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ESTA/USITT Rigging Safety Course Set for July 24-26

Hard Rock Hotel’s $60M Venue, The New Joint, Ups Ante with New Gear

LAS VEGAS — The New Joint, a $60 million venue that opened last month at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, is equipped with lighting and control products from High End Systems. LD Alex Ares, pictured here, and Montreal-based Solotech worked with a gear list that includes 13 Showguns, four DL.3 digital lights with a D-Tek D-Mix Pro switcher, two Showpix pixelation luminaires and a Road Hog Full Boar console.

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Elation Lights Up Thunder Hockey Team At Stockton Arena

STOCKTON, CA — Since arriving here for the 2005/2006 season, the Thunder hockey team has resonated with Stockton area sports fans, leading the ECHL league in attendance for four consecutive seasons.  The team plays every game before a packed house at Stockton Arena, a 10,000-seat facility located along the city’s downtown waterfront.

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In Memoriam: Randall “Poodie” Locke, 56

Randall “Poodie” Locke, road manager for Willie Nelson, died May 6 after suffering a heart attack at his home in Briarcliff, Texas. Locke was 56. Having worked with Nelson since 1974, Locke was described as “the heart and soul of the road crew” by Nelson’s biographer, Joe Nick Patoski, author of An Epic Life.

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Rick Fisher Lights Billy Elliot

It seems like the concept of the original musical, and particularly one that is not self-reflexive, has been harder to find on Broadway lately, especially in an era where movies are being turned into musicals and old movies are being turned into musicals then back into movies again. Frankly, the trend is tired, which is why Billy Elliot: the Musical stands out.

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Scott Warner: The Next Roy Bennett?

The first time Scott Warner knew what he wanted to do in life was at a concert. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew he’d find it somewhere around the front of house. After studying to become a sound engineer, he realized he really wanted to play with lights. Luckily, his best friend knew a band that could help him realize his dream.

 

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Chauvet Colorado 2

I don’t think there has ever been a more interesting time to be in the lighting industry. The rapid pace of technological advancement is a rich fertilizer for the entertainment production industry and it produces a bountiful harvest of new products. One such product is the Chauvet Colorado 2.

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Pixel Mapping

Pixel mapping, as it’s referred to in the world of digital lighting, is the use of a media server (e.g. PRG Mbox, PID Catalyst, or Martin Maxedia) or another kind of software to map an image or video clip to a grid of LEDS and/or lighting fixtures. The image can be displayed across any type of fixture that has intensity (for example, PAR cans).  In addition to intensity, an image with color information may also be displayed across automated fixtures with RGB or CMY attributes as well (for example, High End Systems Studio Color or Vari*Lite VL5).

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