Can't remember where I got that phrase. Think some celeb or another used it once to describe the "behind the scenes" people on a film. You know, the ones without which no production would ever happen.
It has been an interesting few weeks. So much has gone down that it feels like I've lived a year in less than a month. But it's all good. Just crazy, but not bad. As part of the nutty-ness, a development in my wife's quickly flowering career as a concert and event photographer called for a trip to L.A. A quick trip. As in, we left our home in Las Vegas at about 2 a.m., got into L.A. about 7:30, left L.A. at about noon and were home by about 5:30 the same evening.
Now she and I make a hell of a team, but musically, we are barely on the same planet, so she hates about 90 percent of the music on my iPod, and while radio sucks everywhere these days, it is really really bad in the middle of the Mojave. She suggested an audio book. I wrote not too long ago about being turned on to the quantum writings of Deepak Chopra, and she has been reading the same books. So we downloaded an audio version of his latest and hit the road.
We ended up having to find something else after a couple of hours, because things were just getting too deep and we needed a break. But one of the things we got out of that first taste was the whole
interconnectedness-of-all-things deal.
Sounds mystical and quasi-religious, but in quantum terms, we are all space-time expressions of energy and information within an infinite field of "potentiality." There is a word that is interpreted many ways that is on my mind a lot. Namaste (nah-ma-stay). In some cultures, it is a simple greeting that roughly translates as "I bow to you." In others, it can get as deep as an acknowledgement that everything that is within me is within you also. And vise-versa.
That was on my mind anyway, and a recent work situation really drove it home. No man is an island, it takes a village, we're all in this together, there's no "I" in team, etc, etc, whatever. It comes down to this. I don't care who you are or what it is that you do exactly. There is not one among us who can function effectively without the help and support of others. And those of us in the public eye to any degree usually rely on people "back in the shop," without whom the gig would not happen at all.
So, with that in mind, it is time for a quick but very heartfelt "thank you" to the people most of you don't know who make it possible for FOH and PAS and all of the online stuff to happen at all.
Managing Editor Frank Hammel posts all of the stories that appear on fohonline.com (and does the same thing for PLSN), keeps track of where editorial is in the production process and serves as copy editor. His job used to be done by two or three people, and his plate is crazy full and he does a great job. Thank you, Frank.
Art director Garret Petrov takes the words that Frank polishes and my horribly out-of-focus photos and somehow turns them into something worth looking at. He does this for FOH, PLSN and Stage Directions as well as the EPD and all of the "etc" stuff that any publishing operation needs to create. It is a job that was once done by three people, and I have no idea how he pulls it off. Thank you, Garret.
Production manager Linda Haulbrook Evans is the "puzzlemaster." She puts together the "map" of each issue, makes sure that all ad materials are in and in the right size and format, deals with the printer, builds ads, and basically keeps the whole thing on track. She does this for three magazines and recently got to fill the art direction seat for SD when Garret took a much-needed and deserved vacation. (To Egypt, the bastard.) She also goes out and shoots shows for FOH stories and her own local entertainment column on living-las-vegas.com, where she is known as the Photo Diva. You have seen tons of her shots in FOH over the past year. (If you need a show shot in Vegas, give me a call. I'm officially her photo pimp daddy, too…) And if all that was not enough, she has been married to me for more than 22 years so "gets to" put up with me fulltime. And she does a great job. Thank you, darlin'.
A mag or website or show or tour or rental company or whatever – they are always much more than what meets the public eye. Those of us "out there" at least get the occasional thank you from a client or audience member. Who in your organization deserves a hearty thank you for a great job on something no one sees but that is vital to your operation? You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?
Namaste…
