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.
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.
“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.
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.
Picking up the pieces is what has been happening as of late. Do you know when you start little projects here and there, but they never get completed? I happened to get quite a few of those done by finishing my ESP Suite at home. In doing so I needed some key components to be able to make it all work. First was getting Boot Camp up and running on my iMac. You heard in my last blog talking about how I couldn’t get it to complete the windows setup. It turns out it didn’t have service pack two, and to run Boot Camp you must have service pack two or higher for it to properly install windows.
So the deadly winter drought of 2009 seems to be coming to an end. After months of everyone looking for a gig, I am finally starting to fill holes in the schedule.
For the third year in a row, Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment helped electrify the Super Bowl Halftime Show by co-executive producing a live performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The NFL had wanted Springsteen to do the show for years and he finally relented after watching Tom Petty’s performance last year in Phoenix.
When Celine Dion completed A New Day, her five-year stint at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, she left behind the 4,000+ capacity venue that was specially built for her, along with its 22,450 square foot stage, its 120 feet wide by 44 feet high proscenium, 1160 conventional luminaires, 140 automated lights, four 10K ANSI lumens projectors, and enough work to keep a good sized tech crew hopping. In her wake came Bette Midler, who was given the showroom with all the sound and lights for The Showgirl Must Go On. All she needed was a little scenery and some props and she had an instant show. Or so it seemed.
Lighting designer and theatrical consultant Richard Pilbrow has seen it all. Today he has 50 years in the business under his belt — not quite all the way back to the age of gas lights, perhaps — but a different world from today’s automated lights and LEDs.
Xavier Diaz is on the run. Not only does Intocable’s lighting and video director have to make sure his rigs are up and running, he’s also serving as the production manager for the Tejano/Norteño influenced band as the collection of musicians hopscotch’s between Mexico and the United States.
Lighting for television in today’s production environment can be a study in interoperability. Tight production schedules, shrinking budgets and high expectations require today’s lighting departments to integrate with the rest of the production on many different levels.
Todd Bentley is one of the most inspiring and controversial characters to lead a Christian revival. His unconventional style has stirred America and inspired thousands to change their lives. After hearing about the weekly pilgrimages to Todd Bentley’s home church in Florida, the leadership of Morning Star Ministries committed to bringing him to Fort Mill, S.C.