Las VegasPosted by Hans Saturday, April 28 2007 08:47:13The time is 08.42 am Saturday morning, and I am obviously suffering from severe jetlag. How come? Well, 48 hours with 4 hours sleep and a 13 hours plane journey can do that to you... You see, after some incredibly fantastic days in americas wilderness, including a hike in the Grand Canyon, we returned to one last evening in Las Vegas and then we got on a plane to Philadelphia and eventually back to England.
Which means this blog is over. Finished. Finito. The end. Thats it. Goodbye. It's true, that was it good readers. The blog will still be online at this very same adress, but you wont be able to access it from the brookfieldlodge.org site anymore, see the society page if you forget the link, you might be lucky and find it there.
See you then. Goodbye.
Hans and Georg signing off.
Las VegasPosted by Hans Monday, April 23 2007 04:00:02I am writing to you know from 4300 feet above sea level in the dessert area around Glen Canyon, Arizona. We are staying in a small town called Page for the night, and tomorrow we will head towards Antilope canyon, hopefully with some fantastic sunshine following us.
The last days have been very eventful, this is proboably why we haven't written anything to you since Tuesday's KA. On Wednesday we saw Jubilee, a classic Vegas show with half naked people and a sinking Titanic. It has been running for over 25 years, but it looks like it is entering it's last few years now.
On thursday we watched the dress reherseal for the NCT's production of Charlie Brown - the musical at UNLV. With UNLV students in key roles throughout the production, they really have created a cartoon world with some very good moments in it. I was most surprised to see one of my favourite comics turn out so well on stage.
Friday was busy, both me and Georg showed our moving light lab projects with the grandMA to several people in the UNLV black box studio, and in the evening we watched both the beautiful and stunning "O" at the Bellagio and then the hi-tech hi-speed alternative experience "Blue Man Group" at the Venetian. Both shows are really worth the tickets!
On saturday morning we headed north on I-15 and out of Las Vegas. We arrived in Springdale, Utah and Zion national park were we walked around in the breathtaking nature for some hours before turning in for the night.
Today we wanted to go see Bryce Canyon, but due to snow (!) and bad weather, that plan was cancelled, and we proceeded to Page and Glen Canyon instead. We have walked around, seeing this fantasticaly large country in all it's splendour as well as going on a tour inside the engineering marvel that is the Glen Canyon Dam.
So here we are, in Page, Arizona. The impressions are so many, the scenery so stunning and the moments so beautiful you would not believe it if you didn't see it.
Las VegasPosted by Hans Wednesday, April 18 2007 16:18:38You can forget everything we have told you so far, forget us seeing lot's of shows, forget us playing with the grandMA and moving lights, forget everything, because last night, we saw KA.
KA is impressive, right from the moment you enter the fojae to the MGM Grand's KA theatre to the very last pyrotechnical display. Featuring a fully 3D three-axis 360 degree stage weighing the same as a 757 with passengers big doesn't begin to describe this show.
Everything moved! We knew about the stage and what it could do, but everything else as well could move in either 1 or two planes, absolutely fantastic!
KA stands not only as the most expensive permanent show ever created, but as a tribute to what is possible, given enough people with the right talent and enough money to realise it.
Robert LePage, Mark Fisher and Luc LaFortune has created a magnificent show that I am sure I will come back and see again and again.
Las VegasPosted by Georg Tuesday, April 17 2007 21:52:59Time is running here. Yesterday we spent several hours at UNLV's GrandMA. It is an interesting desk to work with, and if you know MA's old desks like the Scancommander and the Lightcommander together with how the HOG works, you can get used to it very quickly. (Even though it did some strange things to us)
After dinner at an Italian restaurant - not very Italian but probably as Italian as it can be - we went to see the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel. This is really impressive. The choreography of the water fountains together with a very nice lighting makes this show a must-see.
Today we again worked with the GrandMA and I just finished my lightshow for a piece of music, which we are going to present one day this week to the students here, who will then do the same thing next week. The good thing: We could select a song we like... which makes it much more fun to do lighting for it.
Tonight another show highlight is coming up: Cirque du Soleil's "KA" with Mark Fisher's genious stage without a floor. This will be very exciting I think and we are looking forward to this a lot.
Finally the weather became very nice again after one night of rain and a bit colder temperatures...
Las VegasPosted by Georg Monday, April 16 2007 03:43:21So, after Stomp out loud at the Planet Hollywood yesterday, which was a cool and very physical show, we went back to the more traditional theatre work today... yes, it is Sunday and we worked even then!! (This must look so great on our evaluation - I think we will emphasise this a bit more)
First we were observing the Tech Rehearsal for the upcoming show in the Judy Bayley Theatre. To be fair - it was one of these sessions, when the director took over the world of theatre and designs everything himself... a he shouts a lot... so there is not much of a difference to some shows we have worked on. Sometimes during sessions you just feel like being on the sinking Titanic...
In the afternoon we could watch their current show in the Studio Theatre. "The Masks of Rioclora", written by Richard C. Sewell unfortunately... let's put it that way, would have needed much more time or a different author. It was not really so good... but - and this surely is a plus - it had a lot of references to the Germans in it and the word "Nazi" was only used four times ;-)
After this we helped with the "Strike" - our Get-out. This was very quick as they have a different grid and this made it very efficient. We set up the moving lights for the moving light lab next week (they have MAC 5oo besides our High End stuff - and I get a feeling we will need a hammer soon) and patched the GrandMA. It looks like we will have the opportunity to work with this "board" during the next day or so and this will be a perfect chance to try this one out. At a glance today - it looks like a lot of things are similar... we will see to what extend.
Hope someone is reading all this as I have to fight with the keyboard all the time... the keys are just in the wrong place... but this is the same problem like in the UK :-)
Las VegasPosted by Hans Saturday, April 14 2007 18:50:43After an early morning (well, not that early) tour of the "O" theatre (sorry, no pictures) which was in maintenance, so the pool was empty, and a day's walk around the strip and for my part, a visit to the Ansel Adams exhibition at Bellagio's gallery of fine art, we went to Boulder Station to see how the locals entertain themselves in Sin City.
And boy do they! We watched a concert with Yellow Brick Road, a cover band doing everything from Pink Floyd to Queen with all the bits in between. Classics from the Who, Boston, AC/DC and Genesis were all served with a mix of some classics from our own age at this, I would say, very typical American bar and lounge.
People of all ages from all types of society and culture was there to enjoy this highly entertaining band in the Railhead lounge. So entertaining in fact, that they are this years recipent of the "best of Las Vegas" award in the category for best fast food and/or lounge entertainment.
Todays plans include seeing the city from above in the Stratosphere tower and then watching STOMP at Planet Hollywood.
Las VegasPosted by Georg Thursday, April 12 2007 20:00:20As we saw this, we simply had to get a picture...
And finally one image from the Love-Theatre...
Quite a bit going on up in the roof...
Las VegasPosted by Hans Thursday, April 12 2007 19:53:11Another day gone by, more things seen and more miles walked.
I think we forgot to tell you that we went to see "meet the robinsons" in digital 3D in a fully digital cinema. Have we seen the future of movies? Or is this crisp, clean and pure perfect image really what moviegoers want? That's a discussion for another time, but it was certainly an interesting experience.
Yesterday we shared portfolios and looked at each others work with the graduate students from UNLV, and they showed some very good work, hopefully, we didn't dissapoint to much either.
Then we walked around the Venetian with it's canals and gondols (in the second floor that is) and then we walked towards the Stratosphere tower, but stopped at the Sahara and took the monorail back up the strip to the massive MGM grand. We had a look at New York-New York, Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay before we ventured home to Bart's place.
This morning we watched two light-lab projects in the Paul Harris theatre and then we watched a video tour of LIPA and talked a bit about the school and how it is.
