Companies driven by people doing what they love to do most are what make a “hometown hero.” There’s a lot of passion in this eclectic collection chosen by the readers of PLSN. And while this can be, as one honoree described it, a “dog eat dog” world, there’s a lot of good people doing good work out there. Here are the six best lighting companies in North America for 2014. One of these companies will be honored with a Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year at the annual awards ceremony, set this year for Nov. 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
To vote (and to reserve your spot, or table) go to www.parnelliawards.com.
Northeast
BML Blackbird Theatrical Services, Secaucus, NJ
BML Blackbird Theatrical Services was born when Elliot Krowe partnered with Eric Todd in 2006. Todd had started BML Stage Lighting more than 30 years earlier. Krowe worked for The See Factor in the 1970s and was hitting the trail as a road manager and lighting designer for many acts. Today the company is supplying gear and crew to the New York City region and supports tours, concerts, live events, video, film, TV, exhibitions, and corporate events.
“We have 75 full time employees along with countless freelance technicians working out of a 50,000 square foot facility,” says Krowe. Their inventory includes a kaleidoscope of brands — ETC, Martin, Clay Paky, PixelRange/PixelLine, Chroma-Q/Color Force, GLP, grandMA, Chauvet, Staging Concepts, CM, Axon, and many more. They’ve needed it all to work on television shows like Blue Bloods and The Good Wife. Concerts and festivals include the Governors Ball Music Festival, Firefly Music Festival, Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall and NFL events ranging from the rallies for the New York Jets to Super Bowl-related events.
“We use our extensive experience and talented team to provide technical production solutions,” Krowe says. “Production can get messy, and often unforeseen issues come up, so you need to have creative, efficient, and most of all, executable solutions. When we sign on with a client we consider ourselves partners.”
BML-Blackbird Theatrical Services also offers a massive inventory of equipment for rental. And they are also a dealer/distributor for over 100 product lines for sale and/or installation.
“We are excited to be the Parnelli Northeast Hometown Hero!” Krowe exclaims.
Southeast
Special Event Services, Winston-Salem, NC
SES began as Southern Lites in the garage of Jim Brammer in 1986. He and his wife Lynn (formerly of Bandit Lites) partnered with Jeff Cranfill in those early days, and quickly entered the production business. “By 1989, we were firmly entrenched in the Southeastern corporate theater market and doing several festivals,” Brammer says. (In 1992, they changed the name to Special Event Services.) “We were growing at a modest pace, but then our big break came in 1994, when Hootie and the Blowfish became a client and we added another partner, Jason Farah.” When Hootie blew up on the charts, the band took Southern Lites with them. Lynn would start their trucking company, SET, which today operates more than 50 trucks.
“One might say at that this was the pivotal time in our career, but it was really only the beginning,” Brammer says. “Once we dedicated our business to Christ and teamed up with Joyce Meyer Ministries in 1998, things really took off. In 1999 we became the production company for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and in 2000 we toured with Coldplay and 3 Doors Down. Today our business equally serves the secular touring market and the Christian market.” Most recently they’ve been working with the Zac Brown Band and continue supporting Darius Rucker in his solo country career. This year they’ve also handled Joel Osteen at Yankee Stadium, Zac Brown in Madison Square Garden, Joyce Meyer at St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome, and all four of Bill Joel’s stadium summer dates.
SES/SET currently operates from two facilities in Winston-Salem totaling 50,000 square feet and two facilities in Nashville totaling 35,000 sq. ft. “With well over 200 staff, crew and drivers, it’s all about our people. We wouldn’t be anywhere without the long hours, hard work, and dedication to success that our people have.” And it’s a family affair, as son Michael has taken over director of touring repping several of their U.K.-based clients including Ed Sheeran and Passenger along with other U.S. acts.
He says their inventory now reads like a Who’s Who of manufacturers from all over the world, including, but not limited to, Vari*Lite, Martin, Clay Paky and MA/grandMA, along with a full roster of top audio brands.
“It’s truly it’s an honor to be considered among the best in the Hometown Hero category,” Brammer says. “There are a lot of extremely good companies — specialists, if you will, across the country today, and certainly in the Southeast and to be a part of this wonderful industry is beyond description … and the credit goes to God above and our dedicated clients, staff, and crew, who constantly strive to ‘set themselves apart’ both professionally and personally.”
Midwest
Clearwing Productions, Milwaukee WI
A true component of being a hometown hero is doing the “local” festival. Well, since 1995, Clearwing takes care of most of the 11 stages of one of the biggest in the world: Summerfest. They also handle a lot of others in that festival-rich town, including Irish Fest.
“This year touring headliners included Usher and OutKast,” owner Gregg Brunclik says of Summerfest. “We also supported tours for Steve Miller, Aussie Pink Floyd, Steve Martin, and a plethora of large-scale regional runs and one-offs.” He adds that corporate work included theater and arena scale events for Macy’s Glamorama, Best Buy, Toro and Polaris.
Recent additions to the Clearwing inventory include Vari*Lite VL4000s; GLP Volkslicht Spots; Clay Paky B-Eyes and Sharpy Washes; and more grandMA2 consoles and Chroma-Q Color Force LEDs.
Out of high school, Brunclik was a drummer of a band before he moved behind the sound console. After spending some time on the road, he started the company in his hometown of Milwaukee. “I’m glad to have a lot of good people under the canopy,” he says. “As we all know, anybody can own gear. But the real key to success in this business is repeat business. It does no good to just do a show once.”
In previous years, Clearwing has won Hometown Hero bragging rights in their region, but on the audio side.
“Over the past 25 years, Clearwing has been recognized as an exemplary go-to pro audio provider, and it’s gratifying to be acknowledged now for the quality of work we do in pro lighting as well,” says Brunclik. “Being named Best in the Midwest for lighting is a testament to the quality lighting gear we provide, but more importantly to our talented lighting staff and the exceptional job they do day after day to satisfy our clients.”
Northwest
Impact Lighting & Productions, Richmond, CA
Impact Lighting & Production is new to the Parnelli Hometown Hero club, but they aren’t new to this business. The company is actually part of a greater network of sister event management and production companies that include Hartmann Studios and Hartmann Studio Rentals. In 1999, the company hired Peter Donovan, who had become known for his work in theatrical lighting, to build up their lighting division. The “Impact” name was adopted in 2002.
“Peter had toured for 20 years, and I had worked with him on projects, and that’s how he brought me on,” says Impact’s Kim Martin. “We still support theater, and do some permanent installations, and some event clients, but our focus today is production.”
Today, they have a staff of 54 servicing the Bay Area and beyond. Gear-wise, Martin says, they are mostly a Martin house, and recently expanded with a “whole fleet of [MAC] Vipers and [MA Lighting] grandMA consoles. We also have the [biggest] wireless LED Par inventory in the Bay Area,” Martin adds, noting gear from Chauvet Professional and Astera in the company’s demo room. “That’s important,” she adds, noting the number of projects involving “historic buildings,” which can leave “much to be desired, power-wise.”
They admit that their name might not be as well known as others, but Donovan stresses there is a lot of good people working at Impact, people who have been serving the region for a long time. “We can’t do what we do without a good staff,” he says. “When I first came on board, I knew it was important to get the fundamentals right, to begin with. You can’t win by being the cheapest — you have to constantly invest. But, yes, a lot of people don’t realize we do 150 to 200 shows a year.”
One of those was the Levis Stadium Opening gala, the new home for the San Francisco 49ers, and they will be doing some upcoming halftime shows for the NFL team this season as well. They have also been supporting Oracle’s OpenWorld events, and have handled high profile events linked to the America’s Cup yacht races. “We have lit buildings for special events, including the Coit Tower and City Hall, and we’ve been doing things for Silicon Valley clients,” Martin says. They are also busy with product launches from the likes of Lexus and Land Rover.
“We were jumping for joy when we heard we won best in the region,” Donavan says. “We got extra copies of the magazine so everyone here could see it.”
Southwest
Eggshell Lighting Company, Honolulu, HI
It doesn’t get much more “southwest,” of course, than Hawaii, and Eggshell Lighting is being honored for their good work for a second time, having first been here in 2009.
“The main focus for Eggshell has been on updating our equipment and repair department,” says owner J. Robert “Bob” Harmon, adding that they did open a new warehouse in 2012 on the island of Maui. In that new warehouse is some new gear: “We love our new GLP [impression] X4’s, they are so lightweight, powerful, yet trouble free. We were one of the first U.S. companies to buy into the MA Lighting line and now the grandMA2 fullsize consoles. We couldn’t be happier with their performance.”
Their team of up to 12 keep busy on the islands. They currently have a myriad of shows on the books such as Miranda Lambert, the premiere of season five for Hawaii Five-O, Aflac, Sir Elton John, and “Fluffy” comic Gabriel Iglesias. “This year we supplied the lighting for Bruno Mars, Jack Johnson, The VEX Robotics Championship, NFL Pro Bowl All-Star Block Parties (seven stages), Steve Aoki, The Howard Hughes Corporation, Dave Chappelle, Toni Braxton, Bob Dylan, Herbalife, Florida Georgia Line, Jeff Dunham, Louis Vuitton, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and Gibraltar Insurance Services.”
Celebrating its 40th year in business, Eggshell will continue to provide high quality lighting on the Hawaiian Islands and Guam. Lighting directors have turned to them for gear, as have event planners needing their full range of services from landscape to I-Mag stage/studio lights. Eggshell also does television, sales, and repair work.
Eggshell began when Harmon was a lighting designer who started bringing equipment from the mainland to the island, and then began renting the gear to the others. Founded in 1974 when Harmon was only 16, from the beginning he turned the state’s disadvantage to an advantage for him. “Because we’re so remote, people can’t bring trucks full of their own gear here, so we grew because we were able to offer a lot of equipment, which appealed to the top named artist and clients.
“We are very proud indeed to be here again,” Harmon continues. “We are not the largest of the contenders, but we may well represent the last of the ‘boutique lighting companies’ where you can expect us to know you by name. This is the kind of company where even the company president may do the focus for you. And no one is above prepping gear. It’s likely that the same people that prep your event will be at the gig. If we don’t have something you need, we’ll ether sub-rent it or offer suggestions for alternatives that we ourselves would consider. Even if that’s coconut shell tops and hula skirts for your crew!”
Canada
ShowWorks, Inc., Brampton, Ontario
“It was a real shock to us to find out we won for a second year in a row,” ShowWorks’ Craig Bickerstaffe says. “There are so many great companies out there big and small that being brought forward and named best in Canada for two years in a row by our peers, suppliers, clients and PLSN readers is a real honor.”
ShowWorks has been staying busy lighting up smaller festivals, university events, bands, and corporate events. They’ve also expanded their operation into some cross rentals. “Being one of the biggest users of Microh professional lighting products in Canada, we have been able to reach a whole new demographic having such a wide range of LED fixtures in our inventory,” he says.
They continue to expand into the EDM scene, working alongside Wolfgang Gartner, Tommy Trash, The Chainsmokers and Above & Beyond, among others. “We provided lighting support for such notable Canadian artists as Jully Black, Kira Isabella, Tim Hicks, USS, Monster Truck, Tebey, The Marc Joseph Band, and many more this year, and are fortunate enough to have such great relationships with the artists, managers, agents, and promoters there has been no lack of work as we press forward creating our market and making a name for ShowWorks day by day.”
They’ve made some “drastic” changes in their inventory this year and completely revamped their moving light collection. “After many debates and conversations with the suppliers, distributors and sales teams we chose to settle down and commit to a local distributor Sounds Distribution. This decision almost overnight made ShowWorks the biggest user of Microh professional lighting products in Canada. We added over 96 movers (all LED) to the inventory and 200+ static fixtures.” Having the manufacturer 30 minutes away from their warehouse is a big plus. “The support is unmatched and the service department is on call 24/7 to assist with whatever we find ourselves up against. There was not very many lighting manufacturers that could commit to keeping our inventory up and running with little to no downtime. The team at Microh have made a commitment to ShowWorks and our clients have nothing but great things to say about the new products.”
Working with Theatrixx Technologies, they also added High End System’s full line of Hog 4 products. “We expanded on our Road Hog 4 inventory and even added some Hedge Hog 4 and 4N units. Being one of the bigger Hog 4 companies in a city that generally favors grandMA ,we have hosted some sessions at our facility and showcased the new Hog lines to programmers and designers, and we are starting to see the city slowly starting to open up to the Hog 4. The new software releases have been great, and High End and Theatrixx have been on the ball.”
Bickerstaffe founded ShowWorks in 2008, and this year they added three more people, so now his seven-man crew works out of his 7,000-square-foot warehouse.
“ShowWorks prides itself on showcasing the best crews and services in Ontario, and we are honored to be able to go up against some of these great lighting companies for this award again. We’re wishing everyone nominated the best of luck!”
Cast your vote for the 2014 Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year award at www.parnelliawards.com.
