Saratoga News

Photograph by Edmund Lee

Craig Chaquico was the opening act for Acoustic Alchemy's sold-out concert at the Mountain Winery.

Behind the Scenes

A hilltop may be a great venue, but the winding road makes setup a challenge

By Sarah Lombardo

With the summer breeze caressing the hillside and rustling the grapevines, the stars twinkling above and the lights of the Bay Area blinking below, it's easy to think the Mountain Winery is the most perfect spot in the world to see a concert. And it is, at least from a concert-goer's perspective.

But from the standpoint of the Villa Montalvo staff and the crews who make the show happen, the secluded venue in the historic hilltop setting presents a bit of a challenge.

"It's not so much harder. It's just different," says Montalvo publicist Wendy Miller. Miller oversees shows at all four of Montalvo's concert venues--the Garden Theater, the Front Lawn, the Carriage House and the Mountain Winery. The winery was added to Montalvo's lineup in early 1997, when winery owner Ravi Kumra announced a partnership between Montalvo and the winery to bring back the summer music series.

"One of the differences is that for every show, we have to move in. I mean, our offices aren't here, our fax machines aren't here, our phones aren't here. ...With this venue, the production needs are much bigger."

And production begins early in the morning with equipment trucks lumbering up Pierce Road for the load-in. For the double-billed show featuring former Starship guitarist and current contemporary instrumentalist Craig Chaquico and jazz group Acoustic Alchemy on June 17, load-in begins at about 10 a.m.

A large white truck sits in the concert bowl where, later, seats would be set up and music enthusiasts would watch the show. With the long-awaited June sun beating down on the stage, one of the first orders of business is to hang up a shade cover from the light and speaker poles on each side of the stage. The shade cover, Miller explaines, will keep the stage cooler while the crew from the sound company, LJ Productions, and Montalvo staffers set up. It also will keep the equipment from baking in the midday sun.

Inside the winery, downstairs from where the huge--but now empty--oak barrels still scent the room with aged wine, Montalvo manager of house operations Kristen Schulz sets up the common area, dressing room and hospitality area. It's where band members relax before a show, mingle with friends and prepare for the night.

"We're a lot more remote here," says Schulz, who is also the volunteer coordinator. "At Montalvo, if we need something, we can just go get it. Here, you have to be a lot more thorough."

At 11 a.m., the band loads in. Miller says the challenge of bringing the musicians' equipment in depends on its size and quantity. "If you're dealing with a band that's really on tour, sometimes the buses and the trucks show up really early." And sometimes the trucks--or semis, in some cases--can't make it into the concert bowl itself. In those cases, Miller says, the crews have to unload the equipment from the large trucks into a smaller truck to get it down into the concert arena, and then unload the smaller truck.

"We try to tell [bands] that this is a small venue," Miller says. "'You don't have to do overkill.'"

Sound check was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m., but sound technicians turn up the volume and test the speakers with the strains of Sting a few minutes before the scheduled time. On this particular day, a business meeting is booked for Chateau La Cresta, the reservation-only restaurant located at the winery. A visit from one of the business meeting attendees to the concert bowl, and Sting is turned down.

"That's one of the problems here," Schulz says. "The Chateau wants to have corporate meetings and rentals--that's where you make your money. But sometimes the events conflict."

But, Miller says, a gentle reminder about schedules usually does the trick and keeps conflicts to a minimum.

With equipment up and running and stools and microphones assembled on stage, instruments are brought out and tested. Members of Acoustic Alchemy and Craig Chaquico's band arrive in a van, shuttled from their hotel rooms at the Campbell Inn in Campbell.

Julie Strickner, hospitality director for Montalvo, puts the finishing touches on the hospitality area, stocking it with the appropriate and requested beverages, snacks and supplies.

At 5:30 p.m., the gates open. Concert-goers lucky enough to get off work early parade through the gates and stake out claims on some of the winery's picnic areas.

As the clock winds down for the 7:30 p.m. start of the show, the vendors set up. T-shirts and souvenirs and compact discs and wines are all arranged.

Show time approaches, lights dim and Chaquico and his band take the stage.

For 212 hours, visitors to the Mountain Winery were bathed in music, many unaware of the staffers and crew members--physically tired and not just a little sunburned--resting throughout the winery grounds.

About 10:30 p.m., the show ends, the crowds leave and the load-out begins. The staffers work in reverse to take down and repack everything.

The huge truck that brought it all up up the mountain lumbers back down again, and the staffers and crew, one by one, go home to rest up for the next concert date.

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