Geezers of Gear

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 Awards for Best Lighting Design, This year will be 2...

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 by AVL Media Group and ROE Visual

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 that serves as “Human Resources for Touring Produc...

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 before the tours carried their own gear. Stage manage...

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 Lighting’s Company to Cleveland based Canterbury Cap...

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 touring with dozens of bands such as Phil Collins, Ir...

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, Ola was awarded Production Manager of the year at t...

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 "BOXER" Hardison. In 2003 he founded Apex Speed...

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 Timberlake, Aerosmith, No Doubt, Incubus, Genesis, Pink...

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 clients such as Volvo Ocean Race, Orange Arrows Formu...

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. For nearly 17 years Joe was the Senior National Acco...

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 organization while overcoming some of the most technical...

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 Company has been a boutique production company han...

⁠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, Lighting Design, Stage Lighting, Lighting Control,...

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 since 1986. He's produced corporate and concer...

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 technical sales role. Then the opportunity came, in 199...

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 business operations. This episode is brought to yo...

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, motion picture/television and corpor...

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. Jeff has also toured with many of these SES clien...

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 lighting projects.  David and DeAnn bought boats and tra...

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 Emirates.  In 2013, Glenn acquired AED Studios an...

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 Dan is no exception. This episode is brought to you...

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 lighting and visual design so it can be programmed into c...

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 consultant he has worked on concert tours, television,...

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 throughout the United States, Canada, and beyond. In 2016,...