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Santana photo by Chad Tasky

Lighting Santana

The phrase,” A well crafted career,” is often heard regarding the success of someone’s longevity in their particular line of work. This certainly applies to Michael Ledesma. Throughout his career, Mike has possessed a key ingredient underpinning all the elements necessary, that of being present in the moment. For 37 years, he has lit some of the greatest artists of our time, and they, in turn have relied upon him to interpret visually their music and art. Longtime associations with legends Paul Simon, Kenny Loggins and Gloria Estefan are a testimonial to not only his lighting skills but his personality as well.

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The two-night EDM event brought top artists and revelers together in Denver’s convention center. Pictured here, Flume performs. Photo by midg view

Decadence in Denver

Brown Note Productions Brings Global Dance’s “City of Dreams” Vision to Reality By MikeWharton

The annual Decadence New Year’s Eve Dance Celebration returned for the sixth year to the Colorado Convention Center. Touted as “America’s Largest New Year’s Eve Dance Celebration,” the event is the brainchild of Ha Hau, owner of Global Dance, who collaborates with AEG Live and Live Nation to produce the two-day indoor EDM festival. Themed as the “City of Decadence,” the celebration features top DJs on two main stage arenas backed with an impressive visual and audio production. Between these two performance spaces is an interconnecting area dubbed “The Chill Room” which features high-tech artworks.

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None of the 1,100 seats in the Wurtele Thrust theater are more than 52 feet from the stage. Photo by Gallop Studios.

The Guthrie Theater

The Birth of Non-Profit Residential Theater

The Guthrie Theater, serving in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, has been in operation for over 50 years. Unlike theaters on Broadway, which are designed for optimum return on investment, Sir Tyrone Guthrie was primarily devoted to the idea of establishing a playhouse that would exist primarily to nurture and cultivate artistic expression. Run as a nonprofit enterprise, the playhouse he envisioned would keep important works of literature alive by presenting them to appreciative audiences while also cultivating the artistic talents of the performers on stage.

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Brian rocks out with some classic Stray Cats. Photo by Steve Jennings

Brian Setzer Orchestra

Brian Setzer first hit the big time as the frontman for the Stray Cats, the band that burst onto the music scene in the early 1980’s with a rockabilly sound from the 1950s. PLSN caught up with Bud Horowitz, LD for the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a swing band ensemble that recently completed its 13th annual Christmas Rocks! Tour. Today’s BSO shows include some of the classic Stray Cats songs with big-band accompaniment. Horowitz has also lit Setzer’s Nashvillians and Rockabilly Riot tours. He notes that, instead of getting too involved in the lighting specifics, Setzer turns to him for the lighting looks.

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Creative Conners always gets a great response when showing off their products.

Creative Conners

Creative Conners, Inc. has been specializing in scenic automation products since 2004 with a simple goal—to make scenic automation simple, safe, efficient, and affordable. They have always offered a range of products that enable designers and technical directors to easily and efficiently add automation to shows, most recently introducing their well-received Floor Pocket, a traproom elevator.

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PLSN Feb 2017 Buyers Guide - Moving Beam Lights

Moving Beam Lights

Looking back, 2008 was a magical year for concert lighting. That was the year that Claypaky unveiled their highly successful Alpha Beam fixtures on a moving yoke, dedicated to the art of the tight collimated shafts of light. A year later, Elation kept the evolution of moving light fixtures moving with units that had a smaller footprint and tiny moving beam. As LED technology continues to sweep across the world of entertainment lighting, we’ve seen more single LED Beam models pop up in the last year. This month we present the latest and best beams on a moving yoke.

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Paul Sonnleitner keeping warm at his console position in Times Square for New Year’s Eve.

1000 Words with Lighting Director Paul Sonnleitner

Well-respected programmer and lighting director Paul Sonnleitner recently spoke with PLSN about how he started his ‘is this really a career’ career, and how he approaches his work. Sonnleitner’s credits range from Broadway to live television, from national historic events, including the Presidential Political Conventions to international sports, for which he shared Emmy nominations with LD David Grill for the 2007 Pan Am Games and the 2014 Central American Games. He also has marked New Year’s Eve for the last 13 years working in Times Square.

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The Nutcracker (Alberto Velazquez) and Marie (Amanda Assucena) dance under the dramatically expanded tree during the battle with the rats. Photo by Cheryl Mann

Re-imagining ‘The Nutcracker’

Christopher Wheeldon’s Nutcracker, at the Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Revitalizes a Holiday Classic

The strains of Tchaikovsky’s lush, spritely overture soar as the Chicago Philharmonic begins The Nutcracker, but when the curtain rises, we find that we are not, as we may expect, in the expansive living room of a traditional Victorian home. Instead, it’s Christmas Eve 1892 in Chicago, and one family on the outskirts of town conducts its fairly frugal preparations for Christmas Day.

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Chauvet Professional Strike 1

Chauvet Professional Strike 1

Ever since I saw a Police reunion show a few years ago, I have had visions of moles on steroids. They had giant 9-lite moles that looked like they had par 56 bulbs in them as opposed to the normal par 36 bulbs we see in blinders. I thought to myself ten years ago, “Why doesn’t someone just make a “Build your own Blinder kit?”

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Berenice and Albert Chauvet at NAMM 2017

A Chat with the Chauvets at NAMM

Crossing Over to the Brighter Side of Event Lighting

It’s Friday at the NAMM Convention, and the separate Chauvet Professional and Chauvet DJ booths are filled with people. That the company is having an active day at an M.I. convention is not surprising. What puzzles me, though, is the number of visitors who walk from one booth to the other.

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Apollo Avere 4UV

Apollo Avere 4UV

It’s become trite by now to point out just how much light-emitting diodes have changed things, and matured as a technology. The difference in every quantifiable variable we can look at in a light — the color rendering and gamut, the dimming, the brightness — has come so far as to make most comparisons to the very first LED devices designed for production laughable. Today, LED-based fixtures are beginning to challenge even large-format moving lights.

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