News

[caption id="attachment_279731" align="alignnone" width="588"]BML on the lookout for stolen gear[/caption]

SECAUCUS, NJ – BML-Blackbird Theatrical Services notified police about the theft of a Penske rental truck from its parking lot over the weekend. The truck was loaded with lighting gear intended for a series of shows in New York. A driver who arrived to take the truck into the city reported the loss to police. Surveillance video captured a car dropping off a suspect. That suspect managed to pick the lock and hotwire the vehicle in a matter of minutes.

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[caption id="attachment_279722" align="alignnone" width="800"]Part of the Plan Musical[/caption]

NASHVILLE, TN- A new and hopefully Broadway-bound musical, Part of the Plan, opened to rave reviews this month in the Music City’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). The musical draws its score and inspiration from the deep catalog of singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg. Lighting Designer Jason Kantrowitz turned to 4Wall New York for the gear needed to light the musical’s debut at TPAC, in hopes of continuing its journey on to Broadway. After multiple prior readings of the show Part of the Plan, the producers’ goal for this developmental production was to see the fully staged material performed in front of Nashville audiences in order to hone the script.

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DALLAS – Visit Front Porch Productions’ display (Booth 407) at the 2017 WFX Conference & Expo to see High End Systems’ latest Bright White LED automated luminaires and HOG 4 control products. Front Porch Productions will be showing High End’s new SolaFrame 750 and SolaFrame Theatre, along with SolaSpot 2000, SolaSpot 1000, SolaWash 19 and SolaWash 37. HOG 4 lighting control products on display will include the HedgeHog 4X, Road Hog 4 and the flagship HOG 4 consoles. High End Systems Regional Sales Managers Noel Garcia and Bobby Hale will be joining Front Porch Productions staff at the conference to demo products and meet with customers.

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[caption id="attachment_279714" align="alignnone" width="800"]Fat Boy Slim performs live[/caption]

WORLDWIDE – Fatboy Slim’s long-term lighting designer, Stephen Abbiss, has chosen to use the superior live control capabilities of Avolites’ Tiger Touch II console for the DJ’s summer season of festival shows and one-off headline slots across Europe and Australia. Known for his flexible performance style, British DJ Norman Cook – a.k.a Fatboy Slim – demands a highly personalized approach when it comes to his production lighting.

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NYC – Early-Early Bird online registration for USITT 2018 in Fort Lauderdale is officially open! Register now at usittshow.com. USITT’s 2018 Annual Conference & Stage Expo runs March 14-17 in Fort Lauderdale. Early-Early Bird registration – by Dec. 7 – saves the most money, with the lowest rates.The 2018 show features 260+ conference sessions and 300 exhibitors at Stage Expo: an extensive, hands-on showcase of the latest in live entertainment technology.       

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[caption id="attachment_279672" align="alignnone" width="845"]The Great Comet[/caption]

NEW YORK—Lighting Designer Bradley King recently deployed Martin by HARMAN lighting fixtures on his Tony Award-winning lighting design for “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812”. Based on an adaptation of a 70-word excerpt from “War and Piece”, the critically-acclaimed musical features an innovative and unusual set design that forgoes a traditional stage and uses curving runways to place the actors in the center of the audience. 

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[caption id="attachment_279663" align="alignnone" width="590"]Sapsis gives a hand with the rigging[/caption]

NYC – Sapsis Rigging is proud to have been chosen to provide installation services for the new Miller-Scott Pipe Organ at St. Thomas Church in New York, NY.  The installation work spanned over five months and involved lifting and setting all large components of the 102-stop organ. Working with the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders was both a pleasure and a privilege.

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[caption id="attachment_279660" align="alignnone" width="260"]Bobby Dennis[/caption]

DALLAS –Well-known house of worship lighting designer and technical director Bobby Dennis will be conducting an educational session for CHAUVET Professional at the WFX Conference on Thursday, October 12 from 2:00 – 2:45 pm.  Entitled “5 Steps To Greater Engagement With Light,” the session will cover simple, cost-effective ways that churches can use their lighting systems to create a more immersive worship environments.

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[caption id="attachment_279648" align="alignnone" width="800"]ADJ Showcases new gear[/caption]

LOS ANGELES  – Taking place at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, BPM | PRO is the UK’s biggest sound, lighting, DJ and studio equipment event. ADJ has exhibited at the show every year since it started over 10 years ago and in 2017 the ADJ team will be out in force to introduce a number of exciting new products to UK lighting and video users.

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[caption id="attachment_279639" align="alignnone" width="800"]Dia De Los ALT[/caption]

MESA, AZ– On September 17, 2014 radio station KDKB 93.3 shook up the Phoenix media market by abruptly dropping its tried and true 43-year old rock format to become the city’s only alternative music broadcaster. It hasn’t looked back since! Breaking new ground for indie and alternative music in the Valley of the Sun, the station has climbed to the upper echelons of the area’s radio market. On Friday September 22, a little over three years after the rollout of its new format, the station celebrated alternative music with a star-studded Dia De Los ALT show at the Mesa Amphitheatre.

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[caption id="attachment_279633" align="alignnone" width="800"]Soul Rebels[/caption]

BROOKLYN  – There was something for every music lover at the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, which WorldStage exclusively supported with lighting, LED video and rigging.  One of New York City’s longest-running, free, outdoor performing arts festivals, Celebrate Brooklyn! attracts more than 200,000 attendees to the Prospect Park Bandshell each summer to see a wide array of artists.  This year’s lineup included Lake Street Dive, jazz legend Pharaoh Sanders, Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour, soul singer Musiq Soulchild, funk act Quantic and indie rockers Whitney.

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TULSA, OK – Jason Aldean’s They Don’t Know tour skipped three shows last weekend “out of respect for the victims,” the singer noted, on his website, jasonaldean.com. Aldean was the last performer to take the stage at the Route 91 Music Festival outside the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas and was performing when the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting began, leaving 58 dead. The singer also made a surprise appearance on SNL Oct. 7 to perform a tribute to both the Las Vegas victims and Tom Petty, who died Oct. 2, with a cover of Petty’s 1989 hit, “I Won’t Back Down.”

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