Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush Shoot DVD with Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video

fmagora.JPG(New Castle, DE - Dec. 14, 2010) Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video recently shot a live DVD for Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush at Ohio's Cleveland Agora. After four decades of music, it was the band's first professional DVD ever.

But the story is what's behind the story. This gig started as a conversation between Peter Daniel and his auto mechanic, who for decades boasted he was best friends with Frank Marino. Recently, the friendship proved true. Marino's wife phoned, asking Daniel's advice on a little projector that died. Daniel brought a replacement to the Annapolis, MD club.

A conversation led Daniel to convincing Marino that if he wanted a high-quality, live concert video equal to that of top artists, then Daniel should do it. Money was an issue for Marino. Daniel felt a moment of divine inspiration. “Frank had headlined on his own big tours more than 20 years ago and here he was, playing these little clubs. I wanted him to sell his video and make money, to have a big payday. It didn't take much for me to do this - I had the resources.”

The “best friend” decided to gather funds from friends, and Daniel gathered his own resources. Guy Benjamin handled pre-production, while Daniel arranged for a 6-camera HD DVD shoot for Dec. 10-11 at the Agora. Daniel gathered Bruce Springsteen's video crew of Phil Summer, Mike Colucci, Paul Whitfield, Kim Hampton, Kevin McGrath and Sam Fifield - headed by Video Director Chris Hilson. Lighting Director Charlie “Cosmo” Wilson (AC/DC, Foreigner) was brought in to rock the house.

Coincidentally, Hilson and Wilson were both fans of the band. Perfect.

Daniel, having executive-produced video, now found himself as production manager, tour manager and accountant for an entire concert. “It was a learning experince for me. I paid ALL the bills on this,” he says.

Cosmo Wilson looked at the small, in-house rig of 60 Pars and and enhanced it with moving lights, more Pars, ACLs and spot lights from the Agora's supplier, RCS Corporation.

“There was no set list, and Frank simply jams,” Wilson explains. “So I programmed generic cues of Par bumps and moving light options, just to give myself a palette, as to jam right with Frank and the band. It worked out phenomenally throughout the long days.”

“While the lighting rig was small, it was a good old rock & roll rig, the kind I specialize in, and perfect for this band,” Wilson says. “Frank Marino has never done a proper video. I have wanted to do lights for him for so long, it was an honor to do something rare that will last forever.”

Enhancing the lighting was Tom Pasour of Cosmic Fire Lightshow, who used a Barco 20K projector to splash his organic images on a 15x20 screen behind the band.

The show was recorded on Apple Final Cut Pro HQ. “It looked gorgeous,” Daniel says. Five manned cameras took the “zone” approach to the show, covering a territory to capture lots of reverse shots, “down the line” shots, straight-on shots featuring guitar riffs and drum solos. The sixth camera was locked down for the wide shots behind the FOH.

Even the rehearsal was filmed. The club let the crowd in at 6 p.m. during soundcheck and Marino kept playing. To the surprise of the crew, Marino played until midnight. The next day he came in at 2 p.m. and played 9 hours until 1 a.m. He essentially did three full shows, each three hours long. The crew had more than a 12-hour day. “Frank told me he hadn't seen this kind of production in 20 years and he was blown away. It helped him knock out a great performance,” Daniel says.

“Everyone on site was a pleasure to work with,” Daniel adds. “The local stage hands that stage manager Justin Sim got were great. The sound guys did a bang-up job. Frank was happy with the sound that Mike Brown of Lava Room Recording Studios captured for the show. We're going to end up with a fantastic DVD.”

Daniel advised Marino to do all his hits, and perform a Christmas song so they could quickly extract it, edit it and get a holiday buzz going on YouTube and rock radio stations.

There's no title or release date yet for the DVD, but look for “O Little Town of Bethlehem” from Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush to enter the holiday music scene soon.

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Peteʼs Big TVs/Performance Video provides LED video screens, projection and full video production for concert, entertainment and corporate events since 1987. For current news, photos and updates on projects in action, visit the company on Facebook or call 1-800-999-0010.

Photo by Charlie “Cosmo” Wilson

Press Release: Debi Moen, INK.