Samuel Ryder may have died in 1936, but that didn’t keep his projected 3D likeness from serving as emcee for the recently held Ryder Cup Gala in Louisville, Ky. Using the Musion Eyeliner hologram from Digital Illusions LLC, Ryder was able to walk, talk, and play golf as he did nearly 100 years ago.
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For about 357 days out of the year, I’d rather be in Austin, where I live, than in Dallas. Nothing against our neighbor to the north; after all, Dallas is the cradle of the automated lighting industry, the birthplace of the DLP chip, and the exporter of both Stevie Ray Vaughn and Lance Armstrong, both of whom took up residence in Austin. It’s not that I don’t like Dallas — I do. It’s just that I prefer Jerry Jeff Walker to Jerry Jones, Kinky Friedman to Ross Perot, and Willie Nelson to Vanilla Ice.
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Working in the entertainment industry allows many opportunities for interaction with celebrities of all types. I have had the privilege of meeting rock stars, actors, models, politicians, and even an astronaut who walked on the moon. Celebrities come in all types and working with them presents some unique situations and challenges.
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In the days of analog control it was easy to figure out if a control cable was good or bad. A simple continuity checker was all you needed to know whether or not it would pass signal. In the days of digital control it’s not that simple.
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MIDDLETON, WI — After long speculation about whether entertainment-lighting company ETC would enter the LED market, the company has announced their acquisition of the Selador product line from Selador co-founders Rob Gerlach and Novella Smith.
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Times are tough. People and lighting companies are running short on gigs. For the first time since 9/11, shows that I normally do each year are scaling down their productions, if not cancelling them all together. Empty spaces on car show exhibition floors say a lot. Empty venues and minimalist shows coming in say just as much.
Read More »Remember that celebrities have many people that want to talk with them. If you are at a show and need to talk with the artist,… Read More »Working with Celebrities
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AC Lighting’s Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixture adds new single color RGBA optics, 530 lumens output (almost double the original model) and theatrical grade dimming. With its increased color palette and CRI of 90, the Color Block 2 fixture can produce a wide range of colors and hues with built-in variable color temperature capability. Four LED cells offer performers less glare and can mix together for single color output, minimizing color separation shadows. The beam optics combine a soft asymmetrical quality for uplighting surfaces and a soft Fresnel-like edge for direct illumination. As modular as its predecessor but with close to twice the output, the Color Block 2 fixture can uplight a 6-meter set, and it can be used for its strobe-like intensity and control, or for theatrical grade dimming.
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LOS ANGELES—Chaos Visual Productions, formed in Dec 2008 by John J. Wiseman, Chris Kaman and Chuck Burtzloff, has announced its acquisition of 100 percent of CW Productions (CWP). CWP was founded in 1989 by Chris and Sheila Wickman as a show production rental house, and now handles specialty lighting, video, projection, and show programming.
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LONDON — LD Scott Warner is using a grandMA lighting console for the Pussycat Dolls’ Doll Domination tour. HSL is supplying the Robe-dominated rig. Warner is also the lighting director and programmer for the tour, and had previously used the grandMA console on Queen Latifah’s Trav’lin Light tour, but his use of the Robe gear is new.
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CANBERRA — The Australian War Memorial (AWM), which underwent a retrofit last year to expand its focus on military engagements in the post-WW II era, required 30 new AV displays of varying size and complexity in 1,200 square feet of existing exhibit and office space driven by 40 computers. Bruce Brown from Mental Media and LSC Lighting Systems were involved in the project.
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DUBAI — Behind one of the main broadcast desks at television studio CNBC Arabia, semi-transparent, floor-mounted Martin LC Series LED panels creates a customizable graphics backdrop. Nick Turner, head of operations for the region’s first 24-hour Arabic language business TV channel, was looking to augment a range of changeable and moveable “light-boxes” for backlit graphics for different news shows.
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