Last minute pyromusical using leftovers

[Jay_]

Well, I had no plans to shoot anything and I threw this together in about a week. The fireworks run a little longer than the music. Other than a couple bad hits at the beginning everything else went off as planned.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoYzN1I8Dw&t=4s

[CozmicRooster]

Haha! I love leftovers LOL

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Very nice leftovers. Good job.

[Big Worm]

Great job man!! I wish i had leftovers like that. You are a talented show designer, I always enjoy watching your shows.

[Mattp]

HAHAHA!!! a 9 min leftover show..and it was packed with effects.. . thats great!! that was enough product to do your show next year..guess you still had the black powder itch after the 4th .. LOL

[Jay_]

Thank you very much fellas. Made some bad decisions in it, like letting a couple of big 1/1’s run solo thinking that they would be enough coverage…well they weren’t. Was ok, but could have done much better with what I had.

Also letting the fireworks run past the music was a mistake. Would have been a much nicer finale had I just peeled the start time back on the last cake and let it go with the pairs of 1/1’s on the outboard stations.

Kinda at a crossroads now. Tired of dealing with product availability/product price issues after the last couple of years.

Also some of the folks in the biz are D-bags that I’d rather not deal with. Fireworks forever comes to mind. They sent a condescending email around may sometime basically telling everyone to quit asking about product availability, and delivery dates and basically giving everyone rules to live by if you want to buy from them. They can eat shit as far as I’m concerned, and I hope that nobody ever buys anything from them again…but it’s not just them..it’s on the retail side too.

So with all that being said, I plan to go 1.3 next year and not deal with the bs (assuming they have product)…or just sell my firing system and funnel fireworks funds to my many other expensive hobbies.

I love fireworks and love doing shows, but not going to deal with inflated prices and crappy customer service.

[mguerra]

Well WFBoom is also closing down all web sales, UFN. It’s a unique year and situation that’s out of the control of our wholesalers. Pricing and supply have been wildly unpredictable from China. So hopefully next year FF, WFB, and all the others can provide a more predictable sales environment. I have bought from both and hope to again. I love to mix 1.3 with 1.4!

[mguerra]

Well WFBoom is also closing down all web sales, UFN. It’s a unique year and situation that’s out of the control of our wholesalers. Pricing and supply have been wildly unpredictable from China. So hopefully next year FF, WFB, and all the others can provide a more predictable sales environment. I have bought from both and hope to again. I love to mix 1.3 with 1.4!
And now I see Spirit of 76 has shut down all web sales also. So it's not Fireworks Forever being jerks, it's a serious industry wide problem.

[Birdman]

Your leftover show thrown together in a week was nicer then my 4th show that I worked on throughout the whole year!

I feel your frustration with firework situation as it is. It sure seems that customer service, particularly at the smaller shops, is about as good as one would expect from a drug dealer. Obviously not all of them but the majority I have dealt with treat you like their doing you a favor just selling them or just completely blow you off. I have emailed several stores to inquire about product and pricing and typically never get a response. One time I got a reply stating they don't have time to answer emails and that I would have to come into the store. I emailed them in the off season and got the response weeks later. Went to the store and it was closed during the hours their website said they would be open. That's another gripe...most websites are not kept updated unless it's one of the big wholesalers.

This year I had the pleasure of working with Sabrina at AWF and it was by far the most pleasurable experience I've had buying fireworks. I have one local shop I buy from and for the most part they are responsive but I wouldn't say they are a pleasure to deal with. I know I'm not the biggest of buyers but I buy regularly throughout the year and I can be a very loyal customer if you don't rub me the wrong way most of the time.

I really hope the supply issues etc get straightened out because all of this uncertainty is weighing on me. I often wonder if this is going to be the year I throw in the towel. I've even withdrew an offer to sell someone my import firing system just in case I decide to go back to the beginning when I just grabbed a few hundred dollars worth of product off the shelf and wired it up. I sure hope not but I'm preparing myself for that possibility.

[Jay_]

And now I see Spirit of 76 has shut down all web sales also. So it's not Fireworks Forever being jerks, it's a serious industry wide problem.

Yessir, agree. The entire supply chain is wrecked pretty much worldwide and is touching everything. I did notice spirit's online sales were stopped when I was browsing a couple of nights ago. That was pretty surprising to me. I did not know that WF boom had shut down online sales. Yes unique year to say the least.

It wasn't FF struggling to receive product that I had a problem with, it was just the attitude laden blanket email that they threw out there to what looked like their entire mailing list (just guessing because I hadn't contacted them yet this year) giving everybody the who what and where. I think that may end up being a very bad business decision for them in the long run. Just my $.02

TXpyro..if you are out there, did you get the same email? Just curious if it did indeed go to everyone.

[Jay_]

Your leftover show thrown together in a week was nicer then my 4th show that I worked on throughout the whole year!

I feel your frustration with firework situation as it is. It sure seems that customer service, particularly at the smaller shops, is about as good as one would expect from a drug dealer. Obviously not all of them but the majority I have dealt with treat you like their doing you a favor just selling them or just completely blow you off. I have emailed several stores to inquire about product and pricing and typically never get a response. One time I got a reply stating they don't have time to answer emails and that I would have to come into the store. I emailed them in the off season and got the response weeks later. Went to the store and it was closed during the hours their website said they would be open. That's another gripe...most websites are not kept updated unless it's one of the big wholesalers.

This year I had the pleasure of working with Sabrina at AWF and it was by far the most pleasurable experience I've had buying fireworks. I have one local shop I buy from and for the most part they are responsive but I wouldn't say they are a pleasure to deal with. I know I'm not the biggest of buyers but I buy regularly throughout the year and I can be a very loyal customer if you don't rub me the wrong way most of the time.

I really hope the supply issues etc get straightened out because all of this uncertainty is weighing on me. I often wonder if this is going to be the year I throw in the towel. I've even withdrew an offer to sell someone my import firing system just in case I decide to go back to the beginning when I just grabbed a few hundred dollars worth of product off the shelf and wired it up. I sure hope not but I'm preparing myself for that possibility.

Ha! Whatever, your show was way better and your audience loved it! I do appreciate the compliment though. Just hate that I pretty much mailed it in this year.

I didn't really invite many people to it this year because I knew that it would not really be anything special, but ended up with quite a few people showing up. I didn't mind them coming out, but hated that I didn't give them the show that they thought that they would see.

I actually had planned to just get the torch and hand fire it, but I just could not let that firing system sit and be able to feel right about it.

Yeah I don't get the bad customer service side of the biz at times. This is not something that we have to buy. The last couple of years there has been an influx of disposable income for many folks that do not typically have disposable income, therefore more folks are buying fireworks. I guess that makes your money and my money not as desirable as it has been in all of the previous years.

I'm also with you on the places that are not open when they say that they are going to be. I think I had a small rant post about that last year on this site. After dealing with that last year from one of the shops in my vicinity, I did not darken their door this year.

I did buy a bit this year, and the person that I bought from was great. It was the old "ill scratch your back in good faith that you will scratch mine" dynamic that I have...and most of us have become accustomed to with the good stores over the years. This is a very small place, but I will continue to go back there. He is a good dude, knows how to treat good customers, and has top quality stuff.

I have always had good luck with AWF also. I didn't buy anything wholesale this year, but John did take the time to answer all of my questions in the midst of the crisis that he is dealing with daily. I appreciate that, and if I continue doing shows I will continue to do my big orders with them.

[mguerra]

did you get the same email? Just curious if it did indeed go to everyone.
It went out to the entire list I'm sure because I got a number of those emails myself with all the "rules"!