OK, so we're only two weeks in, but I'm still flying high from this amazing gig the other night. Sir David Rodgers included us in the new Stella McCartney roll out, and man are we glad. We supported Beck and St. Vincent and Grimes (I love Grimes) and Borns and a few others. It was a nutty celeb-fest, so no need for artists to flee to their backstage hideouts - chances are the guy watching you perform has sold more records than you.
For a fan-boy like me, it was heaven. Chris and The Team put up this rig in a matter of hours. Programmer Anthony spent his lunch learning Grimes tunes (I love Grimes), so he's now officially in The Club. Rock and Roll Royalty hanging at the legendary SIR studios on Sunset, surrounded by vintage guitars with killer indie acts and sweet handbags that my daughter covets. Something for everyone...
Dang - good gig.
I hope this doesn't bum anyone out, but we've been doing a really cool Rodeo gig for years, in Las Vegas. It's called the NFR - National Finals Rodeo, which is the Super Bowl of Rodeos. Or, the Coachella of Rodeos for you non-athletic types. It's considered to be the world's premier rodeo, and has been happening at the Thomas and Mack arena for decades. We are invited by this great Laser company, YLS, who brings us up every year to light it. 55 million households end up watching it on TV every year. Nuts. The rodeo consists of 10 rounds – one round per day for 10 days. Cowboys and girls can win big money - this year's total purse is over $10 million. We put in a lighting rig as well as a stage that drops from the roof of the arena, for some good country music. Hey man, sorry about beating up ponies and such, but it's a fun arena gig with a fun client.
Sneaker Culture, y'all. ComplexCon is a convention and a festival and a gathering of like-minded pop culture enthusiasts, taking over Long Beach for a weekend. This is the youth generation's Worlds Fair. It's an expertly curated trade show, performance space, retail outlet, and gathering that celebrates hip hop, sneakers, art, music and celebrity. I know it's hard to grasp, so watch the attached video to lock in your confusion. Once again, perpetual-cool-gig-givers Kamp Grizzly had us provide sound, lighting, video and interactivity for two booths at the trade show. Pharell and NERD did an important drop in our space, which brought out all the freaks.
Loving every minute of this ride!
We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with Westfield Century City. WCC has built a world-class entertainment venue within the mall property. In fact there are four discrete venues available for live shows, activations, awards shows, galas, etc. The Atrium is the main space and has brand-new state-of-the-art audio, video, LED and lighting systems. ShowPro has been awarded the contract as the in-house production provider, including a full time staffer on site. David Olson eats, sleeps and breathes his new job, and he loves it. The Westfield events staff is simply the best - Sarah Richardson and team have combined experience that covers pretty much any and every type of event that has been done. But now we get to do this in an insane new venue. The spice of life indeed. This video shows a quick glimpse of the grand opening we did with Fitz and the Tantrums, DNCE and even The Village People! Viva Los Angeles!
Susan Tesh and VER brought us along to help out with the inaugural Electronic Music Awards show, at Willow Studios in the Arts District in DTLA. No speeches, no monologues, no red carpet. The concept was to make this awards show feel like home to the EDM community. The show was basically a mini-festival. Three stages, electronic legends like Moby and Paul Oakenfold and Orbital, as well as new acts like autograf and Illenium. The entire event was streamed live on Twitter, including a 360degree stream of the Moby set. The live show started promptly at 7:47pm. Why 7:47 you ask in a production meeting? Because we can, says the producer. We worked with LD Tom Sutherland who is wicked talented. Ligo pulled off miracles putting this show together with a week's notice. Thank you Ligo, Thank you Susan Tesh, Thank you Cleveland.
It kinda cracks me up that so many of us nerds that studied music/theater/tech in high school/college/life are so clueless about sports. But that doesn't keep us from rocking HARD with our Portland faves Kamp Grizzly, supporting Adidas. We did sound, lighting, interactive video, projection and staging for four events in 4 cities this month. LA was football, Tampa was baseball, Ft. Lauderdale was volleyball and Chicago was soccer. The mad creative hits keep coming from Kamp, and we're there turning their ideas in to technical reality. These gigs are so fun because it's mostly young kids who excel in a particular sport, and wear their dreams on their sleeves. Remember those days? Well thanks to our rad client, we get to live it and focus on some of the cool shit that is happening in the world today. That's officially a good gig, right?
I know Bleachers and I know Echosmith, but I have to admit it took the intergoogle to fill me in on Tyler Posey, the Teen Wolf phenom hosting both of our big Comic-Con shows this year. The first one was Friday night with the great Adam Stewart and MTV. We got invited to the big show this year. This is the Fandom Fest behind Petco Park doing what MTV does best – ROCK. Wicked rig as you can see. We did lighting and LED blades and content for Bleachers and Echosmith. We're so lucky, man. Then, it moves inside to the convention center floor where, once again, we are graced with loyal and loving clients Jordanah, who let us collaborate on a sweet booth. The sweetest booth there, from what I heard. Tyler and other big shots were on hand to sign posters and meet and greet inside the LED/Versatube/Flat Screen/automated lighting fortress that is the Fox booth. Enough said - Oh, and this Bleachers song makes me so happy. Hope it does you, too.
So some of you might be bored talking about licensing Nickelodeon products and properties. But I find it fascinating. Finding places to do business in the new digital economy is super creative as far as I’m concerned. Those who have friends and kids in college are learning that marketing and entrepreneurialism and business itself ain't what it used to be. It’s not innovation within an industry, it’s about exploding that industry and starting from scratch. We were invited to support the Nick Licensing show in Las Vegas the other day, and we got to build a sweet rig with savant-level production designer Chris Goldsmith. It's so great when the production itself tells a story. Telling a story and keeping people from falling asleep at morning sessions after debauchery in Vegas the night before is what it’s all about! Someone’s kid needs to disrupt the hangover-cure industry. That’ll make Uber seem like nuthin!
Oh yes, awards season is evergreen in our fun town. They can worry about fake news and bad optics and special prosecutors until their heart's content on the other coast. We live in the REAL world. Movie stars and Rappers and DJs that make a half a mil to show up and spin records, baby. And when we say stupid shit publicly, it's expected! OK - maybe DC is catching up to us on that front... Adam Stewart and Michelle Concepcion designed a madhouse of fun at the Shrine Auditorium. Steve Aoki was spinning records and models were spinning in the air on pixie-dust moon props. We did sound and lights and video and it was awesome!
Just finished a 5 day high tech TV Dinner – Lots of different stuff mixed up in to one nutty week. Not sure why, but sensory overload was the theme for the 4/20 week. We love these gigs - They define the classic concept of More-is-More. We supported a new TV series, a gaming competition, a gala for the west coast's premier classical conservatory and even a corporate industrial for a trucking company. Heck Yeah - ShowPro's Burnt Offerings. Massive respect to the staff and crew for powering through another long, hard run. Always.
We just got through another successful awards show season in LA, and man are our arms tired. We never get bored with this stuff - we are so appreciative of our clients who come back to us year after year to help out with the big ones. This was a gorgeous room that Cheryl and Andrea and the rest of the Sequoia team put together, to celebrate Hollywood's most celebrated. Sequoia has been doing this event for 20 years or so, and every year looks completely original. Tough task indeed. We provided lighting with the lighting design by Matt Levesque as well as audio for an all star band. Fun!