Industry Issues
The Touring Games
TOURING The Touring Games by John O’Brien. It’s tour time. Passport, itinerary, toiletries – check. Let’s rock and roll… Wave goodbye and hit the road for endless partying. It’s all sex, drugs and TV smashing, isn’t it? Outsiders might romanticise it that way but most CX readers know something far different. Long days of…
Read MoreBlowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro)
TOURING Blowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro) by Julius Grafton. The things that went wrong resonate same as the golden moments. Gold when everyone is happy, the show is sold out, sounds and looks great, and money flows where intended. But the sticky brown moments are our great test and they could come hard…
Read MoreEntech Roadshow 2019 – Prizes for You!
There are plenty of great prizes up for grabs at ENTECH 2019 but to be in the running to win, you must pre-register!! You could win … DIO (Dante Input/Output) (pic above) RRP $1,111 ex GST The DIO (Dante Input/Output) from tm stagetec systems is known for its quality design, functionality and reliability. This…
Read MoreTauranga’s About to Blow its Own Trumpet
NEW ZEALAND Tauranga’s About to Blow its Own Trumpet New Manager at Baycourt Theatre by Jenny Barrett. ‘Ten dollar’ Tauranga is leaving behind its dubious reputation for stinginess, swathes of retirees, and its designation as a cultural wasteland following a 60% vote against a museum. A fresh face has landed at Tauranga’s Baycourt Community…
Read MoreBogota To Caracas, 1992
TOURING Bogota To Caracas, 1992 by Roderick van Gelder. In 1992 Sydney Dance Company performed ‘Some Rooms’ in Bogota and Caracas as part of a world tour. I was the production manager and lighting designer. The challenge was to get the sets for ‘Some Rooms’ from Bogota to Caracas on a 3 day turn-around.…
Read MoreLive Venue Crisis
INDUSTRY NEWS Live Venue Crisis CX Media has established a new group on Facebook called Live Venue Crisis. Performance venues such as festivals, clubs, pubs and theatres face increasing pressures of cost and regulations while some governments are seemingly hostile at worst or indifferent at best to the sector. This is not a politically aligned…
Read MoreSham Contracting Exposes Workers to Being Sued
WORKER’S RIGHTS Sham Contracting Exposes Workers to Being Sued by Simon Byrne. Our regular readers would know that CX often bangs on about casual labour being essentially forced to get an Australian Business Number, or miss out on the work offered. This is sham contracting. It is where a worker is engaged as a contractor…
Read MoreDesign Quintessence take on Protos
NEWS Design Quintessence take on Protos Established in July 2018, PROTOS Load Monitoring Systems specialise in load and force monitoring systems for the entertainment industry. “The entertainment industry is constantly and quickly adapting to keep up with the latest developments. While the audience’s hunger for state of the art shows keeps growing, concerts, plays and…
Read MoreMix It Urgently, Can Ya Please?
LISTEN HERE Mix It Urgently, Can Ya Please? by Andy Stewart. Have you ever heard these words, or uttered them to an engineer? “I tell you what, I’ll do the bulk of the mixing; you can just come in at the end and tidy things up…” Whoever thinks this is the path to good…
Read MoreTales from the Road
THE GREAT OUTDOORS Tales from the Road Gigging and giggling alfresco by John O’Brien. Ahh, the great outdoors. Fresh air, wildlife, views, Mother Nature in all her glory – what’s not to love? Oh: sun, rain, wind, snow, mud, flies, snakes, spiders, dust, salt, bushfires, floods and all the other natural wonders. We might enjoy…
Read MoreRoady for Roadies raises $20K
THE GREAT OUTDOORS Giving Something Back To The Crew – Roady for Roadies raises $20K by Jenny Barrett. Photo Credits: Steve Dyke The recent death of Greg Boyed caused many to reflect on the issues of mental health and suicide in their own lives and the wider community, including two stalwarts of the entertainment technology…
Read MoreRisky Business
Risky Business by Simon Byrne. The live production industry carries significant risk. Large amounts of equipment, temporary engineering, big power in use, time pressures and audiences combine to make an environment primed for an incident. Whether an injury, an event cancellation, equipment damage or theft, they all represent risk. The riskiest of events are the outdoor…
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