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FEATURE PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info general has been tougher to get. But he enjoyed the summer. “I’m happy to see Springsteen out,” he says. “Our top clients are Springsteen, Billy Joel and Jimmy Buffett. They constantly tour and they are first class in everything they do. Some of them have the same drivers for 20 years. Roadshow drivers are different because they get involved. It’s almost like having their own butler.” He’s also picked up some new acts, including Alice in Chains and Kings of Leon. Robin Shaw, Upstaging Inc. “Thank God it’s been a fabulous summer for us,” exclaims Robin Shaw, vice president of Upstaging Inc. “ S u m m e r s have been good the last five years, in part because of the demise of the recording industry. As everybody knows, bands have to tour more. Those bands have increasingly turned to us for production services.” Shaw acknowledges the industry-wide challenge of price concessions, but reframes the issue as business-as-usual. “We’ve always been a company that works for our clients and with their budgets. This year is not different from others in that regard. We’re firm on our goal: quality service at a good value.” While she admits that things are “more intense,” their handling of the subject is not. “We’re very successful at working things out. We provide a very specialized service. There’s a lot of risk associated with that, yet we’ve always been a company that provides the best service at the best possible price. This year is no different.” Upstaging has successfully hung onto its clients, and Shaw reports that the vast majority continue to stay loyal. Upstaging has also added up-and-coming acts to its roster. Asked if the live entertainment industry was recession-proof, the answer was yes and no. People still want entertainment, but the times call for artists to charge a little less. This causes everyone to be more careful about spending money. Other organizations necessarily reevaluate the way they do business in particularly trying times. “We’re a big company, and we’re always concerned with everything from our basic finances to how we can be more environmentally friendly.” Shaw smiles and shifts when asked for highlights, which is akin to asking which child is most beautiful. Finally she apologizes and admits she would be hard pressed to say, but adds, “We’re just grateful to work with all the amazing bands and crews out there we’re fortunate to partner with.” Jim Bodenheimer, Ego Trips “July and August was sold out — all of us were. If we weren’t, we’d all be in trouble.” The owner of Ego Trips, Jim Bodenheimer, confirms that the summer “appeared to be normal.” The big tours were still big, the mediums were mostly still there … but the smaller tours have been affected by the economic downturn. “What is different is the medium and smaller tours were not going to ‘C’ markets as readily as they would in a typical summer,” he says. Some of the up-and-coming bands were having shorter tours and are certainly more price sensitive. Some bands that had two trucks last year whittled it down to one; those that had one cut back to a bus and a trailer. “It’s trickling from the top down.” But he notes that, despite the fact that there was more competition for tours, there were also more tours. Bodenheimer sees newer bands relying more on house rigs and local crew on the road and maybe just carrying the lighting console as opposed to the whole system. Bands that insisted on their own gear in summers past are now more readily agreeing to use the in-house gear in that casino or shed. “The other thing that is happening is that, from the blank page, they are designing their tours in a manner that considers the cost of everything, which in this environment is logical. It’s the result of the current world economic situation.” Still, he expresses his gratitude for the “amazing loyalty” from their roster of clients. Even so, in addition to more competition, there are noticeable gaps between the seasons. Where in years prior it was all seamless, now there’s some downtime — part of the aformentioned trend of acts not making it to “C” markets as frequently. “We’ve been more aggressive in getting new clients as those gaps come up,” Bodenheimer says. “It’s just a harder year in general. Clients want to pay less when things cost more. It’s not a good combination.” Still, he’s pleased with a roster of clients that includes Elton John, Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, Moody Blues, Bonnie Raitt and the Pretenders. Loren Haas, Stage Call “The concert touring business has been great,” confirms Stage Call president and CEO Loren Haas. “The continued on page 49 34 PLSN OCTOBER 2009
Applied Electronics TM6-600 Chauvet DMX-4 dimmer/ relay pack AC Power Distribution RPD Series, distributed by TMB PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Portable Dimmers Only a dimmer tech could come up with a term of endearment that we know as “dimmer beach.” It conjures images of lounge chairs, exotic drinks, sand, surf and bikinis. In reality, dimmer beach is not for the faint of heart. It’s typically very loud, hot, and cable is strewn about like vines in the Amazon. And if anything goes wrong, it’s typically the first location to be yelled at through the comm system. The term clearly overstates the reality. But with the latest dimmer technology, at least, the trouble calls come fewer and farther between. State-of-the-art dimming is generally very reliable, easy to troubleshoot and service, and it comes packaged for quick load-in and load-out. The life of a dimmer tech is not so bad after all. Features like modular components, LED indicators and overload protection keep the dimmer techs of the world comfy and much more settled at dimmer beach. And some dimmers also have remote sensing so the console operator is alerted should any problems arise. In fact, ETC recently added RDM capabilities in their new SmartBar 2 dimmer bars. Not only will it allow the operator to monitor the status of the dimmer but it will also allow them to change the DMX address. Dimmer techs never had it so good. To learn more about the latest on portable BUYERS GUIDE By RichardCadena dimmers, turn the page and check out the PLSN Buyers Guide on portable dimming. It lists all the specs for several portable dimmers including the rise time, the efficiency and more. The rise time is a measure of how much the dimmer limits the overshoot current when the switch turns on. A high rise time is better than a low rise time because it protects the components from the effects of large currents and rapid changes in temperature. The efficiency is a measure of how much energy is lost to heat compared to how much total energy is used. After you look over the chart, fix yourself an exotic drink, put on your flip-flops and head out to dimmer beach for some real fun. Elation Cyber Pak Lex Products Slim Dimmer Strand Lighting Propack Leprecon MX-2400 ETC SmartPack products Lightronics AS-42 Swisson XSD-D4 Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info Techni-Lux PD-PackPro6 Leviton D4DMX
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