Skip to content

The October 2017 Digital Edition

Click Here to View the Digital Edition

October 2017

Kid Rock on the thrust provided by Gallagher Staging

Kid Rock Opens Little Caesars Arena in Detroit

LD Makes Use of State-of-the-Art House System for Six Sold-Out Shows

In retrospect, there was no question: Who else could have opened a new stadium in Detroit but Kid Rock? The hometown favorite sold out the new 20,000-seat sports complex’s six dates in mere hours. And, while all the shows went well, a few of the early ones didn’t go perfectly, as longtime Kid Rock LD Nook Schoenfeld was the guinea pig taking a brand new technologically-advanced stadium out for its first ride.

Read More »
Blizzard Lighting G-Mix 200

Blizzard Lighting G-Mix 200

Blizzard Lighting is based in Waukesha, WI. I’m not sure where that is either, but it turns out it’s about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee. Blizzard Lighting is a newer company to the industry, but not as new as you may think. They have been manufacturing lights since March of 2010. In fact, their first LED moving light was called “Flurry Wash,” which certainly aligns with their theme of “cool” and “wintry.”

Read More »
The 20,000-capacity arena is the new home for the NHL Red Wings and NBA Pistons hockey and basketball teams, while also hosting major concerts and other eveents. Photo by Todd Kaplan

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit: Built to Rock

New Arena Immerses Attendees with State-of-the-Art House Systems

“I believe we just opened the nicest, coolest arena I’ve ever had the pleasure of gigging in,” says Kid Rock LD Nook Schoenfeld after six sold-out shows at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. “It is an amazing structure; the likes of which do not exist anywhere in the world.”

Read More »
A Programmer's Guide to Sushi

A Programmer’s Guide to Sushi

Irasshaimase! Over the years, I have noticed that a majority of the automated lighting programmers I know also enjoy eating sushi. There are, of course, some exceptions, but I feel pretty confident in saying that most do. It actually makes sense if you think about it; there are many similarities between the raw fish cuisine and the craft of programming automated lighting. The skill of the chef, the varieties of available options, the creativity and more all align between the two very different topics. Since I personally love sushi and programming, I feel it is time to really compare the two.

Read More »
The nightclub turned to Tirso Lighting for the upgrade.

NYC’s Arka Room

Tirso Lighting Helps a Popular Manhattan Nightspot Rebrand

Arka Lounge operated for 16 years as one of the more successful nightspots in the Washington Heights area of upper Manhattan. Rebranded last December as Arka Room, owners of this sophisticated, intimate place to party are hoping for the same run of success they enjoyed for nearly two decades.

Read More »
Hurricane Harvey/NOAA Satellite Image

Hurricane Relief: How Our Industry Helps Others Weather the Storm

The worst of times can bring out the best in the human spirit. The world witnessed this with people helping people during Hurricane Harvey’s flooding in Texas and Louisiana. Before the waters subsided, Hurricane Irma pounded islands in the Caribbean, Cuba and Florida, and not long after that, Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Meanwhile, major earthquakes crumbled buildings and lives in Mexico.

Read More »
Illustration by Andy Au

Thank You for Using Restraint

Sometimes, it’s the things that you don’t do that make all the difference.

I recently attended a show that was painful to watch and more difficult to experience. I couldn’t see the artists for half the show because the upstage wall was built with a tractor-trailer’s worth of LED strobes that were aimed at my face. No matter where I went in the audience, they seemed to track my eyeballs and flash open white on every downbeat.

Read More »
Hand in Hand 2017 logo

Televised Benefit Concerts for Hurricane Relief

“Hand in Hand” and “Harvey Can’t Mess with Texas” Concert Benefits Raise Millions for Hurricane Relief

“Hand In Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief” was a one-hour star-studded telethon on Sept. 12 with more than 130 artists and celebrities urging donations to aid the victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Read More »
The musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda was staged at Geva Theatre Center. The morning after a power outage in Washington Heights, dawn lighting brings life to the cast of In the Heights. Photo by Goat Factory Media.

‘In the Heights,’ in Rochester, NY

Upper Manhattan is Reborn Upstate

Take a Tony Award-winning musical featuring a large cast of dancers and flamboyant choreography infused with salsa, merengue and hip-hop. Surround this cast with scenery that depicts the working storefronts of a bodega, a hair salon and a car service. Light it up with dozens of colors, patterns in motion and — in a purely 21st-century moment — the glow of smartphone screens.

Read More »
Metallica gear delivered to Antarctica

Rock-It Cargo

Everybody knows Rock-It Cargo as the leading freight forwarding and logistics services provider in concert touring. Over the last 40 years, the iconic company has joined that coveted list of corporations whose name is not only synonymous for the product it provides but works as both a verb and noun. Gotta ship something time sensitive, fragile, or out of the ordinary? Rock-It. Like the name of the Holding company that now owns them, Rock-It is and always has been, Rock Solid.

Read More »