I went to BLMC to see Jules Fisher, and I was amazed with the philosphy he brought to the topic. Most of what he spoke about was on deeper level than I had expected, and he dealt quite a bit with the theory of shadow and light. He presented many excellent ideas on lighting for the stage. He also discussed dealing with moving lights, and the collaborative process that theatre represents. It was great to hear him talk. I also enjoyed listening to ETC’s presentation on the new EOS console. It was a great oppurtunity to hear from them about the new board. So far, I’ve really enjoyed my time at BLMC.

~Phil Galler, Emerson College

While it has only been a couple of hours since the seminar began, I’ve already heard more intelligent people talking about lighting than I have all year. Jules Fisher’s seminar on an approach to lighting the stage was not just insightful, it was interesting. Hearing Jules talk about lighting design is like having Tiger Woods talk about golf. And the rest of the masters have yet to take the stage… pretty cool, if I had to summarize.

So this is fun…we’re sitting in the production office awaiting results for the contest. While this goes on, rockin’ cello band Apocalyptica just played as the interval act (they have opened for Metallica–think long-haired metal band on strings). The officials are tabulating votes, giving update s to the live audience as the standings progress. The folks in the arena are absolutely wild…a lot of energy here. Winner to be announced soon. The show went off perfectly. It looked great live and on camera. Check out the broadcast here: http://www.eurovision.tv/content/view/161/142/

So, in just a few hours, the finals start for Eurovision. We’re about to break for dinner with Niclas Arvidsson of Wireless Solution and James Heron of Green Hippo. All the technology partners for the production have showed up in the last 24 hours to see their gear in action. Saw some folks from Barco, MA Lighting, and Robe in the last few days also.

The final dress rehearsals went off without a hitch this afternoon. All things tweaked yesterday ran like a top today. I just finished interviewing LD Mikki Kunttu for our full article in the July issue, but more on that in print. The contest winner will be announced right after the performances. Last year’s winner, Lordi, is opening this evening’s festivities…should be fun.

Here’s the audience last night during semi-finals.

So, we all know this is a European competition, right (that’s aside from some Eurasian countries represented, of course)? No North Americans in the contest here, but that didn’t stop the two resident Americans (production assistant Joan Lyman and yours truly) from acquiring an American flag and waving it proudly during the semi-finals last night. Everyone has a flag here, so we thought we should represent, yo. It’s been reported for over a year that our own “USandA” will be taking up this breed of competition at home, but final plans have yet to be announced.

Here’s production assistant Joan Lyman (aka, “The Other American”) representing the home land.

Of course, our display of the stars and stripes did prompt a member of security to ask, “You know this is EUROvision, right?” Off to do some more international diplomacy…