Venting his frustrations, LD (and frequent flyer) Joe Paradise jotted down notes as he navigated the world’s airports. Four years later, his notes built up into a book. His paperback, The Courteous Flyer: The basics of good manners while traveling by air, is now selling on Amazon.
Paradise shared tips with friends, and everyone encouraged him to publish it. “It’s a short but fun read for all of us veteran flyers, and it can be really informative for the novice traveler,” he said. Paradise wrote using his birth name, Wallace J. Paradis. To explain the confusion, he said he added an “e” at the end of his name for business as he can’t stand having his name mispronounced. As for the name Wallace, he hasn’t used that name since he was two months old, he adds.
The book begins with advice on airport arrival and follows through to one’s ultimate destination. “Feedback I’ve gotten from people who fly a lot is mostly, ‘Ha! I see that all the time and I didn’t think it bothered anyone but me.’ It’s black and white on the ‘dos and don’ts’ of every part of a flight, and I wrote it that way so if readers would observe just 10 percent of what’s written, air travel could be a lot more pleasant for everyone.”
Meanwhile, after 30 years in the industry, Paradise is still globetrotting. “311 Day (3/11/16) is right around the corner, so I’ve designed it and I’m about to program in Las Vegas with Bobby Grey. My calendar looks nice and full of various new clients and different live events from now until the end of summer.”
For a look at the book, visit www.plsn.me/CourteousFlyer.
Quick Cues
LD Charles Ford is out with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Gimme Love” tour of U.S. theaters and ballrooms. (More info: “On the Road,” this issue, page 16).
Bruce Rodgers and the design team of Tribe Inc. are staying busy. The Super Bowl [Feb. 7] featured Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars for the halftime show and, for the pre-game ceremonies, Lady Gaga; it was their 10th year supporting one of America’s most-watched events. Up next is the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony on HBO [April 8], the 2016 Dierks Bentley “Somewhere on a Beach” Tour [starting May 12], the 2016 Teamsters Convention [June 23] and the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia [July 25-28]. They are continuing concept work for their 10th CMA Awards [Nov. 2016] and hint at “an exciting Cirque du Soleil project” for 2017.
LD Andy Cass heads out with The String Cheese Incident for a quick ten-day tour hitting venues on the West Coast. “It will be my first tour traveling with video with String Cheese Incident, and I have a few new fixtures for me,” Cass says. (See previz rendering above).
LD Susan Rose is cruising through 2016. Programming two TV awards shows, the Trumpet Award and The Stellar Awards, kept her on land. But the sea beckoned. She flew to San Francisco to join the Norwegian Cruise Line Pride of America sailing to Hawaii to install an entirely new lighting rig and design and program its two onboard shows. Next she’s off to Europe to join the Navigator ship for three new shows.
LD Jerome Thompson is out all year with Montgomery Gentry’s tour, employing LEDs for “low power, big effects [and] light weight.”
LD Mike Veerkamp and Team Imagination designed the History Channel TV series, Join or Die with Craig Ferguson, which premiered Feb. 18.
LD Justin Kitchenman of FadeUp Design Group kicked off the Luke Bryan Kill The Lights 2016 tour in late February. The tour runs through the end of October.
LD Chris Lose designed the lighting for the DICE Awards at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in late February, which honor games, individuals and development teams for their achievements in the worldwide interactive entertainment software industry. The show also streamed live online. The production team included creative designer Chris Wu, master electrician Jay LeDane and dream panel tech Jarred Coelho. (See photo of the setup, above).
Robb Jibson is designing production and lighting for Fall Out Boy’s “WinTour.” Jibson says, “It’s a whole new design, and we are taking out a few trucks of fun.”
LD Paul “Arlo” Guthrie, who designed Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ tour [next leg: European arenas] sent out Tyler Elich to run the shows. He also once again designed the Red Bull Crashed Ice Final in St. Paul, MN, handing operating duties to Nook Schoenfeld. Also on his “to do” list is the Tortuga Music Festival and the U.S. tour for Poliça.
LD Chris Shrom designed and programmed the “Summer Forever” tour with Billy Currington’s crew. Ian Saunders will direct the show on the road. He is using some new fixtures on the tour and plans to “work up some reviews” on his website when he gets some time.
LD Don Weeks said yes to YES for a U.K./European tour in April, which runs until June. He’s also now wearing the production manager crown. Weeks says the band will tour North American this summer and Japan tour late this fall.
LD Brett Lorins finished up Kid Cudi’s tour in February. Next up, the Buku Music + Arts Project [March 11-12] in New Orleans along with another festival with Cudi and four one-off’s with Akon.
Zach Peletz is busy on Broadway. He just finished programming lighting for Hughie for LD Neil Austin. He is now working with Finn Ross on American Psycho, handling the programming, modeling, UV mapping, automation integration and more.
Bigtime Lighting Design is designing the Spring Fling Rock AF tour March 11-April 1 featuring Cage The Elephant (CTE), Silversun Pickups, Foals and Bear Hands. Mike Grant and Eric Cathcart are designing the tour rig and the CTE floor package. Both are programming for CTE, while Cathcart is the touring lighting director.
Looking for a way to procrastinate tax chores? Email Debi with news about your plans for April and beyond. Reach her at dmoen@plns.com.
