From the tour to the ...
I stumbled across a great bit of growth, irony, and fun today.
This weekend is the third annual ETC Live! This is a company picnic of the greatest variety. We have live events happening on stage all day including great singers, rock bands and all forms of entertainment. Check the lineup.
While we showcase out internal performance talent on the amphitheatre stage out front, we also have an 'Art Fair on Town Square' inside the building. This is the evolution of the traditional ETC company picnic into a great yearly event celebrating ETC employees.
Of course there is a lighting rig. And we have our in-house professional lighting designer/programmer -- Tom Littrell. If you don't know Tom - you should know Tom. He was the original console programmer for the first moving light rig to ever go out on tour - The famous Genesis tour of 1981. That tour launched the VARI*LITE fixture and began the great moving light space race.
Tom is seasoned - Well seasoned. Some might say crusty, but he has kept his skills up all these years.
Well - the fun thing I realized today is that this is the third year we have had ETC Live, the third year Tom has designed and run the lights and he will be using the third new console in a row! He started in 2005 when he ran the show with Congo. (Notice he is pointing at the white tape over the LCD's!)
In 2006 he ran the show with the yet to be released Eos.
And in 2007 he gets the most appropriate tool of all for his style - SmartFade ML!
So this Saturday night - July 26 Tom will be doing his artistic 'flash and trash' entertainment for ETC employees and their families. Interestingly enough - across town in Madison - an 8th grade student will be doing the same thing for a puppet show at the church my family and I attend.
I did load in an amazing rig of 2 Source Four Pars and 2 trackspots (the original!) controlled by a Smartfade ML to add some spice and theatricality to the youth puppet show. Saturday night Tom will be dueling it out with Eli - the 8th grader for the prize of "Best flash and trash in Madison."
This is meaningful in alot of ways. Certainly we are glad to have produced a new console for Tom 3 years in a row. There is also a certain irony to the fact that the first moving light programmer in history and Eli the 8th grader will be using the same tool - for very different(?) tasks. We at ETC also have the satisfaction of knowing that even though we designed the SmartFade ML to be usable by 8th graders like Eli - we think Tom can probably figure it out too!
Tom says his vote is with Eli.
Rock on dudes.
David