Control Geekhttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/John Huntington's Show Control Web Pageen-US2010-03-18T12:45:20ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Wireless DMX Controlled Staircase Lighting at City Techhttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/18/wireless-dmx-controlled-staircase-lighting-at-city-tech.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-18T04:01:00ZEntertainment Technology Interesting ShowFor our current production of Ex*Pgirl at City Tech (which opens tonight), we needed a rolling staircase with chasing lights. The unit has to be spun downstage and quickly placed and we felt that a multicable solution would have been bulky and unweildy. The solution? City Theatrical's excellent SHoW DMX system. (Oh, and a CNC router to cut the piece--I'll leave that to our TD, John McCullough, to explain).

There are 33 lights in the unit, 11 on each step. Lighting Designer Lucrecia Briceno came up with a circuiting pattern, and I laid out the system and got the parts ordered up. A group of dedicated students did the wiring:

]]>Guns N' Roses Stage Collapse Video from Riohttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/16/guns-n-roses-stage-collapse-video-from-rio.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-17T00:44:05ZEntertainment Technology WeatherBobby Jarzombek's Youtube channel:]]>Storm Damage Photoshttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/15/storm-damage-photos.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-16T03:42:31ZOff Topic WeatherI was at a WMI Wilderness First Aid class all weekend, during the crazy storm, but I did get a few pictures on the way to and from Sebago Canoe Club.

Here's our dock on Saturday night, just before high tide. The is only about a year old and has never been subjected to this kind of high water. The submerged part is fixed, the rest floats:

]]>Ex*Pgirl at CityTechhttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/11/expgirl-at-citytech.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-11T19:19:39ZInteresting ShowAt City Tech, we're doing a workshop of a very interesting (and fun) show: Paris Syndrome by Ex*Pgirl. Mark your calendars now!

Tickets are free, and I designed the control system for a wirelessly-dimmed chaser light staircase (photos to come) for

]]>Behind the Scenes of the OK Go "This too shall pass" Videohttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/8/behind-the-scenes-of-the-ok-go-this-too-shall-pass-video.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-08T19:28:30ZEntertainment Technology Interesting ShowNo doubt, you are one of the six million people who have (as of today) seen this great "Rube Goldberg" video from OK Go (who were previously famous for their treadmill video):

Make: now has a great interview online with the makers of this video. The machine does run all the way through, although it took them something like 70 (!) tries to get the whole thing to work. One of the impressive things to me, from a control geekery perspective, is that not only does this contraption have to work, but it has to be more or less in sync with the pre-recorded sound track:

]]>The Man Who Rode The Thunderhttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/7/the-man-who-rode-the-thunder.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-07T15:59:17ZOff Topic WeatherNational Storm Chaser Convention banquet, I was talking to an interesting chaser couple from Kansas. The wife of the couple flies big Air Force refueling tankers, and the husband is a parachuting instructor. I joked that he should chase a thunderstorm by jumping into it from his wife's plane, and someone else at the table said someone else had already parachuted through a thunderstorm. A bit of Googling on my phone, and I came up with the name Lt. Col William H. Rankin, and his book, The Man Who Rode the Thunder:]]>Obama's Lip Syncing Failhttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/3/3/obamas-lip-syncing-fail.htmlJohn Huntington2010-03-03T13:23:01ZEntertainment Technology Off Topiclip sync fails here before, but this one is really shocking:]]>Loser's Lounge Carpentershttp://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/2/27/losers-lounge-carpenters.htmlJohn Huntington2010-02-27T19:59:15ZInteresting Show Off Topicbig fan of the Loser's Lounge, and I go see them at Joe's Pub pretty much every show they do when I'm in town. I go even when they do a tribute to someone I'm not particularly a fan of, like The Carpenters. But it was great, and here's some pics from the early show last night:]]>Snowicane 2010 Time Lapse (Sort Of)http://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/2/26/snowicane-2010-time-lapse-sort-of.htmlJohn Huntington2010-02-26T20:51:05ZOff Topic WeatherNational Storm Chaser Convention/ChaserCon 2010http://www.controlgeek.net/blog/2010/2/20/national-storm-chaser-conventionchasercon-2010.htmlJohn Huntington2010-02-20T18:39:29ZOff Topic WeatherRoger Hill and Tim Samaras' National Storm Chaser Convention in Denver. I went last year, and this year again featured lots of great speakers, many of them giving us an update on Vortex 2 (unfortunately, the lighting was incredibly dim, so most of these photos are too):]]>