NYC NOW - July 4, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

As we celebrate the 4th of July, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with Phil Grucci, president and CEO of Fireworks by Grucci. The company has been lighting up the sky for six generations.

Welcome to NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre for WNYC. Happy 4th of July. On this holiday, we celebrate our nation's independence. And with that comes fireworks, lots of them. They're big, they're bright, and they're exceedingly hard to pull off. But in New York City, a local company knows a lot about the Herculean effort that makes these holiday spectaculars happen.

Phil Grucci is president and CEO of fireworks by Grouchy, a company that has been lighting up the sky for six generations. He talked with WNYC's Michael Hill, ahead of the city's big fireworks show. Tell us about the preparation that goes into getting ready for the 4th of July weekend. It's very logistics and operations driven, obviously. All the design of the shows is completed,

and then the logistics of moving 400 pirate technicians from places such as New York to Hawaii, down to Florida, all the transportation of the explosives and the fireworks to different locations. We are in now 67 cities to celebrate this Independence Day, and it's driven by a lot of hard work. It's seasonal, so it's that peak that comes on quickly. Fortunately, we're past COVID, so a lot of our customers, now they knew they wanted to have their Independence Day display, so they booked up with us early. So it's a good time. We're here. We're ready to go. So, Phil, you mentioned 67 cities. Does that mean 67 shows? That's correct, that have at least three to four pirate technicians on them each. Some of them

have as many as 20 to 30 pirate technicians on them. That's a lot. And today, of course, is the big shows we said. What time do you even have to start today? Well, the installations on many of our performances happened actually two or three days ago, the amount of equipment that has to get set up, the computer systems, the testing that we have to do. We have some time in there, a contingency see for weather in case the weather is bad. So many of our programs, we're not only on one day. We don't just show up, set up, and display. We're there multiple days. It's a progressive of install. Would you walk us through everything today that needs to happen to make today a success? Suppose there's even rain in the forecast for the time the fireworks are supposed to start.

Believe it or not, the rain doesn't really cause us much trouble. The rain is more of an inconvenience for the audience. We could fire in the rain. The product is protected. We have certain protocols that we protect the equipment from the rain and the computer systems. It's more wind. If we have a high wind, then that will affect the actual display, whether we can display it or not. But the preparations for today start early in the morning at every one of the sites. The pyrotechnicians should be loaded already by now. And then as the day draws later, then the security element of the boundaries and where the fences are

and making sure that the people aren't getting themselves set up in a nice place that's inside the fallout. area. So we're watching all of that as the day goes on. By the time the sun starts to set, we're ready to go. Either the barges are in place or the security areas locked down on a land location. And then we're watching the clock tick away very slowly because we're eager to push that first button. But there's a lot of checks that we're working with with the customer. If it's a program that we are choreographing to music, that goes out on a radio station. There's rehearsals in that connection, make sure connectivity is all right. So there's many details before that first button is pushed.

But then when it happens, we're up on stage and yet the butterflies, just as you're watching the time code, now click away, and it's counting down to that first launching of the first effect. There's pre-show jitters. And then once the show is over, that grand finale ends, and you hear the roar of the crowd, it makes it all worth it. You know, those long nights and long days, it makes it all worth it. And, you know, we turn around.

We have a very busy next weekend, too. So next weekend we have 22 shows that will go out. Oh, the cat. So this year came back pretty strong. Phil I'm curious, what do you say to someone if they've seen one or two or three or four of your shows, they've seen at all? No, I don't think they've seen it at all. Our challenge is to make each one of them different. So every one of them is custom.

It's our challenge and also our love to make sure that each one of those programs has its personal touch and it's different than the others. We don't have an A show and a B show and a D show. that goes out. So we hope it's not just like any other program. That's Phil Grucci, president and CEO of Fireworks by Grucci, talking with WNYC's Michael Hill. Stay close. There's more after the break. This summer marks 50 years since hip-hop culture made its debut on the streets of the Bronx. In celebration of this milestone, WNYC is showcasing the voices of women and non-binded. individuals from our area who are making an impact on the genre.

My name is Princess Amos. My pronouns are they them theirs, and I'm a poet and the author of my new poetry book titled Princess in Distress, which follows my life after the disclosure of my gender identity. I am from North New Jersey originally. Hip has greatly influenced me because I feel like it was really my first connection to black culture, well specifically black American culture. I am a child of African immigrants. It was a bit difficult for me to fit into American society just because we are different. So I feel like hip hop allowed me to understand a black American perspective. Songs like

I Can by Nas taught me more about my history. I feel like hip hop overall just taught me that I I can walk into spaces unapologetically as who I am and not feel ashamed or discouraged. There are a lot of artists that have definitely helped me. I really appreciate artists like Megan the Stallion for the fact that she's able to be multidimensional. She heavily promotes education in her work while also being very positive about her expression and identity. That is definitely something that greatly impacts me and tells me that I can't be placed in a box. I'm influencing hip hop with my work by adding a new perspective and lens.

As a black trans person, I feel like I've definitely in some ways been excluded from hip hop. So I appreciate the ways in which I can add on to the conversation. Because hip hop has always been, to me, a form of protest. It's a revolutionary art form. I feel like I'm just adding on to that legacy. Princess Amos is a poet from Newark, New Jersey. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day.

We'll be back tomorrow with our regular three episodes a day. Until then, enjoy your holiday.