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A Picture Perfect Christmas

Bad Decisions

Do you realize our lives are in danger every day we step out onto a stage? It is unnerving to think about it. There are thousands of  pounds of pipes, truss, wiring; you name it above our heads. Of course we work under the assumption all of the equipment is hung correct and safe.  Unfortunately, accidents happen. This was the case this past summer with not just one stage collapse, but around the globe.

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Lysistrata Jones photo by Joan Marcus

Lysistrata Jones, Lit by Michael Gottlieb

Lysistrata Jones, which recently finished a brief run on Broadway, was a fun, breezy, loose take on the classic Greek comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes, about the titular character’s desire to end The Peloponnesian War by having Greek women withhold sex from their lovers until peace is negotiated.

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The Cortical Degausser was featured at the Clocktower in NYC

Light and Video Artist David Linton

David Linton’s recent sound and video installation, The Cortical Degausser, which was featured at New York’s Clocktower Gallery Nov. 1-Jan. 13, employed synchronous and proportional sound and colored light pulsation delivered via video signal and viewed from special stations. As a result of the frequency of pulsation, closed-eye visions of spontaneous geometry was experienced by most individuals while their eyes are open. While Linton’s work exteriorizes and socializes flicker phenomenon, it leads to an unusual interactivity that occurs in the neurologic chain of each viewer.

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TPI supported a corporate convention with a high-tech edge

TPI Melds Media Seamlessly

It was a corporate convention, but the high-level financial institute sponsoring it wanted to make sure it was anything but conventional. Their agents only convened once every three years, and the month-long event needed to make a deep and lasting impression. The location: Las Vegas. The production company: St. Louis-based Technical Productions, Inc (TPI).

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Ocean Thin Films SeaChanger HMI Profile and Wash

Ocean Thin Films SeaChanger HMI

Recently, I received a large Pelican case from Ocean Thin Films down in Largo, FL. There has been a solid calling for certain hybrid fixtures on the theater and film circuit as well as architectural installs. So they have provided me with a fine example here. By hybrid, I mean they are combining different elements from separate manufacturers to build one solid fixture. So inside my case were parts of lighting fixtures complete with multiple attachments — all packaged in a perfectly-cut foam traveling case.

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Carl Palmer photo by Michael Inns

The Carl Palmer Band

Even if history hadn’t crowned Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) progressive rock’s first supergroup, their fantasy-laced, classically influenced rock and extravagant live shows surely would have earned them this honor anyway. Unapologetic for their musical and theatrical excesses, such as rotating a two-ton drum kit, lighting live cannons, spinning acoustic pianos and launching explosive fireworks, ELP’s mantra has always been “Go big or go home.”

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Team Tomcat, at Hoist and Rigging School 2011

Tomcat Global Celebrates 25 Years

As Tomcat kicked off its 25th Anniversary celebration at LDI 2011, it was immediately clear that, while they were proud of their past, they had their collective eye trained squarely on the future. And actually, they could be celebrating a concurring anniversary: They are entering their fifth year as being part of the global giant the Vitec Group, and the people of Tomcat are building on their strength while looking to do bigger and better things, including expanding into new products.

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