What a blast to be apart of ODESZA‘s latest music video. In our second time working with In The Flicker out of Portland, we provided Robe Pointe’s and Elation Picasso’s to flesh out the brilliant lighting by LD Kyle Kegan. Filmed at Fremont Studios, Mike Worthen and Collin W. Kinder stuck it out with Davis Alexander over a couple of 14 hours days that turned into this lovely piece. Check it out!
It’s been a heck of a star studded month here at R90 Lighting. We started off with our first year providing lighting for Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. Rachid Schultz, Derek Zanto and Jessika Palmer did a heck of a job bringing life, warmth, color and artificial sunshine to the cold florescent glow of Washington State Convention Center’s 4th floor. A shout out to Elation Professional‘s KL Panel! We moved a piano for ODESZA (and provided lights for their upcoming music video); did a Maroon 5 show out in Montana; provided gear for Eddie Vedder and the Earthlings at Benaroya Hall and learned that Seattle has an NFT Museum. In the background we lit up Lumen Field for round 3 of Field to Table while locking in a few festivals and concert series for later in the summer. After all of that Joe and Josh headed down to the Elation Professional summit in San Diego, CA. We got to see some of the latest offerings in a beautiful setting and learn about some up and coming new products with amazing new technology. Joe got to meet internet meme comedian and alleged lighting designer David Boykin; a man who has been reshaping the automated light for over 2 decades. We got some drinks and handshakes in with some of our other favorite lighting vendors and made some new connections. Damn it’s good to be back….
Hey Seattle (and the PNW). We’ve got a couple of demo units in of the new Elation Fuze Wash FR and the Elation Fuze Profile, as well as the lovely new Elation KL Par FC. If you haven’t seen the Fuze line yet, they’re a phenomenal fully featured compact moving head from Elation’s top notch product development team. Ideal for smaller venues, corporate, and theater. The Fuze Profile is one of the smallest fixtures on the market to sport framing shutters. Additionally the Elation KL Par FC is an absolutely incredible Par fixture with a single source full color COB and interchangeable lenses. It’s an LED, but it’s just like a halogen par… but it’s LED! If you want to come by and check either of these out (or if you’ve been treading your feet waiting on a fun time to swing by and say hi) make no further excuses. Feel free to reach out and setup a time.
Tonight we are beyond proud to support Seattle Opera in their welcome back concert tonight at Fisher Pavilion. As we all face the unknown of the delta variant coupled with a return to live entertainment in these trying times our industry continues to teeter on the brink. Over the past few weeks we’ve seen multiple “come back shows” in many genres. At the same time we’re seeing just as many cancellations. Out of all the talented and amazing producers we work with who are doing their absolute best to keep everyone safe, The Seattle Opera is definitely holding the torch and leading the way. This has been, hands down the most Covid conscious and safe production we’ve been a part of since we left the drive in. May The Seattle Opera be the beacon of guidance we all need to prove that we can keep live entertainment safe in these tumultuous times. Other producing entities, please take note.https://facebook.com/events/s/welcome-back-concert-die-walku/513844309930110/
This weekend it was a great honor to provide lighting for Darcelle XV Showplaces Drive in Drag show! What a great time with a great show! Almost 200 cars per show parked twice daily to take in the festivities featuring the fabulous Darcelle, who is 90 years old and still strutting her stuff as the oldest working queen in the world. While drive in shows are a bit of a novelty that we really want to see vanish in exchange for a return of indoor entertainment, for the time being it is the absolute safest way for any of us to enjoy the live entertainment that has been missing from our lives for far too long. This weekend was a great reminder that it’s not just live music and your favorite rock bands or DJ’s that have been missing from our lives. There are so many more formats and genres of live entertainment that have been missing this past year that unless they were your favorite it’s easy to forget. I should note that this particular show was not a big show in terms of lighting. Sometimes you don’t need to break the bank with 100+ moving fixtures because at the end of the day it is the content of the show that counts. The energy level, the excitement, and the sheer joy the this event brought to the fans who attended was truly touching. We were thrilled to be apart of this incredible production! Thanks Treadway Events & Entertainment for having us down and thanks Portland for keeping it so… Portland!
Us here at R90 Lighting have been incredibly busy considering the pandemic is still impacting the entertainment industry with a vengeance. We’re not back to normal quite yet, but we are seeing quite a few rentals come through, which is making it difficult to finish rebuilding the shop while we rush to remodel. We’ve recently added approximately 3500 additional sqft to our warehouse! More room to store stuff! More room to count in your poorly wrapped cables! More room for prepping large shows! More room to add new toys! More room to convert into less room! We’ve recently added the ROBE lighting lighting Spikie to our rental line. Additionally, today we added another new eye candy fixture. Much to the shegrin of our operations tzar James McKenna, we took up a bit of space to unbox and test our new P1-mini’s from Portman Lights. Anyone looking for a fresh look for their next live stream, take note! Rachid Schultz is taking the Portmans down to Portland on Thursday to add a little extra sparkle to Darcelle XV Showplace’s Drive in Drag with our friends at Treadway Events & Entertainment. Stay positive, entertainment industry. The light at the end of the tunnel grows larger in view each day.
HOLY SOUNDWAVES BATMAN! It’s LIVE music in Seattle! As many of you know we here at R90 Lighting have been huge proponents of bringing back Live Music in a COVID-19 safe manner. We quarantine, we wear masks, and we practice social distancing. We respect that we are all in a global pandemic and at the same time we have felt for a very long time that there are ways of safely producing live music even within those restrictions. It just took the right team to finally get it to click into place. We are extremely proud to be partnered with Safe & Sound Seattle, SPC, and the Museum of Flight to help make this dream a reality! Tickets are finally on sale for the first show featuring The Black Tones and Payge Turner Music March 28th. Come help us make history! https://safesoundseattle.ticketspice.com/cleared-for-takeoff-concert As always, please continue to wear your masks and practice social distancing. While this is a monumental step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go before it’s safe to fully reopen everything. There are thousands upon thousands of live events workers who are still without work and without support. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can all go back to bringing live music back into everyone’s lives! Do your part! Wear your mask! Stay safe!
The following is a call to action from the #WeMakeEvents North America movement: In this dire time, we, the entertainment community of North America, are asking for your support. Live events have been completely halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because our business is rooted in large group gatherings, we were one of the first industries to be completely shut down (early March) and will be one of the last to return to any operations (well into 2021), let alone restore former prosperity (likely not until 2022 or beyond). The live event industry in North America directly employs more than 12 million people and includes hundreds of thousands of businesses with a combined economic impact of over $1 trillion USD. This likely includes someone you know, are close to, or it may even include you. If WE do not receive government assistance, the live events industry will literally collapse, including all of the people involved. We are asking for your support to help raise awareness in hopes that the government will provide the appropriate support by way of relief funding and necessary legislation. The RESTART Act is a bill that is currently moving through congress, but has stalled. We?re organizing a widespread PR event by lighting up as many buildings in RED as possible and posting pictures and videos to social media and news outlets in hopes that this will help push the bill through. We have also partnered with ExtendPUA.org and are requesting a continuation and expansion of the PUA, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and FPUC, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which supplement earnings per week for those on unemployment and open up unemployment to 1099 workers. A similar event was held in the UK on Tuesday 8/11/2020 which was hugely successful and included 715 buildings/structures glowing in red. Below is a link to an aerial video showing downtown London that night as well as a really well done example: Aerial Drone Footage – Link# WeMakeEvents Red Alert Building Footage – Link We are charging all willing participants to light their building(s) exteriors in RED on TuesdaySeptember 1, 2020 from 9p-12a in your local time zone and to post pictures or video using the hashtags #WeMakeEvents, #RedAlertRESTART, and #ExtendPUA. You can help in three ways: If you have a commercial or residential building that can be lit in RED (whether or not youhave the equipment to do so). If you have equipment and or services that you?re willing to offer for those that need it tofacilitate. Spread the word by forwarding this letter on to anyone that you know who can help.Thank you in advance for your support and efforts. You may never truly understand the impact it brings. Please contact WeMakeEventsNorthAmerica@gmail.com if you are able to help with any of the above or for more information. Sincerely,The entertainment community of North America –Official press release is as follows: For Immediate Release NEW DATE: #WeMakeEvents #RedAlertRESTART #ExtendPUA To Light 1,500 Buildings In Red On Tuesday, September 1, 2020 #WeMakeEvents #RedAlertRESTART and #ExtendPUA represent a major call to action on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, imploring the US Congress to pass the RESTART Act (S.3814) as quickly as possible, offering economic relief to the Live Events Industry, which has been shuttered since March, 2020, putting millions of people out of work. Additionally, the movement is to support ExtendPUA.org in their efforts towards continuation and extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to provide relief to those without work due to COVID-19. The initial date of August 27 coincides with the closing of a national political convention and the organizers of #WeMakeEvents #RedAlertRESTART want to make sure their message is heard loud and clear and gets the media attention it deserves. ?We had no intentions to piggy back on the convention, and we began receiving feedback from several US cities with concern about having our event on the same day. Therefore, a decision was made to move the date in order to expand our exposure,? says #WeMakeEvents North American director, Brad Nelms. ?In the meantime, the group has managed to gather incredible support for this important movement, signing on more than 30 regional directors to lead the initiative in markets nationally. This team have been so fired up and already have commitments from hundreds of incredible venues and iconic locations nationally who will show support.? The new date is September 1, 2020, when buildings, structures, and residences will be lit in red from 9pm-12am (local time in each market) as the event rolls across North America. The goal to raise public awareness that the Live Events Industry is on Red Alert for its very survival, and create congressional pressure to act now. #BeAnArtsHero, a grassroots coalition of arts and cultural workers, reports: ?The Arts & Culture sector employs 5.1 million people and provides $877 billion value added to the U.S. economy. It adds more value to the economy than transportation, agriculture, or tourism. The Arts & Culture sector is a cornerstone of the larger U.S. economy, making up 4.5% of GDP. Despite their out-sized cultural and economic contribution, the Arts & Culture sector of the U.S. economy is in grave danger. Due to Covid-19, 62% of Arts Workers report that they are fully unemployed. 94% of Arts workers report income loss; to date, the average Arts worker reports $23,500 in lost revenue this year. Due to Covid-19, 66% of Arts workers report they are unable to access the spaces, staff, resources, or supplies needed to perform their work.“ The targeted list of cities for the #WeMakeEvents #RedAlertRESTART #ExtendPUA event on September 1, 2020 across North America includes Washington D.C., Huntsville, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Boulder, Fayetteville, Lexington, Louisville, and Canadian neighbors including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. The North American event comes on the heels of the August 11 event #WeMakeEvents Red Alert Day Of Action when over
Originally posted by the owner of R90 Lighting, Joe Cole, on the company’s official Facebook page. As a sad “state of the union” for the entertainment industry, yesterday we tendered our first official resignation. It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye and wish luck to one of our account reps, Davis Alexander. He’s been looking at the current state of the industry and has decided to try out the construction industry for a bit. We have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll be back in the entertainment industry at some point but in the meantime it creates a window to the sad state of affairs here in the entertainment industry. On the outside all of us companies are clinging on. We’re presenting our bright shiny faces, trying our best to sound chipper and smiling on your zoom meetings while you tell us about your exciting projects that are coming up in 2021. We have PPP loans, EIDL loans, some sales, some installations, even a small rental here and there. The company will survive, but Mr Alexanders resignation is a sign of the times. Our industry is in trouble. Very deep trouble. There are countless darkened warehouses and venues across the country. The darkest side is not the real estate, the dormant gear, or the lack of entertainment. The darkness is the soul of the industry. It’s the people. This industry has always been about the people. Every time a live production of Peter Pan plays out the audience claps out loud to save Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is usually played by a follow spot operator, so for me that part of the show has always been about the people behind the scenes. These days it sort of feels like every time a band plays a live stream from their storage closet with no production somewhere there’s a talented lighting tech who just drops…. I don’t think people outside of the industry quite understand what it’s like to suddenly have everyone you know be dependent on unemployment and the welfare of the state. We’ve talked to our peers in this and other markets, it’s the same everywhere. Anyone who tells you their business is fine is lying through their teeth. Even the states that are “opening” have the same issues. Our shops are shuttered. Our venues are closed. Our shows don’t exist. Some of us are very lucky but a lot of us are going to seek employment elsewhere. At this point we’re all pretty sure that the industry will return, but when it does we’re not sure how many people will still be a part of it. Right now there’s not just follow spot operators, programmers, ME’s, lighting techs out of work. There’s sales managers, warehouse managers, shop leads, over hires and everyone else who checks gear in, out, peels tape off of your cable looms, finds broken and damaged gear, fixes that gear and gets it back out the door. A heartfelt thank you to everyone in the industry who is normally unnoticed and underappreciated. Thank you. Davis, good luck in the construction industry. We’ll see you on the other side of the tunnel.
Without a doubt you’ve probably been affected by the Covid-19 global pandemic. Those of us who make our living in the live events industry were gearing up for another eventful spring and summer season full of music festivals, concert tours, weddings, and corporate events. Much of our industry relies on these critical months of warm weather to carry us through the winter period when the event industry slows down and work becomes more scarce. The shelter in place orders came down right as many of us were ramping up our businesses to be able to handle the coming influx of shows that would be the lifeblood of our industry. We all watched in disbelief as our entire industry collapsed overnight. By the end of the first week of March we watched all of our upcoming events cancel well into the end of May. By April, we began seeing our prospects dwindle further as events began cancelling as far as October. As time continues to progress, it’s become clear that the entirety of 2020 will be a complete wash for our industry and even spring of 2021 seems to be up in the air. The entertainment industry is one of those resilient entities that can pretty much withstand anything thrown at it. Economic downturns, natural disasters, disasters of human nature; people can always find an escape in the form of entertainment. It’s a coping mechanism. One thing the entertainment industry cannot withstand is a global pandemic. Those of us who rely on public events as our lifeblood very quickly learned that lesson as the world came to a screeching halt. These days, we’re still left feeling an overwhelming desire for information. How long will the lockdowns be in place? When will it be safe for people to congregate in public again? When will there be a vaccine? It’s been increasingly difficult to get clear answers on many of the questions affecting us. We’ve been provided with parameters in which to operate in, but there’s been no concrete sign of just how long we’ll be required to operate within them. Many of us in our industry have been trying to come up with ways to adapt to this new and uncertain way of life in order to simply survive. Enter The Covert Bat. Its mission is clear. Keep live music live, alive, and safe in the era of a global pandemic. Covert Bat is a non-profit entity with the goal of producing live events while adhering to the constraints of social distancing. This concept is achieved by creating event spaces that can be viewed from the safety of the audience’s vehicles. Covert Bat is currently operating as a conceptual experiment. The shows are invite only. Donations are suggested, but not required. The show itself is staffed and operated by a number of industry volunteers who have all agreed to give up their time to come help make this concept a reality. The equipment and staff are provided by a collective of local Seattle companies that have been directly impacted by this pandemic. R90 Lighting is proud to be apart of that collective, offering our support through the use of our state-of-the-art lighting equipment and facilities. Other organizations and people involved in Covert Bat are: Gleam Law PLLC Bending Lite Productions The DJ Sessions Christian Jackson Covert Bat has thus far managed to produce a number of live DJ concert showings with abundant success. It’s been featured on a variety of local news stations and was recently featured on Emerald City EDM. Covert Bat is currently looking to expand on this concept by offering live bands in addition to its DJ events. You can find out about when those upcoming events are going to take place by checking the covertbat.com website. Covert Bat is also looking for new locations to expand upon this show concept. The current venue that it is currently being housed at is ill-equipped for the potential size and interest that events like these have. If you have an open lot or know someone who has an open lot who might be interested in getting involved in these kinds of shows, please email that information to thecovertbat. We will get through this together. Live music as we once knew it will return. While this is certainly not an ideal situation, it is an opportunity to provide a feeling of normality and familiarity. Until we can all get back to safely partying it up at The Gorge Amphitheater, we’ll have to make due with what options are available to us, and right now that option is The Covert Bat. Stay safe. Stay Distant. Stay Dancing.
