Episodes

Robert (Bob) Harmon is one of the hands down NICEST guys in the industry. You know you've made a mark in this industry when Bob approaches you at a tradeshow and hands you a bag of Hawaiian coffee. Bob started his first business at 12 years old and founded Eggshell at 16.This year Eggshell Light Company will be celebrating 50 years. Eggshell Light Company has been a boutique production company handling the light and visual needs for all who graces their shores.They combine the sublime methods ...

⁠Claude Viens is a Product Specialist at Lighting at AVL Media Group in Montreal, Canada. Claude is responsible for projects and support in North America. Claude spearheaded AVL’s continued growth in the professional lighting and visual effects marketplace. His 30+ years of experience spans a wide range of disciplines from Lighting, Live Events, Lighting Design, Stage Lighting, Lighting Control, Tour Management, Architectural Lighting, LED Lighting Systems and Event Planning. Claudes internati...

Jim Woodward is an award-winning designer whose expertise is 3D visualization, rendering, and modeling for a wide variety of industries including concert & theatrical events, film, television, corporate events, trade shows, museums, architectural firms, and retail. Jim has been incorporating CAD and 3D visualization into the entertainment workflow since 1986. He's produced corporate and concert events for widely recognized companies and entertainment artists for over 40 years. Now Jim is the se...

Steve Warren was a Shareholder and Director of Avolites Ltd until to its recent sale to Robe. For over 35 years, Steve was the public face of the console and dimming manufacturer. He began his career designing electrical layouts for hospitals, police stations, and public buildings, before joining Avolites in 1984 and working his way up into a technical sales role. Then the opportunity came, in 1991, to purchase Avolites from the original owners, Steve bought the assets of the company and became ...

Michael has spent 30+ years in the entertainment industry. First as a freelancer, then in 2011, Michael joined forces with other designers to create Crossfade Design, LLC. During that time, he has created designs for small,medium and large-scale events worldwide. Michael is the President / Senior Designer at Crossfade Design and guides its overall business operations. This episode is brought to you by Roe Visual and Stratum Productions.

David has been in the industry more than 40 years. He was President at Morris | Light & Sound, Integration before SoloTech acquired Morris. David is now the President of Business Development for Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS). Gateway Studios & Production Services offers turnkey production service solutions for the live music touring, motion picture/television and corporate event industries. Gateway Studios, scheduled to open this year, with more than 300,000 square feet, Gateway ...

Jeff Founded Special Event Services in 1986 with Jim Brammer in Brammer’s Winston-Salem garage. SES is an industry leader in audio, lighting, video, design, staging, and live event production for businesses, religious organizations, and major recording artists. Since 1987 Jeff has provided scenic, show and lighting design for SES clients worldwide. Jeff has also toured with many of these SES clients as their lighting director for over the past 30 plus years. This additionally includes being the...

David sold his lighting business, TLS Inc to 4Wall back in 2012 and stayed on to work with the company for three years before taking a different approach to life. Now David is retired and manages some real estate and spends time renovating his current house with his wife DeAnn. They both did some community theater work and consulted on a few lighting projects. David and DeAnn bought boats and traveled a lot which is fantastic BUT David’s main source of income these days is winning $ from buddie...

Glenn Roggeman is the CEO of The AED Group. He founded AED in Belgium in 1985 as a dry-hire rental company for lighting and sound equipment. Today, the AED group is a major player in the audio-visual market in Europe, employing more than 300 people in eight countries - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and United Arab Emirates. In 2013, Glenn acquired AED Studios and transformed it into the most eco-friendly entertainment complex, catering to film and TV productio...

Talk about career spans - Dan Braun started his legendary career path more than 45 years ago. In fact this year will mark Dan’s 30th year working with mega-act, Metallica where he remains their Show Director today - while delivering the best show he can to their massive audiences around the world. Longevity in this industry isn’t by accident, and Dan is no exception. This episode is brought to you by ACT Entertainment and GearSource.

Matthias Hinrichs is a Product designer and innovator. Specializing in the Obsidian Control Systems for Elation Professional. Matthias has a focus on user experience, usability and workflows to make complicated tasks easy and fun for the user. As a product manager for lighting control systems he was tasked to analyze the creative process of lighting and visual design so it can be programmed into computer systems fast and efficiently. The challenge of managing tens of thousands of control paramet...

Richard Cadena is an ETCP Recognized Trainer, an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician with over 36 years of experience in live event production. He is the author of several books, and the technical editor for Lighting and Sound America, Lighting and Sound International, and Protocol magazines. As a freelance lighting designer and lighting consultant he has worked on concert tours, television, theatre, motion picture productions, sporting events and more. His latest projects include supplyin...

Josh Allen has been actively contributing to the lighting industry for more than thirty years. He held the position of principal consultant with Theatre Consultants Collaborative (TCC), where for over a decade, as member of the American Society of Theatre Consultants (ASTC), he consulted on the design of hundreds of performing arts venues throughout the United States, Canada, and beyond. In 2016, Josh co-founded 3LR Design, Inc. His projects range from ship-wide lighting and controls systems de...

Thomas Kubik started his career 28 years ago and took the classic course from stagehand to behind the console and touring. He has been touring since 1999 with Euro and metal bands including InFlames, Nevermore, Arch Enemy, Fear Factory, Angra, Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and Chimaira. Thomas has been extremely lucky to travel to pretty much all continents. Thomas has been with InFlames for 25 years in June as their Sound engineer and Tour Manager or in Thomas’s words, the babysitter. Thomas loves cof...

We are very happy to have Mickey Curbishley back on the Podcast, the last time he was on the show was back in September 2019. You can listen to Mickey’s previous Podcast recording on Spotify episode #45 and hear all about how he got into the industry by selling t.shirts on tour with AC DC and his first Lighting Tour with Sir Elton. Stories from growing up with his legendary father who was the tour manager for The Who, Robert Plant, Jimmy page etc Five years later we are going to hear everything...

Todd’s career spans more than 25 years with firms varying in size from $1M to $3B in revenues, with over 18 years in executive leadership roles, working with both startups and established companies to guide strategic and operational growth, acquisitions, turn-arounds, and business sales. Really smart guy with a very patient and collaborative approach to business. An asset to any company looking to grow, work through change management, and more. Episode 230 is brought to you by Elation Lighting...

Marian Sandberg Started doing PR for Jack Kelly/Group One in 1996 and barely left the industry since! Marian has diverse work experience spanning several industries and is currently the Vice President & Market Leader for LDI, DSE, and XLIVE at Questex. Prior to this, Marian worked at Informa from November 2016 to December 2019 as the Content Director for the Live Experience Group, where she was responsible for digital editorial, content strategy, video production, and conference content. Marian...

Rocko was Stage Manager for 30 Years for U2, recently visiting The Sphere in Las Vegas where he saw the gig from FOH. The first time he had ever watched a U2 show from the front, as a punter, as a fan and looking at the band’s faces vs their backs! Rocko has retired from the road since 2019 but has continued making music. His most recent video was a rendition of Sex Is on Fire by Kings of Leon, uploaded to his Facebook page on Valentine’s day. This episode is proudly sponsored by ACT Entertain...

Paul established himself as an industry visionary, one of the early leaders in Fiber Optic lighting solutions and a go-to-source for high-tech, high-touch creative lighting solutions for, working with high profile jobs including the Grammy awards, Broadway shows and major concert tours. After selling his company in 2007, Paul reinvented himself as consultant, author and motivational speaker. He wrote a book, Blue Collar Buddha based on Winning Wisdom Gained on a Journey from Flight Attendant to...

Creech has been in the industry for over 40 years. Steven started as a stagehand in Dallas and then his first BIG tour was with Motley Crew in 1985. Stevens' career just kept on getting better and better, working with incredible artists such as Metallica, Scorpions, Rush, Elton John, Bob Seger and Aerosmith to name but a few. Now with Premier Global Production Company for 24 years, Steven has applied a hands-on approach to each lighting project he has been involved with. Customer service is th...

Jean has been in the business since the 80s, starting in theater and clubs. He was able to work under the tutelage of his very first mentor, Jacques Tanguay. It was with Jacques that he learned all aspects of fixing, hauling, hanging, and designing lighting. Life began to change when Jean was invited to work at a major club in the Czech republic, where he lived for 2 years. It was there, he became acquainted with the folks at High End Systems, due to his use of Intellabeams at the club. On an in...

Eric is the principal designer and creative director at Crossfade Design. He got his start in the industry at the ripe age of 14. His mom was a rock singer in the Dallas area and he would help in the lighting and sound booth at her shows. By 16, he was working for a lighting company, building dimmers and consoles from scratch, and renting his own equipment to local bands. At 18, he was the LD for George Strait. Today, Eric’s robust portfolio includes live events at arenas, convention centers, c...

Marsha Stern is an award-winning lighting designer, programmer, technician and production manager who’s career began in NYC in the music business and spans the NYC Nightclub and Special Events circuit from the late 70’s through the mid 90’s when she began to pioneer using automated lighting and entertainment technologies in architectural lighting design. Today, Marsha continues to take on design projects, while also focusing on her work dedicated to Roy Thode, an iconic DJ from the glory days of...

Jim has had a nearly four-decade journey in production and project management roles within the live entertainment and music touring industry has had him working alongside artists as diverse as Linkin Park, Hootie & the Blowfish, Back Street Boys, the Bolshoi Ballet, Phil Collins, and most recently helping to lead the delivery of entertainment mega-projects inside Saudi Arabia including the first-ever international music festival in the Kingdom in 2018. He was on the stage in 1992 when James Het...