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Motley Crue Final Tour photo by Todd Moffses

Motley Crue: The Final tour

Cleverly named The Final Tour, Mötley Crüe’s final tour began July 2 in Grand Rapids, MI. And final it is. In January, under a banner proclaiming “All Bad Things Must Come to an End,” the iconic band’s members held a press conference in Hollywood, complete with a New Orleans-style funeral marching band, at which they publicly signed a legally binding “cessation of touring” agreement. It prohibits them from going on the road together or individually under the Mötley moniker after their current 18-month worldwide victory lap ends. No biennial reunion tours, no country fair oldies circuit, no package cruises.

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Lady Gaga Artpop Ball tour photo by Steve Jennings

Lady Gaga ArtRave: The Artpop Ball Tour

LeRoy Bennett’s resume of clients is any designer’s dream. In just the last few years alone, his work as production and lighting designer has included the likes of Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars, Nine Inch Nails, Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson, and that’s not even the full list. Returning to the stage on her Artpop Ball Tour of 2014 is Lady Gaga. Bennett’s first venture with her was back in 2010 on her Monster Ball Tour and, since then, handled visuals for her DVD and iTunes Festival shows. Along with a few words with Bennett, PLSN touched base with touring lighting director Whitney Hoversten about the latest Gaga extravaganza.

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Sarah McLachlan Shine On tour photo by Steve Jennings

Sarah McLachlan Shines On

Ready to launch into the next song, Sarah McLachlan suddenly stops and squints into the spotlight. A fan has come to the footlights with an ill-timed request. Lifting up her T-shirt, the fan asks: Would McLachlan autograph her bra? McLachlan repeats the request into the microphone with surprise and a laugh, while the audience collectively groans at the fan’s faux pas. McLachlan calls for a pen and signs. Now the fan lifts up her boot. She has another request. At this point, security guards grab the gal and guide her away.

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Terra Tractus: The Earth Moves. Photos by Judy Barbosa and Charles Erickson

LD Jamie Burnett on “Terra Tractus: The Earth Moves”

Since environmental artist Joy Wulke founded Projects for a New Millenium in 1993, the nonprofit organization, now called Projects2K (www.projects2k.org), has been raising awareness of ecology and the natural world through a fusion of art and science. The group has staged a variety of site-specific shows, turning to the Stony Creek Quarry near its home base in Branford, CT for a number of productions over the years. They include Visualization of Time (1995), Terra Continuum (1999), Terra Lumina (2001), Terra Alchemica (2002) and Terra Mirabila: If Rocks Could Dream (2005).

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The History of Martin Professional

In Martin Professional’s early days, it was all smoke and mirrors. Literally. Entrepreneur Peter Johansen founded the company in 1987 in Aarhus, Denmark with the main factory located in the city of Frederikshavn, about 115 miles north of Aarhus. It all started with smoke machines, based on experiments using dry ice in a coffee machine. The Martin name was acquired through cooperation with a French smoke machine company. It soon added lighting products for discotheques but quickly diversified into lighting for the professional markets, particularly lights with moving mirrors such as the PAL 1200 and fixtures with moving heads.

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ESA president Jim Digby

Event Safety Alliance Moves Into Next Phase

In what began as a conversation involving concerned live event professionals the month after the Indiana State Fair stage collapse in August 2011, the Event Safety Alliance (ESA) is expanding its influence over event safety in North America. As it celebrates its unofficial third year this month (it incorporated in February of 2012), the ESA has made solid progress in their quest to align the industry with best practices in live event safety guidelines. A four-day training session, a new strategic partnership, a new headquarters, and The Event Safety Guide are some of their recent accomplishments.

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3D projection mapping precisely matches projections with multi-faceted surfaces. Credit: Kelly McKeon.

Masking vs. Mapping

As projection mapping continues to grow in popularity for outdoor events as well as indoor applications like retail displays, trade show booths, stage shows, etc., an important discussion has begun to take shape among professional projectionists and content creators: when clients ask for video projection, do they want true 3D mapping projection, or are they merely visualizing 2D projection with masking? It’s important to know the difference and the workload associated with delivering each of these so that you can meet (and often exceed) their expectations.

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The Design Oasis

The Design Oasis

Luccas Oliveira and Abbas Ritscher, co-founders of The Design Oasis in Davie, FL, both have a background in lighting design. As such, they became aware of a distinct market need – for 24/7 rental service and support. They embraced that “client-centric” vision from the start.

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Clay Paky A.leda B-Eye K20

Clay Paky A.leda B-Eye K20

A wasp, hornet, yellow jacket, or honeybee? Which of these have anything to do with a moving light? All the buzz is because Clay Paky, Italian based lighting manufacturer and maker of the popular Sharpy, has taken the beautiful naturally occurring honeycomb pattern and applied it as a front lens to its latest wash light, the A.leda B-Eye K20.

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Ayrton MagicBlade R fixture distributed by Morpheus Lights

Ayrton MagicBlade R

I have to start out by saying what a pleasure it is to toy around with a new original light fixture. One that does not copy or emulate any other lighting fixture on the market, but is unique. French lighting manufacturer Ayrton has once again raised the bar with the release of their MagicBlade. I am sitting in the Morpheus Lights showroom in Las Vegas as I run this beauty through its paces. Morpheus Lights distributes Ayrton in America. 

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The Magical Layout

One of the newest automated lighting features that is getting talked about often is the Layout View, or Magic Sheet. While this feature has been around on consoles for many years, only recently has it really taken off. The great adoption of multi-touch applications on tablets, phones, and computers has allowed manufacturers and programmers to expand the abilities of this wonderful tool and really make the best use of it. Now lighting programmers are jumping all over it and finding it an extremely useful instrument in their arsenal of programming utilities.

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Ryan Adams on the Tonight Show. Photo by Douglas Gorenstein/NBC

Designing Ryan Adams; Creative Emmys Awarded; Rolden Receives Raves; More

Ryan Adams has returned to the road to support his new self-titled album. LD Brett Lorins is working with the artist, starting with a few one-off shows with his band, The Shining. The fall tour kicks off Sept. 8 in Washington, DC, taking in U.K. and Canadian dates along with U.S. tour stops until Nov. 19. Among Adams’ one-offs was a performance Aug. 13 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

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