Ah, my favorite time of year. The summer heat fades to cool breezes. The kids are back at school. The Parnelli Awards are just around the corner, and I got a big fat issue in which I can include all sorts of articles from every sector of the live event business possible. Sure, we cover some of the biggest productions on the road this season and chat with top name designers, but it is also an issue where I can shine some light on some new interesting people and lesser known acts.
Up-and-Comers
It’s like having a bunch of my personal Hometown Heroes in the business these days. People you may not have heard of yet, but mark my words; they are coming into play. Perhaps the best example of a young LD who turned his love into a business is my friend Victor Zeiser. Victor is steadily climbing up the ranks as a touring LD, and while doing so, has collected his own lights to use on his own shows. While not the first to do so, he explains his process in an article we do on Squeek Lights (“Lighting Profile,” page 72).
Each month, we feature at least one Wide Focus type article. These tend to be smaller pictorials with limited text that gives our readers just enough insight into what the designers are doing with their acts. While you may have heard of some of these acts, you probably had no idea who was running the lights or what kind of productions they are carrying. This month, we are proud to delve into the world of Andrew Cass as he and Morpheus Lights illuminate the band known as The String Cheese Incident (page 64). Scott O’Connor has only been driving a light console for a few short years, but what he’s doing with Slightly Stoopid (page 92) is something stellar.
I get letters every month from people asking me CAD questions. Many of them come from young people looking for affordable programs to draw a simple plot. There are lots of great CAD programs, but the sticker shock is overwhelming to most techs still in their 20’s. So we checked into this new app called Drafty, for drafting light plots, speaker arrays, set construction in a simple easy manner without searching though all kinds of CAD functions you may never ever need (page 96).
We have some 20-year anniversaries this year. Our friends at Strictly FX have been around that long. I cornered Ted Maccabee and Mark Grega to detail how two young guys molded a great organization (See “Company 411,” page 68). Parnelli Nominee Rob Koenig sits down to chat about his career and the go-go-go year he’s had this year, his 20th since he started to hone his lighting chops. (PLSN Interview, page 60).
A Jam-Packed Issue
We are jam full of cool stuff, from theatrical design (pages 28, 58, 90) to festivals (56, 66, 82, 94) and tours (30, 36, 42, 46, 50, 52, 73) to the largest tailgate party (with Kenny Chesney) for a football game with the largest attendance ever (page 54). We cover the staging world at the Kaaboo festival, where just one vendor — Gallagher Staging — showed up with more than 30 semis filled with gear (page 80).
Everybody knows that a well-fed crew is one of the most crucial ingredients to the success of any live event. Few know how to do it better than Goddess and Grocer Debbie Sharpe, who has been filling the stomachs of the entertainment world for some 30 years now (page 86).
Ballparks are rapidly swapping their halogen lights for LEDs and, in the case of Yankee Stadium (page 110), they are chasing the whole field at times for great effects. The lighting there also helped Bruce Rodgers and Bob Peterson set a friendly tone for Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood for their two concerts there this summer (page 50); both the lighting and the staging helped Garth give a big metaphorical hug.
We have something for everyone in this issue, whether you’re a video director (page 103), crew chief (page 115) or drone operator (page 109). So sit back on the couch, kick up your feet and settle in for a weekend of great stories this month.
For PLSN editor Nook Schoenfeld’s introduction to the Oct. 2016 issue, go to http://plsn.me/201610ednote
