If it’s January and you’re in Detroit, chances are you’re working on the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). The design team from California-based Nautilus Entertainment Design have bundled up for the annual winter event for the past 14 years. Principal Jim Tetlow tells us his team designed the lighting for all of the General Motors exhibits this year, recognizing lead LD Ashley Kidwell and lighting directors Kurt Doemelt, Logan Hayden and Tyler Lambert-Perkins. The booth was designed by Czarnowski.
Comparing their first year to now, Tetlow says, “the biggest difference is that we used to use primarily 575W Power Pars, which required manual focusing. Now we use very few of these Power PARs, and our workhorses are custom automated LED fixtures, and the team focuses with iPods connected via Wi-Fi to the lighting desk. Large savings in labor and power.”
Another big difference happens next year, when NAIAS’ annual January dates are moved to June for the first time. For more on
NAIAS 2019, turn to pages 64 and 66.
Floydian Trips
LDs Bryan Schrumpf and Kat Rodgers collaborated on a complete redesign of the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular, which celebrates 50 years of the iconic band’s music through lasers, video projection and lighting. Schrumpf is touring with the show as production manager and lighting director. Most of the dates on the year-long itinerary are weekend fly dates, he notes.
Meanwhile, lighting director Mark “Junior” Jacobson resumes with tribute band Brit Floyd, which formed in Liverpool in 2011. The band (and their big inflatable pig) will be touring on the first leg in Britain in March, and possibly the first U.S. leg in April. “They haven’t yet decided if we are doing a different rig,” Jacobson says. “If they do the same arch and circle setup, there won’t be that much to reprogram.” He’s been operating the show since April 2018 with little time to breathe.
Caporale Creates Infinitus Vox
Tony Caporale has been down under in Australia in January/February for Keith Urban’s Graffiti U tour supporting design group Fragment Nine as tour lighting director and video programmer. When he returns stateside he’ll prepare programming with media server guru Simon Roberts for Urban’s headlining gig at the C2C: Country to Country Festival in Europe. Following is a one-off with rising blues/rock duo Larkin Poe at Nashville’s Exit/In. And somehow, Caporale carved out time to launch Infinitus Vox (infinitusvox.com), a Nashville-based creative resource business for design, programming and operation services.
Quick Cues
Chris Lisle and Erik Parker of CLLDLLC brought in 2019 with a bang for Nashville’s annual New Year’s Eve Show. Their company production-managed the event as well as provided lighting design for the biggest year yet, with an estimated 175,000 people, Parker says. At the same time, they are designing three KAABOO music festivals for this year, the first being in early February in the Cayman Islands, followed by Texas in May and Del Mar, CA in September. They also dive into more lighting design for musical festivals with C3 Presents.
Alex Specht, LD for Panic! At the Disco, reports in from the U.S. leg of the Pray for the Wicked tour, which runs through the end of February. “Since our first leg this past summer — a run through Australia and Japan — we’ve tweaked out and cleaned up a lot of the show, which has left us with a wonderful show and extremely tight production.”
LD Mick Gormley is on the road with Cherub’s “Free Form Tour” in the U.S., with dates through March.
Rachel Mullen signed on as lighting designer, programmer and board operator with LP (Laura Pergolizzi), an American singer-songwriter. LP’s North American tour, promoting her new album, Heart to Mouth, runs into March.
LD Michael Smalley claims he’s “knee deep in design” for about 20 various festival stages and won’t be back on the road until May.
Scott Warner is busy as lighting director with YES in late February in Japan, running some dates for LD Don Weeks.
Martin Heining of event production company Rain Age in Germany is touring with VNV Nation across mainland Europe. Their Noire run heads to North America, then returns to Europe and the world in 2019. The “VNV” in the alternative electronic project stands for “Victory Not Vengeance.”
Lighting director Pat Brannon and programmer Troy Eckerman teamed up again to prepare for Tim McGraw’s “Corn Dog” tour, which hits the festival, fairs and rodeo circuit soon. Eckerman’s calendar filled fast in January with corporate gigs as well. He’s covering an Usher show for Eric Wade in the near future, followed by a handful of corporate gigs in Europe.
Bring It On Home
Having worked for Rod Stewart over the last 26 years on and off, LD Mark Payne operated his last show for Rod on Dec. 6, 2018, at a time when Rod and the band are on a four-month break. “It has been a privilege to work with Rod, the band and crew over the years,” Payne notes. “Great shows, iconic venues and great fun. Although I am hoping to spend more time working closer to home (Kent, UK), I’m keeping my touring boots to hand for anything interesting that comes up.”
Having said that, his next project is designing lighting and video content for Cyndi Lauper in March, with a tour in Japan later in the year.
Spring forward with your news about upcoming gigs. Reach Debi at dmoen@plsn.com.
