Skip to content

Michael Golden

Michael Golden, Bandit Lites VP, marks 40 years in the business.

Michael Golden

One day in 1976, Dr. Billy Golden, a chief of staff surgeon, came home with three Alice Cooper concert tickets, which he had bartered from a patient (apparently that’s how they rolled in Eastern Tennessee in those days). He not only made his 15-year-old son Michael happy, but inadvertently set his son on a career path neither knew existed. “I took two friends from high school, one being Steve, younger brother of Michael Strickland,” he tells. “That concert turned my complete focus toward working in the entertainment/concert field.” The motivated and presumably persuasive teen immediately got a job at the Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, TN. Thus his live event industry career was launched, though inauspiciously: He started at the bottom, if not a few elevator stops below that. “I mopped, swept … I literally popped popcorn by day and ran a spotlight at night.”

Read More »
PLSN 2016 Dec Buyers Guide - Followspots

Followspots

According to some historians, the first spotlights were used in Paris opera houses in 1803. They involved the use of limelight. Invented by Henry Drummond, the technique was to heat a piece of lime with a flame of oxygen and hydrogen. This produced a hot white light that, when put behind a lens, could focus a hot spot of light in a directional manner. As you can see from the latest crop of followspots listed here, we’ve come a long way in 200 years.

Read More »
The Cosmic Truss team at LDI 2016. From left, Paul Saghbazarian, Jack Lee, David Park and Marco Stuve.

Cosmic Truss

You probably have heard recently about Cosmic Truss’ award-winning booth design at this year’s LDI where they displayed a giant skull — which looked like it came straight out of hell — made entirely from truss. While many assumed that the huge skull was all custom, in fact it was almost completely stock pieces with minor custom bits. PLSN caught up with Cosmic Truss’ brand director, David Park and sales manager, Paul Saghbazarian to talk about Cosmic Truss, what’s new, and what they’ve been up to lately beyond building awesome truss skulls.

Read More »
Accurate Staging provided the set. Photo by Steve Jennings

Chance the Rapper

[caption id="attachment_273481" align="alignnone" width="800"]Accurate Staging provided the set. Photo by Steve Jennings[/caption]

Michael Apostolos on the Design for the Artist’s 2016 “Magnificent Coloring World Tour”

Starting off as a freshman in high school interning at Performance Lighting out of Chicago, Michael Apostolos first started working in the shop prepping gear. Moving forward, he then got into designing and programming for his high school theater and upon graduation, pursued a career as a production and lighting designer.

Read More »
Claypaky Lights up the Banks of the Danube

50th Anniversary Celebration of Linz Klangwolke in Austria Lit with Claypaky Fixtures

LINZ, Austria – Lighting designer Björn Hermann lit up the Austrian sky with more than 100 Claypaky luminaires for the recent Linz Klangwolke, or ‘Cloud of Sound’, held along the Danube. The open-air multimedia event, a mix of music, performance and visual art, has been a highlight of the city’s annual calendar since 1979. The Klangwolke presents a different theme each year, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, the 2016 edition was presented under the ‘River of Knowledge’ banner.

Read More »
Ayrton MagicBurst

Ayrton MagicBurst

Ayrton might be likened to the Apple of the LED lighting fixture world, creating fixtures we didn’t know that we wanted until we saw them. The utility of a moving-head strobe may not be immediately clear, and at first blush the idea of a pixel-mappable moving head strobe seems — perhaps — a little over the top. But play with the MagicBurst™ for an afternoon, or even a few minutes, and that opinion might change. While the concept is simple enough on the surface, there’s greater depth here than might be immediately apparent.

Read More »

The Multi-Facets of Prismatic Programming

Automated lighting fixtures are filled with many different effects and mechanical abilities. In addition to gobos, colored glass, shutters and irises, many fixtures provide a prism effect. While similar to a gobo, inserting a prism into the optics of an automated light can have many different results. An automated lighting programmer should understand the reactions and controls when using prisms.

Read More »
Brian Setzer Orchestra's Christmas Rocks, photo by Debi Moen

Making Spirits Bright: Holiday Tours

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? They’re alerting us to other long-running holiday shows — beyond TSO. Designer Watch checked in on Brian Setzer, Oak Ridge Boys, Mannheim Steamroller, Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith, Ian Anderson, and Johnny Mathis tours.

Read More »
Illustration by Andy Au

Dear Festival Lighting Designer

I am well aware that you are more than capable of designing, operating, teching, programming and facilitating every single show that comes through your fine festival grounds. But today, you are my festival lighting designer. I only need a few things from you and I need them done to the best of your ability. I need a patch, a plot and a functional rig. A smile would be nice, but not necessary. I don’t need your résumé nor do I need your sob story. After checking in with a handful of my favorite programmers and directors, I have come up with a comprehensive list of tips on how to help me help you to make our time together as de-light-ful as possible.

Read More »
Production setup for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Concert

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Concert Uses ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K

FREMONT, CA – American indie folk band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes performed as part of the recent “Sound in Focus” event in LA. Blackmagic Design announced that Santa Monica production company Subtractive Inc. used ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K, ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel and HyperDeck Studio 12G broadcast recorders as part of a live streaming and IMAG setup for a recent Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros concert at Century Park in Los Angeles.

Read More »