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And heeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny… I mean Conan Oooooo’Brien !
Growing up in a show business family, an NBC television family to be exact, it has always been exciting for me to be able to connect with what I have known my entire life... the behind the scenes production of television. As a kid, I grew up with all the great shows of the 50's and 60's as we lived our lives around the then very young medium of TV. In my house it was the Show of Shows, Soupy Sales, Dick Van Dyke, the I love Lucy Show and every western there was from Have Gun Will Travel to Rawhide and Gunsmoke... you name it, we watched it. But one show was almost a religion at our house... The Tonight Show. I can remember all the way back to the beginning with Steve Allen and then it was Jack Parr, and finally the man who would make late night television legendary forever, Johnny Carson. We missed very few shows when I was growing up. So for me, to be able to be involved with the Tonight Show in some way all these years later was not only a thrill, but also a reconnection with my childhood.
Four years ago I became friends with Late Night w/Conan O'Brien band member Jimmy Vivino. Jimmy became a lover of our pedals and began using them almost exclusively with the Max Weinberg 7, as well as his other band, The Fab Faux. Little did anyone know then that Conan would become the heir to the Tonight Show, and that the entire Max Weinberg 7 would go with him to Los Angeles and become The Tonight Show Band. Now, the face of late night television once again is taking on a whole new look as Conan and the band transform the show by reviving some of the old with his own brand of new.
Recently I was in LA and got to spend the day with Jimmy and the band. I was able to watch the entire process of editing out jokes to rehearsing it all for continuity, to finally seeing the taping of the show go down from the infamous Green Room... that is really GREEN. I was a kid all over again.
There I was where every night The Tonight Show is brought to life for millions upon millions of homes to view. I was able to see all the hard work that goes into making it come off without a hitch. I was able to hang out with and meet some of the interesting and unique people behind the scenes that make this whole machine work. Thanks to Barry Duryea (who is the tech for Jimmy as well as the band), I was able to go on stage, take pictures, as well as watch the actual afternoon rehearsal where planning makes for great spontaneity. It was a gas, gas, gas!
Visual Sound is proud to be not only the pedals of choice for Jimmy Vivino and the rest of the Tonight Show Band, but our 1SPOT powers almost all of what is on the music set every single night.
The thrill of being a small part of an American legend such as The Tonight Show is one of the greatest privileges I have had... especially coming from a past like mine!
Oh the thrill of being a kid all over again...
Steven Bliss - Visual Sound Artist Relations
Take a look!
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Entered on: Friday, November 20, 2009, 3:48:48pm
