Weird day today. Bored with everything, missed a show last night by Samia, Dem debates make me fear orange more than ever, and I need to talk about something this month that got me really excited at work. I got nuthin. Except one - Lux Machina is a film industry tech company that builds insane software for film and television, and they asked us to support them in a demo to some studios. Wicked smart, young client-people, along with 21 year old Samia, to whom you are listening and whom I missed last night, got my blood moving for 9 minutes. Ligo and company put this 10lb rig in the 5lb bag that is the demo space, and they nailed it. It will hold loads of LED surfaces - I'll show you that in a month. Great client quote "Your guys didn't really seem like typical riggers. They seemed happy."
Maybe I should be doing some rigging to get out of the funk??
What a freaky day. We revealed this autonomous drone from a company called Skai (sky). Only diff here is the drone holds five passengers. On Wall Street but need to get to the upper west side in 3 minutes? Ring Skai and a driverless drone will meet you on the roof of your building and zip you up town. Seriously – As in there is already one test flying now and it all works. Dang! Best part is the drone runs on Hydrogen so there is zero emission. They'll launch them for taxis, cargo movement, EMT/Search and Rescue ops, and getting folks in the boonies to airports quickly. As the company says – it's commuting in the third dimension. Fo Shizzle!!
March came in like a Snoop Lion and dealt us some pretty great gigs. A lot of them. Here are five that stood out: Khalid doing a private event for Spotify at ROW downtown thanks to our pals at Crown and Conquer; new strategic partners, London-based Lively brought us to the Hotel del Coronado to rock some corporate meeting stuff with a big-ole LED screen; we did our first PTTOW gig (think inspired Ted Talks with a purpose); The Gathery of Girlboss fame included us on a Soul Cycle gig at Milk Studios; We lit an exhibit at the TV museum about Bob Fosse with the loyal and lovely David Rodgers; then it's all capped off with a premier for Epix' new show called PUNK about the early years. Best line from the panel that spoke before the film - Marky Ramone to Johnny Rotten: "F You, people only came to Sex Pistols shows to see Sid Vicious, not you."
Weird and wonderful month...
Erick Weiss had lunch with me about 3 weeks ago and told me about this mad gig that was coming down the pike. French designers TUFF were working with awesome film producer/man Lawrence Bender to do a big old show for the UCLA Institute of Environmental Sustainability. The show was to be called "Hollywood for Science." Perfect timing - right on top of The Grammys and Oscars, and losing our minds - Fuck it, we dove in. A fortnight later we wrapped an amazingly unique event, featuring Lauryn Hill and Cee Lo, and a bunch of compelling and important art and some supermodels and a famous quarterback married to one of said-supermodels. Wicked projection from David Corwin, matched with a Triptych LED wall set, David Flad getting his freak on, and Eric's arena-sized PA in a 15,000 tent. Special thanks to Zuk for TD'ing and not QuiT'ing, and for sure to Adam Rosen who begged me not to take the gig, but then jumped in and dealt with it after I did. It's Science, guys, believe it!
January is always so busy for us, mostly because we're doing lots-o-gigs at the same time we're prepping for awards show season. Not to mention the January awards shows! Aaahh Yeeeah... Let's do this in one, long run-on sentence: Super fun times supporting Sequoia with the annual G'Day LA show at 3 Labs featuring Margot Robbie, as we move to Milk Studios to support Fashion Photographer Adam Franzino in his first live exhibit, then run over to the Chateau with d_rodgers for Golden Globes joy, but wait there's more – Dr. Jart with Brodey Francis did a wild one at Racer's Edge where the press mixed cosmetics with Go Karts, then BAM, our plane got hit by lightning heading up to SFO yesterday. Don't cry because it's over; Smile because it happened!
YLS had us back to the Thomas and Mack Arena in Vegas this year, for the NFR Championship. Rodeo is cool - For millions of people, it's such a deep and definable and important culture in our country. Yes we're all a bit conflicted about how happy the animals are, but I fixed all of that by putting some slo-mo video of happy cows in a field at the end of the piece. Now if we can just get the politics moving a bit more to the center, we'll be rockin'. Ligo spends two weeks out there every year, and for that we are forever indebted. Thank you Ligo, Thank you Rank and File for the great tune, and thank you Jesus.
Pre-Thanksgiving treats this week with a couple of happening hip hop shows and a press event for tough guys. Producer Jen Green invited us to her Cardi B show for Fashion Nova. CB dropped her brand new clothing line, online, at Midnight. She did a live performance at the same time to celebrate and promote. Our show was live streamed on the Fashion Nova website so fans could see Cardi and could buy her clothes. We also had a great one with new client Crown and Conquer at the Theater at the Ace Hotel downtown, the 2018 Spotify Secret Genius show. This is Spotify's mission to remain dedicated to music's creator community including songwriters, producers, engineers, etc. Gorgeous theater, great new client, great acts. Look for the scary pic of the UFC fight press conf we did - Oscar de la Hoya is getting in to UFC and we're down. With all of it.
Dierks Bentley played an intimate show for 200 last week, in honor of the Grammy Museum's Jane Ortner Education Award. This is an award that is given to an outstanding teacher who incorporates music into non-musical classrooms to engage and encourage students to explore history and their creativity. Lois MacMillan of Grants Pass, Oregon received the honor after creating a six-lesson unit based on the music of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit, Hamilton, for her 8th grade history class. We had the opportunity to contribute equipment and support for the event. A sweet mix of philanthropy and Bro Country, huh?
Not a lot to say – more to see. Again our pals at Sequoia came up with a completely new look for a gig they've been doing for over 20 years. Word to Chris Greulach for rocking this one from Blinky LED balls to massive outdoor area that looked so good, to pin spots on six million tables - gorgeous. And that's a lotta circuits, Ligo – Dang, nice. Excellent gig.
It ain't summer if I don't post at least one outdoor concert on a mobile stage. AgenC included us in a show on Rodeo Drive itself. We've done a bunch of these where the street is shut down, and we do a show. The crew has learned by now how to reply to the ceaseless question from tourists – "What's happening here?"Their reply - "we're shooting a mayonnaise commercial". That shuts 'em down every time. The great Anthony Wayne programmed the lighting and made our local street fair look like a Foo Fighters stadium show.
ROCK FULLY for the rest of your summer, y'all!
Our new Global Events Director Jeff Rudner is working on some amazing gigs supporting Formula E. These are Formula 1-type cars that are all electric, and go 200 mph! We will be working on races all over the world, and kicked off the relationship with a 2.1 mile race through the streets of Brooklyn. We provided all aspects of production for the VIP Emotion Club and some related parties and activations on site. What an incredible experience working directly with the Formula E folks who are this massively talented group from all over the globe. It was truly electric seeing the races but also turning the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in to a unique oasis for 1200 race fans. Bonus for me as I brought Cheryl along, and we got to see Bruce on Broadway one night. Concrete Jungle where Dreams are Made, indeed - So excited for Europe, Africa, Asia and South and North America next season!