This FAQ got me the behind the scenes at a concert. I'd never owned anything fancier than a Radio Shack laser pointer, but I'd read Sam's FAQ cover-to-cover ou

This FAQ got me the behind the scenes at a concert. I'd never owned anything fancier than a Radio Shack laser pointer, but I'd read Sam's FAQ cover-to-cover out of sheer curiosity. Sometime around 2010, I found myself dropping some things off at a convention, where I was not involved but knew some of the staff. This landed me in a conversation with one of the A/V crew for the dance (happening a few hours hence), specifically the guy who did the laser show equipment. Pretty fancy stuff, especially for 2010. We end up talking a LOT about lasers, most of which I know from the FAQ, never having touched any of the stuff in the flesh. He takes me down to the ballroom to check out the setup, we play with it a bit, and I'm totally fascinated, not just with the hardware, but the controls that sequence the various show routines. Then he says something like "You seem to have a handle on this.. listen... I never get to GO TO the dance because I'm always back here. You wanna take a shift on the board?", and next thing you know, the lights are down, the fog is up, and the DJ is giving me hand signals to know when to change the laser wibbly-wobbly as he switches songs. Mid-show, a costumed figure walks up to the board, laser-guy peeks out from behind the mask, "How ya doin? Need a breather?" and I'm like "Nah this is awesome, have fun out there!", and he disappears back into the crowd.