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The Fast and Furious Pace of Matilda

Matilda the Musical photo by Joan Marcus

The Fast and Furious Pace of Matilda

Anticipation for the opening of the hit British musical Matilda the Musical in New York ran high this past April. PLSN caught the show a few days after it officially opened, and there were two long lines snaking around the corner to get in. And the lavish musical did not disappoint. Inspired by the Roald Dahl book of the same name, it depicts the life of five year-old genius girl Matilda Wormwood, who must cope with a loud, boorish family and a repressive school environment that mock and deride her high level of intelligence, her creativity and her desire to learn more.

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Rolling Stones 50 and Counting tour photo by Steve Jennings

The Rolling Stones 50 & Counting Tour

The Rolling Stones’ 50 & Counting tour, marking a half century since the band performed their first shows in late 1962, also marks the last time the band can tour with a set design dreamed up by Mark Fisher, whose creativity could be seen in the design for every one of the band’s major touring sets since 1989. Fisher, the 66-year-old founder and managing director of Stufish, passed away June 25, a day after the Stones’ final show on the North American leg of the tour. He died in London after a long illness.

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Elation Platinum Spot 35 Pro

Elation Platinum Spot 35 Pro

LOS ANGELES – Elation Professional takes advanced Philips MSR Platinum lamp technology to the next level with the Platinum Spot 35 Pro. The fixture is an 800-watt moving head spot fixture that’s designed for large stages, amphitheaters, sports arenas, and major concert tours.

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Thompson Square has used PixelFlex products on tour.

PixelFlex Finds Flexibility Key to Growth

Video keeps playing a more prominent role in concerts and touring, corporate and sporting event production. PixelFlex, a relatively new player in the LED display market, has carved a niche for itself with a new style of LED screen in various pixel densities that is foldable. The ability to fold the screen makes for a small package for storage and transportation.

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Fig. 1: Nomenclature for Truss Components

Dents, Bends, Abrasions and Twists: Considerations for Truss Inspection

Safety is a huge concern for the live event production industry. This article focuses on a critical component: Inspecting truss. Aluminum truss is widely used in a multitude of applications, from theatre to concerts to exhibitions to outdoor structures.  It is purpose-built for very specific loads. Because of that purpose-built aspect, truss doesn’t fit into the usual realm of safety factors that entertainment industry veterans reference for other rigging hardware like shackles, wire rope or hoists.  Therefore, considering that the truss can be one of the most crucial components of a rigging system, it is imperative that there are assurances it is in the proper condition for use.

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Martin MAC Viper Air FX and Quadray Lens

Last year, Martin Professional unveiled the first in their series of new lighting fixtures, the Viper. It’s an extremely bright, hard-edged lighting fixture with a lot of functions. Since then, Martin has unveiled the Viper AirFX. It appears that somebody has finally stepped up and built a lighting fixture that’s designed for the rock ‘n’ roll lighting designer. By that, I mean a light that caters to how we can shape and color a light beam, as opposed to primarily caring about the subject the light would be illuminating or shining a texture on.

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The author was able to use TouchOSC to control her ArKaos software.

Rediscovering MIDI

With the rise in popularity of electronic dance music (EDM), DJs are touring now with elaborate visual productions. The majority of these DJ acts feature visuals that are programmed using a media server but not operated using a lighting console. Instead, many visual jockeys (VJs) are looking to other types of communication protocols for the ultimate in control. One such protocol, not as often used in lighting today like it once was, is MIDI. Combine this interface protocol with a touchscreen GUI, and you’ve got a powerful control interface with virtually unlimited configurations. Let’s take a closer look at two of the more recent MIDI/Touchscreen interfaces that are making appearances at your local EDM venue nightly.

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Fourth of July in Nashville.

Music City Celebrates Fourth of July with Bandit Lites

NASHVILLE– Bandit Lites helped pull off Music City’s Fourth of July Celebration. Striking Matches, Keb’Mo’ and The Band Perry took the stage before more than 26,000 firework shells erupted over the Nashville skyline. LD Chris Lisle played off the look of the bridges directly behind and adjacent to the outdoor stage. The new GLP X4S fixtures lined the main arch upstage center and two half arches on either side, while the downstage portion of the rig included three more horizontal arches to create a cohesive design.

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Music City is Show-Ready

From what you read and see in the media, Nashville looks like it’s wall-to-wall music. Its music industry is still centered around Music Row, the Grand Ole Opry is located in the Music Valley area, and the commuter rail line is dubbed the Music City Star. But scratch the surface, and you’ll find a production community teeming with lighting designers and directors, video producers, staging specialists and projection poobahs. Music gets the headlines, but Nashville can push a major-league tour out the door or pull a television production in without putting up any help-wanted notices at IATSE Locals 306 or 728.

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Three Approaches, One Result

The fact that there are many ways to achieve the same look on stage is often one of the most overwhelming things for new automated lighting programmers. Trying to decide on the best method to use can be daunting, and making the wrong choice could lead to unnecessary work, further confusion or incompatibility with other show elements. For these reasons, it is important for programmers to be aware of different methods to accomplish the same goal as well as to understand the consequences of each. As an example, let’s look at one of my favorite animated sequences on stage that I call “kicks.”

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LiteConsole's new website.

New Website for Prolyte Group’s LiteConsole

WAKEFIELD, UK – Prolyte Group, manufacturer of trussing, staging and custom structures, has refreshed the brand identity of its LiteConsole product range with the launch of a dedicated website and a new logo. LiteConsole represents a selection of lightweight, innovative performance platforms that are popularly used as mobile DJ booths, but also impress as stands or podiums for corporate presentations, trade shows and retail environments.

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Destroid performs in body armor at Warfield in San Francisco. Photo by Rukes

A Destroid Lighting Design with Body Armor; Award Winning LDs; Quick Cues and More…

Destroid is using hundreds of custom LEDs — not in the rig or lining the stage, but clothed on their bodies.  The EDM group is outfitted with specially-made $100,000 body armor — complete with smoke machines, CO2 and laser arm blasters, custom LED panels and animatronics and built-in video cameras feeding live visuals. That doesn’t even take into account the rest of the production. LDs Michael Smalley and Kyle Kegan worked together on the show for the group, which is performing at some summer festivals and is planning to embark on a major tour in the fall.

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