Friday Misc.

Happy Independence Day!

I used to run camera for a big July 4th celebration. The company that I worked part time for did the audio and video for the event every year. There was entertainment all afternoon and then a massive fireworks display to end the day.

We provided a patriotic soundtrack that played through the big speakers while thousands of people watched the fireworks go off across the big field.

One year, a little bit before dark, word started spreading through our AV crew that the fireworks guys weren’t on site. They’d set up the fireworks earlier in the morning, and then went to the beach or something. At any rate, they weren’t back and the organizers were getting concerned.

As the show ended and the fireworks were supposed to begin, we got word that the fireworks guys weren’t coming back. The way we heard it, they got drunk and ended up fighting each other, and the youth pastor and a couple guys from the church that sponsored the event were going to set off the fireworks themselves.

I mean, thousands of people were waiting, and the fireworks were ready to go…what could happen?

So our audio guy started the music, and after a minute or so the first firework went up. Then after a pause, another one. It kind of went like that for the next half hour.

Whoosh. Bang. Oooh ahhh. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Whoosh.

Nobody watching had any idea why the fireworks were taking so long. And to be honest, the story the crew and I got via our ClearComm headsets might have been wrong or embellished, but it was the longest and slowest fireworks show I ever saw.

Whoosh. Bang. Let’s go get a snow cone and maybe they’ll set another one off soon.

The fireworks finally ended and everybody went home and America was another year older.

That was years ago, but every time I see fireworks since then I picture a bunch of guys in shorts and flip flops who have no clue what they’re doing, setting off thousands of dollars worth of fireworks, crossing their fingers, hoping for the best and saving the night.

That’s an American party right there.