Skip to main content

    So You Think You Can Light Dance?

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Mike Graham, looking pensive in front of MVP video panels

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    I will never admit to watching shows like Live to Dance, or Dancing with the Stars, or American Idol, but if I did, I could tell you the evolution of lighting on TV shows has been astounding. Since I come from a design background and can remember when people were afraid of moving lights, I can tell you it is really cool to see how the technology has finally been fully embraced. For those of us who are old enough to remember Star Search, Soul Train, or Dance Fever (It’s got a good beat and I can dance to it. I give it an eight.), you will remember it was all about a ton of PAR cans, pin spots, mirror balls, and haze.  Now look at where we are. LED video walls, huge moving light packages, LED wash lights all over the place, and fantastic applications. What an evolution in just over 30 years.

    NZ trip: Returning home

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    I’m back in the US. Just getting home from work and picking up some Indian take out. I bought a phone card and texted Annie to tell her. She texted me back to tell me that she was OK, but there was a terrible earthquake. I told her to not joke about that. At the same time, I was looking online to see if she was for real. Christchurch has been hit with a 6.1 aftershock from the 7.1 that they had last year. I spent the rest of the evening texting her back and forth until her cell battery died. The phones are out, the power is out, and the water is out. The damage in town is terrible, but luckily, they were out-of-town. Finally the next day, she called me to let me know that she was OK and I spoke to Connor as well. I am just so happy that they are OK and that the airport is open. They leave tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see them.

    All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Getting to see the family and making new friends has been amazing as always. With the recent earthquake, I am rather glad that I got to see the city of Christchurch in its best light as I know that it will never be the same again. Some of the photos in this blog are pictures of things that don’t exist even a week after taking them. It’s amazing to think that the church bells are silenced and that many of the oldest buildings are gone forever. With regards to the people I met that are in our industry across the country of New Zealand, thank you for your hospitality.

    NZ trip: Day 14, Christchurch

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    Three thirty in the morning is really early. Again. I am up getting the final touches on my packing. Connor is out cold in his bed, but Annie is up with me. I hate leaving her here, but I have to go to China for meetings. I tell her that I love her and to stay safe. There have been people saying that they were due for another good-sized earthquake. I was just hoping that it would hold off until after they left and were on their way home.

    NZ trip: Day 13, Christchurch

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    It’s my last day in NZ.  I still have shopping to do as I have not gotten any gifts for anyone back home. We still had to go see one of Annie’s friends and we wanted to do some local tourist stuff as well. We started out by going Punting on the Avon. The Avon is a shallow river that winds its way through Christchurch. It is a very pure and clean river except for all of the ducks. This is also the source of the drinking water for the city. Don’t worry, it is filtered.

    Perfect day to be on the water.

    The punter of the boat told us that when the British decided to build a settlement here, it was only because they could not get their boats any further up the river. Sometimes the simple reason is the best reason. Nonetheless, the ride was really neat and in all her time living there, Annie had never done this. Connor just liked putting his hand in the water and taking pictures of all of the ducks.

    Jeff, our Punter was really funny and full of information.

    After the punting, we did some shopping, saw Annie’s friend, and then came back into town. We took a ride on the tram. The tram is a historical trip through the city with the driver as the narrator. Very enjoyable and informative. Annie wanted to get off in one of the parks and have a very special vanilla ice cream. She was right, it was good. Connor was chasing the birds around the park until we got back on the tram and took it all the way back to the town square. We got off and I had my last walk around the square. We went back out to Trish and Neil’s for dinner. Also, my last chance to get a fish and chip meal for awhile.

    NZ trip: Day 12, Christchurch

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    Trish and Neil’s older son Iain’s birthday is today. We picked up Connor, Iain, and his girlfriend and took them back into town. We went to lunch at the same place we had the Waitangi Day breakfast. The food at the coffee house is excellent and was worth the return trip. After that, we took a walk to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

    The gardens, which are huge by the way, were in full bloom and it looked and smelled fantastic. Iain and his girlfriend were happy to walk around the gardens with us and play with Connor in the huge trees with low branches. Connor was having a great time climbing on the trees and posing for pictures. For Annie and I, it is starting to kick in that I would be leaving in just two days and they would be here for another week. It’s hard knowing that I would also be home about four days before them. I think that I am missing them already.

    Later in the evening, we went back to the Below Zero Ice Bar to have a drink to celebrate Iain’s birthday. We got to choose from a list of drinks and had about 30 minutes in the room. I’m originally from Rochester, NY., and I left the cold for a reason and here I am back in a freezer surrounded by ice while it’s about 24c. Yep, I have lost my mind. The bar was really a lot of fun and everyone had a great time. I highly recommend checking it out.

    Annie and Connor get cozy at Below Zero Ice Bar.

    Even the glasses were made of ice. Cheers! Happy birthday, Iain.

    NZ trip: Day 11, Christchurch

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    WWritten by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    Back to Christchurch and the real start of my vacation. Annie keeps asking me what I want to do. To be honest, I was just so happy to be able to devote my full attention to not having to “do” anything. We went out to Trish’s house. She and her husband, Neil, offered to take Connor for the night and let him have a sleep over. Annie and I went back to town. We picked up a bottle of Champagne, went out for a quick snack and back to the hotel. Happy Valentine’s day, Annie.

    NZ trip: Day 10, Wellington

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    For the weekend, we are tourists. John and Julie are my wife’s brother and sister-in-law.  John is Annie’s oldest brother and they were good enough to show us around Wellington for two days. We went to the New Zealand Parliament and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

    Te Papa in Maori means “our place”. The museum is free and just asks for donations at the end. There were exhibits about everything from the Maori culture, the wildlife of NZ, a video history of the ups and downs of NZ since about 1935 and even a giant squid. My son could not stop talking about the giant squid. I have to say I thought it was really cool as well.

    They had an earthquake simulator that could simulate about a 4.1 earthquake. Connor was none too impressed and managed to run out of there at top speed. I don’t think he was a fan of it. I am still driving the car most of the time. I am no fan of driving on the other side of the road. Now it’s not that it’s harder or anything, it’s more the fact that I was just sick of having to concentrate so much harder to stay in the correct lane, not make any turns on red, and most importantly, to remember that the person turning in front of you has the right of way. To anyone I cut off, sorry about that mate.

    NZ trip: Day 9, Wellington

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    After a long day of presentations and setting up, we are back the next day at Audio Progress tearing down. I finally have a chance to speak with Malcolm and learn what he likes about CHAUVET. He has invested heavily in the COLORado 2 and COLORado 6p. He says he is really happy with how they hold up, are consistent with the colors and run efficiently. He has gotten rid of all but about nine of his original PAR 64 units in favor of the COLORado fixtures. He is also big into using ShowXpress. They are using a Obey 70 combined with the ShowXpress so that they have fader control and makes it much more like a standard lighting desk. They were using another more expensive desk and were much happier to be using the ShowXpress with the Obey.  Allan Reiss (product manager for club/DJ line), that is a major win for you my friend.

    Now it’s back to the road. No way am I going back over that mountain though. I ignore the GPS girl and stay on the road by the ocean. The view is awesome and the weather is perfect. Sorry, no pics of that as I was driving. I get back to Wellington just in time for dinner. Perfect timing and the distance was almost the exact same as if I had done the mountain thing. GPS girl apparently has a wicked sense of humor.

    NZ trip: Day 8, Wellington – MDR dealer night

    Written by David on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    Get up early and drive to work. It’s almost like being at home, except I am driving on the other side of the road through some of the most dangerous roads on the North Island.  There is a safer way, but apparently the GPS I am using hates Americans enough to send me over the mountain instead of around it. All in all, the drive up the mountain was easy. Just a matter of staying in my lane and taking it easy. No problem until I started going down the mountain and all I could see was huge cliffs and water that seemed like a mile below. Needless to say, I was sweating bullets and could not wait to get down from there, but wanted to make sure it was by road, not by air.

    Brodie’s license plate. Yes, he can spell, but there is only space for 6 letters.

    Once I finally got to MDR, it was time to get to work and help finish up the dealer night preparations.

    The sign is self explanatory.

    The lighting rig consisted of the following: (2) LEGEND 300E Spot, (2) Q-Spot 160-LED, (2) COLORband TRI, (7) COLORado 2 IP, (4) COLORado 1-Tri TOUR, (4) COLORado 1 Tour, (1) COLORado 1 VW, (8) LED PARr 64 TRI, (1) Cirrus and (1) Eclipse. (The last three are members of our club/DJ line of fixtures.) There were also one each of the COLORdash Accent family members, an assortment of ILUMINARC products, as well as the popular club/DJ wash lights 4PLAY and 4BAR. It was all controlled by ShowXpress and an Obey 70.

    Controlled by ShowXpress and Obey 70

    The night was hosted by MDR and Audio Progress Ltd. We had a guest from Massey University, Professor of Sustainable Energy, Ralph Sims, who discussed the effects of CO2 emissions as they relate to global warming concerns. He described what can be done to help prevent further release of CO2 and how we can lower our carbon footprint by using more efficient methods of transportation, energy production in our everyday lifestyle. He touched on the lighting industry and offered comparisons between traditional incandescent lighting and compact fluorescent lighting (CFL).

    Prof. Simms speaks about green and sustainable energy.

    After his presentation, I was able to expand on his discussion by going into the energy savings of LED and also include the fact that LEDs are much more flexible and actually usable in the entertainment industry where CFL is not. I then touched on the fact that comparisons between LED and discharge lamps is difficult to do on paper and is something that has to be shown in person. The crowd was very receptive to this and I think Brodie is going to get swamped with demo requests.

    The presentation from offstage. We waited until it got dark to start going over the fixtures themselves.

    We took a short break between the technology portion and the fixture overview and then reviewed the entire professional catalogue fixture by fixture. After the presentation, both Brodie and I were mentally exhausted.

    Brodie then wanted to give me a ride around Palmerston North to show me the two outdoor installations he has worked on. There are more in the works, but for now there is the Clock Tower and Regent on Broadway Theater. The Clock Tower is lit with a combination of COLORado Batten 72 Tours and COLORado 6p units. The Regent Theater is uplit with COLORado 6p units only.

    The clock tower is lit with a combination of COLORado Batten 72 Tours and COLORado 6 IP units.

    The Regent on Broadway Theater is lit with COLORado 6 IP units only.

    NZ trip: Day 7, Wellington

    Written by on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional

    Off to Wellington. A quick 45-minute flight on Air New Zealand, but still enough time for them to roll the drink cart up and down the aisle a few times. No problems with any of the arrangements and off to Annie’s other brother John’s house for dinner and some rest as I have a long drive ahead of me the next morning.

    Sleeping again?