Creative elves have kept busy preparing for the holidays. Chris Werner Design lit two festive shows that launched mid-November in Nashville, with LD Mike Berger steering the ship on those. He also created the seasonal walk-through attraction NightGarden at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami — again featuring the team of Berger, Andrew Diamond, Alex Stevens, William Kyte and Alex Fasciolo. And on Nov. 25, Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City burst into a holiday scene that Werner describes as “lots of pixels, lots of Christmas lights, lots of media servers, lots of nightly performances.” Dan Efros built the video content, Alex Stevens programmed and Ben Vigman assisted with pixel mapping. Werner figures he won’t surface for air until January.
CMA Touring Award Nominations
Nominees for the eighth annual CMA Touring Awards have been announced. Winners will be honored Jan. 21, 2020 at Marathon Music Works in Nashville. Up for Lighting Director of the Year are: Michael “Sparky” Anderson (Blake Shelton), Scott Cunningham (Florida Georgia Line), Gavin Lake (Eric Church), Chris Reade (Dierks Bentley) and Alec Takahashi (Thomas Rhett). Tour Video Director of the Year noms are: Brian Carico (Blake Shelton), Milojko Dobrijevich (Jason Aldean), Chris Jones (Eric Church), Ryan Rushing (Luke Bryan) and Mark Willcox (Chris Stapleton). See cmaworld.com for PM, TM and other tour categories.
Quick Cues
Industry veteran Michael Tait popped out of retirement to roam the floor at the LDI trade show. With his blue streaked highlighted hair and renewed enthusiasm, he declared he had to see what was happening with new lighting for his new project. He’s building a theater “for people who have nowhere else to play,” he says. “I will rent it to them for the cost of electricity!” he declares. The venue will come to life in his town of Lititz, PA.
Bruce Rodgers and Tribe Inc. premiered Cirque Du Soleil’s new live action film called R.U.N prior to LDI at the Luxor in Las Vegas. The Tribe team has also swung into gear for the production design of Chris Stapleton’s 2020 road show. Then there’s that show-stopping spectacle of the NFL Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show set for Feb. 2, 2020 in Miami starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
LD Chris Lose had his life change in a surprising way just days before this year’s LDI trade show, when a major lighting manufacturer reached out with an unsolicited job opportunity. Lose accepted, and says he will continue to tour as well as write his PLSN column, “LD-at-Large,” which always hits its cue in the “entertain, educate and inspire” categories.
LD Cosmo Wilson is enjoying the Aerosmith residency in Las Vegas with an exciting new year to come. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020, the band will be honored as the NARSAS (Grammys) MusicCares Person of the Year for their philanthropy and contributions to music history. Wilson will walk this way with the residency and the band’s Grammy performances.
Amy DeLux made the move to Oakland, CA five months ago after working with the inspiring interactive installation of Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, NM. The whimsical project in a Victorian house has fueled her new passion with architainment lighting in the Bay Area. She works now with a rep, hoping to “demystify” the worlds of architecture and art, which are “still very segregated. I hope to bridge the gap.” She does admit it’s a learning curve, and she’s not sure where the road will take her, but does anybody?
Charles Ford of Vue Show Design created the lighting design recipe for the MasterChef Junior Live! touring production, featuring young chefs competing to beat, make and bake live onstage. Vue’s Bransen Black cooked up the content, while Roger Pugh served as lighting/media director. The first smaller leg started in October. More new dates kick off in March 2020.
LD Eric Price heads out with Motion City Soundtrack in January. The newly reunited band has the honor of opening the new 1,850-seat Fillmore Minneapolis during its inaugural week in February 2020. (For more on Eric, see “NextGen,” this issue, page 37.)
LD Jason Wade is out with rock band Highly Suspect.
LD Rachel Mullen reports in on some high altitude California corporate events, including parties at the Museum of Flying in Los Angeles and at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego. In between, she programmed a show for Norwegian Cruise Lines.
LDs Michael Keller and Chris Stuba say they are among the many who are working the Los Angeles Auto Show this winter. After a busy touring year, both declare it a good brake…uh, break.
LD Alex Skowron spent November on two anniversary projects. John Fogerty revamped his Vegas residency to celebrate his 50-year anniversary of Woodstock, titled “My 50 Year Trip.” Skowron designed the production, Mark Swanhart was tasked with creative direction, and Ed Motts serves as director. Next, Skowron scooted to Australia and New Zealand with rapper 50 Cent to celebrate his 25-year-old LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin.’
U2’s Claw Lives On
One of the 165-foot tall four-legged stage structures that formed the core of U2’s 2009-2011 360° Tour is being repurposed. Designed by the late Mark Fisher and Atelier One Structural Engineers of London, the Claw is now called the Ecosystem Exploration Craft Observatory and is a permanent landmark at Utah’s Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, just south of Salt Lake City. The EECO is part of the complex featuring the Science Learning Center and amphitheater.
Reach Debi Moen with news of your New Year projects at dmoen@plsn.com.
