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Maxwell & Mary J. Blige

Justin Collie designed the production for Maxwell. All photos by Steve Jennings

Maxwell & Mary J. Blige

John Dacosta and Daunte Kenner on “The King & Queen of Hearts” Tour

The “King and Queen of Hearts” tour with Maxwell and Mary J. Blige had the combined talents of production and lighting designer Justin Collie of Performance Environment Design Group (PEDG; now known as Nimblist); John Dacosta, the lighting director and programmer for Maxwell; and Daunte Kenner, the production and lighting designer for Mary J. Blige. PLSN got some time with Dacosta and Kenner for some words about the tour.

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Jonathan Smeeton and one of his favorite pals

A Chat with Jonathan Smeeton

Not many people can stake a claim to being in the lighting business for 50 years. I sat down with my friend Jonathan, who recently passed this milestone, as he explains to me how he got fired from his latest gig just last month. “I just finished designing ARW, an offshoot of Yes members playing Yes songs. This is my fourth go around of sorts with different Yes projects. Singer Jon Anderson fired me for some difference of opinion, but it took me three more weeks to finish tightening up the lighting before I could actually go home.” Make no qualms about it, Jonathan is a unique individual. He started at a time when there was no manual for his occupation.

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Jean Shepherd (Chris Carsten) and Myles Moore (Ralphie) extol the virtues of the Red Ryder air rifle. 4Wall provided the touring package to facilitate the show’s needs. Photo by Jesse Schreve

Ralphie, Get Your Gun!

Taking A Christmas Story on Tour

It began as the reminiscences of an old storyteller, but it grew to become one of our best-loved tales of the yuletide season — and now it’s a singing, dancing celebration of the youthful anticipation of Christmas morning. A Christmas Story, the live stage show adapted from the 1983 movie, takes a tale of 1940s Midwestern America and turns it into an extravagant fantasy that spins from the mind of an eleven-year-old boy.

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Beam Bar 10 and Beam Bar 6 lasers surround the players. Photos courtesy Pyrotecnico.

Zhu Shines at the Shrine

Production Club, a multidisciplinary team who design and produce music-based parties, shows and experiences, collaborated with electronic musician and singer Zhu to debut a new design at The Shrine in Los Angeles in October The event, in support of the artist’s new album, Generationwhy, followed Zhu’s successful “Neon City” tour, which kicked off at Coachella this year.

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Naked and the Famous, lit by Liam Griffiths. Photo by Erica Bolotski

Battens and Bands

In the last couple of months, I saw three different tours that had me thinking; “Is this a new lighting fad I should look into? Did three different shows each come up with a different touring design concept that was based around their love for this one lighting fixture?” Either way, the fact that three separate acts chose to carry GLP X4 Bars as their predominant light source in their touring package is enough to sit up and take notice.

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Moving scenery, flying sleighs and pyro effects engaged attendees. All photos by Jordan Monk

The Gift of Christmas

Prestonwood Baptist Church’s Show is an Annual Marvel

Originally founded in 1977, Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas now draws more than 40,000 parishioners from all over North Texas. Bound together through a common purpose, the church has also become known throughout the country for their annual Christmas celebration entitled “The Gift of Christmas.”

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PLSN Jan 2017 Buyers Guide - Block Matrix Lights

Block Matrix Lights

In 2013, The MagicPanel-R from Ayrton hit the scene, and everyone took notice of the shape of the fixture. Someone had invented a new way for lighting designers to control pixels in an incredibly bright manner that could be used in all kinds of cool applications. This opened the floodgate for a plethora of LED products that adapted to this block shape. Whether they are moving heads, static LED panels or fixtures one can assemble into a grid of their own design, there is a lot of demand for these fixtures in today’s market. Take a look at what’s out there.

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From left, Ruediger Haeming, Bobby Hale, Scott Kinnebrew, Shayla Johnson, Noel Garcia, Betsy Childers, Paul Hancock, Sean Hoey, Robyn Scallion and Jeff Pelzl

The Renaissance of High End Systems

High End Systems turns 30 years old this year; that’s quite a milestone for this Austin-based lighting manufacturer. High End has gone through their share of changes over the years, but many of the same familiar faces that built this company are still with HES today. In fact, they’ve been growing so fast that they now have the largest sales team assembled in years. And yes, they are still raising the bar in our industry by uniquely being #ALLABOUTLED. Sit back while we tell you a little about this company.

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AVL Media Group to Distribute GLP in Canada

AVL Media Group to Distribute GLP in Canada

SUN VALLEY, CA — GLP Inc. named Montreal-based AVL Media Group as its new Canadian distributor. The company was founded by Steve Kosters, and is headed by MD Andrew Hope, who has 30 years’ experience in the world of live entertainment. GLP Inc president Mark Ravenhill made the announcement.

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LD Rob Shakespeare’s interactive lighting installation is designed for enduring appeal. City managers can update the colors remotely via an app to add seasonal flair. Photo by Matt Cashore

South Bend River Lights

For more than a century, the city of South Bend, Indiana has done its part to create an aesthetic point of interest where Jefferson Boulevard crosses the St. Joseph River. The Jefferson Boulevard Bridge, a 490-foot span first built in 1905, features unique architectural details. The city then unveiled a kinetic artwork by abstract expressionist sculptor Mark di Suvero in 1980. And in May 2015, when South Bend was celebrating its 150th birthday, the city celebrated with fireworks and a torch relay that officially “lit” its latest riverfront enhancement: an architectural light art installation designed by LD Rob Shakespeare that was billed as the world’s first interactive display over a body of water.

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ECLPS provided a lighting and video assist at the Wang Theatre within Boston’s Boch Center. Photos by Michael Sparks Keegan

Boston Major eSports Tournament

December saw eSports come to Boston in a big way when the Wang Theatre at the Boch Center hosted the Boston Major tournament. The competition for Valve Corporation’s multiplayer online battle arena Dota 2 video game took place Dec. 7-10. Along with the live audience in the theatre, the four days—with up to 12 hours a day play—was followed globally via the video game live-streaming platform Twitch.tv and through a variety of international television outlets including ESPN in the U.S.

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Bah Humb(ugh)

Now that the madness of the holidays are all behind us, I have a confession to make. I can’t stand the holiday season. It’s not that I’m “anti” anything; I just get really annoyed by many aspects of it all. From the commercialism to the fake sort of “have a wonderful season” (spending everything you make on stuff), to the endless amounts of zero time to get anything accomplished — it makes me crazy. On top of the guilt of having to work endless gigs to make it all affordable and then not being there for the fun stuff because of said gigs. Ugh. Bah Humb-ugh.

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