A few short years ago, LEDs were like the Jessica Simpson of the live event production industry; they were pretty but not too bright. Thanks to Haitz’s law, that’s changing faster than executive salaries on Wall Street. But what does the technology have in store for us in the future? For answers, we asked Chad Stalker of Luminus Devices where all this will lead.
Imagine a time when automated lighting consoles did not have effects engines, fanning abilities, and other automated functions. That was the case back when I started programming. These programming tools were not widely implemented. We had to create complex chases and positions by hand using math and other methods. Many of these methods are long forgotten; however, they are still very useful to this day. The understanding of how these processes work can still be a viable way of programming today to help create more complex programming when they are combined with modern console functions such as effects and fanning.
Overlooked amid the meltdown of the financial industry was the cooling of speculation in metals that had driven prices to record levels. Gold, which touched $1,000 per ounce at one point in 2008, was simply the most visible of an array of industrial metals whose rising costs began to impact those who manufacture, sell and use metal stage gear such as aluminum trusses and steel catwalks.
Last month I found myself peeved at somebody because they told me they knew how to operate a certain lighting console. But once they got on site my client realized they didn’t. This put me in a tight spot because I was not at the gig to help out, and I had assured my friend that my guy would be all over it.
Last week I saw this new fixture from Zap technologies. Those folks that brought us the big lite. It’s got the same base and one armed high speed yoke as the big lite, but has a really cool new head.
Over the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of experimenting with my computers. Back home my friends dad is a retired Computer Science professor at a local university. He also happens to be a Macintosh guru that has organized a party for the past 25 years since the release of the company’s first computers. This year was the first time I attended and it was great. You basically show up with your Mac, plug in, connect to the network, grab a beer, and share away with all the other users there in attendance. Which leads me into the whole VMware Fusion vs. Boot Camp problem I’ve been having.
I do a fair amount of work with artists who come from south of the border. Several reside on different Islands in the Caribbean. Today I am on my way to Trinidad. Once again I am traveling with little info other than my plane ticket and the knowledge that I am working on a show somewhere on that island.
WASHINGTON DC — Over a million people gathered on the National Mall and along the inaugural parade route to witness history in the making when Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of the U.S. For those lucky enough to have made it to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, it was up close and personal. But for the rest of the crowd, most of which surrounded the Reflecting Pool, IMAG played a big part in helping one of the largest crowds to ever assemble in the nation’s capital witness the historic moment.
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WASHINGTON, DC — The new administration hadn’t even taken office, but with gigs aplenty in the nation’s capital, the inauguration provided more than a ray of hope to lighting and staging companies. In the span of eight days, Atmosphere Inc. coordinated and executed lighting for 52 shows in 24 different venues across the city, including two of the largest — the Commander in Chief’s Ball for members of the military at the National Building Museum and the Youth Inaugural Ball at the Washington Hilton & Towers.
The Obama inauguration was accompanied by events all over the metropolitan Washington D.C., and they gave lighting suppliers and designers the opportunity to shine. At The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, which hosted approximately 30,000 guests Jan. 18-22, for example, Showcall Inc. and Baltimore Stage Lighting Productions lit themed rooms and ballrooms for the Texas State Society’s Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball.
When the dark terrorist satire The Lieutenant of Inishmore played on Broadway, its violent content and gory second act — literally featuring hacked bodies strewn across the stage — certainly shocked and engrossed audiences. But it played in the Lyceum Theatre with several hundred people in attendance every night, which gave those present a greater sense of safety. The recent production at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia was far different. Presented in an intimate venue with only 125 seats, it became a far more intense, in-your-face experience. Some people were so shocked that they walked out of a richly ironic story about a rogue Irish terrorist named Padric who goes ballistic on his family and friends when he discovers that his beloved cat has been killed.
Eric Wade, owner of Wadespro, Inc., has been in the moving light business in one way or another since…well, since its inception. He is the favorite programmer and lighting director of many of the industries’ leading lighting designers. The demand for his services is so high that he often programs a show and turns it over to an operator after it is up and running. He’s also an accomplished lighting designer.