On the Friday night of LDI, live event industry professionals crammed into the Rio Hotel and Casino's main ballroom for the 10th Annual Parnelli Awards. The highlights were many, including the presence of Paul Anka, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who came to honor and present Parnellis to people who were important to their career. An early highlight was when Jim Bornhorst received the Parnelli Visionary Award for leading the team that developed the first commercial moving light, the Vari*Lite VL-0, among other contributions. A great deal of fun was had with Bornhorst throughout the evening. In his opening remarks, Parnelli Executive Producer and PLSN publisher Terry Lowe said: "Sure, everyone in this room thought of color-changing lights. Most of us thought of lights moving and changing colors. But only one of us put the bong down long enough to make it happen." Then, various quips were made about Bornhorst having started as an audio engineer who in the 1970s made the transition into lighting. Lighting designer Allen Branton, who with PLSN editor Richard Cadena presented the first set of lighting awards, joked that he knew Bornhorst in the beginning of his career when he was a sound guy, but "thank goodness he turned his life around and made something of himself."
The guy who gave him his first industry job and current PRG VP Rusty Brutsché presented Bornhorst with the award. "Jim led the engineering team at Vari-Lite and later PRG to invent the many automated luminaires that have formed the basis of the lighting industry as we know it today," Brutsché said. "His name is on numerous patents and he has been the driving creative force behind this technology that has meant so much to our industry."
Capping the pro audio section program, Anka came out and gave a short, funny, self-deprecating speech honoring the founder of A-1 Audio, Al Siniscal, who received the Parnelli Audio Innovator Award. He then brought up a visibly moved Siniscal, put him on a stool, and with his pianist backing him up, sang a version of his song "My Way" with altered lyrics to match the event.
At the end of the evening, in honor of their longtime production manager, Randy "Baja" Fletcher, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn took the stage. Before launching into a warm and funny anecdote-laden speech about Fletcher, Brooks did a shout out to all live event professionals in the room. "I just want to say that sitting here with all of you, I'm amazed at what you do," he said. "Every time I see you hook up your cables and hang your lights, even though I've been around it all for years, I still feel like I'm just looking at the back of television."
The Parnellis shattered all records – over 600 attended the sold out event. It began with a cocktail hour that featured fun items from the past related to the ceremony's big three honorees. Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award's Randy "Baja" Fletcher had his old concert T-shirts from days of yore on display; Parnelli Visionary honoree's Jim Bornhorst had the first VL-0 moving light on display; and Sinsical's posters from his career were there to admire.
And the Parnelli Goes To…
Branton and Cadena first handed out the Lighting Designer of the Year Award, which went to Steve Cohen for his work on Star Wars – In Concert. Upstaging and East Coast Lighting and Production Services won, respectively, for Best Lighting Company and Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year, respectively. Lighting and media server programmer Vickie Claiborne and video director Mark Haney came up next to give Bruce Rodgers the Set/Scenic Designer of the Year award for his work on the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Later in the program, Parnelli Executive Director Patrick Stansfield came out to introduce the video created to honor the live event professionals who passed away this year. He began with a poignant and touching speech about Wally Crum of NEP Screenworks. Quoting Crum's wife, Nadine, he said, "Wally loved, and laughed, with a heart that had never learned shame. He wondered and learned with a mind that never understood the word ‘no.'"
Jeanette Farmer of Fisher Technical Services Inc. and isquint.com blogger Justin Lang came up next. "Live entertainment is increasingly about video," Farmer said at the podium. "It's visual. It's a lighting source. It's a set design." Then the two gave Mark Haney the Video Director of the Year Award for Star Wars – In Concert. Best Video Rental Company of the year went to Chaos Visual Productions.
Video director Carol Dodds came up next and presented the Staging Company of the Year award to Stageco, and the Rigging Company of the Year Award to Atlanta Rigging Systems. Industry legends Mike Brown and Joe Branam came up next – both contemporaries who were in the business from the very beginning. "Can you imagine?" Branam said. "When we were starting out, there were hardly any new products for what we did, and now they give awards for it."
"It really blows my mind," Brown responded, adding: "Then again, so does email." The two then gave All Access Staging & Productions the Set Construction of the Year Award and Strictly FX the Pyro Company of the Year Award.
Ed Wannebo, the production manager for Kenny Chesney, came to give out the transportation awards. "As a production manager, I'm absolutely honored to be handing out these awards," he said. "Coaches are important. If the artist shows up cranky, it's one more pain in my ass." Coach Company of the Year went to Hemphill Brothers; Trucking Company of the Year went to Stage Call; and Freight Forwarding Company of the Year was given to Rock-It Cargo.
Star Wars – In Concert was won the most awards, including Tour Manager of the Year (Ron Doroba). For his work with Brad Paisley, Kevin Freeman received the Production Manager of the Year honor.
The Indispensable Technology "IT" Awards went to the Vari*Lite VLX Wash (Lighting); Martin Professional EC-20 (Video); Atlanta Rigging Systems ARS Flying V (Staging) and L-Acoustics K1 System (Audio).
The Artists Give Back
When Anka took the stage to honor Siniscal, he was funny, poignant, and sincere. He had fun with the fact that Siniscal had taken his motto and made it his own. "He gives me credit for giving him his personal motto, ‘the stakes are too high for amateurs,'" Anka mused. "What I really said that day was, ‘your rates are too high, said my managers!'"
Brooks and Dunn sat with Fletcher and his family for the show, and on taking the stage, told funny stories, particularly of Fletcher's obsession with baseball. But after declaring they couldn't do it without him, Fletcher took the stage and told how while he never got to meet him personally, he first heard of Rick "Parnelli" O'Brien when he was with ZZ Top. Fletcher was notably moved, thanking the Parnelli Board for the honor.
Video tributes to all three of these honorees are found on parnelliawards.com.
And the Winners Are:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Randy "Baja" Fletcher
Audio Innovator Award: Al Siniscal
Parnelli Visionary Award: Jim Bornhorst
Lighting Designer: Steve Cohen, Star Wars: In Concert
Set/Scenic Designer: Bruce Rodgers, Super Bowl Halftime Show
Video Director: Mark Haney, Star Wars: In Concert
FOH Mixer: Robert Scovill, Tom Petty
Monitor Mixer: Mike Adams, Brooks & Dunn
Audio System Tech: Matt Fox, Star Wars: In Concert
Production Manager: Kevin Freeman, Brad Paisley
Tour Manager: Ron Doroba, Star Wars: In Concert
Lighting Company: Upstaging Inc.
Sound Company: Sound Image
Hometown Hero Lighting Company: East Coast Lighting &
Production Services (ECLPS)
Hometown Hero Sound Company: Beachsound
Staging Company: Stageco
Rigging Company: Atlanta Rigging Systems
Set Construction Company: All Access Staging & Productions
Video Company: Chaos Visual Productions
Pyro Company: Strictly FX
Coach Company: Hemphill Brothers
Trucking Company: Stage Call
Freight Forwarding Company: Rock-It Cargo
Indispensable Technology "IT" Awards:
Lighting: Vari*Lite VLX Wash
Video: Martin Professional EC-20 LED display panels
Staging: Atlanta Rigging Systems ARS Flying V trolley system
Audio: L-Acoustics K1 Systems
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