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Snowscrapers Among Skyscrapers

Snowscrapers Among Skyscrapers

“This is unsafe. Somebody’s going to get hurt.”

Nick Scirocco, the 6-foot-2-inch plain-spoken IATSE Local One crew chief and John Yorke, lighting designer for the Red Bull Snowscrapers event in New York City, were standing at the top of a 90-foot high structure, the wind howling all around them, when Scirocco made this pronouncement. The structure in question was the Red Bull Snowscrapers Snowboarding ramp, a thin composite of plastic and nylon decking sheets at East River Park in Manhattan.

Chroma-Q Color Block 2

A few years ago, I toured with a lighting system that had several Chroma-Q™ Color Block™ LED color mixing fixtures lighting a white backdrop. They worked well for washing the 40-by-20-foot surface with color and, because they are small and draw little power, they set up quickly and trouped easily.

A Few Words about SDI

No, I wasn’t planning to discuss Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, also known by the acronym SDI.  Instead, I’ll discuss a more contemporary use of the acronym as it applies to our industry, and rest assured, it has nothing to do with ballistic missiles.

When It Stops Being Fun

I truly love working as an automated lighting programmer. In fact, I often say that “show business is in my blood.”  I have been driven by a strong passion to always do my best when I contribute my skills to a show.  Furthermore, I was raised by my parents to find a career where the paycheck feels more like a bonus.  I often forget that I am getting paid to wiggle lights or press buttons in front of a crowd.

Doubling Down

“Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” —Benjamin Franklin

When I was in college, I had a crush on a pretty girl from my hometown. One evening, I looked up her number in the phone book and called. A soft, feminine voice picked up. I said hello, told her who I was, and after some small talk, I nervously asked if she would like to go to a concert. She said yes. It was music to my ears.

Lighting the Club Band

I’ve been asked several times about what smaller bands playing nightclubs should carry for lighting gear. These questions come from cover bands to newly signed acts to old touring professionals who are reuniting for a club tour. The two things they all have in common is a lack of knowledge and a shortage of cash for lighting. Long gone are the days when bands put colored PARs in coffee cans and connected lots of wires to a foot pedal board for the guitarist to trigger.

Acrilex Acriglas Minerals Acrylic Sheets

Acrilex Acriglas® Minerals series line of acrylic sheets are composed of 20 percent Muscovite Mica flakes, a naturally occurring mineral. The series is being touted as a “green” option. The series encapsulates Muscovite Mica flakes in an acrylic matrix, transforming the raw material into a machineable, formable and weather-resistant product. Offered in an assortment of colors, the sheets are lighter and easier to fabricate than stone or glass. Available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses ranging from 1/8” to ½”, they can be drilled, routed, laser cut, glued, formed, hot stamped and silk-screened. Sheets can be custom cut or configured to meet specifications.

American DJ Mega Bar 50 RGB

American DJ's Mega Bar 50 RGB is half the size of the original 1-meter mega and less than half the price. The DMX-controlled color wash LED fixture features 126 10mm LEDs (42 red, 42 green and 42 blue), seven DMX modes, built-in programs and six stand-alone operating modes including a Sound Active Mode. Multiple units can be master/slaved via 3-pin XLR. The unit draws 18 watts at full intensity white light. It has a 4-button LED menu display. Mounting brackets are also included with the unit. It weighs three pounds and measures 22 inches by 2.5 inches by 4 inches. The MSRP is $259.95.

Chauvet COLORado 2

The Colorado 2 from Chauvet is an indoor/outdoor color wash PAR-type fixture with 48 2-watt and 3-watt LEDs including red, green, blue and white for color temperature control. It is housed in a die-cast aluminum body to aid in heat dissipation and it has an IP66 rating. Additional features include an LED display with password protection, 15Ëš lens (MFL) with an optional 30Ëš lens (WFL) and an autosensing power supply. The power and data cables are linkable with up to 10 units at 120V. A dual yoke bracket allows for truss mounting and it doubles as a floor stand.

Martin Colorfox VX01

The Martin Colorfox VX01 is an architectural lighting controller for use with color changing fixtures. It allows for creation and playback of static and dynamic scenes using hue, saturation and intensity. Color and speed can be changed with the click of a button and re-saved to any preset. The controller connects to a PC via USB for editing using PixMove design software and visual designer. Features include touch-sensitive dial with acoustic and visual feedback, four memory buttons (run/store/adjust), color selection by scrolling color wheel, control of up to 170 fixtures or zones (maximum 512 channels) and a wall-mount bracket.

PR Lighting XLED 590

The XLED 590 is a new LED moving head wash light from PR Lighting. It uses Osram’s Diamond Dragon surface mount technology (SMT) LEDs, with 90 5-watt LEDs (30 red, 30 green and 30 blue). The standard beam angle is 22° and 10° or 35° options are also provided. It has 10 preset colors and the color temperature is linearly adjustable from 3200K to 10,000K. Other features include dimming, 1-25 FPS strobe, 540° pan, 270° tilt with 8- or 16-bit resolution and three DMX control modes. The fixture weighs 11kg and measures 350mm by 252mm by 353mm.

Wybron Eclipse IT Mechanical Dowsers

Wybron’s series of Eclipse IT mechanical dowsers has been updated to include a new drive mechanism and new motors. Six versions of the Eclipse, three Iris models and three Shutter models, will get new motors. The Iris models use a camera-like aperture and the Shutter models use vertical blades to dowse sports lights and discharge lights that can’t be dimmed electronically. A new drive mechanism inside the Iris models will simplify the aperture fins. The Shutter unit, formerly called Eclipse I IT, is now the Eclipse IT Shutter, and the Iris unit, formerly called Eclipse II IT, is now the Eclipse IT Iris.