On one night in February, at the L.A. Staples Center, what happened on the court was more than mere basketball. And here's a clue: If the word "Star" is in the event title – as in NBA All-Star 2011 – the stakes are going to be high. For the 60th time the celebration has been staged, the producers turned to All Access Staging and Productions for an assist.
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"IATSE Local One is the oldest entertainment union in the U.S.," declares Robert Score, the organization's recording-corresponding secretary. Founded in 1886, members that year held a torchlight procession down Broadway to Union Square with 25,000 others demanding an eight-hour day and the end of the child labor. Meanwhile, the best-paid stage employees of that era worked for 50 cents a day, and men employed typically put in up to 100 hours per week.
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Shea Stadium is so deeply woven into the fabric of New York City's social history that even tearing it down didn't make it go away. New York's equal part loving/maddening relationship with the Mets baseball team is augmented by its profound rock ‘n' roll history. It is, after all, where the Beatles played in 1965.
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While most Broadway musicals seek to razzle-dazzle us with big numbers, flashy lights and glitzy sets, many dramas seek to bring us down to reality and delve into the lives of ordinary people with less fanfare. The funny thing is that often in order to immerse us more in the real, the craftsmen at work on straight plays need to incorporate much of the technology that is used on more over-the-top shows. In the case of Good People, technology and realism struck a solid balance.
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Clifton Taylor Provides a Multi-Purpose Lighting Rig for LDs at New York's Fall for Dance Festival
PLSN: In your opinion, what is the basic difference between a lighting designer and a lighting director? You have both of these titles.
Clifton Taylor: The lighting designer is the person who conceives of the lighting, works with the choreographer and comes up with the conceptual basis for the lighting choices. The lighting director is the person who works for the company, and it is her job to recreate the lighting wherever the company performs.
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LumenRadio recently announced availability in the U.S. of their latest wireless DMX/RDM/Ethernet device, the CRMX Nova FX (Flex) RDM. The CRMX, or Cognitive Radio Multiplexer technology, is an automated and adaptive wireless technology that was designed and developed specifically for the lighting industry. It adapts to its surroundings to maximize performance and range while minimizing interference with other systems.
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The concept of the pop-up store – the temporary outlet that creates as much buzz as sales – has quickly become rooted in American retail strategy. Wybron CEO Keny Whitright has taken that one step further with his drive-by shop: Wybron's Mobile Light Lab, a 45-foot trailer that's high-tech on the inside and highly graphic on the outside. Tugged by a powerful Kenworth semi truck, the MLL made its debut in early February at Wybron's Colorado Springs headquarters and manufacturing center and marks a new chapter for the company, using this second iteration of taking its message and products on the road as a plan for the future.
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"The audience paid money to come hear music that they like. The artist knew what they were thinking about when they wrote it. If you can capture that visually, you win," explains lighting director Martin Thomas in the moments before Fantasia Barrino hits the stage.
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Every year, lighting manufacturers reveal their latest model of a fixture to go along with other competitor's models in that range. In order to make their product stand out among the other brands, there has to be something new and unique that the fixture can do. Clay Paky has indeed taken the next step in developing the most advanced effects on any large hard edge fixture I have seen.
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A Canadian creative and performing arts company, Ex Machina, spearheaded by director/actor/playwright/scenic artist Robert Lepage, is fusing high tech and high art for New York Metropolitan Opera's re-imagining of Richard Wagner's 19th Century four-part opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen, or The Ring. The production is using an innovative stage design, infrared interactive software and 3-D projection technology to update The Met's previous production of the controversial composer's masterwork – the more traditional Ring production by Otto Schenk and Günther Schneider-Siemssen, which ran for more than 20 years.
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As another year closes, I have lined up a birthday party at a stadium, followed by a tour with an old client of mine. Kid Rock is turning 40 and wants to throw a party with one set and light configuration, then go on tour with another one. I have designed every tour he has done since 1999 with the exception of a six-week run he went on last year. I agreed to actually go on tour with this show and make everything look stellar again. I believe this artist is among the most gifted performers in the world, working a crowd like few can. So after a long hiatus of actually touring with a band as an LD, I have agreed to go back on the road.
Read More »Japan’s twin disasters – the earthquake-driven tsunami and the damage to several of the nuclear reactors that provide most of the country’s electrical power – will have long-term impact on Japan’s ability to manufacture and deliver key components for an enormous range of products, including lighting and projection systems. Scores of Japanese firms, from component makers to electronics firms and automakers, were forced to keep plants shuttered, and damage to infrastructure including power, roads, rails and ports will take months to repair. It’s likely that damage to the global manufacturing and supply chain will disrupt many industries for months to come.
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