News

SYRACUSE, NY – Entertainment artists who like designing on the fly – or watching a Chopped-style real-life challenge – will get their chance at USITT 2015 in Cincinnati. Among the 275 sessions, events, and activities at the Duke Energy Convention Center March 18-21 are several “game show” competitions asking designers to create on deadline.

TAMPA, FL – Usher kicked off his current “The UR Experience” tour in November with Elation Professional’s award-winning Sniper multi-effect light used extensively throughout the show as a key accent element including laser simulation. The Sniper, Elation’s new beam, scanner and laser simulator in one, has been used on a growing number of shows and special events since its launch last October, both in the U.S. and abroad.

MIDDLETON, WI – If your DOB (date of birth) is prior to 1990, you may not know that EDM stands for Electronic Dance Music – the offspring of a musical orgy attended by disco, techno, house and reggae sometime in the late Eighties. In an act of revenge for those who declared disco to be dead, EDM has emerged as the fastest growing sector of the live-entertainment industry. EDM will be around long after the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac wrap up their very last (they promise) reunion tours. If you don’t believe this, you should hack your kid’s Twitter account. Like the social media that fuels this musical form, widespread acceptance is a danger-signal and a cue to move on to something new.

PADUCAH, KY – Replacing inefficient incandescent bulbs has not only been a government-mandated trend but a blessing in disguise for Paducah, Kentucky’s Lone Oak First Baptist Church where are all worshipers can now clearly see their Bibles, hymnals and bulletins thanks to a recent installation of nearly 100 elektraLite Dazer LED fixtures.

NEW YORK – Royal Caribbean’s newest luxury cruise liner, Quantum of the Seas, set sail in November with a full complement of Elation Professional lighting and video products and Acclaim architectural fixtures. The ship, the third largest cruise liner in the world, can accommodate more than 4,000 passengers. Amenities include a sky-diving simulator, bumper cars, robotic bartenders and the North Star attraction, which gives guests a gull’s eye view of the ship by extending them up and out more than 300 feet above the ocean.

TAMPA, FL – When American R&B/Hip-Hop star Usher set out on his 50-date UR Experience U.S. and European tour to promote his latest album (UR), his touring LD Eric Wade (of FOHShow) was carrying an inventory that included 216 of GLP impression X4 S LED spots. They form a focal part of the design conceived by production designers Baz Halpin and Chris Nyfield (Silent House) and Wade himself.

TAUNTON, MA – Jonathan Lipsy, manager of broadcast and lighting at Integrated Solutions Group, included Ovation LED ellipsoidal and Fresnel fixtures from Chauvet Professional in his design for Taunton Community Access and Media (TCAM), a public access television station.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Ray Ziegler of RZI Lighting used video panels from Chauvet Professional aboard the festive floats that were designed for the Krewe of Endymion Parade, which helped kick off New Orleans’ Mardi Gras festivities on Saturday, Feb. 14. The float’s elaborate decorations depicting Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and other fabled journeys. Along with video panels from Chauvet Professional, the floats used Geyser RGB Foggers from Chauvet DJ.

ARLINGTON, TX – Dall Brown Lighting, with the support of Chroma Designs, turned to Syncrolite for an assist with the task of lighting the exterior of the University of Phoenix Stadium for this year’s Super Bowl. The project bathed the aluminum skin of the stadium in color for the NFL’s annual week-long celebration and season finale.