Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You - Mobile Production Pro

volume 5 issue 4 2012

mobile production monthly 1

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contents 

volume 5 issue 4 2012 

In the News 

6 Agents Reggie Churchwell Inducted into Rock- 

A-Billy Hall of Fame 

6 Cases Penn Elcom Launches Innovative New 

CaseDesigner Software 

7 Lighting High End Systems Pumps Up the Action 

at Istanbul Sinan Erdem Arena / Robe Rocks 

The House in Slovenia with DJ Chuckie 

8 Sound C.Vilar puts Project Energia to the Test / 

Five Finger Death Punch Now Touring with MIDAS 

PRO2C / New Electro-Voice Sound System for 

Iconic Minneapolis Venue First Avenue 

9 Video XL Video Engages in Wicked Game with 

Il Divo 

10 Passes The Bubble Comes to Pass - Dave 

Otto Describes Otto Printing's Path to Its Latest 

Product, the Bubble Pass. 

12 Hotels Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel 

Where the A-listers Lay Low 

14 Transportation Rock-It Ships 

Take A Tour Bus, Shrink It Down 

16 The Australian Pink Floyd Show 

More Bang For Your Buck 

22 Red Hot Chili Peppers 

I'm With You Live! 

26 Crew Members 

27 Vendors 

32 Mojo Barriers 

1,100 Meters of Barricade Protection 

That Can Stretch Across the Globe 

32 SpotRental 

Fixtures Light up RHCP’s World Tour 

34 Rat Sound Systems 

Dave Rat Creates Another World of Challenge 

with “Dave Rat Seminar” 

36 TouringTech.com 

Large or Small Any Production Can Benefit 

From This Company 

12 Obit Dave Evans – Was A “No Worry” Guy / 

Keith Anderson - A Roadie Brother We Will Never 

Forget 

40 Advertiser's Index 


4 mobile production monthly 

FROM THE Publisher 

This issue of mPm features the Red Hot Chili 

Pepper’s Tour, and we are happy to be able to profile 

some of the outstanding support companies associated 

with the show. In this case, we have not only selected a 

good diverse group of companies, but a great group of 

individuals within those companies to profile. I think you will 

enjoy our coverage. 

This issue hits as the season is in full swing with many 

shows already out and several more on their way. It seems 

that the mid-level shows are dominating events this time 

with the “big boys” still in the wings. Actually, this may be 

good, because it gives the industry a chance to measure 

the overall health of the business. We will see how things 

shake out in a couple of more months. 

As with every season, we are watching to see how the 

economy will impact the industry as well as new products 

and technologies. The big trade shows always seem to 

have their share of promising gizmos and techy stuff, so 

we will try to keep an eye out for you and try to report on 

some of the things we think may influence future activities. 

Finally, we are working hard at our end to expand our 

capabilities and coverage in other areas. Look for us 

to expand our coverage of the International Market in 

future issues as well as more information targeted to our 

website news section. For those of you who have not 

yet registered on the site (mobileproductionpro.com) take 

a minute and register with a username and a password. 

There is no charge and by registering on the site, you gain 

access to more sensitive information and make yourself 

easier to be contacted. We now have, by far, the largest 

and most comprehensive search engine in the business 

and it is growing daily. Please be part of our efforts to 

maintain a central database for the industry world-wide and 

keep yourself informed on a regular basis. 

Larry Smith 

HOME OFFICE STAFF 

a 7 % g 

ph: 615.256.7006 • f: 615.256.7004 

2961 Armory Dr • Nashville, TN • USA 37204 

mobileproductionpro.com 

For advertising inquiries: 

ads@mobileproductionpro.com 

Publisher: Larry Smith 

larrysmith@tourguidemag.com 

Managing Director: Chris Cogswell 

ccogswell@mobileproductionpro.com 

Chief Writer / Photographer: Michael A. Beck 

grockit@comcast.net 

Art Director / Graphic Designer: Kristin Salaway 

ksalaway@mobileproductionpro.com 

Office Manager: Melanie Reininger 

officemanager@mobileproductionpro.com 

Contributing Writers: 

Bill Abner / bigolbill@comcast.net 

Hank Bordowitz / hank@bordowitz.com 

Bill Evans / revbill@revbill.com 

Todd Kramer / tklites@yahoo.com 

Bill Robison / brobison@greatlakessound.com 

TOUR LINK BOARD OF ADVISORS 

Benny Collins, Jim Digby, Jon Nevins, Stuart Ross, 

Bobby Schneider, Jay Sendyk, Seth Sheck, Nick Gold 

Nicki Goldstein, Chuck Randall, Michelle Freedman 

tourlinkconference.com 

PUBLISHED BY 

Anvil Productions, LLC 

ph: 615.256.7006 • f: 615.256.7004 

FOLLOW US 

Tour-Guide-Publications / Tour-Link-Conference 

@mobileprodpro / @TourLinkConf 

©2012 Anvil Productions, LLC. Nothing may be reproduced without written 

permission of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit any and 

all editorial content included in this publication. The publisher has made every 

attempt to insure accuracy and consistency of this publication. However, 

some listings & information may be incomplete due to a lack of information 

provided by various companies listed. Please send any inquiries to the 

attention of the publisher. All advertising appears at the paid solicitation of 

the advertiser. Anvil Productions, LLC, can not be held liable for any errors, 

omissions or inaccuracies appearing in this journal in the form of editorials, 

listings or advertising. 

Member of:

In the News 

IN THE NEWS 

Agents 

Reggie ChuRChwell 

Inducted into Rock-A- 

Billy Hall of Fame 

Milledgeville, McNairy 

County Tennessee has 

produced one of the 

industries outstanding 

agents, managers and 

promoters. This is the 

birthplace and boyhood 

home of Reggie M. 

Churchwell. 

To honor and 

pay tribute to 

Churchwell, the 

Rock-A-Billy Hall 

of Fame in Jackson, 

TN, on April 14, 

2012 will induct him 

into the Rock-A- 

Billy Hall of Fame. 

Churchwell will be 

the first ever Agent-Manager- 

Promoter to be inducted, this 

among luminaries such as Elvis, 

Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry 

Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison 

among many other greats. 

Churchwell has worked with 

many acts in all genres of music 

and entertainment. To name a 

few: Lucille Ball, Tony Bennett, 

J.D. Sumner and The Stamps 

(Elvis’ backup group for last seven 

years of his life), The Lettermen, 

Fifth Dimension, Ace Cannon, 

Rayburn Anthony, Ronnie Milsap, 

Statler Brothers, Tammy Wynette, 

and many more to numerous to 

name. He has been a business 

partner with two Rock-A-Billy legends/pioneers, 

Carl Perkins and 

Elvis’ guitarist Scotty Moore. 

Coming to honor Churchwell will 

be Stephen Tolman, President 

of the Nashville Association of 

Talent Directors, Rod Harris, 

Immediate Past President of 

NATD and Dannie Kennedy, 

Mayor of Milledgeville, TN. 

Several artists and industry friends 

are expected to be in attendance 

depending on their touring schedule. 


Cases 

Penn elCom 

Launches Innovative 

New CaseDesigner 

Software 

Flightcase and speaker 

cabinet solutions specialist 

Penn Elcom has developed 

a new groundbreaking 

software programme 

- ‘CaseDesigner’ 

- instigating a new fullyflexible 

era in the world 

of flightcase construction. 

Penn Elcom, always at the cutting 

edge of this specialist industry, has 

developed this completely unique 

software to offer its distributors, 

dealers and their clients the best 

and most efficient possible design, 

order and build service. 

pictured below: Klaus Koppenhoefer (CaseDesigner developer) 

& Thomas Mostert, CEO of Penn Elcom GmbH 

The fully visual graphical 

interface enables Penn 

Elcom customers to plan 

and visualise potential 

new case designs in both 

2D and 3D, and view in 

full 360 degree rotation. 

CaseDesigner enables 

Penn clients to generate a 

quote for themselves, and 

within literally a couple of 

minutes, have all the facts 

available to produce that 

case at their fingertips. 

Thomas Mostert, CEO 

of Penn Elcom GmbH, 

the distribution arm of 

the Penn Elcom Group in 

Continental 

Europe and programmer 

Klaus Koppenhoefer 

who previously owned his 

own case company, are the driving 

forces behind CaseDesigner. 

Simultaneous to showing the 

evolving design onscreen, 

CaseDesigner will generate a full 

list of components needed to build 

the case, including the sheet cut- 

ting sizes, etc., and a total cost. 

Users can either create a fully 

bespoke case from scratch, or 

select from a large library of 

standard pre-set cases, to which 

they can add dimensions, tweak, 

and also customise. 

As soon as any measurement 

values are added to the drawing, 

the case can be viewed onscreen, 

together with accurate details of 

the costs, labour and time involved 

can be calculated – all in a matter 

of minutes. Clients can decide 

from there if they need to make 

modifications to fit their budget 

and delivery timescale. 

The case can be specified with or 

without dividers or foam interiors, 

and other extras like custom parts 

and third party services 

can also be calculated. 

Case fittings can be 

added to the drawings 

with millimetre adjustment, 

so precise details 

of the required case/s 

can be discussed in real 

time with customers as 

their case evolves right in 

front of them. 

The time and material 

calculations are meanwhile 

going on in the background 

and output so you can get everything 

needed for production 

– including all the ‘hidden’ items 

like rivets, dividers, foam inserts 

etc. which are not specifically 

required to design the shell of the 

case. penn-elcom.com

Lighting 

high end SyStemS 

Pumps Up the Action at 

Istanbul Sinan Erdem 

Arena 

DL.3s, SHOWGUN 2.5s, 

Full Boar Chosen for High 

Quality Features 

Istanbul Sinan Erdem Arena 

has installed products from High 

End Systems to add fanfare to its 

basketball games. Prior to showtime, 

4 SHOWGUN 2.5s and 4 

DL.3 Digital Lights pump up the 

crowds in the opening ceremonies. 

A Road Hog Full Boar is in 

control. 

Istanbul’s Ultima Audio Visual 

Communication Services has a 

production company, Ultimaturk, 

which installed the High End 

Systems package last February. 

The Ultimaturk lighting department 

designed the show. 

Sebahattin Aydin, general manager 

for Ultima Audio Visual 

Communication Services, says 

they chose High End Systems 

products for its high-quality 

features. “The DL.3 is a special 

product in the entertainment market. 

If you have a good lighting 

designer using it, you don’t worry 

about anything.” 

The DL.3 - a combination digital 

lighting fixture with a built in 

media server - projects team logos, 

players faces and other specialized 

content to get the crowds cheering. 

The SHOWGUN 2.5s do what 

they do best: add excitement. 

When they blast their large exiting 

beams into the performance 

area and into the crowds, with 

their ring of LEDs - matching or 

contrasting around the lens - the 

crowds go wild. 

The Road Hog Full Boar was 

selected especially because it is a 

full featured High End Systems 

console, adaptable to any size or 

configuration of show situations. 

“It is a user friendly console,” 

Aydin says, mentioning that it can 

control any number of fixtures 

and accommodate any operator. 

Noting that High End Systems 

offers worldwide training and support 

are more factors for its specification. 

“The support department 

works well,” he adds. 

High End Systems equipment 

is already 

specified for the 

Turkish Airlines 

Euroleague Final 

Four matches next 

May, Aydin notes. 

highend.com 

Robe Rocks The House 

in Slovenia with DJ 

Chuckie 

When the Playboy White 

Invasion dance event hit 

Ljubljana’s Gospodarsko 

Razstavisce, 6000 dance 

enthusiasts raised the 

roof and appreciated 

Dutch mixmaster DJ 

Chuckie and others 

including Arty, Thomas 

Gold and R.I.O … all illuminated 

by a Robe moving 

light rig! 

This was supplied by locally based 

rental company Intralite and 

designed by their Primoz Kosir. 

Kosir wanted to create a dynamic 

atmosphere lighting to match the 

vibe and pumping vibrancy of 

the music, he needed to produce 

plenty of variety and scope for 

‘rocking the house’ in every shape 

and form of the expression! 

Trussing was installed over the 

main stage which featured the DJ 

booth and all performers, with 

more over the audience, providing 

lighting positions for zapping 

beams and effects around the 

room. 

The Robe moving lights consisted 

of 16 ROBIN 600 Beams,12 

ColorSpot 1200E ATs, 16 

ColorWash 575 AT zooms, 8 

ColorSpot 575 ATs and eight 

ColorWash 575 XTs. 

Kosir placed the ROBIN 600 

Beams and some ColorWashes on 

the main stage, with 12 of the 600 

Beams rigged to vertical trusses 

behind the DJ booth. The rest of 

the fixtures were scattered around 


In the News 

on the different audience trusses. 

The ROBIN 600 Beams were 

used to achieve long tight ‘sword’ 

like beams of light which penetrated 

right down the other end 

of the venue and really got the 

crowds energized. 

The ColorWashes were used 

generally to wash the stage and 

whiz around the audience and 

the venue, while the ColorSpots 

added some spectacular aerial 

effects which complimented those 

of the super-bright 600 Beams. 

The lightshow was also operated 

for the event by Kosir using an 

Avolites Pearl Expert and a Touch 

Wing, running Titan software. 

He really likes the gobo sets of the 

ColorWash 1200s – which are still 

going strong after many years of 

active service for the company. He 

uses them on their corporate work 

a lot as well as for the music shows 

and festivals. 

He thinks the small streamlined 

aesthetics of the ROBIN 600 

Beam and its massive output are 

“Fantastic”. 

Intralite – owned by Ales Pirman 

– is one of the leading Slovenian 

lighting rental players, and has 

been a keen Robe user for many 

years. robe.cz 

Sound 

C.VilaR puts Project 

eneRgia to the Test 

Adamson Systems 

Engineering is proud to 

announce the addition 

of the first Energia Beta 

partner in Latin America. 

Bogota, Colombia based C.Vilar 

Amplificacion LTDA, has been 

a long time Adamson user, with 

one of the largest Adamson 

inventories in South America. C. 

Vilar provides production for high 

profile shows, tours, festivals and 

installations. Recent Colombian 

productions with C.Vilar at the 

helm include FIFA, Coldplay, 

US President Barack Obama’s 

recent visit, The Cartagena 

Classic Music Festival, Rock al 

Parque and The Bicentennial 


Sound Designer Leonardo Vilar from CVilar & Sonic 

Design & Adamson Applications Engineer Ewan 

McDonald at the set up for Sir Paul McCartney in 

Bogota on April 19th 2012. 

Celebrations of Colombia in 

Bogota. 

With a series of ‘new generation’ 

line arrays to choose from C.Vilar 

had do their homework. Sound 

Designer Leonardo Vilar comments: 

“Energia’s global network 

is growing rapidly and it’s exciting 

to be a part of the vision from 

the beginning. Energia is without 

question the world’s leading 

concept as far as innovation and 

interactivity is concerned. Many 

of Adamson’s competitors have 

launched products with small 

incremental improvements in their 

driver technology, but no one has 

a package quite as revolutionary 

as the short and long term vision 

of Project Energia.” 

C.Vilar also stocks Adamson Y18, 

Y10, T21, SpekTrix, Metrix, 

SX18 and M series. adamsonsystems.com 

Five Finger Death 

Punch now touring 

with midaS PRo2C 

As the heavy metal band 

Five Finger Death Punch 

tours the US in 2012, FOH 

engineer Bruce Reiter 

will be mixing them on 

his new desk: the MIDAS 

PRO2C. “I was looking 

for a compact console 

and saw it online,” Reiter 

states. “I was considering 

a lot of different 

desks, but then I had the 

opportunity to touch the 

PRO2C for the first time at 

the NAMM Show. I decided 

then and there that I 

had to have it.” 

Two things combined to convince 

Reiter to invest in MIDAS digital. 

“First and foremost, it actually 

sounded good,” he 

says. “The preamps 

and EQ define the 

basic sound of any 

console, and in my 

opinion, MIDAS 

digital sounds as 

good as my old 

analog console of 

choice, the MIDAS 

XL3. The other 

thing was the way 

it’s laid out. It’s comfortable 

to mix on, 

and incredibly fast to get around.” 

That navigation is a product 

of the PRO Series architecture 

that eliminates layers in favor 

of multiple channel grouping 

options called VCA, MCA, and 

POPulation groups, to enable 

flexible configuration and instant 

recall of associated channels. The 

PRO2C and its sister console, the 

PRO2, both utilize the MIDAS 

DL251 fixed I/O stage box, which 

provides 48 inputs and 16 outputs, 

with eight more inputs and eight 

effects returns available on the 

mixing surface. On-board processing 

includes six multi-channel FX 

engines and up to 28 KLARK 

TEKNIK 31-band graphic equalizers. 

The only significant difference 

between the consoles is that 

the PRO2 includes eight more 

physical faders on the mixing 

surface. “Originally, I was looking 

at the PRO2,” notes Reiter. “But 

Five Finger Death Punch FOH engineer 

Bruce Reiter with his MIDAS PRO2C 

once I tried them both, I just fell 

in love with the 2C. It has all the 

same I/O and effects, and is a 

perfect fit for my style of mixing.” 

In fact, the PRO2C is the most 

compact MIDAS digital console 

available, measuring less than 35 

inches wide and weighing just over 

80 pounds. Working with a band 

like Five Finger Death Punch, that 

was another big selling point for 

Bruce Reiter. “On this tour, we 

have one truck and two 15-foot 

trailers being pulled behind two 

buses,” he reports. “Every bit of 

space counts, and having a console 

you can literally lift up and 

stack on top of the pack is really 

convenient.” 

While most tours opt to rent their 

consoles, Reiter sees things a little 

differently. “Like most independent 

sound engineers, I’ve always 

had a certain supply of equipment 

that I bring to the party,” he notes. 

“Back in the day, it was a big rack 

full of effects. Later, that became 

a USB stick with plug-ins and 

licenses. This is the next step.” 

klarkteknik.com 

midasconsoles.com 

New eleCtRo-VoiCe 

sound system for iconic 

Minneapolis venue 

First Avenue 

According to a recent 

sur vey by Gibson 

Guitars, First Avenue in 

Minneapolis, MN is “one 

of the 10 greatest rock 

venues of all time.” 

Touring artists consistently rank it 

one of the best places to play, both 

in the U.S and anywhere in the 

world. And, as anyone who has 

seen a show there or performed 

on its stage will no doubt agree, 

between its authentic rock ‘n’ roll 

vibe, sightline-friendly layout, 

and, of course, its iconic status 

as the concert venue in “Purple 

Rain,” First Ave checks all the 

boxes for what a truly great live 

performance space should offer 

… including an exceptional sound 

system. 

Having had an Electro-Voice PA 

in place for around 20 years, First 

Ave recently decided to upgrade 

to new, more efficient technology, 

and chose to stick with EV 

to ensure its reputation for superb 

audio remains intact. 

“We are both thrilled and honored 

to be providing the new sound 

system for First Avenue,” says 

Michael Doucot of Electro-Voice,

who worked closely with the First 

Avenue team and St. Paul-based 

Electro-Voice dealers and installation 

specialists Metro Sound and 

Lighting on specifying and installing 

the new mainroom sound 

system. 

Doucot adds, “It was time to 

update the Electro-Voice X-Array 

loudspeaker system that has 

reliably served the mainroom 

night after night for the past two 

decades, upgrading to one of EV’s 

state-of-the-art XLC line-array 

systems. The old system was still 

going strong and sounding great, 

but it will now be repurposed for 

stage-fill sound rather than main 

front-of-house duties.” 

Not only does the new XLC 

line-array system more precisely 

address the mainroom for more 

even coverage and intelligibility, 

it’s also driven by the latest Tour 

Grade series amplifiers, which are 

both approximatley 40 percent 

more powerful and more energy 

efficient than their predecessors. 

Another big change is that there 

are now loudspeakers covering 

hard-to-reach spots like the under- 

balcony areas. These new additions 

– from the EVF line – will 

help provide more seamless audio 

throughout the venue. first-avenue.com 

/ electrovoice. 

com 

Video 

Xl Video Engages in 

Wicked Game with Il 

Divo 

XL Video is supplying 

cur ved LED screens and 

special customised touring 

frames, video playback 

control, cameras/ 

PPU, an I-MAG projection 

system and crew for Il 

Divo’s current “Wicked 

Game” world tour which 

is on its first UK/European 

leg. 

The production design encompassing 

the three curved overstage 

screens was the concept of 

Il Divo’s artistic director, Brian 

Burke. 

This follows on fro Paper Tag Cut 

Out 8 m an initial curved screen 

idea showcased at the group’s high 

profile one-off shows at London’s 

Coliseum Theatre last year – with 

XL also supplying video production. 

Central to the concept is that 

the screens should appear to be 

‘floating’ in the air – with minimal 

or no rigging visible - a task with 

which XL Video was then challenged 

to recreate in a tourable 

format by tour director and production 

manager, Andy Proudfoot. 

XL’s project manager Paul 

“Macca” McCauley explains, 

“The main objective was to replicate 

the curved aesthetic making 

it as quick to rig and as easily 

portable as possible – and we 

are extremely pleased with the 

results”. 

The three screens - upstage left / 

right and downstage – are made 

up from a total of 280 modules of 

Pixled F11 LED surface, mounted 

in 55 of XL’s 2x2 touring frames 

which have been specially modified 

to create the curvature. 

Two of the screens – upstage left 

and downstage – each comprise 

two staggered surface sections one 

below the other, which required a 

further customization to the standard 

frames. 

The screens also move up and 

down on a Kinesys automation 

system supplied by lighting con- 

tractors HSL. XL had 

rolled metal pipes fabricated 

to the same radius 

as HSL’s Kinesys trusses 

– which also happened to 

match the radius of the 

stage design and layout. 

These are attached along 

the tops of the touring 

frames. 

The upstage right screen that is 

the largest surface area of the 

three, made up from 160 Pixled 

F-11 tiles, is stepped out every 

two tiles by two tiles to make its 

unique shape, and these stepped 

sections are also supported by 

steels running through the touring 

frames above. 

As a finishing touch, XL had 

lightweight black masking drapes 

manufactured which Velcro neatly 

and precisely to the back of the 

touring frames, cutting out any 

transparency or ambient light 

leaking through from the rear. 

The screen content was commissioned 

by Brian Burke and has 

been formatted exactly to fit the 

screens. It consists primarily of 

scenic and ambient footage that 

adds a dramatic visual texturing to 

the show. 

The screen moves are smooth and 

seamless – many happening in the 

blackouts which compliments the 

pace and vibe of the performance, 

that is focused on the rich vocal 

harmonies. 

XL is also supplying four Sony 

DF50 cameras - positioned two 

at FOH and two on track-anddolly 

in the pit - and a Kayak 

mixer / switcher and PPU for the 

European tour for video director 

Stuart Merser who is cutting the 


Passes 


OTTO PASSES 

the bubble Comes to Pass 

Dave Otto describes Otto Printing's path to its latest product, the Bubble Pass. 

by MIKE WHARTON 

You can hear it in his voice. 

With almost childlike wonder 

Dave Otto describes 

Otto Printing's path to its 

latest product, “The Bubble 

Pass.”“These are the slickest 

badges you ever saw. We can 

do virtually anything,” Otto 

says after our introductions. 

pictured above: 

Dave Otto, Owner 

Our industry has long been 

plagued with problems of counterfeiting 

security badges and 

tickets. Otto’s, since its inception 

in 1964 producing security 

badges for local promoters in 

Dayton, Kentucky, has devoted 

a research and development 

department toward eliminating 

that problem. The company 

called Otto Printing originally 

belonged to his grandfather. In 

1964 a series of hand-downs and 

interfamily handoffs became Otto 

Printing and Entertainment Graphics 

in the late 60s and early 

70s, which was the 

precursor to 

present day 

Otto Printing. 

“We were doing 

passes and 

badges 

for promoter’s 

local 

events back in the 70s when ( as Otto 

refers to them) ‘ a group called Boston’ 

came to town.” 

Otto put together a backstage pass 

system utilizing the spaceship guitar artwork 

from their debut album. A deal got 

cut allowing Otto to print his logo on the 

back of the pass. As the band travelled 

from city to city, and country to country, 

the backstage pass was born. “I might 

be a bit biased,” says Otto, “but I think 

we’re the most innovative pass printer in 

the industry.” 

With the new process, the laminated 

badge can be any size. Custom art work 

or logos are encapsulated in a clear synthetic 

polyurethane bubble which is then 

molded to the surface of the laminate. 

The urethane elastomeric are available 

in any color including metallic gold and 

silver. Holographic images, bar codes 

and RFID (Radio Frequency Identity) 

can be embedded, as well. 

Otto continues with a bit more background 

on how the badge came to be 

a reality. “From my small brain came 

this idea of like spreading pudding on a 

pan,” jokes Otto. “Everybody thought it 

was a cool idea, but the big question was 

‘how the hell we gonna figure this out?’ 

It started out as just a glob and there 

were all kinds of mistakes along the way. 

It was the R&D team that developed 

this into what it is today. As you know, 

a smart manager or business owner 

surrounds himself with smarter people 

around him.” 

The process of developing the “bubble” 

pass also solved Otto’s concerns regarding 

the eco-footprint of its original rayon 

satin cloth sticky passes. The sticky cloths 

material took forever to decompose 

in landfills. 

Through the “bubble” pass R&D, 

they have eliminated the old material 

and now print on latex, which 

is much more eco-friendly. The 

company's logo is now phantom 

embossed on the badge. 

The passes cannot be counterfeited, 

and the security team can identify the 

“bubble” easily because of its uniqueness 

and clear visibility. Both have patents 

pending. 

“To top all that off,” Otto practically 

shouts, “it just looks really cool!” The 

industry seems to agree. In the first two 

weeks of getting this product online and 

up and running, the response has been 

tremendous. 

Otto has had longstanding relationships 

with loyal clients, but not one to rest on 

his laurels, he is embracing the social 

media as a marketing tool. 

Through his contacts with Facebook 

and LinkedIn, he has been sending an 

email package of the bubble product. 

Packets have gone to Brazil, Dubai and 

Slovakia, as well, since a good portion 

of its 20 percent increase in business 

last November and December came 

from abroad. Otto says that a typical 

mailing campaign gets approximately a 

3 percent return on information packets. 

The “bubble” pass has generated a 50 

percent response. 

Otto has kept his 15,000 square foot 

plant on the cutting edge as well. All 

mold making is done in-house utilizing 

Computerized Numerical Control 

machining equipment. Digital presses 

and laser etching complement die cutting 

and hot foil stamping. Turnaround 

time is about 2 weeks from artwork to 

mailing. 

Otto continues, “Bands want the very 

best image, top notch. They look at cost 

but esthetically they want the badge to

�OTTO's clients 

over the years 

be ‘hot’. This product 

meets both those 

criteria so the cost is not prohibitive.” 

Embossed wrist bands are being introduced 

as well, which can also have the 

RFID stitched into them. “This is a 

niche market,” states Otto, “so the more 

niche I can whittle out of it, the better, 

and people like to get all their needs met 

at one place.” 

Otto is really enthusiastic about the wow 

factor regarding these “bubble” passes, 

repeating that you need to feel and see 

one of these to appreciate just how big 

of a wow it is. 

He’s quick to point out that as cool as his 

job is and as much as he likes it, security 

is not just a toss-off word at Otto’s. 

He recalls recently how an audience 

member got within feet of Lady GaGa’s 

dressing room with a fake pass he had 

learned how to make online. He’s not 

just selling a product, he’s hoping to 

contribute to the artists safety. 

By the same token, he notes how he see’s 

bogus credentials being sold on websites. 

Although it’s aftermarket and does not 

affect his finances, his concern is for the 

fan that is getting ripped off. Because 

hey, without the fans where would any 

of us be? 

oTToPRINT.CoM 

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S a f e t y • D i s c r e t i o n • S e l e c t i o n • P e r f e c t 

437 t: 614.847 

5 

SIDE 2 

OUR RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF 

1. Muse 2. Green Day 3. Arctic Monkeys 

4. Dave Matthews Band 5. Coldplay 

6. Katie Perry 7. Jack Johnson 

8. John Mayer 9. Phish 

...and many more 

i o n 


Hotels 

Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel Studio City, Cal. 

Where the A-listers Lay Low 


The original Sportsmen’s Lodge opened in the 1880s before the movie business 

existed and before Studio City had its name. A history of Studio City published by the Studio City Sun describes 

the Lodge as an “enduring symbol of lost rural Valley life. The Sun notes that the site has had many owners since 

the 1880s but was “always a geographic crossroads for travelers because of its proximity to the river, the canyons, 

and watering holes created by a natural artesian spring. In the days before freeways were built across the Valley, all 

traffic passed along Ventura’s two dirt lanes in the sparsely populated Valley, and when people were starting to take 

road trips, this was an oasis at the end of the road. 

In the first half of the 20th Century, the 

Sportsmen’s Lodge was known for its 

trout-fishing lake where families came to 

catch and eat their own dinners, cooked 

courtesy of the lodge’s restaurant. In the 

1910s, the Lodge was called “Hollywood 

Trout Farms” and was described as a ramshackle 

collection of huts. The ponds were 

augmented with man-made lakes in the 

1920s, and fish were grown and delivered 

as far as Las Vegas and San Luis Obispo. 

From the late 1930s until the end of World 

War II, it was known as “Trout Lakes” 

The Sportsmen’s Lodge became the place 

to hang out for cast and crew members 

working at the nearby Republic Studios. 

The heart of Republic Studios was its 

B-Westerns, and many western-film leads, 

including John Wayne, Gene Autry, Rex 

Allen, and Roy Rogers, became stars 

at Republic. Movie posters signed by 

Hollywood cowboys who stayed there still 

hang on the walls of the Lodge’s coffee 

shop. Some of Hollywood’s remaining 

silver screen cowboys still gather at the 

Sportsmen’s Lodge for the annual Golden 

Boot and Silver Spur Awards. 

In 1945, the property was renamed the 

Sportsmen’s Lodge, and a formal restaurant 

and cocktail lounge were added. 

Guests were given rods and bait to catch 

their fish and make dinner. Clark Gable, 

Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and John 

Wayne are reported to have taught their 

kids how to fish at the Lodge’s trout ponds. 

According to one account, the Lodge’s 

trout ponds “drew luminaries such as 

Tallulah Bankhead, Lena Horne, Bette 

Davis, and Joan Blondell, who baited 

hooks with liverwurst and drank martinis 

as waiters served dinner on white tablecloths. 

A small pier adjacent to the restaurant 

catered to celebrities who worked 

in nearby studios. The pier was said to be 

Clark Gable’s favorite fishing spot, and 

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were 

ContaCt 

touring & event needs 

Donna Russo 

Sales Manager 

818.255.9805 

mailto:drusso@slhotel.com 

slhotel.com 

regulars there to. When the hotel opened 

in September of 1962, celebrities that 

frequented the Lodge were able to enjoy 

rates that started at $9 for a single room 

and $25 for a suite. A small pier adjacent 

to the restaurant catered to celebrities who 

worked in nearby studios. 

According to the Studio City Sun, the Los 

Angeles Health Department ended the era 

of fishing at the Lodge when the 1971 San 

Fernando earthquake diverted the natural 

spring. 

The Sportsmen’s Lodge has a long history 

of celebrity guests. In a 2007 article 

on “Where the A-listers lay low,” Nucor

12825 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604 

Toll Free 800.821.8511 | Local 818.769.4700 

SLHotel.com 

described the Sportsmen’s Lodge as “a 

pleasant and unpretentious establishment.” 

The General Manager noted, 

“There are always some stars that 

need to stay at the most expensive, 

fanciest places, but others just want 

to be comfortable, relaxed and feel at 

home.” Spencer Tracy and Katharine 

Hepburn were visitors, and former 

Beach Boy Brian Wilson reportedly 

likes to lounge by the Olympic pool. 

Other celebrities known to have stayed 

or hung out at the Sportsmen’s Lodge 

include Marlon Brando, Doris Day, 

Gene Autry, Tim McGraw, David Lee 

Roth, Billy Bob Thornton, Randy 

Travis, and Trisha Yearwood just to 

name a few. 

The Sportsmen’s Lodge remains a 

popular location for events, dining 

and lodging. motion pictures and TV 

shows are occasionally shot around the 

waterfalls, lagoons, lily ponds, swans 

and gazebos. Recording stars and their 

entire road crews regularly stay so you 

can count on the them taking care 

of touring acts. One writer recently 

noted of the Lodge: “It’s unexpected, 

finding a mountain chalet bar complete 

with massive stone fireplace, antique 

wooden snow-skis, log-beamed ceilings, 

and moose antlers here in the midst 

of strip malls and suburbia. But this 

is Hollywood’s back yard; why not 

enjoy a hunting lodge right off Ventura 

Boulevard?” ♦ 


Transportation 

Rock-It Ships 


They sleep seven, with five bunks and 

two couches. They come with a kitchenette 

with refrigerator, satellite television, 

a phone lounge and internet capability. 

And the company already claims acts like 

George Clinton as clients. 

“The concept of a Sprinter van isn’t 

really new but taking everything that a 

bus has and shrinking it down is,” CEO 

Derek Hart said. 

“I’ve been in the tour bus business 

since 2003 and we started to see a 

rapid decline,” Hart said. “In 2007 I 

started managing Go Radio, out of 

Tallahassee and on Fearless Records, and 

we were kind of looking for something 

in between. We had the 15-passenger 

Rock-It Ships 

Take A Tour Bus, 

Shrink It Down 

Started by tour bus company veteran Derek Hart, 

Rock-it Ships converts vans into mini-tour buses – particularly, 

Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. Rock-It Ships has 15 of 

them, sporting carbon-neutral BlueTEC diesel engines 

that get 22 mpg without a trailer, 17 mpg with. That is 

the equivalent of a Ford Taurus, versus the usual 9 mpg 

of a 15-passenger van, or the 5 mpg of a tour bus. 

van, and there’s a company called 

Bandwagon that provides a vehicle 

a little bit smaller than a bus, 

and then there’s a tour bus. They 

decided to use a bus and came 

home with no money in their pockets. 

That sparked me to create this 

vehicle.” 

The concept fills a unique niche – 

bands can have all the mod cons 

of a tour bus, yet can travel freely 

around a town, and sleep in a 

Walmart parking lot without 

fear of blocking vehicles. It 

also eases the pain for acts 

that are on a career slump 

but don’t want to give up 

the bling. Hart suggested the 

niche hasn’t been filled until 

now because of the stigma 

attached to passenger vans, 

and because tour bus companies 

have no interest in cannibalizing 

their own businesses. 

Bands helped modify the first 

two prototypes. For instance, 

a generator turned out to be 

a bad idea and was removed. 

MORE Info 

But they requested USB ports for the 

bunks, for example, and those were 

added. By the time SXSW arrived this 

year, the company had vans on display at 

the Gear Expo. The vehicles apparently 

came across like mobile versions of Dr. 

Who’s TARDIS. 

“People were walking around with these 

smiles on their faces,” he said. “They 

couldn’t believe how much room there 

was inside. It’s 6 feet, 3 inches tall.” 

➲ Contact 

ph: 850.727.8555 

WEB: Rockitships.com 

Of course, there are sacrifices 

– like not having a 

toilet. On the other hand, 

there’s no need to hire a 

dedicated driver and put

him or her up every night. The cost 

is around $450 daily, all-inclusive, 

according to the company, estimating 

it to be about a quarter of the cost of 

a tour bus. But it also means sacrificing 

a little. 

“We lease them out with a matching 

black trailer,” Hart said. “The whole 

idea is being efficient so, if a band 

has too much gear, we try to educate 

them that there’s a cost to pulling that 

weight. You have to reduce what you 

bring with you; sometimes you may 

have to drop-ship your merch. But all 

that reduction is saving the band in 

the end.” 

Hart added that the company has 

a unique delivery system: if a band 

prefers delivery to a flight to Florida 

for pickup, a driver will take the van 

to the delivery location, then, from 

the trailer, leave in a smart car. Hart 

added that, unlike some tour bus and 

rent-a-car companies, Rock-it Ships’ 

insurance policy not only covers damage 

to the vehicle but liability for the 

passengers. 

Rock-It Ships expects to open offices 

on the left and right coasts by fall 

if enough capital is raised, Hart 

said. ♦ 

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The Band 

Stephen McElroy - Guitar & Vocals 

Paul Bonney - Drums 

Jason Sawford - Keyboards 

Colin Wilson - Bass & Vocals 

Alexander McNamara - Vocals 

Mike Kidson - Saxophones 

David Fowler - Guitar & Vocals 

Lorelei McBroom - Backing Vocals 

Emily Lynn - Backing Vocals 

Lara Smiles - Backing Vocals 


More Bang 

For Your Buck

The AusTrAliAn 

Pink FloYd show 

AS I HEAD TOWARD the typically quaint 

English, seaside town of Bournemouth 

to spend the day with the Australian Pink 

Floyd Show, I half expect to see a giant 

inflatable pig or a least a kangaroo filling the 

bright morning sky like a beacon calling out 

to Floyd fans across the region. 

Alas, my fetish for all things inflatable, would 

have to wait, as the only things circling 

above my head are two kamikaze seagulls 

preparing to dive bomb the unsuspecting old 

age pensioners, as they lick their ice creams 

in the shadow of three 45 foot Fly By Nite 

touring trucks, the only indication from 

outside of the venue that the tour is in town 

tonight at the Bournemouth International 

Centre. 

Since forming in Adelaide, North Western 

Australia in the late eighties, the Aussie 

Floyd, as they like to be known, have created 

a spectacular live reputation by not only replicating 

the iconic British bands music note 

for note, but also within the realms of the 

original Floyd tradition for outstanding lighting, 

effects and visuals. 

While it’s up to the band to supply the main 

- BY RICHARD BENNETT 

course in the form of the intricate soundscape 

arrangements of the original Floyd, 

it’s down to the crew to add the many varied 

side dishes, which combined give the audience 

a veritable audio and visual feast to 

satisfy all the senses. 

“We may be running only three trucks 

on this tour, but they are carrying a heck 

of a lot of gear. It’s a good bang-for-your 

buck show,” says Production Manager Phil 

Murphy. 

It’s this bang-for-your-buck approach that 

has seen the Aussie Floyd move beyond the 

traditional tribute band club and pub circuit 

and into the bigger venues, which has 

brought its own set of problems. 

“On this tour we are playing several different 

types of venues, from small theatres, 

which were never built to house a rock 

show, to bigger purpose-built concert halls,” 

explains Murphy. “With a show like ours, 

with the lights, lasers, effects, and the inflatables, 

fitting it all in is where the challenges 

start. Before the tour we sat down and went 

over the specs for each venue, checking the 

size of the stage right through to the weight 

loading. But until you walk into the place on 

the actual day of the show, you are never 

really sure what you’re going to get, what 

you can fit in and what you will have to 

leave out. Therefore, we make the final call 

on site, depending on the size and shape of 

the venue. It’s an easy show to put in and 

out. The production is well thought out, and 

it’s designed to reduce and expand as we 

need it, so we are able to deliver the same 

show in any size venue.” 

“We have two mother cross stage trusses, 

which can be set at either 40, 50 or 60 feet, 

and we have taken it up to 70 feet at times. 

From that we have 12 sub-hung fingers. 

Because its all sub-hung, we only need six 

points to get that in, so from six points we 

can get a lot of kit out there. The fingers 

form an arch over the stage. Below that in 

the centre is the circular projection screen. 

On this trip we are using a five meter diameter 

screen, but in the larger venues we use a 

six meter. And then we fit the band around 

that,” says Murphy. 

With the arch and screen in place, Lighting 

show 

SuPPlierS 

Sound: 

Wigwam 

Acoustics 

lightS: 

Entec 

laSerS: 

ER Productions 

inFlataBleS: 

Air Artists Ltd 

trucking: 

Fly By Nite 

BuSeS: 

Fastway 

Leisure 

Freight: 

Rock-It 

Cargo 

catering: 

Appetite 

Designer Phil White 

and his team start 

loading in the lights, which as any self 

respecting Pink Floyd fan will quickly tell 

you, are as much a part of the experience as 

the music itself. 

“On each mother truss, we have two Clay 

Paky Alpha Spot HPE 300s, because we are 

only on three trucks for this tour, which have 

to take the sound and light systems, loads 

of other gear and the huge backline we are 

using on this tour,” White says. “The 300s 

are perfect because they are lightweight, 

about 25 kilos each, and they don’t take up 

much room. They are also nice and bright, 

a good fixture from an operators position. 

We also have 24 of them on the arch, two 

on each section which goes down to 20 in 

the smaller venues. Along with six Atomic 

strobes, the center projection screen circle 

has 16 lights around it and the mother truss 

is internally lit with 12 I pick LED’s and 2 

x 8 Vari*Lite blinders. On the arch we use 

an assortment of Vari*Lites, including the 

3500s, 2500s and the 880s.” 

White continues, “Each section of the arch 

has a blinder on it, so 12 sections, 12 blinders, 

which really shows the shape of the arch 

and the circle. On the floor at the back we 

have ten Max 700 spots, which are a little bit 

brighter than the 300s. There are a couple 

of LEDs on the drums, along with 3 main 

and 19 profiles to light up the three backing 

singers. I am also using two, 4 Lite moles 

and Philips Color kinetics color blasts.” 


lighting crew: Simon ‘Boff’ Howarth, Sudip 

Shrestha, Phil White, Urko Arruza 

White is the first to admit that the show 

is a bright one, with over 300 lamps on 

stage and 275 in the front of stage lighting 

system. “I try to get the lighting a bit 

moody, with a lot of shadows around and 

on the stage and the band, but sometimes 

we have to pull it back a bit or we risk 

blinding the first few rows of the audience.” 

The whole set up is run via a grandMA 

series 1 board, although White is thinking 

about using the series 2 for the US tour, 

despite his early misgivings when it first 

came out. 


The AusTrAliAn 

Pink FloYd show 

CREW 

Production Manager: Phil Murphy 

tour Manager: Kevin Hopgood 

“I had so many problems with the grandMA 

2 when I tried it out a couple of years ago. 

So many things were missing. The effects 

weren’t there and they had changed the 

syntax, which was fine but it takes time to 

do it. This show file has been running for 

about ten years now and although the show 

has developed over the years, the song cues 

are always the same, so it’s easier to just 

add to the basic set up than to start from 

scratch. At the time they didn’t have a 1 to 2 

conversion so I would have had to start from 

scratch all over again. But they have done so 

many changes to the series 2 that I will give 

another go,” admits White. 

“We are using MIDI a lot more now as well, 

I have ‘MIDIed’ up some of the show, for 

songs like Us and Them, Time and parts of 

Sorrow. I have no issue with the desk running 

the show, but I do like to have a manual con- 

Backline techs: Tecwyn Beint (Keyboard Tech/ 

Stage Manager, John Martindale (Guitar 

Tech), Andrew ‘Paz’ Brennan (Drum Tech) 

Foh Sound engineer: Colin Norfield 

Monitor engineer: Sammy Murphy 

trol aspect all the time. Sometimes the MIDI 

cues play havoc with the moles, setting them 

in the wrong position, so from an operating 

point of view I like to start the song and 

then let the desk take over. I will pause it at 

the end and start of each song, manually run 

it then switch it back on,” he says. 

Complementing the staggering amount of 

lights during the gig, is another key element 

of any Floyd show, tribute or otherwise, and 

that of course is the lasers and the good old 

smoke machine, supplied by ER Productions 

and operated on this tour by Laser Tech 

Lawrence Wright. 

“We have three, 3 watt Quad rings, using IP 

cell technology and two 6 watt white lights, 

a six pangolin rack using pangolin Showtime 

and four Viper NT smoke machines. The 

lasers are all pre-programmed with the 

syncing done by Ryan Hagan in pre-show 

rehearsals, although on the road I have 

to trigger them at the right point during 

the show. Once they are in time, the preprogramming 

takes over. Due to the varying 

sizes of the venues on the UK tour, we have 

had a few challenges with the mirror ball, 

because each night the ball sits at a different 

height according to the venue and the trick 

is making sure that the lasers don’t hit it. A 

lot of the set features the lasers, and to maxi- 

Merchandiser: Les Brunskill

mize the effects we have 10 fraction mirrors 

on stage facing out towards the audience, 

and 10 straight bounce mirrors to hit those, 

which is how we can get a spectacular laser 

show at key times,” explains Wright. 

My attention is drawn away from our conversation 

by the bass-like hum from the compressors, 

and I cannot hold back my excitement 

any longer as the infamous inflatables, 

rise phoenix-like, or should that be pig-like, 

from the venue floor. Supplied by Air Artists 

Ltd, the same company that supply the original 

Pink Floyd and Roger Waters tours, the 

venue is soon filled with a rather large angry 

looking pig, the sadistic school teacher from 

The Wall and the biggest pink kangaroo I 

have ever witnessed sober. 

lasers: Lawrence Wright 

live nation rep: Mike Roberts 

“The inflatables are an iconic part of the 

Floyd legacy,” says veteran Tour Manager 

Kevin Hopgood. “What kind of tribute 

band would we be if we didn’t have them? 

Pink Floyd was about more than just the 

music, it was an event, with so many different 

elements coming together, and that is 

the challenge every night for this tour. The 

people who come to see us are die hard 

Floyd fans, they know every note, lighting 

change, visual shot and laser angle so well 

that they will soon pick something up if we 

do it wrong,” he adds with a laugh. 

With an air of unease walking past the 

ominous looking pig whose eyes follow you 

around the room, I head off to meet Tom 

Mumby, who is responsible for the projectors 

and video images throughout the performance. 

“The key is to get a good image that fills 

the screen, which as it’s a circle, can cause 

a few issues,” Mumby says. “All the video is 

run through a Hippotizer, controlled by Phil 

White. The film sequences are all originals 

but are shot in the same Floyd style, and in 

some cases have been filmed in the same 

catering crew: John Goodall, Dexy Murphy, 

Simon Collard 

locations. All the sequences are put together 

as one giant piece of timecode, and then 

run via MIDI, triggering at the beginning 

of each track. For the projectors we layer 

two Christie 10K’s which are not only light 

in weight, but have a great output. The 

problem with the different size venues has 

been the lenses, and getting the focus right 

so we can get a clear image on the screen. 

With the five meter screen we have a four 

meter projection. On a few of these shows 

we have had to hang the projector in some 

non-conventional ways that health and safety 

would question, but at the end of the day we 

always make it work.” 

With most of the production now in place, 

truck drivers: Jerry Fearn, Graham Butler, 

Ronald Redekar 


Production 

Manager - Kevin Brown 

tour Manager - Kevin Hopgood 

Production Manager - Phil Murphy 

Foh Sound engineer - Colin Norfield 

lighting designer - Phil White 

keyboard tech/Stage Mgr - Tecwyn Beint 

drum tech - Andrew ‘Paz’ Brennan 

guitar tech - John Martindale 

lighting tech-entec - Simon ‘Boff’ 

Howarth, Urko Arruza, Sudip Shrestha 

Monitor engineer - Sammy Murphy 

audio tech-Wigwam - Jon Brooks, Neal 

Sellars 

lasers - Ryan Hogan, Lawrence Weight 

Projectors/Video - Tom Mumby 

Photographer & Videographer - Wendy 

Wilson 

live nation rep - Mike Roberts 

Merchandise - Les Brunskill 

catering - Dexy Murphy (Caterer), John 

Goodall (Chef), Simon Collard (Chef) 

Bus drivers - Brian Taylor (Lead), Mike 

Fields 

truck drivers - Graham Butler (Lead), 

Ronald Redekar, Jerry Fearn 

and various crew members disappearing for 

a bite to eat or a quick afternoon kip, the 

final piece of this complex jigsaw, the sound 

system is run through its paces by ex-Pink 

Floyd and David Gilmour FOH engineer, 

Colin Norwood. As a veteran of original 

Pink Floyd tours, the addition of Norwood 

on the UK leg of the tour has brought 

another level of authenticity to the shows. 

“I am using a Digico D5, with up to about 

57 channels,” says Norwood. “The advantage 

of this board is because of the pre-sets. 

I can use an aux as a sub which means you 

can be more creative with it, so you can 

put more sub in some songs and ease it off 

on others. Last year we were using a quadraphonic 

sound system, and the D5 made 

it really flexible to work with. In the small 

venues the Quad sound is not possible and 

we couldn’t fly it, so it would have to sit at 

the back of the stage and it would just be too 

much.” 


“As a sound engineer,” continues Norwood, 

“what I like about this band is they respect 

the space within the songs, which is so true 

of the way the original Floyd played. I have 

worked with so many top name artists in the 

live situation who don’t respect the space 

within the sound or song, they feel that they 

have to fill up every gap, which is not the 

case. When we do the song Sorrow,, it’s loud 

it’s got lots of things going on in it, and at 

the end when the guitar comes in getting 

louder and louder, there is still space to 

bring the female backing singers in. There is 

always that little bit of space you can move 

things into if you know where to find it. As 

BB King said, ‘Its not about the notes you 

play, but the space in between‘ and that is a 

key factor in the Floyd’s music. This group, 

although it’s a tribute band, respects that as 

musicians, and that is how they are able to 

get so close to the original sound of Floyd. 

From an engineer’s point of view, that makes 

my job very easy.” 

The onstage monitor duties are 

taken care of by Sammy Murphy, 

using a Digico SD8, with 39 buses 

on it. It more than suits the diverse 

range of sounds and music emanating 

from the stage during the show, 

with the various reverbs and effects 

for each song going on. 

Says Murphy, “I use the snapshot 

menu a lot, and I also trigger some 

timecodes via the snapshot from our 

playback system, a Fostex D2424LV, 

triggered via MIDI or a foot switch. I also 

run the clicks from here, on songs like Money, 

with the cash registers and the clock sounds 

for Time. We are currently running 56 inputs 

for various things through this system, which 

allows us to get as close to the original sound 

on the albums as we can.” 

As showtime approaches, the crew take up 

their positions, and with the sold out crowd 

quickly filling up the venue, the final tech 

checks are carried out. As the house lights 

dim and the stage becomes a wash of color 

and smoke, the distinctive sound of Pink 

Floyd echoes around the venue, confirming 

that the Pink Floyd legacy is in safe hands 

with this ultimate tribute band and its experienced 

and professional crew. As I sit in 

the FOH taking in the spectacle that is the 

Australian Pink Floyd show, I can’t help but 

feel that, the pig is giving me a really funny 

look. ♦

*STAGES 

*TRUSSING *TURNTABLES 

*LIFTS *BACKDROPS 

*SEATING PLATFORMS 

*CUSTOM SETS 

WWW.ACCURATESTAGING.COM 

LOS ANGELS 310-324-1040 NASHVILLE 615-639-2175 SAN FRANCISCO 510-636-1576 


RH 

cP 

C 


band 

Anthony Kiedis – Vocals 

Flea – Bass 

Josh Klinghoffer – Guitars 

Chad Smith - Drums 

Mauro Refusco – Percussion

ReD HoT CHili PePPeRs 

I’m 

WItH 

You 

LIve 

BY MICHAEL A. BECK 

Upon walking into the bowl at 

The Arena at Gwinnett Center in 

Duluth, Georgia the production set 

of the Red Hot Chili Peppers show 

looked huge. The most prominent 

feature of the show in its starting 

position was the center cluster 

of three tightly placed octagonal 

lighting trusses provided by 

Premiere Global Production. The 

lighting rig was surrounded by 

eight 10.5’x10.5’ V-9 [Classic] 

screens put forth by PRG Nocturne 

that created a loosely fitting wall 

around the outside of the octagonal 

lighting rig. 

The center array was actually pretty small, 

trimmed out at 54 feet and hung off of a mother 

grid that flew at 58 feet. The octagon only covered 

the very center portion of the stage. “The original 

design concept was based on the fact that the 

band always plays close together,” said Production 

Manager Narci Martinez. “That’s why we have 

the octagonal rig with everything focused on the 

middle.” 

The center piece of the show looked fairly compact 

as the show opened but it didn’t take long to 

spread out. Each of the eight square screens were 

able to rotate and fly vertically. This offered the 

ability to change the perception of depth to the 

array. Additionally, when the screens were flattened 

out and facing directly at the FOH, the system 

gave the look another 30 percent of coverage 

across the stage. Each of the wall pieces weighed 

roughly 1,800 pounds. However, there was a bit 

of a balancing act that had to be dealt with. The 

back side of each panel was loaded with 14 horizontal 

strips of ACL’s (aircraft landing lights) with 

12 lights per strip which allowed the panels to flip 

around and hit the audience with the light of a 

supernova. Because there is a weight differential 

between the V-9 on the front and the ACL’s on 

the back, some counterbalancing had to be done 

so that the piece would hang straight down off 

the rig points. 


RH 

cP 

C 

24 mobile production monthly

At a point during the middle of the show, 

the panels were flown in. As they descended, 

they separated like a huge venetian blind 

unit with 28 slats. This created an enormous 

column of video above the stage. Each of 

the panels was lifted with four Vario-Lift 

hoists from a connecting truss that attached 

to the mother grid via an AC motor which 

rotated the panel on a huge bull gear. Two of 

the Vario-Lifts were connected to the bottom 

of the panel and two attached to the top. For 

the most part, the bottom hoists were usually 

carrying all the weight. As the main body of 

the panel lowered, it left a trail of “blinds” 

behind it which traveled on Kevlar rope 

with evenly spaced stops along the way. As 

the move progressed, the top hoists took on 

more of the load until and the column was 

fully deployed, at which time they shared the 

load equally. At all other times, as automation 

driver Robert “Motion Rob” DeCeglio 

said, “They are just along for the ride.” 

As all of this movement of the video panels 

in the octagon was taking place, the overall 

look was anchored by a 60’x22’ wall of 

PRG Nocturne V-28 medium resolution 

video product. Despite the term ‘medium 

resolution’, the image coming off the wall 

was amazingly crisp. With seven cameras – 

four handheld, two lipstick POV’s and one 

permanently mounting in the center of the 

octagon shooting down at the stage - the 

primary purpose of the video system 

was IMAG as opposed to pre-produced 

content that usually dominates the main 

body of any given production’s video 

system. However, there was a small 

portion of content incorporated in this 

show. Video Director George Elizondo 

explained, “There might be three or four 

songs programmed that we have graphics 

going though it, but for the most part 

it’s IMAG because we don’t have side 

screens for IMAG. Plus, with the 

amount of effects we put on the 

camera shots, it’s a little more 

artisitic to look at as opposed to 

just straight up IMAG.” 

Those video effects that 

Elizondo spoke of were a big 

part of the ethos of the tour. 

“What’s really cool is that the 

band have been doing this 

for 30 years, so they do their 

thing and they allow us to do 

our thing. During the show they 

are meticulously focused on how 

they’re playing together and connecting 

with the audience and they 

allow us the creative space to do what 

we think will work best within the show. 

Not too many artists these days allow you 

that freedom.” 

In addition to the flown video system, there 

was an LED video display inlaid into the 

stage by Tait Towers, which had the shape 

of the iconic asterisk associated with the 

Chili Peppers, within which ran video con- 

tent. This was the reason for the down shot 

of the camera in the center of the octagon. 

The bulk of the lighting, designed by Scott 

Holthaus, flown over the stage was housed 

in the octagon, which also flew in and out 

according design needs. The outer ring of 

truss was loaded with 24 Martin Mac 3k’s 

inside the truss with Clay Packy Sharpies 

posted at each point on the outside of the 

Octagon and an Atomic Color at the center 

of each truss section of the octagon. 

In addition to the aforementioned Atomic 

units, the second ring of the octagon was 

also loaded with 16 Mac 2k’s, and the center 

“during the show they are meticulously focused on how they’re 

playing together and connecting with the audience and they 

allow us the creative space to do what we think will work 

best within the show. not too many artists these days 

allow you that freedom.” - Video Director George Elizondo 

ring contained 16 Sharpies. This was all 

augmented by four truss spots slung under 

a single truss stick offstage/downstage on 

either side. Each of the truss sections also 

sported four Mac 2k’s. 

One of the more dramatic elements of 

the look was also one of the more subtle 

aspects. Four independent sticks of truss 

lived along the back side of the V-28 video 

wall on Vario-Lifts and flew in and out 

separately of one another and shot three 

Mac 3K’s, three Mac 2k’s and six sharpies 

per section through the wall from different 

vantage points. Although the effect was used 

often throughout the show, it never got old 

because of the ability to move the truss sections 

around. However, the look was at its 

dramatic best when it was applied during the 

deployment of the Venetian blinds because 

the lights were blowing through the V-28 

wall and continuing on through the gaps in 

the octagonal column of V-9. 

The entire show was framed by the three 

torm ladders each of which contained 16 

Elation Impressions. At the top and bottom 

of the torm was an Atomic Color and the 

truss section from which the ladder hung 

held four Sharpies. The first two torms (at 

the center of the look) flew just upstage and 

on either side of the octagon. The other four 

were placed farther off and downstage from 

the center two. Although the original design 

had all three ladders positioned over the 

stage, once the tour left Europe and came to 

the US, the decision was made to spread the 

look out. Martinez explained, “When all of 

the torms were hanging over the stage [light- 


RH 

cP 

C 1 

tour manager - George Freeman 

assistant tour mgr - Paul Hinojos 

band Security - Dave Sauter 

Production mgr - Narci Martinez 

Production coordinator - Tim 

Metrovitsch 

tour accountant - Chris Risner 

venue Security - Jason Ledbetter 

backstage coordinator - Lyssa 

Bloom 

backstage assistant - Rose Kuhn 

Production assistant - Kara Paulus 

FoH engineer - Dave Rat 

monitor engineer - Tim Engwall 

FoH tech - Jim Lockyer 

monitor tech - Taka Nakai 

Pro tools engineer - Jason 

Gossman 

Lighting director - Scott Holthaus 

video operator - Leif Dixon 

Stage manager - Phil Dannemann 

bass tech - Tracy Robar 

Guitar tech - Ian Sheppard 

drum tech - Chris Warren 

Percussion tech - Henry Trejo 

chef - Corrina Becker Wayman 

chef assistant - Lilah Shafsky 

Head Rigger - Ken Mitchell 

Rigger - Stephen Chambers 

Lighting crew chief - [the late] 

Dave Evans, Mike Hall 

pictured above: 

1 Phil Dannemann - Stage Manager, Narci Martinez - Production Manger 2 [the late] Dave Evans, Johathan Edwards, Mark Donahue, 

Joe Zimmerman, Marcus Caylor, Bradley O’Donnell 3 Nicholas Keiser - Video Engineer, Ben Rader - LED/Camera Operator, Mark 

Woody - CC/LED, George Elizondo - Video Director, Stephen Gray - LED/Camera Operator, Scott Lutton - LED/Camera Operator, Ken 

Mitchell - Head Rigger 4 Chuck Smith - PA Tech, Jim Lockyer - FOH Tech, Dave Rat - FOH - Engineer, Thomas Caraisco - PA Crew 

Chief, Tim Engwall - Monitor Engineer, Emmanuel “Manny” Perez – PA Tech, Andrew Gilchrest - PA Tech, Taka Nakai - Monitor Tech 


Lighting techs: Mark Donahue, 

Johathan Edwards, Bradley 

O’Donnell, Marcus Caylor 

Spot tech - Joe Zimmerman 

video director - George Elizondo 

video engineer - Graham Holwill 

cc/Led - Mark Woody 

Led/camera operators: Ben Rader, 

Scott Lutton, Stephen Gray 

video engineer - Nicholas Keiser 

automation operator - Robert 

DeCeglio 

automation/video - Dwayne Diaz 

Pa crew chief - Thomas Caraisco 

Pa techs: Chuck Smith, Emmanuel 

“Manny” Perez, Andrew Gilchrest 

carpenters: Seth Posner, Scott 

Badeau 

merchandise - Charles “Midge” 

Midgley 

band bus drivers: Dan Gillis, Ronnie 

Johnson 

crew bus drivers: Dennis White, 

Scott Seeley, Christ VanKersen, Doyle 

Andrews, Time Lisska 

Lead truck driver - James Johnston 

truck drivers: Nate Thompson, 

Chris Freeman, Jimmy Edelen, Dam 

Bergman, Dorothy McKnight, Chad 

McKnight, Franklin Farr, Tim Faye, 

Paul Rush, Sam Hammond 

3 

4 

2

vendoRS 

management: 

Q Prime Management 

business management: 

Provident Financial 

booking agent: 

WME 

Legal: 

Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox 

Rosenberg & Light 

travel: 

Tzell Travel Group 

design & content: 

UVA (United Visual Artists) 

tour management: 

Goon Hand Amalgamated 

Production management: 

Inter-Core Production 

Stage & automation: 

Tait Towers 

Spot Lights: 

Spot Rental 

Rigging: 

Five Points Production Services 

barricades: 

Mojo Barriers 

Lighting: 

Premier Global Production Co. 

audio: 

Rat Sound 

video: 

PRG /Nocturne Production 

Soft Goods: 

Dazian 

Radios: 

Road Radios 

merchandise: 

Bravado International group 

venue Security: 

5280 Group 

expendables: 

Tour Supply 

bussing: 

Senators Coaches 

trucking: 

Upstaging 

Freight: 

Rockit Cargo 

Internet: 

Touring Tech 

Security Passes: 

Cube Services, Inc. 

tour Itineraries: 

Knowhere 

Support Risers: 

Gallagher Staging and Productions 

“Lighting guys are adventurers. they’re always trying to 

outdo each other or out-do their last show. We’re just 

trying not to f--- up.” FOH Engineer Dave Rat 

ing designer] Scott Holthaus and I got tired 

of looking at them because they were all in 

front of the video screen.” 

Thus the decision was made to spread them 

out with the farthest offstage torms being 

outside of the line arrays and over the audience. 

The effect of the move was to make the 

show look a lot larger than it was, which is 

what Holthaus was going for. 

The audio portion of the show was delivered 

through an L-ACOUSTICS system 

provided by Rat Sound. And while FOH 

Engineer Dave Rat was [typically] pleased 

with the gear, there was a new piece of technology 

aiding in the delivery of that great 

sound. “I specked the same system in Europe 

and almost the same rig with Blink 182 and 

Soundgarden. I was taking the same amount 

of boxes into bigger and bigger venues and 

I noticed that the sound of the rig seemed 

to be changing on me even though everything 

else was identical. L-ACOUSTICS has 

incredible auditory consistency worldwide.” 

After rubbing some grey matter on the subject, 

Rat figured out that they were using 

more cable in order to get around sightlines 

and follow cable bridges on the bigger shows. 

Whereas with Soundgarden, he was running 

cables directly up into the rig from the amp 

racks and getting by with 75 ft runs, the Chili 

Peppers’s required taking the lines all the 

way upstage to cable bridges and back down 

to the mains. The first thought that might 

come to the untrained person would be a 

loss of line voltage was the cause of the problem, 

but Rat discounted that straight away, 

“I don’t mind a line voltage drop so much 

because if anything, that will make the signal 

quieter and give me more headroom.” 

While in South America he ran into the 

same problem with two different back to 

back Vertec systems provided by the same 

vendor. The larger system sounded soft and 

mushy and the smaller system was tight, clean 

and compact. 

The decision was made on this tour to fly the 

amp racks with the speakers to knock down 

the cable length, which caused a noticeable 

sonic improvement. However, in decreasing 

the length of the speaker cable the return 

lines were increased. The answer was the 

Reidel Communications Rocknet System, 

which behaves very much like a traditional 

analog active split system. It conveys 160 

24bit/48kHz audio channels counterrotating 

on a single CAT5 cable so there was no 

signal loss over the length of the run. That 

being said, Rat wasn’t going to take chances. 

There is still an analog backup through 

which he is also able to do A/B analysis of 

the signal. 

There is another interesting aspect of Rat’s 

mixing zeitgeist. He mixes with his console 

facing house right with no board labels or 

lights. “I was in Europe with Blink 182 and 

we played a festival but my analog console 

wouldn’t fit on the [mix] platform in the 

standard configuration. I wasn’t there so I 

called about the situation and said, ‘I want 

my analog board. I don’t care where you 

put it. Put it facing off to the side, just get it 

up there.’ They put it up against the house 

left rail of the platform. It just so happened 

that this particular gig had a barricaded 

central walkway up to the stage and I stood 

there during the show and it was glorious. I 

was standing right there. There was nothing 

between me and the band. When the 

gig was over I turned to my tech Ollie and 


“When all of the torms were 

hanging over the stage [lighting 

designer] Scott Holthaus 

and I got tired of looking at 

them because they were 

all in front of the video 

screen.” – Production 

Manager Narci Matinez 


said, ‘Move this to the other side and do this 

every day.’” 

Because Rat wanted to stay connected with 

what he was hearing in the same way a musician 

does, he worked up to a point where he 

could manipulate the console without ever 

having to look at it. “The best musicians 

don’t have to look at what they’re doing,” 

he explained. ‘They just feel it. That’s what 

I wanted to do.” 

Despite the ever creative approach Rat 

takes to doing his job, he had an interesting 

description of the difference between 

people who work in audio and those who 

do lighting. “Lighting guys are adventurers. 

They’re always trying to outdo each other or 

out-do their last show. We’re just trying not 

to f--- up.” 

There wasn’t a person we talked with who 

seemed to have problems with the way this 

tour is going – even off the record. That’s 

not do to with the fact that the show has 

been running since early last year. “From 

Narci all the way down, it’s been a really 

good thing to be a part of,” said George 

Elizondo. 

Unfortunately, in the midst of a tour that 

was so smooth from the very beginning that 

it loaded out in 3 1/2 hours on the very 

first show, there was also the sorrow of loss. 

Shortly after we visited the tour, lighting 

crew chief Dave Evans suffered a massive 

heart attack in his hotel room and passed 

away the night before leaving for a two 

week break. Evans was universally loved and 

respected by everyone he knew on and off 

the road. Premiere Global Production VP of 

Touring, James Vollhoffer, spoke of Dave’s 

character, “He was the genuine real deal. He 

said, ‘Here I am take it or leave it.’ and that’s 

why he had such friends as Eric Wade and 

Robbie Greenberg, to name just a few in this 

business lamenting his passing.” 

One testament to how well Evans did his job 

was the ease with which his successor came 

into the position behind him. Narci Martinez 

explained, “We were going to give the lighting 

crew an extra hour when we came back 

from the break to get it together on the load 

in.However everyone was so much on top of 

the gig that they didn’t need it.” 

In terms of truck space, this show is a lot 

smaller than it looks when it’s fired up. Once 

again we find that there’s more to a show 

than the number of drivers it takes to get it 

down the road. ♦

lighting 

trucking 

production support 

sales 

service 

storage 

www.upstaging.com 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS FOR YOUR 

SUCCESSFUL I’M WITH YOU WORLD TOUR 

From Joe Ryan and all your friends at Rock-It Cargo 

www.rockitcargo.com 

815.899.9888 

CHICAGO LOS ANGELES 

821 Park Avenue 

Sycamore, Illinois 60178 

Ph. 815-899-9888 

Fax 815-899-1080 

415 North Canon Dr., Suite 1 

Beverly Hills, California 90210 

Ph. 310-859-9800 

Fax 310-859-2804


RH 

cP 

CMojo Barriers US office supplied 

218 feet of aluminium stage 

barrier to the North American 

leg of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 

I'm with You World Tour. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers kicked off their 

world tour of arena’s in Paris, Sept 7 2011, 

to great reviews and sell out audiences across 

36 shows. The tour sourced its’ stage barriers 

from Mojo Barriers’ International headquarters 

in Holland, so when the tour began its 

North American dates, the continuity of having 

the same equipment appealed to the band’s 

production. 

Mojo Barriers US President J.B. Dolphin tells 

mPm, “We first worked with the Red Hot Chili 

Peppers in 2005, so we have developed a good 

understanding that the band’s production is 

meticulous in delivering high standards in all 

areas - from their AV and PA systems to the 

crowd barriers, which ensure the safety of the 

band, security personnel and their audience. 

The Chili Peppers deliver an energetic show, so 

it is important that the production infrastructure 

allows for the possibility of a lively audience. We 

have been able to deliver the same system the 

team used across Europe, with a front of stage 

barrier and surrounding the front-of-house position.” 

Just inducted into the Rock 

and Roll Hall of Fame, Red Hot 

Chilli Peppers, used spotRental 

to supply the high powered lighting 

that ensured they are under 

the spotlight at every gig. 

Managing Director JB Dolphin of SpotRental 

US mentiones, “We have supplied four of our 

high power Strong Gladiator IV follow spots to 

the RCHP tour. Once again our Holland based 

sister company was the chosen supplier for the 

European leg of the tour, which meant consistency 

of this state of the art equipment for the 

production team across different continents as 

Mojo BARRieRs 

1,100 MeTeRs of BARRiCADe PRoTeCTioN 

THAT CAN sTReTCH ACRoss THe GloBe 

“Our Mojo Barriers crew has been attentive 

that our aluminium barrier is installed according 

professionally to the agreed designs for the 

barriers,” added Dolphin. “We have also supplied 

heavy-duty metal cable ramps and rubber 

cable ramps.” 

Any given venue can be counted upon to provide 

up to roughly 80 feet of barricade. That 

will do the job for a show that simply has a 

straight downstage line to be secured. However, 

when a show goes out with an odd shaped stage, 

a thrust or a B stage, those 80 feet of house barrier 

fall short right out of the gate at which time 

other product has to be dry hired locally. 

This of course adds to the already weighty 

logistical advance work that all tours face. Then 

there is also the quality of the gear to be considered, 

“We had a system out with Taylor Swift 

spotRental fixTuRes liGHT uP 

ReD HoT CHilli PePPeR’s WoRlD TouR 

we supplied the US dates. 

SpotRental’s Tour Technician was Joe 

Zimmerman, “These Strong Gladiator IV’s are 

ideally designed for touring – robust, efficient 

cooling systems and the 4,500 watt Xenon bulb 

delivers an impressive individual output with 

great, user-friendly focusing.” Taking responsibility 

for the US dates, he set out in search 

of the latest equipment available “to maintain 

quality on every show.” Zimmerman continues, 

“SpotRental focuses on technical expertise to 

support clients at all times. We clean and test 

every light prior to every hire, and are available 

24/7.” 

Since the lighting plot does not make use of 

front lighting, and also uses a lot of fast moves 

that covered the world,” said Dolphin. “When 

that tour got to New Zealand and Australia it 

had the same gear as in America. That’s why 

you call Mojo.” 

With offices and rental distributers in 13 locations 

worldwide ranging from the Pacific Rim to 

Germany including three in The United States, 

Mojo has the ability to extend the same level of 

equipment to its clients no matter how far they 

travel from the point of the tour’s origin. 

With a 2012 concert touring line up that 

includes the aforementioned Red Hot Chili 

Peppers as well as Bruce Springsteen, Roger 

Waters’ The Wall, Madonna, 500 feet of barrier 

on Wrestle Mania and much more, the 

company’s inventory of over 10,000 meters of 

barricade can more than amply cover the work 

load. ♦ 

and strobes causing the light levels on the band 

to be inconsistent throughout the show, the 

design calls for two truss spots and a house spot 

for each member of the band. The spots really 

have to be in tip-top shape. If a front fixture 

would fail during the show, one of the band 

members won’t be highlighted, and that is unacceptable. 

For this reason, Zimmerman keeps 

working away at every show stop to make sure 

this does not happen. 

On top of the lack of front wash, there are 

quite a number of larger moving heads that 

deliver a punch. But with the Strong Gladiator 

IVs, SpotRental is able to provide at least 150 

foot candles on stage for each band member. 

Zimmerman has hands full with these spots 

for the next several months. At times when 

the venue location of the spots dictates to use 

the house spots, he’ll also go in and make sure 

the house spots are up to par for the show as 

well. ♦

WORLD’S MOST DEDICATED FOLLOW SPOT SPECIALIST 

IS PROUD TO BE ON NEXT US AND EUROPEAN RHCP TOUR. 

SpotRental US - 181 E. Stiegel St. - Manheim, PA 17545 

E: info.us@spotrental.com - W: www.spotrental.com - T: (717)664-2695 

united states 

181 E Stiegel St. 

Manheim, PA 17545 

+1 (717) 664 0158 

info.us@mojobarriers.com 

Veldzigt 3 

3454 PW, de Meern 

+31 (30) 242 82 00 

info.nl@mojobarriers.com 

worldwide crowd control solutions 

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Full service rentals 

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+31 (30) 242 82 00 

info.int@mojobarriers.com 



RH 

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What happens when you 

reach a place in your career 

where a huge chunk of what 

you do fails to hold your interest? 

such has become the 

case with renowned foH audio 

engineer Dave Rat. 

“Touring has become less interesting to me,” 

he told us. “I love starting up tours. I love 

getting with the band, getting them dialed 

in, getting all the sounds locked, getting 

the stage volume together, and getting it all 

ramped up. I even like going out for a month 

and really establishing the pattern, but after 

that, just repeating it over and over again is 

just not that interesting to me.” 

“I’ve mixed huge gigs and small gigs, and 

I’ve transitioned between them. I’ve gone 

for multiple systems and multiple vendors. 

From the time the show starts to the time it 

finishes, I have a blast. It’s the other 21 hours 

in the day that are killing me. I’m an entrepreneur. 

I’m not a repetitive guy.” 

This is not a new dilemma for this veteran 

of the road who admits that “just touring” 

has not been enough of a challenge for 

many years. In the late 90s while on tour 

with Rage Against the Machine, he decided 

to create web pages. He spent his off hours 

on the tour learning HTML. On another 

tour he set out to learn welding and brought 

his welder out. On yet another tour he 

decided to try his hand at writing and wrote 

“articles” during his down time. “I’ve always 

had some kind of alternate project on tour,” 

he explains. 

Early this year Dave was on the intellectual 

prowl for yet another way to remain stimulated 

on the road when the idea of holding 

industry related seminars for the public 

occurred to him. He explained, “During the 

three month break at the beginning of the 

DAVe RAT 

CReATes ANoTHeR 

WoRlD of CHAlleNGe 

with “Dave Rat seminar” 

year I was asking myself what I was going 

to do to keep it fun and different and stay 

excited. I came up with doing a seminar on 

show days after days off in the cities we’re 

playing in.” 

The classes, called Dave Rat Seminar, hold 

a group of roughly 12 people in meeting 

rooms close to the venue. The subject matter 

of seminar is both tightly focused and far 

reaching at the same time. Dave described 

his approach, “I’m trying to pool a unified 

theory regarding what we do as sound 

engineers in the entertainment industry 

and gluing everything together with a 

common theme of using cooperation and 

conflict. Whether it’s on the largest scale 

of promoters and booking agents or lights 

and sound and video; all of the departments 

working together to find harmony 

and create memories that people will never 

forget. That’s our purpose in this business 

regardless of what area you’re in whether 

it’s rock ‘n’ roll, houses of worship, politics 

or anything else.” 

Beyond those aspects of the project there is 

also an element of the seminar that speaks 

to the artist on stage. “I talk about keeping 

the artist in a state of mind that keeps them 

connected with the audience and free from 

distraction while they’re on the stage,” Dave 

adds. 

The Seminar also explains how to assemble 

an audio crew with a focus on using specialists 

rather than several people who can be 

multi-purposed. Finally it drills all the way

down to the technology of wave forms and 

insulating microphones from picking up 

multiple sources and using polarity and cancelation 

in sub-arrays. 

To any mere mortal who might come up 

with the idea to do something like this, the 

first and most daunting task would have been 

getting the word out. Such was not the case 

for Dave Rat. “I just put it up on Twitter 

and Facebook,” he said. “I have about 6,000 

Twitter followers and about another 4,000, 

maybe more, Facebook friends. I put it up 

on those two and it networked together and 

created a little web page [Daverat.com/ 

seminar.htm] and updated an email [seminar@info.com] 

and soon I had two or three 

hundred requests to do seminars all over the 

world.” 

805-383-0777 RATSOUND.COM 

The initial intent was to 

conduct the seminars for 

free. However, acquiring 

space and paying an assistant 

proved to be cost prohibitive 

without charging 

a fee. Therefore, the ticket 

price is $80. In the beginning, 

the classes took place 

in meeting rooms at hotels 

30 

Years 

est. 1980 

RELIABLE 

The sound for 

shows we love to remember 

as well as other similar facilities that could 

accommodate the gathering. In recent weeks 

Dave has started to push into a more offsite 

format such as the seminar he conducted at 

Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in 

Washington D. C. 

Right now the Dave Rat Seminar is taking 

place in cities where Dave’s current client, 

Red Hot Chili Peppers is playing. However, 

the long term desire is to be able to draw 

enough attention (and attendees) to be able 

to take it on the road independently of the 

concert tour. The best way to help make that 

happen is to catch up with him on Twitter, 

Facebook, daverat.com/seminar or drop 

him a line at seminar@info.com and invite 

him to come to a location near you. ♦ 

Concert System Rentals - Pro Audio Sales - Audio and A/V Installations 


BY MIKE WHARTON 

It’s been three years since 

mobile Production monthly 

spoke with the information 

technology company, Wanetics 

LLc. Venue Wi-fi installation 

expansion and development of 

a truly scalable product line 

has kept founders janet Rogers 

and Dave Bauman, and their 

support team far from idle. 

The name WANetics is well known as an 

information technology provider to venues 

and other businesses around the world, but 

over the course of attendance at Tour Link 

the last few years, it became clear that the 

touring industry did not readily identify with 

the company’s other services. “We felt we 

needed something more descriptive of the 

services we offered within the touring segment,” 

says Rogers. 

TouringTech.com is the name brand realized 

out of that need. Essentially telecommunications 

on a tour has reached a point 

of intricacy and necessity which requires 

consistency equally important as the rest of 

the production being carried. WANetics and 

TouringTech.com are uniquely qualified to 

fill these needs. 

“We’re probably the only company, literally 

worldwide, that truly understands both 

sides of this coin,” states Rogers. “We have 

installed systems into many major arenas and 

seen infrastructure of what networks look 

like in hundreds and hundreds of venues. We 

know what it is like to be both the guest and 

the host.” 

The WANetics side of the company concentrates 

on voice and data service for small/ 

medium businesses, IT infrastructure and 

WiFi systems for venues. It is this very aspect 

of the company that paved the way for 

the mobile application and development of 

TouringTech.com. In 2005 Chris Weathers, 

Regional Director of Live Nation contacted 

Rogers to solve a telecommunication problem 

at the Charter Pavilion in Chicago. Weathers 

had introduced Rogers to the venue side of 

the industry in 2000. 


RH 

cP TouringTech.com 

lARGe oR sMAll ANy PRoDuCTioN 

CAN BeNefiT fRoM THis CoMPANy 

He told her that the new venue already under 

construction had not been able to allocate 

pathways to route phone and internet cable. 

WANetics solved the issue with what in those 

days was a revolutionary idea for phones; 

go wireless. Shortly afterwards when Celtic 

Women Tour came through, Steve Dixon, 

Tour Accountant for that show, planted the 

germ of an idea in Rogers mind that “it 

would be nice to package what you have here 

in a box and take it on tour.” 

Rogers and Bauman came up with the “Office 

in a Box” concept of packaging an integrated, 

high-speed and secure WiFi system, business 

class phone system and network printing, 

scanning and fax, in a touring road case. The 

germ Dixon had planted now had legs... or 

wheels as the case may be. 

Originally, the concept for scalability of these 

packages had been heading in the direction of 

larger and larger events. The “American Idols 

Live Tour” was awarded to TouringTech. 

com for the fourth year running due to this 

asset. The company has since seen a need 

for productions to scale down as well. The 

“box within a box” image of taking a full 

sized corporate office of phone portability 

and independent internet access specific to 

the production’s needs on the road has now 

become a “suitcase” as well. 

Rogers notes that, “Hundreds of small tours 

are out every season, sometimes for very 

short runs. The suitcase package works well 

for them. There are far fewer large arena or 

stadium tours in any given season. Even those, 

however need the variety of scaled products 

we offer.” 

TouringTech.com’s current work with the 

Red Hot Chili Peppers current tour is a 

success story which grew out of its meeting 

Chili Peppers Production Manager Narci 

Martinez at Tour Link. The relationship with 

Martinez has demonstrated this need amply. 

The Chili Peppers are doing large arenas as 

well as festivals and fly dates. In the case of 

a festival, little if any of the larger touring rig 

is utilized. Travel often includes air transport 

rather than truck and bus. Couple this with 

the fact that festival production office space is 

at a premium. 

Martinez, expressed the need for a system 

that can expand or contract to fit the various 

venues and dates. 

“We had redesigned our system several years 

ago during the Carrie Underwood tour so all 

the ‘smarts’ were in a suitcase, because they 

had sent all our gear back while they did the 

summer festival shows. They just did not have 

the room for it,” recalls Rogers. 

The suitcase sits on a sliding shelf in the bigger 

case. When someone rents a full-size case 

they get this as well, so they can just pull these 

suitcases out and leave the bigger case with 

the printers in storage. The Chili Peppers 

started with these suitcase units and now have 

the full scale solution on tour. 

TouringTech.com has taken the smaller system 

another step forward and created a 

“virtual” touring phone system, called Tour 

Voice, which the Chili Peppers utilize as well. 

Tour Voice is able to turn any phone, anywhere 

into a tour phone and keep the same 

phone number originally assigned from 

TouringTech.com. A simple user friendly app 

named Call Control is utilized to point where 

the call goes. Incoming calls can be routed 

to laptops, iPads, cell and smart phones as 

continued on 38

mobile

Obituary 

Dave Evans 

– Was A “No 

Worry” Guy 


On April 12 of this, year 

Red Hot Chili Peppers 

played the FedExForum 

in Memphis, Tennessee. It 

was the last day before 

most of the crew were 

to take a 13 day break. 

Lighting Crew Chief Dave 

Evans was as anxious 

as anyone to enjoy the 

down time with plans 

to fly to Texas and take 

some time off with family, 

specifically his two sons. 

The next day Premiere Global 

Production VP of Touring James 

Vollhoffer received a call from 

Dave’s sister Margie Crawford 

asking where he was. Crawford’s 

daughter had gone to the airport 

to pick him up but he never made 

the flight. Knowing that Dave 

was too professional to ever miss a 

flight without a very good reason, 

calls were made to Dave’s hotel 

inquiring if he’d checked out. He 

hadn’t. After several agonizing 

hours, hotel management became 

sufficiently convinced that reason 

existed to have the authorities 

enter the room. 

Upon accessing Dave’s room 

everyone’s worst fears were confirmed. 

Dave Evans had passed 

away during the night. Vollhoffer 

vocalized the thing that is, at one 

time or another, at the back of 

everyone’s mind who has ever 

toured, “It’s the ultimate roadie 

nightmare, dying alone in your 

hotel room. This was a real tragedy. 

Dave was a great guy.” 

By all accounts, Dave was a serious 

professional who kept his 

head down and his eye on the 

ball. Chili Peppers’ Production 

Manager Narci Martinez recalled 


OBIT OBIT 

Dave’s steadfast reliability, 

“When PGP [Premiere Global 

Production] got the bid to do the 

tour, James [Vollhoffer] came to 

me and asked if I’d mind having 

Dave as a lighting crew chief. I 

said ‘absolutely not, he’s a great 

guy.’ He had his hands full. He 

had a lot of gear and not very 

much staff, but to his credit, and 

that of PGP, I can honestly say 

that for the seven months he ran 

this show I never ever once heard 

of one single light not working 

during the show. To me, that’s the 

sign of a good crew chief.” 

Kevin Blevins, PGP Business 

Manager, remembered the last 

time he saw Dave in Memphis, 

“He was in great spirits and he 

was looking forward to going to 

Texas and being with his family. 

He told me that he was happy to 

be working with us on that tour. 

He seemed incredibly content.” 

Lighting Designer Eric Wade was 

a close friend and touring mate 

of Dave’s through whom Dave 

came to the Chili Peppers’ tour. 

“Besides being an incredibly great 

friend, Dave was as good as they 

came as a lighting guy. You never 

had to worry about a thing with 

Dave. He was a ‘no worry’ guy.” 

After describing the time when he 

and Dave were on the same gig 

and they both got calls from their 

wives on the same day saying they 

were pregnant, Wade explained 

how close they really were, “He 

was one of those guys you talked 

with once a week. If I went two 

weeks without hearing from him, 

I’d call and find out what was 

going on.” 

Dave was the youngest of four 

siblings. As was stated earlier, his 

sister Margie Crawford was on 

point in finding out what had happened 

to him. “When it first happened, 

I was very busy carrying 

on with what had to be done at 

that time, and I had a lot of help 

here in town getting arrangements 

made. Now that everything has 

slowed down it is hitting me like 

a ton of bricks. Dave was a wonderful 

brother and a great father. 

He wanted nothing but the best 

for his two sons. He had so many 

friends. I didn’t know until after 

he passed that he had so many 

girlfriends [laughing]. But more 

than anything he always wanted 

to do the best thing and the right 

thing for his children. I haven’t 

turned his phone off yet and I 

found that something very interesting 

has been happening. People 

were calling his phone just to hear 

his voice.” 

If a person wanted to find a 

detractor of Dave Evans, they 

probably could, but it would be 

a long, hard, arduous search that 

would test Google to its very limits. 

He had a very close knit group 

of five friends dating back to high 

school and beyond, whose comments 

on his life spoke volumes. 

One of those friends, Catherine 

“Cat” Wall was easily brought to 

tears when asked to talk about 

Dave’s life, “He kept us all together,” 

Wall recalled. “The last time 

we talked I told him I love him 

and we talked about what that 

means. I said, ‘you know I love 

you right?’ and he said, ‘Cat, I 

know you love me and I’ll always 

love you.” 

Wall went on to explain the value 

of the conversation, “If there’s a 

gift from heaven that was it. Who 

wouldn’t want that to be their last 

conversation with a friend?” 

Dave Evans is survived by his 

sister Margie Crawford, brother 

Terry Crawford, two sons Adyn 

Brooke Evans 16, Elya Rain Evans 

13, and an army of friends both 

on and off the road who will 

never forget the way he brought 

everyone together and did the 

right thing. 

Keith Anderson 

- A Roadie 

Brother We Will 

Never Forget 

On January 29, 

2012, the touring 

industry lost 

yet another 

roadie brother 

- Keith Anderson. He was 

a devoted father, son, 

brother and friend, who 

will be remembered for 

his big smile and contagious 

laugh. He will be 

sadly missed by all his 

roadie brothers and sisters 

who loved him. 

KENNETH THOMAS: 

It could be a 103 degree day at load in 

and Keith would still be there with that 

smile on his face.

EDMAN SKINNER: 

Endless love never dies. My brother 

Keith: Fly Free, Fly Free, Shine On, 

Shine On, ‘till we meet again. 

CHIEFBEAR LONG: 

I remember meeting Keith seven years ago 

when Brooks & Dunn opened their tour 

to Roadie.Net. He came up, introduced 

himself, and within minutes you felt 

like he was your best friend. He thought 

what I was doing with “Chiefbear on 

the Road” was cool. I explained to him 

I wanted to write about the unsung 

heroes of the business. He gave me a bit 

of advice I will never forget and still 

practice: ‘Always go by the rules of the 

tour’. He followed with, ‘Darlin’, if you 

ever need anything while you’re here, just 

call #37.’ Keith, I will miss your big 

smile and your friendship. Oh and how 

we loved the Pittsburgh Steelers! 

PAUL SERIO: 

I had the honor of working with 

Keith for the past couple of years on 

Transiberian Orchestra. He was a hard 

worker and a great friend. You will be 

missed, Keith. Rest in peace. 

DAVID BOYD: 

I met Keith as a rookie on the Rascal 

Flatts’ Still Feels Good tour. I was one 

of the new guys that came with the 

new PM, need I say more. I worked 

as a stage hand in Charlotte, North 

Carolina for 13 years prior. I knew who 

Keith Anderson was, but he knew me 

as “Kendall’s boy”. Again, need I say 

more. I was honored to be working with 

the best in the business, even knowing he 

disliked me. Four years after, we were the 

best of friends and I was learning every 

day alongside of the man. We were in 

old fashion terms best friends - everyone 

knew that wherever Keith was, so was 

I - BROTHERS on tour. I was excited 

and proud and knew one day with hard 

work and Keith, I would start to get a 

name in the business. 

In our third year touring with Rascal 

Flatts, I received a phone call from 

TSO to interview for the head carpenter 

position. After the interview, I was 

hired and was asked if I could bring 

a carpenter with me. It took one second 

to tell the PM that I knew just the guy. 

I recommended that Keith come as the 

head carpenter and I come as his second. 

Deal done!! Call me stupid, but I still 

had more to learn from Keith and we did 

it with hard work and perfection. Keith 

returned to TSO this past year, and 

while I wanted to, I had taken another 

one of those calls from the Foo Fighters 

and decided to put what I had learned 

from Keith Anderson to use. I left Rascal 

Flatts and Transiberian Orchestra to 

pursue my solo run. The Foo Fighters 

made a stop in Pittsburgh, and Keith just 

happened to be there. Yep, Keith came in 

and observed the load in, and his brother 

came to the show that night. That was 

the last time spent together for us. We 

talked almost every day, either on the 

phone or texting. I love you Keith. I am 

so sadden with the loss of my best friend. 

RICARDO JAY LANEY: 

My boy just left wardrobe for his wing 

fittings, he went with black and gold 

ones. Gonna miss you bro. 

JIMMY JAMES, JR. 

Keith, you will be truly missed by all 

the people whose lives you touched every 

day. What a true blessing it was to know 

you and call you a true friend. You are 

now with the ‘Biggest Entertainer’ of 

all. Enjoy your fabulous ride. Love ya 

brother. 

SONNY 

SLATER: 

The last time I 

was lost for words 

was the day my 

dad passed away. 

Thinking about the 

first time I met Keith 

was on the lake - in 

Party Cove - go 

figure! We became 

great friends. Then 

I got to work for him 

on Brooks & Dunn. 

He always was 

smiling. No matter 

how bad things were 

going on stage, he always made it happen 

before show time. Keith never met a 

stranger - everyone was his family - and 

he treated you that way. One last thing 

Keith, when you get the big stage set, 

please get my dad a ticket down front 

next to a lot of pretty ladies, he would 

like that. You and he get to meet again. 

JOHN “SCHMEE” 

SCHMIEMEIER: 

What a huge loss to the biz. 

JOHNNY SEAY: 

I love you, brother. Hope your journey 

will take you to great places. I know you 

are watching over us now and I will see 

you on the other side!!! Love you! R.I.P. 

Keith! 

TREz GREGORY: 

We have lost some light down here 

but we have gained a beautiful and 

wonderful angel. 

JAMES JONES: 

Hey you young whippersnapper! I really 

miss you a lot! Tell everyone in heaven 

that Jonesy the Crossman said hi! 

Thanks! I will see you again. 

BRENT CRAWFORD: 

I was thinking about how much it’s going 

to suck to never see Keith’s contagious 

smile again when I realized that I’ll 

always see it in the memories we shared 

and it’s still just as contagious today. My 

favorite part of touring with Brooks & 

Dunn was carpooling with Keith and 

Johnny. I got to hear all the good gossip 

of who got tanked and jacked something 

up or dropped $15K on the tables! One 

of my favorite stories to tell has always 

been regarding Case 37 and being issued 

a shot of Crown before the shows. Lots 

of smooth, fluid-like movement from the 

camera ops! Keith wanted everyone to 

have a good time and his presence alone 

insured that you had a blast! Miss you 

bro. 

DAVID VINCENT GAGRIC: 

I am goig to miss you dear friend and the 

laughs we had when we got together. You 

are one of the kindest men I know. May 

God bless you. Jesus, welcome home our 

brother Keith. I miss you and love you. 

GREG HENSON: 

Rest in peace, brother. I’ll never forget the 

good times we had those two years Brooks 

& Dunn and Reba toured together. You 

will be missed. 

CASEY VREELAND: 

This guy made a huge impact on a lot 

of people. Hope I can be half the guy 

he was. 

JEFF KERSEY: 

Keith, with the lump in my throat, it is 

hard to put my feelings into words. You 

were a friend and mentor from the day 

we met and a person who was there to 

help us through tough times in our lives. 

Always a giver, sharing your talents and 

your wit. So many great memories I will 

carry with me for the rest of my life. I 

am a better person for having known you. 

Rest in peace my friend - I love you. 

ANDY OMILIANOWSKI: 

Thank Keith for the good times. You 

always made the carts disappear! 

KEN SORRELL: 

The Brooks & Dunn crew taught me a 

lot about the business. I’m really going 

to miss you Keith. It’s always sad losing 

continued on 38 


TouringTech.com continued from 34 

well as a traditional land line. For 

outgoing calls, the person receiving 

the call still sees the original tour 

number no matter the source. 

Over the course of her history in 

the touring industry, Rogers has 

observed that people on tour really 

don’t want to get involved in nonessential 

problems. The production 

manager’s hands are full on a daily 

basis with the logistics of getting 

the show in and out of the venue. 

Roger points out, “Our service 

eliminates that headache of daily 

set up of tech infrastructure for a 

production and ‘outsources’ any 

potential headaches to us.” 

Previous to the advancements made 

in telecommunications a touring 

production had one of three ways 

to cobble together something as 

simple as a Wi-Fi for the staff 

each day. 

One: people could go to a central 

location such as the production 

office. Two: repeaters could be 

strung about the backstage area, or 

three; acquire the venue password 

for Wi-Fi access. Each has inherent 

problems such as too much 

traffic in the office. Repeaters lose 

bandwidth with each additional 

station, and venue passwords may 

not be provided or sometimes simply 

don’t work. Above and beyond 

that, the PM has a daily additional 

project to add to his/her schedule. 

A good quality blanket Wi-Fi 

system that covers the backstage 

has become the companies number 

one request in the last couple 

years. 

Bauman notes that developing 

venue systems that are “resilient 

and self- healing”, as well as 

remotely monitored has enabled 

the design of similar solutions to 

ensure TouringTech.com delivers 

on that request. 


“Our company absolutely could 

not do what we do without David 

and the support from the rest of 

our team,” says Rogers. 

“We are constantly looking for new 

products and ways to better integrate 

our systems for touring applications,” 

adds Bauman. The Cisco 

Wi-Fi telephone, which is standard 

to all new TouringTech.com systems, 

is a good example. It still 

has a corded handset with a color 

screen and five buttons on the base. 

However as a WiFi device, the production 

assistant need not spend 

time running cables. The handset 

attrition rate is zero compared to 

small handheld Wi-Fi phones that 

can easily get lost as 2-way radios 

often do, eliminating unnecessary 

bills at the end of the tour for lost 

equipment.” 

Realizing the importance of a good 

IT person and that tours seldom 

include a dedicated IT position 

in their crew, Rogers offers the 

following advice to the newcomer, 

“There are a lot of production 

assistants that are great at their 

core responsibilities, but don’t 

necessarily know anything about 

IT. Embrace and be comfortable 

with all this technology. Become 

the bridge between the PM, TM, 

tour accountant and a vendor like 

TouringTech.com.” 

Bauman agrees, adding that 

“Educating the production manager 

about the efficiency and value 

of TouringTech.com’s services” 

is part of his ongoing awareness 

training of his staff. 

Next on the horizon for 

TouringTech.com is the Linkin 

Park tour, yet another success 

story from a meeting with their 

Production Manager Jim Digby at 

Tour Link. ♦ 

Keith Anderson continued from 37 

a brother, but we’re all blessed to have 

known you. 

SAMUEL B. SIMPSON: 

R.I.P. Keith. Save me spot in FOH. 

KEVIN ALLEN: 

You will be missed. Godspeed to all your 

family and friends. 

JOE C. BUSH: 

Keith, Ed, Joe C., Tommy - we all were 

on the Brooks & Dunn tour for years. 

Keith, it is so sad to find out about your 

passing. I will miss you brother. R.I.P. 

LARRY BOSTER: 

To my dear friend Keith Edward 

Anderson: ‘Friends are the siblings 

God never gave us’. You will surely be 

missed. We shared many laughs and 

tears - great times. I know you’re up 

there watching over all of us with that 

big Keith laugh and smile. For now, 

good-bye my friend and brother. See you 

on the other side someday. Godspeed and 

rest in peace. 

BOB EDWARDS: 

R.I.P. #37 

CHARLES BOGARD: 

R.I.P. buddy. 

BOSCOE FRANCE: 

A friend of mine I toured with passed on. 

Keith was a wild man who loved life. He 

was one of the funniest guys that I had 

the pleasure of getting to know. I wish 

I could share more stories about him but 

I don’t want to offend anyone. LOL! I 

often think of my time on Bus 7 and it 

was something I would not trade for the 

world. I love you Keith and the rest of 

Bus 7. 

CYNDI SANDS: 

Just shocked. You taught me what it 

meant to be a good stage manager - how 

to run a crew, turn over a stage in less 

than four minutes, where to hide the 

Crown, always found me a private 

shower (if there was one), and where you 

place your trucks at the dock so you don’t 

get backed-up during load-out. You even 

let me run your pre-show crew meetings 

a few times. You always had a smile on 

your face and a way to fix all the things 

that went wrong. Finding out you were 

the guy who shot Jon Bon Jovi in the 

air during ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’ 

was the icing on the cake. I miss you my 

friend, you will be missed by many. Rest 

in peace, 37. 

PATTY LEWIS: 

R.I.P. my friend. I can’t believe that 

crazy laughter from you is silenced so 

soon. 

BRANDON LEWIS: 

We had a great ride together. R.I.P. 

MIKE ‘MOSES’ BECK: 

I am sad to say that my pal has passed. 

He was a hell of a good guy. R.I.P. 

brother. 

MARK BEASLEY: 

I as well had the honor of working with 

Keith on the Brooks & Dunn/Reba tour 

of 1997 - two bands, two crews - but 

to Keith it was just one big ‘ole happy 

family. He always had that smile and 

laugh. We have lost one hell of a road 

brother!! Gonna miss ya bud and how 

’bout them Steelers! 

In conclusion, Dave 

Shadoan, one of Keith’s 

good friends, stated, “I 

sure will miss you on this 

long road we call home. 

R.I.P., Keith - see you when 

I see you! ♦


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Celebrity Coaches..............................IFC 

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D&S Classic Coach...............................11 

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Dynamic Lighting Systems..................13 

Engine Power Source (EPS)................15 

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Precise Corporate Staging....................1 

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Stage Call.............................................21 

Ten High Coaches...............................13 

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Upstaging.........................................29

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