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The Rock Stops Here

The Rock Stops Here

Alison Krauss & Union Station Featuring Jerry Douglas

“We first saw the Sea Changer in Las Vegas at the LDI Show last year and were very impressed with its rich colors and minimal loss light out-put. I contacted Tom Morris with Sea Changer to check availability in hopes of using them on the Alison Krauss and Union Station tour. The show doesn’t require a lot of light movement, and it seemed to fill the bill as a reliable color changer.

 

 

They were able to deliver 40 units in our time frame, so we fit them into our Source Four lekos and used them on a brief Tony Rice/AKUS tour. Two of our lighting guys, Alex Blagg and Ed Welsh, loved the units and wanted to incorporate them into the current Hundred Miles or More tour. We suggested them to Howell, who put them into his design. They have performed flawlessly.   — Cliff Miller

 

 

 

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Dana Roun, Full Sail

Who: Dana Roun, Program Director, Show Production & Touring Associates Degree Program

What: An entertainment media college
 
Where: Winter Park, Florida

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When the Snowman Talks, the World Listens

Did you happen to see a snowman asking a group of Democratic presidential candidates about global warming? If you did, then you were watching the CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate. I had the opportunity to work on the event, but this time I was the lighting programmer, and I was not involved in the video production. But it’s interesting to note how a production changes when there is video in the mix.

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Synchronicity Part 2: The Spread of ACN

Last month, I talked a bit about the recently approved ACN (Architecture for Control Networks) standard. Now that you know a little more about the reasons for the new standard and some of the underlying concepts, I’m going to talk about a couple of specific pieces to the puzzle that will benefit systems large and small. 

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Martin Magnum 1200-1800 Fog Machines

Martin Professional recently added two new versions to its Magnum family of foggers: the Magnum 1200 and Magnum 1800. Each of these machines has similar features, including the way they look, an aluminum carrying handle on top, a storage compartment on the side of the unit to store accessories and a remote timer control.

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Compulite Vector Red

Compulite is an Israeli-based lighting console manufacturer that has been in business for over 25 years. During the last few years, the company has expanded its range to include several new models. The Compulite Vector now comes in four models that vary according to how many faders and DMX512 outputs you need for your purposes.  The company also manufactures programming wings and playback wings that can be used with an outboard PC. The playback wing can be used in conjunction with any model to add an additional 10 faders and cue keys. We had an opportunity to Road Test the Vector Red.

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Doing the Road Her Way

Audra Breyer integrates the "boy's club."

Audra Breyer is a Jill-of-all-trades, who just happens to be the master of integration on John Mayer’s current tour. We caught up with her long enough to find out what it’s like being a woman in a boy’s club, how she got to be where she is today and the thing she likes least about our industry.

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Calling the Show

Mark Dobrow makes Mary Poppins fly.  

When you have a musical show that encompasses whirlwind set and costume changes, magic tricks, a flying nanny, seven floors of dressing rooms, hundreds of lighting, sound and automation cues, nearly 50 crew members and a 40,000-pound house set that moves and breaks apart, not to mention requiring four assistant stage managers to run it, you call on a production stage manager who really knows what they’re doing. A highly experienced Broadway and touring veteran, Mark Dobrow rises to the major challenge of running Disney’s hit show Mary Poppins each and every night. His love for his work and relaxed demeanor undoubtedly make him a sea of calm in a turbulent backstage environment where somebody or something is always in motion.

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2007 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Honoree Gerry Stickells

Production and Tour Manager for Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Pioneered the Tour Manager Position with Clear Head, Cool Hand

Stickells was one of the early innovating production managers and influenced the whole shape of gigging in the early years,” states Brian Croft, recipient of the first Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. “He famously dealt with any logistic problems with great confidence and is admired by everyone he does business with to this day.”

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Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation to Build Teen Center

Industry called on to help create music center, vocational school for disadvantaged youth in Phoenix — and beyond. 

Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation (SRF), a Christian nonprofit Arizona Corporation he formed with Chuck Savale in 1995 dedicated to teenagers and children in need, has long held popular events like the Christmas Pudding Concerts and celebrity golf tournaments to raise money and awareness for their cause. Now they announce their most ambitious goal yet: a 29,000-square-foot center where troubled youth can learn everything about the music industry, including what it takes to run a concert tour. 

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