Vanderbilt University Register: 15 Questions With . . .

7 Questions With . . .

... Rudi Aldridge,

Supervisor of Technical Services,
Blair School ofMusic

How did you come to love the arts?

I was a painter in college, a fine arts major. When I got out of college, I was trying to make ends meet and got hired at TPAC because I was a big guy, and they had lots of rock concerts that needed setting up. They pushed me towards lighting design, and two years later I designed my first show.

Why come to Vanderbilt after 15 years at TPAC?

Ingram Hall. My title is supervisor of technical services, which I thought was a bit of a misnomer, but actually turns out to be quite correct. I balance between the technical and the administrative and also bring in some level of vision for this venue -- I imagine what can happen here, what is going to happen here. Every day I come in here and want to give more to Blair, more to Vanderbilt.

What is so great about Ingram Hall?

I think the impact of this venue on Blair and Vanderbilt and Nashville has been underestimated. We can take this place and all of the demands on it and turn those two things into something bigger. A venue like this can take on a role in a community that is larger than just the things that happen in it.

What is the scariest book you've ever read?

Most of the books I read are theoretical physics. It's just a little hobby.

Why physics?

I think it is part of my discomfort with organized religion. To read different people's ideas about the origin of the universe is a way I can listen to a discussion about the mind of God without my own spirituality getting in the way. So really it isn't a hobby. I think of it more as part of my spiritual life.

Have you had your "15-minutes of fame"?

If you put all the little minutes together, I'm up to about 11. I love being a part of giving so much to so many people. I've done 4,000 performances in my 15-year career. What has been given and received by so many who have seen those performances, that's all the fame that I could ever hope for in the world. To hear people say, "That's beautiful" at your lighting of a scene or during a specific moment of a performance is as good a feeling as you can get.

Name your guilty pleasure.

I feel no guilt about pleasure.

-- Whitney Weeks

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