Hello to everyone who is reading this blog! My name is Tony Caporale; I am 24 years old and have been working as an exclusive lighting director/ designer/ programmer/ videographer for a band named EastonAshe for three years. Here’s a rant on my background and how the hell I ended up doing what I do. I basically went to college following the footsteps of my older brother Brian who happens to be a freelance Cameraman. I also got some direction from a close family friend Tim Walbert who is a video director from WWE Entertainment. So I pretty much went on to get my degree in Electronic Media and Film with a TV production focus from Towson University in Maryland.
So I bet you are asking yourself how the hell did this dude wind up in lighting? Well when I was finishing college I was working as a bar back/security for a venue named The Recher Theater. If you’ve been in the Baltimore area you are probably familiar with it. Well my first show was on a Sunday when they’d let bands play for the hell of it as long as they’d bring a crowd. I was working on a 16 channel Lightronics console with about 50 par cans. I really liked doing the job that night and I asked the house production manager if I could keep doing it. He agreed, and I got better as I went using the console and understanding the technology more. I ended up running lights for bands coming through The Recher such as Long Beach Short Bus, Sebastian Bach, Ozomatli, Tantric, Steel Pulse, and of course my boys EastonAshe. When EastonAshe first moved to Baltimore one of their first shows here was at The Recher. I immediately hit it off with the band talking about different kinds of music we like and their set list. When they first handed me their set list instantly I was pumped! They had a killer set list that contained covers I knew well. So I took all of the songs and started writing colors to match to songs. Their original music I obviously didn’t know at all so I had winged it. We do the show, and their manager at the time asked if I wanted to keep doing it since they had their own gear. Pretty much a few pieces of truss, 12 par cans, 3 dimmer packs, 2 relay pack, XLR (no dmx), c-clamps, and a 16 channel American DJ console. I said sure, but only part time since I had to finish school. I was only a couple weeks away from being done. At that time I had a conflict to deal with. What did I want to do when I got done school? Go on the road with people I really don’t know and learn a craft I have no training in what so ever or work my way up the chain of command in the video realm of TV production. I took a look back at where my bro was at in the business. He had been doing great work for 7 years and was just starting to make headway. I told myself at that point that I wouldn’t be happy doing it. Lighting will allow me to build my own ideas for our show and have my own terrain. So I got right to it and snagged as many live shows and CD recordings they had. In my spare time I would use a note book to write in my ideas from the music I got and starting building my notes which is up to about 7 tablets now since I started. I worked part time for EastonAshe when they were playing in town and when I graduated I got on full time with them.
