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Brian Setzer Orchestra

Brian rocks out with some classic Stray Cats. Photo by Steve Jennings

Brian Setzer Orchestra

Brian Setzer first hit the big time as the frontman for the Stray Cats, the band that burst onto the music scene in the early 1980’s with a rockabilly sound from the 1950s. PLSN caught up with Bud Horowitz, LD for the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a swing band ensemble that recently completed its 13th annual Christmas Rocks! Tour. Today’s BSO shows include some of the classic Stray Cats songs with big-band accompaniment. Horowitz has also lit Setzer’s Nashvillians and Rockabilly Riot tours. He notes that, instead of getting too involved in the lighting specifics, Setzer turns to him for the lighting looks.

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Creative Conners always gets a great response when showing off their products.

Creative Conners

Creative Conners, Inc. has been specializing in scenic automation products since 2004 with a simple goal—to make scenic automation simple, safe, efficient, and affordable. They have always offered a range of products that enable designers and technical directors to easily and efficiently add automation to shows, most recently introducing their well-received Floor Pocket, a traproom elevator.

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PLSN Feb 2017 Buyers Guide - Moving Beam Lights

Moving Beam Lights

Looking back, 2008 was a magical year for concert lighting. That was the year that Claypaky unveiled their highly successful Alpha Beam fixtures on a moving yoke, dedicated to the art of the tight collimated shafts of light. A year later, Elation kept the evolution of moving light fixtures moving with units that had a smaller footprint and tiny moving beam. As LED technology continues to sweep across the world of entertainment lighting, we’ve seen more single LED Beam models pop up in the last year. This month we present the latest and best beams on a moving yoke.

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Paul Sonnleitner keeping warm at his console position in Times Square for New Year’s Eve.

1000 Words with Lighting Director Paul Sonnleitner

Well-respected programmer and lighting director Paul Sonnleitner recently spoke with PLSN about how he started his ‘is this really a career’ career, and how he approaches his work. Sonnleitner’s credits range from Broadway to live television, from national historic events, including the Presidential Political Conventions to international sports, for which he shared Emmy nominations with LD David Grill for the 2007 Pan Am Games and the 2014 Central American Games. He also has marked New Year’s Eve for the last 13 years working in Times Square.

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From left: CAT Entertainment Service’s Jason Roof, Greg Landa, and Bobby De Luna

Cat Entertainment Services Powers Fox Sports Broadcast of Super Bowl

HOUSTON — Cat Entertainment Services noted that its technicians were on hand during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium to ensure a steady stream of power at the event. In all, the company fielded 16 technicians who were looking after a total of 8,600 kW of generator power, 1,300 kVA of UPS-supported power, and more than seven miles of cable. Pictured here, from left, are Jason Roof, Greg Landa, and Bobby De Luna

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The Nutcracker (Alberto Velazquez) and Marie (Amanda Assucena) dance under the dramatically expanded tree during the battle with the rats. Photo by Cheryl Mann

Re-imagining ‘The Nutcracker’

Christopher Wheeldon’s Nutcracker, at the Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Revitalizes a Holiday Classic

The strains of Tchaikovsky’s lush, spritely overture soar as the Chicago Philharmonic begins The Nutcracker, but when the curtain rises, we find that we are not, as we may expect, in the expansive living room of a traditional Victorian home. Instead, it’s Christmas Eve 1892 in Chicago, and one family on the outskirts of town conducts its fairly frugal preparations for Christmas Day.

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Chauvet Professional Strike 1

Chauvet Professional Strike 1

Ever since I saw a Police reunion show a few years ago, I have had visions of moles on steroids. They had giant 9-lite moles that looked like they had par 56 bulbs in them as opposed to the normal par 36 bulbs we see in blinders. I thought to myself ten years ago, “Why doesn’t someone just make a “Build your own Blinder kit?”

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Berenice and Albert Chauvet at NAMM 2017

A Chat with the Chauvets at NAMM

Crossing Over to the Brighter Side of Event Lighting

It’s Friday at the NAMM Convention, and the separate Chauvet Professional and Chauvet DJ booths are filled with people. That the company is having an active day at an M.I. convention is not surprising. What puzzles me, though, is the number of visitors who walk from one booth to the other.

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Apollo Avere 4UV

Apollo Avere 4UV

It’s become trite by now to point out just how much light-emitting diodes have changed things, and matured as a technology. The difference in every quantifiable variable we can look at in a light — the color rendering and gamut, the dimming, the brightness — has come so far as to make most comparisons to the very first LED devices designed for production laughable. Today, LED-based fixtures are beginning to challenge even large-format moving lights.

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The Sparkular

The Sparkular

The Sparkular is a DMX-controllable device that is capable of projecting up to a five-meter fountain of sparkles. This new product debuted at LDI 2016 and was named Best Debuting Product: Special Effects category. Since its inception, it has been used on the largest stages, from presidential campaigns to the 2016 American Music Awards.

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Substance Church's Northtown campus installed the new PixelFLEX wall

Substance Church in Minneapolis Installs a 47-Foot-Wide PixelFLEX Video Wall

MINNEAPOLIS — Adam Frey, technical director at Substance Church in Minneapolis, worked with integration partner Reach Communications to install a 47-foot-wide PixelFLEX video wall. The wall, which nearly fills the proscenium stage of the recently-built auditorium at Substance Church’s Northtown campus, measures 11.5 feet tall and is made with FLEXTour LED video panels. It can also be raised when not in use via a stage rigging system.

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