Published: July 02, 2009 11:46 pm      

Making the show go

Many work backstage to get concerts up and running

ASHLAND — It takes a team of specialists and a small army of volunteers for the bands of Summer Motion 2009 to be seen and heard from the stage.

Many working behind the scenes on the Summer Motion stage are local residents with a long history in connection with the festival. Many say their own careers and companies have developed as the festival grew larger, and the annual gathering in Ashland remains a priority for each.

“We’ve been with Summer Motion for the whole run. We started this festival with one act, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, over there in the gazebo,” remembered Bill Heaberlin of Huntington.

Smiling, Heaberlin said the budget for that first event was $4,500. In his role as a producer for Media Promotion Enterprises, Heaberlin said his job includes making all arrangements for musicians, including travel and accommodations as well as everything they need on stage, arranging for security, keeping an eye on merchandise sales and paying the performers.

“Whatever the needs of the entertainers and the festival might be. We’re the back-up everything,” he concluded. “We are very privileged to be a part of it.”

Hidden on one side of the stage, Denny Chandler adjusted volume levels for the on-stage speakers the musicians rely upon to hear themselves while playing and singing. Originally from Ashland, Chandler now lives in Las Vegas.

“I run the equipment and monitors for them to hear right,” Chandler said, explaining the on-stage system helps eliminate the echoes from the speaker columns pointed toward the audience and allows them to hear what someone on the other side of the stage is doing.

Dr. Dan Howard, a dentist from Grayson who now lives in Huntington, said his company, Soundwave Productions, has long enjoyed a relationship with Summer Motion. The job, he said, is to make everything sound the way it should.

“We’re mixing all the sound for the musicians. We’re trying to get everybody happy and not slighted,” Howard said, later adding his crew will work 12 hours “on a short day.”

Mark Wills of Ashland said he most enjoys seeing the musicians and audience are pleased with the arrangements. For Thursday evening’s show, Wills assisted the drum technician and helped make sure all of the amplifiers and microphones were in the right places.

“I like going out in the crowd and seeing the people happy,” he said, adding his first priority is making sure “the band is happy.”

Chuck Gee of Russell said his tasks for Thursday’s show seemed appropriate.

“Today, I’m the keyboard technician. Normally I’m a keyboard player,” he said with a chuckle, explaining he and several others on stage are part of the band City Heat.

Keith “Pokus” Keeran of Grayson stood behind the massive sound board in the middle of the audience, listening closely as the drums and amplifiers were being set up and adjusted. A former East Carter High School football coach, Keeran said he got into the entertainment business more than 20 years ago when some of the Soundwave Productions crew needed help unloading a truck for a Keith Whitley concert.

His first professional job as a sound engineer was adjusting monitor levels for Kool & The Gang, and his favorite show was likely a Garth Brooks concert at Camden Park.

“I mix the sounds the whole crowd hears,” he said when asked to explain his job.

Keith Bannon of Huntington said his job is easier to explain than to do.

“I’m in charge of anything that plugs in on the stage,” Bannon said, explaining he got into the entertainment industry when he started “building stages” and stacking public address systems 17 years ago.

The entertainment business is exciting “because it is different every day,” Bannon said, adding the flip side of that is “meeting all these great people who are going to be somewhere else tomorrow.”

“You meet a lot of great people but you only see them a couple of times a year,” he said.

Joe Eddins of Huntington said he stepped outside his normal job as a producer during this year’s Summer Motion.

“I am, today, just a production assistant,” Eddins said, explaining his tasks have included artist transportation from regional airports in addition to helping with anything else that needed to be done.

“And, I’m in charge of the weather — as long as it is good,” Eddins said.

Lighting Director Rick Johns of Waynesfield, Ohio, credits a Michael Jackson video shoot for getting him into the business 34 years ago. In addition to Summer Motion, Johns has worked in different roles for artists including Yes, the Moody Blues, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, the Go-Go’s and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Summer Motion President Chuck Charles said it takes roughly 275, including many volunteers, to make the annual event happen.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2651.