FORTH, TASMANIA – The soul-stirring power of blues music knows no national boundaries. Memphis may be over 10,000 miles away, but every year, the town of Forth (population 700) resonates with sounds reminiscent of Beal Street as it plays host to the Forth Valley Blues Festival. This year, the thousands of visitors who descended on […]

VEGHEL, The Netherlands – After the Theatre De Blauwe Kei – one of the most established theatres in the Netherlands – decided upon moving to a new purpose built 650-capacity facility in the CHV Noordkade venue in Veghel, the Netherlands, the theatre’s owners decided to set an unprecedented benchmark: to be the first 100% LED […]

NEW YORK – John Colligan of BML-Blackbird Theatrical Services believes that lighting shares an emotional connection to music, flowing with it to tap into experiences deep inside the human soul. Since 2014, Colligan has been part of this powerful union, both witnessing it and contributing to it as lighting designer for jam-band icons Gov’t Mule. […]

Resourcefulness runs deep on the high arid plains of West Texas. One way this quality has manifested itself is in the impressive tributes to faraway famous structures that locals here have erected, from the “Globe of the Great Southwest” (modeled after Shakespeare’s original Globe Theatre in London), to the popular “Stonehenge Replica” at Odessa’s state […]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. For lighting designer Tim Farquhar, it’s value has proven to be far greater. Back in 2012, Farquhar saw the popular jam band Magic Beans performing at Eldora Mountain in Colorado. Overwhelmed by the band’ eclectic freewheeling performance he took photos of them and shared his work […]

There is a part of every play that audiences neither see nor hear, but feel. It is into this infinitesimal space that wafts between every word the writer pens, and separates every line each actor delivers, that Zach Blane’s lighting thrives. By filling this mysterious area, lighting can, he believes, unleash powerful and often subconscious […]

DE MOER, The Netherlands – With some of the best outdoor music festivals in Europe offering everything from big electronic names to hip-hop heavyweights, the Netherlands has a festival tradition quite like no other. As one of the longest running festivals in the region, Pinksterfeesten in De Moer has consistently delighted fans for 37 consecutive […]

MANCHESTER, TN – With headliners like Eminem, The Killers, Muse, Sheryl Crow, Paramore and Kaskade, the 17th annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival offered plenty of great music to enjoy. But North America’s largest outdoor festival, which in the past has beguiled fans with sights like “Infinity Mirrors” and its famous arched entrance, has always […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand –  Right in the heart of this nation’s capital stands Te Auaha – a new state-of-the-art university campus that provides a home to students of creative disciplines such as photography, film production, performing arts, visual arts and music. Supporting the wide variety of productions at the school’s 200-seat theatre auditorium is a […]

LOS ANGELES – It isn’t very often that a live music venue gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but then nothing about Whisky a Go Go can be described as “ordinary.” Since opening its doors in January 1964, the club on Hollywood’s famous Sunset Strip has served as a launching pad […]

MILWAUKEE – There was a level of complexity and depth to Steely Dan’s music that set them apart from most of their contemporaries in the 1970s, a quality that prompted Rolling Stone to celebrate the band as “the perfect musical antiheros” of their times. Surrounding themselves with a rotating cadre of excellent musicians, founders Walter […]

WASHINGTON – Solar energy is essential to the photosynthesis process that allows plants like broccoli to grow. So, it’s only fitting that the sun was shining brightly on the popular Broccoli City Festival, which took place in the RFK Stadium parking lot. Although the sunny skies made the weather picture-perfect for fans, they also created […]