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Chip Monck: From Woodstock to “One Great Night on Earth”

Chip Monck

Chip Monck: From Woodstock to “One Great Night on Earth”

He was the voice of Woodstock, gently suggesting you avoid the brown acid.

Chip Monck is one of the most colorful characters in the business, a business he is considered the Godfather of. The lighting designer has been part of some of the amazing events ever staged, including the Ali/Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). He was tour and staging manager with the Rolling Stones for seven years and stage producer for Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, one of the first big benefit concerts raising awareness and donations.

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Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800

Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800

Like most manufacturers, Clay Paky is responsive to what lighting designers are asking for in the way of new technologies and fixtures, and the design for the company’s recent addition to its Alpha series of fixtures, the Alpha Spot QWO 800, is no exception — it was designed in response to what LDs are saying they want and need.

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Martin M2GO/M2PC

Martin M2GO Ultra Portable Lighting Control

I’ve worked with plenty of small consoles over the years. Some were single universe models, others consisted of various wings and gadgets attached to a laptop. Problem was, I never felt comfortable trying to program a show.  Well, that all changed when I stepped behind Martin’s new M2GO. For the first time ever, I didn’t find myself hunting and pecking on a new desk for parameters and ways to record cues. From the moment I sat behind this console, it all made logical sense.

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Rock Church, San Diego CA. Photo courtesy of L-Acoustics

Technology in Worship

Traditional Christian houses of worship historically have been resistant to adopt newer technologies into Sunday services.  Over the last few years, however, a new style of Christian church service has evolved, one that strives to appeal to a younger generation.  This new type of service, referred to as Contemporary Christian, is not your grandparents’ church service.  It embraces contemporary Christian music and feature bold multimedia stage presentations using professional lighting, video and audio technologies. Even media servers are being used for these energetic and dynamic services.  Let’s take a closer look.

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MuteMath Odd Soul Tour photo by Steve Jennings

MuteMath: Using Their Illusions

Mapping 3D Video Projection in Another Dimension

It started innocently enough. In 2006, the wild idea to use fluorescent lighting for a live music production flashed in the mind of lighting designer Jeff Lavallee, of 44 Production Designs. But for nearly a year and a half, Lavallee couldn’t find the missing piece of his concept: the right band with which to match it.

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Barco ImagePRO-II

Barco ImagePRO-II

A lot of what we do as video professionals is nebulous to the uneducated and usually is perceived as being in the world of black magic. But it almost always involves making an image look pristine somewhere in the rig, whether it’s a display monitor, a projection, or part of an LED set.

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Lights! Video! Branson?

The little town in the Bible Belt turns 100 this year and is drawing a lot of wattage in the process

Last year at this time we looked back at the recovery of Nashville’s staging industry from a devastating flood that swept through the city in May, 2010. This month, we’re looking at another entertainment event success story that had its own brush with meteorological disaster earlier this year and has come out of it just as robustly.

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The Rainmaker

Very early in my career, I saw a cool effect on a TV show that I just had to emulate.  There were dancers on a stage and a lighting effect that created what looked like large, random raindrops hitting the stage.  The look, created with large number of fixtures, presented a fantastic new look for automated lighting. I felt compelled to figure out how it was made, and to program something similar the next opportunity I had. It was a great example of how, by watching other shows, you can be inspired by the creativity of others while gaining insights into what is possible through programming.

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The Revolution, lit once again by Leroy Bennett. Photo by Steve Park.

The Revolution Continues, Adele at The Den, Stone Roses Reunite, George Michael, Chickenfoot, Rush,

Prince’s Revolution Reunites for a Night

It was déjà vu all over again for LD Leroy Bennett. He reprised a role he played back in 1984 by returning to the First Avenue in Minneapolis to light the stage again for Prince’s backing band, The Revolution. The iconic club had set the scene for the film and soundtrack album, Purple Rain. Now the band was coming together for one night this past February to celebrate drummer “Bobby Z” Rivkin, who survived a near-fatal heart attack a year ago. Funds raised were donated to mypurpleheart.org and the American Heart Association.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Disclaimers

It seems that every product you buy nowadays comes with a disclaimer. A little piece of paper shoved inside the box along with whatever product you purchased. This paper will list all the things that the product should not be used for or things it actually won’t do. It’s my theory that these pieces of paper are there to protect the manufacturer from liability for just about anything that could go wrong. No matter what, the last thing anybody hawking gear wishes to do is refund your cash. So if the item breaks, functions incorrectly, or causes any damage to anything or person in its vicinity, they want you to know, in advance, that it’s entirely your fault.

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