had members from two divisions of the Rebel Legion.
This is a FUN event.
We meet and park at the parade route end point and get ready. Then we take Marta to the Parade staging area. I love to watch the people stare as a line of Star Wars characters go marching by them.
At the parade staging area, Jesse pointed out a convertible Cadillac with Blues Brothers signs on it.
There we met Jake and Elwood Blues. Elwood gave me some beads and told me that he and his friend had been doing the ‘Blues Brothers’ and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade since the movie came out. Elwood was our friend.
It’s didn’t take long before Elwood popped the trunk of the Caddy and started offering drinks. He asked if I wanted some Crown Royal and I said, “Are you serious?” He answered “Sweetheart, I am retired, do well for myself and have 40 bottles.” How can you say no to that! Needless to say the 501st LOVED him. By the time the parade started moving, he had given us our own bottle for the parade. I did make sure to get his email so I could say 'Thanks' and send him some of the pictures I took.
Now add in loud dance music and we were starting to have a party at the parade line up... That is all I’m gonna say about these clips…
And there are more over at on the rumbunny13 YouTube channel.
Another exciting part of the parade was General Grievous. Ed, from the Carolina Garrison, had made an amazing body puppet of Grievous. Here are some photos and videos but they really don’t do it justice.
Put Pix side-by-side
He even got into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit…
I cannot move on without mentioning Princess and my favorite spectator on the parade route. Princess is an incredibly sweet and beautiful Husky. This is the second time her owner and the 501st have parked in the same parking deck. Needless to say, there is no lacking in love…
When I saw this little guy, I had to stop and get a picture of him…
Here are a few other pictures from the parade…
The Movie Magic of John Williams
Last and definitely not least, was the 501st helping out at the Woodruff Arts Center yesterday with the ‘The Movie Magic of John Williams’ program. It was a rare opportunity to participate with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. All costume characters were on stage at least once during the performance. We had to arrive early and work with the Conductor on blocking what would be happening during the show. Luckily, this was the second performance and we had a couple of people who had done it the night before. It went pretty quick and smooth. The biggest thing was creating a ‘generic’ Jedi out of Auggie so Count Dooku would have someone to fight. Actually, he looked more like a Nun from the dark side.
I did have time for a quick group shot with the Conductor during the walkthrough:
The area they had for the 501st the change was pretty sweet (by 501st standards). It was just the ‘Chorus Dressing Room’ but we liked it…
Since the Star Wars music was not till the end of the performance, I had the opportunity to head upstairs and watch the 1st half of the concert. It was fantastic! They played music from Superman, E.T., Harry Potter and Jaws. During the Jaws segment, an inflatable shark appeared and ‘swam’ its way through the orchestra to the other side of the stage.
At intermission, I headed back downstairs only to head back upstairs and backstage with everyone else. I was surprised we were able to get another quick group shot with the 501st is full costume with the Conductor before the second part of the program began.
I stood back stage and listed to music from Jurassic Park and a piece called ‘The Mission’. ‘The Mission’ is the full piece of music that was written for the NBC Nightly News – who knew???? On TV, you only get a small sampling of the music.
Once it was over, they changed and we packed up. I think everyone was exhausted. When we were about to leave, someone mentioned that Jason was now dressed up like his favorite Garrison CO. There had to be a picture…
Sunday, December 6, 2009
GA 501st: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Christmas Parade 2009
I was early, it was cold and it was so worth it. I had the pleasure of handling for the GA 501st this past Saturday morning for the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Christmas Parade.
This was the second year I have been able to participate as a handler in this event. This year it was in the 20's and 30's with rain and snow predicted. Luckily, the only rain we saw was on the ride in to downtown. It was overcast when we lined up but the sun was out by the time we were walking the parade. It was still cold and the wind was fierce but at least it wasn't raining. You can see how windy it was in the video below. Thanks for the footage Izzie!
GA Garrison in the CHoA Xmas Parade, 12.04.09 from I. Herman on Vimeo.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Star Wars in Concert 2009
I had the opportunity to help the GA 501st last night doing meet and greets with some of the costume characters before the Star Wars in Concert event at Gwinnett Arena.
We arrived before 5p and were directed to a large, secure area on the backside of the area with a large window running the entire length of the area. This was our changing area.
Once everyone was dressed, we headed out to meet the crowd, little did we know. The characters were split into several smaller groups and each group was assigned a handler. I was handling Emperor Palpatine and his two Royal Guards. I knew they were popular characters but it was a constant mob scene. Here is a picture I tried to take of the crowd...
Everyone loves the Emperor....
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Many showed the proper respect...
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But, as always, the children were the cutest in their Star Wars costumes...
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All the characters left the meet and greets around 7:10pm to much disappoint to the crowds but they had to get changed for the concert. It was twenty minutes of mass chaos but we managed to make it to our FREE seats before it all got started.
All I can say was it was an amazing experience. The music was perfect. While you were watching the crystal clear movie clips overhead, you would forget that the music was being played live.
Here is a video clip I was able to get (in black & white)...
Once the concert was over, several of the characters suited up and went out to mingle with the crowds one last time. At the end of the night, everyone was exhausted but all agreed it was something none of them would have wanted to miss.
I hoping to post a slideshow of the displays that I hurriedly photographed tommorrow. Wish me luck.
In the mean time, here is a link to the photo's Jimmy Burns (XO and photographer extrordinaire) took last night.
