04.01.12 Academy of Country Music Awards @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

ACMs

Tonight we had the 47th Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This is by far my favorite awards show that we do. It's not the actual show; I don't care for country music. It's the people. I've said it many times: I absolutely adore them. This year though I took a step back. I'm not gaga over M anymore, I'm bored to death of my job, I'm cranky as hell and don't really feel like being around people. Yeah, nice portrait, I know. So this year I asked my guys to just run the show. And they did. Not sure what's going on with me but I thought it best to stay away from as many people as I could given my disposition. 

Seat cards for rehearsals

I kept quiet from twitter on this show. A couple days earlier I tweeted a pic of the seat cards. About an hour later I get an email from the Academy asking to coordinate tweets with them because they want to be the 1st to put out any images. I get it. It's their show. So I got out of the tweeting business - at least for the show. I still took pics but only posted them to my personal FB page and saved them for the arena archive so when someone asks, "Hey, anyone remember what we did for barricades on the red carpet for ACMs in 2012?" we can look back. 

Great set!

My day was going pretty well until the programs. The dreaded programs. The ACMs give out this 3 pound program book to all attendees. It's like the fucking Restoration Hardware anthology that comes out yearly. There are 5 pallets of them. About 20 per box. Each box weighs about 50 pounds. It's my biggest pet peeve of this show. I hate the distribution, the set up, the concept. Put the goddamn thing on a CD or a swanky thumb drive and be done with it. So as usual I end up on the floor, dragging out 50# boxes from under the tables to refresh the ones already out, Leatherman in hand ready to slit my throat, or rather slice the tape to open the box bottoms, sweating and on my knees - and not in a sexy way. I fucking hate those things more than I hate people who talk in elevators. Next year I'm lining every single wall of the upper lobby with tables. And every single program will be preset on a table ahead of time so that no one will have to go thru what my staff and I did. Yeah, only took me 6 years to figure this out.

Remnants from the cake

The show went off fine. I had the truck show feed on my TV in my office but didn't really watch it. It was more so I could see where we were in the program. Sometime after doors I went with Trubes to Seablue to grab a bite to eat when my radio goes off. For Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup they did a gag to kind of reproduce a part of his video. So we had to clear 3 ADA sections. That was the plan from the beginning with the show producer. At some point during a run thru someone else told my guys we didn't need to clear them. It's kind of a big deal to ask 30 people that they have to leave their seats for part of the show so they didn't want to do it if we didn't have to. In the end I made it clear, "Look, I don't care who said we don't need to clear them. I'm telling you we do." I'm not normally that stern with my guys but I was tired of people getting involved with a decision that had been made days earlier. A plan was in place. Don't fuck with it. In the end it went well. I watched the gag from the floor and it looked great. Apparently there was a wedding that took place. I missed that too. I only knew about it because my friend the fire marshal showed up during rehearsals saying he had to sign off on the candles on a cake. Huh? I guess I should have read the show run a little more carefully. I've got the show on DVR too but haven't managed to watch it yet. Doubt I actually will. 

1st to the stage @ ASJ

Around 6.45ish I head over to the Marquee Ballroom. While the awards show is going on over at the Grand Garden we have to get ready for 7.30p doors to the All Star Jam. This is one of the most popular shows we do because so many high level country artists end up performing with each other in such an intimate setting. Everyone's in place, house band starts so we open doors. Only glitch was the ticket scanners didn't work. Our IT department disabled the wireless connection for some reason. We just faked it and checked tickets. 10 years ago no one had scanners so sometimes you gotta just go old school to get thru the night. 

Red Carpet

On my way back from the Marquee I take a look at the east lot where the red carpet was set earlier. Fork lifts, staging, carpet, banner truss all laying around. I look at my watch. 7.35p. Shit. The awards show breaks in 25 minutes. There's no way all this stuff will be cleared by show break. It should have been cleared by 7.00p so limos could stage there and I could let people from the arena exit out those side doors. But given the amount of material lying in the lot and on the sidewalk there was no way could I do that. So I call in the troops to let our staff now we won't be exiting on east or west sides of the building. Everyone exits out the main entrances and does the 'duck walk' out to the casino or across the street to the All Star Jam. It actually wasn't too bad. That's how good my team is. They know how to manage traffic flow better than any. Every event they make me proud. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing group of people. 

All Star Jam

Arena is clear so I head back to the All Star Jam. My mood is about 10x worse than it was earlier and I've had it, mentally. I know I need to be back @ 9.00a because my guy who normally comes in for the early shift has a M-F 9-5 job so I'm the lucky one who gets to come in and babysit the troops. I see my supervisors near the front of the Marquee and tell them that I'm headed home. It's only 10.00p. The ASJ won't be clear until at least 1.30a so I should stay until then but I'm so done if I don't leave now I'm not sure I'll actually ever return to work. They could all sense my frustration. It's not like I hide it well. "Go home. Get some sleep. We'll see you tomorrow," they say. Thank you God for my guys. They save my life every event. 

Wholy Holy

UFC 130 Weigh In is at the MGM Grand Garden Arena tomorrow. Today the production crew started loading in the lighting truss. It's cool to see the arena go from Academy of Country Music Awards to Pacquiao vs. Mosley to Billboards to UFC and then to Nitro Circus next week. It's been an exhausting run and we've still got 1 more week to go before a break. But I love it. I love my team, I love the arena boys, I love the stress, the long hours, the perks, the problem-solving and the satisfaction of putting together world-class events. I'm a lucky girl. I know that. I know that most certainly - Wholy Holy.

But Beautiful

Unlit stage

It's about 4.30p on Friday, the first full rehearsal day of the Academy of Country Music Awards. I'm sitting in the back of the floor of the ACMs. It's so amazing to look up and see this enormous stage engulfing the floor and ceiling of the Grand Garden Arena. To think of the perspective from boxing, to hockey to supercross to ACMs, it's pretty amazing. It's so hard to explain the scale of the stage. It's like being a Barbie in a dollhouse. None of it is real, it's all kind of just chunks put togehter but that all work in perfect harmony to create this amazing false reality - But Beautiful.

Lit stage

When the show lights are off and the house lights up the actual set is gray, white and chrome. Very bland. Much like the color of concrete. But when the set is in action it comes alive with depth, vibrance and motion. 

At the Grand Garden Arena the house seats are green, teal really. I hate the color but because the MGM Grand's trademark green, it works for us. And when the show lights in the house hit them, they look fantastic!

Backstage looking towards
dressing rooms

The week has gone by quickly. No real drama to speak of. Not sure if it's because this is my 5th year on this show and we're just good at it or if there's something different this year. While things have gone smoothly, there's definitely a different feel - there's a camraderie that's missing this time. We all still get along famously but somehow it feels a bit disjointed somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it but something is definitely off. Maybe because there's no drama there's nothing really to bond us together. Everything is just kind of swimming along nicely. Nothing wrong with that.

Wanna know where Toby's sitting?

It's amazing to see this all come together though. 2 prerig days, 6 load in days, 3.5 rehearsal days. 300+ stagehands, 300 ushers, security, EMS & metro officers and countless of us nameless, faceless schmucks like me behind the scenes making little things happen to accomplish the same goal. It's really kind of cool.

The arena is quiet. They're on a meal break. A group of special needs kinds are funneling into the arena to watch the rehearsals. What a fun experience for them. I've been doing this for a while and even I'm blown away by the magnitude of this stuff sometimes, I can't imagine what it must feel like for them. 

Just spoke to Katie, the ACM social network PR person. Very cool. No issues with my Tweets. In fact, she loves that I'm Tweeting, especially behind the scenes pics. Stuff she doesn't have time to get to, the stuff only someone like me has access to. 

5.30p the crew is back. Rehearsals commence. People and equipment buzzing on stage. 

Fans waiting for glimpses
of their favorite country singers

5.50p JaneDear Girls, The Band Perry & Sara Evans are getting set to do a rehearsal for their tributes on the live taping for Girls' Night Out on CBS. 

This is the first time I've really parked my butt in the arena and watched any part of the rehearsals for this show, ever. It's funny that when I was Mandalay Bay to watch Chris Botti's rehearsal for the Latin Grammys last year I was at full attention - and I had butterflies. This time I have zero intrest in the bands performing other than that they put on a great show for the fans. I'm not even sure who they are - and that's ok. I don't think you have to like every type of music to appreciate them as musicians. But I love watching the people who are lucky enough to have guest passes to see their favorite artists perform. They have a glow. And I recognize it. It's a rush to see your favorite performer live and in person. You feel like you're privy to a secret or an inside joke. 

Blake & Reba's view as they
hit the stage

After a to go box from Chef Eric at Seablue I'm finishing up some blogging and work. I missed Darius Rucker & Martina McBride's rehearsals but am going to try and catch Toby Keith's coming up in about 30 minutes - if they're on schedule. He's performing a song that sums up where I would like to be right now. 

Academy of Country Music Awards

Academy of Country Music Awards

Here's a link to my FB page of photos of silly behind-the-scenes footage from the Academy of Country Music Awards load in & rehearsals. A full recap of the ACMs, All Star Jam and Girls' Night Out to follow after the live ACM broadcast on CBS this Sunday & Girls' Night Out live taping on Monday. 

If you're coming out to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for any ACM related event, Tweet me @AmyZopfi. I'll give you a behind-the-scenes tour! 

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Monday. I don't normally go to work on Mondays because I'm usually working Saturdays but Gaga was on a Friday and no one really cares that I drove to Riverside, CA to see Chris Botti on Saturday. Technically that wasn't really work so it's back to the grindstone. 

I don't mind though. Coming up on Sunday, April 3 is the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) at the Grand Garden. ACMs come with some of the greatest people I've ever worked with. I'm not a fan of country music - at all - but they make this event so fun. Yes, it gets nuts and occasionally we butt heads but then have a good laugh at the end of the day. My friend Erick has the 2nd best laugh on the planet. (1st goes to Adam: you know you deserve it!) It kinda sounds like Barry White suffocating while moaning and inhaling, "AH, OH." Deliciously absurd. I love it. Nothing better than a laugh that makes you laugh.

I love this show for other reasons too. This was my first awards show I help construct operationally from the ground up. It's kind of like my baby, my legacy for when I leave the Grand Garden. I'm extremely proud of the relationships I've built with them and even more proud of the sustained friendships. That's what makes this job great, tolerable even. You can put up with douchebags in house for 24 hours or ridiculous clueless convention clients for shows like this. At the end of the year you just hope the good ones outweighed the bad ones. If they did you smile to yourself thinking of the memories. If they didn't you pat yourself on the back for not telling anyone to go fuck themselves... at least to their face.

And on that note, I think I'll call it a night. 

Born This Way

I'm headed to my next Chris Botti show on Saturday. It's in Riverside, CA - short jaunt from Vegas. Just what I need to recharge my emotional batteries before the true madness of the Academy of Country Music Awards starts next week. But before then comes Lady Gaga on Friday. Her new single Born This Way is #1 on Billboard and #1 on Top 40. 

She's been to the Grand Garden Arena before. Last August I think. I didn't get to see much of that show because there was lots of patron drama throughout so I vowed this time I'd try and take in as much as I could. Last time I got stuck talking down a bi-polar mad woman who may or may not have been doped up on something, or maybe she wasn't doped up on something and that was the problem. It was exhausting but part of the job. Unfortunately that lasted for over an hour before security dragged her away. I felt bad for the first 30 minutes she pleaded her case to me why she should be allowed back into the arena after being kicked out and I actually was sympathetic and tried to help her, but by minute 31 I was ready to be done with it. I love me some Botti but I'm never going to pitch a tantrum and bawl my head off because I didn't get to see him or threaten harm to myself or others if he doesn't get my personal message. It's when you witness the desperation and true fanaticism that you start to feel for celebrities. I get that they shouldn't bitch that every toilet seat they sit on isn't a new factory sealed one but no one deserves to be hunted by crazies. 

People come out of the woodwork when the arena has high-demand, high-calibre artists. Not only friends, business associates & acquaintances asking for hookups but employees who give every excuse in the book why they need to be at this show. It's comical. There's a page on Facebook literally called I hate people that only call me for free tickets. Close to 31,000 people like it. There's nothing more annoying than getting a text or DM from someone you haven't spoken to in ages asking for a hook up. 

I hope to do a full blog on Gaga just like the past couple of shows. So hang up the Telephone, put on your Poker Face, tell all the Boys Boys Boys that you're Starstruck & Speechless but oh So Happy I Could Die. Tell Alejandro & the Summerboy you're done with the LoveGame & the Bad Romance and that you're gonna Live Your Life making Money Honey, just Chillin. And with that Eh, Eh Nothing Else I Can Say.