The 2017 SC&RA Annual Conference and Acoustic Alchemy Guitar Reception
The annual conference and premier event for SC&RA was held in April and attracted owners, CEO’s, top managers and leaders in the industry. Highlights included education sessions by well-known authors and speakers, committee meetings and numerous networking opportunities.
A networking highlight was the annual Acoustic Alchemy Guitar Reception at which band members comprised of SC&RA members performed. Eddy Kitchen and Alvaro Rodriguez have been leading the SC&RA babd and Acoustic Alchemy event for 8 years.
The reception was a lighthearted ending to several days of discussions centered around the following topics:
- Pending legislation affecting crane owners. Of particular interest are several New York City Council bills that could restrict construction and crane operations in the city.
- Industry stakeholders discussed the pending federal crane operator certification requirement that is scheduled to become effective in November of this year. Some of the language is opposed by the Coalition for Crane Operator Safety.
- Also of interest was a boom dolly research initiative being led by the Crane Rental Association of Canada. On highway transport accidents led the group to establish two goals: increasing axle weight limits to reduce the need for boom dollies and working to find a technical solution to improve current boom dolly design.
- Education sessions provided insight into personal and corporate achievement.
The Acoustic Alchemy Guitar Reception was sponsored this year by Enerpac, Kaylyn/Siebert Inc., Kitchen’s Crane & Equipment, MPE Group, and TNT Crane & Rigging.
See below for some highlights from the reception, including a video jam session of “Route 66” in honor of Tudor VanHamtpon.
SC&RA band members; Kerry Koberg of DICA Outrigger Pads, Alvaro Rodriguez from MPE Group, Eddy Kitchen of Kitchen’s Crane & Equipment, and Earl Johnson III from Southern Crane.
The SC&RA band gets in a jam session playing a Rolling Stones version of “Route 66” at the SC&RA Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
This song was played during the reception to honor Tudor VanHampton from ENR magazine who died in Feb. “Route 66” was a song that Tudor loved and that his wife Jenie shared with many in Tudor’s passing. Tudor enjoyed both the Nat King Cole and Stones versions.
One of Jenie’s hopes was that “the next time you are on the road, maybe you will think of him”. We hope you will too.
Eric Barnhart from Barnhart Cranes joined on the cajon for part of a set. Alvaro Rodriguez from MPE in Mexico plays guitar with DICA’s Kerry Koberg on guitar and lead vocals.
The SC&RA band has been playing for eight years with Eddy Kitchen and Alvaro Rodriguez being the founding members.
During the reception, Zack Parnell from ITI demonstrated a virtual reality crane. With the glasses on he was able to place a crawler crane in the middle of the party.