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Clearwing III plus Look Solutions Fog Photos- LIVE!

Clearwing III plus Look Solutions Fog Photos- LIVE!

Hey everyone! Well I just got to see a kick ass Les Claypool show and I'll try to write a little bit about it for next week in the mean time here's some more gear from the warehouse at Clearwing and I'll wrap it up with some live pics of the Look Solutions fogger I am reviewing. Keep an eye out for the review I believe it will be in the magazine soon! After doing this writing thing for awhile I've decided I want to teach in college once I settle down towards the end of this crazy ride. Enough babbling here's the gear…

 

Break outs- Used to bridge soco power connection with either stage pin, Edison, or L6-20 power. Both male and female connectors are used.

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Golden Voices

Celtic Woman sings their way into the Big Time.

You say you’ve never heard of Celtic Woman? You may not have, but millions of PBS viewers and concertgoers certainly are in on the secret, although it may not be one for much longer. Having notched three successful albums on the Billboard charts (including a recent Top 10 entry) with no MTV presence, the Irish folk/ pop project offering both covers and originals has beguiled audiences with a quartet of pretty voices, a vigorous violinist, pulse-racing percussion and a smooth mixture of energetic and ethereal moments. Currently finishing up a 100-plus show tour, Celtic Woman is becoming one of the biggest (yet quietest) pop sensations around. “It’s wild,” declares lighting designer Tom Kenny. “It’s one of those phenomenon like Riverdance that goes under the radar, then all of a sudden, becomes huge.”

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Road Tests

ROSCO LITE-PAD IS READY FOR YOUR CLOSEUP

By Richard Cadena 

If you thought you’d seen every LED light source known to man, think again.

The age of LED lighting has yet to hit full stride, but already there is an abundance of LED luminaires for the entertainment lighting market. They all work pretty much the same way, with either RGB color mixing or white and amber LEDs and focusing lenses — or do they?
 

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The Corporate Band LD

I work a lot of corporate shows each year. Many are events where a company brings its national sales staff to a nice resort for four days of motivational speaking and sales pitches. These events usually include a dinner followed by a big-name musical act. These acts are usually bands that were big 20 years ago and had a slew of hits that they gladly replay for a phenomenal fee at your corporate dinner party.

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Got Dem Dirty, Low-Down, Trade Show Blues

Trade shows are the standing punch line of any industry — can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Or can you? LDI, the putative main show of the professional lighting and staging industry for the last two decades, is experiencing some significant turbulence this year. As reported a few months ago, Martin Professional and High End Systems have both opted out of the Orlando expo this year, the first time both have not exhibited, and Vari-Lite has announced that it will cut back its presence at the show. Syncrolite is expected to do the same.

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NAB and the Breakthrough Moments

Video didn’t spring fully-formed from a media server…

[For those of us who are new to the video world by way of lighting, the entire history of the development of media servers, non-linear editing, and all the tools of the video trade are as much of a mystery as the plethora of video formats. To those of you who are new to the lighting world by way of the video world, the entire lack of knowledge about these things from the lighting side is as much of a mystery as DMX512. In this article, Paul Berliner bridges the gap for us. – ed.]

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Getting a True Taste of Chaos

Chaos’ crew tries to keep it fast, cheap and under control.

The third annual A Taste of Chaos tour certainly lives up to its name for its hard-working crew. With eight screamo/post- hardcore bands, six audio people and four Lighting crew, plus a truncated load-in time after the first few shows, over its two-month cross-country trek, the growing event has become a test of speed and endurance for this well-oiled touring machine. This year, it is also a challenge for Chaos crew chief Tommy Green, and 30 Seconds to Mars lighting director Rob Smith to allow the show to build up in intensity for a big visual payoff by night’s end. It’s a true lesson in the principle of “less is more.”

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Ovation Stands Alone

Las Vegas’ Green Valley Ranch takes in a big club install for the Ovation nightclub.

Nightclubs behave differently than your standard show. Whereas a backstage area normally provides a relative sanctuary from the crush of the crowd, nightclubs are a different beast. Every inch of the space is a stage unto itself, with every guest trying to put on their own show. This presents a lighting designer with a combination of challenges and opportunities unique to the club installation.

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Change Happens

Reno’s 210 North Nightclub

Change will happen.” Sound like a trite motto? Think again. For one designand- build contractor saddled with executing another designer’s vision in just over a week, it was more like a mantra. The tale of the installation at Reno’s 210 North nightclub isn’t just the story of a little nightclub that could — it’s an example of how a group of disparate technicians “set ego aside, admitted there was a good idea,” and got to work.

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The Pirate Queen Takes on the Virgin Queen

It’s a fiery struggle set on a simple stage in the latest big-budget musical to hit Broadway

There are many large-scale productions on Broadway, but none quite like The Pirate Queen, an epic adventure that chronicles a unique time in history when two powerful women clashed over the fate of a country. It presents the true-life story of Grace O’Malley, an Irish pirate who defied the attempts of Queen Elizabeth I to subjugate her country and her people. The stage was set, so to speak, for the Pirate Queen to take on the Virgin Queen, and the musical interprets that famous struggle with a lively mixture of action scenes, Irish dance numbers and dramatic showdowns.

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