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Got Dem Dirty, Low-Down, Trade Show Blues

Trade shows are the standing punch line of any industry — can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Or can you? LDI, the putative main show of the professional lighting and staging industry for the last two decades, is experiencing some significant turbulence this year. As reported a few months ago, Martin Professional and High End Systems have both opted out of the Orlando expo this year, the first time both have not exhibited, and Vari-Lite has announced that it will cut back its presence at the show. Syncrolite is expected to do the same.

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NAB and the Breakthrough Moments

Video didn’t spring fully-formed from a media server…

[For those of us who are new to the video world by way of lighting, the entire history of the development of media servers, non-linear editing, and all the tools of the video trade are as much of a mystery as the plethora of video formats. To those of you who are new to the lighting world by way of the video world, the entire lack of knowledge about these things from the lighting side is as much of a mystery as DMX512. In this article, Paul Berliner bridges the gap for us. – ed.]

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Getting a True Taste of Chaos

Chaos’ crew tries to keep it fast, cheap and under control.

The third annual A Taste of Chaos tour certainly lives up to its name for its hard-working crew. With eight screamo/post- hardcore bands, six audio people and four Lighting crew, plus a truncated load-in time after the first few shows, over its two-month cross-country trek, the growing event has become a test of speed and endurance for this well-oiled touring machine. This year, it is also a challenge for Chaos crew chief Tommy Green, and 30 Seconds to Mars lighting director Rob Smith to allow the show to build up in intensity for a big visual payoff by night’s end. It’s a true lesson in the principle of “less is more.”

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Ovation Stands Alone

Las Vegas’ Green Valley Ranch takes in a big club install for the Ovation nightclub.

Nightclubs behave differently than your standard show. Whereas a backstage area normally provides a relative sanctuary from the crush of the crowd, nightclubs are a different beast. Every inch of the space is a stage unto itself, with every guest trying to put on their own show. This presents a lighting designer with a combination of challenges and opportunities unique to the club installation.

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Change Happens

Reno’s 210 North Nightclub

Change will happen.” Sound like a trite motto? Think again. For one designand- build contractor saddled with executing another designer’s vision in just over a week, it was more like a mantra. The tale of the installation at Reno’s 210 North nightclub isn’t just the story of a little nightclub that could — it’s an example of how a group of disparate technicians “set ego aside, admitted there was a good idea,” and got to work.

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The Pirate Queen Takes on the Virgin Queen

It’s a fiery struggle set on a simple stage in the latest big-budget musical to hit Broadway

There are many large-scale productions on Broadway, but none quite like The Pirate Queen, an epic adventure that chronicles a unique time in history when two powerful women clashed over the fate of a country. It presents the true-life story of Grace O’Malley, an Irish pirate who defied the attempts of Queen Elizabeth I to subjugate her country and her people. The stage was set, so to speak, for the Pirate Queen to take on the Virgin Queen, and the musical interprets that famous struggle with a lively mixture of action scenes, Irish dance numbers and dramatic showdowns.

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40 Days in the Dirt

There’s as many headliners as cowboys at the Houston Livestock Show.

Well it’s bulls and blood
It’s dust and mud
It’s the roar of a Sunday crowd
It’s the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
 He’ll win the next go ‘round
— Garth Brooks, “Rodeo”

Almost everyone has a picture in their head of what a rodeo looks like. For most, an image of a bull-rider probably comes to mind. But be they death-defying clowns or hairpin chuck-wagon turns, your image of rodeo is about to change.

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Promo tours

Often a band will go on a worldwide "promotional" tour. This happens when they have released a new album and they wish to get some publicity generated before they embark on an actual headlining tour.

So for the last month I have been lighting a young girl named Rihanna. She has appeared on countless TV shows from Good Morning America to the Late Show with Letterman. In between TV gigs, we are doing some corporate shows as the guest entertainment, DVD shoots for Sprint phones, Radio shows in scattered cities etc.

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Christmas comes more than once a year for me!

I like the heading of this particular blog. I say this because for me demoing products is like Christmas for me! I’ll know what I’m getting one time and then I won’t the next. Well let’s start with what I know I have gotten and that is five- Color Block DB4’s from A.C. Lighting and the Viper NT fogger from Look Solutions. I had the privilege to establish these two contacts at the USITT in Phoenix this year. Everyone was really cool and helpful talking to me about their products. They also were kind enough to extend their hand out further to let me demo them! So here we go…

       

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Clearwing gear part II

Rigging

 

Steel Spansets are wired cable used to secure indoor rigs when flying truss and lighting. There are Nylon spansets used also but are meant for outdoor use to safely hold flown truss in place. Other appliances are shackles that connect to the spansets to hold them in place, motor cables to power your truss motors to help lift your truss from the ground, locking carabineers are used for lock points in a safety kit, life lines are used to tie onto the truss with a sling so the truss doesn’t fall and potentially injure of kill someone, 'O' and 'D' ring are extenders to put rope through the rigging points of truss and motor to connect. For your truss points I learned that you need to chalk out the particular points to mark as drop points so the guy suspended above knows where to drop safety cables to the stage.

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