Christmas Pudding; The event that sparked my desire to talent handle.

It is the Christmas season and time again for the annual Alice Coopers Christmas Pudding. This charity event hosted by The Solid Rock Foundation is in it’s 14th year of production. The event is a variety show and concert at Comerica Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, with proceeds of the event benefiting the Solid Rock Teen Center. The teen center’s goal is to give teens a place to learn dance, music, live sound, and sound recording as an alternative to drugs, alcohol and violence. According to Alice Coopers Solid Rock this year the onstage acts include Alice Cooper along with Nils Lofgren; (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee when he was with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band), Jonny Lang, Night Ranger, P.O.D. (Payable On Death), Thousand Foot Krutch, Joe Lynn Turner, Gary Mule Deer, Daniel Roumain, Andrew Johns, Rock Demarco, Co-Op, The Bucket Burgade, The Solid Rock Dancers, and special guest emcee Calico Cooper. Comerica Theater seats 5600 and according to the Ticket Master site is almost sold out. This is my, and my husbands 3rd year involved in the event, and the 1st year we have billed as our company Trade Sound Productions. My husband Jeremy will be the A1 front-of-house engineer for the event. I have been blessed to be back stage at the event, which sparked my interest in talent handling. This event is the perfect storm for anyone hoping to become a talent handler. Each one of the performers is accompanied backstage by their handler and entourage. The event is huge, full of people, and kids, and it moves fast. Without proper guidance it is easy for an artist to not know where they should be, or when they should go on. They also need handling of their equipment for a flawless show. This is a one off event making no room for mistakes. I remember watching backstage the first year we were involved and marveling at the chaos no one in the audience sees. I also felt great respect for the people behind the artists. Without these people I feel the artists may be like lost children wandering around distracted. I am looking forward to the event taking place on December 13th, 2014, and look forward to learning even more through the experience I can apply to my degree.