Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com

Fred Foster...is playing Bart Starr to Steve Carson’s Don Meredith...
The Stones Live at the Super
Bowl, Plus Keith Richards
2006
When books are closed on 2006, at least
two mega events will stand alone: the Rolling
Stones at the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.
The Super Bowl event is notable for the
sheer amount of equipment moved on and off
the field during the course of a few commercials;
the Winter Olympics for the sheer amount
of equipment.
In the case of the Olympics, lighting designer
Durham Marenghi and production designer
Mark Fisher worked for several months
with a team that included lighting coordinators
Eneas MacKintosh and Nick Jones, and programmers
Ross Williams, Mark Payne, Pryderi
Baskerville and Emiliano Morgia. High
End Systems supplied programming support
in the form of Chris Ferrante, Frank Schotman
and Jason Potterf. The lighting included
124 Coemar iSpot eXtremes, 64 ProWash
250LXs, 370 iWash 575 MBs, 130 Martin MAC
2000 Wash fixtures and 250 Robe ColorWash
1200 ATs. Four programmers using Flying Pig
Systems Wholehog 3 lighting consoles networked
to each other and to three WYSIWYG
systems, and each with its own backup, were
used for control during the opening and closing
ceremonies. In all, there were more than
900 moving heads, almost 1,000 LED fixtures
and 400-odd dimmers from various manufacturers
for a total of 24,500 DMX channels,
which required the use of 21 DP2000s (data
processors) to distribute the data.
ABCs (Anniversaries, Birthdays
and Circles on the Calendar)
When Showco built the first
Vari*Lite fixtures in 1981, they had little
idea of the impact it would have on the
lighting industry. Now, we think that it
might be the single most important
event in the history of entertainment
lighting. September 27 marked the
25 th anniversary of the Genesis Abacab
show when the first Vari*Lite system
was used.
And if you’ve ever used a CM Hoist,
then you’ve contributed to a milestone
in hoist history. In February, CM shipped
its one millionth Lodestar chain hoist.
Finally, in October, USITT recognized
Steve Terry by honoring him
2006
as a USITT Fellow. Fittingly, the honor
comes 20 years after Terry was instrumental
in helping to make DMX512-
1986 an industry protocol and in the
same month that ACN was accepted as
a new protocol.
The industry is but a microcosm
of the universe. Every so often the underbrush
needs to be cleaned out and
the clippings recycled to provide the
nutrients for new growth in order to
produce more fruit. 2006 was a very
fruitful year.
Here’s to an even more fruitful
2007.
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
www.PLSN.com
PLSN DECEMBER 2006 31