That giant fluttering sound you heard last month was the sound of 600 million American eyelids opening at once. Such was the reaction to Mike Wallace’s report on 60 Minutes highlighting a study from Leicester University in Leicester, England about happiness. The study reported that Denmark was the happiest country in the world. In fact, it has ranked first in Eurobarometer surveys for the last 30 years.
You’re in a nightclub on a Saturday night, you’ve had a drink or two, the DJ is spinning wicked live, and the most incredible guy/girl in the place walks up, and stands at the bar next to you. You (A) lean over and softly say, “Hey babe, are you tired? You’ve been running through my dreams all night.” (B) put on your sexy voice dripping with suggestiveness and ask if you can buy him/her a drink, or (C) don’t notice because you’re too busy watching the light show.
At 530 feet in diameter and 152 feet tall, the Tacoma Dome is one of the world’s largest wooden domed structures. For the past 25 years, it has been the hub of entertainment in the city, with events ranging from music concerts to freestyle motocross taking place here. Yet the Dome’s management team started to feel the pinch of competition coming from Key Arena in Seattle, White River Amphitheater in Auburn and Everett Event Center.
When you watch a performance of Video Games Live, the touring orchestral show of music from video games, now in its third season, you get a bit of a history lesson. “They start out with the real classics, like Donkey Kong and Tetris, some of which had only two or three colors in the entire game,” says Heath Marrinan, LD for Video Games Live. “As it goes through the night, the lighting begins to blend more with the video. We choose color schemes that reflect those of the games themselves, and the cues follow the dynamics of the music and the action on the screen. It can be sweepy and soft as you watch a guy cruising in an airplane on screen; then he jumps out and starts shooting a machine gun. I’ve never lit a symphony orchestra shredding on Halo 3 before.”
An automated lighting programmer is often called upon to help determine the best backup plan for Front of House. Technologically speaking, there are many types of backup solutions, some of which are very simple while others are extremely complex. A backup plan can range from nothing to full redundancy. Usually the importance and the budget of the event will be a key factor in determining how much backup protection is available. Of course every system has weaknesses, but we should always strive for no single point of failure.
Let me put this right up front: I’m not the brightest lamp on the truss. At times, I can make Jessica Simpson look like Marilyn vos Savant, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for five years under “Highest IQ” for both childhood and adult scores. I’m not particularly proud or embarrassed about that, but admitting it has served me well. An empty head can be like being an empty vessel looking for understanding with which to be filled.
Many of the students at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg can’t wait for the new 15,000-seat auditorium to open on campus. The senior class, in fact, can’t wait — it won’t open until 2009 in the earliest, and most will graduate before then. Not that there’s a lot of grumbling on campus. Students are aware that tithing dollars from faithful LDS Church followers around the world are funding the construction that surrounds them.
What is a theatre consultant? What do they do? Who are their customers? For this month’s PLSN Interview, we spoke with Bill Conner of Bill Conner Associates, LLC. Conner studied under the father of modern stage lighting, George C. Izenour, en route to building a successful career in the field. In this interview, he explains the vital role theatre consultants perform in our industry and why the discipline deserves full-time attention.
Last night I found myself sitting in a bar with a bunch of lampys. How unusual. So I decided to check in with them on how they’ve seen the business of lighting shows change in the last few years. Between the five of us we have close to 100 years of experience in the entertainment biz. And since we’re lighting guys, it goes without saying that we have opinions about everything. So I posed a few questions.
Antari M-5 Fogger
The new Antari M-5 Stage Fogger from Elation Professional is a 1,500-watt fog machine designed for stage and touring applications. Featuring a low-profile rectangular housing, the M-5 Fogger is designed to be unobtrusive. Two handles allow for easy transport and its 10-liter tank provides extended operation. With a warm-up time of eight minutes, the machine can produce 20,000 CFM. The M-5 weighs 33 pounds and includes a timer remote and onboard DMX-512. Optional accessories include a wireless remote and a heavy-duty flight case. Measuring 26”L x 12.5”W x 6.7”H, the Antari M-5 fog machine has a suggested retail price of $799.95.
Elation Professional • 866.245.6726 • www.elationlighting.com
Do you know how you can tell a rookie entertainment professional from a veteran? When they walk into a show, the rookie cranes his neck to admire the lighting rig while the veteran cranes his neck to see if it’s safe to walk under the rig.
The new logo caught me by surprise. Though I knew Strong had recently purchased the rights to build and sell the Technobeam from its former manufacturer, High End Systems, it didn’t really fully register. But when I took it out of the box, grabbing it by its two handles, and set it down on the floor standing on end, there it was, staring me in the face. The Strong logo on the mirror end of the fixture is a stark reminder of the new manufacturer. The question is, is it the same fixture?