Episodes

86
March 23, 2020

#86 - Randy Wade joins me to discuss his long career in touring sound, lighting and journalism

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.
85
March 18, 2020

#85 - Industry Leaders discuss COVID19 impact on the business and forward looking ideas

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: , , ,
84
March 16, 2020

#84 - Richard Rutherford

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, ...
83
March 11, 2020

#83 - Sooner Routhier, Lighting Designer

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...
82
March 9, 2020

#82 - The Lumen Brothers... Discussing their Podcast on our Podcast

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 .
81
March 6, 2020

#81 - Phay "Phamous" McMahon, Production Manager and former LD

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...
80
Feb. 26, 2020

#80 - Patrick Whalen / Backstage Productions

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...
79
Feb. 24, 2020

#79 - Seth Jackson, LD, Production Designer and Creative Director

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...
78
Feb. 19, 2020

#78 - Cosmo Wilson... LD

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...
77
Feb. 18, 2020

#77 - Roel Apers from KLSTR discusses his new technology for connecting, addressing, controlling and monitoring lighting networks

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...
76
Feb. 17, 2020

#76 - Bob Barnhart fresh off of SuperBowl 54

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
75
Feb. 13, 2020

#75 - Benoit Richard... From Rock and Roll to Iron Man... A remarkable career in Lighting!

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 ...
74
Feb. 12, 2020

#74 - Duck Lights founder Lee Duck

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 ...
73
Feb. 5, 2020

#73 - Lowell Fowler... Founder of Highend Systems

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...
72
Jan. 31, 2020

#72 - Geezer, Marcel Fairbairn interviewed by "the Astronaut's Wife" Anita Mitchell

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!
71
Jan. 22, 2020

#71 - Dizzy Gosnell.... 40 years in Concert Lighting

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.
70
Jan. 15, 2020

#70 - Benny Kirkham - Lighting Programmer / Director / Designer

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...
69
Jan. 9, 2020

#69 - Andrew Dunning / Landru Design

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.
68
Jan. 2, 2020

#68 - Glyn O'Donoghue from MA Lighting joins us to share his story and discuss the new MA3

If you've been to a lighting tradeshow anywhere in the world... in the past, ohhhhhh 30 years... you likely know this man! He's one of the best known sales guys in the industry and has been very closely connected to the success of the lighting control world with a long run at AC Lighting and more recently (and current), MA Lighting. Glyn shares stories from his career and gives us an update on the MA3 console, along with some VERY impressive numbers on that console as well. Episode 68 is sponsor...
67
Dec. 23, 2019

#67 - Gratitude for a really great year of Geezers of Gear

Marcel gives thanks and discusses every single episode recorded in what has been an incredible 11 months of Geezers Of Gear. Showing gratitude to our guests, listeners and of course, our sponsors.
66
Dec. 20, 2019

#66 - Ola Melzig.... "The world never remembers a coward"

This is one of the more colorful guys in our industry and he's funny, memorable (both his sense of humor AND appearance), and a brilliant production manager. And oh yeah, he's been responsible for the production of Eurovision since 2000! Ola is now working on the "Americas" version of Eurovision, currently called American Song Contest, expected to kick off in November of 2021. Brought to you by Elation Professional.
65
Dec. 11, 2019

#65 - Nils Thorjussen who co-founded Flying Pig Systems / Whole Hog, Element Labs and now Verge Aero

Most founders or entrepreneurs are happy and fortunate to be in a position to found 1 successful startup. Nils is in a very elite company of people who have done it not twice, but 4 times! And at least 3 of those 4 were revolutionary and even disruptive to their respective industries. With the Whole Hog, and eventual Hog II consoles, Flying Pig virtually took over the market for touring and theatrical lighting controls and held the market for almost 10 years before selling to High End. Then, Nil...
64
Dec. 4, 2019

#64 - LD Steve Owens talks about his longevity and ability to get the call time and time again

Episode 64 - Brought to you by ACT Lighting... Steve has always been a guy who is able to come in to a challenging situation and turn it around, to the point where he gets the call back. His career has spanned more than 4 decades, and there is no sign of stopping yet. You can say "Hi" to Steve on his big run with the Doobies next year on their 50th anniversary - with Michael McDonald back in the band!
63
Nov. 24, 2019

#63 - Patrick Dierson / The Activity.... "The BUSINESS of Design (vs the Art of design)

Recorded live on the LDI show floor - Chances are - you've either met, heard of, employed, or been replaced by Patrick at some point. He's not only a talented designer, but a personality to be remembered. Patrick is passionate about design, but just as passionate about running a business. Also on the podcast, we were able to kidnap Greg Jones from Martin Professional - also our sponsor.