MIDDLETON, WI —Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (ETC) has named Harvey Sweet as the company’s technical product manager in research and development. “Harvey Sweet is an authority in the stagecraft field,” said Fred Foster, ETC CEO. “And I also happen to be privileged to have known him for 33 years — since I aced his course in theater technology at the University of Wisconsin.”
Read More »NEW WINDSOR, NY — Nick Jackson, senior vice president of PRG’s Concert Touring group, stepped down from his position, according to Jere Harris, chairman and CEO. “Since joining PRG in 1998, Nick has worked tirelessly to establish our Concert Touring division as the leading provider of entertainment technology solutions for some of the biggest acts in the business. It has been an honor to work with this industry pioneer."
Read More »KORTRIJK, Belgium — After seven years at the helm of Barco, Martin De Prycker has resigned from his position as CEO of the company. Barco's board accepted the resignation and proposed that Eric Van Zele, currently a member of the board, assume the CEO position. Van Zele accepted that appointment.
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AUSTIN, TX — It’s become an annual challenge for Pyrotek Special Effects’ Doug Adams: how to top the “Wow” factor generated by the previous year’s pyro design for the Trans Siberian Orchestra tour. “Talks of new designs and proposals start literally after the completion of each year’s tour,” said Adams, who worked with TSO founder Paul O’Neill, LD Bryan Hartley and lighting programmer Nick Militello on the 2008/2009 tour.
Read More »Three-phase distribution is very common, because it saves money. It takes about 25 percent less copper to transmit the same amount of power…But it’s virtually… Read More »Three-Phase Power and a Bozo-Proof Solution
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NEW YORK — Element Labs, Inc and Niles Creative Group are holding an open house at the Niles Creative Group studio Jan. 19-23. Products and design ideas for both companies, like the design for the Marco Borsato concert by Element Labs, shown here, will be part of the open house. Private sessions are also available. For more information, attendees can RSVP by email at [email protected].
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*Ranked by Billboard Magazine, according to total sales, Nov. 14, 2007-Nov. 11, 2008
1. Bon Jovi's Lost Highway Tour
Lighting Co: Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting (now Epic Production Technologies)
CREW
Performance Environment Designer: Doug “Spike” Brant
Show Director/Executive Producer: Justin Collie
Lighting Director: Pat Brannon
Lighting Crew Chief: Storm Sollars
Lighting Crew: Jason Bridges, Greg Walker, Trevitt Cromwell, Chris Keen
Set Company: Tait Towers
Rigging Director: Mike Farese
Video Director: Tony Bongiovi
Video Suppliers: Kosher Pixels, Nocturne Productions
LD Greg Russell walked into the newly-named Oak Ridge Boys Theatre in Branson, Mo. last year with the words of the owners ringing in his ears. “They wanted to have the biggest, baddest lighting system that we could get,” he recalls. “They weren’t going to spare any expense to get it done.”
While that was good news for Russell, he also had good news for them after a quick look around the venue formerly known as the Glen Campbell Theatre. He discovered that much of the lighting and rigging gear that was installed in 1994 was useable, including almost 500 channels of ETC Sensor dimming.
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Lincoln Maynard leads a double life as an artist and general manager of Scenic Technologies for PRG.
Adorning the walls of PRG’s Las Vegas offices are photographs of flashy sets from famous shows and concerts — the Billboard Music Awards, VH1 Rock Honors and Criss Angel: Believe, to name a few. They showcase decades worth of work on the Las Vegas Strip and across the country. Photographs of sets the company has built, however, aren’t the only works of art on display. They share the space with paintings by artist Lincoln Maynard, who also happens to be general manager of PRG Scenic Technologies.
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One of the most important lighting design tools to emerge in the post-automated lighting era is lighting design software. The first to market was the WYSIWYG suite of CAD, paperwork, rendering, and visualization software for lighting designers and programmers. Eighteen years after version 1.0 comes the latest release from Cast Software, Release 23, and it represents a major step forward in terms of real-time visualization, detail, and quality of rendering.
Read More »Last month I was hired to program the COTT 2008 music awards on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. While the initial concept and plan for the show was very straightforward, there were many surprises that left me well equipped with material to write about the experience. The show was a typical awards-style TV shoot with five cameras, a podium, and twelve musical numbers. I was in control of automated lights, LEDs, media servers, and more. Conventionals were controlled from another console. The LD had done this show the year before but could not attend this year because his pregnant wife was due any day. So it was up to me and the superb crew to help the locals make this show spectacular.
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Looking for a recession-proof market sector? That joint near the tracks with all the neon might be a good pace to start. This particularly pernicious economic climate is chipping away at the entertainment-related areas of business that putatively do well in recessions: film box office results are flat, video game sales are down slightly and music sales — fuhgedaboudit.
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