I will never understand why we humans give significance to anniversaries divisible by ten. For some reason they seem to carry more weight. We pause and reflect upon the past decade in a way we didn’t after nine years or four years. It lives in our minds differently, and we are compelled to do more — whatever that means — in observance. Strangely the older I get, the less ten years even seems to matter. I work with guys who talk about decades like I talk about lunch — something that happened just a bit ago and is barely worth remembering. Despite my rationalizations or my changing perception of time, as I approach a ten year anniversary of my own I cannot help but pause and reflect. Ten years ago this month, I graduated from college. more…
Executives from the network, scenic company, lighting company, and rigging company stood in a hushed semi-circle in the middle of the giant room. The executives weren’t happy, which meant nobody else was either. more…
I have met more people in the past two weeks than the entirety of last year. As week three begins at my new job, I continue a round-robin marathon tour of the company’s activities. From producers to directors to shaders to board ops to gaffers … the names and faces keep on coming. Invariably just about all of them ask me The Question.
All of us know The Question. All of us answer The Question all the time, sometimes several times a day. Electricians ask it of each other on coffee. Directors ask it of potential LDs. The IATSE review board ask it of applicants. Interns ask it of those they shadow. My supervisor asked me on my first interview, as has every fellow employee since. It’s an seemingly innocuous question. It looks so innocent. After all what could be simpler than wanting to know what you’ve done? more…
I want there to be a compelling narrative about my year of unemployment. In a style evoking The New Yorker’s Talk of the Town, I want to write an expertly crafted column which uses evocative language, action verbs, and complex sentence structure that together weaves a glorious tale and concludes with a satisfying, concise ending. This ending would bring the piece’s lessons to a natural, obvious conclusion. We’d learn a little about me, and you — the reader — would glean a little greater insight into the human condition. In my mind, it’s glorious. Pulitzer-worthy, if they gave Pulitzers to obscure blog writers at industry magazines. There’s just one slight problem. To describe this past year as ”compelling,” or to pretend a single narrative of it exists, or to even suggest there are grandiose life lessons that might be learned would require me to write a work of fiction. more…
Lighting Designer David Paul Finley, of New York City and Margaretville, NY passed away peacefully on September 22 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 53. He had a long career as lighting designer with Martha Graham Dance Company (1986-1992), Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, Stars on Ice and for 15 years with Disson Skating. He received a Daytime Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Lighting Direction (2001-2002)” for his work on the Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular.
David Finley
David began his company, David Finley Associates, with his business partner in the 1990s, where they specialized in lighting and set design and production in the area of television, theatrical, and live commercial events.
He worked with Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) Dining by Design for the past five years.
David is predeceased by his father Alan W. Finley. David is survived by his loving partner, Gary Young; his mother Kathryn Scott Finley; his sister M. Alicia Finley; his sister Kitt Finley-Parker and her husband Tim and their children Kate and Riley; his brother Alan Finley; Scott Finley and his partner John Schulman; and Mark Finley and his partner Jeff Edelstein; his long-time business partner Todd Randall and a large extended family whom he loved. David graduated from Red Bank Catholic High School in 1977 and SUNY School of Performing Arts, Purchase, New York in 1984, where he majored in Lighting Design and graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts.
Funeral services are being handled by Miller’s Funeral Home, Margaretville, NY. In lieu of flowers, donations in David’s memory can be made to the Heart of the Catskills Humane Society PO Box 88, Delhi, NY 13753 or on the web at http://heartofthecatskills.org/
David’s last lighting design production, Fashion on Ice, will be aired on November 13, 2011 on NBC.
His light still shines in each and everyone he has touched.
