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Empire of the Sun Tour

If/Then production photo by Joan Marcus

If/Then: People Making the Places

The vibrant new musical If/Then, created by the Next to Normal team of composer Tom Kitt and lyricist/book writer Brian Yorkey, is an ambitious production that follows two parallel storylines. They are the two different paths that newly divorced urban planner named Elizabeth (Idina Menzel) could take in her life depending upon a key choice she makes. One storyline involves her dating a politically conscious college friend named Lucas (Anthony Rapp) and the other with a newly discharged Army doctor named Josh (James Snyder). As scenes unfold in different locales, they generally shift from one storyline to the next, exploring many of the same themes in different contexts.

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One Republic 2014 tour photo by Breezy Baldwin

OneRepublic 2014 Tour Rig Design: Diamonds Are Forever

You couldn’t have written this Cinderella story with a happier ending. After being dropped by Columbia Records, pop rock band OneRepublic, formed in 2003, watched their Internet presence grow exponentially, attracting the attention and winning the support of producer Timbaland, who signed them to his Mosley Music Group and remixed their song “Apologize,” turning it into an international hit.

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Switchfoot Fading West tour photo by Steve Jennings

Switchfoot “Fading West” Tour

Switchfoot’s ninth studio album, Fading West, shares its title with a documentary film that combines behind-the-scenes band member footage with their surfing exploits in exotic locales. Although brothers Jon and Tim Foreman along with drummer Chad Butler have been performing as Switchfoot since their first album release in 1997 (Jerome Fontamillas and Drew Shirley officially became band members in 2003 and 2005, respectively), Switchfoot has deftly switched between different musical genres and eluded the Christian Rock pigeon-hole.

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String Cheese Incident lit by Brown Note Productions at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA. Photo by Brian Spady

Brown Note Productions

Catapulted? Ignited? Skyrocketed? Erupted? What is the best word to describe a company that, in a scant ten years, went from a two-car garage to a three-car garage to a 5,000-square-foot warehouse to a 12,000-square-foot facility and is now occupies 27,000 square feet with more than 25 employees? Begun in May 2004 by Sara B. Knutson and Ryan Knutson, Brown Note Productions of Thornton, Colorado, is a supermarket of services, support and sales for live event audio, video and lighting. Like most successes, the enterprise began with a simple idea.

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Working with a Media Server on a Corporate Event

Working with a Media Server on a Corporate Event

When lighting programmers are tasked to program a media server on a corporate event using a lighting console, they may think, “Oh, that will be easy. I’ll just have to play a few videos for the CEO, a few guest speakers, etc., etc.” Well, that’s partially true; the server may be used to play back these types of videos. However, what may not be so evident are the different ways video can be woven into a corporate show. Let’s take a closer look at how video can be used in this type of show.

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The Stageline SAM750 Mobile Stage made its US debut at EDC New York. Photo by Adam Kaplan/ASK Media Productions

Stageline SAM750 Mobile Stage

Each year, mobile stages made by Stageline, a staging manufacturer based in L’Assomption, Quebec, get used at 15,000 events in 45 countries around the world. That number is likely to increase this year as Stageline rolls out its SAM750 — the largest hydraulic mobile stage in the world. First used at the 2013 Osheaga festival in Montreal last August, the SAM750 made its U.S. debut at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) New York over Memorial Day weekend.

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Altman Lighting Phoenix LED Profile Spot

Altman Lighting Phoenix LED Profile Spot

LED ellipsoidal fixtures are the hottest and most debated product type on the market right now. But can you really call them ellipsoidal? Since LED profile fixtures don’t have an ellipsoidal reflector, the name doesn’t seem a perfect fit. They do have the same characteristics that we know and love from our old reliable tungsten-based fixtures, however. Maybe they should be called Lekos? That is just another angle of the debate going forward with these types of fixtures.

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