Editor’s Note

“Attention all lighting manufacturers: Concerning the continuous rise in color temperatures in your discharge lights. Some of us LD’s still like the color red.”

This was a recent post on social media. The time has come to call out the system, the trend, the fact that almost everyone is sacrificing the LD’s right for a full color palette for more lumen output, higher CRI in LEDs and a native color temperature of 7,000° Kelvin in discharge fixtures.

I think that a picture was worth a thousand words. But I think a picture is often worth 100 lights as well. As video has become a staple in concerts, we see lights being used to augment the big look of a big screen and gosh — be used to just light the money. The need for more original designs using video tiles is common. Designers need fresh ideas. With all the productions we cover this month, it’s clearly evident that different minds do not always think alike.

Last month I crossed the pond in search of the latest toys in the lighting, video and staging world, as I do every April at the Prolight + Sound show in Germany. I saw some new products, but what I noticed most were a lot of companies rehashing old fixtures with newer ones that featured a new function or different light source. Lots of clever ideas to modify existing technology. But none of that jumped out as fresh and innovative, other than a couple items.

I stopped down at the USITT show last month in St. Louis. I enjoy going to this show for a day every year to watch all the enthusiasm that thousands of kids have for the Arts. Plus, it’s great to see the various vendors giving back their knowledge to the next generation. Since the government seems to care little about the arts during the current administration it’s so much more important to see the other companies that did show up to pass knowledge.

The Super Bowl halftime shows rarely thrill me. I think the lighting, production and staging of these shows is usually incredible, year after year. But to be honest, the last time I think I saw an artist that really impressed me with their performance was when Prince killed it. But this year rocked.

It’s a good thing February is the shortest month, because except for the bright reds you see around Valentine’s Day, it’s one of our least colorful months. By mid-January, I’m already nostalgic for the holiday season. For a few weeks every year, everything becomes colorful in America again. I drive around and see beautiful green foliage in living rooms and on doors, long after the leaves have fallen. Multi colored holiday strings of lights add to the red candy canes that illuminate our city streets.

It’s the start of a new year, and time for me to put my corporate taxes in order for the old year. This amounts to taking 12 months’ worth of info and combining it into one spreadsheet that shows all my write-offs. One of my favorite parts of all this is my travel expenses. I gather up what the flights cost and I cross-reference them against the airline miles I made. I am indeed, one of those geeks who figures out ways to get several free plane tickets every year.

I believe we are all thinking the same thing as this year closes. Glad it’s over, and how the heck is the new guy gonna keep everyone insured, yet make it affordable? I question why I pay what amounts to a second mortgage to Aetna for my family of four, a company that has paid their CEO, in terms of overall compensation, more than $90K per day. Repeat: per day.

The yearly jaunt to Vegas was once again a fun time. Met a few new friends and caught up with a bunch more on the golf course, the LDI show floor and, of course, the nightly celebrations culminating with the Parnelli Awards on Saturday night.

Ah, my favorite time of year. The summer heat fades to cool breezes. The kids are back at school. The Parnelli Awards are just around the corner, and I got a big fat issue in which I can include all sorts of articles from every sector of the live event business possible. Sure, we cover some of the biggest productions on the road this season and chat with top name designers, but it is also an issue where I can shine some light on some new interesting people and lesser known acts.