News

Alcorn McBride Enhances Fright-Filled Goretorium

LAS VEGAS – Halloween comes more than once a year at Eli Roth’s Goretorium in Las Vegas where guests are exposed to the most intense live terror experience in town.  The multi-level space features 24 individually themed rooms set within a mythical horror hotel, where guests witness gruesome sights and sounds as they encounter live actors, animatronic frights and special effects. Alcorn McBride plays a big part in the spookfest, with three compact Digital Binloops and two ProTraXX units for audio playback. A versatile, frame-accurate V4 show controller runs the show from the central equipment room.
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GLP impression Spot Ones Tour with Jackson Browne

LOS ANGELES - Jackson Browne’s lighting director/production designer for four years, Steve Comer, is one who admits, “I had been looking for an LED hard edge light for a long time, and when the Spot One came along it was just the fixture I’d been waiting for.” GLP’s impression Spot One helps on the tour in various ways. Jackson Browne had wanted to go more green the past few years, and as his latest tour grew from a solo acoustic act to an ensemble, the stage called for a hard-edge beam to allow musicians to disappear behind Browne.

Eric Church’s Tour Features Strictly FX Effects

WOOD DALE, IL - Strictly FX is providing colored lasers, pyrotechnics, flames and custom cryojet effects for Eric Church’s ‘Blood Sweat and Beers’ tour, which is currently touring U.S. arenas until Dec. 15. The concert production was designed by Butch Allen and Church himself. The effects are featured in seven of the 21 songs in the show.
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Robe MMXs Specified for Theme Park’s ‘Luminosity’ Show

SANDUSKY, OH - Robe’s ROBIN MMX Spots were an integral part of the new ‘Luminosity: Ignite the Night. Powered by Pepsi’ visual extravaganza at the Cedar Point Amusement Park on the Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, OH. LD Al Crawford of Arc3design specified the Robes, working alongside Lighting Director/EOS console programmer Zakaria M Al-Alami (Zak) on the project. The Luminosity show – combining lighting, sound, fireworks, lasers, DJs, singers and dancers and lots of energy – ran every night at the park through the summer months.

Event Live Expo Returns to Los Angeles in February 2013

LOS ANGELES -- The Event Live Expo (ELX) host sits 3rd annual event in Los Angeles on Feb. 5-7, 2013 as part of Live Music Industry Week. ELX is a free event attracting industry leaders from around the world to participate in panels, networking sessions and educational seminars that explore the cutting edge techniques and tools currently shaping the live event and festival business. During this event, the Event Safety Alliance plans to unveil excerpts from its upcoming American edition - a guide featuring the best practices in the event production industry.

“Frankenstorm” Shuts Broadway for a Third Day

NEW YORK — With mass transit still snarled by the surge of seawater inundating neighborhoods and train tunnels, the Broadway League, representing 40 theaters in the city, opted to pull the plug on performances Tuesday, Oct. 30, extending the storm-related shutdown that kept stages dark Sunday, Oct. 28 and Monday, Oct. 29. Among the cancelled productions for all three days: Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, Once and Mama Mia! and off-Broadway shows including Stomp, Bad Jews, Disgraced and Golden Child. At Carnegie Hall, appearances by the Tokyo String Quartet on Oct. 28 and Jadranka Jovanovic Oct. 29 were also canceled.

PDO Enhances Radio City Music Hall’s Staging System

NEW YORK - Pook Diemont & Ohl, Inc. (PDO) integrated truss, hoist and control system manufacturers and engineers to enhance staging and lighting elements at Radio City Music Hall’s storied stage over a six-day period in September. PDO’s project partners were James Thomas Engineering, Stagemaker, Niscon Controls and Geiger Engineering, who worked closely with the Radio City staff to provide the best options to meet production needs.

Projection Studio Creates Video Facade for Hopkins Centre

HANOVER, NH - London, UK-based Projection artist Ross Ashton was commissioned by Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, to produce an exclusive Son et Lumière show celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Hopkins Centre for the Arts. The show ‘Five Windows’ was based around large format projections highlighting the history, achievements and impact of the facility. The big technical challenge was lining up the projectors across the Hopkins Centre façade’s different depths, which vary by up to about 5 meters (16.4 ft).

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HSN Chooses Philips Strand for Lighting System Upgrade

DALLAS – HSN is an interactive multi-channel retailer delivering an assortment of exclusive products and now concerts, and broadcasting live to over 96 million homes around the clock. With only one day off per year, any lighting system would be put to the test. When it was time for LD Mike Flack and Lighting Engineer Skip Glasco to upgrade their system, they opted for features and flexibility. Their choice: a C21 Dimming System, Palette Control Consoles, and PL3 LED Wash luminaires from Philips Strand Lighting; along with VL3500 Spot and VL3500 Wash luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

Sandy Audio Visual, PA+ Plan Elaborate Setup for Nov. 3 Event in Toronto

TORONTO —Sandy Audio Visual (SAV) and PA+ are planning an elaborate setup to support the technical needs of the Grand Musical Evening planned for Rogers Center here on Nov. 3. Indian film composer, singer and lyricist Maestro Dr. Ilaiyaraja will lead more than 100 Western and South Asian musical artists on stage. The lighting rig will include 69 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures, 53 MAC 2000 Profiles, 71 MAC 101s, 20 Atomic 3000 Strobes and five MAC 600s, with two grandMA2 consoles for control. The production will also feature a 50 foot (15.25 meter) Martin LC LED wall. Read More...

Bandit Lites Tours with Melissa Etheridge

KNOXVILLE, TN - Melissa Etheridge hit the road in early October to promote her newest album,  4th Street Feeling. LD David Hamilton worked with tour manager Steven Girmant to give the show the exposed, stripped down look that Etheridge wanted for this fall tour. Bandit Lites is supplying her gear, including GRN LED technology. “The whole rig I’m using now uses about 32 amps, as opposed to 10 years ago when you had to have 400 amp service to do 30 or 40 lights,” Hamilton said.

ETC’s iRFR Donations to Behind the Scenes Top $100,000

NEW YORK, NY — ETC CEO Fred Foster presented a check for $23,423.67 to Behind the Scenes at the LDI 2012 trade show in Las Vegas. The donation reflected ongoing proceeds from sales of their iRFR (Radio Focus Remote for iPhone and iPod Touch) application. When ETC introduced the iRFR, which was developed by ETC software engineer Chris Mizerak, another employee, Luke Delwiche, suggested the profits be put toward Behind the Scenes and its UK counterpart Light Relief. This check brought the total ETC has donated just to Behind the Scenes, from sales of the iRFR, to just over $100,000.
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