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No Shirt, No Shoes? No Way!

Imagine this: I was working on a stadium concert for a big rock band in an indoor stadium. We had a well known LD and were just about to start the first rehearsal with the band. Our front of house technician came walking out to the consoles wearing only his shorts. With no shirt and no shoes he paraded across the floor and right up to the LD. Then he took his seat and waited for the rehearsal to start. I am sure you can guess the LD’s reaction; no one was surprised when the FOH tech was replaced just a few days into the tour.

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Lighting Up Education

The next time you see projection video in an entertainment venue, think of it as also mentoring a student in elementary or high school. That’s because the projection has been discovering potentially vast new fields to till in the education sector. The penetration of digital, widescreen, HD and other advanced projection technology into education environments are difficult to measure precisely but anecdotal evidence suggests it has become a huge trend. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) estimated that at its annual convention in San Antonio the 40 projection systems manufacturers that exhibited there last July had doubled in a little over five years. 

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Taming the Cable Monster

“Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.” — Robert Armstrong as
Carl Denham in the original King Kong (1933).

 

There’s a new movie in the making that will soon be playing in theatres and performing arts spaces everywhere. It’s about a new protocol that goes up against a monster bundle of cable. The winners in this battle are the techies and end users of large lighting systems. 

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Heavy Metal Thunder

I’ve been having a lot of fun this year doing something I don’t often do — lighting heavy metal tours. While it’s not my favorite kind of music, I am having a blast. I mean, what other genre of music enables you to hit 160 cues in a three-minute song?

 

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Ya gotta be kidding me.

    So my gal and I are relaxing watching CNN cover the Republican convention. Final night, it’s time to hear Mr. McCain accept his party’s nomination. So I tune in to see what he has to say. And instead of hearing him I can only think of one thing…, this is the worst lighting and video presentation I have ever seen on TV.

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Show interruptions

    Every now and then a live show gets interrupted. Sometimes it’s due to some audio difficulty such as a mic or musical instrument has a failure. Often it’s due to power outages. But last week I found a new way to disrupt a show. Flying turf.

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Howell Binkley Lights the Heights

He’s worked with such theatre legends as Stephen Sondheim (writer, Sweeney Todd), Hal Prince (director, Guys ‘n Dolls) and Arthur Laurent (writer/director, Gypsy). His resume reads like the Who’s Who of Broadway productions. His gallery of Broadway show posters, many of them signed, spans three rows on three walls. His three-story New York City brownstone is filled with Broadway me-mentos and pictures from show openings. Displayed on top his bookshelf is an array of honors: an Olivier Award (Kiss of the Spiderwoman), a Dora Award, five Helen Hayes Awards, a Tony Award (Jersey Boys) and a Tony nomination for In the Heights. With an extraordinary lineup of six shows currently running on the “Big Street” (Xanadu, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, In the Heights, Cry Baby, Gypsy) Broadway lighting designer Howell Binkley is at the top of his game.

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Kenny Chesney Poets & Pirates Tour 2008

When Kenny Chesney’s Poets & Pirates Tour played San Francisco’s AT&T Park recently, it was another in a long line of summer stadium shows with Brooks & Dunn, LeAnne Rimes and Gary Allan. But unlike the other stadium shows, this one featured surprise duets with Steve Miller and Sammy Hagar. The 200-foot wide stage was a showcase for the talent and the production as well. As a four-time recipient of the Academy of Country Music award for Entertainer of the Year, Chesney lives up to his title with the help of production designer Mike Swinford, production manager Ed Wannebo and a crew to match their considerable talents.

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WrestleMania XXIV Takes it Outside

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was able to pump up the excitement surrounding its annual extravaganza, WrestleMania XXIV with lighting effects, custom graphics and a huge fireworks display by bringing the event outside for the first time. Not everything played out as planned but WWE still gave wrestling fans a night they’d never forget and broke the Citrus Bowl’s gate record by squeezing 74,639 people into almost every available seat.

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NATEAC 2008

The first North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference convened in the Michael Schimmel Performing Arts Center on the campus of Pace University in downtown New York City on July 20 and 21. More than 250 people from nine countries attended the conference and participated in a total of 18 panel discussions covering such topics as “The Future of Stage Machinery,” “The Greener Theatre,” “Design for Value” and more. In addition, keynote addresses were given by Richard Brett and Hugh Hardy and the Plenary Session was led by Steven Ehrenberg and David Taylor.

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The Idiot Offset

The sk8rs on Centre Street in New York City go out of their way to seek out danger. The more dangerous, the better. I know this because I witnessed it first hand. I was in the City for the maiden voyage of the North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) last month. The conference was an excellent exchange of information and ideas about all things relating to the design, construction, and use of performing arts spaces.

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