Nominations for the 1999 Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award, given to an individual who has made major contributions to the field of lighting, are being sought from industry professionals by the Wally Award committee. This year marks the first time that the entire industry will vote on the winner; in 1997 and 1998, the public was invited to nominate entrants.
The Wally Award committee is made up of: Phil Bernard, Rusty Brutsche, David Cunningham, Tom Folsom, Fred Foster, Don Hamilton, John Howe, Larry Kellermann, Philip O'Donnell, Richard Pilbrow, Brian Russell, Glen Russell, Robert Schiller, and Jackie Tien.
The nominations are due April 15, 1999. In addition to the person's name, please include a brief description of his/her career, reasons why you think the nominee is worthy of the 1999 Wally Award, and your name and contact information. Nominations should be faxed or mailed to Jackie Tien, LDI, 32 W. 18th St., 11th Floor, New York, NY 10011. Fax: (212) 229-9179.
The winner will be honored at the annual awards ceremony at LDI99 this November in Orlando. Previous winners of the Wally include: Bran Ferren, 1998; Fred Bentham, 1997; Francis P. DeVerna, 1996; Tharon Musser, 1995; George van Buren, 1994; Charles Altman, 1993; and Wally Russell, 1992.
Entertainment Design (January) cover boy Michael Yeargan will design a new opera for the Glimmerglass this summer. Central Park is an evening of three one-act operas set guess where. The librettos are by A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally, and Wendy Wasserstein, and the music is by Michael Torke, Robert Beaser, and Deborah Drattell. The rest of the design team includes Candice Donnelly (costumes) and Robert Wierzel (lighting). Overlooked in ED's exhaustive coverage of Cirque du Soleil's O at Bellagio in February was the communications network for the crew of this water-based environment, a modified Clear-Com system. KB-111A and KB-112 speaker stations were adapted with waterproof switches and enclosures; a TV-40 is used to interface the Clear-Com system to Dive-Com underwater beltpacks and a wireless cue system in order to communicate with the crew underwater. The heart of the communications system is an MS-812A 12-channel programmable master station, which is attended and programmed by the stage manager.For the Broadway production of The Blue Room, sound designer Scott Myers and associate designer John Owens specified a main system consisting largely of Meyer Sound loudspeakers (UPA-1Cs, UM-1s and MSL-2), with a secondary system, including 35 Apogee SSM speakers are used for surround effects. Production soundman (and ED contributor) Chris Cronin controls the show with a Yamaha 02R mixer and Midas XL-88 outboard matrix. All playback is from Denon minidisk players and Akai samplers, with overall MIDI control provided by a Richmond Sound Design Stage Manager 3000 system. The designers chose Crown ultra-miniature GLM-200 microphones and AKG C-747 miniature shotguns for voice reinforcement. Two Sennheiser wireless microphones are also used briefly during the performance, but we'll leave the placement details to your imagination.Tom Stoppard's play Indian Ink, a West End hit a couple years back, made its American debut at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco in April. Designers are Loy Arcenas (scenery), Walker Hicklin (costumes), Peter Maradudin (lighting), and Garth Hemphill (sound).Congratulations to the nominees for the 15th annual Helen Hayes Awards, which honor Washington DC productions and theatres and will be presented in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Nominees for Outstanding Sound Design include: Scott W. Edwards and Timothy M. Thompson, for You Can't Take It With You; Brian D. Keating, for Neville's Island; David Maddox, for Nijinsky's Last Dance; Neil McFadden, for Jack & Jill; Red Ramona, for The Merry Wives of Windsor; and Gil Thompson, for 7 Guitars. Costume design nominees include: Natasa Djukic, for Quartet; Anne Kennedy, for The Fix; Robert Perdziola, for A Woman of No Importance; Reggie Ray, for The Old Settler; Robin Stapley, for Camille; and Paul Tazewell, for Peer Gynt. The lighting design nominees are: Howell Binkley, for both Peer Gynt and Sweet Bird of Youth; Dan Covey, for Dangerous Liaisons; Michael Giannitti, for 7 Guitars; and Daniel MacLean Wagner, for The Fix and Nijinsky's Last Dance....Landmark Entertainment Group is designing the $120 million expansion of the San Diego-based Barona Casino, one of the largest Indian casinos in California. Two more "big tops" will be added to the circus-themed casino, plus a hotel/lodge and an 18-hole golf course.One of lighting designer Jeff Ravitz's recent projects was the Shania Twain concert special on CBS. Ravitz supplemented his Morpheus touring rig with 100 Studio Colors and 24 Spots. LD Allen Branton designed the special TV lighting, working with directors Harry Sangmeister and Tom Beck; John Lobel of Light & Sound Design coordinated the equipment. Coming up for Ravitz: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.For recent tapings of Wheel of Fortune in Hawaii, audio technician Bill Daly of Pro Mix West (formerly Burns Audio) specified a sound system made up of various models of Apogee speakers; other equipment included an XTA digital system, B&K mics, a Yamaha O2R console, and wireless mics consisting of Trams on Shure body packs. Shure also sent sent a new lavalier mic to be beta-tested on this show. Wheel veteran Jim Moody designed the lighting. To get all the gear across the Pacific Ocean, a total of 23 shipping containers were transported by Matson; 11 containers came from Brown United (stage and bleachers), three containers of lighting equipment came from Vanco Lighting out of Orlando, four containers of Showpower generators, and five containers for the Wheel of Fortune 50' trailers, the puzzle board, the wheel, set pieces, the ProMix sound system, and the game show computer systems.The Royal Festival Hall, in the midst of London's South Bank, recently upgraded its lighting system. Head of production Nigel March specified and bought two Avolites Diamond III consoles, Strand 520 and Strand 530 consoles, 30 Martin MAC 500s, and 20 MAC 600s. The RFH hosts events 364 days of the year, many of them one-offs, spread across its six sites. Three halls--The Royal Festival Hall, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, and The Purcell Room--are complemented by The Ballroom plus the two open-air sites, Level Two Terrace, and Jubilee Gardens. The space has two resident orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia.The new Top of the Pops studios at Hauptstadtstudio Berlin Adlershof in the heart of "Media-City" in old East Berlin features a lighting rig designed by Patrick Nicholas and some 72 MAC 500 and 36 MAC 600s. Thirteen PAL 1200 effect lights are also incorporated in the lighting design of the three-set facility, as well as ETC Source Fours, Pani projectors, High End Systems Cyberlights, MDG Atmosphere fog machines, and a Wholehog II console. Toronto-based architect AJ Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Company has been selected by the Canadian Opera Company's board of directors to design the new 2,100-seat Canadian Opera House in Toronto....The Rolling Stones are on the road again, with live sound pros dB Sound once again providing design for the mega-tour. Equipment features EV X-Array speakers and 32x XTA Electronics DP226 DSPs for the main system and the monitoring system including drums and keyboards.Helsinki City Theatre in Finland's capital recently refurbished its lighting system. New equipment for the 910-seat theatre includes a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog II lighting controller, with conventional lighting from Niethammer and ADB, dimmers from Compulite, and intelligent lighting fixtures from High End Systems.Audio Toys Inc. (ATI) of Columbia, MD recently shipped a custom, 56-channel, 80-input Paragon monitor, featuring the capability of up to 20 dedicated stereo monitor mixes, high voltage mic preamps, four bands of parametric EQ, and a patented compressor and parametric noise gate, to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. In other ATI news, the company sold a 48-channel, 64-input Paragon monitor and a 40-channel, 56-input Paragon P40D monitor to Black Entertainment Television (BET). The sale was completed through Washington Professional Systems in Wheaton, MD....Acoustics manufacturer Systems Development Group provided facility designer John Storyk of the Walters-Storyk Design Group with eight custom diffusers for the ceilings of Betelguese Productions suites.
Jeff Ravitz and Moody Ravitz Hollingsworth Lighting Design Inc. has moved from its offices at 743 Seward St. in Hollywood. The company's new address is: 14141 Covello St., Ste.4B, Van Nuys, CA 91405-1400; phone: (818) 786-3500; fax: (818) 786-3501....ETC has named Tod Reemtsma as architectural sales specialist for its New York office. He began his ETC career in 1996 in the quotations division of the company's headquarters in Middleton, WI before moving to the New York office a year later to work as field projects coordinator. Reesma's primary focus will be New York City, with some work in the Northwest and Midwest territories. Telex has unveiled a new management team, consisting of John Palleschi as president of the newly formed speakers and microphones group, Dan Dantzler as president of the newly formed electronics group; and Glen Cavanaugh as president of the existing multimedia/audio communications groupMartin Professional has assumed full rights for exclusive distribution of the complete line of Case control desks. Belgium-based R&D International, which introduced the products in 1992, is no longer making its own version of the consoles and is instead concentrating on product development and support.Elkhart, IN-based Crown International has named Stephen Morris, a 15-year veteran of the professional sound reinforcement scene, as its product line manager for amplifiers....Eastern Acoustic Works, the Whitinsville, MA audio manufacturer, has appointed David Homa, a veteran of numerous acoustical, sound system, and A/V design projects, to the position of manager, application support group....Trade show exhibit design firm Delphi Productions, formerly of Oakland, CA, has moved its corporate headquarters to a converted WW II airplane hangar in Alameda Point, across the bay from San Francisco. The hangar, which boasts 600 windows and 108,000 sq. ft. of virtually unobstructed space, is in a former US Naval station being converted for civilian use. The address is: 950 W. Tower Ave., Alameda, CA, 94501; phone: (510) 749-6890; fax: (510) 749-6899....ETC Europe has appointed The Service Company, a member of the White Light Group of companies, as its first authorized service center for ETC products outside the US. The new deal will see The Service Company supporting ETC's entire line of products, including the Obsession and Expression consoles, the dimmer ranges, and ETCNet networking system....Tullytown, PA-based PSI (Precision Systems Integrated), North American distributor of audio equipment, has added Dave Lewty, formerly national sales manager at Amek, as VP of sales. In addition to his sales responsibilities, Lewty will be heading up PSI's new West Coast office in Simi Valley, CA. In other PSI news, the distributor has added D&R consoles to its product range, which also includes Garwood, Sonar, dB Technologies, Nevoton, Outboard Electronics, and EMO products. The contact information for the California office is: phone: (805) 520-5852; fax: (805) 520-5844....Production Arts' New Jersey office has moved. The new address is: 7777 West Side Ave., North Bergen, NJ, 07047; phone: (201) 758-4000; fax: (201) 758-4312....In two related items, Wayne Freeman, an audio industry veteran and former VP of Soundcraft, has joined Amek USA as sales and marketing director, a new position created to handle the launch of 9098i and DMS in the US, and Allan Nichols, a former VP of sales and marketing for Amek USA and Soundcraft USA, was promoted to general manager of Amek USA. In other Amek news, the British console manufacturer celebrated its 25th anniversary at the AES convention in San Francisco....Todd Berling, formerly of Pook Diemont & Ohl and Peter George Associates, has formed his own company, Todd Berling Design (TBD). TBD offers theatre planning and technical systems design services for theatres, churches, school auditoriums, and commercial/retail spaces. TBD is based in Haverstraw, NY; phone: (914) 429-1563....Charles Cosler Theatre Design has relocated, to 232 Madison Avenue, Suite 600, New York, NY 10016-2564. Phone: (212) 869-0592; fax: (212) 213-6153. It has also launched a website, at www.cosler.com.Event production company Hargrove, Inc., of Lanham, MD staged a grand opening recently, introducing its new 327,000-sq.-ft. facility. Themed vignettes, a parade, and a dinner in the main warehouse were highlights of the 45-year-old company's gala event....The San Francisco office of Current Events International (which used to be Proformance Lighting and Sound) has appointed Mickey Morgan its vice president of audio. Morgan is the former co-owner of Proformance; the Current Events website address is: www.cevents.com...Alusuisse Composites, the St. Louis, MO-based manufacturer of display materials and architectural curtainwalls and cladding, has promoted Gary Scott to the position of technical field rep. Scott worked for 11 years in the company's Kentucky plant; in his new capacity as technical field rep, he will "respond to marketplace needs for technical assistance with the company's expanding lines of materials," according to a press release...QSC Audio Products has completed the creation of its Systems Integration Group by appointing Scott Kalarchik, a former systems analyst for the audio manufacturer, to the position of audio design liaison. In this newly created position, Kalarchik will work with industry system designers to promote QSC products in both live sound and installed sound reinforcement systems. In other QSC news, the company has named DiModica & Associates of Tamarac, FL, as its sales rep for Florida. DiModica will carry QSC's complete line of power amps, accessories, and computer control products....New York-based architect James Stewart Polshek has changed the name of his firm to Polshek Partnership Architects. Polshek and fellow principals Joseph L. Fleischer and Timothy Hartung welcome as partners Duncan Hazard, Richard Olcott, Susan Rodriguez, and Todd Schliemann....North American rental specialist Aggreko has opened five new locations, expanding its network to 39 offices nationwide and 70 internationally. The newest depots are in Cincinnati, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, San Antonio, and Phoenix; each facility includes office space, a shop, and a secured yard for storage, as well as staffs of sales, administrative, management, and technical support personnel. The expansion is part of a corporate plan dubbed Power Trip 2000, which also includes a 30-month quality control program and a three-part survey program....Lighting design service firm Team Imagination, Inc. has hired Brent Wrobel as staff lighting director. Wrobel had worked on a freelance basis with the Los Angeles company previously on the Spirit Awards and EPCOT Live, a two-hour live telecast from Walt Disney World...Meyer Sound of Berkeley, CA, has appointed Lloyd Kinkade as Western regional sales manager for the US. Kinkade will be responsible for spearheading sales in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; he worked most recently with Feld Entertainment, where he was sound director for Ringling Bros.' Blue Unit....Cleveland's Colortone Audio Visual Staging & Rentals has branched out to Salt Lake City, UT. The new office, run by Don O'Cain, will allow the event producer to provide services in the Rocky Mountain and West Coast areas; the phone number in Salt Lake City is: (801) 253-0114....London-based International Marketing Partners is representing special effects design firm Technifex in Europe...Jaffe Holden Scarbrough Acoustics Inc. of Norwalk, CT, has added six new consultants to its staff. They are: In the acoustics division, Christopher Blair, previously with Artec Consultants; Russell Todd, senior consultant, who previously worked with Pelton Marsh Kinsella Consultants in Dallas; and Christopher Rock, a percussionist and former employee of Brooks Acoustics. Joining JHS' electro-acoustic division are: Anthony Nittoli, formerly an installations division manager at ProMix; Byron Bishop, who lived for a time in Singapore, where he provided product and apps instruction and consulted on projects for JBL's Asian customer base; and Sam Brandt, a recent graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. In other JHS news, principal Christopher Jaffe has joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, where he will design and initiate a new undergraduate certificate program titled "Sonics in Architecture" for architects and engineers whose interest lies in the design of performing arts buildings and other public facilities....California-based special effects supplier Spectra F/X has moved into overall design and changed its name, address, and contact numbers. New details: Spectra Entertainment, 1785 Voyager Ave., Simi Valley, CA 93063. Phone: (805) 579-1071; fax: (805) 579-1661....Hillmann & Carr Inc. of Washington, DC, and the Studio of David Inocencio/Minette Siegel, based in San Francisco, will join Esperanto Inc. of Atlanta, GA, as authorized developers and distributors of The ImageContinue(TM) USA's patented film projection technology. In related news, Nicola Vidali, president of Esperanto, has created AVNext Group, "an alliance of forward-looking design, AV, and communications companies," to promote ImageContinue technology....Mike Kent has been named worldwide general manager for the themed entertainment section of Kodak's entertainment imaging division. The business unit combines digital imaging products with movie and entertainment industry content, for use at location-based entertainment sites and other places where there is heavy foot traffic.Linda M. Alterman, former West Coast regional manager of Bulbtronics, has joined Light Bulb Distributing in Ferndale, MI, as director of specialty markets..Owl Video Systems, the exclusive US distributor of Seleco video display products, has named James Armstrong as the Eastern regional sales manager for Seleco home theatre products..