Music Industry veteran talking about anything and everything with incredible people within the live events, concert and entertainment industry. Over 200 episodes, and incredible conversations and stories from many pioneers of the concert touring industry, and also some of the hot new up and comers. Geezers Of Gear is never boring, and there are always great surprises as well.
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Ken Lennon is the recently retired Executive Lighting Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. His designs over the last 37 years have included such iconic attractions as Cars Land at Disney California’s Adventure, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, New Fantasyland at Tokyo Disneyland. Ken attended UCLA where he received bot…
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Claire Heat is a highly motivated individual with over 25 years experience in the industry, specializing in events and special projects for the music, television and film industries, she has huge amounts of energy, a strong work ethic, bags of enthusiasm, common sense and professionalism. Claire started working in the industry as stage crew whilst …
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Joe Cole is the founder of R90 Lighting. R90 Lighting is first and foremost dedicated to design, their history is rooted in corporate event lighting and special event lighting design. They have over 20 years experience collectively in the event lighting sector. R90 Lighting also offers a comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art lighting, riggin…
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Production and Lighting Designer Bryan Hartley has designed for a lot of metal bands in his long and storied career. Many people know Bryan as the past LD for KISS,,Megadeth, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, and many other names but He is perhaps best known for his longtime design work for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), for which he has won Parnelli Aw…
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Sebastien Boulanger is a 15 year veteran of the Live Events industry, having worked as a Technical Director for the likes of the Quebec Minister of Justice and Cirque de Soleil. Then starting his own events company, IC Events, and finally founding DVOX, a new tech business that brings fan experience to another level. This episode is brought to you …
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Chris Lisle has over 32 years experience in the entertainment industry. He has worked in a variety of roles including Production Designer, Lighting Designer, Production Manager, and Show Producer. Chris started Chris Lisle Lighting Design back in 1991. Chris is also the co-founder and Executive Director of the Touring Career Workshop, a non-profit …
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Scott De Vos has been in the industry for over 50 years, he is the owner of De Lux Productions and has produced events such as the Dove Awards, PGA, Luis Palau Outdoor events and other corporate events. Scott has been highly recommended to come on the Podcast by David Milly who was on the show recently. Scott worked for a regional sound company bef…
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Paul Vincent is the Founder (in 1978) of Vincent Lighting System’s Company, which sells and services theatre, television and architectural lighting and rigging systems, and related equipment. Vincent Lighting System’s also provides an extensive rental inventory, production and rigging services, and in stock theatrical supplies. Paul sold Vincent Li…
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Dizzy Gosnell is the Vice President of Production for Bandit Lites, He has been a part of the Bandit family since 1993 but he first met Michael 40 years ago when Strickland was the production manager for Blackfoot and he was on the lighting crew with Meteorlites for Iron MaidenDizzy started in the lighting business in England in the late 1970’s tou…
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Ola Melzig began as a stagehand working on local shows in Stockholm 1989. Over the last 20 years he has gone on to produce high profile shows beginning with the massive Eurovision Song Contest, but also The Commonwealth Games, The Nobel Prize Awards and recently serving as Executive Producer of The American Song Contest as well. In February 2017, O…
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Neel Vasavada is the founder and president of Overdrive Energy Solutions.Neel is a driving force in the movement to bring green technology to the events industry. His engineering background and experience with both sustainable energy and live entertainment business development has led him to found Overdrive Energy Solutions with his co-founder Jahn…
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Michael Keeling is a Production Designer, Creative/Show Designer Director and as it says on his website, Veteran (he said it not us!) as Creative and Producer for Live Concert, Festivals, Content, Artist-Production, Media Campaigns and Creative Productions. Michael has worked with incredible artists including Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Justin Timber…
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Phay Mac Mahon started his career in production management in 1976 with Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats. Since then he has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Pink, Shakira, George Michael, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Nicki Minaj, Ricky Martin and Garth Brooks. Phay has also provided Production Management for corporate cli…
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Joe started back in the 80’s on the rental and production side of Century Music Systems Inc and worked as a staff engineer prepping tours, repairing equipment, training new road staff, and then engineering shows for Showco. Some of the artists for Showco were Prince, Vince Gill, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, The Rolling Stones, and Paul McCartney. Fo…
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Mike “FINN” Finocchiaro is a twenty-five year veteran of the live entertainment industry. With roots as a touring lighting technician and a successful career in event production, Mike has grown to be one of the most well respected production managers working today. Over two decades spent touring the world Mike honed his skills as a master of organi…
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#245 - Bob Harmon - Eggshell Lighting Company
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Robert (Bob) Harmon is one of the hands down NICEST guys in the industry. You know you've made a mark in this industry when Bob approaches you at a tradeshow and hands you a bag of Hawaiian coffee. Bob started his first business at 12 years old and founded Eggshell at 16.This year Eggshell Light Company will be celebrating 50 years. Eggshell Light …
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Claude Viens is a Product Specialist at Lighting at AVL Media Group in Montreal, Canada. Claude is responsible for projects and support in North America. Claude spearheaded AVL’s continued growth in the professional lighting and visual effects marketplace. His 30+ years of experience spans a wide range of disciplines from Lighting, Live Events, Li…
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Jim Woodward is an award-winning designer whose expertise is 3D visualization, rendering, and modeling for a wide variety of industries including concert & theatrical events, film, television, corporate events, trade shows, museums, architectural firms, and retail. Jim has been incorporating CAD and 3D visualization into the entertainment workflow …
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Steve Warren was a Shareholder and Director of Avolites Ltd until to its recent sale to Robe. For over 35 years, Steve was the public face of the console and dimming manufacturer. He began his career designing electrical layouts for hospitals, police stations, and public buildings, before joining Avolites in 1984 and working his way up into a techn…
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#241 - Michael Nevitt, Crossfade Design
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Michael has spent 30+ years in the entertainment industry. First as a freelancer, then in 2011, Michael joined forces with other designers to create Crossfade Design, LLC. During that time, he has created designs for small,medium and large-scale events worldwide. Michael is the President / Senior Designer at Crossfade Design and guides its overall …
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#240 - David Haskell from Gateway Studios
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David has been in the industry more than 40 years. He was President at Morris | Light & Sound, Integration before SoloTech acquired Morris. David is now the President of Business Development for Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS). Gateway Studios & Production Services offers turnkey production service solutions for the live music touring,…
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#239 - Jeff Cranfill from SES & Concert Stuff Group
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Jeff Founded Special Event Services in 1986 with Jim Brammer in Brammer’s Winston-Salem garage. SES is an industry leader in audio, lighting, video, design, staging, and live event production for businesses, religious organizations, and major recording artists. Since 1987 Jeff has provided scenic, show and lighting design for SES clients worldwide.…
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David sold his lighting business, TLS Inc to 4Wall back in 2012 and stayed on to work with the company for three years before taking a different approach to life. Now David is retired and manages some real estate and spends time renovating his current house with his wife DeAnn. They both did some community theater work and consulted on a few lighti…
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Glenn Roggeman is the CEO of The AED Group. He founded AED in Belgium in 1985 as a dry-hire rental company for lighting and sound equipment. Today, the AED group is a major player in the audio-visual market in Europe, employing more than 300 people in eight countries - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and United Arab…
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Talk about career spans - Dan Braun started his legendary career path more than 45 years ago. In fact this year will mark Dan’s 30th year working with mega-act, Metallica where he remains their Show Director today - while delivering the best show he can to their massive audiences around the world. Longevity in this industry isn’t by accident, and D…
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Matthias Hinrichs is a Product designer and innovator. Specializing in the Obsidian Control Systems for Elation Professional. Matthias has a focus on user experience, usability and workflows to make complicated tasks easy and fun for the user. As a product manager for lighting control systems he was tasked to analyze the creative process of lightin…
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Richard Cadena is an ETCP Recognized Trainer, an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician with over 36 years of experience in live event production. He is the author of several books, and the technical editor for Lighting and Sound America, Lighting and Sound International, and Protocol magazines. As a freelance lighting designer and lighting consu…
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Josh Allen has been actively contributing to the lighting industry for more than thirty years. He held the position of principal consultant with Theatre Consultants Collaborative (TCC), where for over a decade, as member of the American Society of Theatre Consultants (ASTC), he consulted on the design of hundreds of performing arts venues throughou…
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#232 - Thomas Kubik / Tour Manager and FOH Engineer
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Thomas Kubik started his career 28 years ago and took the classic course from stagehand to behind the console and touring. He has been touring since 1999 with Euro and metal bands including InFlames, Nevermore, Arch Enemy, Fear Factory, Angra, Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and Chimaira. Thomas has been extremely lucky to travel to pretty much all continen…
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We are very happy to have Mickey Curbishley back on the Podcast, the last time he was on the show was back in September 2019. You can listen to Mickey’s previous Podcast recording on Spotify episode #45 and hear all about how he got into the industry by selling t.shirts on tour with AC DC and his first Lighting Tour with Sir Elton. Stories from gro…
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Todd’s career spans more than 25 years with firms varying in size from $1M to $3B in revenues, with over 18 years in executive leadership roles, working with both startups and established companies to guide strategic and operational growth, acquisitions, turn-arounds, and business sales. Really smart guy with a very patient and collaborative approa…
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Marian Sandberg Started doing PR for Jack Kelly/Group One in 1996 and barely left the industry since! Marian has diverse work experience spanning several industries and is currently the Vice President & Market Leader for LDI, DSE, and XLIVE at Questex. Prior to this, Marian worked at Informa from November 2016 to December 2019 as the Content Direct…
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Rocko was Stage Manager for 30 Years for U2, recently visiting The Sphere in Las Vegas where he saw the gig from FOH. The first time he had ever watched a U2 show from the front, as a punter, as a fan and looking at the band’s faces vs their backs! Rocko has retired from the road since 2019 but has continued making music. His most recent video was …
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Paul established himself as an industry visionary, one of the early leaders in Fiber Optic lighting solutions and a go-to-source for high-tech, high-touch creative lighting solutions for, working with high profile jobs including the Grammy awards, Broadway shows and major concert tours. After selling his company in 2007, Paul reinvented himself as …
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Creech has been in the industry for over 40 years. Steven started as a stagehand in Dallas and then his first BIG tour was with Motley Crew in 1985. Stevens' career just kept on getting better and better, working with incredible artists such as Metallica, Scorpions, Rush, Elton John, Bob Seger and Aerosmith to name but a few. Now with Premier Globa…
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Jean has been in the business since the 80s, starting in theater and clubs. He was able to work under the tutelage of his very first mentor, Jacques Tanguay. It was with Jacques that he learned all aspects of fixing, hauling, hanging, and designing lighting. Life began to change when Jean was invited to work at a major club in the Czech republic, w…
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Eric is the principal designer and creative director at Crossfade Design. He got his start in the industry at the ripe age of 14. His mom was a rock singer in the Dallas area and he would help in the lighting and sound booth at her shows. By 16, he was working for a lighting company, building dimmers and consoles from scratch, and renting his own e…
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#223 - Marsha Stern talks about almost 50 years "in the biz"
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Marsha Stern is an award-winning lighting designer, programmer, technician and production manager who’s career began in NYC in the music business and spans the NYC Nightclub and Special Events circuit from the late 70’s through the mid 90’s when she began to pioneer using automated lighting and entertainment technologies in architectural lighting d…
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#222 - Jim Digby and The Event Safety Alliance
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Jim has had a nearly four-decade journey in production and project management roles within the live entertainment and music touring industry has had him working alongside artists as diverse as Linkin Park, Hootie & the Blowfish, Back Street Boys, the Bolshoi Ballet, Phil Collins, and most recently helping to lead the delivery of entertainment mega-…
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#221 - Lighting Designer / Director - Matt Guminski
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Matthew is a Boston Massachusetts native and resident of Astoria New York. He's a Lighting / Production Designer, Lighting Director, Programer and owner of MG Lighting Design. Matt holds a BFA in Lighting Design from Boston University, and throughout his career, has worked for various styles and sizes of shows including Theatre, Dance, Industrial, …
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#220 - Tom Stimson - Business Coach, Consultant and life long AV Expert!
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Tom Stimson is a Business Advisor, Coach, and Speaker who works exclusively with hands-on owners and management teams that want to improve their decision-making and elevate their strategic thinking. His Intentional Success® framework has helped hundreds of companies remove the clutter of past decisions and focus on better goals with resolute effici…
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#219 - Jamie Mardis - CEO of Koffee Kult and former roadie / live events business owner
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Jamie cut his teeth in the automated lighting field, first as a touring lighting tech and programmer, later working directly for a couple of lighting manufacturers. He took a run on cruiseships, and finally decided he wanted to operate his own business. Jamie's business' including lighting, staging and generators but a new hobby and new passion, co…
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#218 - Geezers Of Gear 5 Year Anniversary
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Exactly 5 years ago today, I launched Geezers Of Gear with a mission. Myself and an employee who would serve as the co-host, would be two old guys (Geezers) talking about gear. Hence "Geezers Of Gear". But then, something happened. People immediately started reaching out saying "I wanna be on Geezers Of Gear - I am a Geezer". The geezer tag shifter…
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#217 - Emily Bornt - Lighting Designer and Director
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Emily Bornt is a lighting designer, currently living in Los Angeles. She started her career in New York as a lighting technician, and moved cross-country to pursue her love of lighting design for concerts. She has kept a diverse resume and list of clients. Recent projects include lighting design for Demi Lovato and Brandi Carlile, and lighting prog…
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#216 - Nick Whitehouse from Live Redesigned / Fireplay
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Nick and his company, currently being rebranded "Live Redesigned, formerly known as Fireplay - are innovators and leaders in the lighting and production design space. He's worked with Metallica, Coldplay, Carrie Underwood, Aerosmith, Billie Eilish, Justin Timberlake, Rihana, Beyonce and many more. This episode was brought to you by and .…
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#215 - George Masek on 40 years in lighting, 35 years in automated lights
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George's career began in 1982 with his own "side hussle" while still going to school in his new hometown of Dallas Texas. Eventually, through a lot of hard work and chance meetings, George was able to land a gig at his only target, Varilite. He managed to turn that into a highly successful 22 year run with many roles and accomplishments, before mov…
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#214 - The Sponsors - talking about the industry - looking back and ahead to 2024
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A pretty great collection of interviews beginning with Eric Loader from , then Daniel Anderson, , Ben Saltzman, , Brad Nelms, and finally, Rick McKinney from . Each of them shared their thoughts on the year that just was, and of course, 2024 as well. Some great business insights here. And of course, we're filled with gratitude for these companies, …
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#213 - John Wiseman year end chat on the biz, his health and so much more
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John has built a career unlike many others in the lighting business. He's been at the top of his game, and the touring business for many many years, and continues to crush it today. It was a great chat with a few zingers! Brought to you by and .By Marcel Fairbairn
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#212 - Rob Koenig - LD for Metallica, GnR, Lizzo and so many more
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Rob Koenig is a lighting Designer, programmer and director, with over 25 years of experience. Having worked his way up through the clubs in FL in the early and mid 90’s, to arenas and stadiums today. Rob works with artists such as Metallica, Lizzo, Guns N Roses, Eric Church, Cardi B, Billy Idol, Carrie Underwood to name a few. Rob is currently resi…
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#211 - Chris McMeen from Christie Lites - LDI Post Show discussion
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Chris has been around the industry in the Northeast USA for a long time now, and is one of the top lighting account exec's in the NY City area. He's worked tirelessly to build a great book of business and client list, and of course, knows where ALL the best sushi restaurants are hiding in the entire country! He was at LDI and shares a lot of those …
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