LOS ANGELES – “Dazzling!” The word was used often by the entertainment media when reporting on the Red Carpet at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. Journalists used this and similar plaudits to describe not just the TV stars as they exited their limousines, but also their sartorial splendor, from Jessica Chastain’s chartreuse Gucci dress, to […]
WASHINGTON, DC – It’s been said that every great building has a personality. The massive Renaissance Revival structure, located just a little over a mile from The White House, hosts many of them within its towering walls. Home of The National Building Museum, it features multiple exhibits of architectural brilliance, but in terms of “personality,” […]
COLUMBIA, SC – A very accomplished painter when she isn’t busy as a LD, Denise Simpson says that she often likes to play with colors to do things a little differently when designing shows. This was beautifully evident this December when she lit “The Christmas Experience,” a well-orchestrated one-hour musical program at the Lexington Baptist […]
SAN FRANCISCO – Even those who might be a little leery about attending an EDM or rave show would probably walk away from a Gryffin concert impressed by what they just heard and saw. Praised by one critic for creating “EDM For Everyone,” the uber-talented California artist captivates fans of many stripes with the sheer […]
NASHVILLE – Color has always been “a huge part of our design process.” Dayne deHaven says of the work that he and his collaborator at the District 5 design studio, Tyler Shapard, have been doing for The Band Camino. Fans of the red-hot rock-pop trio would readily agree; the band’s music is so evocative, that […]
BIRMINGHAM, AL – The Legacy Arena stands tall; ten stories to be exact. It’s also spacious, with an oval floor that measures 24,200-square-feet (2,244.5 m²), but earlier this summer, the big venue, which has hosted concerts by Grammy-winners, the Davis Cup, and other marquee events, took on the aura of a warm, soul-enriching space, when […]
FORT LAUDERDALE – The deepest purpose of art is “not to convey, but to evoke,” the great novelist Jerzy Kosinski once observed. Clifford Michael Spulock demonstrated the power of this principle when lighting the Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of Newsies earlier this summer at the Broward Center. The story told in this Tony-winning musical, […]
LONDON – In the words of one critic, The Backseat Lovers latest Capital Records album Waiting To Spill, “doesn’t sound like something a bunch of teenagers dreamt up.” Instead, it was, as he wrote, “a remarkable artistic effort.” Comments like these are repeated time and time again about the music of this young, Utah-based indie-alternative […]
NASHVILLE – It is an equation that every production team has had to balance: how to create big, bold, dynamic looks on stage, while still meeting practical considerations, like fitting your powerful touring rig into the allotted trailer space. The creatives behind the stage design for Scotty McCreery’s current 31-city North American Damn Strait tour […]
LOS ANGELES – Artistic inspiration often finds its most fertile ground outside the gates of convention. Such was the case with the lighting and production design that Max Lenox and Andrew Goedde created for Mt. Joy on the band’s current world tour. While conventional wisdom advises not to mix too many colors on stage at […]
BROWNSBURG, IN – “Seldom is asymmetry merely the absence of symmetry,” wrote the German mathematician Herman Weyl. The famed theorist made this observation in relation to one of his landmark scientific and philosophical studies, but his words apply equally well to design. At their best, asymmetrical looks possess a unique power all their own to […]
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – Physicists tell us that light makes no sound. That may be technically true, but when a lighting design wraps itself around ferocious metal music and a theatrical stage show to the point where they all merge into one experience, it’s easy to see how fans (and even music critics) can feel that […]