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Company 411

Luxium Lighting

Founded in 2014 by “serial entrepreneur” Arlie Conner, Luxium Lighting was originally conceived as an entity that would target “an interesting little niche market,” Conner says, supplying school auditoriums and other theatrical venues with the fixtures they’d need as they migrated away from conventional lighting and toward LEDs…For 2018, fresh off the success at the 2017 LDI show, the company, based in the Portland, Oregon’s “silicon forest” region, is poised for growth, led by a core team of three partners — Conner, the inventor of the company’s products; Roger Hicks, the marketing guru; and Tom Roth, who is in charge of sales, setting up channels and all things customer-related.

Vanguard, formerly Aeson, is a young company on the move.

Vanguard LED Displays – Leading the Way

Michael Wiener, founder and CEO of Vanguard LED Displays, is first and foremost an entrepreneur in its truest sense. Originally a CPA by training from Montreal, he’ll be the first to tell you that the pattern of his string of business ventures in his early years was pretty much that of a yo-yo, as he experienced many ups and downs.

The company started out as Bay Fireworks, and aerial shell displays are still an important part of their business.

Pyro Engineering

Fireworks Company Now Offers Broad Array of Pyro, Lasers and Special Effects

We recently sat down with Dennis Brady, the CEO of Pyro Engineering, an effects company with main headquarters located in Bethpage, NY, a New York City suburb on Long Island. He introduced us to a company that has been blowing up explosives for more than 30 years and providing other thrilling effects in recent years.

4Wall OC and 4Wall PA provided the lighting and video for the 2017 NHL All-Star Party

4Wall Entertainment – On the Move

Lighting Rental Company Expands into New Markets and Video, Acquiring Tools and Talent

With rapid growth more than doubling its number of facilities around the U.S. in just a two-year span, Las Vegas-based 4Wall Entertainment is clearly a company on the move — both geographically, and in terms of the expanding array of services it can offer to clients. But those in charge are saying that the growth is more a reflection of the needs of its thousands of clients rather than just growth for growth’s sake.

LED truss with video wall

Tyler Truss Systems

Mark Dodd Provides a Look at the Company’s Latest Products

Once again, Tyler Truss Systems (TTS) is leading the way by introducing new structures applicable to the live entertainment industry. With LED products revolutionizing the lighting and video industries, Mark Dodd, president and founder of TTS and Dodd Technologies, realized the time had come to apply the Tyler GT Truss concept to this particular market.

Metallica gear delivered to Antarctica

Rock-It Cargo

Everybody knows Rock-It Cargo as the leading freight forwarding and logistics services provider in concert touring. Over the last 40 years, the iconic company has joined that coveted list of corporations whose name is not only synonymous for the product it provides but works as both a verb and noun. Gotta ship something time sensitive, fragile, or out of the ordinary? Rock-It. Like the name of the Holding company that now owns them, Rock-It is and always has been, Rock Solid.

Entire lighting and video rigs can be hung for events.

Irmarfer Structures

Irmarfer established their North American facility in Las Vegas in 2016 and provided a structure used during the MTV VMA Awards in Los Angeles last month.

Irmarfer Structures, created in 1998, is a family-owned company with its global headquarters in Portugal. The company has emerged as a sought-after manufacturer of tents, stages, and flooring systems in Europe, serving the corporate, sporting, fashion, music, film, and special events markets.

From left, Eric Lawrence, Tim Waterman, Carman Savarese and Franti Zykan

The 411 on Area Four Industries

When Area Four Industries America Distribution Company opened its new distribution facility in Knoxville, TN in November 2016, it marked a key milestone in CEO Franti Zykan’s vision of blazing a new trail in the truss and support structure industry.

Joyce and Eric Von Fange

The Light Source

The Light Source epitomizes the American family-owned business, fabricating quality original products in their shop in Charlotte, NC. Officially entering their 30th year in business in 2017, they show no sign of slowing down as they continue to fabricate unique items that stem from client needs. PLSN sat down with Eric and Joyce Von Fange to talk about their company.

For Motorhead’s final Bad Magic tour, which ended in Berlin in Dec. 2016, the Bomber prop, revamped with moving lights, took flight with a Kinesys automation system. The band announced that it would disband after the death of frontman Lemmy, a.k.a. Ian Fraser Kilmister, on Dec. 28.

Kinesys Takes Root in the Americas

The Atlanta-Area Hub is Setting the Stage for Future Growth in the U.S., Canada and Latin America

Kinesys, co-founded in 2003 by U.K. managing director (and Kinesys USA CEO) Dave Weatherhead, started as so many of the innovations that have pushed this industry forward with a simple request, “Can you make this?”

Hemphill Brothers Coach bus interior photo by Lauren M. Mitchell

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company

Joey Hemphill Discusses the Company’s History and State of the Tour Bus Today

The young brothers, Joey and Trent, did a double take when they opened the check from Van Halen’s management. Eyes were squinted, heads were scratched. The check was less than they were expecting.

Elation USA team 2017 in headquarters showroom.

Elation Cements Brand as a Top-Line Pro Level Solution

If you were to become lucky enough to get to work for Elation at their Los Angeles world headquarters, during a tour of the facility you’d dig the deep freezer, the full shower and the steam room on the premises. Then you’d likely get disappointed when you are told that they ain’t for you — those perks are for the Elation products.