News

KNOXVILLE, TN — A Celebration of Life service honoring Pat Summitt, longtime coach of the University of Tennessee’s Lady Volunteers basketball team will take place at UT Knoxville’s Thompson Boling Arena on July 14 at 7 p.m. Bandit Lites will provide lighting for the event for Summitt, who died June 28 at age 64.

SECAUCUS, NJ – Rose Brand Inc. is continuously adding additional resources for its customers to use. One of the newest additions to its list of technical data is the Rose Brand Guide to Projection Materials. The downloadable guide serves as a tool to help customers choose the best projection material for their production. Customers can easily get overwhelmed with the large number of options available. The new guide aims to eliminate the guess work for those looking to choose between materials based on performance. Pictured here is a show using front projection on an IFR Aglo drape: Missing You, Metropolis produced by Washburn University in Topeka, KS.

WICHITA, KS –– For the Wichita Riverfest, now held every June, the main stage featured 29 different bands performing under the light of an Erich Meitzner-designed rig. The lighting included a collection of Rogue fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Parr Sound and Lighting of Great Bend, KS supplied the gear.

MONTREAL – Les Feluettes (Lilies) made its world premiere at the Opera de Montreal recently, playing to full houses during its four-night run. Les Feluettes, with a book by Michel Marc Bouchard and music by Kevin March, is a play within a play.  It begins as a prison confessional and unfolds as a love story spanning 1912-1957, a time when same-gender relationships were conducted largely in secret. For Les Feluettes, LD Martin Labrecque lit eight tableaux showing different locations and time periods in monochromatic palettes of amber or blue. He used seven Clay Paky Scenius Spots for the new production.

LAS VEGAS — The deadline to nominate regional lighting companies for a 2016 Parnelli Award as Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year is only days away: June 30. Nominations have been coming in fast and furious for the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and Southwest regions, but for some reason (Global warming? Brexit? Who knows?) we’ve had fewer nominations coming in from the Northwest U.S. and Canada this year.

QUINCY, WA – The Sasquatch! Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater celebrated its 15th year with headlining sets from Disclosure, Major Lazer, The Cure (pictured here), Sufjan Stevens (pictured below), and Florence and the Machine. Stageworks Seattle provided lighting design and production on the main stage. The flown lighting rig was used by almost all of the headlining bands with minimal augmentation. The rig featured Martin MAC Viper Wash DX, Viper Profiles, Elation Platinum Beams, LED strobes, and 93,600 watts of DWE blinders. The gear was provided by Christie Lites’ Seattle office.

AUSTIN, TX. – High End Systems notes that its Hog Factor 2016 competition is still open for enrollment to all qualifying college and university students, but that Phase One of the contest will close on June 30, 2016. Following Phase 1 of the competition, three teams will be whisked away to the Live Finals, set for Friday Oct. 21 at 5pm on the High End Systems booth at LDI in Las Vegas. The finalists will compete to win a $20,000 scholarship and Hog 4 for their University as well as each a HedgeHog 4X for themselves.

AUSTIN, TX — Although it has rarely been praised before for its aesthetic appeal, the abandoned Austin Downtown Post Office generated more than a few double-takes after Bryan Azar and designers Adam Crankshaw and Alex Soto of ILIOS Lighting Design used 300 ÉPIX Strip 2.0 units with domes to add visual interest for the Samsung Galaxy Life Fest, which took place during SXSW 2016. Most of the 1-meter strips were mounted on the ceiling to form a chevron pattern over the dance floor. The remaining strips were used to created lines and borders around the on-stage truss lines.

LAS VEGAS — No fatalities had been reported immediately after this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival festival held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway June 17-19. But one attendee who collapsed from suspected heat stroke at about 6 a.m. after the event’s third night of revelry was hospitalized and did not recover. Kenani Kaimuloa, 20, from the San Diego area, was declared brain-dead and taken off life support.

BALTIMORE, MD – For the 14th edition of Maryland Deathfest, held over Memorial Day Weekend, Zack Bunner, lighting designer at Showtime Sound (Frederick, Maryland) added visual impact with fixtures from Chauvet Professional, including Rogue R2 Washes and STRIKE 4 LED fixtures.