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Brad Paisley – The Fun Continues

Brad Paisley – The Fun Continues

No sooner had Brad Paisley’s highly successful last tour, “Bonfires and Amplifiers”, come to end did he announce his next tour, The “Paisley Party.” Lighting designer and director Dean Spurlock, who has been with Paisley for about seven years, was called on to keep the 2008 Grammy Award-winner and the Academy of Country Music Top Male Vocalist of 2007 and 2008 out of the dark, with visuals that would meet Paisley’s goal of achieving his “most spectacular concert yet.”

Dennis Sheehan – 2008 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Dennis Sheehan has had a backstage pass to rock and roll history. For a quarter of a century he has shepherded U2 to the four corners of the globe and back again. Prior to that, he assisted Led Zeppelin on their historic tours. The one-time professional guitarist has also served a host of acts including Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Siouxie and the Banshees and members of the Sex Pistols, among many others.

From Slapshots to Shakespeare

Shakespeare & Company was running out of space. The theatre company, founded in 1978 with a mission of combining the strengths of classical British and American acting, first secured residency in the turn-of-the-century estate that was home to writer Edith Wharton, then in 2000 expanded to 30 acres with multiple buildings one mile away in Lenox, Mass.

Erykah Badu’s Vortex Tour 2008

Some people get themselves stuck in a rut. Erykah Badu is not one of them. Her music bridges multiple genres, she sports an astonishing array of couture and hair styles and she’s not afraid to change the name of her tour or the look of the set two weeks into the tour. The 2008 tour, in support of her most recent album, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), started off as the New Amerykah tour, but became known as the Vortex Tour to reflect, as Badu reportedly put it, “a swirling cloud of energy that sucks everything into its orbit.”

Vectorworks Spotlight 2009

On the surface, the latest version of Vectorworks computer-aided design, visualization and rendering software may not look as if it has had a radical upgrade, but when you replace the 3D modeling engine with a new kernel, there’s a good argument for saying so.

Bandit Lites Marks 40 Years

Bandit Lites got its start when founder and chairman Michael Strickland was just 12 years old. In the early years, Strickland would have to “borrow” the lights from a local high school theatre to light the Monkees, the Beach Boys and other bands of the 1960s — hence the name.  Today, Strickland’s company has emerged as a global leader in the entertainment lighting industry, with offices in Knoxville, Nashville, San Francisco, the U.K., Hong Kong and Taiwan, and while the company is still called Bandit Lites, Strickland no longer scours local high schools for gear.

LEDs for Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour’s Single-Color Looks

LONDON — Baz Halpin, LD for the current tour for Queen + Paul Rodgers, was looking to create a “good, old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll lighting show,” but with the kind of consistency in color that wasn’t always available with the monster rigs of yesteryear. He opted to include 80 Coemar Infinity Wash XL lights to meet the challenge.

A.C.T Lighting Announces Price Rollback

AGOURA HILLS, CA — A.C.T Lighting announced its intention to roll back pricing on MA Lighting products to match Oct. 2007 levels, attributing the company's decision to an unexpected increase in the value of the U.S. Dollar against the Euro. The company said the new pricing goes into effect immediately, and is good on all orders shipped between now and the end of calendar year 2008.

Musson Theatrical Expands Existing Facility

SANTA, CLARA, CA — Musson Theatrical, Inc. recently expanded into a new 35,000-square-foot space at its existing facility. “When the business that used to occupy the other half of the building that Musson occupies vacated, we saw  a golden opportunity to expand our business and improve service to our customers,” said Bob Downs, president. 

U.K. Talent Show Spoof Taps LED Wash Lights

MANCHESTER, U.K. — Lighting designer Tom Kinane used I-Pix BB7 LED wash lights for the first time on the set of the final episode of the Peter Kay talent show spoof, Britain’s Got The Pop Factor … And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice.

Church Invests in Video Production, Podcasting

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Northcreek Church (NCC), now in the third phase of a construction project that started two years ago, needed lighting, video and stage components for the new building being added to the church campus in response to an increase in church attendance, and relied on Michael Garrison Associates (MGA) to do the job.