Episodes

An amazing group of people is assembling each week for a drink and a lively chat about this virus, the industry, the things we're all doing to keep busy, and of course - ideas to help improve their lives or businesses. This week, we had over 60 people on the call including top LD's, Lighting Vendors, Manufacturers, and more. Join us each and every wednesday until we see the other side of this beast by emailing and letting us know you'd like to be included!

Once of our biggest episodes was episode #85 where I was able to assemble a top group of individuals who shared important information with our listeners. We decided to do it again, but this time, adding Live Nation executive, Tres Thomas. The discussion on this episode is very important and timely as well. Included on this podcast we have host, Marcel Fairbairn, Eric Loader / VP of Elation Lighting, Ben Saltzman / ACT Lighting, John Wiseman / SVP PRG, John Featherstone / Founder and Partner Ligh...

Our industry is filled with REALLY creative, and normally productive people.... who are ALL going a little bit nuts at the moment, without work, without clients, without anywhere to direct their creative energy. Getting this group together, for the second consecutive week, has been a BLAST. Great ideas shared, stories told, and just insight and thoughts from some of the industry leaders. The group will keep growing every week, so keep checking back!

Craig grew up in Brooklyn, NY and literally fell into the business when a friend of a friend said someone needed a few hands to help out. Shortly after, he found himself learning under one of the forefathers of rock and roll lighting in this country, the great (and sadly, late) Bob See. Since that time, Craig has really made a name in TV, specifically "contest shows" such as American Idol and AGT, and more recently, the resurgence of game shows.

I really spirited and fun discussion with some top industry folks from manufacturing, rental companies, design, crew folks, etc. A shared and common interest for people to understand what's happening, especially in other places, but also "What Can We Do NOW".... ideas to improve yourselves and your businesses to be prepared for what we call "Day 91"... the day we ALL return to doing what we love.

John is one of the nicest, hardest working guys I've met in the industry. He's fun, fair and firm all in the same guy! The company, like ALL in our industry, has been severely impacted by the COVID19 virus. Although they lost virtually 100% of their revenues, John and his team didn't accept the death warrant, instead looking for ways to keep their people, facilities and assets employed! From that, they've developed crisis related products and processes that have created work - and much needed re...

Randy began his career as an agent before joining Morpheus Lighting (twice), Performance Magazine, Varilite, ShowCo, Audio Analysts and also working with Geezer Host - Marcel, at Tracoman / Martin in the mid-90s.

This week, I pulled together 4 key industry folks to join me and discuss the impact this virus has had on our industry but more importantly, to give sound advice on things we can all be doing to get through this. If you only ever listen to one episode of GoG - this should be it! Thank you to Eric Loader from Ben Saltzman from John Featherstone from and John Wiseman from . Also, please check out a few important links my guests wanted to share: , , ,

Like so many of us, Richard got his start in music, where he was a vocalist / wanna be rockstar. As luck would have it, his "real job" in a music store exposed him to pro-audio systems and a career was found! Later, Richard gravitated to lighting through his experiences designing, selling and installing nightclubs, and he would continue on to become one of the more prolific sellers of automated lighting systems in the Southern California and national markets. Recently, Richard sold his company, ...

Sooner Rae Routhier is an award-winning Designer, Producer, Director, and one of today's leading creative minds in the world of experiential entertainment. She has developed and produced some of the most recognizable performance moments for some of today's biggest headlining artists including, Coldplay, Muse, The Weeknd, KISS, Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, Rhianna, Pentatonix, Jay-Z, Halsey, Motley Crue, G-Eazy, and Depeche Mode just to name a few. This episode is brought to you by Elation Pro...

The Lumen Brothers are primarily made up of 3 old friends from the Theater / Opera lighting world who got together in 2017 and decided to create a Podcast. 152 episodes later, they're still doing it! David Jacques, Stan Kay and Steve Woods are all educators who are also passionate and very talented lighting designers in their own right. But more importantly, they're all really funny guys! Episode 82 is brought to you by the generosity of our sponsor, ACT Lighting .

Phay began back in the 70s, with his first "break" coming from Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats. Shortly there after, he began working with a group of teenagers from Sheffield England called Def Leppard, who at the time had just recorded their first album. Both acts would go on to do HUGE things, and Phay's relationship continued for decades with both. Phay transitioned from LD to LD and Production Manager, then, in the '90s, he decided to focus just on being a great PM. Since that time, Phay ha...

Patrick became intrigued by the lighting and production world early, while still in his teens. He took a slightly different approach though, writing a business plan for a lighting rental company he would call Backstage Productions. He didn't stop there, he shopped his business plan to some 30 odd banks before one finally bit, and gave him the money. So with his $100,000 (borrowed), Patrick ventured off to Chicago where he would buy his first "rig" from Pete's Lights. Since then, Patrick has work...

We discussed Seth's upcoming book, Concert Design - The Road, The Craft, The Industry at length. So many great things about this book for people who want to get into this business. Seth has long term client, vendor and manufacturer relationships because he's got amazing work ethic and a great attitude, plus - he works on those relationships constantly. He's got a great story that starts with his first live concert, a Steve Cohen lighted Billy Joel show at 16 years old - that set his trajectory a...

Cosmo (Charles) Wilson began his lighting touring career in the 80s and really, hasn't slowed down! He's worked with a "who's who" list including The Stones, The Cure, AC/DC, Foreigner, Scorpions, Aerosmith and many others. Along the way, Cosmo has become well known for his positive "can-do" attitude and incredible work ethic. Today, he continues his work with Aerosmith who are months into their Las Vegas residency and hopes to go out again with AC/DC, especially since it’s his 30th year working...

KLSTR is a brand new technology created by some very smart guys in Belgium who simply sought out a better way. At the foundation, they hated wasting so much time configuring and addressing lighting systems... and at its core level, KLSTR solves in a moment what takes normal lighting communication technologies several hours. KLSTR enables you to control MUCH larger lighting packages, easier, faster and with much greater feedback as well. For the heavy lifting on the Tech side of this, I brought a...

Bob Barnhart just designed Super Bowl 54, remarkably his 21st Halftime Show as lighting designer. In addition, Bob designs for So You Think You Can Dance, VMA's, Ellen, Oscars, Grammys, Miss Universe, Miss USA, Family Feud, ESPY's, and so much more. In addition, Bob has already been awarded 11 Emmy awards for his work. Episode 76 is brought to you by ACT Lighting and their Ayrton Perseo, as seen on Superbowl LIV halftime show. Check out

Benoit has done what so few have in the concert lighting world, and reinvented himself to establish a parallel career.... in Movies! Having worked with LD's including John Broderick and Marc Brickman, doing lights for artists including Metallica, Matchbox 20, George Michael and Aerosmith. Benoit has evolved to work on movies including Avengers, Iron Man, Ghostbusters, Fast and Furious and so many more. He's done it with style and class, and never looked back since his humble beginnings lighting ...

A unique business model is always intriguing and this one caught our attention at the recent NAMM show in Anaheim. Lee was a touring musician and found himself wanting much more when it came to his bands production quality. Specifically, Lee envisioned better lighting... somehow. Although they could not afford to hire a lighting crew (or even just one guy) and a full rig, they could afford something better. Lee conceived a fully programmed, time coded show, and eventually he transitioned out of ...

I've always considered this guy one of the nicest, kindest and most passionate people in the industry. Lowell started with lightshows using overhead projectors in the 60s and went on to found one of the largest and most important companies ever to enter the automated lighting space, Highend Systems. Along the way, he never lost site of his original passion for lightshows though! Highend is now a part of ETC, where the company is once again flourishing. Lowell has had an interesting journey and m...

For a year, the question has been "when do YOU get interviewed"... and while this isn't the concert industry interview you'd likely expect, it is a great interview done by a local celebrity, Anita Mitchell, who among other things was the head of the Republican Party here, was married to Apollo 14 astronaut, Edgar Mitchell and was the Chair for Jeb Bush during his 2016 Presidential campaign. Enjoy!

Dizzy began his career lighting punk bands in the 70s using the very first version of Thomas pars before joining Meteorlites and then, finally, Bandit Lites. 40+ years with only 2 jobs.... Impressive. Enjoy Dizzy's unique thoughts and approach on gear, truck packs and more.

Benny has worked closely to collaborate with designers on artists like Michael Jackson, Nickelback, Aerosmith, Shania Twain, Elton John and so many more. His work supporting top LD's as a programmer or director is legendary. Peter Morse said "Benny is one of the most in-demand programmers in our industry right now....and has worked for many years with me and others! He’s really interesting, knowledgeable and intelligent". Benny shares with us how he can work with so many great designers - withou...

Andrew has literally been lighting churches and faith based projects since his teen years. After graduating college as a theater major, Andrew took his show on the road, eventually ending up with DC Talk with 12 successful years. Since that time, Landru Design has been focused on both faith based "one off" projects and installations, many of which would fall into the Mega Church category. This episode is brought to you by Martin Professional.