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PROJECTION 

CONNECTION 

CONNECTION 

Vol. 9.7 

AUGUST 

2008 

Video Transparency with a Venetian Twist 

NEW YORK — A Venetian blind video screen system, which was built by Tait Towers using Saco V9 

LED tiles from Nocturne Productions, gave Spike Brant and Justin Collie of Performance Environment 

Design Group (Artfag LLC) a new way to play with 360° video transparency for Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway 

tour, which wrapped up in mid-July. The design allows concertgoers to see the video images from all 

angles and to also see the performance between the blinds, which expanded from a 12-foot-by-12-foot 

area to one measuring 12 feet by 30 feet. Tait Towers also created the LED floor/wall — 64 Martin LC 

Series 1140 LED panels at the rear of the stage that angled up hydraulically. Lighting director/programmer 

Patrick Brannon used a grandMA console, HD Hippotizers and Control Freak servers with custom 

software. Lighting was supplied by Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting. 

Parnelli Award Nominations Open 

LAS VEGAS — Nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Parnelli Awards. PLSN subscribers can 

visit www.parnelliawards.com/nominate and find the nine categories of awards. Voting for the Hometown 

Hero Awards is also well underway. If you haven’t yet voted, go to www.plsn.com/hometown to vote for 

your choice of the best regional production company in the United States and Canada. The Parnelli and 

Hometown Hero awards will be given in Las Vegas Oct. 24, 2008. 

Steve JenningS 

Russian Laser Show 

Blasted by ILDA 

KIRZHACH, Russia — The International 

Laser Display Association (ILDA) 

criticized laserists responsible for eye 

injuries suffered by dozens of attendees 

at the Aquamarine Open Air Festival 

outside Moscow July 5, calling the 

use of lasers designed for overhead 

use in a confined area as “shocking” 

and “inappropriate.” 

The problems started after festival 

organizers moved the outdoor event 

under tents to shield attendees from 

rain. Instead of streaming out into the 

open sky, the light from the “pulsed” 

laser beams reflected off the interior 

of the tent and the dangerous beams 

were also directed straight into the 

crowd, according to ILDA. 

While Russian press reports cited 

61 cases of partial blindness, with 

permanent vision loss of up to 80 percent, 

ILDA said subsequent reports 

indicated that the injuries may not 

have been as severe or as long-term 

as previously reported, and that the 

total number of affected attendees 

was closer to 30. continued on page 8 

Stagehand Killed in 

Forklift Accident 

PELHAM, AL — A member of IATSE 

Local 78 in Birmingham, Ala. was killed 

shortly after midnight July 24 during 

the load-out for the Tony Hawk Boom 

Boom Huck Jam at the Verizon Wireless 

Music Center, formerly known as 

the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre. 

Witnesses said the load-out was 

nearly complete when stagehand 

Vladimir Shilkrot lost control of the 

forklift he was using to load a truck. The 

forklift struck something as it was turning 

sharply. It toppled over, landing on 

Shilkrot and killing him instantly. 

Lighting The 

Heights 

24 

26 

57 

Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast on Broadway. 

The set for In the Heights, which 

won the 2008 Tony Award for Best 

Musical, replicates an uptown neighborhood, 

and while it’s rich in all its 

multi-layered detail, the lighting is 

what makes the visuals move to the 

show’s Latin rhythms and Hip-Hop 

beat. 

“Anna gave me a wonderful 

playground,” says Howell Binkley, of 

Tony-award winning set designer 

Anna Louizos’ “grown up Avenue Q.” 

Through the use of “a lot of clear, 

focused light,” occasionally saturated, 

and transformed for the purposes 

of transition by backlighting 

and silhouettes, Binkley has become 

a specialist in turning smaller Off 

Broadway shows into show-stopping 

visual fiestas. 

For more, turn to page 20. 

Installations 

Berklee College of Music’s latest 

upgrade for its performance 

space included a new lighting 

and video system. 

Wrestlemania XXIV 

WWE took its annual extravaganza 

into the great outdoors 

for the first time in 2008. 

Feeding the Machines 

How to timecode — and troubleproof 

— a rock show. 

Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info 

Joan Marcus

Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info

Ad info: www.plsn.com/instant-info


www.plsn.com AUGUST DECEmbEr 2008 

WHAT’S HO T T 

WHAT’S HO HO T T 

PROJECTION, LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS 

Production Profile 

The production design process for Kenny Chesney’s tour is a yearround 

effort, with pre-programming starting for next year’s tour while 

the current tour is still underway. 

Wide Angle 

Alicia Keys’ multi-level set fuses video elements with lighting, and for 

most of the songs, the piano is center stage. 

22 

18 

18 38 

CONTENTS 

Features 

20 Inside Theatre 

Howell Binkley’s layers of lighting for 

In the Heights brings an uptown Manhattan 

neighborhood to life on the 

Broadway stage. 

24 Installations 

A new lighting system is part of the 

latest round of improvements 

designed to keep the Berklee College 

of Music’s performance space at the 

top of its class. 

26 Wrestlemania XXIV 

WWE took the huge set and lighting 

rig for its annual extravaganza outside. 

There were challenges, but the show 

squeezed 74,639 fans into the Florida 

Citrus Bowl. 

28 NATEAC Conference 

With 250 attendees from nine countries 

packing the seminars and taking 

discussions out into the hallways, the 

first NATEAC conference probably 

won’t be the last. 

32 Road Test 

We take a clear-eyed gander at Look 

Solutions’ Unique2 haze machine. 

33 Buyers Guide 

Today’s truss towers are marvels of 

mechanical engineering. 

36 Company 411 

A&S Cases helps tour operators save 

money on fuel charges by lightening 

the load. 

40 PLSN Interview 

IATSE member Uwe Willenbacher 

says the ESTA Foundations’ Behind 

the Scenes charity helped him avoid 

foreclosure while recovering from a 

motorcycle accident. 

50 Road Test 

Pixel-mapping software can enhance 

LED graphics. We put Madrix to the test. 

Columns 

6 Editor’s Note 

The risk of early death loses its allure 

as we age. 

48 Video World 

Giant steps in the early development 

of video, and the giants who made 

them. 

52 Technopolis 

Some hammock-side tips in the art of 

pointing the finger. 

54 The Biz 

Barco’s purchase of High End Systems 

underscores the convergence of lighting 

and video. 

56 Focus on Fundamentals 

Lighting professionals might be able 

to learn a few things from the video 

world. 

57 Feeding the Machines 

Timecoding a rock show — and improvizing 

when it stops working. 

60 LD-at-Large 

The world is full of surprises. So are 

overseas gigs. 

Departments 

7 News 

9 Calendar 

9 Letters to the Editor 

12 International News 

14 On the Move 

16 New Products 

18 Showtime 

43 Projection Connection 

44 Projection Connection News 

47 Projection Connection New 

Products 



TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION 

EDITOR’S NOTE 

PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS 

The Idiot Offset 

The sk8rs on Centre Street in New York 

City go out of their way to seek out danger. 

The more dangerous, the better. I 

know this because I witnessed it first hand. 

I was in the City for the maiden voyage 

of the North American Theatre Engineering 

and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) last 

month. The conference was an excellent exchange 

of information and ideas about all 

things relating to the design, construction, 

and use of performing arts spaces. 


Skaters vs. Cabbies 

PLSN 

The night before the two-day event 

started, I took a cab from Midtown to the 

downtown area via Centre Street. As we were 

passing City Hall Park, a gang of inline skaters 

emerged from the crowded park and 

mobbed the intersection when about a dozen 

cabs stopped for the traffic signal. Some 

The speeding cabs were covered with about 

a dozen and a half thrill-seeking skaters holding 

on for their lives, bouncing along the bumpy 

road at about 45 or 50 miles per hour, sans 

armor — no helmet, no knee pads, no elbow 

pads and no fear. 

of the skaters hopped on the trunks of several 

cabs, including the one I was in, grabbing 

the space between the trunk and the rear 

window and propping their skates up on the 

bumper. Others simply held on to the wheel 

well or the trunk, and when the light turned 

green, chaos ensued. It was wilder than Central 

Park after dark. 

The cabs sped off, jockeying for position 

in the very busy street. And then they alternately 

slammed on their brakes and sped 

back up, trying to pick off the parasites. Other 

By RichardCadena 

cabbies began honking their horns in a vain 

attempt to scare them off of the other cabs. 

When the start/stop routine failed to shake 

the skaters, the cabs sped up in hopes of losing 

them. It didn’t work. The more they sped 

up, the wider the grins on the skater’s faces. 

The more the cabs honked, the more attention 

they got and the more they reveled in it. 

The speeding cabs were covered with about 

a dozen and a half thrill-seeking skaters holding 

on for their lives, bouncing along the 

bumpy road at about 45 or 50 miles per hour, 

sans armor — no helmet, no knee pads, no 

elbow pads, and no fear. 

Disaster Averted — for Now 


I could hardly bear to look, yet I couldn’t 

look away. I just knew it was a matter of time 

before one of them hit a bump and did a 

face plant into the pavement. But it never 

happened. Instead, they simply pushed off 

and headed in a new direction after a couple 

of miles. 

The very next day I sat through four 

sessions at NATEAC where one of the main 

themes discussed over and over was how to 

avoid danger in the inherently risky theatre. 

It was the complete antithesis to the events 

of the night before. One panelist after another 

stressed safety — how to design safe 

buildings, install safe equipment, operate 

equipment safely, maintain this equipment 

so it remains safe to use, be compliant with 

safety standards, educate people about 

safety, and everything else about safety that 

you could possibly imagine. 

The Fogey Factor 


One of the peculiarities of this seeking 

danger/seeking safety phenomenon is that 

it seems to age-related — the older you are, 

the more you value safety. There was no 

one at the conference, as far as I could tell, 

who was as young as the inline skaters, who 

were probably in their late teens or early 

twenties. Then again, maybe it’s just that 

those people who seek danger just don’t 

live long enough to get out of their teens 

or early twenties. 

If those skaters have a bad accident…No, 

strike that. When those skaters have a bad 

accident, then I’m sure it will at least slow 

them down — temporarily. As NATEAC panelist 

Monona Rossol said, it usually takes an 

accident to initiate a good safety program. 

Alternative Energies 


One of the other recurring topics in the 

conference was sustainability. The consensus 

seemed to be that, at this point, it’s 

very difficult to produce events that are 

“carbon neutral,” but every step towards 

a smaller carbon footprint helps. We still 

need to raise our awareness of the issues 

and educate ourselves about alternative 

light sources and practices. 

On the positive side, the skater’s carbon 

footprint was impressively low. They were fueled 

only by the cab’s propulsion, adrenaline, 

and the youthful impression that they are bulletproof. 

They may not need carbon offsets, but 

they sure could use some idiot offsets. I propose 

that every time some kid does something really 

stupid to endanger their lives, they should be 

required to buy safety gear for youth theatre. 

Can anybody second the motion?. 

Richard Cadena can be reached, risk-free, at 

rcadena@plsn.com. 

The Publication of Record for the Lighting, 

Staging and Projection Industries 

Publisher 

Terry Lowe 

tlowe@plsn.com 

Editor 

Richard Cadena 

rcadena@plsn.com 

Managing Editor 

Frank Hammel 

fhammel@plsn.com 

Associate Editor 

Breanne George 

bg@plsn.com 

Senior Staff Writer 

Kevin M. Mitchell 

Contributing Writers 

Vickie Claiborne, Phil Gilbert, Rob Ludwig, 

Bryan Reesman, Brad Schiller, Nook 

Schoenfeld, Paul J. Duryee 

Photographer 

Steve Jennings 

Art Director 

Garret Petrov 

gpetrov@plsn.com 

Graphic Designers 

David Alan 

dalan@plsn.com 

Crystal Franklin 

cfranklin@plsn.com 

Web Master 

Josh Harris 

jharris@plsn.com 

National 

Advertising Director 

Gregory Gallardo 

gregg@plsn.com 

Account Manager 

James Leasing 

jleasing@plsn.com 

Production Manager 

Linda Evans 

levans@plsn.com 

General Manager 

William Hamilton Vanyo 

wvanyo@plsn.com 

Business and 

Advertising Office 

6000 South Eastern Ave. 

Suite 14J 

Las Vegas, NV 89119 

Ph: 702.932.5585 

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Ph: 512.280.0384 

Fax: 512.292.0183 

Circulation 

Stark Services 

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North Hollywood, CA 91615 

Projection, Lights & Staging News (ISSN: 

1537-0046) Volume 9, Number 7 Published 

monthly by Timeless Communications 

Corp. 6000 South Eastern Ave., 

Suite 14J, Las Vegas, NV 89119. It is 

distributed free to qualified individuals in the 

lighting and staging industries in the United 

States and Canada. Periodical Postage paid 

at Las Vegas, NV, office and additional offices. 

Postmaster please send address changes to: 

Projection, Lights & Staging News, P.O. Box 

16147 North Hollywood, CA 91615. Mailed in 

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ON N8X 1Z1. Overseas subscriptions are available 

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Editorial submissions are encouraged, but must 

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be returned. Projection, Lights & Staging News is a 

Registered Trademark. All Rights Reserved. 

Duplication, transmission by any method of 

this publication is strictly prohibited without 

permission of Projection, Lights & Staging News. 

ESTA 

ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES & 

Publishers of


NEWS 

USITT’s New 

President, 

Officers and 

Directors 

Take Office 

SYRACUSE, NY — Carl H. Lefko of Christianburg, 

Va. took office as president of USITT on 

July 1. Lefko will lead the 3,800-member organization 

of designers, managers and technologists 

in performing arts and entertainment for 

the next two years. 

Other officers who took office July 1 include 

Travis DeCastro of Penn State University, 

treasurer, and Michael Mehler of William & Mary 

College, vice president for programming. Reelected 

officers are Bobbi Owen of University 

of North Carolina — Chapel Hill, vice president 

for communications, Holly Monsos of University 

of Toledo, vice president for members, sections 

and chapters, and Daniel Denhart, of Ohio University, 

vice president for special operations. All 

will serve two-year terms. 

Directors at large, who will serve for three 

years, are Dan Culhane of Secoa, Inc. in Minneapolis, 

Mary Heilman of California Institute of the 

Arts, David Krajec of Mainstage Theatrical Supply 

in Wisconsin, Carolyn Satter of San Diego Theatres, 

Inc., John S. Uthoff of Kansas State University 

and Monica Weinzapfel of Radford University. 

Molson Amphitheatre, IATSE Reach Agreement 

TORONTO — IATSE Local 822 and Live 

Nation, owner of the 16,000-seat Molson Amphitheatre, 

have reached a three-year agreement 

on wages and benefits for hair, makeup 

and wardrobe employees. 

NEW YORK — ESTA has posted 10 

documents that are part of BSR E1.30- 

200x, Application level equipment interoperability 

for control of commonly 

encountered entertainment technology 

devices using ANSI E1.17. The documents 

are on the Internet at http:// 

www.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_ 

review_docs.php for public review 

through Aug. 25. 

They relate to the use of device 

identification subdevices, Internet 

protocol properties subdevices, time 

reference in ACN systems using SNTP 

and NTP, Device Description Language 

(DDL) extensions for DMX512 and E1.31 

The agreement provides for wage increases 

of 3 percent per year and the establishment 

of health benefits, vacation 

pay and retirement benefits totaling 16.5 

percent of worker pay. The deal, unanimously 

ratified by the Local 822 membership, 

also stipulates that wardrobe, hair 

and makeup work cannot be contracted 

out, and that all hiring must be done 

through the Local. 

ESTA Posts 10 ACN-Related EPIs for Public Review 

devices, the operation of SDT on wireless 

networks, independent device location 

properties, the allocation of Internet 

Protocol Version 4 addresses to 

ACN Hosts, timecode properties, MIDI 

system exclusive properties and the 

identification of draft device description 

language modules. 

Hudson/Christie 

Lighting Formed 

NEW YORK — Christie Lites and Hudson 

Sound & Light have joined together 

to form Hudson/Christie Lighting, a new 

partnership. The new entity will supply 

lighting for the tour of the musical, 

Spring Awakening, according to a statement 

issued by both companies. 

Hudson Sound & Light, founded in 

2004, is affiliated with Hudson Scenic 

Studio and Hudson Theatrical Associates, 

companies involved in theatrical production 

and scenic fabrication. They are 

part of Neil A. Mazzella’s Hudson family 

of companies, which have been serving 

the entertainment industry since 1980. 

While Hudson is a relatively new entry 

in the stage lighting business, stage 

lighting rentals and production have 

been Christie Lites’ major focus since the 

company was founded in 1985. Christie 

Lites operates from nine North American 

locations in six market segments: 

theatre, concert, trade show, industrial, 

special event and TV/film. 


CORRECTIONS 

An article in the June 2008 issue of PLSN, 

“The Massive Mass,” mentioned only one supplier 

of the fabric that transformed Yankee stadium 

into an open-air cathedral for the Mass 

celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. I. Weiss 

supplied much of the fabric that appears in 

the photos. PLSN regrets the omission. 

An article on the cover of the July 2008 

identified Kevin Angus Sinex, a crew member 

killed in a scaffolding accident, as an employee 

of Christie Lites. Christie Lites provided 

gear for TNA’s Slammiversary pay-per-view 

event staged in Southaven, Miss. on June 8, 

the night Sinex was killed, but a Christie Lites 

spokesman said Sinex was an independent 

contractor who was hired directly by TNA that 

night. PLSN regrets the error.

NEWS 


Active Production and Design Celebrates 15 Years, Receives Award 

ATLANTA — Active Production and Design 

was selected as the in-house AV provider 

for the Georgia Aquarium and was presented 

the Georgia Chapter MPI (Meeting Professional 

International) Phoenix Award for Supplier 

of the Year. The company also recently 

celebrated 15 years in business by hosting a 

party for more than 400 clients and partners 

at Atlanta Event Center at Opera. 

“We are very proud of this achievement 

and we want to thank those individuals and 

companies who have truly helped us reach 

this milestone,” said Matt Clouser, president. 

“This celebration is about the Active team but 

more importantly it’s our small way of showing 

appreciation to those who gave us the 

opportunity to get here. We want our guests 

to simply have a good time….on us.” 

Clouser started the company 15 years 

ago. Called Active Lighting, it was located in 

a modest office in a typical office park in central 

Atlanta. Today, Clouser oversees more 

than 100 full-time employees and contractors, 

and the company provides full service 

production for conferences, concerts and 

other events. 

From left, Active Production and Design’s Gene Swinson, Matt Clouser, Clydette R. Morton, Steve Zaug, John Fox. 

Stage Research has launched a new 

Web site at www.stageresearch.com to 

provide information about its lighting, 

sound and control hardware and software…Apollo 

Design Technology, Inc. 

has moved its Web site to www.apollodesign.net…The 

Phoenix Convention 

Center renewed its contract with AV 

Concepts as a preferred audio-visual provider…Elation 

Professional announced 

its third annual Elation Education Experience 

(E3) contest for students, house of 

worship volunteers and new lighting designers…Rental 

Express Video recently 

In Brief 

invested in For-A’s HVS-3800HS switcher 

as part of its expansion to HD production… 

The Illuminating Engineering 

Society of North America (IES) has a 

new Web site at www.ies.org…Levy 

Lighting NYC was awarded an ISES Big 

Apple Award for Best Transformation of 

a Space and Best Event Photographic 

Image...Milos Structural Systems has a 

new Web site at www.milosgroup.com… 

Pulsar has a new brochure highlighting 

the company’s ChromaRange TriColour 

LED Technology, downloadable from 

www.pulsarlight.com. 

Russian Laser Show Blasted by ILDA 

continued from cover 

Even so, “Video shows that the scanning 

beams went directly into the audience,” said ILDA 

Safety Committee chair Greg Makhov. “This type 

of laser show is known as audience scanning. This 

would be okay if continuous wave lasers were 

used, under conditions specified by international 

safety standards. But the laser operator at this 

show apparently did not know or ignored the 

fact that pulsed lasers must not be used like this.” 

Pulsed lasers are most frequently used for 

medical and industrial applications. While the 

beam may look continuous to the eye, it actually 

consists of light emitted in short, rapid and powerful 

bursts. Each 250 billionth of a second burst 

contains about 100 times more energy than light 

from an equivalent continuous wave laser, according 

to ILDA. 

“From video of the event, it appears that 

a pulsed laser was used in a completely unapproved 

way,” said Patrick Murphy, executive 

director of ILDA. “It was shocking to us — any 

competent laser operator should know to never 

direct a pulsed beam towards an audience. Our 

deepest sympathies go out to those who were 

injured.” 

Laser shows have been popular entertainment 

for over 40 years. In that time, there have 

only been two other reported incidents like the 

one in Moscow; both were also due to gross misuse 

of pulsed lasers. “Every day, lasers are safely 

used to create beautiful and artistic shows for 

hundreds of thousands of people around the 

world,” said Makhov, who has helped write some 

of U.S. laser safety regulations. “Laser shows like 

this are covered by laws and engineering standards 

from groups such as American National 

Standards Institute and International Electrotechnical 

Commission. None of these standards 

would allow use of a pulsed laser in this fashion.” 

To help reassure the public that professionally-created 

shows are safe, ILDA is taking additional 

steps to further increase safety. Effective 

immediately, ILDA is requiring its 150 members 

in 34 countries to reaffirm their knowledge and 

commitment to laser safety. Every member will 

sign a document saying they have read an ILDAprepared 

safety summary, and that they will not 

use pulsed lasers for audience scanning. Any 

member not signing the document will be removed 

from the association. 

Scaffolding Collapse Injures Four 

CHESHIRE, CT — The music director 

and three others preparing for a July 

18 youth performance of Once Upon a 

Mattress were injured when scaffolding 

erected above an outdoor stage collapsed 

about 40 minutes before the opening of 

the show. The scaffolding fell with enough 

force to destroy a piano and set of drums. 

Two of the four, including the music 

director, were treated and released. The 

other two received minor injuries that 

did not require a hospital visit. The performance 

was cancelled on Friday, but 

the production of the Cheshire Youth 

Theatre’s show went on for both Saturday 

and Sunday nights. 

ETC Sues Lightronics for 

Patent Infringement 


MIDDLETON, WI — Electronic Theatre 

Controls (ETC) filed a patent infringement 

suit against Lightronics Inc. 

seeking unspecified damages in U.S. 

District Court. The action was filed with 

co-plaintiffs David Cunningham and 

Gregory Esakoff. Cunningham and Esakoff 

are the inventors and owners of the 

Source Four ellipsoidal spotlight design, 

which they have exclusively licensed to 

ETC. The suit alleges that Lightronics 

knowingly and willfully infringed and 

continues to infringe certain U.S. Patents 

covering the ETC Source Four ellipsoidal 

reflector spotlight. 

“ETC places a very high value on the 

intellectual property surrounding the 

Source Four product, and we will vigorously 

defend it against illegal patent infringement,” 

said Fred Foster, ETC CEO. 

“Patent protection in the lighting 

industry provides a key incentive for 

new product development and innovation,” 

said David Cunningham. “Patent 

infringement has the effect of removing 

this incentive and would eventually 

have a negative effect on new product 

innovation.” 

“ETC has a long history of significant 

and continuous investment in the development 

of the Source Four product 

line. Patent protection is a key enabling 

factor in this development program,” 

Foster added. 

8 PLSN AUGUST 2008

“The” vs. “A” 

Kevin Mitchell’s article on Strand Lighting 

(PLSN, July 2008, page 34) was very 

informative, but it says, “Joseph Levy and 

Edward Kook invented the ellipsoidal reflector 

spotlight and called it the Lekolite…” 

The Lekolite was not the first, only 

the most popular at the time and the market 

leader for decades. 

— Bryan H. Ackler 


Lighting a Dual-Purpose Space on the Hudson 

NEW YORK — Part events hall and 

part nightclub, the 10,000-square foot 

Hudson Terrace serves a corporate clientele 

weekdays. On weekends, it transforms 

into a nightclub. The lighting for 

the space, co-owned by Sean McGill and 

Michael Sinensky, was designed with its 

two purposes in mind. 

There are two floors of entertainment: 

a 6,000-square-foot lower level and a 

4,000-square-foot semi-enclosed rooftop 

terrace. A Chauvet DV Wall video system defines 

the lower level by covering the ceiling 

in two 15-square-foot sections. Mounted 

in this manner, the LED video wall made it 

possible to bypass the use of a traditional 

screen, which would have required a projector 

that might be partially or fully blocked by 

guests. 

A light show for both the corporate and 

nightclub crowds complements the video 

ceiling. Music and technical director Steven 

Petrik used 

mostly Chauvet 

fixtures fitted 

with LEDs, citing 

their “low energy 

consumption, extended 

life and 

the lack of heat.” 

The system 

uses 12 Intimidator 

2.0 HTI scanners, 

41 Colorstrip LED 

strip wash lights 

and 12 Colorsplash 

196 LED pods. A 

Chauvet DMX-40B 

controller is used 

for control. McGill 

and Sinensky are 

also co-owners of 

New York’s Webster 

Hall. 

Two floors of visual entertainment serve corporate functions and night revelers. 

Letters to the Editor 

Gear for Smaller Bands 

When are we going to see gear for the 

local and regional size bands? It seems to me 

that the only gear I see in your mag is for national 

acts. What happened to the other gear? 

Maybe you should do an issue on the little 

guys for a change. We can blow your socks off. 

We at PLSN love the little guys as much 

as the big guys (and girls). Please send us hires 

pictures of your production to pr@plsn. 

com along with a little information about the 

event and we’ll blow your socks off too. — ed. 

Feeding the guys with all the teeth 

I laughed at your inspector story (PLSN, 

Focus on Fundamentals, July 2008). I was in 

Victoria British Columbia and was about to 

hook up the 400/600 amp transformer, when 

I get this tap on the shoulder. I turned around 

to find the head electrical inspector for all 

of Canada. He starts into me about the cam 

locks and how they need to be covered and 

tie wrapped with mesh, and wants to see verification 

on fixtures. I was startled at first but 

after I calmed him down a little, I suggested 

we go to catering and have a cup of coffee. 

Soon he was eating breakfast and chatting 

up with our cute Irish caterer Kelly. After a 

while he had gone from inspector to tourist. 

We gave him some swag and a tour of the 

bus and stage. I assured him that we are very 

careful and not to worry. Before you know it, I 

will be in the next town. So he puts the word 

out. Every town we hit in Canada, I was met by 

the local inspector who could have cared less 

if were up to code. They just wanted the food 

and T-shirts. —Geoff Dixon 

So swag sells, too? Even though it’s rare to 

see electrical inspectors at concerts and touring 

events, it pays to play it safe. — ed. 

Calendar of Events 

ESTA/USITT Advanced Training 

(Lighting, Console, Electrical) 

Aug. 18-21 

Intelligent Lighting Creations 

Arlington Heights, IL 

www.estafoundation.org/seminars/schedule.php 

PAL Show 

Aug. 24-25 

Toronto International Centre 

Toronto 

www.palshowcase.com 

PLASA Show 

Sept. 7-10 

Earl’s Court 

London 

www.plasashow.com 

Prolight + Sound Shanghai 

Oct. 9-12 

Shanghai New International Expo Centre 

Shanghai, China 

http://pls.messefrankfurt.com 

LDI 

Oct. 20-26 

Las Vegas, NV 

www.ldishow.org 

NEWS 

USITT Essential Electrical Training 

Oct. 21-22 

Las Vegas, NV 

www.usitt.org 



2008 AUGUST PLSN 

9

NEWS 


LEDs Amplify VH1’s Tribute to The Who 

VH1’s Rock Honors paid homage to Pete Townsend and The Who. 

LOS ANGELES — LD Tom Kenny has a 

long history with both VH1 and The Who, 

so he was a natural choice to design the 

lighting for VH1’s third annual Rock Honors, 

where a variety of bands paid homage to 

The Who. Kenny relied on Coemar Infinity 

Wash XL and ParLite LED lights to amp up 

the visuals of VH1’s tribute. 

“The Who are innovators of rock ’n’ roll 

lighting and visuals. From the 1970s on, 

they have always tried to be on the cutting 

edge,” Kenny said. In all, 120 Infinity Wash 

XLs and 160 ParLite LEDs are part of the large 

rig used on the UCLA-based Pauley Pavilion 

set designed by Keith Raywood for the Rock 

Honors show, which aired last month. 

“The lights multi-tasked because the 

show encompassed lots of different looks,” 

Kenny said. “They needed to be really versatile 

and afford lots of options.” The 1400-watt 

Infinity Wash XLs have a CMY-S color mixing 

system and effects and features include dimming, 

indexable beam shaping in 360°, pan/ 

tilt and a 6° to 80° zoom. 

The ParLite LEDs come with four automated 

programs of color changing and 

fading. They also offer full-range dimming, 

synchronized or random strobe effects and 

a range of colors generated by a convergent 

RGB color system. The 36 LED Luxeon 

lights, 1-watt each, have a life expectancy 

of 100,000 hours. 

“I chose a lamp that would be very 

powerful and a beam that would accommodate 

the looks needed for this huge 

rock ‘n’ roll night,” Kenny said. “And I chose 

hazebase base hazers because I needed 

a really nice, thin, water-based system. 

These hazers are truly fantastic. They are 

anything but fragile, and work very well. 

They do it all.” 

The first Rock Honors show to pay homage 

to just one band, the musical tribute 

includes performances from Pearl Jam, Foo 

Fighters and The Flaming Lips, plus appearances 

by Incubus, Tenacious D, Adam Sandler, 

Sean Penn, Rainn Wilson and David 

Duchovny. 

AV Company 

Helps CI Make 

Splash in NYC 

NEW YORK — Conservation International 

(CI) partnered with AV Concepts for the 11th 

Annual New York Dinner held at the American 

Museum of Natural History in New York City. 

The main event was held in The Hall of Ocean 

Life, which features a 94-foot life-sized replica 

of a blue whale hanging in the center. 

The museum has no loading dock for 

large trucks, so the semi full of gear had to be 

broken down in Long Island and the equipment 

parceled into four smaller trucks to accommodate 

delivery to the venue. The hall 

also has no rigging points and this required 

the Meyer M1D Line Array speaker system to 

be mounted on Genie lifts. 

The lighting was hung from the second 

level on a series of steel light trees and operated 

by a Wholehog lighting console. Video 

for the show was handled by 12K HD projectors, 

with all HD play back. AV Concepts also 

utilized a two camera switching system for 

IMAG and record. Events took place in three 

separate areas of the museum and necessitated 

a large crew including three project 

managers, one for each area. 

Show setup was further complicated because 

it is a working museum with immovable 

hours of operation. AV Concepts only 

had 5 1⁄2 hours from load-in to opening, a 

process that normally is accommodated by a 

more flexible 10-hour time frame. 

Speakers included Tom Brokaw interviewing 

GE CEO Jeff Immelt about the power 

of business to catalyze global change for the 

better. Conservation International CEO Peter 

Seligmann also took the stage to share his 

view of human societies living in balance 

with nature. 


A life-sized blue whale served as the visual centerpiece for CI’s 

gala held at the American Museum of Natural History. 



INTERNATIONAL NEWS 


Lighting Takes VW Buyers to a New Level 

WOLFSBURG, Germany — Since 2000, 

more than a million new car buyers picking 

up the keys to their vehicles at the 

Volkswagen factory here have been taken 

for a ride — skyward, up through glass silos 

housing their new cars. The two towers 

have each been updated with lighting to 

take the experience to a new level. 

Part of Autostadt, a factory attraction 

that includes a museum, cinema and pavilions 

for each manufacturer in the Volkswagen 

group, the 52-meter-high silos have 

incorporated a vertical progression of 

moving light as new owners rise through 

the buildings in glass elevators. The cars 

themselves arrive in the structures via a 

700-meter underground tunnel. 

Each silo is equipped with 16 Martin 

MAC 2000 Wash luminaires — eight in the 

basement and another eight on the top 

floor. They shine light that moves in sync 

with the rising elevators, creating different 

moods as new car buyers ascend and descend, 

without obstructing the view visitors 

have of the Autostadt complex. 

“The task was to create a lighting production 

equally effective, both for the visitors 

in the elevator and those outside in the 

park,” said Thomas Wlocka, project manager 

of technical event management at Autostadt, 

who handled the lighting design. 

The control commands for the various 

moods are accessed at the elevator’s 

switchgear cabinet, which is used to start 

the individual lighting sequences. The 

new lighting requires one-third less power 

than the original lighting used for the 

structures. 

New cars arrive in the glass-encased silos via tunnels. 

New Playhouse Gets Dramatic, 

But Not Behind the Scenes 

venue, the Operaen 

(Copenhagen 

Opera 

House) — including 

ETC’s 

Net3 (ACN) 

Ethernet show 

network and 

SineWave distributed 

dimming,” 

Jørgensen 

said. “But 

in addition to 

this they also 

chose to have 

SineWave installation 

dimmers.” 

The main stage uses over 1,200 ways of ETC’s Sine Wave dimming and switches. 

COPENHAGEN — The Royal Danish As each staged drama builds to 

Theatre’s new harborside playhouse a crescendo, there may be plenty of 

opened earlier this year with a production 

of Hamlet, and the 750-seat tant element in the audience’s suspen- 

noise on stage. But an equally impor- 

venue has become the site for all of sion of disbelief is the ability to focus in 

the dramas that used to be staged on the quieter moments with minimal 

across town at the Theatre’s Staerekassen 

(New Stage). 

“Performances are often quiet, so 

distractions. 

But if the main stage is now home it is vital that the luminaires and filaments 

make as little noise as possible,” 

to all sorts of anguish and tragedy, ETC 

distributor Bico Professional A/S did its said Tim Stokholm, ETC’s regional manager 

for Northern Europe. “The last 

best to minimize the drama behind the 

scenes as the crew installed the Royal thing you would want during a quiet 

Danish Playhouse’s lighting and dimming 

system. 

than the performers.” 

scene is the lamp buzz being louder 

“We had recently worked with ETC ETC’s SineWave dimming, Stokholm 

on another project and knew them to said, “removes audible filament buzz.” 

be a safe solution, and that they could He added that venues have also found 

easily supply everything we needed,” their energy costs reduced, and because 

said Søren Jørgensen, project manager there is less stress on the filament, lamps 

for Bico Professional. 

require frequent replacement. “The distributed 

ETC SineWave dimmers in the 

The main stage makes use of over 

1,200 ways of ETC’s Sine Wave dimming lighting bridges have given the theatre 

and switches, including 840 ways of a huge flexibility and provided cost savings 

in the installation.” 

ETC Matrix Mk II modular install dimmers 

and 360 ways of ETC distributed The Playhouse’s main stage was inspired 

by northern Italian renaissance 

SineWave Power Bars. In addition to 

this, the Studio stage makes use of 260 theatre, with its horseshoe shaped 

ways of ETC Sensor+ SCR dimming. galleries. The secondary stage, seating 

250, is known as Portscenen (The 

There are some 150 Source Four 

conventional luminaires and 24 Source Gate Stage), reflecting the fact that the 

Four Revolution moving lights, as well as large doors in the northern wall can 

over 40 Source Four HID Junior Zooms be opened to draw the stage out onto 

in the foyer, which are controlled by an the harborside quay. The theatre’s intimate 

Studio Stage seats an audience of 

ETC Unison house light system. 

“The specification called for the about 100. In addition to dramas, the 

same type of network and equipment 

as we already had at its sister certs, debates and 

venue hosts children’s activities, con- 

lectures. 

Fancy LED Footwork for 

Lloyds Banking CSMs 

LONDON — LEDs gave life to a new set of 

dance steps at a conference staged for some 

1,300 Lloyds TSB customer service managers. 

LD Nick Gray used new PixelArt strips from PixelRange 

to highlight the grand entrance of TV 

dancing celebrities at the event. Lloyds chose 

“Strictly Recommended” as the theme, fusing 

the coaching and training emphasis for the 

event with the name of a popular British dance 

show. 

“For this show we wanted 

something a bit more subtle 

than a PixelLine 1044 or 110, but 

with just as much punch,” said 

Gray, of the corporate event designed 

to help the bank launch a 

new training initiative. The stairwell 

used for the dancers’ entrance 

was built with 24 PixelArts 

LED strips. “We were looking for a 

more defined look without being 

too high resolution,” Gray added. 

“The PixelArts offered the flexibility 

of high output effects and 

video — and the fact they are so 

BERLIN — On Kool Savas’ recently-concluded 

Tod oder Lebendig Rebirth Tour 2008, 

Gunnar Loose lit 13 shows in Germanspeaking 

countries for the Berlin-based, 

German-Turkish rap star using GLP Impression 

luminaires. 

Loose, who has also lit Revolverheld 

and Bushido, used 24 of the LED moving 

heads to create the look of a much bigger 

rig and still travel with a relatively light 

touring load, which could quickly adapt to 

a variety of concert venues. The luminaires 

were controlled from a Chamsys console. 

“The impression combines high light 

output with very low power consumption, 

light weight made life easy as well.” 

The stage, which also used a ground row 

of 20 PixelLine 1044s to uplight the rear drape, 

was designed by Conference Connections and 

developed in conjunction with Ian Harvey 

from Sculptivate and Renegade lighting design. 

The lighting, supplied by Neg Earth, was 

programmed via a Catalyst PM controlled by 

a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2 console and 

Wing, operated by Trent O’Connor. 

LED Moving Heads Play Key 

Role for Kool Savas Tour 

The 24 LED moving heads fit within a single trailer attached to Kool Savas’ tour bus. 

Dance celebrities used the LED-lit steps for their entrance to the event. 

which is of great importance on tours with 

very variable lighting sets,” Loose said. “The 

lightness of these compact moving heads 

was of crucial importance on this tour, 

since all the lighting equipment had to be 

packed into a single trailer attached to the 

tour bus. With 24 conventional washlights 

that would have been unthinkable.” 

Loose mounted the moving heads in a 

six-by-four matrix on three dollies. “Thanks 

to the impression’s rapid pan/tilt movement, 

it was possible to create highly effective 

kinetic effects, even in the matrix,” 

he said. 


GLASTONBURY, U.K. — A wide variety of 

lighting gear from Robe, Martin and other manufacturers 

kept this years Glastonbury Festival of 

Contemporary Music and Dance attendees moving 

to a variety of different beats across several 

stages for its recent three-day run, controlled by 

at least 28 different Avolites lighting console. 

At the Jazz World stage, featuring performances 

by Jimmy Cliff, Estelle, Joan Armatrading, 

Ethiopiques, Eddy Grant, Manu Chao and others, 

DPL supplied the lighting for the second year 

running. DPL director Pete Watts used an Avo 

Diamond 4 Vision to control 28 moving lights, including 

instruments from Robe and Martin. 

The Robe gear included 12 Robe ColorSpot 

1200E ATs and six Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs. 

The stage also featured an assortment of PARs, 

ACLs and ETC Source Four profiles, plus ChromaQ 

db4 LED battens, a backdrop of 42 square 

meters of ChromaQ ColorWeb LED and three 

Robe 8-lite LEDBlinder 196 LT fixtures atop the 

PA towers for audience illumination. 

It was the first time that Watts had used the 

ColorWash 2500E ATs for one of his designs, 

which he describes as “ludicrously bright.” On 

the front truss they replaced all the PARs that 

he’d used the previous year, in the process 

reducing the overall power consumption by 

approximately 70 amps a phase. 

A Hippotizer v3 digital media server triggered 

by the D4 fed the LED fixtures with content. 

“The D4 is flexible, powerful and gives 

instant access to everything, which — when 

you have moving lights, generics, digital and architectural 

lighting, plus visiting LEDs to accommodate 

— is absolutely essential,” Watts said. 

Neg Earth supplied all the lighting equipment 

on the Pyramid and Other stages, featuring 

performances by Amy Winehouse, 

lit by LD Chris Bushell, the Editors, lit by LD 

Chris Steel and the Verve. The Pyramid stage 

used 18 Robe ColorSpot 2500s and six Robe 

8-lite LEDBlinder 196 LTs, operated by Andy 

“Fraggle” Porter. Rob Gawler and Paul “PK” Kell 

babysat the rig on the Other stage. 

The Dance Village stages included the 

East and West dance stages and also The 

Glade, the Continental Drifts stage and the 

Baseline Circus/Shangri La tents. 

On the West Dance Stage, Jaz Bullah and Stuart 

“Woody” Wood operated another Diamond 

4 Vision. They split the operational duties into 

shifts, and Colour Sound Experiment supplied 

the lighting gear. The Avo D4 was controlling 18 

Robe moving lights, Atomic strobes, PARs, 2-lites 

and i-Pix BB7 and BB4 LED wash lights. 

Colour Sound Experiment also supplied Avo 

desks to the G Stage (a Pearl Expert, operated 

by Toby Lovegrove), The Silent Disco (a Pearl Expert, 

operated by Lester McLure), the Dance Village 

Lounge Bar (a Pearl 2004, operated by the 

Colour Sound Collective), the Continental Drifts 

stage (a Pearl Expert, operated by Adam Povey), 

the Baseline Circus/Shangri La tent (a Diamond 4 

Elite, operated by Alan King) and five Pearl Tigers 

covering lighting control in the larger of the 18 

Workers Beer Company bars across the site. 

The Silent Disco tent was lit with eight 

ColorWash 575E ATs, and The Glade relied on 

eight ColorSpot and eight ColorWash 575E 

ATs. For the Continental Drifts stage, there 

were four ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E ATs. 

The Baseline Circus featured six ColorSpot 

and six ColorWash 575E ATs. 

Fineline once again serviced the Theatre, 

the Circus Big Top, the Cabaret and the Acoustic 

stages. The Acoustic Tent lighting was designed 

by Rob Sangwell and controlled with 

a D4 operated by Sangwell and Mike Dicken. 

That rig included Martin and Robe moving 

lights and assorted conventionals. 


Fineline also supplied lighting for the Outdoor 

Circus stage, controlled by a Pearl 2004 operated 

by Chris Drake, the Blazing Saddle stage, 

run with a Pearl 2004 operated by Tim Williams. 

South West Audio supplied lighting for 

the John Peel Tent with a rig designed by Cate 

Carter. She specified an Avo Diamond 4 Elite 

console to operate 24 Robe moving lights and 

72 channels of Avo dimming for PARs and other 

conventionals. 

South West Audio also used a Pearl Expert 

for the main stage in The Park area, where the 

rig was and operated by Marc Rogers. This 

stage featured performances by Pete Doherty, 

CSS and My Morning Jacket. 

Also in The Park, the Radio 

1 Introducing Stage’s lighting 

was controlled by another 

Pearl 2004 from SW Audio, operated 

by Liam Griffiths. 

In the Fields of Avalon, 

GLS served again as lighting 

contractors, with an Avo 

Diamond 4 programmed and 

operated by Will Thomas and 

Matt Morris. 

Siyan supplied a Pearl 2004 

and lighting for the Leftfield 

stage, with John Baker looking 

after FOH and the console. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Glasto Tents Brightened by New Gear 

An Avo D4 controlled 18 Robe moving lights on the West Dance stage. 



13

ON THE MOVE 


A.C.T Lighting named LS Media as the 

company’s Canadian representative. LS Media 

will represent A.C.T’s portfolio of lighting 

products, which includes MA Lighting, 

Brother Brother & Sons, Reel EFX, Zero88 and 

a variety of cable, connectors and assemblies. 

Hugo Larin serves as national sales director 

at LS Media, which maintains a Web site at 

www.lsmediapro.ca. 

AV Concepts has announced that Charlaine 

Caley has joined the company as account 

executive at the San Diego Convention 

Center (SDCC). She will be working with Richard 

Hancock who was recently promoted to 

director of sales for AV services at the SDCC. 

Coolux International, distributor of the 

Pandoras Box line of media server products, 

has moved. The new address is: 5312 Derry 

Ave, Suite C, Agoura Hills, CA 91301. The 

phone and fax numbers remain the same. 

Doug Fleenor Design, a manufacturer 

of DMX512 distribution and interface equipment, 

announced the appointment of two 

new employees, Bryan Fisher and Matthew 

(Matt) Walker. The company also announced 

the departure of Ken Wagner. 

Da-Lite Screen Company announced 

that several on its staff have attained LEED 

AP Certification, awarded through the U.S. 

Green Building Council (USGBC). They include 

Sean Bullock, David Kolb, Fred Scruti, 

Jeff Siebert, David Sweeney and Andre White, 

sales consultants, Dan Kramer, sales partner 

and Adam Armstrong, architectural specialist. 

Through its LEED (Leadership in Energy 

and Environmental Design) Green Building 

Rating System, USGBC endeavors to expand 

environmentally friendly building practices 

and education. LEED APs help administer the 

LEED Certification process. Da-Lite said that 

LEED AP accreditation will strengthen the 

company’s qualifications when responding 

to RFPs requiring LEED APs. 

Digital Projection International (DPI), 

a manufacturer of projection systems, has 

expanded operations in China with a new office 

in the southern city of Guangzhou. Under 

the direction of Bruce Xiong, manager of DP 

China, DPI now has three regional offices in 

China: Beijing in the north, Shanghai in the 

central region and Guangzhou in the south. 

Leo Lee heads the Guangzhou office. 

Excitement Technologies Group (ETG), 

a laser and special effects company, has completed 

its move to new facilities with additional 

resources and square footage near Dallas, 

TX. The new address is: 4301A Lindbergh 

Drive, Addison, TX 75001 

ETG’s staff in front of the new office in Addison, Tex. 

For-A, a manufacturer of video and audio 

systems for the broadcast and professional video 

industries, has formed For-A Latin America, 

Inc., and named Hiroaki Tanoue to dual posts 

as president of For-A Latin America Inc. and 

executive vice president of For-A Corporation 

of America. The newly-formed company will 

operate from the Miami office, at 5200 Blue Lagoon 

Drive, Suite 760, Miami, FL 33126, which 

For-A had opened in 2007 to serve the Latin 

American and Caribbean markets. 

Illumination Dynamics, an ARRI Group 

company, announced the appointment of 

Erin Yates as senior account manager for the 

Moving Lights/Theatrical division. 

Juice Goose, a manufacturer and distributor 

of electric power distribution, conditioning 

and control equipment, announced the appointment 

of F.M. Valenti, Inc., Peabody, Mass., 

as its sales representative for the northeast region, 

which includes the New York metropolitan 

area, New York State and New England. 

Kinetic Lighting, Inc. has moved to a larger 

facility in Sun Valley, Calif. The new address 

is 7672 Clybourn Ave., Sun Valley, CA 91352. 

Kinetic’s phone numbers remain the same. 

Lightfactor Sales announced that Mick 

Hannaford has left the company. Peter Coles 

continues as the primary point of contact for 

Lightfactor sales. Simon Sparrow and Emma 

Waissman, both with Cooper Controls, have 

recently joined the management team for 

Lightfactor, a Cooper Industries subsidiary. 

The Polaron Group acquired Lightfactor Sales 

in December 2004. Cooper Industries later 

acquired Polaron in March 2007. Lightfactor 

currently operates within the Cooper Controls 

division of Cooper Lighting. 

Leprecon LLC, a manufacturer of dimmers, 

consoles and custom racks for touring 

and permanent installations, has appointed 

the RPR Group as its new sales representative 

for the mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, 

Delaware, Virginia and the District of 

Columbia. The RPR Group is an independent 

rep firm specializing in audio, video and lighting 

products for the professional, retail and 

commercial markets. 

Osram announced that 

Leslie Trudeau has been 

named the Display/Optic 

NAFTA business unit manager, 

Entertainment. Reporting 

to Trudeau will be 

Mark DeLorenzo, entertainment 

product marketing Leslie Trudeau 

manager, Rob Hamerstrom, 

LED applications engineer and Skip Stewart, 

lampholder product marketing manager. 

Osram Display/Optic is a division of Osram 

GmbH, based in Berlin, Germany. 

Production Resource Group, L.L.C. 

has purchased Hi-Tech Rentals, Inc. Hi-Tech 

will continue to operate out of its Atlanta 

office and warehouse, which will become 

a strategic depot for PRG’s products and 

services. Hi-Tech has additional facilities 

in Orlando and Las Vegas, and supplies 

audio, video, lighting, and related services 

for trade shows, corporate meetings and 

other events. 

PRG has also announced that it has 

opened a sales office in the Denver area. 

The office will handle expendables as well 

as Clay Paky and Vari*Lite automated lighting 

fixtures for sale, targeting theatres, 

churches, auditoriums, office buildings, 

restaurants, retail stores and luxury residences. 

The new location is 11801D East 

33rd Avenue, Aurora, CO, 80010. The office 

phone number is 303.341.4848. 

Radius Group Inc., 

an event planning and 

production company specializing 

in corporate and 

private functions, has appointed 

Lance Roberts as 

COO. 

Sparks, an event marketing 

and custom retail 

fixture agency, announced 

the appointment of Joy 

Mossholder to vice president 

of business development 

for the company’s 

Custom Retail division. 

Lance Roberts 

Joy Small 

SSRC, a manufacturer of theatrical distribution 

products, has moved to a new facility. 

The new address is 170 Fortis Dr., Duncan, SC 

29334. The phone number remains the same. 

Stage Technologies, which is expanding 

its operations in London, Las Vegas, Hong 

Kong and Macau, has appointed Richard Willcox 

as its rental systems project manager. 

Tomcat Global’s Tomcat UK division 

has closed its manufacturing facility for 

truss and roofing in the U.K. Production 

of Tomcat products will shift to Slovakia 

and Italy under parent company Vitec 

Group’s Staging Systems Europe. Although 

manufacturing has shifted, Tomcat 

UK’s sales operations will continue, 

renamed as Tomcat Europe. Customer 

service, logistics and administrative activities 

will be managed directly out of 

Staging Systems Europe’s headquarters, 

located at Via Raffaello 31, 31021 Mogliani 

Veneto, Treviso (Italy). The phone 

number is +39 041 5960 089. 


TV One, which specializes 

in video, audio and 

multimedia processing 

equipment, has appointed 

Jay Gonzalez as southeast 

regional sales manager. 

Based in Atlanta, Gonzalez 

will oversee sales in a seven-state 

area, including 

Jay Gonzalez 

Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, 

South Carolina and North Carolina. 

14 PLSN August 2008


NEW PRODUCTS 

Anolis ArcControl 1024 


Anolis ArcControl 1024 is a programmable 

stand-alone wall-mounted DMX controller. It 

fits into a 47 mm deep back box. Surface mount 

and frame mount options are also available. The 

controller includes a library of all Anolis luminaires 

and other effects. The LCD display and 

scroll-wheel, combined with the real time astronomical 

clock, enable more complex sequences, 

timed events and colors to be added without 

using a computer. 

Anolis • 954.615.9100 • www.anolis.eu 

Chauvet DMX D-Fi 2.0 

The Chauvet DMX D-Fi 2.0 is a second generation 

wireless DMX transmitter/receiver that runs 

over distances as far as 120 meters (394 feet). 

Version 2.0 features six assignable frequencies, allowing 

the use of six universes inside one venue 

with additional options to deal with signal interference. 

Multiple units can also be assigned to a 

single frequency in order to split a signal. LED indicators 

indicate operating mode (transmitter or 

receiver), frequency and DMX signal transmission 

and keyhole slots allow for wall mounting. 

Chauvet • 800.762.1084 • www.chauvetlighting.com 

Elation Opti RGB Upgrades 


Elation Professional’s Opti RGB now comes standard 

with Neutrik 3-pin Data Connectors for DMX in 

and out, and the fixture is now ETL and cETL listed. 

The unit is available in black or white and features 

24 1-watt LEDs (8 each red, green and blue) for RGB 

color mixing. It draws 45 watts at full output and the 

LEDs are rated at 50,000 hours. It measures 11.5” x 

8.5” x 8.5” and weighs 11 pounds. An optional 45° 

lens kit (Opti RGB 45D Kit) and optional barn doors 

(Opti/BDB) are available, sold separately. The Opti 

RGB MSRP is $699.95. 

Elation Professional • 866.245.6726 • www.elationlighting.com 

ETC Source Four HID 

ETC’s new Source Four HID lighting fixtures 

incorporate the Philips MasterColor 70-watt CDM 

lamp to provide long operating life. For years, 

ETC’s Source Four HID family has offered the 

12,000-hour life and 3,000°K MasterColor 150-watt 

lamp in the Source Four. They are now available in 

a 70-watt version with a 70-watt MasterColor lamp. 

The lamp offers the same benefits as the 150-watt 

MasterColor, but in a more energy-efficient, lowwattage 

lamp. The 26° Source Four HID jr outputs 

4,575 lumens with a 150-watt HID lamp. The same 

fixture with the 70-watt lamp produces 2,800 lumens. 

Also available in CE version. 

Electronic Theatre Controls • 800.688.4116 • www.etcconnect.com 

J. R. Clancy PowerLift Motorized Winches 


J. R. Clancy’s PowerLift 

variable speed 0-20 fpm motorized 

winch has a load capacity 

of 2,000 pounds and no 

“bounce” at the start or end of 

a move. The company also offers 

a PowerLift fixed speed, 20 

fpm motorized winch with a 

load capacity of 1,200 pounds. 

J. R. Clancy says it is limiting the capacity of some of its winches to reduce the chance that operators 

may overload the lines in a three-line hoist setup. That is expected to reduce the chance that 

an operator will be accidentally putting more stress on a batten than it can handle. 

J. R. Clancy • 315.451.3440 or 800.836.1885 • www.jrclancy.com. 

16 

PLSN AUgUST 2008


Osram BTH Lamps 

Osram has introduced a new BTH lamp upgrade for 6” and 8” 

Fresnels. These new lamps are also suitable for PC Spots using 

medium pre-focus base lamps. The BTH is a 575W lamp operating 

on 115V and is a direct replacement for the 500-watt, 120-volt 

BTL lamps, providing 30 percent more lumens and a higher color 

temperature. Additionally, the rated output of the BTH of 15,500 

lumens is higher than the output of a BTL lamp at 11,000 lumens. 

At an average rated life of 300 hours, the BTH has the same life as 

most major SSTV lamp types. 

Osram Sylvania • 978.777.1900 • www.sylvania.com 

PR Lighting XL250 

PR Lighting has introduced two new automated fixtures, the 

XL250 (electronic ballast) and XL250M (magnetic ballast). Both feature 

a 250-watt lamp, interchangeable color gobos, 15° to 23° linear zoom, 

LCD display, 12 interchangeable dichroic color filters (plus white), bidirectional 

rainbow effect, color temperature correction filter, rotating 

gobo wheel with seven indexable, interchangeable glass gobos, fixed 

gobo wheel with 10 interchangeable metal gobos, iris, three-faceted 

rotating prism, frost, remote focus, dimmer, double strobe/shutter 

blades, 540° pan and 270° tilt. An energy-saving feature reduces lamp 

consumption to half at shutter closing or via control channel, and modular 

construction is designed to facilitate easy servicing. 

U.S. Distributor: Omnisistem • 253.395.9500 • www.omnisistem.com, 

Canada Distributor: Erikson Pro • 514.457.2555 • www.eriksonpro.com 

Artistic Licence RDM Splitter Upgrade 

Following the release of the RDM Standard 

V1.0 protocol, Artistic Licence has released an RDM 

Splitter Upgrade to convert its range of RDM splitters 

to support the new protocol. The company has 

been shipping three RDM Splitters — DMX-Split 

RDM, Rack-Split RDM and Rail-Split RDM, with RDM 

Draft V1.0 for the last five years. Now an upgrade 

module can transform all three Artistic Licence 

Splitters to use the latest version and still be backwards 

compatible with the Draft version. The upgrade 

involves the replacement of a single chip, and support manuals are downloadable at the 

company’s Web site. 

Artistic Licence • 852 2850 5930 • www.artisticlicence.com 

DARTSS — Delivery and Return Tracking and 

Scanning System 

New for production rental companies, DARTSS software 

is designed to eliminate paper-based show prep 

and return to improve customer service, inventory and 

cost control. DARTSS pulls orders from a rental management 

system using wireless barcode technology. Immediate 

validation on portable, handheld scanners indicates 

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Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info 

2008 August PLSN 

17

SHOWtIME 


ST 

Bonnaroo 2008 Comedy tent 

Venue: 

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 

Manchester, Tenn. 

Crew 

Lighting Director: Tony Caporale 

Crew Chief: Pat Haines 

Lighting Techs: John Hansen, Mike 

McKelroy, George Bush 

Video Company: 44 Pictures 

Production Manager: Hadden Hippsley 

Stage Manager: Rocky Benloulou 

Set Decor: Jackie Barsotti 

Gear 

Lighting Console: Flying Pig Systems 

Roadhog 

8 Bars of 6 ETC Source Four 575s 

4 Chainmaster ½-ton motors 

4 Fresnels (2K) 

2 Fresnels (5K) 

2 Genie lifts 

10 High End Studio Spot 575s 

Lighting Co. 

Theatrical Media Services 

Wella Future Vision 

ST 

Lighting Co. 

Insync Show Production 

Venue: 

Linda Chapin Theater, 

Orlando, Fla. 

Crew 

Promoter/Producer: John Moroney, 

Melanie Garibay, Mark Pontrelli 

Production Manager: John Kalata 

Lighting Designer/Director: Kraig Brown 

Lighting Technicians: Mark Welkie 

Set Design: John Morney/John Kalata 

Staging Company/Set Construction: 

Insync Show Production 

Video Company: Insync Show Production 

Rigger: OCCC Staff 

Staging Carpenter: Jeff Mclaughlin 

Pyrotechnics: Shane Carmelrich 

Video Director: Lance Payne, Roger Mouser 

Gear 

Lighting Console: Flying Pig Systems 

Wholehog w/wing 

3 Barco Folsom Encore Switcher 

4 Barco ImagePro Projectors 

4 Barco R12+ Projectors 

2 Barco XLM Projectors 

525 Element Labs HD Versa Tubes 

48 ETC Source Four Lekos 

1 Fora HD/SDI switcher 

3 Mac Quad-Core Towers 

24 Martin MAC 2000s 

6 motors (½-ton) 

4 Sony D55 Cameras 

12 Vari*Lite VL3500s 



DiEleuterio-Duffin Wedding 

ST 

Lighting Co. 

BEW Productions 

Venue: 

Cavaliers Country Club, Newark, Del. 

Crew 

Promoter/Producer: Main Light Industries 

Production Manager: Rob Hendry 

Lighting Designer/Director: Rob Hendry/Joe 

Pacini 

Automated Lighting Operator: Rob Hendry 

Lighting Technicians: John DiEleuterio, Rachael 

DiEleuterio, Mary Nash Goddard, Corey Sapp, 

Jaimie Watts, Joe Pacini 

Rigger: Rob Hendry 

Gear 

Lighting Console: MA Lighting grandMA Lite 

2 City Theatrical 12-way PSUs 

16 Coemar PARLeds, Silver 

12 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s, Black 

12 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s, White 

6 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 48s 

10 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72s 

1 High End Systems F-100 Fogger 

24’x13’ Main Light Industries LightScape Fiber 

Optic Curtain 

4’x30’ Main Light Industries LightScape Fiber 

Optic Curtain 

1 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes 

4 Martin MAC 250 Entours 

4 Martin QFX-150 Fiber Optic Illuminators 

8 Pro Span 10’x12”x12” Truss 

1 Reel EFX DF-50 Hazer 

ST 

Fox upfront 2008 

Venue: 

City Center 

New York, N.Y. 

Crew 

Lighting Designer: Neil McDonald 

Lighting Technician: Eric Potter 

Gear 

Lighting Console: PRG Virtuoso DX2 

9 City Theatrical 6U Power Supply 

PDS-375 TRs 

12 Coemar iWash Halos 

50 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 TRs 

136 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s, Black, 

Frosted Lens, 23º 

4 Entertainment Power Systems Moving 

Light Distribution Systems 

5 High End Systems Showguns 

9 Main Light Industries MF3s 

3 Martin MAC 2000 Performance Fixtures 

32 Martin MAC 2000 Profile II Es 

24 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures 

11 Tomcat Swing Wing Truss 

13 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash Fixtures 

Lighting Co. 

Creative Stage Lighting 

Air Guitar 2008 

ST 

Lighting Co. 

PRG 

Venue: 

Porthole Theater, Dana Point, Calif. 

Crew 

Promoter/Producer: Dana Hills Associated 

Student Union 

Production Manager: Neil Sampson 

Lighting Designer/Director: Eric Hoehn 

Automated Lighting Operator: Eric Hoehn, Lucas 

Jentsch 

Lighting Technicians: Sam White, Jillian Blades, 

Andrew Mitrak, Ryann Del Prado 

Set Design: Neil Sampson 

Set Construction: DHHS Lighting and Sound Crew 

Video Director: Michael Nulty 

Gear 

Lighting Console: Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 2 

38 Color Kinetics ColorBlast12s 

4 ETC 2.4k Sensor Dimmer Packs 

1 ETC Insight 2x Console 

18 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidals, 50 Degrees 

24 ETC Source Four PARs 

8 High End Systems Studio Color 575s 

5 High End Systems Studio Spot 575s 

2 Lycian Short Throw Followspots 

4 Manfrotto Fluid Head Tripods 

1 Panasonic DVX-100a Camcorder 

3 Sony VX 2100 Camcorders 

140’ Truss (20”) 

1 Videonics MX-4 Pro Video Mixer 


2008 AuGust PLSN 

19

INSIDE THEATRE 


Howell Binkley 

Lights the Heights 

All photos by JoAn MArcus 

Lighting and scrims depict 

Manhattan’s Washington H 

By Joycestorey 

He’s worked with such theatre legends 

as Stephen Sondheim (writer, 

Sweeney Todd), Hal Prince (director, 

Guys ‘n Dolls) and Arthur Laurent (writer/director, 

Gypsy). His resume reads like the Who’s 

Who of Broadway productions. His gallery of 

Broadway show posters, many of them signed, 

spans three rows on three walls. His threestory 

New York City brownstone is filled with 

Broadway mementos and pictures from show 

openings. Displayed on top his bookshelf is 

an array of honors: an Olivier Award (Kiss of 

the Spiderwoman), a Dora Award, five Helen 

Hayes Awards, a Tony Award (Jersey Boys) and 

a Tony nomination for In the Heights. With an 

extraordinary lineup of six shows currently 

running on the “Big Street” (Xanadu, Avenue 

Q, Jersey Boys, In the Heights, Cry Baby, Gypsy) 

Broadway lighting designer Howell Binkley is 

at the top of his game. 

A Kid from North Carolina 


So how does a kid from North Carolina 

end up among the Broadway elite? Binkley 

was introduced to the entertainment business 

at the ripe old age of 10. His neighbor 

was the IATSE local business agent and took 

Binkley along to unload trucks at the nearby 

2000-seat roadhouse on weekends. Recalls 

Binkley, “I’d look forward to every weekend 

because there’d be a symphony coming in or 

Alvin Ailey Dance Company or The Merchant 

of Venice. I loved it. At the end of the day he’d 

give me 50 bucks, which was a lot of money 

for a kid, but I was just having fun. 

“The North Carolina School of the Arts 

was in town and they had summer tours. I 

got to meet a bunch of techies and thought, 

‘Wow, these guys are cool.’ I just wanted to 

be a roadie. I did a lot of rock ‘n’ roll but the 

big theatre tour that I did was with the John 

Houseman Acting Company out of New York. 

We would go out on the road with five shows 

in rep. It was a great marketing tool because 

you could go to one theatre for a week and 

do five different shows. We didn’t carry our 

own lighting equipment. We had a rep plot 

that I could turn around in one day. Dennis 

Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of In the Heights, with a set by 

Anna Louizos lit by Howell Binkley. 

Parasheet was the LD and he was fantastic. He 

got me to New York.” 

Palette Layering 


When asked what sets his designs apart 

from other LDs, Binkley replies, “I’d say it’s the 

style in which I marry conventional lights and 

automated lights to keep it in the same palette. 

It’s all about layering. You need layers to 

really make a statement. Once you’ve established 

your foundation, you can always go to 

the automated light and make it more saturated 

or a lighter color. For example, if we’re 

in a forest and it’s all blue and green and turquoise, 

we need a nice light across the scrim 

to open it up and make purple sift through 

the scrim to feel like there’s a source of light 

coming from behind a rock. 

“Sometimes during sequences like a club 

or disco, I’ll get saturated, but I prefer a lot of 

clear focused light. I like to have enough color 

on the cyc to give me flexibility to go cool or 

warm with a lot of clear color, which I love. For 

transitional purposes I can totally silhouette 

a stage in a heartbeat. It’s important to have 

those tools in my pocket for the director.” 

Visual Fiestas 


Binkley has become a specialist at transforming 

smaller Off Broadway shows like Avenue 

Q and Golda’s Balcony into visual fiestas 

when they move to more elaborate Broadway 

venues. One of his most recent projects 

is In the Heights, a musical story about urban 

Hispanic culture in New York City’s Washington 

Heights, set to Latin rhythms and a Hip 

Hop beat. 

Comments Binkley, “Heights is very layered 

and stylized. When you walk in, you see 

a grown up Avenue Q. There are four buildings 

An Eye for Detail 

depicting a block in Washington 

Heights, two that are attached 

with scrim walls, so 

I can make them opaque or 

translucent. The George Washington 

Bridge is on the cyc. 

There’s very little automation. 

They didn’t have the budget.” 


Tony Award-winning set designer Anna 

Louizos’ attention to detail is evident in the 

replication of an uptown neighborhood. 

From the subway entrance to the detail in 

storefronts and bodega interiors, her set is a 

visual marvel. “Anna gave me an incredible 

playground,” says Binkley. “She established a 

community that gave me a wonderful palette 

“I’ve been a designer 25 years and I 

learn something new with every show. 

If you don’t, you might as well stop.” 

— Howell Binkley 

to layer. There’s a rack and a half of practicals 

in the show just covering the detail in the salon. 

Her in-depth, layered design is phenomenal, 

with all the air conditioners, the fans, the 

limousine dispatch. 

“We could front light the set pieces in 

many different variations, which would 

opaque the buildings, but then layer the 

other buildings in behind that were even further 

upstage, making them look even further 

in the distance. Also, the whole façade really 

worked as a template for me because I had 

designed a lot of template units and window 

backs to slice through. I found myself pulling 

the template out and letting the light shoot 

through scrim or a staircase or a fire escape. 

It would create its own template just from the 

shadow. I said, ‘My gosh, this is beautiful. Pull 

the temp.” 

Following the Story 


Though the set never changes throughout 

the show, the characters move through 

various geographic locations. Binkley gives 

some insight as to how he approaches such 

a project. “I treat it like a dance show. It’s a 

mystery ride of what people want in their 

lives. I had to have my plot ready so it would 

be able to travel. It lights across the street in 

the middle of the summer. They also go into 

a club, there’s a blackout 

in the city. It’s a stunning 

piece. It’s about where the 

story takes you. That’s the 

way I look at everything I 

do. It’s not about the lighting. It’s about the 

story you have to tell.” 

Successfully lighting a musical may require 

an aptitude for music itself, only so much 

of which can be taught. “The lighting has got 

to work with the music. How do you teach 

someone how to write a poem? You can learn 

all the mechanics, whether it’s going to rhyme 

or whether it’s iambic pentameter, but then 

you’ve got to put those parts together. I’m sure 

every designer has their own formula that they 

always keep with them. You have to develop a 

cuing formula. I just love the music. The music 

calls upon me — bumps, cut offs, going into 

things; it’s how you shift during that time. 

Continuing Education 


“I’ve been a designer 25 years and I learn 

something new with every show,” Binkley 

adds. “If you don’t, you might as well stop. 

You’ve got to take the newness that you want 

and try to get rid of what you don’t want. 

Usually I have a lot planned before I get to 

the theatre because I’ve seen the set, models 

and gone through several meetings with the 

director and set designer about their visions. 

You’ve got to put all that together into your 

own vision. A script has certain demands as 

to where the scene’s played, what they’re 

doing, location, time, day. There are a lot of 

big things there that start you off in your dissecting 

of how you’re going to light it. I like to 

start the journey chronologically from page 

one to 100. I like to know where I came from 

to know where I’m going.” 

Binkley’s style is painterly in the quality of 

its angles and colors. “Through the course of the 

show you’re visually telling the audience what 

kind of day it is and I think the colors you use 

lend a richness in value to the choices you’re going 

to make. I tried to enhance that visual with 

Heights by being a little bit richer with the color 

tones and hues than I normally would be.” 

Rich Amber, Vivid Blues 


He admits it was a challenge that took him 

a little bit out of his comfort zone. “Instead 

of clear white I went with a richer amber, the 

blues are a bit more rich. Then I found that I 

could slice through that with clear light to accent 

the area. So I could establish a surround 

with the color choices that I made, being able 

to pull out those areas where I wanted to focus 

on the characters. The background was totally 

layered, but our focus went to where the scene 

was being played. It was something I hadn’t 

20 

PLSN AugusT 2008

various geographic locations modeled on 

eights neighborhood. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast are lit by a rich palette of colors. 

Lighting, sound effects and the actors’ voices are carefully 

synchronized and orchestrated for maximum effect. 

done before. I enjoy using color but this was a 

risk and I felt our results were pleasing.” 

Binkley’s color palette starts with a 

warmth to reflect the summer heat on a city 

street, then moves on toward a citywide 

blackout, and culminates in a four-minute 

Fourth of July fireworks display. For budgetary 

reasons, there were no video or LED 

screens in the show. 

Ready to Rumble 


“I knew this would have to be an entire 

moving light spectacle, so I placed this on David 

Arch, my programmer, and Mark Simpson, 

my associate, to start building it,” Binkley says. 

“When we laid out the plot we made sure that 

we had ample coverage of the scrim, which 

we were going to shoot on, giving David the 

tools that he needed to make this work. We 

created a surround where the fireworks had 

to happen. It wasn’t just one area because 

when the fireworks actually start, the whole 

cast is looking out front so it needed to reflect 

on the actors and on the front of the façade of 

the building and echo to the scrim and over 

the bridge. It had to be 360°. 

“It was great working with Acme Sound 

to SMPTE that whole sequence. Sound and 

lighting together execute all the bursts, rumbles, 

rockets and explosions. Mark and David 

executed this with the grandMA [from MA 

Lighting], and I used an Obsession [from ETC] 

with the conventional system to keep the 

ground and the buildings alive where people 

were throughout the songs. There’s a lot of 

activity still occurring during the course of 

this whole fireworks sequence. It’s at the end 

of Act I where we see that the two leads are 

going to fall in love.” 

A Fiery Four Minutes 


Because of the intricacies of the programming 

and the effect they desired, Binkley and 

his team worked on this sequence every day 

for four weeks. They needed to get the timing 

just right so as to not take focus away 

from the actors or the text. They timed the 

bursts between dialogue and then followed 

back into the scene. Recalls Binkley, “It was a 

whole arcing of layering, and the execution of 

it all had to be very precise. Once we had a 

nice foundation laid in, that’s when we really 

started to pick it apart even more and really 

accentuate certain areas and colors, rumbles 

and explosions that would continuously happen. 

It’s a busy little four minutes and it was 

well worth the time.” 

Moments like that are among the reasons 

that Broadway audiences are willing to 

spend $100 per seat to take part in a journey 

together to a place based on neighborhoods 

just a $2 subway ride away, yet transformed 

by Broadway’s music, set and lighting designs 

— a magical world all its own. 


PRODUCTION PROFILE 


The four-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year has a stage designed with the wide-open spaces of stadiums in 

mind. It spans 200 feet. 

The lighting plot makes use of Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures and Syncrolite 10Ks for stadiums. 

Production designer Mike Swinford and programmer Mark Butts preprogrammed the show for three weeks in Nashville before 

taking it on the road. 

Lighting director David “Fuji” Convertino uses a Toshiba handheld PDA loaded with MA Lighting’s grandMA remote to do his preset 

focus before each show. 

22 PLSN August 2008 

Photos & Text by SteveJennings 

When Kenny Chesney’s Poets & Pirates 

Tour played San Francisco’s 

AT&T Park recently, it was another 

in a long line of summer stadium shows with 

Brooks & Dunn, LeAnne Rimes and Gary Allan. 

But unlike the other stadium shows, 

this one featured surprise duets with Steve 

Miller and Sammy Hagar. The 200-foot wide 

stage was a showcase for the talent and the 

production as well. As a four-time recipient 

of the Academy of Country Music award for 

Entertainer of the Year, Chesney lives up to 

his title with the help of production designer 

Mike Swinford, production manager Ed Wannebo 

and a crew to match their considerable 

talents. 

Stadiums, Sheds, Arenas 

This year’s tour was designed with the 

stadium layout in mind, since it makes a stop 

in one stadium or another almost every Saturday 

during the entire summer. The rest of 

the stops are in sheds and arenas. “The goal,” 

Swinford says, “was to fill the stage 180 degrees 

with production, as well as carry it out 

to the wings and to the very edges of the 

stage.” 

To help him realize his goal, he works 

with programmer Mark Butts. “Mark and I are 

pretty much joined at the hip when it comes 

to Kenny,” Swinford says. “We have worked 

together since his first headline tour and we 

both understand completely what Kenny 

will like and will not like. Generally the looks 

are signed off on very quickly.” 

The two of them spend about three 

weeks pre-programming the show using 

ESP Vision software in their Nashville studio 

before moving into rehearsals for another 

four weeks. 

The long programming sessions are important 

because much of the production 

hinges on a variety of automated lighting. 

This year’s lighting plot features two fixtures, 

Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures and Syncrolite 

10Ks. 

“They were used in last year’s show in a 

different configuration. We really liked the 

way they looked and the fast deployment of 

the pod design. Each pod carries Barco Mi- 

Trix LED video displays (33 panels each) as 

well as six VL2500 Spots. The lights are on a 

shaft that rotates so they store behind the 

screen for trouping. You can hang a large 

surface of lighting and video very quickly 

using these pods.” 

Cool Color, Easier to Get 

The VL3500s are used in all the venues 

and the Syncrolites are only used in stadium 

shows. Both fixtures, Swinford says, work 

very well in large venues. 

Lighting director David “Fuji” Convertino 

also likes the Vari-Lite fixtures. “I really 

like the colors their fixtures have,” he says. 

“They’ve always been incredible looking. 

The optics have always been the best, I feel.” 

That’s not to say that he doesn’t appreciate 

the Martin automated fixtures, which he 

calls “good units.” 

“When Vari-Lite was only renting fixtures, 

Martin was great because you could get 

their fixtures through any vendor. Vari-Lite 

has always had their diehard users though. 

Now with the 3000s, 3500s, 500s and so on, 

available through a lot of vendors, they’re 

easy for LDs to get.” 

Reliable Gear, and Crew 

When asked about the reliability of their 

fixtures, Convertino notes that “all lights can 

break at some point during a show.” The key, 

he says, is having reliable techs. 

“I just happen to have some of the greatest 

techs working on great lights. They are 

the weapon of choice for us, hands down.” 

Convertino uses a Toshiba handheld PDA 

to do his preset focus before every show. It’s 

loaded with MA Lighting grandMA off-line 

editor software, which communicates with 

his grandMA console at the front of house. 

He uses it as a wireless remote focus unit and 

it suits him well. 

“Having the Toshiba PDA with MA Lighting’s 

GrandMA remote on it makes life a 

whole lot easier,” Convertino says. “I can focus 

all my band positions from the stage and all 

the Syncrolites around the stadium from the 

stage. But PDA or not, when it rains — and it 

somehow always does — focusing sucks.” 

Getting the Jump 

Chesney tours almost year round and 

the production design process is almost as 

constant. Ed Wannebo and Mike Swinford 

start work on the production for the next 

year’s tour in mid-summer of the current 

year’ tour. 

“As far as getting a jump on the next year’s 

production,” Wannebo says, “Kenny wants to 

have the concept of the next tour in 3D rendered 

form, approved for development prior 

to the end of the current year’s tour. We are 

starting on next year as we speak. It’s great 

for me to be able to put a timeline together 

this far out. So by the end of the tour Kenny 

can get away for a while knowing what the 

next show will be like, and we can delve into 

the nuts and bolts of a new show.” 

“Kenny is usually signed off on the design 

before the current tour has ended,” Swinford 

says. “Ed and I then have about six months to 

go through and engineer every detail of the 

design components.” 

After the current tour, the various designers 

and managers have an annual production 

meeting to prepare for the upcoming 

tour and its various design elements. All 

of the department heads, riggers, management, 

Chesney, vendors, even label reps, get 

together and go over every aspect of the 

tour and the production.

Reliable techs are just as important as reliable gear, notes LD David “Fuji” Convertino. 

LD David “Fuji” Convertino uses a hand-held PDA to do his preset focus before each show. 

“It’s really a great productive time,” Wannebo 

says. “We’ve made radical changes to 

the design at that very meeting and moved 

on. It’s a time when you get numerous sets 

of eyes on things and critical input from 

their take on things. The best part is that everyone 

has their chance to take ownership 

of their elements and how it pertains to the 

big picture. We all walk away with a common 

knowledge of what needs to be done, 

and what’s expected of everyone. It’s a very 

cool process.” 

Wannebo has a background in lighting, 

and he enjoys participating in the design 

process. What he brings to the table is his 

experience and vantage point as both a designer 

and a production manager. 

“Ed is a master at putting a large show 

together that goes up and out very quickly,” 

Swinford says. “I think this year we have 16 

production trucks and they have been out in 

less than three hours.” 

Convertino agrees with Swinford’s assessment, 

but he has a slightly different take. 

“We are very lucky to have Ed. He knows 

what a pain in the ass focusing in a stadium 

is. So he makes arrangements for me to focus 

after the sun sets.” 

Four-time Entertainer of the Year 

Wannebo surmises that a rig as large as 

Chesney’s doesn’t run itself, nor does it load 

or maintain itself. “It’s a tribute to the whole 

team to be out with a production like this 

and have it run as smoothly as this does,” 

he says. “We do a mix of arenas, sheds and 

throw in 14 stadiums. Transitioning from 

one to the other and back can be a real challenge 

to the rhythm of load-in and -out, but 

the crew has done a fabulous job of keeping 

it straight.” 

Chesney is one of the rare artists who is 

not afraid to take on the monumental task of 

touring with a large rig. At times, it can seem 

as if he has mistakenly swapped rigs with 

the likes of Pink Floyd or Dave Matthews. For 

that, Wannebo and company are grateful. 

“We are very fortunate to have all the resources 

we need to be successful,” Wannebo 

says. “It comes from Kenny on down through 

the organization. It’s pretty motivating to be 

out with the four-time Entertainer of the Year 

too! That’s something we all take pride in.” 

Spending time with the crew is almost 

like visiting a family. They obviously get 

along well and the tone of the tour is definitely 

light hearted. 

“As far as the crew goes, you cannot find 

a better bunch of hard working, friendly 

people anywhere,” Swinford observes. “David 

‘Fuji’ Convertino drives the show every night 

to perfection. He is one of the best LDs I have 

had the pleasure to work with. And he likes 

good cigars as well. J.D. White has also been 

our head electrician since day one. J.D. and 

the team keep this massive amount of gear 

working smoothly every show.” 

“Most important,” Wannebo adds, “is the 

drive to keep the fun meter up in the red zone 

as often as possible. There’s nothing like a 

great time to breed another great time! Let’s 

get through the BS and get to the fun stuff.” 

As the show ends and the last door is 

closed on the last truck, the crew retires to 

their respective busses, laughing and joking 

all the way. 

“Just another day at the office,” Wannebo 

laughs. 

CREW 

Lighting Company: Morris Leasing of 

Nashville 

Lighting Designer: Mike Swinford 

Lighting Director: David “Fuji” Convertino 

Programmer: Mark Butts 

Crew Chief: J.D. White 

Lighting 2nd: Allen Gibson 

Tour Electrician: Jackson Beck 

Dimmer Tech: Chuck Myers 

Motor Tech: Robbie Sheen 

Structural Supervisor/VL Tech: John 

“Twenty” Erpp 

Cable/Structural Supervisor/VL Tech: 

Mike Turner 

Head VL Tech: Marshall Blair 

Tour Support: Phil Skobe, Jason Barbour, 

Carter Fulghum 

Cases: Daniel Wright 

Video Company: Screenworks 

Video Director: Jay Cooper 

Production Manager: Ed Wannebo 

Tour Manager: David Farmer 

GEAR 

Lighting Console: MA Lighting grandMA 

87 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots 





40 Martin Atomic 3K Strobes 

Ed Wannebo and production designer Mike Swinford start work on the production for the next year’s Kenny Chesney tour in midsummer 

of the current year’s tour. 

Chesney tours almost year round and the production design process is just as constant. 

The crew makes every attempt possible to “get through the BS and get to the fun stuff,” according to Ed Wannebo. 


23

INstALLAtIONs 

Tops 

in its 

Class 

The performance stage at Berklee College of Music gets a careful update 

By Kevin M. Mitchell 

The Berklee Performance Center hosts more than 200 events per year, and has been called a premier venue for jazz and pop. 

Brad Berger, associate director of 

production for Berklee College of 

Music’s Berklee Performance Center, 

oversees a performance space that has to 

be a lot of things to a lot of people, year in 

and year out. And a recent renovation will 

help it be even more. 

The space, the largest of five on the 

Berklee campus, is host to at least 200 

events a year, including classical music 

to electronica, jazz to hard rock and bluegrass 

to hip-hop. The Boston Globe refers 

to it as “one of the premier venues for jazz 

and pop in the country.” 

Former students include such luminaries 

as Quincy Jones, Keith Jarrett, Steve Vai, 

Aimee Mann and Melissa Etheridge. The 

credit for nurturing these and other great 

talents may go primarily to the faculty. But 

the school’s facilities for rehearsal and performance 

also play a role. 

When it came time to give the historic 

space a major upgrade, including the installation 

of newly configured lighting and video 

systems, Berger knew that the changes 

would have to be done with a great deal of 

care, thought and consideration to avoid the 

risk of tampering with its success. 

The Evolution of a Renovation PLSN 

The Berklee Performance Center dates 

back to 1915, when it was called the Fenway 

Theater. It started as a home for vaudeville, 

then became a movie theatre. Berklee 

bought it in 1972 and renovated it to enlarge 

the stage. 

Berger, who has been with Berklee for 26 

years, says the most recent upgrade is part 

of a continuing cycle of improvements that 

started in 2001 with an upgrade to the sound 

system and other minor improvements. 

In 2004, the focus shifted to the theatre’s 

soft goods, and all the theatre’s old-fashioned 

cotton fabrics were replaced with flame resistant 

IFR curtains from Rose Brand. That has 

eliminated the need to treat the fabrics with 

flame retardant every year. 

The most recent round of renovation, 

starting last summer with another phase 

of work done over the winter holidays, involved 

upgrades to the lighting system, 

video system and seating. Berger says that 

the replacement of the line set system for 

the space’s lighting electrics, while still 

functional, was long overdue. 

Switching to a New System PLSN 

“It was over 30 years old, so we felt it 

made more sense to replace rather than 

to continue to do increasingly more expensive 

maintenance on it,” he explains. 

“Some of it was much older than the 

30-year-old loft blocks, and some might 

have been from the original theatre.” 

Berger notes that, despite the older 

system’s age, the upgrade wasn’t prompted 

by fears of impending catastrophe. 

“It was not a critical safety issue that 

prompted us to do it. We were just trying 

to proactive instead of reactive.” 

But it also wasn’t a small touch-up. 

“This last one — with the lighting, sets, 

sound and seating — it had us turning 

the theatre dark for six weeks. That’s the 

longest it’s ever been dark. We were rushing 

around and finished two days before 

the first event of the fall season.” 

The lighting system is controlled primarily 

through an ETC Express 72/144 

control console. It is a computer assisted 

manual control system consisting of a 

72-channel two-scene or 144 channel 

one-scene, either of which has 24 submaters. 

The Express is located in the balcony 

of the theatre. Dimming is courtesy 

of Entertainment Technology IPS-DS-1206 

dimmers. There are a total of 132 channels 

of 1.2k dimming available. 

A Conventional Rig 


The theatre now has an array of ETC 

Source Four Lekos and PARs in varying beam 

angles. A ClearCom intercom system provides 

communication between locations for sound 

and lighting at multiple stations. 

The ETC console is one of the more popular 

theatrical consoles, so many visiting LDs 

are comfortable with it. It’s used with conventional 

lighting for the most part. 

“We don’t have a moving light package,” 

Berger says, “but about half a dozen times a 

year we’ll bring in a rental package and we’ll 

usually bring in a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 

to run that.” 

A recent case in point was Berklee’s Singers 

Showcase earlier this year. Students ran 

the moving light package brought in for that 

event from start to finish. 

“Everything we do here is student-run,” 

Berger says. “They design the shows, operate 

it, put it in the air, everything. So this is a great 

experience for them.” 

For Singers Showcase, the conventional 

rig was supplemented with about two dozen 

moving lights, primarily Martin MAC 250s and 

700s, according to Berger. 

Special events also give the students the 

opportunity to learn with “vertical trussing, 

and sometimes we’ll bring in additional soft 

goods, like stretch spandex,” Berger adds. 

Firmly Seated Opinions 


The most challenging aspect of the renovation, 

logistically and politically, was replacing 

the seats. “The problem is that we’re a 

relatively small theatre, so we couldn’t lose 

seats,” Berger says. “That meant the size of the 

new seats had to be exactly the same as the 

old ones.” 

The seating selection process took longer 

than one might have expected. “It was a pretty 

long process in picking them out because 

the college administrators were involved. 

They would say one was too soft, another 

not comfortable enough. Then there was 

the need to pick the colors. Everybody had 

an opinion. The administration got more 

involved with that than they did with any 

other aspect of the renovation.” 

Stoughton, Mass.-based Highland 

Seating, which had installed the original 

seats in 1972, were called in once more 

to supply and install the seats. In the span 

of a short Christmas break, they replaced 

1,215 seats. “That was a big ticket item, 

costing us better than a quarter of a million,” 

Berger says. 

The upgrades will most likely continue 

in the years ahead, including the likelihood 

that moving lights will some day become 

a permanent part of the theatre’s future 

rig. “That will really be a big ticket item,” 

he says. “And the technology changes so 

fast. We’re talking to some manufacturers 

about partnering with them on that.” 

The lighting system layout, which hasn’t 

changed much in the last 25 years, has room 

for improvement, but Berger is pleased with 

the progress made so far. “The biggest challenge 

is always just making the budget and 

time lines work,” he says. 

Sweet Video Suite 


Another area of progress is with the 

video system. For years, whenever Berklee 

students wanted to capture a concert 

event on video — which was often — the 

equipment would take up the back two 

rows of the precious few seats. A few years 

ago, the school punched a hole through 

the wall and set up a control room in the 

adjacent room. 

In the past year, that space has been 

expanded into a full-blown audio/video 

suite, all run by students — and apparently 

run very well. They turn out DVDs in the 

same day for every event in the space. The 



An ETC Express 72/144 console controls the lighting, and a control room also 

helps students capture concerts on video. 

DVDs are sold or given out, and more importantly, 

placed in the library so students 

can review past performances. 

Reggie Lofton is the institution’s associate 

director of video services. He says 

that many of the students who work in the 

production facility typically have other 

goals, like becoming a performing artist, 

many of them end up working in the 

production industry for such manufacturers 

and production companies as Vari-Lite, 

Bandit Lites, High End Systems or for local 

production companies. 

Brad Berger, associate director of production, left, and Reggie Lofton, associate director of video services, 

help the students run the shows. 

An SDI Rig 


Lofton has been with the school for 25 

years and he is enthused about the recent 

upgrade. “It’s an SDI rig and we’re using primarily 

Sony equipment,” he says, referring 

to the serial digital interface system. “We 

have a Sony switcher, the DFS 700A, and all 

Sony monitors. We’re using the Sony DV- 

CAM format and have a total of five cameras: 

three Sony D50s and two DSR 570 

camcorders. We typically do three-camera 

shoots using just the D50s, but sometimes 

we’ll use the DSRs to get B-roll content.” 

Two years ago, the school acquired a new 

projector, a Barco SLM R12+. Typically, they use 

it for IMAG, but sometimes they get fancy. For 

the Singers Showcase event, for example, they 

were able to turn on their Korg KAOSS Pad 

audio/video processor and add graphics and 

song titles to the performances. “It’s a fun little 

toy,” Lofton says. Boston-based Rule Broadcast 

Systems helped design and install it. 

Further Improvements 


Berger and Lofton are likely to oversee 

further improvements to the lighting 

The new seating required a lengthy selection process. 

and video systems in the years ahead, perhaps 

even the construction of a wholly new 

space, which would address the issue of the 

theatre’s height-challenged ceiling. 

But so far, a makeover that radical — and 

expensive — remains a matter of speculation, 

something that is not likely to happen until 

well after the current crop of students have 

long since graduated. 

“There’s talk of some day tearing it all 

down and building something new,” Berger 

says. “But that’s at least 10 years away. Or it 

may never happen.” 




25

FEAtuRE 

WrestleMania XXIV 

Takes it Outside 

Close to 75,000 fans squeezed into the Florida 

Citrus Bowl to catch WrestleMania XXIV, the first 

time WWE staged its annual event outdoors. The 

two main structures loomed over the ring and the 

wrestlers’ entranceway. 

By JenniferWillis 

World Wrestling Entertainment 

(WWE) was able to pump up the 

excitement surrounding its annual 

extravaganza, WrestleMania XXIV with lighting 

effects, custom graphics and a huge fireworks 

display by bringing the event outside 

for the first time. 

Not everything played out as planned (see 

sidebar, page 27) but WWE still gave wrestling 

fans a night they’d never forget and broke the 

Citrus Bowl’s gate record by squeezing 74,639 

people into almost every available seat. 

The event generated $5.85 million in 

ticket revenues, a record for both WWE and 

the Citrus Bowl. The four-hour event was also 

broadcast to 65 countries around the world, 

live on Pay-Per-View. 

The Great Outdoors 


The Citrus Bowl was announced as the 

WrestleMania XXIV destination at the close 

of the previous year’s event, giving the design 

team 12 months to get ready to rumble 

— and to figure out how to stage this huge 

event in an outdoor venue for the first time 

ever. 

“It’s our biggest show of the year,” says 

WWE production designer Jason Robinson. 

“It’s a pinnacle event.” 

WrestleMania XXIV was Robinson’s 12 th , 

and drama and tension are key to any WWE 

event design. 

“We wanted to create an event, a spectacle,” 

Robinson explains. “A platform that our 

wrestlers could give a fantastic show to.” 

But staging such a large-scale event in 

an older football stadium proved to be a real 

challenge: there was no rigging to speak of, 

and being outdoors meant constant exposure 

to the elements — both for the equipment 

and the talent. 

The rest of the year, WWE broadcasts every 

Monday and Tuesday in a hockey stadium 

with a 50-foot ceiling — a controlled environment 

that easily contains the action-packed 

drama of professional wrestling. The trick was 

translating the show to an outdoor stadium 

and retaining the same look and feel while 

also taking advantage of the sunny Florida 

atmosphere. 

“The producers want our show to look 

like our show,” says Robinson. “And we 

wanted the wrestlers to look good, look 

tan, look fit. I thought it was very special 

because it was outside. Outdoor events 

hold their own charm.” 

Wandering the Stadium 


“Football stadiums are not designed to 

just put lights everywhere,” says WWE Lighting 

Director Jeff Wilkin. While he’s designed 

shows for various stadiums, this was his first 

truly outdoor venue. 

“Most of the other ones have either been 

enclosed totally or ones with the retractable 

roofs, which is still essentially an enclosed stadium,” 

he explains. But the Citrus Bowl had no 

overhead steel to rig to. 

“We spent two or three trips just wandering 

around in this stadium, looking for places 

to put lights,” he remembers. 

The team went through three major 

iterations of the video and lighting design 

— using SketchUp Pro, AutoCAD and Compulite 

Vector PC Offline Editor — before 

arriving at the final plan to light the wrestling 

ring, highlight the scenic elements in 

the entryway, light the audience and “make 

it look big and brilliant,” says Wilkin. “Just 

make it as big and glitzy and glamorous as 

we can.” 

But there was still the rigging problem. 

Robinson says they went through at least four 

different structure plans before finalizing a 

design that everyone agreed could be built. 

“It was several weeks of, ‘Will this work?’” 

Robinson remembers. 

The structure built over the wrestler’s 

entranceway was enhanced with 

custom graphic elements. 

The Boo Birds 


Robinson commissioned two custombuilt 

roofs from StageCo — one for the lighting 

system over the wrestling ring, and one 

to cover the entranceway through which the 

wrestlers would make their appearances. The 

rigging problem had been solved. Or had it? 

The StageCo roof didn’t provide all the 

rigging necessary to fully support the grand 

spectacle that is WrestleMania. It’s not just 

the ring and the wrestlers’ entranceway that 

needs to be lit, but the audience as well. 

“Our fans are part of it,” Robinson explains. 

“We want to see the signs, the booing. 

We take care that our fans are seen and are 

part of the show.” 

The wrestlers feed off the energy and reactions 

of the audience. They need their fans. 

“They know that somebody really hates them 

or really likes them,” Robinson says. “It helps 

them be more involved.” 

While the central StageCo structure offered 

lighting positions over the ring, “the 

rest of the building was just concrete bleachers 

everywhere,” Wilkin says. It was time to get 

creative. 

“We had to go in and say, we’re going to 

kill this section of seating and actually set 

moving lights on the floor, which is different 

than what we normally do,” says Wilkin. Instead 

of hanging lights on overhead trusses, 

lights were mounted on handrails. 

“It makes you think more about sight 

lines, because obviously you can’t come in 

and put a bunch of lights on a handrail that 

people are sitting right behind,” Wilkin says. 

The Hardware 


The two-week load-in for WrestleMania 

XXIV began with a one-week steel build for 

the roofs from StageCo. Bright and early the 

following Monday morning, the crew started 

putting lights, staging elements and video 

and sound equipment into place using oneton 

chain motors. 

The WrestleMania XXIV kit list included 

140 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures, 80 Martin 

MAC 600s, 74 Martin Atomic 3K Strobes, 

two Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, 80 Martin 

MAC 300s, 30 Vari*Lite 3500 Wash fixtures, 24 

Vari*Lite VL5 Tungstens, 12 Coemar Infinity 

Wash fixtures, 92 Pixel Range PixelLine 1044s, 

and 92 four-foot Color Kinetics iColors. There 

were also 150 PAR 64s, 44 PAR 64 6-lamp bars, 

12 5K Fresnels, and two ETC Source Four 10 

degree fixtures. 

ETC dimmers — chosen for their “reliability 

and ability to maintain the last look” after a 

signal loss — included four 96-way dimmers, 

four 72-way dimmers, and two 48-way dimmers 

alongside two Strand CD80 6x6K dimmers. 

The lighting control system consisted 

of three Compulite Vector Reds and an MA 

Lighting grandMA for the video, with Compulite 

Vector Blues as redundant back-up. 

The Software 


Custom graphic elements helped enhance 

the entrances of the wrestling superstars 

and to add to the overall look and feel of 

WrestleMania. 

“WrestleMania is the biggest event of the 

year,” says television graphic designer Dan 

Cerasale. “Our goal was to make you feel this 

visually.” 

Cerasale traveled to the site with a 2-terabyte 

hard drive of content, but says he created 

most of the WrestleMania graphic elements 

on-site. He produced original 3D elements 

in Maya and composited and manipulated 

these and other elements in Apple Shake, 

Motion, LiveType, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe 

Photoshop. 

“At one point a particular talent required 

a more hand-drawn feel or look,” explains 

Cerasale. “I actually drew his look free-hand 



on paper, took a picture with my digital camera, 

manipulated it in Photoshop, and ten 

minutes later it was up on screen.” 

Excitement on Cue 


Many of the wrestlers — both the crowd 

favorites and the wrestlers everybody loves 

to hate — have specific lighting cues. Fans 

pick up on these and really get into the act. 

“The Undertaker — when he comes out, 

we turn all the lights to purple, and there’s 

lightning and stuff,” Wilkin explains. “It sets 

an eerie mood. And fans know he’s coming 

out.” 

It’s the anticipation that makes Wrestle- 

Mania such a great event, and Wilkin says 

the same lighting cues at a rock concert 

wouldn’t have nearly the same impact. 

“Yeah, okay, that’s a really cool effect, but 

you have no idea what song’s coming up. 

A lot of our guys have real specific lighting 

cues, and as soon as that happens, you know 

what’s about to happen next.” 

Cerasale’s graphics helped complete the 

mood and further emphasized the stark contrast 

between cues for harder hitting talent 

and a softer feel for a wrestling diva. 

“It’s a big spectacle, big fanfare, lots 

of pageantry,” Wilkin says. “I can’t imagine 

an event would be that good just under 

white light.” 

Each WrestleMania event ties its theme 

to the host city. For the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, 

Fla., “Fun in the Sun” was the order 

of the day. The wrestlers’ entrance way 

was designed with a South Beach hotel 

art deco theme, and two hundred palm 

trees were brought in — including twenty 

45-foot palms that were lit to keep the 

sunshiny feel of the venue as day faded 

into night. 

The Show Must Go On 


And speaking of Florida sunshine, the 

WWE may prefer a controlled environment 

for its events, but there was one factor posed 

by the outdoor venue that was completely 

outside anyone’s control: the weather. 

“Weather was a big problem,” Robinson 

says. “We can’t cancel the event.” 

With the four-hour pay-per-view event 

being sold in 65 countries around the world, 

the show had to go on, rain or shine. Inclement 

weather would have meant problems 

not just in the ring and getting to and from 

the dressing rooms — but would spell big 

trouble for the equipment. 

This is where the StageCo structures 

pulled double-duty — not just as rigging, 

but also as protection from the elements. 

“A lot of the planning was about the 

equipment and how we’d get it under structures,” 

Wilkin says. “How we’d get the equipment 

in there and get it protected.” 

When the fateful day arrived, the team 

got very lucky. There were a couple of rain 

sprinkles, but that was it. 

“That all our hardware was outside for 

five days in Florida and never got wet was a 

small miracle,” says Cerasale. 

grand spectacle that outsold even the Rolling 

Stones in the same venue and garnered 

$23.8 million in pay-per-view revenue. 

“The sheer scale and design of the set, 

combined with the graphical elements and 

programming, not only enhanced the talents’ 

characters but the character of the ‘big feel’ of 

WrestleMania in general,” Cerasale says. 

Coupled with a huge fireworks display, 

WrestleMania XXIV gave wrestling fans what 

they expected from the WWE, and more. 

“We geared it toward what you’d see 

at the Olympics,” Robinson says. “The ultimate 

goal was to create a very fun atmosphere. 

You felt like you were part of the 

action. You felt it with the music, saw it 

with the pyrotechnics. You wanted to be 

there, watching wrestling.” 

Pyro Accident Mars Record Turnout 

The record turnout for WWE’s WrestleMania XXIV at the Citrus Bowl was marred by a 

pyrotechnics accident near the end of the event. Fire department officials said more than 

30 spectators were injured, none seriously, although three were taken by ambulance to 

a local hospital to be treated for burns and other injuries. 

Deer Park, N.Y.-based Zenith Pyrotechnology handled the pyro for the event. Greg 

Hoggatt, assistant chief of the Orlando Fire Department, described a problem with a wire 

that was to guide the fireworks from the north end zone toward the stage. In addition 

to burns suffered from sparks, spectators complained of welts caused by a hot cable or 

cables that had fallen into the crowd. 

The Orlando Fire Department said WWE had followed the proper procedures before 

the event, and that it would not be conducting a more thorough investigation into what 

went wrong, leaving that task to WWE and Zenith Pyrotechnology themselves. 

“We’re doing everything we can to find out why it happened and to make sure it 

never happens again,” WWE said, in a statement. 

Tent City — with Pyro 


Then there was the fact that this older 

football stadium simply didn’t offer the 

dressing room space required by the talent. 

“There were no facilities for a major TV 

show,” Robinson says. So production manager 

Brian Petree laid out the baseball stadium 

next-door as a small tented city with dressing 

rooms, catering space, walkways, showers 

and bathrooms. 

All the work behind the scenes — from 

custom rigging to tent cities — paid off in a 



27

FEAtuRE 


NATEAC Explores Technology, Trends and Techniques in Theatre 

The first North American Theatre Engineering 

and Architecture Conference 

convened in the Michael Schimmel 

Performing Arts Center on the campus of 

Pace University in downtown New York City 

on July 20 and 21. More than 250 people 

from nine countries attended the conference 

and participated in a total of 18 panel discussions 

covering such topics as “The Future of 

Stage Machinery,” “The Greener Theatre,” “Design 

for Value” and more. In addition, keynote 

addresses were given by Richard Brett and 

Hugh Hardy and the Plenary Session was led 

by Steven Ehrenberg and David Taylor. 

Brett created the concept of Theatre 

Engineering and Architecture Conferences, 

after which NATEAC was modeled, and organized 

two conferences in London in 2002 

and 2006. He is a partner in Theatreplan LLP, 

an international theatre consulting firm. 

The conference kicked off on Saturday 

night with a three-hour harbor 

cruise, complete with a close-up view 

of the New York City Waterfalls exhibit 

and an impromptu fireworks display. It 

ended on Tuesday with backstage tours 

at Lincoln Center and Radio City Music 

Hall. Ron Austin, executive director of 

the Lincoln Center Development Project, 

showed his intimate understanding 

of the vagaries of the industry at the 

conference dinner at Sardi’s on Monday 

night and left the audience in hysterics. 

Bill Sapsis, conference director, noted, 

“The Conference exceeded my wildest expectations. 

It ran smoothly and we accomplished 

our main objective — communication. 

Attendees and panelists wanted to 

continue discussions long after the session 

closed and moved the dialog into the corridors 

and courtyard as we made ready for 

the next session. Breakfast and lunch had 

groups of people talking about the issues 

brought up in the previous panel or what 

they were hoping for from the next one. It 

was a remarkable information gathering 

and networking experience. We’re already 

working on the next one.” 

Conference Director Bill Sapsis (at podium) introduces Richard Brett (seated left) and Hugh Hardy, who gave 

the keynote addresses at the start of NATEAC. 

The view from the back of the panel discussion on “Designing a Safe Workplace: Thoughts on Backstage 

Careers Without Injury.” 

The view from the panelist’s side of the table. 

Seated at the table are, from left to right: Eddie Raymond, VP of IATSE Local 16 in San Francisco; Monona Rossol, 

chemist, artist, and industrial hygienist; Drew Landmesser, production director of San Francisco Opera; 

and Darrell Ziegler of Westlake Reed Leskosky in Phoenix. 

Full house in the “Project Commissioning: Issues, Attitudes and Strategies” panel discussion led by Adam 

Shalleck, AIA and founder of Shalleck Collaborative (left), Alexis Kurtz, Senior Consultant with Arup Acoustics 

(center) and Bob Murphy, President of Occam’s Razor Technical Services. 

David Taylor of Arup helped closed the conference in the plenary session. 



FEAtuRE 


Steven Ehrenberg, VP of technical production for BASE Entertainment (left) and David Taylor close the 

conference on a high note with an entertaining summary of the conference sessions. 

Richard Brett delivers the keynote address with a point regarding the role of experience in the programming 

of a performing arts project. 

The panel for “Inspections and Maintenance: Sustaining Safety in the Factory” included (left to right) Charles 

Swift, ASTC, Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging and conference organizer and Tom Young, VP of marketing 

for J.R. Clancy, Inc. 

The interactive nature of the conference led to many exchanges between the attendees and the panels. 

(Left to Right) Panelists Juhi Shareef, Sustainable Business Management for Arup, Scott Georgeson, AIA, 

Andy Hayles, managing director of Charcoalblue, Ltd., and David Taylor, Performing Arts Business Management 

for Arup, lead the discussion on “The Greener Theatre.” 

“Technical Standards: Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules” was a lively panel discussion moderated by 

Karl Ruling of ESTA (far right). Panelists included (left to right) Jim Niesel, senior theatre consultant with 

Arup, Ron Bonner, technical resources manager for Professional Lighting and Sound and Bill Conner, principal 

of Bill Conner Associates, LLC. 


north american 

NATEAC 

north american 

theatre engineering architecture 

conference 



ROAD TEST 


LOOK SOLUTIONS Unique2 Haze Machine 

By TonyCaporale 

Look Solutions recently introduced another 

addition to its family of haze machines 

with the Unique2. It has a bunch 

of new features that will make anyone in this 

business happy. For starters, it is so compact 

that you could fit it in your suitcase with 

room to spare for your clothes. But hey, who 

needs a lot of clothes on the road doing this 

job, right? So let’s get down to the business 

of talking about what this product can do 

for your show. 

The Basics 

RT 

The Unique2 is a 1,500-watt waterbased 

vaporizing haze machine with an onboard 

fan and variable output. It’s small and 

lightweight, with dimensions that are 47 cm 

(18.5 inches) long, 25 cm (9.8 inches) wide 

and 25 cm (9.8 inches) high and it weighs in 

at approximately 8.7 kg (19.2 pounds). It features 

on board DMX control, a new housing 

design, easy-to-use operation, an intriguing 

shaped fan for quick haze distribution and 

a new and innovative Haze-Density Control 

System. 

The Fun Stuff 

RT 

The Haze-Density Control System allows 

you to program an individual profile for a 

show based on your requirements. It has two 

different levels of pump settings, fan settings 

and run time that can be programmed. 

For example, if you want to fill a big auditorium 

before a show and then maintain a base 

level of haze in the room, you can program 

the machine to run at full with top fan speed 

for a pre-programmed amount of time and 

then automatically change to a lower level 

of pump and fan speed. The only downside 

is that the maximum programmed time is 

99 minutes, so for a show that runs longer 

you will have to remember to re-adjust the 

machine. The HDCS program can be activated 

with either a radio remote, wired XLR 

remote or on-board stand-alone controls. 

The machine does 

not require cleaning, according 

to the manufacturer, 

and, in fact, they 

state that using cleaners 

with this machine 

will void the warranty. 

For airflow, it has a foam 

filter on the side of the 

machine to filter the air 

running through it. 

The fluid is a special 

water-based formula 

that minimizes fluid consumption 

and produces 

an assortment of haze 

effects from a fine mist 

to a thick haze. The twoliter 

tank will give you up 

to 50 hours of haze output. 

The tank is housed 

in a bracket on the back 

of the machine and it 

has a quick-release coupler 

that makes it easy 

to change out tanks on travel days or at the 

show. Another great thing about the water 

based fluid as opposed to the oil-based fluid 

is that it doesn’t create a slippery mess if it 

happens to spill, and it won’t leave residue 

caked to the floor, on your gear or inside the 

machine itself. 

The two-liter tank will give you up 

to 50 hours of haze output. 

And More 

RT 

Look Solutions also provide some accessories 

that can be purchased along with the 

Unique2 model. You can either get a road 

case for your safe transportation needs, a 

rigging set that is complete with a collection 

tray, a diverter to divert the direction of 

the output to your preferred destination or a 

cable remote, depending on your particular 

needs. 

The Unique2 has the ability to produce 

different kinds of haze, depending on what 

you are trying to do in your show. The first 

Unique model had a linear output with settings 

from 1 to 99. The Unique2 has been 

upgraded to provide exponential control of 

the output, also from 1 to 99. But the new 

control curve gives you much more fine control 

over density in the all-important low settings. 

You can create a light mist or a thick 

haze and you can set the output to just the 

amount of haze you need. The machine’s 

pump and fan can be also be adjusted in 99 

steps. The fan has a sealed motor, so if fluid 

happens to get inside of the machine, it 

won’t short out. The electrical parts are also 

in a chamber that’s separate from the fluid 

pump and heater. 

The unit can be controlled via DMX512, 

or you can manually trigger it from the 

display panel on the machine. After it is 

plugged in, the machine only takes about 

one minute to warm up. It can also run on a 

stand-alone basis or with analog control. 

German Engineering 

RT 

Look Solutions is a German-based company 

that manufactures numerous fog, haze, 

mini foggers, accessories and fluids. Their 

products are used throughout the professional 

lighting, theatre and film industries. 

Look Solutions USA is located in Waynesboro, 

Penn. and in Marlboro, N.J. They also distribute 

to customers in Canada and Mexico. 

The Unique2 is a great solution for just 

about any haze application, and it’s versatile 

enough to work on any set. It has plenty of 

output and it can be controlled very easily 

from a variety of control options. Check it 

out. 

What It Is: A 1,500-watt water-based 

vaporizing haze machine with an onboard 

fan and variable output 

Who It’s For: Anyone who needs variable 

haze atmosphere for lighting effects 

Pros: Well-built, easy to use, 120V 

powered, minimal sound, nice output, 

water-based fluid 

Cons: Smallish reservoir, 99 minute limit 

on HDCS control 

Retail Price: $1,560 

32 

PLSN AUGUST 2008


BUYERS guIDE 

Truss 

Towers 


I 

have a picture, given to me by the legendary 

lighting designer Chip Monck, that dates back 

to 1971. It shows a crew of about a dozen 

stage hands erecting a truss tower on the stage 

of a Rolling Stones concert. This was in the days 

before you could phone a trussing manufacturer 

and order an engineered system designed 

for easy load-in and load-out. Instead, the crew 

is hoisting the tower using sheer muscle and will 

power. It took lots of people, lots of time and lots 

of nerve to plant the base of the tower and lift the 

head upright. 

Unless you experienced those days or at 

least have the benefit of seeing the photos, it’s 

easy to take for granted the engineering marvel 

that today’s truss towers offer. One of the keys to 

the system is the sleeve block, which fits over the 

truss tower and glides up and down on smooth 

rollers. Some towers are self-erecting or self-righting, 

using chain motor power or hand winch 

power to slowly lift the assembled tower with a 

hinged base and a double fall block and tackle. 

The load-bearing truss can also be taken to trim 

with motor power or manual power. Of course, 

the towers are always supported by outriggers, 

usually with screw jacks to level them. 

These systems are typically made of aluminum 

alloy, which makes them very strong but 

lightweight. Some of these systems can support 

upwards of 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) and 

can trim as high as 140 feet (42.6 meters). These 

towers can be used to erect goal post systems or 

roof systems. And in many venues where the rigging 

points in the roof aren’t strong enough to 

support a flown system or where there are no 

rigging points, ground support systems offer a 

great solution that doesn’t require ascending 

into the steel to rig points or the additional time 

and labor to do so. 

On the next two pages you will find a small 

sample of the big towers offered by today’s truss 

manufacturers. It’s a huge leap from the 1971 

Rolling Stones tour. 

The Tower MT1 

from Milos 

Structural 

systems 

Xtreme Structures’ 16-foot Bolt Plate Tower 

Truss tower from Tomcat 

Ground support tower system from Tyler Truss 



33

BUYERS guIDE 

Manufacturer 

Web Address 

Applied Electronics 

www.appliednn.com 

Global Truss America 

www.globaltruss.com 

Model Weight Rating Max. Height 

Ground Support Tower System 

GT-12 and GT-16 

12” Tower: 2000 lbs; 16” Tower: 3000 lbs; 20.5” Tower: 4000 lbs 

12” Tower: 2000 lbs; 16” Tower: 3000 lbs. 

40’ max on 12” towers, any height on 

16” and 20.5” towers 

8 meters (26.24’) max on 12’’ towers; 

11 meters (36.08’) max on 16” towers 

20.5” x 20.5” Ground Support SuperTower 10,000 lbs 60’ max 

15” x 15” Ground Support Tower 

8,000 lbs max. @ 40’ with Lock-off System; 4,400 lbs w/o Lockoff 

System 

40’ max 

James Thomas Engineering, Inc. 

www.jthomaseng.com 

Thomas Audio Tower (TAT) 2,700 lbs 30’ max 

Mini Thomas Audio Tower (Mini TAT) 1,500 lbs @ 30’ or 1,850 lbs @ 20’ 30’ max 

12” x 12” Ground Support Tower 4,400 lbs @ 33’ 33’ max 

Milos Structural Systems 

www.milosgroup.com 

Baby Tower System 2,000 lbs per tower 

Tower MT1 

1653 lbs (750 kg) w/ hand winch 

2204 lbs (1000 kg) w/ motor 

26’ in a 4 Tower System 18’ in a 2 

Tower System 14’ for a Single Tower 

24.6’ (7.5 m) 

Tower MT2 4408 lbs (2000 kg) 41’ (12.5 m) 

Tower MT3 6612 lbs (3000 kg) 49’ (15m) 

Penn Elcom 

www.penn-elcom.com 

Kiev Support System 11” HD Tower Typical: 2000 lbs per tower typical range 28’ to 36’ 

ST Tower 4409 lbs (2000 kg) 39.4’ (12m) 

Prolyte 

www.prolyte.com 

MPT Tower 2205 lbs (1000 kg) 24.6’ (7.5m) 

Tomcat USA Inc. 

www.tomcatglobal.com 

Mark I 2000 lbs 35’ 

Mark II 3000 lbs 35’ 

16” Tower 4000 lbs 45’ 

Tyler Truss 

www.tylertruss.com 

Ground Support Tower System 

12” tower: 4000 lbs; 16” tower: 6000 lbs; 20.5” tower: 8000 lbs 

40’ 12” towers; 50’ on 16”; 65’+ on 

20.5” or larger 

Total Structures, Inc. 

www.totalstructures.com 

Ground Support - Series 18 Up to 22,371 lbs at 60’ up to 60’ 

Ground Support - Series 12 Up to 10,717 lbs at 45’ up to 45’ 

16” x 16” Fork End 

Braced:(13,095 lbs @ 20’) (10,387 lbs @ 40’) (7,680 lbs @ 60’) engineered to 60’ 

Unbraced:(10,616 lbs @ 20’) (5,430 lbs @ 40’) (1,915 lbs @ 60’) engineered to 60’ 

20.5” Triangle Fork End 



Xtreme Structures 

www.xsftruss.com 

12” x 12” Fork End 

16” x 16” Bolt Plate 






12” x 12” Bolt Plate 




Components 

5’ hinged base section, head block, sleeve block, 10’ tower sections, 4 legs/outriggers, 4 

outrigger braces 

Top section, hinges, chain hoist, truss segment (.5 meter for 12”; 1 meter for 16”), sleeve 

block, steel base w/ feet 

Base w/ leveling pads, hinge section, 5’, 10’ tower sections, roller beam/lock off section, 

sleeve block, outriggers, guy wire system 

Base w/ leveling pads, 78.7” hinge section, 2.5’, 5’, 8’, 10’ tower sections, roller beam, 

lock-off system, sleeve block, outriggers, tower lifting system, guy wire system. 

Base w/ leveling pads, diagonal braces, roller beam, guy wire system 

Base w/ leveling pads, diagonal braces, roller beam, guy wire system 

Base w/ leveling pads, 78.7” hinge section, 2.5’, 5’, 8’, 10’ tower sections, roller beam, 

sleeve block, outriggers, tower lifting system, guy wire system 

Base w/ leveling pads and winch bracket, hinge/outrigger section, 2.6’, 10’ or 12’ tower 

section, top pulley section, sleeve block, outriggers, guy wire system 

Steel base, head section, sleeve block, outriggers (long or short), handwinch, hinge 

parts, M290V 12” quatro truss varies by height 

Steel base, head section, sleeve block, outriggers (long or short), motor bracket (optional), 

hinge parts, M390KT 15-3/4” quatro truss varies by height 

Steel base, double roll head section, special reinforced sleeve block, long outriggers, 

hinge parts, M520T 20.8” quatro truss varies by height 

H.D. Steel tower base w/ leveling jacks, outriggers and braces (1): 11” H.D. Box truss 

with ladder rungs for tower (varies); H.D. Hinge Plate (1); Carriage unit sized for appropriate 

truss selection (1); H.D. Head block (1); H.D. Grid Guy Line system (2-4 based 

on setup) 

Mast, base, outriggers, top section, hinge set, hand winch, hand chain hoist, or electric 

chain hoist, sleeve block 

Mast, base, outriggers, top section, hinge set, hand winch, hand chain hoist, or electric 

chain hoist, sleeve block 

Base, outriggers / stabilizers, hinge, tower section, headblocks 



44” & 54” bottom tower hinge section, head block w/ bushings, sleeve block, 10’ tower 

sections, base, 4 outriggers, 4 stabilizers made w/ back-to-back channel, 6” HD leveling 

feet w/ 1” AMCE screws 

Adjustable stabilizers, hinge section, sleeve section, tower section, top pulley section 

Comments 

Modular design; adjustable leveling pads; lowers to 6” for ease of loading; 

Modular design; adjustable feet for uneven ground; multi-purpose base & sleeve block for 12” and 16” 

horizontal runs. Top section for motorized hoist and 5/8” shackle avail. for manual hoist. 

Designed for applications requiring high load capacity. Most often used w/ PLBR Roof System. Towers 

are designed to allow truss system to be lowered to the ground. Towers used outdoors must have guy 

wires. Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

Designed for the safe lifting of outdoor roof systems, goal post systems or applications where rigging 

points aren’t in the right place. Towers allow the truss to be lowered to the ground. Towers used outdoors 

must have guy wires. Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

Low profile system designed for simplified hanging of Line Array Audio Systems. All Audio Towers used 

outdoors must have guy wires. Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

Designed for simplified hanging of smaller Line Array Audio Systems. All Audio Towers used outdoors 

must have Guy Wires. Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

The original ground support introduced at USITT Stage Expo in 1986. All Ground Support Towers used 

outdoors must have Guy Wires. Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

Smaller tower system for applications using hand winch. Towers used outdoors must have guy wires. 

Manufactured in accordance with ANSI E1.2. 

Truss spans can be pre-rigged at ground level and winched up (with hand winch or optional motor). 

Serves as ground support for the Milos MR2 Roof. 

Serves as ground support for the Milos MR3 roof. 

Designed for the largest applications which require maximum loading and free-span. Serves as ground 

support for the Milos MR4 and MR5 roofs. 

Modular system; typically used in sets of two for goalpost systems or in sets of four or six for a grid or 

roof system based on size and soundwing requirements. Can be customised to requirements. 12” HD 

Towers available. 

Optional safety set available to dead hang sleeve block and tower erecting system; 

complete set of base section, lower mast section, sleeve block, hinge set andtop section can be 

assembled as one compact set to facilitate loading, building and warehousing: 80x80x120cm, +/-120kg. 

Optional safety set available to dead hang sleeve block; complete set of base section, 

lower mast section, sleeve block, hinge set and 

top section can be assembled as one compact set to facilitate loading, building and warehousing: 

60x60x155cm, +/-115kg. 

Custom products can be engineered per application. 



Modular design; adjustable leveling pads; lowers to 6”; 6” Extremely HD leveling pads, 1” ACME screw w/ 

3rd leg drop on outriggers for max. loading and stability; built-in rigging points on sleeve blocks; 

lock offs, etc. 

Designed in accordance w/ “Specifications for Aluminum Structures” by the Aluminum Association 

Adjustable stabilizers, hinge section, sleeve section, tower section, top pulley section 

Designed in accordance w/ “Specifications for Aluminum Structures” by the Aluminum Association 

Single pulley head block (2-ton lift), double pulley head block (4-ton lift), hinge section, 

clover leaf base system; standard tower heights of 2’, 2.5’, 5’, 8’, 10’, 15’ (top load towers 

also available) 

All box truss sizes are compatible with the Cloverleaf Base Plate System, eliminating the need for dedicated 

bases for each tower size. The Base System consists of Base Plate, Out Riggers, and Stabilizers. 


35

COMPANY 411 

A&S 

MAKES THEIR CASE 

By Kevin M.Mitchell 

With fuel costs rising, the custom case 

company is helping lighten the load. 

The case brought back into A&S Case 

Company the other day was old — 22 

years old. But it was hardly the historic 

artifact you might think. 

The band that had been using it all that 

time had no interest in letting it go, rather, 

they just wanted some of the interior foam 

replaced. That’s not exceptional in the experience 

of A&S Case, but rather typical. “There are 

cases being actively used out there that were 

made when the company was first formed in 

1976,” says Bill Waskey. “They may have had a 

caster replaced, and of course they look a bit 

worn, but they are still very serviceable.” 

Waskey, manager of operations and sales, 

says those stories of durability continue today 

through their new products, including the 

FlyWeight series, the cases they say will significantly 

reduce the fuel cost of transportation. 

“Reducing freight costs and simplifying 

the crew’s job of setting up and taking down 

gigs has become increasingly important in 

today’s environment,” he points out. It’s all in 

a day’s work at A&S Case. 

Focus on Innovation 411 

“Our entire focus is on innovation and 

meeting the changing needs of our customers,” 

Waskey says. 

There’s no pulling-something-off-the-shelf 

here. The cases are all designed and manufactured 

to order. A large number of custom options 

are available to address specific needs, 

including table legs in the lid of a case, telescoping 

handles, dolly wheels, workman’s 

lamps, electrical outlets and more. An on-site 

specialist is available to sew plush linings into 

the cases when that is requested. “You tell us 

what you want, and we make it a reality.” 

Made To Order 411 

Ken Berry started the company in 1976 

in Hollywood. “At the time, as now, he owed 

Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR), the largest 

renter of instruments,” Waskey says. “Basically, 

he felt like he was paying a lot for cases.” 

“I started running the company about six 

years ago,” says Denise Berry, daughter of Ken. 

Prior to taking over the reins she had spent 

a decade as production manager for Whitney 

Houston, Michael Jackson and the Doobie 

Brothers, among others. Waskey joined in 

2005, having previously managed a number 

of companies in the music and aerospace industries. 

Also in 2005 the company acquired the 

assets to Kriz-Kraft, a rack case line. They 

work with the original owner on those 

products. The basic construction of the 

Kriz-Kraft rack varies from their standard 

design in a few ways. Once the box is constructed, 

the doors are then precision-cut 

in the front and rear panels and fitted with 

a proprietary door jam and U-channel to 

provide a fit without impairing the structural 

characteristics unique to this design. 

Additionally, this design encapsulates the 

foam that provides shock-absorbent characteristics 

in a way that reduces its degradation 

over time. 

Today, A&S Case operates out of a 14,000 

square foot facility in North Hollywood, with 

a crew of about 20 full-time employees. 

“We do everything made-to-order because 

people are always wanting something a 

little different, even if it’s the color of the 

cases.” He cites a current order for many 

pink cases ordered by a performance 

school. “That’s not something you would 

stock.” The company is often able to go 

from initial concept to delivered product in 

10 days or less. 

An Answer to Fuel Costs 411 

The company says its new FlyWeight 

series of cases are up to 60 percent lighter 

than conventional ATA cases and even 

stronger and more durable. “This series was 

inspired by a request from our auto racing 

clients about a year and a half ago,” Waskey 

says. “They needed lighter cases to be able 

to take their tools and spare parts on planes 

and transport them to European races. That 

opened the doors to this whole new product 

line.” His experience and connection to 

the aerospace industry hastened that development. 

Berry adds that this product line could 

not have come at a better time. With fuel 

costs predicted to hit the $5 a gallon in the 

not-too-distant future, every live event on 

the road is anxious to ease the load. “We 

can save people money with these cases, 

and that’s what it’s all about,” Waskey says. 

“When they load a truck or an airplane, they 

get charged by the weight. These cases can 

quickly pay for themselves.” He adds that 

the tradeshow industry is also taking an 

interest in FlyWeight cases for the same 

reasons. 

Keeping Oscar Statues Safe 411 

A&S does its best to accommodate any 

request, big or small. “We’ve manufactured 

cases for clients for their Academy Award 

Oscars, race car simulators and just recently 

Bill Waskey, manager of operations and sales, and Denise Berry, who took over the reins of the company founded by her father, Ken. 

About 20 workers staff the company’s 14,000 square-foot facility. 



The cases are designed 

and manufactured to 

order. 

The company’s FlyWeight 

series of cases are up to 

60 percent lighter than 

conventional ATA cases. 

we developed a FlyWeight portable ping 

pong table for bands to take on the road,” 

Berry says. “A&S is commited to solutions for 

custom case needs, no matter how tricky or 

particular the requirements may be.” 

“A&S is extremely well-respected,” Waskey 

emphasizes. “We deliver on time and 

our quality is second to none. We have 

worked very hard over the last few years to 

improve efficiency so we can remain competitive 

in the world, while not compromising 

on quality.” 

A&S uses ACX fir plywood for their cases 

as opposed to basic interior ply or luan, for 

example. They are constructed with a loadbearing 

wall and it is reinforced by splitriveting 

the corners onto the case. That 

makes the cases much stronger than cases 

constructed with pop rivets. A&S cases are 

also compliant with ATA Spec 300 Category 

1 specs as well as most standards of the 

MIL-SPEC/MIL-STD. 

The company, Waskey adds, is growing. 

“Word of mouth has been our biggest 

growth factor. When people do these large 

venue shows and see bands using our products, 

that helps. Also, we’re known in the 

industry as being the innovators. It doesn’t 

matter what you come to us with, we’re going 

to build it for you.” The cases they build 

protect more than gear for live events — 

they also serve the aerospace industry and 

have been asked to create cases to protect 

the tools that go on the space shuttle. 

Along with A&S FlyWeight, Waskey cites 

another company exclusive, A&S Nest, a 

Kriz-Kraft Plasma/LCD Lift Case, which protects 

the screen both in transit and during 

setup, noting how the screen simply rises 

out of the case on a quiet electrical screw 

lift. Another example is the A&S AxeBox, a 

multiple guitar case made 15 percent lighter, 

and with convenient pocket doors. 

Making the Casters Orange 411 

Although it might seem to be a mature 

manufacturing segment, there always 

seem to be opportunities to make subtle 

improvements. “We’re working with our 

caster supplier to come up with a new compound 

for casters that will be more durable 

and also have an added feature to allow 

them to stand out more — they will feature 

a safety orange visual element,” Waskey 

says. “We see a lot of bands needing to buy 

replacement casters as forklift drivers don’t 

see them, and they get broken. But these 

will be made so all material handlers know 

they are there.” 

Like any other business, success depends 

on continuously coming up with new 

ideas to solve problems. “We sit down with 

people and create solutions. People rely on 

us for that,” Waskey says.

WIDE ANGLE 


Alicia Keys 

As I Am Tour, 2008 

The designers drew the show on VectorWorks with some 

pre-programmed looks and basic cues using ESP Vision. 

Photos & Text by SteveJennings 

Visual Light is a U.K.-based design 

house started by Nick Whitehouse 

in 2002. Bryan Leitch soon came on 

board as a design partner. Since then, the 

two have been working hard to become 

one of the most highly-regarded design 

teams in the world. Whitehouse and Leitch 

continue to collaborate on designs, striving 

to strike a balance between art and 

practicality. Some of their previous and 

current clients include Justin Timberlake, 

Coldplay, James Taylor, Kylie Minogue and 

Timbaland. 

Steve Dixon, part of the design team for 

Alicia Keys’ As I Am tour, contacted Visual 

Light about designing the lighting for the 

tour. They had worked together on Justin 

Timberlake’s tour and Whitehouse had 

also met Keys’ current production team at 

various award ceremonies throughout the 

previous year. 

Freelance lighting director and programmer 

Steven Douglas also joined the 

tour. He worked with both Whitehouse and 

Leitch for several years on other projects, 

including gigs for Kanye West and James 

Taylor. 

The Stage Concept 

Nick Whitehouse: “The stage concept came as a collaboration from Visual Light, VYV 

and Steve Dixon. From there we expanded on the lighting side as well as working alongside 

Emric Epstein and Martin Granger-Piché from VYV, with whom we work closely. We 

all believe that video and lighting should work together to make a successful show. The 

whole initial idea was based around the huge curved screens and wall (made up of Color 

Kinetics i-Tile panels) that directed your attention into the center of the stage where the 

piano would be. The B stage and ramp came from Alicia wanting to get into the middle of 

the crowd for her solo section and to be surrounded.” 

The console used for the tour is an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite, chosen for its flexibility. 

Vivid colors were an important part of the overall design. 

The goal is to make the show look as one piece, not video vs. lighting. 

Keys usually performs 28 out of the 50 songs programmed in the board. 

Fixture Quality, not Quantity 

Nick Whitehouse: “We had a fairly strict budget for this show in terms of lighting, so we 

went down the route of having quality rather than quantity. The rig is pretty much all Vari*Lite 

3000 series. The spots are VL3000s and washes are VL3500s. And there are a few generics — 

ETC Source Fours, Mole-Richardsons and Fresnels. The B stage has some VL6C+ Spot luminaires 

as they’re small and quick and the set has a lot of Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s, which in my 

opinion are the best LED fixture for the colors that you can get out of them. 

38 


Breaking the Mold 

Steven Douglas: “The show is mostly 

kept the same ever y night. There is a 

structure and theme running through 

the show, but with an ar tist like this 

there always has to be the ability to 

adapt; she can often decide to throw 

a curveball your way. There are regularly 

28 songs in the show and I have 

50 programmed in the board with a 

whole plethora of busking looks and 

information as well.” 

Visual Light, VYV and Steve Dixon collaborated on the stage design concept. 

Video and Lighting 

Steven Douglas: “My lighting console for the tour is an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite. It’s a very flexible desk and allows me to get everything 

I need done. The show was drawn on VectorWorks and we pre-programmed some looks and basic cues using ESP Vision. 

“I’m not working the video end. As the show took shape, it was clear that the video operation would need its own operator. The only real 

challenge was to make sure that everything stayed in the same idea as the video content so that the show looks like one whole piece rather 

than video versus lighting. 

“The crew and all are great to work with; I’m having a good time out on this tour. It was nice to work with Nick and Brian again.” 

Curved video walls lead the eye to the piano at center stage. 

The lighting design and video work together in harmony. 

CREW 

Lighting Designers: Nick Whitehouse, 

Bryan Leitch (Visual Light) 

Lighting Director/Programmer: Steven 

Douglas 

Lighting Techs (Europe): Iestyn Thomas, 

Carlos Mendes, Marc Decallone, Matt 

Morris, Tom James 

Lighting Techs (U.S.): Yannick Blais, 

Alex Lefrancois, Louis Charles Poudrette, 

Dominique Girouard, Guillame Tremblay 

Lighting Company: Solotech 

Account Rep: Stephane Gerbier 

Video Company: Solotech, VYV 

Video Operator/Director: Frank Lapierre 

Messier 

Video Design: Emric Epstein, Martin 

Granger-Piché (VYV) 

Set: Brilliant Stages 

Production Manager: Ian Kelly 

Tour Manager: D.J. Walton 

GEAR 

Lighting Consoles: 2 Avolites Diamond 4 

Elites 

25 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures 

44 Vari*Lite VL3000 Profiles 

140 Color Kinetics Color Blasts 

20 Color Kinetics Color Blazes 

5 Lycian M2 Truss spots 

16 ETC Source Fours 

6 Christie Roadster 20K Projectors 

4 Sony Cameras 

7 Photon Video Media Servers 

180 Color Kinetics i-Tile Panels 



39

INtERVIEW 


with 

Uwe Willenbacher 


When you’re young and bulletproof, 

the last thing you think 

about is what might happen 

should you become unable to do your job. 

But it’s something everyone should plan 

for. How will you pay your bills? How will 

you feed your family? 

Behind the Scenes is a program established 

by The ESTA Foundation to provide 

emergency financial support when illness or 

injury strikes entertainment technology industry 

professionals. The program was there 

for Uwe (pronounced Ooó-vay) Willenbacher 

when he needed it most. He was riding 

his motorcycle, when, through no fault of his 

own, he was in an accident. We’ll let Willenbacher 

tell what happened from there. 

PLSN: How are you? 

Uwe Willenbacher: 

I’m doing much better; 

I’m starting to get back 

to work on the 27th of 

June. 

How did all of this come about? 

I had just signed up as an apprentice 

here at Local 16… 

That’s the IATSE… 

It’s the San Francisco stagehands 

union, yes. 

I’ve been in the business for 20 some 

years, but I got tired of touring, so I joined 


the union. And I was on my way to a meeting, 

and on the way, minding my own business, 

somebody cut me off making an illegal 

left turn and I got into quite a mess — a 

terrible motorcycle accident. It totaled my 

motorcycle, broke my ankle, compressionfractured 

my L1 spine, and fractured my 

thumb. I was pretty lucky to get out of that 

alive. 

When did this accident happen? 

On Dec. 5, 2007. 

And I made a terrible mistake. I 

watched Michael Moore's documentary 

Sicko two days prior to the accident. That 

was the worst thing I could have done. I 

have health insurance through Local 16. 

“I could barely make it to the bathroom, sitting 

there, and then my wife came in with 

the uPs letter, opened it up, and there was 

a check from the EstA Foundation. It was 

just incredible.” — uwe Willenbacher 

But nevertheless, it was like, ‘Oh my God, 

what’s going to happen next?’ I was probably 

the worst patient in that ambulance 

or in the hospital. I was thinking about 

finances most of the time, not my body. 

Then I contacted Local 16, making sure my 

health plan covered it, and they said, yes, 

it’s covered. But I just missed by a couple 

of days, literally, the supplemental disability 

insurance. And then they said, ‘Look, we 

can’t help you from the union’s perspective, 

but contact Behind the Scenes.’ 

So I did. I was in the hospital for a week, 

and then another week went by, and that’s 

when I got my surgery on that ankle. I was 

in panic mode, afraid of losing my house 

and everything I had, because the last 

thing you want to hear when you’re laying 

in a hospital is, ‘You’re going to be out for 

four or five months.’ 

Is that because you had exceeded the 

limit of your insurance coverage? 

Well, I had insurance, yes, but I would 

not be making money during the time 

I’m out. I didn’t have a huge buffer, and 

the bills keep coming. The creditors, they 

don’t care if you got hit by a car, or hit by 

lighting. They don’t care. They want their 

money, which I can understand. 

Your concern, then, was with the lost wages, 

not the cost of the medical coverage. 

Lost wages. The bills kept coming. 

You had lost two weeks of work? 

No, I’m still on disability. I’m starting 

work again next week. I was losing wages 

due to my disability for at least three 

months, if not four. And it actually turned 

out to be five months. I could put no 

weight on my leg for three months. 

You were covered by Medical insurance 

but you had no disability insurance? 

I have disability insurance as well, but 

disability insurance only covers a small 

fraction. But I was running short by several 

hundred dollars a month, just to pay 

my bills. 

And did they make up the total difference? 

Yes. And on my birthday, Jan. 10, they 

sent me a check. The timing could have 

not been better. I just couldn’t believe 

it. I was in quite an emotional state, because 

of the drama of the accident, and I 

couldn’t believe it. I could barely make it to 

the bathroom, sitting there, and then my 

wife came in with the UPS letter, opened 

it up, and there was a check from The ESTA 

Foundation. It was just incredible. 

And they have helped me for a total of 

four months. I’m still on disability, but I did 

not make a request (for the fifth month). 

I felt like I’m starting to get greedy here, 

and I’m somewhat caught up. 

But without the Foundation, I would 

have lost my house, period, because I 

could not make my payments. 

When you contacted them, did you just 

place a phone call to them? 

Ed Raymond, one of the officers of 

IATSE Local 16, gave me The ESTA Foundation 

Web address, and in it, there is an 

application for a grant. It’s a PDF page 

that you download and fill in the numbers. 

(http://www.estafoundation.org/bts/ 

grants.htm) 

And they contacted me. They gave me 

a phone call and they said, “Some of these 

numbers don’t make sense to us.” And 

we adjusted them appropriately. I was as 

open as a book, as open as I could be with 

them, telling them, “This is what I owe, this is

what I make right now, this is my wife’s income, 

and we’re X dollars short.” And then they just 

started taking it up. The trust is just immense, 

and wonderful. 

You said you toured for a number of years… 

I started touring here in the United States in 

1984 with a company called Ultra Sound. They 

were located in San Rafael, and they toured with 

the Grateful Dead. I was with them for almost 10 

years. I started out as a PA hanger, and then very 

quickly became the front of house setup/systems 

engineer. I toured with them until 1994, 

and then basically had to make a choice; my 

family or my profession. I think that’s a choice 

every touring person has to go through. I chose 

to then stop touring and got into the dot-com 

thing. I completely re-educated myself as a Unix 

systems administrator — I still do not know how 

I did that, but I did it — and I rode that beautiful 

crescent of the dot com wave and made tons 

of money, and my pay was raised much higher. 

And, like many other people, I didn’t spend all 

the money on stock and what have you. I didn’t 

play the stock market. I put it aside and just 

waited for the period like the one that we just 

experienced. But it was still not enough. 

When the dot com thing went down, I 

didn’t want to find myself wanting to be the 

Swiss army knife, where you have to do everything 

for very little money. And then I figured, 

what am I going to do when I grow old? 

And I went back to touring until 2003 with 

rock ‘n’ roll bands and again with the Grateful 

Dead. And then I worked for Eighth Day 

Sound out of Cleveland. And then I said, “I’m 

too old for this.” You know, when you’re looking 

at the artist, and you’re kind of thinking 

you could be their father, it’s time to move 

on. Or when they willingly give you the back 

lounge of the bus because you snore too 

loud – it’s very subtle hints like that – maybe 

it’s time to move on. 

And then a friend of mine introduced me to 

Local 16, and it’s been the smartest move that 

I’ve ever made in my life — besides, of course, 

marrying my wife [laughs]. 

When did you start with Local 16? 

In 2003. And I’ve worked with them since. 

They’ve been very supportive and helpful. 

I’ve worked with them as a permit worker and 

overhire all this time, and I had just recently 

gotten into the apprentice program before 

the accident. 

Now that you’ve had five months of recovery, 

are you going to recover 100 percent? 

Well, let’s just say that nobody really 

comes out and stays straight up. From a 

structural point of view, my bones have apparently 

healed. I have screws in my ankle, I 

can walk. But, it was really hard, because after 

three months of not walking, your muscles 

— you have no idea how fast they give up 

and start going to sleep. It was like learning 

how to walk again. I was limping along and 

couldn’t put weight on it. To this day I can’t do 

a simple thing like stand on my bad leg and 

lift my weight on my toes. I can’t do it. 

I have been doing physical therapy for the 

past two months. That has been very, very helpful. 

We are figuring out small footsteps, learning 

how to walk again. And I don’t know — the disk 

is 30 percent reduced in height, whatever that 

means. It’s compressed. Will I be able to lift the 

same things? I don’t know. I probably shouldn’t 

anyway, because of my age. 

It’s L-1. That’s right where the ribcage stops. 

It’s the 5th disk from the very bottom, kind if in 

the middle, where you bend. I also had, in the 

hospital, what I call my turtle shell. It’s one of 

those shells where you absolutely cannot move. 

I had to wear that for three months. 

Are you going to be able to do the same work 

when you go back? 

I certainly hope so. I want to. I want to do 

another 20 years. I’m not that old. Again, the 

union has been very supportive. I’m now starting 

a theatre show here in San Francisco at the 

Post Street Theatre, which is the perfect way to 

ease back into the grind of the day-to-day job. 

Do you typically do the load-ins and the 

hangs and everything? 

Everything. As a union person, you 

do everything. 

Are you able to specialize at Local 16? 

Local 16 is one of the few mixed unions 

where you can do more. Of course, they’re 

not going to send me on a carpentry call 

or on a rigging call. I couldn’t do that. 

But theoretically, I should know all the 

crafts. Local 16 is a mixed union. It’s not 

as strict as New York, for instance, where 

it’s audio only, rigging only, lighting only, 

electrics only. You’re supposed to know 

everything, but… Of course, if they have 

a choice between an audio show and a 

load-in, pushing boxes, they’d send me 

to an audio show. They want to send the 

best people they can. 

I think Local 16 is going to do a fundraiser 

for The ESTA foundation, and I’m 

definitely going to help. Without The 

ESTA Foundation…I had never heard of 

them before and all of the sudden, here 

they were, helping me. That was just incredible. 

And I know I’m not the only one. There 

must be thousands of stagehands and people 

working in the entertainment industry who 

have had accidents just like I had, work-related 

or not work-related. Mine wasn’t work-related. 

And without The ESTA Foundation, I don’t 

know what might have happened. 

Editor’s note: Behind the Scenes is working 

to raise $5 million to create an endowment 

so our industry will be able to help our colleagues 

for many years into the future. Please 

visit www.estafoundation.org and contribute 

today. Any amount will be appreciated. Every 

contribution will help. 




41

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Comcast Atrium Flashes with 

10 Million Pixels of LED Video 

Crushing the Record 

for Largest Mobile 

HD Video Screen 

The high-resolution video content includes a wood veneer look that makes the video panels “disappear.” 

PHILADELPHIA — With five times the screen 

resolution of HDTV and dimensions that measure 

more than 83 feet in width and 25 feet in height, the 

LED video wall in the seven-story atrium of Comcast 

Center gives visitors a unique photo-realistic 

experience fueled by more than 10 million pixels of 

constantly-changing content, 18 hours a day. 

Called “The Comcast Experience,” the video wall is 

made from 6,771 Barco NX-4 LED modules, the largest 

installation of 4mm LED panels in the world. Behind 

the scenes, there are six Barco DX-700 LED digitizers, 

seven Encore Video Processors and three MatrixPRO 

routers serving up all that digital content. 

The images appear in a seamless display, with 

large cutouts for the three entrances to the building’s 

elevators. All of the content for The Comcast 

Experience was designed and produced by the 

Niles Creative Group. 

continued on page 46 

The LED output from the monster HD screen can be readily seen for daytime events. 

KELLER, TX — It’s not a monster truck, and it doesn’t go 

by the name of Gravedigger or Bigfoot. But this summer 

and fall, GoVision’s “GoBigger” truck, with a 19-by-33-foot 

Daktronics HD-16 screen, will be roaming the country, demolishing 

previous records for the largest mobile HD video 

screen. 

“We’re combining sheer size with high resolution 

and superior pixel count to produce the highest-quality 

experience available in the outdoor LED marketplace,” 

said Chris Curtis, CEO of GoVision. 


Video and AV Supplier Celebrates 20 Years 

TORONTO — For-A Canada, a manufacturer 

and distributor of video and audio systems to 

the broadcast, postproduction and professional 

video markets, is marking its 20th anniversary 

this year. It had been founded to establish stronger 

ties with customers in Toronto, Montreal and 

Ottawa, Canada after For-A America’s business 

began to thrive. 

“Our success is due largely in part to our 

detailed understanding of the Canada market 

and our reputation for providing reliable, highquality 

solutions,” noted Andrew Alexander, 

vice president of For-A Canada for the past nine 

years. 

For-A Canada’s early strength centered on 

time base correctors and high-end CCTV equipment, 

but shifted to better satisfy the broadcast, 

production and corporate video markets with 

powerful switchers, frame-rate converters and a 

variety of remote and fixed studio solutions. 

Today, For-A is a major supplier of video 

switchers, frame rate conversion technologies, 

multi-viewers, frame synchronizers, video servers, 

converters, color 


46 

48 

Inside… 

Futuristic and Primitive 

The city of Quebec pays tribute to aboriginal 

art with digital projection in an inflatable 

dome. 

Video World 

The video production industry stands on 

the shoulders of giants like Alexander M. 

Poniatoff. 


NEWS 


Video Sets the Mood at Chicago’s Hotel Sax 

CHICAGO — A videowall comprised of 36 

plasma screens with a 16-by-9 aspect ratio 

sets the mood outside the fourth-floor conference 

center at Chicago’s Hotel Sax, along 

with images ranging from company logos 

and promos to client-created content. A Vista 

Systems Spyder controls the screens. 

“We use the videowall capabilities to sell 

corporate groups on customized arrival experiences, 

presentation options and moodsetting 

experiences,” said Hotel Sax director 

of marketing Adam Kaplan. “The technology 

enables us to really tailor our conference center 

for customers.” 

Hotel Sax offers an entire floor devoted to 

meetings and events, combining visual artistry 

with technology. The Hub, an arrival space 

and meeting place, is where the videowall is 

located. Guests can take in the wall from a 

circular banquette in front of the installation. 

“We can go online and grab images, 

bookend a promo and add flying logos,” said 

Matt Garikes, Hotel Sax AV director, citing the 

Spyder’s ability to display a variety of content. 

“Our sources are two PCs and four DVDs 

so we can feed the Spyder anything from 

QuickTime and Windows Media files to DVD 

content. And when we don’t have a conference 

in-house, we can use the videowall to 

promote the hotel and Chicago. We’ve got 

promo reels and clips from Chicago-themed 

movies like The Blues Brothers and Ferris 

Bueller’s Day Off.” 

The videowall, whose 36 plasma screens 

have a 3200-by- 

600 pixel space, is 

configured as four 

three-by-three 

contiguous walls, 

which can operate 

as a single display 

surface or as four 

smaller walls. The 

six-input Spyder 

runs Vista Advanced 

processing 

which handles the 

content configuration 

and display. 

The videowall can also serve as a backdrop for live performances and special events. 


Crushing the Record for Largest 

Mobile HD Video Screen 

continued from page 43 

“The sheer size of the video display is 

simply overwhelming,” said Jay deBlonk, 

Daktronics mobile and modular product 

manager. “The HD-16 LED technology 

and high definition processing offer the 

most advanced daylight-visible resolution 

on the market today.” 

The oversized HD screen is mounted 

to a customized 18-wheeler by St. 

Charles, Mo.-based Crasftsmen Industries. 

After appearing at an outdoor 

church festival near Memphis earlier this 

year, the screen and truck rolled into St. 

Louis over Fourth of July weekend. 

That event, Fair St. Louis, had to be 

shifted to higher ground because the 

original site, beneath the St. Louis arch, 

had been flooded by a swollen Mississippi 

river. The change to higher ground 

forced event organizers to do some 

hasty tree surgery so branches wouldn’t 

hide the screen’s high-definition details 

from the festival’s 100,000 attendees. 

“It’s huge,” said Chip Self, president 

of Logic Systems, of the mobile screen, 

adding that the clarity and resolution of 

the images was impressive as well. Self 

correctors and various video peripherals. 

A small studio was built in 2000 

to fully support the company’s virtual 

studio offering. 

For-A’s frame rate converters stand 

as one of the company’s newest and 

most successful product lines. For-A 

attributes this success to its role as 

the only company manufacturing a 

frame rate converter that can accomplish 

vector motion conversion between 

1080P 23.98 and 1080I 60 with 

its FRC-7000 and FRC-3000. 

The company is serving as a supplier 

of frame rate converters for the 

summer games in Beijing, and the 

new China office will also support 

the company’s plan to expand in 

Asia. The company also maintains offices 

serving markets in South American 

and Europe. 

said the 1,024 by 768 resolution images 

captured by Logic Systems’ two highdefinition 

Ikegami cameras didn’t have 

to be “dumbed down” for standard video 

output during the event, which featured 

performances by Drake Bell and Joss 

Stone. 

From St. Louis, the GoBigger truck 

and screen were expected to roam to 

Seattle for Seafair 2008, and then to 

sporting events for major league baseball, 

college football and the NFL later 

this fall. 

Inclement weather shouldn’t be an 

issue, according to Brady Haass, GoVision’s 

director of sales. He notes that the 

Daktronics screen is already waterproof, 

and a tarp system helps keep it safe 

from the elements on the road, including 

hail. 

Along with GoBigger, GoVision also 

markets a smaller “GoBig” unit, featuring 

a nine-foot-by-16-foot LED screen. 

Both screens can be raised and lowered 

and rotated 360°, and the trucks are 

equipped with their own control room, 

generator and camera package. 

Video and AV Supplier 

Celebrates 20 Years 


For-A Canada’s headquarters building 

Projection 

Supplier Offers 

Test Drives 

Along with the DL.3, attendees can check out other gear, such as 

the Catalyst media server used for the Random Concerts touring 

production of Oh What a Night. 

LONDON — Projected Image Digital 

(PID), which held its PID/High End Digital 

Light University (DLU) in May, planned 

to open its west London headquarters in 

late July and early August to let visitors 

test-drive the High End DL.3 Digital Light 

Engine. The dates are July 29-31 and Aug. 

5-7. 

“The event offers the chance for professionals 

from all areas of the industry who are 

interested in the latest cutting-edge visual 

technology to get hands-on and check out 

this high output, repositionable video projector 

in a relaxed and unpressured environment,” 

said PID’s David March. 

Visitors will be able to test DL.3’s high contrast 

2000:1 ratio video black and a “collage 

generator” for seamless edge-blending between 

images. The unit also offers a 6,500-lumen 

three-chip LCD projector, SDI input and 

output and curved surface support for shape 

and distortion correction when projecting 

onto concave and other non-flat surfaces. 

There is also an onboard Sony IR camera and 

integrated media server containing over 

1,400 content files. 

PID’s presentation and the DL.3 Test Drive 

will be programmed by Mexican artist, producer, 

lighting and set designer Tupac Martir. 

Martir has worked at the Mexican Opera 

House in Mexico City, as an art director for 

MTV Latin America and VH1, in theatre and 

in dance (with Joaquin Cortes) and on TV and 

live events projects in Mexico, the U.S. and 

U.K. 

“We’re extremely excited to have Tupac 

onboard for these sessions,” said March. Earlier 

this month, the company ran a Flying Pig 

Systems WholeHog 3 console training session, 

which was also lead by Martir. 

The presentation will feature DL fixtures, 

Catalyst V4 digital media servers, Beamover 

automated yoke projectors, Showpix high 

power LED wash luminaires and High End’s 

Showgun automated luminaire. 

44 



NEWS 


Dome Projection Fuses Digital, Aboriginal Arts 

An inflatable dome, 18 meters in diameter, served as an immersive AV venue for Domagaya, which showcased the art of Quebec’s 

earliest residents. 

QUEBEC — The city of Quebec is marking its 

400th anniversary with a record-setting projection 

on grain silos this summer (see PLSN, July 

2008, page 39). But some residents have a local 

ancestry far longer than that, and a projection 

within an inflatable dome, also on the banks of 

the Bassin Louise in the old Port of Quebec City, 

paid tribute to the aboriginal population with a 

show fusing digital and aboriginal arts. 

The show, created by artists at Montreal’s 

Society For Arts and Technology 

(SAT), ran from June 21 to July 1. It was 

called Domagaya, the name of the son of 

the Iroquois leader whose village became 

present-day Quebec City. The show used 

Christie projectors for SAT’s SAT(osphere), 

a portable projection dome 18 meters in 

diameter. 

“SAT was created for artists by artists,” said 

SAT director of research and strategy, René 

Barsalo, of the 7,000-member organization. 

“We need playgrounds to experiment with our 

works of art, places where people can meet 

and engage in the culture.” The 400th anniversary 

of Quebec City, the birthplace of French 

civilization in North America and a UNESCO 

World Heritage site, served as a fitting locale. 

SAT designs and markets its mobile 

SAT(osphere) as an immersive AV venue for 

large audiences. Formed by an inflatable 

hemisphere, which can accommodate approximately 

400 spectators, the SAT(osphere) 

is changing the way events such as concerts, 

conferences, seminars and trade fairs are held. 

Quebec City’s SAT(osphere) was located 

in front of The Image Mill, a sound and image 

spectacular created by Robert Lepage 

and Ex Machina measuring 657 meters long 

and 33 meters high, also illuminated by 

Christie projectors. 

“In creating the SAT(osphere) for the 

400th anniversary of Quebec, Christie was 

with us from day one,” Barsalo said. “In doing 

the research, we found that Christie and SAT 

were so similar in our philosophies that we 

were meant to work together.” 

To effectively present Domagaya in the 

SAT(osphere), SAT needed projectors with 

multi-blend capabilities. SAT selected three 

Christie DS+8K 3-chip DLP projectors and 

real-time rendering, auto-blending software 

from Montreal-based VYV to create a 360° by 

180° ‘computer screen’ to display the show. 

Domagaya incorporates a soundtrack 

with contemporary, rap, trance and Native 

Beat music composed by SAT VJs. It was the 

first content created for the immersive environment. 

The SAT(osphere), with its trio of Christie 

projectors displaying Domagaya, will soon go 

on tour as part of SAT’s ‘techno circus.’ It will 

have a permanent home atop the SAT building 

in Montreal. 

Three Christie projectors displayed digital images 

of aboriginal art within the SAT(osphere). 

Improvizing AV at a Digital “Schmoozefest” 

CARLSBAD, CA — Unscripted improv 

is something to be expected at The Wall 

Street Journal’s tech conference here, called 

All Things Digital: D6. This year’s curveball 

for the technical support team from The 

Trillium Creations and AV Concepts was to 

send SDI digital program video and audio 

feeds to a networked “ingest” system so 

the show could be shared on the Internet 

by bloggers in real time. 

AV Concepts, on hand for the sixth 

consecutive year, also provided a directto-edit 

system to deliver DVDs of the 

show to the client within 24 hours from 

the conclusion of the show, as it had done 

last year. 

This year’s speaker roster included 

Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zukerberg, 

Sony’s chairman and CEO, Howard 

Stringer, Time Warner’s president and CEO, 

Jeff Bewkes, IAC’s chairman and CEO Barry 

Diller, Amazon.com’s chairman and CEO 

Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s chairman Bill 

Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer. 

The job for the AV crew is to capture 

every nuance of the VIPs, such as global 

media mogul Rupert Murdock’s interview 

and his undisguised admission of influencing 

the New York Posts’ endorsement of 

Barack Obama. Moments like those led one 

attendee to refer to the event as “the best 

schmoozefest our industry has to offer.” 

The Wall Street Journal’s tech conference featured Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer from Microsoft. 


10 Million Pixels of LED Video 


“Both Comcast and Liberty approached 

this as a ‘new media’ project,” said David Niles, 

founder of the Niles Creative Group, referring 

to the cable TV company and the firm 

that manages the building, Liberty Property 

Trust. “This meant that we weren’t just talking 

about digital signage, but the creation of an 

extraordinary environment in a public space. 

“To accomplish this,” Niles continued, 

“we designed a content delivery system using 

artificial intelligence. The system creates 

unique content on an ongoing basis without 

human intervention,” Niles said. “In addition, 

the system is modulated by time of day and 

the activity in the atrium, and hence, the 

screen’s programming changes fairly dramatically 

from weekends to weekdays.” 

“There’s never been a screen not only of 

this resolution, but also of this realism,” said 

Steve Scorse, vice president of sales and marketing 

for Barco’s Media & Entertainment 

division, North America. “Not only does the 

screen integrate seamlessly into Comcast 

Center as a forum for content, but at times, 

the content mimics the atrium’s natural wood 

paneling and virtually disappears. 

46 



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In this first publication in Entertainment Technology 

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47

VIDEO WORLD 


Once There Were 

Giants 

Alexander M. Poniatoff 

The Ampex team included, from left, Charles Anderson, Shelby Henderson, Alex Maxey, Ray Dolby, Fred Pfost 

and Charles Ginsburg. 


By PaulBerliner 

I 

had the good fortune to have met him — an 

honor that I cherish to this day. During the 

1970s and 1980s, I also had the good fortune 

to have worked at the company that he 

founded — the company that invented videotape 

recording. At that time, the company was 

a powerhouse, 6,000 strong and the dominant 

worldwide force in the AV industry. To this day, 

the work ethic that was a part of the company’s 

very name remains a fundamental part of 

my own ethic. 

The following condensed biography was 

written shortly after he passed away in 1980, 

and I’ve kept a copy in my files for all these 

years. After many inquiries and many unsuccessful 

attempts to locate the original author, 

those that I spoke with were delighted that I 

would be bringing this story back into print, 

via the pages of PLSN. 

This is the tale of a most remarkable man 

and his remarkable journey. Yet for those in 

today’s A/V industry, I’m offering the story not 

only as a glimpse into history, but more important, 

to provide some sobering perspective. 

The next time that you hold a camcorder in your 

hand, the culmination of over 60 years of brilliant 

camera engineering, video recording technology 

and miniaturization, please think back 

to this story — when once there were giants. 

A Story of Dreams 

VID 

The small boy in turn-of-the-century Russia, 

dreaming of steam locomotives. The young 

student in Germany, planning his own factory 

upon his return to his homeland. Early dreams 

and plans which were shattered by long years 

of war and revolution — dreams which then 

were remolded and aspired to again. 

Alexander Mathew Poniatoff was born on 

March 25, 1892, in the village of Aisha, some 

400 miles east of Moscow in the Russian province 

of Kazan. His father was a prosperous 

lumberman, whose community status afforded 

young Alex, his two sisters and brother a 

comfortable childhood. 

At age eight, Alex was sent to the provincial 

capital of Kazan to attend a special high school. 

He had displayed an early intelligence and a 

quick wit so his father encouraged him to pursue 

studies that were not available in Aisha. 

Poniatoff thus planned to become a mechanical 

engineer, and upon completion of the 

Kazan high school at age 17, he applied, and 

was accepted, for study at a technical school in 

Karlsruhe, Germany. 

Impatience and Ambition 

VID 

Alexander Poniatoff arrived in Germany in 

the autumn of 1910. Though his studies were 

scheduled to last five years, his impatience and 

ambition led him to pass an equivalence exam 

which exempted him from two years of course 

work. His plan was to acquire as much knowledge 

and experience as possible — to enable 

him ultimately to open his own turbine engine 

factory in Russia, importing the machinery 

from his contacts in Germany. But his plan was 

not to be. 

Oblivious to the impending hostilities between 

Germany and Russia, Poniatoff was still 

in Karlsruhe when World War I began. Suddenly 

trapped, an alien in an enemy country, 

he escaped by train across the Belgian border. 

It was 1916. Enlisting in the Russian army, 

Poniatoff received a commission with the 

coast artillery and was assigned to a military 

fortress at Reval on the Baltic Sea. There, Poniatoff 

trained as a pilot — but never had the opportunity 

to actually fly in combat. Before he 

could be sent to the front, the Imperial Russian 

government collapsed, and the great country 

was torn apart by civil war. 

After the war, in 1920, Poniatoff managed 

to escape into China, where he went to work 

in Shanghai. At first, he translated Reuters 

press releases from English into Russian. Then 

he made deals as a lumber broker. Finally, he 

landed a job as an electrical designer, working 

on power stations and sub-stations for the 

Shanghai Power Company. His multilingual 

skills paid off, enabling him to speak in German 

to his Swiss-born supervisor. 

The California Dream 

VID 

Always, though, Poniatoff kept his dream 

of immigrating to California. In 1927, his 

American visa was approved, and Alexander 

Poniatoff, now 35, sailed to San Francisco with 

a $2,000 bonus from his Shanghai employers. 

After three years in New York, with two 

patents issued in his name and a difficult vacuum 

circuit assignment successfully completed, 

Poniatoff revived his dream of going to San 


Francisco. Despite the status and security of 

his job with General Electric, Poniatoff sensed 

that his destiny was indeed in California. 

In 1934, he was directed to a gentleman 

named T. Irving Moseley of the Dalmo-Victor 

Company, a pioneering Bay Area electronics 

firm located in San Carlos, on the San Francisco 

peninsula. Moseley put him right on the job 

designing, developing and testing temperature 

control systems. In 1939, Poniatoff left the 

company for PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric). 

He came back to wartime Dalmo-Victor in 

1944, asked by Moseley to work on a special 

project to develop airborne radar scanners for 

the Navy. A prototype of the scanner had to be 

completed in 100 days, and Poniatoff’s technical 

ability was desperately needed. 

Expertise and Opportunity 

VID 

Two of the components required in the 

airborne radar system were specialized motors 

and generators. Moseley, finding it impossible 

to obtain these components from existing 

sources, suggested that Poniatoff begin manufacturing 

the motors and generators himself. 

It was upon Moseley’s recommendation that 

Poniatoff founded his own company: Ampex. 

For the name, he used his initials “AMP” plus 

“EX” — for “excellence.” The company itself was 

located in San Carlos, just few miles north of 

what is now called Silicon Valley. 

The story of the company’s growth is intertwined 

with Poniatoff’s own biography. 

There was the excitement of the early days, 

made bittersweet by the war’s end — and the 

sudden loss of the Navy contracts meant no 

more business. 

In order to keep the company going, the 

search for a new product began, which would 

enable Ampex to survive into the post-war era. 

Through an acquaintance with Dalmo-Victor 

engineer Harold Lindsay, Poniatoff first learned 

about the German Magnetophon — the forerunner 

of high-fidelity tape recorders. Poniatoff 

decided to invest in the development of 

these machines, and in 1946, he hired Lindsay 

to design magnetic recording and playback 

heads for the proposed Ampex tape recorder. 

Ampex thus developed early expertise 

in tape recorders, and a young singer named 

Bing Crosby helped to popularize and promote 

the Ampex tape recorder throughout 

the audio recording industry. The company’s 

momentum continued, as Ampex employees 

Charles Ginsburg, Ray Dolby (yes, the founder 

of Dolby labs), Charles Anderson, Fred Pfost, 

Alex Maxey and Shelby Henderson hired on 

and worked towards the next milestone: the 

development of a videotape recorder. 

The videotape recording success came in 

1956, when Ampex unveiled the VR-1000 at 

the National Association of Radio and Television 

Broadcasters in Chicago (the predecessor 

to today’s NAB). Almost overnight, the company 

became the innovators of an explosive 

new industry. 




ROAD tEst 


Madrix LED Lighting Control System 

By VickieClaiborne 

The advent of the blue LED in 1993 unlocked 

the potential for LED technology 

to be used in the entertainment lighting 

industry for a variety of applications, one of 

the most important of which is the RGB LED luminaire. 

Creative designers quickly discovered 

that these luminaires could be assembled in 

a matrix configuration and used for low-resolution 

graphics. But in the beginning, there 

were few options for the programmer to ease 

the tedious task of assigning color and timing 

to a matrix of RGB LEDs. Today, there are 

many more software and hardware solutions 

to make it quick and easy to convert a video 

file to a beautiful graphic LED display. 

Madrix is one such software solution from 

Germany-based Inoage Trade GbR. The system 

is easy to use and the Windows-based graphical 

user interface (GUI) allows you to generate 

a multitude of simple yet creative effects for 

your LED application in no time at all. 

The Basics 


RT 

The PC-based Madrix system runs in Windows 

XP and Windows Vista with minimum 

system requirements of a 2GHz processor, 

512 MB of RAM, one free USB port for the USB 

dongle, a video card capable of at least DirectX 

9.0c with a minimum screen resolution 

of 1024 x 768 and 24-bit color representation 

and sound card. The recommended PC specs 

for large installations are: a dual or quad-core 

processor with 2GB of RAM; a 32-bit video 

card; USB; and 16-bit sound card. 

The basic version outputs 16 universes 

of either DMX512 or ArtNet II, and a DMX512 

input, MIDI in, and ArtNet input allow remote 

operation of the software. The professional version 

has 64 DMX512 outputs as well as a DVI 

output. The ultimate version has 255 DMX512 

outputs as well as a DVI output. It has all the 

features of the basic version plus it can allow 

MIDI Timecode to trigger the cuelist. All versions 

have two effects “pipelines,” an unlimited 

number of graphics layers and a fixture editor. 

With the graphical interface, you can generate 

a variety of real time “Sound2Light” and 

“Music2Light” effects for LEDs that can be synchronized 

to an incoming audio signal. Madrix 

will accept many audio sources via its external 

sound card inputs as well as internally played 

audio signals via software such as iTunes or 

Real Player. 

Programming 

RT 

The front panel of Madrix is a simple A/B 

switcher. On the left is Storage Bank A with 60 

presets and on the right is Storage Bank B with 

60 presets. You start by selecting a Storage 

Bank button, and then you can create effects 

by manipulating parameters in the effects editing 

section of the GUI. Layers of additional effects 

can be applied to the base effect, and the 

resulting combination can be easily recorded 

onto any of the 60 storage buttons in the corresponding 

Storage Bank. Once a preset is 

stored into one of the presets on either Storage 

Bank, it can be recalled quickly by clicking 

on its button. This loads it into the preview 

window and cues it for playback. 

Advanced effects can be built with usercreated 

scripts than can be added and edited 

through the GUI. Each effect layer is independent 

of other layers and each can be mapped 

to the pixel matrix so that they overlap or are 

separate (like a picture-in-picture effect). Layers 

can also be linked for global parameter 

controls as well, making it easy to adjust simple 

parameters like rate and scale on the fly. 

Playback 

RT 

In the center console display is the main 

output window and directly beneath it is an 

A/B crossfader. Clicking on the Fade button in 

this section crossfades into the A or B effect in 

the cue. 

The stored effects can also be triggered via 

audio sources such as Winamp, Windows Media 

Player, iTunes, Quicktime, Real Player, Ultramixer, 

etc., as well as via the audio input of the 

sound card. External audio devices such as a 

CD player, DVD player, or an MP3 player can be 

connected via the line level input of the sound 

card. While an effect is playing, it can also be 

manipulated live via MIDI, DMX512, ArtNet, or 

HTTP. In MIDI mode, it’s compatible with devices 

such as Numark Total Control, Behinger 

B Control Deejay, Avid M-Audio and Hercules 

DJ Control. The cue list can be triggered manually, 

or via MIDI, DMX512 or audio. 

Madrix works with or without an audio 

signal and includes static color effects in the 

absence of audio. However, only a third of 

the effects are usable without an audio signal. 

None of the M2L or S2L effects work without 

audio. 

Impressions 

RT 

For an easy to use pixel mapping LED control 

interface, Madrix offers many powerful 

features. For instance, you can import static 

images in familiar formats including BMP, JPG, 

GIF, PNG and TIF. You can also input live video, 

depending on your video card and layer effects 

over a live image. 

In terms of playback, Madrix is extremely 

easy to setup and use. The GUI is straightforward 

and the A/B crossfade and cueing section 

effects include fade to black, fade to white 

and cross through color. The playback triggering 

capabilities are extremely powerful and 

flexible. 

Besides having a built-in set of DMX512 

fixture personalities that includes generic RGB 

LEDs and primarily European LED products 

from Chauvet, CLS, GLP and Traxon, Madrix also 

includes a custom Fixture Builder that will allow 

you to create a new fixture personality. A customizable 

high resolution pixel matrix is allows 

you to create virtual internal matrices of up to 

1000x1000 pixels, depending on the capability 

of the video card and the power of the PC. 

You can import still images but not any 

type of video clip or movie. Another drawback 

is that the user manual was translated from 

German and some of it is a bit awkward. 

In Closing 

RT 

Madrix is at its best as a pixel mapping visualizer 

for LEDs. It is easy to use and allows 

the visualist to record up to 120 presets from a 

combination of images and effects, crossfade 

between the presets via an easy to understand 

A/B crossfade panel and import custom static 

images for playback and effects layering. Multiple 

built-in effects can be layered and stored 

on storage buttons, and then while they are 

being played back they can be recorded into 

a cuelist. The cuelist can then be synched to 

an audio signal for stand-alone triggering or 

played back manually. 

For making maximum use of LEDs for 

dynamic graphics displays, pixel mapping 

software is an indispensable tool. Madrix is 

a good software package for lots of creative 

visual effects. 

Madrix is available in the US through 

Denver-based Creative Consultants. For more 

information, visit www.madrix.com. 

Madrix’s pixel-mapping and LED control interface. 

Controls include a Fixture Editor… 

…Fader box… 

…Scrolling text ticker… 

…and Cuelist. Layers can also be linked for global parameter controls, making it easy to adjust simple parameters like rate and scale on the fly. 

What it is: Pixel mapping software, effects generator and playback controller for LED 

matrices. 

Who it’s for: The visualist working in live music performance, nightclubs, or permanent 

architecture installations. 

Pros: Easy to use, many playback options, various import formats, built-in fixture library, 

custom fixture builder allows creation of new fixture personalities. 

Cons: Many effects unusable without audio, user manual could be improved. 

Retail Price: Basic version — $1,499; Pro version — $2,999; Ultimate version — $5,999.


TECHNOPOLIS 


Blame the Gear 

By Philgilbert 

It’s become painfully evident to me 

that this industry has been overrun 

with people who take too much responsibility 

for their actions. Every day it 

seems like I’m on a show where a technician 

double-checks his work, a programmer 

tests her backup console or a designer 

accepts the blame for an uneven 

front wash. 

People! This has got to stop! 

We cannot go on working like this. 

We cannot continue to excel. We cannot 

persist in doing things the “right way.” It’s 

with this in mind that I present you with 

some guidelines on how to better represent 

your industry. 

Blame the CAD Software 

TECH 

I think it’s fair to say that these 

fixtures suck. Worst you’ve ever 

used, right? Right. good. I think you’re 

starting to get it. 

I know (and you know) that you 

phoned in the light plot for this gig. I 

don’t blame you. That hammock was calling 

your name and you had just loaded up 

the cooler when the e-mail arrived asking 

you to verify your front light angles. 

How were you to know that the ceiling 

in the ballroom was so high? That layer 

was turned off in the file you got. Did 

they actually expect you to go in and find 

the layer called “rigging_info?” 

I don’t think so. 

So, just let everyone know that the 

CAD Software was to blame. 

Blame the Light Fixtures 

TECH 

Okay, we’re friends, right? Just between 

us, we can both see that the front 

wash is tripe. That video shader is working 

his butt off trying to keep up with the 

light level on this presenter’s face. It’s too 

bad that everything below his neck seems 

to be lit so well. 

I know, the cut sheet on that 26-degree 

spot was confusing — field angles, 

beam angles, foot-candles… You were a 

theatre major, not an engineer. What do 

they expect from you? 

I think it’s fair to say that these fixtures 

suck. Worst you’ve ever used, right? Right. 

Good. I think you’re starting to get it. 

Blame the Media Server 

TECH 

Your design fees are lower than ever. 

(Design fees? You get design fees?! –ed.) 

All the while your clients expect more 

and more bang for their buck. They think 

technology is making your life easier! You 

wish you had a 64K PAR rig. 

So when they handed you the video 

file to play back from the media server, 

you dragged-and-dropped. It’s a media 

server. It’s supposed to play back “media”…right? 

You shouldn’t have to check 

on codecs, frame rates, bit depth, or anything 

else. Who cares if it’s interlaced? 

Unfortunately, the corporate branding 

video that your client had spent so 

much time on ended up looking like a 

Blame the Console 

TECH 

So, as it turns out, the complete 

blackout that happened in the middle 

of band’s most popular song didn’t go 

over very well with management. They’re 

ready to fire you and you don’t even have 

enough per diem left to get home. 

This is a simple one really. Blame the 

console. The sound guy says you were 

falling asleep (due in part to your massive 

hangover incurred in the back lounge of 

the bus the night before), but that GO 

button shouldn’t be so sensitive. It was 

just your elbow, after all. 

Better yet, see if you can convince 

the tour to lend you their attorney so you 

can sue the console manufacturer! After 

all, how were you supposed to know 

that DBO stands for ‘Dead Black Out’? 

This could be a big payday! Maybe you 

can finally quit touring with this Trip-Hop 

Tejano Jam Band. 

It could work. 

Blame Technology 

TECH 

Let me make this simple for you. 

You’re paid for your knowledge, not for 

what you know. You can’t be expected to 

be an expert on every piece of gear that 

you use. That’s just unreasonable. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love 

technology. I think it’s terrible that you 

would still have to do a show with old 

technology that you know backward 

That gO button shouldn’t be so sensitive. 

It was just your elbow, after all. 

Philip Glass experimental video gone 

wrong. It didn’t help that the “solarize” effect 

was turned on. 

I think it’s fair to say that this is the 

sole fault of the media server. Just explain 

to your client that they had given 

you a video file in a very obscure format. 

Unfortunately, the media server couldn’t 

handle it. 

But be quick to assure them that you 

will never use this product on one of their 

productions again, and that if they would 

increase your budget a bit for the next 

show, maybe you could actually get the 

proper gear. 

and forward. What kind of a challenge is 

that? How are you supposed to work like 

that? How can you be expected to put 

on a rock-and-roll corporate tradeshow 

spectacle without the newest LEDenabled 

laser-enhanced 16-bit RDMaddressed 

video-orb? 

They just shouldn’t expect you to 

know too much about it. After all, it’s your 

first time using it. 

Phil Gilbert is trying to figure out how to 

light his next spectacle without having to 

leave his hammock. You can reach him at 

pgilbert@plsn.com. 

Tips 

Tricks 

Using the iPhone for Stage Lighting 


Apple will let anyone sell software on the App Store, giving software 

developers instant access to an international distribution hub. While there 

are pros and cons to every distribution model, this setup should certainly 

allow for some interesting offerings from independent developers. With 

Apple’s full set of developer tools available for a mere $99, we’re bound to 

see some interesting offerings from as-yet-unknown lighting enthusiasts. 

— Phil Gilbert, from Technopolis, PLSN, July 2008 

52 PLSN AuguST 2008


THE BIZ 


Video and Lighting 

Keep Converging 

Days before InfoComm opened mid- 

June in Las Vegas, one of the world’s 

leading projection video purveyors 

announced the acquisition of one of the 

lighting industry’s most well known brands. 

Barco’s purchase of High End Systems further 

solidifies the ongoing convergence between 

video and lighting and in the process seeks to 

redefine what had been individual sectors under 

the rubric of the events market. High End 

Systems, Inc. was majority-owned by Generation 

Partners, a U.S. private equity firm, which 

acquired the company in 1998. 

A Good Fit 

BIZ 

The $55-million move is a good fit for both 

companies. An estimated 80 percent of High 

End’s annual revenues — $44 million in 2007 

— come from the rental and staging markets, 

a sector that Barco dominates when it comes 

to LED video displays, large-venue projectors, 

creative LED products and image processing. 

The acquisition also provides Barco with an 

additional patent portfolio in the digital lighting 

market, along with increased distribution 

channels for product offerings globally. The 

the High End brand isn’t going away any 

time soon, acording to Chris Colpaert, 

Barco vice president of creative lighting. 

acquisition further strengthens Barco’s market 

position in North America, a stated strategic 

goal of the Belgium-based projection and 

LED specialist, and gives the publicly traded 

company an opportunity to roll out the High 

End Systems product portfolio globally. 

“The advantage of the merger is that 

now for both product portfolios, additional 

market potential opens up,” comments Chris 

Colpaert, the Barco executive given the title 

of vice president of creative lighting and the 

mandate to integrate the companies’ product 

lines and cultures. “Barco was traditionally 

very strong in the video segment and 

weaker in the lighting segment, something 

illustrated when we introduced our Creative 

LED (CLI) line including MiStrip and MiTrix. 

We were very successful with our video customers, 

but we hoped for faster adoption in 

the lighting industry than we experienced. If 

I look to High End Systems’ customer base, 

the same seems to be true for their products, 

but reversed: good penetration in the 

lighting industry, but slower adoption in the 

video segment. Bringing the two companies 

together opens up opportunities in each 

company’s markets.” 

High End Brand Will Stay 

BIZ 

There are nuanced nuts and bolts to 

this corporate fusion. The High End brand 

isn’t going away any time soon, assures 

Colpaert. As with the acquisition of Folsom 

Research four years earlier, the brand 

will be slowly integrated into the larger 

Barco umbrella to give High End customers 

a sense of continuity. “Folsom is now 

called Barco Folsom, and while the company 

is now fully integrated into Barco, 

we don’t expect to ever fully retire the Folsom 

brand,” Colpaert says. As with Folsom, 

which was based in Sacramento before 

becoming fully integrated in the larger 

company, Colpaert says High End’s R&D, 

executive and manufacturing assets will 

remain in Austin for the immediate future. 

InfoComm concomitant with announcing 

their own merger, which makes them one 

of the world’s largest companies of that 

type. Colpaert acknowledged that merger 

and agrees it’s a trope for the future course 

of the events and staging business. “It’s not 

just products but channels to markets that 

are converging,” he says. “This extends the 

customer base for both brands with very 

little overlap.” 

Minimal Overlap 

BIZ 

“It’s not just products. Channels to markets 

are converging.” —Chris Colpaert 

With the exception of High End CEO Frank 

Gordon, who has departed, all 156 High 

End employees will remain on staff there. 

But the mechanics are in place to support 

the larger imperative of industry-wide 

consolidation. As if to underscore that trend, 

the newly combined systems designers and 

integrators AVI and SPL held a press Q&A at 

The overlap he refers to is in the digital 

lighting domain: the DL.3 from High End 

and the DML-1200 from Barco, which won 

an InfoComm Award for best product. “The 

DL.3 focuses more on the corporate events 

market,” Colpaert explains. “It has a powerful 

software tool, a high-contrast optical engine 

and high-definition projection lenses, 

all to allow high-quality multi-screen softedged 

projection. It also runs at 110V/240V, 

which is a key advantage in the corporate 

events market. The Barco DML-1200 focuses 

on the touring and theatrical market. It 

is a high-brightness digital light, with key 

elements of a light, including CMY color 

changers when used as a light, an RGB color 

wheel when used as a projector, and a hybrid 

combination, with the RGB color wheel 

with on top of the CMY color changers.” 

Colpaert hinted at new products resulting 

from the synergy of the acquisition 

but says it’s too soon to discuss them, 

though he adds that the time frame could 

be within months for some of them. “Everything 

is going to move forward based 

on the pace of the market,” he says. “And if 

the pace of convergence continues to be 

as quick as it seems to be now, I think we’ll 

have to move pretty fast.” 

Phil Gilbert can be reached at pgilbert@ 

plsn.com. 


Once There Were Giants 


Poniatoff’s quest for excellence became 

a company philosophy. Ultimately, 

Ampex established itself as a world manufacturer 

of professional audio and video 

recording equipment and related systems, 

magnetic recording tape and digital 

and analog data handling and memory 

products. 

Poniatoff served as president until 

1955, when he was elected chairman of 

the board. In 1970, he was named Chairman 

Emeritus and continued to work with 

several foundations, undertaking research 

in health and preventive medicine. 

Alexander M. Poniatoff, age 88, died 

on October 24, 1980, at Stanford Medical 

Center in Palo Alto, California. A bronze 

bas-relief likeness of Poniatoff hangs in 

Ampex’s executive office building in Redwood 

City. Inscribed on it are the words: 

“His character and persistent quest for 

excellence are forever a part of the company’s 

heritage.” 

His story of dreams belongs to that 

heritage, too. 

Paul Berliner can be reached at pberliner@ 

plsn.com. 


Join Us 

Dennis 

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Master of Ceremonies 

In Honoring The Very Best 

Of Our Industry 

Parnelli Award Nominations 

are NOW OPEN 

Go to 

www.parnelliawards.com/nominate 

Parnelli Lifetime 

Achievement 

Award 

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Tait 

Parnelli Visionary 

Award 

SPONSORED BY 

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Brought to you by Martin Professional

FOCUS ON FuNDAMENtALs 


Believing is Seeing 


“In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands 

what one is doing or what one knows, and when there remains an 

energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled 

and compressed.” — Henri Matisse 


To learn something about yourself, try 

this: Take a crayon or some other temporary 

marker and write the letter “B” 

on your forehead. (As tempting as it might 

be to grab the Sharpie in your Anvil case 

instead of walking to the production office 

to find a more temporary marker, don’t!) 

Now look in the mirror and notice whether 

or not you can read the letter you wrote. If 

you can, then you’re outwardly focused; if 

not, then you’re inwardly focused. 

Here’s anther exercise to learn more 

about yourself. To see if you’re more focused 

on lighting, video, or audio, take out one of 

your business cards and set it down in front 

of you. If the word “lighting” appears in the 

title, then you’re more focused on lighting; 

if the word “video” appears in the title, then 

you’re more focused on video. If you can’t 

read, then chances are you’re in audio. 


Lighting vs. Video 

FOF 

I was recently programming the lights 

at a show where there was a lot of video. 

The video content was apparently produced 

in a secret undisclosed location 

outside of cell phone range and without 

Internet contact because it suddenly 

appeared out of thin air at the last minute. 

Luckily, we had a whole hour before 

doors to change the color palette for the 

entire show in order to match — or at 

least avoid clashing with — the colors in 

the video content. 

Maybe it was the cloud of confusion 

surrounding the front of house or 

the beads of sweat running down my 

forehead and into my eyes, but I had a 

very difficult time getting the colors I 

wanted. It was particularly hard to get 

a deeply saturated red, which puzzled 

me because I was using some incandescent 

automated fixtures with CYM color 

mixing. I know there is lots of red in the 

spectrum of an incandescent lamp, but 

the best I could get was an orange-red. 

Having the video red side-by-side with 

the automated lighting red revealed a 

lot about color matching and color mixing 

systems. 

A Question for DPI 

FOF 

Fast forward to InfoComm, the largely 

video-oriented trade show that was 

held in Las Vegas in June. I was standing 

in front of the Digital Projections Inc. 

booth admiring the colors in the video 

being plastered over every square inch 

of their stand. They had large venue projectors, 

medium venue projectors, and 

smallish projectors, and each one produced 

magnificent reds, many variations 

of blue, and even brown colors. Why, I 

wondered, can a projector produce all 

of these colors and subtle variations in 

color when, after all, a video projector 

is nothing more than a light source with 

color filters? 

Why, I wondered, can a projector produce 

all of these colors and subtle variations 

in color when, after all, a video projector 

is nothing more than a light source with 

color filters? 

A few minutes later I went inside 

for the presentation. The president of 

the company, Mike Levy, addressed the 

group that had gathered to watch the 

demonstration. My mind is still five minutes 

back, wondering about color and 

projection. One of the first things that 

Levy said was that their new projector, 

the Titan Pro II, is actually lower in 

brightness but higher in contrast than 

the previous model, yet it appears to be 

much brighter. He said it was better in a 

controlled environment, meaning one in 

which the ambient light is very low, like 

in a movie theatre. 

Brighter and Brighter 

FOF 

Any lighting pro worth her pay 

doesn’t need a video expert to tell her 

that her lights look better in a dark room 

than in a not-so-dark room. That’s a battle 

we fight on a regular basis. In order 

to get the best performance from our 

lights, we don our ambient light armor, 

mount our trusty FOH steed, and charge 

against every stray footcandle dragon we 

encounter. But the exit signs, stair tread 

lights, and sometimes even the house 

lights can get the better of us, washing 

out our saturated colors. Our response 

it typically to spec brighter and brighter 

lights. 

But people with “lighting” in the title 

of their business cards can learn a lot 

from people with “video” in the title of 

their business cards. For example, how is 

it that one device called a video projector 

can produce better color than another 

device called a luminaire? Both have a 

light source, often very similar in nature, 

both have color filters, also very similar 

in nature, yet the outcome, to my eye, is 

not the same. 

“Bit-Spreading” Technique 

FOF 

I asked Mr. Levy that question after 

his presentation. After a bit of discussion, 

he said something that struck me. 

I’m not sure if it’s proprietary to DPI, but 

they use what he called a “bit-spreading” 

technique, meaning that they project 

colors on top of each other but not 

with the same duty cycle. For example, 

to make a certain color, like purple, they 

would project red for a fraction of a second 

and then blue. By controlling the 

duration of the red and blue projection, 

they can craft just the right color. 

Seeing is a whole body experience. 

The cones in our eyes gather the light 

energy reflected from a surface or emitted 

from a source, but our brains process 

the information. Seeing is a physiological 

response, not simply a physical response. 

We believe the colors we “see” 

because our brains tell us so. There are 

a lot of conditions that affect the color 

we finally “see.” Our perception of color 

is conditioned by the environment (ambient 

light, surrounding colors, the intensity 

of the light, etc). It’s affected not 

only by the tools we use, but also how 

we use them. 

As video continues to gain in popularity 

in the performance arts, it’s imperative 

that the lighting community learns to 

select the right tools for the job and use 

them correctly. For some of us, this is an 

ongoing process and we learn from every 

project we undertake. And as Henri Matisse 

pointed out, we don’t have to know 

exactly what we are doing as long as we 

can control the outcome. 

Richard Cadena is the editor of PLSN. He 

can be reached at rcadena@plsn.com. 



FEEDING THE MACHINES 

By BradSchiller 

Timecoding a Rock Show 

The world of stage productions has really 

grown complex in the last 10 to 15 years. 

Not only have automated lights become 

standard, but so have digital audio consoles, 

complex show control systems, motion control 

and networking. Often these systems 

must be synchronized via MIDI or SMPTE to 

ensure a reliable and repeatable production. 

While it can be amazing to sit back and watch 

a programmed light show run automatically, 

it is also a bit disheartening to walk away from 

a desk and have the show continue. 

The Changing Point 

FTM 

If you have been around for a while you 

may remember the famous Milli Vanilli lipsyncing 

debacle. In 2008 it is very common 

for concerts to utilize click tracks. Many artists, 

at the very least, let their drummer listen to a 

track with a beat to stay in time. Furthermore, 

this ensures the band (playing live on stage) 

stays synchronized with each other and other 

production elements. It is now rather hard 

to find a band that does not tour without a 

ProTools rack (or several for that matter). Yes, 

some acts still lip sync or play air guitar, but 

most utilize click tracks to better simulate the 

studio version of their songs that the fans expect 

to hear live. 

Usually the click track will contain a beat 

for the drummer and maybe some backing vocals 

and sound effects. For rehearsal purposes 

many acts also have full studio recordings 

available so the audio engineer can bring up 

any portion of a mix during the live production. 

This is also helpful if a singer is having a 

tough night with his or her voice, for instance. 

What This Means to Us 

FTM 

As I sit here at FOH and write this article, 

I am working on a big rock show that uses 

timecode for lots of reasons. In addition to 

keeping the band in time, timecode is run to 

trigger effects processors for the guitars, set 

levels on the audio desk, trigger lighting cues, 

roll video and probably more that I am not 

aware of. The magical signal is really amazing 

as it routes all over the venue and controls so 

much of the show. 

If you find yourself needing to program a 

show with timecode, it is essential that you understand 

the core principles of working with this 

medium. First, there are two formats commonly 

used in live shows: SMPTE and MIDI timecode. 

Both can be easily exported from audio devices 

and converted into either format with similar 

ease. At the user level, you will not see a difference 

in the operation of either format. Essentially 

you will see a unique time stamp that rolls 

with the audio so that you can trigger other actions 

in perfect synch with the music. 

How We Use Timecode 

FTM 

With timecode, there is a single clock that 

runs during the song, time stamping every 

portion of the music. This means that you 

can easily program your lighting desk to trigger 

cues as the music plays. Typically you will 

build the cues and then roll the timecode. As 

the timecode plays, you “stamp in” the timecode 

values into your cuelist. The next time 

the timecode is played, the desk will know 

when to play the lighting cues. 

For this production, we had the audio crew 

burn a CD with the audio track on the left channel 

and the SMPTE track on the right. Then we 

use a Y-cable to send the audio to our speakers 

and the timecode to our desk. This way we can 

program all night long, rehearse and refine the 

cueing and not have to wait for the band or audio 

guys. This method works great and is often 

used to provide lighting crews with an audio 

and timecode package they can run themselves. 

I have even worked on productions where we 

have a video playback with audio on one channel 

and timecode on the other. This is essential 

for ice skating shows or where seeing the action 

on stage is required during programming. 

Once the programming phase is complete, 

we can simply switch back to receiving 

the timecode source from the audio guys 

and the lighting will roll along with the audio 

track. I always find it amazing to see the final 

work running on its own with no problems. 

Of course there will be cue times that need 

to be edited and small cha… WHOA! WHOA! 

WHOA! Wait a minute… the timecode is NO 

LONGER WORKING! 

When Things Go Wrong 

FTM 

That’s right, this article stopped midsentence 

to show what often happens when 

working with timecode. It can all be working 

well and suddenly the timecode no longer 

comes into the desk. First and foremost the 

operator of the console must be prepared 

for this at all times. He or she should know 

how to operate the cues manually and keep 

the show running and at the same time try 

to troubleshoot the problem. Unfortunately, 

the troubleshooting of the problem can take 

hours and usually is not as straightforward as 

an unplugged cable or turned-off option. 

For instance, on this show we had everything 

working in rehearsal. The band 

came out to front of house for a “demo” of 

the show. We then had the audio guys run 

the track and the timecode started right 

up. Seconds later it just stopped. We had 

to continue the demo manually running 

the cues. After that we did some troubleshooting 

and re-routed our cables at FOH. 

Everything checked out, so for the dress 

rehearsal we felt ready to go. Again, a few 

seconds in, the timecode stopped. 

The way this show works is that the drummer 

presses a footswitch that triggers the 

next track to start. The drum technician has 

a rack backstage that plays the click track and 

sends the timecode to the lighting, audio and 

other departments. When we lost timecode, 

the FOH audio desk was still receiving it. We 

tried their feed but this did not work either. 

We tried many different troubleshooting techniques 

and finally opted for the most simple: 

a speaker. We actually listened directly to the 

timecode signal. This high pitched beeping 

sound spoke to us. When we listened to our 

timecode on our CDs it sounded perfect, but 

the timecode coming from backstage sounded 

lower pitched and “dirty.” As we let it roll 

further into the songs, we found that there 

was bleed over of some guitar tracks. It seems 

that something backstage was causing music 

to blend with our timecode. The lighting desk 

was not happy about this and would stop responding 

to timecode as soon as the audio 

bleed started. That’s why we would get a few 

seconds of clean timecode at the beginning 

of each song. Unfortunately, the beginning 

interval was all that was used to test the signals 

prior to rehearsal. The drum technician 

spent the next few hours rewiring his rack 

and was finally able to provide a good clean 

timecode signal throughout the show. 

Of course there will be cue times that 

need to be edited and small cha…WHOA! 

WHOA! WHOA! Wait a minute…the 

timecode is NO LONGER WORKING! 

The Moral of this Story 

FTM 

Timecoding shows can be fun, but remember, 

it can be challenging because it 

come from others, usually out of our control. 

Good, in-depth knowledge of how 

your lighting console interacts with these 

signals, and experience in troubleshooting, 

are must-haves when working with timecode. 

Once the show is programmed and 

the timecode is running, you can sit back 

and watch your show run flawlessly and 

smile as you recall all the work that permitted 

this automation to occur. 

When it’s time to e-mail Brad, you can contact 

him at bschiller@plsn.com. 

2008 AUGUST PLSN 57 

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Employment 






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2008 AUGUST PLSN 59

LD-AT-LARGE 


By NookSchoenfeld 

Stranger in a 

Strange Land 

Often enough my work takes me 

abroad. And just when I thought 

I’d played a gig in every corner of 

the world, some band has found a new 

locale. 

There was a time when South America 

seemed like a distant land, an impossible 

place to do a proper show. But that’s in 

the past. Now I get to teach the locals how 

to do shows in lovely places like Ethiopia 

and Kazakhstan. 

There are two things that I feel are 

most important when planning a gig in a 

strange land: proper preparation and the 

proper attitude. You have to do extensive 

advance work and make your contacts 

weeks in advance of the gig. Don’t 

wait until a week before the show to tell 

some guy in Moscow that you require a 

certain console with four monitors. And 

be sure to keep a positive attitude and a 

smile at all times. Failure to do either of 

these will lead to miserable flailing and 

the possible loss of your mind right there 

on site. 

Seeing the Sites 

LD@L 

The best way to approach a show in a 

faraway place is to go do a site survey and 

actually “walk the room” and check everything 

out first hand. Site surveys are great 

because they allow you to physically measure 

the room, figure out the best rigging 

points for your lights and scenery, sort 

any power issues, and then decide where 

to put the stage. I don’t know about the 

rest of the lighting world, but I am constantly 

booked. Finding time for flying to 

a foreign land to conduct a site survey is 

rarely an option. 

Instead, I become best friends with 

the local promoter rep. I start out by exchanging 

pleasant e-mails assuring them 

COMING NEXT 

MONTH... 

LDI Sneak Peak 

A pre-LDI look at the latest 

in new product releases. 

Visualize Whirled Peas 

PLSN’s Buyers Guide looks 

at visualizers and lighting 

design software. 

San Francisco Opera 

A video simulcast brings 

free opera to the San 

Francisco Giants’ baseball 

stadium. 

A lighting designer should really have a 

good electrician with them for foreign 

shows. 

that I am used to dealing with all kinds of 

scenarios as well as every kind of lighting 

fixture and console made. Then I make 

sure they have a copy of the lighting plot 

and an equipment list in front of them 

before I actually speak personally on the 

phone. They usually direct me to their 

vendors who eventually contact me. 

Better than Esperanto 

LD@L 

You would be surprised at how many 

lighting companies all over the world 

employ someone who can speak English. 

Once I find out who this person is, I start 

corresponding. The first thing I like to do 

is get a list of truss and fixtures that are 

available at the time I will be there. Then 

I quickly compare that list to my plot and 

start editing. If there is something they 

cannot replicate (like a preferred media 

server) then I make plans to bring one 

with me. 

My contact on the other side can 

help with the smooth transfer of gear 

through the local customs. Don’t try and 

bring your own consoles as excess baggage 

through border crossings in foreign 

lands. You will spend all your free time 

worrying about how you will get it back 

and to the gig on time. It once took me 

72 hours and $2,000 to retrieve a Wholehog 

2 from customs in South Africa. It is 

easy to get frustrated when dealing with 

locals. Sometimes, their way of doing 

things seems backwards. But if you blow 

up, they will really care less about helping 

you and everything will spiral downward 

from there. Remember, these people will 

be here laughing at you long after you’ve 

caught a flight home, and you may have 

to go back there sooner than you think. 

Plenty of Patience 

LD@L 

Patience really is a virtue. If you think 

there’s nothing slower than a load-in at 

the Javitz Center, you have not played 

a one-off in Sicily, or rigged fixtures on 

bamboo truss with baling wire in the Philippines. 

Some sites take three days to 

load in a two-truss lighting system. And 

that’s only because you are there helping 

them patch everything correctly. Don’t 

get frustrated with the lighting techs in 

Romania. They just don’t have your experience. 

Instead, teach them the right way 

and let them hand this knowledge down 

to the next guy. 

Shabby gear is often a factor, but it’s 

getting better all the time. And from my 

experience, more foreign lighting companies 

are maintaining their gear well. I did a 

show in Moscow last month. They had all 

150 moving lights we spec’d. They even 

found me a Maxxyz console in good working 

condition, which was something I did 

not expect. Then the same show went to 

Tokyo the next week. The Japanese are always 

proud of doing things correctly. But 

in this case they couldn’t hold a candle to 

the Russians. The lights took forever to 

patch correctly and both consoles I got in 

Tokyo were broken. 

Hand Jive 

LD@L 

I have done entire setups with Eastern 

European stagehands who don’t speak 

a word of English. I actually enjoy it. You 

demonstrate to one guy how to do some 

task, and then send him with four guys to 

do it. The best parts of the day consist of 

watching this guy you just taught berate 

his fellow workers in a tirade of foreign 

expletives while showing them the proper 

way to hang a lighting fixture. 

Sometimes safety concerns can raise 

your eyebrows. Structures on which we 

would never think of hanging weight are 

found everywhere. I see saddle-backed 

trusses with broken welds all over the 

world. They don’t retire these to the scrap 

metal bin, they just use them to lift lighter 

objects like PA scrims. 

Last month I did a dance show in the 

Bahamas on the beach. The locals constructed 

a stage with a 40-foot ground 

supported box truss structure — on sand 

— free standing. The locals told me they 

only use guy wires (with 55 gallon water 

drums) if they think it will be windy. We told 

them we thought it may get windy and we 

demanded they use them for safety. The 

next thing you know, there were four giant 

drums of water with ropes attached to the 

structure to act as ballast. Of course, they 

were located right in the front rows, giving 

the kids something to climb on. 

No Problem, Mon 

LD@L 

A lighting designer should really have 

a good electrician with them for foreign 

shows. It should be someone they’ve 

worked with before. Third world countries 

will often have questionable power 

or generators that were not designed for 

concert applications. When something 

goes wrong, I don’t want to worry about 

finding a translator who can find the guy 

whose brother rented them his 40-yearold 

generator. I want to call my tech who I 

know will be all over the problem. 

I also prefer to have my own guy figure 

out how my console should be patched. 

Carrying your own electrician will save 

you hours getting data to flow from the 

console to the lighting fixtures. Sixteen 

universes of DMX512 is not unusual for 

many touring shows these days, but in Kazakhstan, 

this is definitely way too much 

for the local lighting tech to figure out. I 

suggest you don’t go there without your 

electrician and a good attitude. 

Nook Schoenfeld is a freelance lighting designer. 

He can be contacted at nschoenfeld@ 

plsn.com..

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