APRIL 28

WELCOME TO THE 10TH EDITION OF THE EUROVISION DIARY!

Day 6 at the dream factory, and all is still good. But it’s been a rainy and cold day, and that is never fun. But they’ve promised sun for tomorrow, so we should be alright!

Today, the house is full of sound guys, but there are no drummers present, not that I know of anyway, so I’ll take my chances! Do you know what is the difference between a drummer and and drum machine? You only have to punch in the information in the machine once………. I know…… they get worse by the day! Thank God I didn’t continue with the warning signs though……. that IS a dead end!

By the way…… I’m working off a Swedish keyboard here, so all you Norwegians, please forgive me for not getting some of your letters right. For example, you just have to live with me writing Ö the Swedish way, rather than your way.

This is Ida, who is the local production manager from Frontlite. Martin, who is the MD of the company, promised us that he would provide a GREAT person for this position, and he wasn’t lying!

Today we put up the front followspots. There are a total of 12 followspots this year, and they will all be operated by people from Oslo Kru.

We needed 10 000 litres of water for the AC units today. It would take 6-7 hours to do it by tapping water from the Venue, but the fire brigade managed to do it in 1.5 hours!

The venue engineer Andreas Solberg came by today, to go over some changes in the rigging plot with our Head Rigger Mirko Hentze and Matthias Rau.

And we did put a few things in the roof, here and there………….

Kim Strömstad, our Director for openings, interval acts and voting is thinking about life, in a cherry picker, as you do. He is like a young, handsome and HAPPY Ingemar Bergman!

I decided to help him, in his mission to create the coolest show ever, I’m not sure I added any dimensions to be honest……….

Our albino rastafari Tommy, with a grass mohawk????????? When he’s not hiding behind the catering, digging reggae, he keeps himself busy with building the stage.

Now, why does Olaf look so pleased with himself, and why is Ida in shock?

NRK promo came and spent the day today making a promo for the Norwegian entry this year, Didrik Solli-Tangen

And………Action!

Even though he’s not performing, he is still a SUPERSTAR, even though he is a bit blurry in this shot  It’s been great to get to know you, and I really enjoy working with you buddy!

Here is the reason why I had to stop with sound jokes………. Avab CAC is in da house, I guess I have to behave for a couple of days! In front, to the left is Gaute Nistov who is head of sound, and works at NRK. Next to him is Geir Östensjö, who is the Head of PA FOH. There will be a closer introduction to the rest of the team within short, if they don’t hit me, that is!

Danny is dancing! Shake it baby!

Veit is also dancing, only slower………

The crew wall! Here is where we post all important information for the crew.

Girl Power! There are MANY girls in the production this year, which makes me happy as a pig in poo. Here is Joan, Geele, Cille and Svenja posing. Svenja is VERY happy this year, since we only have 1200 Schnick Schnacks this year, compared to almost 10,000 last year.

There is NEVER a dull moment around this man! Richard George Gorrod, our gaffer. You might recognize him if you’ve seen This is It! The movie about Michael Jacksson you know….. Richie is in it! And he even has a line…….. “TRUSS MOVING!”

It’s time to get more advanced in our Norwegian skills people! So, we are leaving the simple words, and will now go into whole phrases instead!

Lesson #1. ¨Det ser ut som et bomba horehus her inne¨ = This place looks like a bombed-out whorehouse!

And we can assume they are referring to a quite messy area, saying that……..

Over and out from Oslo!