Episodes

The crew is back! Join me with Eric Loader, Ben Saltzman, John Wiseman and John Featherstone, as we discuss the many updates and ideas concerning the virus and its impact on our industry.

What a great conversation with a bunch of passionate and hard working folks who just want to get back to work! Some great discussion this week... Enjoy!

My friend, former business partner and sometimes GoG co-host, Steve Watts from Abstract Lighting in the UK, takes an hour to sit down with arguably, one of the most innovative, colorful and controversial people in the world of lighting manufacture, Peter Johansen. I've always placed Peter on a pretty high pedestal, with other visionary creators and leaders the likes of Richard Belliveau, Pasquale Quadri (Paky) and Bruno Dedoro. Peter recently left his post at SGM and is resting, while dreaming u...

Our weekly happy hour discussion with folks from manufacturing, rental companies, tour management, promotion, design, and more. A great, knowledgable and lively group! Definitely an enjoyable 90-odd minutes every Wednesday!

In a new Geezers of Gear Series, called Tales From A Pandemic... Our first guest, Robert Roth shares with us his new, daily Pandemic routine. In Robert's case, that includes a pretty serious focus on personal health, business and cooking! Plus, a pretty awesome sounding Sci-Fi series we intend to check out!

Troy was literally born into show business. His grandfather ran a theater in his hometown of Regina, Canada and his father also ran a theater, while his mom handled costumes and wardrobe. Early on, Troy struggled between his music dreams and sports. He was an accomplished hockey player, and eventually opted to pursue a career in hockey. Selected from thousands of young players who try, Troy was signed to play in the juniors, then eventually, by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadians. But...

Not only did Christian learn about lighting on You Tube, he's since learned to turn his You Tube passion into a lucrative part of his earning arsenal as well. Christian has a much larger You Tube, Instagram and Twitter following than ANYone in the lighting space and takes time to tell us why. But it doesn't end there, Christian is also a talented LD who has learned to do things right every step of the way. He's very different than what I expected, so I enjoyed very much getting to know this uniq...

Another weekly discussion with a large group of industry folks. This week we talked about some of the information being shared stating that there will be NO LIVE EVENTS UNTIL LATE 2021 and other devastating messages by folks who obviously don't earn a living in the live events business! To join this weekly discussion, just email and ask to be added.

Isaac was laid off from his job in AV and like many of us, wondering "what now". Instead of waiting to be run over by the bus of unemployment, depression and more - Isaac decided to DO SOMETHING. With a few hours to work, Isaac put together a petition and got it out to social media using a popular platform used by many previous "movements", Change.org. Within hours he had thousands, and soon hundreds of thousands of signatures on the petition. This led Isaac to consider bigger and bolder moves, ...

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...