Behind the Scenes 2011 Holiday Cards Now Avilable

It seems a bit early for this doesn’t it?  I mean, didn’t we just get through the holiday season just a couple hours ago? Well, on to the next I guess. Start planning your 2011 holiday cards with the Behind The Scenes holiday cards. Choose from four designs created especially for Behind the Scenes by some of the industry’s top designers. Cards can be personalized with your company’s logo and custom message. All proceeds benefit Behind the Scenes.

Head over the the Behind the Scenes website to order your print or electronic version of the 2011 holiday cards.

LDI2010: Support Behind The Scenes – Get Your Books Sign

Add this to your calendar now. Saturday, October 23rd from 2:30 to 3:30, the authors of some of the latest lighting books from Focal Press will be on hand at the ESTA booth, (1247) sign copies of their books.

Steve Shelley (“A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition”), Brad Schiller (“The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook, 2nd Edition), Paul Dexter (co-author with Jim Moody of “Concert Lighting, 3rd Edition), Harry Box (“Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook, 4th Edition”), and Richard Cadena (“Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light, 2nd Edition) will all be on hand sign copies of their books.  Don’t have a book? No problem, pick one up at the show and have them sign it right there on the spot.

Looks like I’ll be there as I seem to have missed placed my Steve Shelley book, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting.  I MUST have loaned it to someone and forgotten to get it back.  Please don’t be made at me Mr. Shelley.  I’ll pick up another copy, I promise!

Help support Behind the Scenes! Buy your book and get it autographed at LDI. I’ll be right there in line with yea!

Last Chance to Order Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards

This is your last chance, you only have a couple of days left in August to order your Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards.  With the purchase of these cards you are doing to great things. 1, supporting our injured brothers and sisters in the industry and 2,showing your friends, relatives and colleague that you care about them during the holiday season.

Head over the the ESTA Foundations website NOW and order your holiday cards. All proceeds go to Behind the Scenes, a charity providing financial support to entertainment technology professionals who are ill or injured.

HURRY, orders close September 1, 2010!

Long Reach Long Riders Complete 7th Ride For Charity

Each Time I read or hear about the Long Reach Long Riders, I want to buy a bike. Not just because it would be awesome to do some of these rides, but also to contribute to a worth while cause while still having some fun.  Of course you don’t NEED a bike to contribute, but as I have heard…”You’d be cooler if you did”. Here is more from Bill Sapsis.

The Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) completed their 7th annual charity motorcycle ride on July 31st at Alice’s Restaurant in Woodside, California. The ride, which began at The Presidio in San Francisco raised over $38,000.00 for The ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes Program and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The LRLR have raised over $250,000.00 since starting their charity rides in 2004.

Loren Schreiber, one of this year’s ride marshals commented, “From San Francisco and back again, the route took us from twisted, cliff-side roads with azure seas below, through winding giant redwood canyons, around ancient volcanoes, down the sheer face of the Sierra Nevada and up again among Yosemite’s indigo lakes and the hunched shoulders of Half Dome and El Capitan. We crossed over high mountain passes and low valley plains. We wandered down narrow country lanes with only the ground squirrels noting our passing. On the scale of natural pulchritude, this ride was off the charts!”

On any given day there were up to 25 bikes on the road and their riders hail from 8 states, Canada, Great Britain and Sweden. LRLR founding member Greg

Williams noted “I’m always amazed at how quickly our riders’ disparate personalities gel in the face of common beautiful experiences and a shared sense of mission. This year was no different, and certainly ranks among my favorites…so far!

Next year the ride will start in Billings, Montana and wind through some of the most scenic National Parks in the country before returning to Billings. The following year (2012) will find the LRLR enjoying the lakes and forests of the upper mid-west.

Donations for this year’s ride are being accepted up to September 1, 2010.

For more information on making a donation, joining a future ride or sponsoring a rider, please visit www.lrlr.org.

ESTA Summer Edition of Protocol Journal is Out

Are you a technology freak like me?  I love technology in our industry.  It seems that every time you turn around, something new and exciting is happening in our industry that can make our lives easier and give us control and design options never though of before. The ESTA Journal, Protocol is a great resource for any tech head out there. I have been reading Protocol ever since I heard about it eight years ago.  Each quarter when it shows up in my mailbox, I get super excited and read it cover to cover as quick as possible. Then I come back and re-read articles again and again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. There is ALWAYS a great column by Mike Wood, Out of the Wood that covers some sort of lighting technology or product review. This month was no disappointment, How do Plasma Lamps Work?  I had a rough idea, but Mike broke it down and now, I have a great understanding of the technology. This is just one of the great articles in the journal.

I highly recommend heading over to ESTA web site and subscribing to the Protocol Journal.  The print subscription is FREE to anyone.  Since it is FREE, I would like to make a suggestion, consider donating a bit to the ESTA Foundation’s, Behind the Scenes in return.  ESTA is putting out a great journal each quarter and ask nothing in return.  I on the other hand implore you to donate what ever you can to show your thanks.  Good karma will come your way. ;)

If you are a green freak and want to save the plant by not getting the printed edition, you can read the Protocol Journal online through the ESTA web site as well.

Tis The Season Already! ESTA Announces 2010 Holiday Cards

I think Lewis Black said it best in his album, Anticipation, Christmas seems to be getting closer and closer together.  It feels like Christmas shopping starts on July 7th.  And with ESTA’s latest news, Lewis might be on to something.

ESTA just announced the 2010 holiday cards to help support Behind the Scenes. This year there are four designs to choose from.  Top industry designers such as David Gallo, Andrew Hefter, Christine Jones and Jeremy Railton designed this years cards. Shown left is I think my favorite this year from Andrew Hefter, “Set the Stage for a Shining Holiday Season.”

Card’s can be personalized with your name or company name along with a personalized message. There is also an option for smaller quantities of cards for those of us with smaller Rolodex.  Another alternative to sending out printed cards is sending out Electronic Cards through ESTA.  Not only save some green, but be green as well, (I have a feeling that is copyrighted some where).  All of the ordering options and different card designs can be found on the ESTA web site, www.esta.org.

Deadline for ordering is September 1, 2010.  So you have some time, but don’t be like me last year and scrambling the sheelves at traget for holiday cards!  Get your order in early, supplies after September 1 will be low or none exsitant.

Support Behind The Scenes – #ByDesignDay2010

This Saturday is a very important Saturday, it is the ESTA Foundations By Design Day.  Why is it so important? It is a day where professional designers have committed to donating their royalties for the day to ESTA Foundations, Behind the Scenes. Top lighting designers around the world have already committed their royalties to help our fallen or ill brothers and sisters in the industry.

Why not join in on By Design Day? Anyone can contribute to By Design Day even if you do not receive royalties for your work.  Why not contribute your earnings for the day? Any little bit will help fund the Behind the Scenes and help protect and support of friends.

This Saturday, I will be contributing my ad revenue for the day from iSquint as well as a day’s pay from my day job to ESTA Foundation’s, Behind the Scenes.  This is how I plan to join in By Design Day. I encourage you to think about offering what ever you think you can spare to joining By Design Day and help our peers.

Take a look at the ESTA Foundation’s By Design Day to learn more about the charity and how to participate. Show your support of Behind the Scenes and By Design Day by tweeting the following:

@ESTAtweets – I support #ByDesignDay2010, #BehindTheScenes & and my fellow professionals. – http://www.estafoundation.org/bts.htm

What are you still reading for? Get over to the ESTA Foundation site! ;)

Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) to Hold Raffle at USITT

The Long Reach Long Riders, the charitable motorcycle ride to help provide funds for the ESTA Foundation Behind the Scenes program has just announced their 2010 raffle at USITT.  On April 2nd, 2010, The Long Reach Long Riders will be holding their annual raffle in the Behind the Scenes booth at the USITT Stage Expo in Kansas City.

During the course of the entire conference you can purchase tickets to the raffle for $5 each or 5 tickets for $20.  As an added bonus, any person that purchases 5 or more tickets will receive a FREE Stagecraft Mailing List Calendar.

Take a look at some of the great raffle prizes put up by lighting manufacturers.

• Altman Rentals (ghostlight)
• Apollo Design Technology (Smart Move DMX Rotator)
• Barbizon (Stagehands Tool Kit)
• Field Template (SoftSymbols and Field Templates)
• Doug Fleenor Design (DMX/RDM Coffee Pot)
• Sapsis Rigging ($250 Gift Certificate)
• SeaChanger (iPod Touch and colorBUG)
• USITT (2011 Conference registration)
• Utah Shakespearean Festival (three pairs of theatre tickets)
• Vectorworks (Spotlight with Renderworks)
• Vincent Lighting Systems ($250 gift certificate)
• Greg Williams (Photo Call and Photography 101 for the Stage seminar)

All proceeds of the raffle go directly to The ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes program, which provides entertainment technology industry members with grants for emergency situations, such as serious illness, injury or death.  So if you are attending the USITT Conference and Stage Expo this year, be sure to stop by the ESTA Behind the Scenes booth and pick up your raffle tickets.  Not only are there great prizes available, but you’ll be making sure your injured peers are taken care of!

ESTA Behind the Scenes Holiday Card Student Design Contest

Behind The Scenes, an initiative of The ESTA Foundation, announces its first-ever holiday card student design contest, open to any lighting, set, video or costume full-time design student interested in creating an original design for a 2010 card.

The winner will be chosen by an all-star panel of previous holiday card designers including Bob Bonniol, Beowulf Borrit, Scott Pask, Bruce Rodgers, Douglas Schmidt, and Tim Hunter Design. The winner╒s design will be among the cards offered for sale to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals who are ill or injured.

The winner will also receive a free pass to the Live Design Master Class of choice (lighting, sound, or projection) to be held in May in New York City.

The deadline for entries is March 15, 2010. Design guidelines and cards from previous years can be viewed at www.estafoundation.org/bts/holidaycardguidelines.htm.

Long Reach Long Riders Saddle Up For 2010

With this past summers ride down and gone in the east, the Long Reach Long Riders are planning their 6th annual ride on the west coast.  I was sad to have to miss this years ride as it went straight through my back door.  Here is a little more info from the 2009 ride on the east coast:

The 2009 ride raised over $42,000.00 for the ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes program and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, making it the second largest amount raised to date. The combined LRLR total raised since the first ride in 2004 has now exceeded $200,000.00

The participants; 18 motorcycles and as many as three chase vehicles, enjoyed a weeklong ride that took them over mountains, past lush farmland and sweeping vistas and through a number of National and State Parks. The 2,500 mile ride, which began in Richmond, Virginia and ended in Dahlonega, Georgia, visited 5 states and rode on many scenic highways including the Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherohala Skyway. The group also tempted fate by riding some of the most famous twisting mountain roads in the USA including The Snake in Shady Valley, Tennessee and the Dragon’s Tail in Robbinsville, North Carolina.

This year’s riders and chase car drivers hail from 13 states, the District of Columbia, British Columbia, Canada and London, England.

So are you pumped up about joining the ride?  Here is more information on the 7th annual Long Reach Long Ride.

The Long Reach Long Riders announce their seventh annual charity motorcycle ride.  The ride, which benefits the ESTA Foundation’s Behind The Scenes program and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, begins in San Francisco on July 24, 2010.

The ride, which began as one time event back in 2004, has raised more than $200,000.00 over the past six years.  “We were just a bunch of technicians looking for a fun way to attend a conference”, commented Bill Sapsis, one of the original ride organizers. “Who knew it would turn out like this?” Greg Williams, another founding member added, “The group was so much fun to ride with we just had to do it again.  We’ve seen a lot of really beautiful country in the past six years and this years ride will offer a lot more as well as some of the best riding roads in the west.”

The riders will assemble at the Presidio in San Francisco on the morning of July 24th and head north into the Napa Valley.  Over the next seven days the group will head through Eureka and then west to Truckee and Lake Tahoe.  They’ll ride through Yosemite and down to Hollister, CA, the birthplace of the outlaw biker legend in the US.  Then it’s over to the coast and back up to San Francisco via the legendary Pacific Coast Highway, arriving on July 31st.

As in previous years, anyone who wants to ride with us is more than welcome, either as  a ‘day tripper’ or for the entire ride.  For more information on the route, joining the ride or making a donation, please visit www.lrlr.org.

Lex Products Donates Portion of Proceeds to Behind the Scenes

We love hearing news like this.  Since last LDI, Lex Products has been donating portion of the first year’s sales of the 6 Circuit Live Tester to ESTA’s Behind the Scenes.  Since that first year ends this LDI in Orlando, Lex has decided to extend this giving until the end of 2009.

This gives you two more months to not only get the Lex 6 circuit Live End Tester, but also help your fellow professionals in their time of need.

To learn more about the Lex Product 6 Circuit Live End Tester, visit Lex’s website at www.lexproducts.com.  To learn more about ESTA’s behind the Scenes Charity, visit their website at www.estafoundation.org.

New Software: SpotTrack Followspot Cue Software

Rob Halliday, the creator of the FocusTrack software has announced the release of a new tracking software package called SpotTrack.

SpotTrack is a new program for making and managing followspot cue sheets – something that has traditionally been done in Excel or Word using ad-hoc documents created from scratch as required. SpotTrack, by contrast, has been built for the job – managing shows with one to four spots, and making it easy to do things that have traditionally been hard, like printing the cue sheets for each spot without it being full of blank lines occupied by cues for the other spots. At the same time, SpotTrack breaks up the cue sheet into scenes or songs, making it easy for the caller and all of the spot ops to find their place when jumping around the show during technical rehearsals.

SpotTrack also aims to reduce the amount of typing required of whoever is running the spots – the LD, associate or spot caller. Clustered around the main cue sheet area are shortcut buttons that can be customized with character names, beam sizes or regularly-used instructions – ‘iris in’, ‘fade out’ or whatever. All of those things are then just a click away.

SpotTrack provides a home for lots more information than just the spot cues themselves: it can store the setup for each spot (type, colour load, operator), details of the characters in the show (name, cast name, understudy name), pictures of the characters, and even the show’s cue list, which can be imported from FocusTrack which can, in turn, import show data from ETC Eos/Ion, MA grandMA and Strand 500-series consoles.

SpotTrack is available on a “per Show” license through SpotTrack.co.uk at £45 UK or $72. USD.  What makes purchasing a copy of SpotTrack unique is that a portion of the purchase price goes to either ESTA’s Behind the Scenes or the UK’s Light Relief to help our brothers and sisters who are unable to work. For more information, download a demo or to purchase a copy of SpotTrack, visit their website at www.SpotTrack.co.uk.