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A Window Onto Worship

Pinnacle Hills Installation Brings Church Out of the Box

Think show-stopping effects and state-of-the-art design elements are reserved for big-time Broadway shows or Hollywood sets? The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Ark. begs to differ. After two years and exhaustive team effort devoted to the staging installation in its new 3,000-seat worship facility, church leaders and community members alike are enjoying a high-tech, TV-ready church that boasts an integrated and responsive theatrical system as it helps to redefine production values in worship. 

The Captain is no Longer a Kid

Elton John’s Tour Reflects 30 Years of Touring

Elton John’s idea of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the number one platinum-debuting album Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy is to play a series of shows. With the more recent re-release of the follow-up CD to that album, The Captain & the Kid, his newest tour serves to promote the new release and closes the book on the celebration. PLSN caught the first two nights of the tour in Northern California where he debuted the album and new tour while taking a break from his on-going Las Vegas Red Piano show. We spoke with lighting designer Kevin “Stick” Bye about the show. 

Nook’s Big Three

Lighting theories for the working designer

This New Year’s Eve I was in Rio with LD Alex Skowron lighting the Black Eyed Peas as part of a worldwide celebration Nokia was throwing in six cities. English LD Dave Hill designed the same lighting rig for six different festivals in separate time zones with different directors. It’s a TV thing. I imagine none of them looked close to the same, and that’s the beauty of this project. Everyone has their own style of lighting events.

Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around; Your Show is falling Down

Just the other day I was driving along, just another contestant in the rat race, navigating all those little mazes, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a car that had been driving along in the lane right next to me swerved into my lane and almost rearranged my left front fender. The little rat that was driving had decided to make a U-turn, and he swung very wide to make the turn, very nearly denting my chariot. He looked left and swerved right when he should have looked right and stayed left.

Where PRG is Coming From Tells Where It – and the Industry – is Go

When staging company PRG launched its video division in September, it had an interesting impetus: Broadway and Wall Street. Tim Wiley, who is heading up PRG Video out of the company’s Orlando office, cited both domains as driving the addition of a video division, giving PRG capability across the entertainment technology spectrum that also includes lighting and sound. And he’s got company on this convergent road, as he readily acknowledges — OSA International did the same at right about the same time, just a few months after adding their own lighting capability to augment their core audio services. Others are doing the same.

The Boy From Oz

Colorful Character Creates Rainbows Down Under

After conquering Broadway, The Boy From Oz has returned to Australia in a new production of the original musical, especially designed for the arena stage. Hugh Jackman has recreated his Tony Award-winning role as Peter Allen in a nationwide tour for the production and its star. 

Sharp XG-MB67X Projector

One nice thing about writing a product spotlight is all the cool toys we get to play with. The Sharp XGMB67X is one such cool toy. Especially since I had a number of movies to catch up on.

The XG-MB67X is a “compact” projector that packs all the features that you would expect to find on larger models. While certain accommodations have been made for its small footprint, Sharp does not compromise on its performance. It does all this while staying at a very competitive price point.

DMX-Controlled Digital Moving Lights

An important part in the convergence of lighting and video is the evolution of DMX-controlled lighting projectors. Have you used one, yet? With the increasing use of media servers on productions, many designers not only want to control the video content from a lighting desk, but they also want to have control over how and where that image is being projected. This is where digital lighting fixtures like High End Systems’ DL1 and DL2, as well as the new Robe DigitalSpot 5000DT, step up to the plate.

Shadow Management

Very frequently, I am touting the highest high-tech lighting products on the market. This month, I would like to fully embrace the lowest low-tech lighting control device I have ever seen. The Hula Skirt is such a simple, yet cool and useful, device that I cannot believe no one has devised one before now.