Although Paul Simon’s So Beautiful or So What tour continues on into the New Year, LD Rich Locklin and lighting director Steve Fallon are already designing Simon’s 2012 run, which will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Graceland album. Musicians who backed him on the album, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, will be involved.
Back to Simon’s current tour. The main backdrop is a large screen filled with media content. With a minimum of lighting fixtures — 16 fixtures each on two rigs — Fallon uses images of moving light beams in the media content to fill out the rig. This adds to the beam effects without adding more gear.
Fallon said the digital content’s job was to create ambiance. “Everyone has their own images in mind. When they hear ‘Still Crazy After All these Years,’ they go back to a time when they first heard it and see images in their head. I don’t want to replace those images with a specific image on my screen. I want them to continue to reflect and enjoy the song. The goal is not to upstage Paul, but to complement what he’s doing.
“But it’s not a light show,” Fallon adds. “The media is a canvas for him.” Often, the content draws you in, sometimes taking on the effect of 3D, such as when a red background contrasts with the blue light on the band. Fallon also makes use of images of windows and doorways to shine extra light through, again adding dimension and depth.
Half of each image is sent through two different projectors, and then the two halves are blended into one larger projection. Though Fallon was using a media server that offered real-time effects, he wasn’t sure if projectors or the media servers would be shipped to all the venues on the tour, and he wanted his content to stay the same. So he created the effects within the content and converted it to standard movie files in the size he needed.
Simon’s set changes with each performance, Fallon notes. In the afternoons, Simon rehearses in what he calls a “matinee,” during which time he may add in extra songs from his extensive song catalog. Fallon says the changes keep him on his toes and keep fans coming to different cities for the different set list.
Lighting Bricks in Brickman’s Wall
LD Marc Brickman is the legendary LD responsible for the lighting design of tours for Pink Floyd and founding member Roger Waters’ The Wall. But lately, he’s been lighting his own bricks in the wall — at home in Malibu, CA — and it will soon have a familiar tune.
Brickman outlined his house with an LED display — built from LED strips that are built into the ground. They cast colorful glows throughout the interior/exterior and immediate landscape. “The house looks amazing,” Brickman says. His plan next is to set the display to synchronize to the sound of, you guessed it, Pink Floyd. For photos, view at this link: http://plsn.me/uO5gqJ.
He describes his idea: You make an appointment to reserve one of the two parking spaces across the street from his house. Then you download the app to listen to the music on your iPhone while in your car. You have six Pink Floyd songs to choose from, each customized with its own display. Each show runs for a 15-minute interval.
Brickman has been off the road as a stay-at-home Dad recently, perfecting his hide and seek skills with his two-year-old. This has led to another new project he’s cooking up: baking pizza. He has been literally making dough and rolling it out for a local caterer. So, perhaps when the app is ready to roll out, a fresh slice from the Brickman oven will go along with it…
Holidays Ring, Ringo Sings
It rarely snows in Orlando, but it does this season thanks to LD Susan Rose’s work with Let It Snow, the Nickelodeon Suites Resort’s winter experience. Rose helped transform the Oasis Pool into a winter playground of lights dancing to music, assisted by a snow effect.
“I programmed two six-minute medleys with more than 1,000 cues,” Rose says. “The show is triggered by timecode. There are thousands of Christmas lights. After doing five years of The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney Hollywood Studios, and last year doing Dollywood’s Carol of the Trees, Nickelodeon decided to bring me in to make the magic happen there with their dancing lights,” she says.
Then after a quick pop-in at LDI, she headed out to Ringo Starr’s South American tour as lighting director carrying out LD Jeff Ravitz’s design.
Foster the David
LD JJ Wulf of Wulf Designs has an unusual gig. For one show per month, he’s the all-around LD, programmer and stage hand for David Foster & Friends at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. While talented, Foster isn’t reluctant to share the spotlight. The part-time performer (and full-time hit-maker) will often “pull his celebrity friends out from the audience and have them sing,” Wulf notes. “Lots of artists show up, but we never know who will be singing what,” he adds. “Sometimes he has had guests scheduled, but then, for example, Kenny Loggins got laryngitis and Donna Summer showed up with a neck brace and didn’t want to perform, so it becomes a challenge for him to find accompaniment on the fly.”
Foster has been performing one show per month at Mandalay Bay through December. After that, Wulf says, Foster will be upping it to twice per month for the next six months, then tour.
Quick Cues
Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy World Tour with LD Greg Shipley kicked off their first date in the U.S. in Orlando during LDI weekend…LD Ian Peacock has been out touring with Michael Bolton…LD Paul Normandale, who designed Coldplay’s current tour (with lighting director Graham Feast), was in Iceland recently to design Bjork’s tour design. His design for Shakira’s tour, run by lighting director Fraser Elisha, just finished…LD Scott Warner has designed and is also directing Gavin DeGraw/David Cook’s U.S. tour, running October-December…LD Seth Jackson is talking touring with Barry Manilow for 2012. The performer, who has his own theater in Vegas, was itching to go on the road again and dates are now announced for the U.S./U.K. starting in February. Jackson says with the show’s $7 million LED screen and lots of gear from the theatre show, the tour should be “plug and play.”…LD Marc Janowitz sent his design for Passion Pit’s tour out with lighting director Andrew Cass, who recently went out as LD for The Glitch Mob as well…LD Bryan Hartley enjoyed playing a case of wineries on the Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs duo tour. Now up: Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s annual East Coast/West Coast trek through the holidays…LD Teddy Read designed and programmed the lighting for the Times Square scene in the new Garry Marshall film, New Year’s Eve. The scene was based on an original design by Paul Miller, and featured a recreated version of Duffy Square (a historic section of Times Square) for the film. He also served as the lighting console programmer for the entire picture, due out Dec. 9…LD Mike Baldassari recently lit Mary J. Blige as part of the AMEX Unstaged Concert Series. The show went live on YouTube Nov. 17. Paul Turner was the programmer/lighting director. You can view it here: http://plsn.me/sKjwcF.
Send your news to Debi at dmoen@plsn.
