PHOENIX – Rain can play havoc with any outdoor festival. That much is true, but in Phoenix Arizona? The second driest city in the USA (only Las Vegas gets less precipitation), Phoenix has gone as long as 160 days without rain; that happened back in 1972. The organizers of the inaugural Zona Music festival had […]
MANCHESTER, UK – There is a liberation that arises when reality is turned on its head; and the familiar is cast in new forms to become something strange and uncertain. Great artists like Picasso and Dali tapped into this powerful force, upending convention to give rise to bold, new takes on “reality.” So too has […]
CARY, NC – Familiar and reassuring, landmarks, at their best, tend to weave their way into the heart and soul of a community, reminding those who live and work around them of shared values and purposes. The fountain at Cary’s Downtown Park, has quickly become such a landmark in the town since its construction in 2017. […]
MURPHYSBORO, IL – On its Facebook page, the Shawnee Cave Amphitheatre bills itself as “a venue like no other.” Anyone who’s visited this magical spot less than 100 miles southeast of St. Louis knows in a heartbeat that this not mere marketing hype. Tucked into the base of a massive 100-foot high sandstone rock formation […]
BRISTOL, UK – Why does someone become part of the entertainment and event lighting industry? There are likely as many different answers to that question as there are designers and programmers. But as Johnny Palmer sees it, there is one common denominator that runs through them all: the joy of using technology to create the […]
WASHINGTON – Since its official opening in 1930, the stately structure that is today known as the James L. Whitten Building, home of the US Department of Agriculture, has stood out. Not only was it the first large scale example of Beaux-Arts architecture in the US capital, and the city’s first governmental structure made of reinforced […]
CORNWALL, UK – The bold magentas and royal blues that enliven the 2020 “Christmas at Eden” celebration are not your typical holiday colors, but then again, nothing about the Eden Project can be classified as “ordinary.” Built on a 160-year old reclaimed china clay pit, the world-famous educational attraction presents an other-worldly image with its […]
WILTSHIRE, UK – Surrounded by 9,000 acres of exquisitely landscaped gardens, thick woodlands and neatly tended farms, the three-story Longleat mansion glistens beneath an ornate roof adorned with domes and decorative chimneys. Each of the stately windows that line the exterior facade of the 128 room Tudor structure beckon visitors to look into a world […]
BUDAPEST – Rising 235 meters above the banks of the Danube, Gellért Hill offers breathtaking views of the Hungarian capital. This fall, it also provided an inspiring sight to the people in the city below when its iconic Liberty Statue was lit in rich, royal blues from eight CHAUVET Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures positioned […]
KINGSTON, JAMACIA – In Jamaica, a common cheer at events, especially concerts, are shouts of “Lighta, Lighta” accompanied by an enthusiastic audience member or two blasting an open flame towards the night sky in support of performances. Before the pandemic brought large public gatherings to a halt, Tech Diva Ja, provided such a moment for […]
WICHELEN, BELGIUM – The drive-in movie, an 87-year old American cultural icon that had long ago been pushed to the edge of obscurity, experienced a well-documented global revival in 2020 as people sought safe, socially distant forms of entertainment in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been very evident throughout Europe, as drive-in theatres […]
BARTLESVILLE, OK – When explaining how he designed Price Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright described it as a “tree-like mast” supported by a central trunk of four elevators shafts anchored by a deep central foundation. The ingenious arrangement made it possible for the building’s 19 concrete floors to extend outward like cantilevered branches of a tree […]