Download a PDF - PLSN.com

P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S
PARNELLI AWARDS
The 10th Annual
Record-breaking turnout of over 600 came to see
“Industry’s Highest Honor”
By Kevin M. Mitchell
On the Friday night of LDI, live event industry
professionals crammed into the
Rio Hotel and Casino’s main ballroom for
the 10th Annual Parnelli Awards. The highlights
were many, including the presence of Paul Anka,
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who came to honor
and present Parnellis to people who were important
to their career.
An early highlight was when Jim Bornhorst
received the Parnelli Visionary Award for leading
the team that developed the first commercial
moving light, the Vari*Lite VL-0, among other
contributions. A great deal of fun was had with
Bornhorst throughout the evening. In his opening
remarks, Parnelli Executive Producer and
PLSN publisher Terry Lowe said: “Sure, everyone
in this room thought of color-changing lights.
Most of us thought of lights moving and changing
colors. But only one of us put the bong down
long enough to make it happen.” Then, various
quips were made about Bornhorst having started
as an audio engineer who in the 1970s made
the transition into lighting. Lighting designer
Allen Branton, who with PLSN editor Richard Cadena
presented the first set of lighting awards,
joked that he knew Bornhorst in the beginning
of his career when he was a sound guy, but
“thank goodness he turned his life around and
made something of himself.”
The guy who gave him his first industry job
and current PRG VP Rusty Brutsché presented
Bornhorst with the award. “Jim led the engineering
team at Vari-Lite and later PRG to invent the
many automated luminaires that have formed
the basis of the lighting industry as we know it
today,” Brutsché said. “His name is on numerous
patents and he has been the driving creative
force behind this technology that has meant so
much to our industry.”
Capping the pro audio section program,
Anka came out and gave a short, funny, selfdeprecating
speech honoring the founder of
A-1 Audio, Al Siniscal, who received the Parnelli
Audio Innovator Award. He then brought up a
visibly moved Siniscal, put him on a stool, and
with his pianist backing him up, sang a version
of his song “My Way” with altered lyrics to match
the event.
At the end of the evening, in honor of their
longtime production manager, Randy “Baja”
Fletcher, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn took the
stage. Before launching into a warm and funny
anecdote-laden speech about Fletcher, Brooks
did a shout out to all live event professionals in
the room. “I just want to say that sitting here with
all of you, I’m amazed at what you do,” he said.
“Every time I see you hook up your cables and
hang your lights, even though I’ve been around
it all for years, I still feel like I’m just looking at the
back of television.”
The Parnellis shattered all records — over
600 attended the sold out event. It began with
a cocktail hour that featured fun items from the
past related to the ceremony’s big three honorees.
Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award’s
Randy “Baja” Fletcher had his old concert T-shirts
from days of yore on display; Parnelli Visionary
honoree’s Jim Bornhorst had the first VL-0 moving
light on display; and Sinsical’s posters from
his career were there to admire.
And the Parnelli Goes To…
Branton and Cadena first handed out the
Lighting Designer of the Year Award, which went
to Steve Cohen for his work on Star Wars — In
Concert. Upstaging and East Coast Lighting and
Production Services won, respectively, for Best
Lighting Company and Hometown Hero Lighting
Company of the Year, respectively. Lighting
and media server programmer Vickie Claiborne
and video director Mark Haney came up next
to give Bruce Rodgers the Set/Scenic Designer
of the Year award for his work on the Super Bowl
Halftime Show.
Later in the program, Parnelli Executive Director
Patrick Stansfield came out to introduce
the video created to honor the live event professionals
who passed away this year. He began
with a poignant and touching speech about
Wally Crum of NEP Screenworks. Quoting Crum’s
wife, Nadine, he said, “Wally loved, and laughed,
with a heart that had never learned shame. He
wondered and learned with a mind that never
understood the word ‘no.’”
Jeanette Farmer of Fisher Technical Services
Inc. and isquint.com blogger Justin Lang came
up next. “Live entertainment is increasingly
about video,” Farmer said at the podium. “It’s visual.
It’s a lighting source. It’s a set design.” Then
the two gave Mark Haney the Video Director of
the Year Award for Star Wars — In Concert. Best
Video Rental Company of the year went to Chaos
Visual Productions.
Video director Carol Dodds came up next
The 2010 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award went to Randy “Baja” Fletcher.
2010 NOVEMBER PLSN
31