It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Regarding my new pin-up status in Lighting Dimensions, I trust yours will be kind. Thanks to photographer Dan Howell for doing the best he could with the material he had to work with.
The rest of the staff is putting on its best face for April. Our frequently flying concert editor, Catherine McHugh, touched down in Chicagoland to talk about the fiery Metallica tour. Between blasts of pyro, Cathy got us the scoop on that event (page 54), then filed a dispatch from the expanded Light & Sound Design besides (page 42). Meanwhile, theatre junkie David Barbour just couldn't wait for the musical sensation Ragtime to reach Broadway, so off he went to see its first incarnation in Toronto. His extended conversation with LDs Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer begins on page 64.
As the trade show season is in full swing, everyone here is writing from the road these days. April brings NAB in Las Vegas, and film/TV editor John Calhoun brings us an on-set lighting report from the Fox News Channel (page 60). If you're on your way to Entech in Australia, curl up with our business profile of Jands Electronics (page 90). Plenty of other "light" reading awaits for your travels.
Our look inside the SoHo Grand Hotel in Manhattan (page 36) is a taste of things to come, as we prepare our annual architectural lighting issue for May. And it's a way of welcoming all visitors and attendees to Lightfair, which returns to the Big Apple from April 29 to May 1. I'll be in attendance myself-no longer just another face in the crowd.