Light Talk with The Lumen Brothers

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister celebrate their 8th Year of presenting their "Casserole of Nonsense" to their listeners.  Join Ellen, Brackley, Zak, Steve, David, and Stan as they pontificate about: News from Texas; Nosferatu; "Magic Magenta"; Non-Spectral colors; Inexpensive drafting programs; Going "Old-School"; Using LED for front light; Gobos or no Gobos?; "The Steam Leko 2025 Edition"; The genius of "Adolescence"; New state-of-the art projection surfaces; MuxWave; and Transparent LED screens.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister talk about everything from Knowing Your Value, to David's Tax School.  Join Ellen, Steve, David, and Stan as they pontificate about: ETC's 50th Anniversary Bash in Orlando; Lobster Rolls in Orlando?; Meatballs with Faces; The High End Halcyon Silent; Are 1970's lighting angles still relevant today?; The "Jewel System"; "Adolescence"; Phone controlled motorized track-lights;  RCL's DX series; Should you file your taxes as a Sole Proprietor or an Employee?; Pet Sweat and 7-11's "Late Night Gourmet Wonders"; "Am I insured?"; Knowing your value; and What to bring to an industry portfolio review.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister talk about everything from Dining with Dinosaurs to Stan's Tax Advice.  Join Ellen, Steve, and Stan as they pontificate about: Upcoming trade shows and conferences; More on Black Trax and Follow-Me; Controlling LED's; Five important elements of a good rock n' roll lighting design; The Tiger Lilies; The Peak End-state Phenomena; Tax Coaster 2024; and The truth about income taxes.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers welcome Lighting Designer Jim Tetlow Back to the Show! Join Jim, Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: New events at Showlight; International diversification of lighting designers; Expanded and financially sponsored student program (Applications close March 31!); Interviewing French caterers; Upgrading the television lighting in The U.S. Senate Chamber; Lost baggage; Why live shows are getting brighter and brighter... Will it ever be bright enough?; Balancing video and stage levels in live entertainment and corporate shows; How about "Someplace to build from?"; and The Transition Phase to becoming a Crumudgen.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Family welcomes Designer/Educators Clifton Taylor and Mark Stanley to the show! Join Mark, Clifton, Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: This year's Showlight preview; Mark and Jane's workshop in Copenhagen; What's new at The Studio School of Design; The High School Program in July in New York; Professional Development for High School teachers; The College Educators' Symposium in May; "The Tortoise and The Hare"; How many Gilbert's Bunnies fit in a hotel room; Dance touring training; The fall Lighting Curriculum Program; Lifelong learning; and The real value of The Studio School of Design.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss everything from The Power of Palettes, to Making Nice with the AHJ. Join Ellen, Stan, Steve, and David as they pontificate about: Palindromes; Ellen is going to Showlite; The first micro-processor computer light board; Does lighting technology really makes things faster?; Why lighting palettes are important; Dealing with city safety inspectors; Bulk up with "The Better Than Nothing Industries Workout Diet"; and What to do when you are running out of time due to the Director restaging the show. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from The Hidden Benefits of a Performing Arts Degree, to DOGE-Bros. Join Stan, Brackley, and David as they pontificate about: Why some fixtures come in more than one varient; The worst college degrees for career advancement; Making the decision to commit to the arts; The Department of Podcast Excellence; Great presents for graduating lighting students, Leasing out your lighting consoles; and Marrying-Up! Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from The Mac Aura Raven XIP, to Fun in Catabucca! Join Stan and David as they pontificate about: Freezing in Seattle; Martin's new fixtures; Stan's favorite "South Pacific" song; Designing for Thrust with challenging lighting positions; "No Charge"; Dissing stagehands, "Theatre Fantasy Cruise", and Who has the best code? Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss everything from Rare Earths, to Box Jellyfish. Join Ellen, Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Steve's downloads; Frozen Octopus; Designing stage and architectural lighting control; Warm or Cold LED's; RGBW Houselight systems; Are gels making a comeback?; Working on a non-profit charity show; Good-will; "Evil Kitten's Tin Pants"; Our Superbowl Halftime Show Review; and The most important question to ask at a job interview. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Our Grammys Review, to DMX à La Mode. Join Zak, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: "The Nightfly"; Why DMX modes are so confusing; Is it just a "Nerd Thing"?; Considering the light and color that is reflecting off of a surface; The art of negotiation; Our Grammy Show review; Noah Mitz's amazing lighting design; The most powerful moments; Beautiful and Incredible performances; The LA FIres tribute; Chappell Rone tells it like it is; The Tunnels; When its unnescessary for video content; Tips for capturing your designs in photos for your portfolio; and Taking videos of your videos. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from 7000 Par Cans to Our Ultimate Lighting Fantasies. Join Stan, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: NAMM Report; Grammy preview; Must you use all the lights on a light plot?; The return of "Drone Focus Deluxe"; Slow programmers; Dream light plots; "Lumen Master Control with AI"; Being an honorable professional; Avoiding being the "victim"; Exceeding the expectations; and What type of television should you buy. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from "Playing a Hooter", to Sleeping with the Monkeys. Join Stan, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: Snow in Florida; Fires near Snoot's house;  David at NAMM and the Grammies; The Majesty of Mellotrons; Steve heading to URTA; How not to burn bridges when you get really pissed off; What is so special about diffusion?; "A whole bowl of wrong"; GAM diffusion filters; Beam shaping; Moving to the United States for theatre gigs; A PSA from "The American Federation of Donut Makers"; Marijuana Donuts; What to say when you first meet your lighting team; Stan in a bucket; "The Finisher"; and Turning off the power prematurely. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Giving it Up, to "My Dog Ate My Homework". Join Stan, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: The LA Fires; Cold weather at URTA; The Hemsley Lighting Programs Application; Distributing DMX; Improvements in wireless DMX; The importance of a high GPA when applying to graduate schools; When should you give up trying to be a professional lighting designer; Missing phone booths; How much homework is appropriate for grad and undergrad lighting programs; Efficiency vs. gains in productivity; Raising expectations in art due to technology; and Keeping Par-Bars in the Air. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sisters discuss everything from URTA Prep to Crossbreeding Iguanas. Join Ellen, Jacqui, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: Researching graduate lighting programs; Useful skills to master; Using the library; Basic techniques in lighting musical production numbers; Creating the illusion of unobtainable lighting angles; Less is more; "Bring back the 10 out of 12's"; What happens when your production goes south; "Spiderman" Disasters; and Color Faders, Parellipspheres, and Kliegl 1355's... Why not keep old inventory? Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister celebrate Passing the Great Lighting Sceptre from 2024 to 2025! Join Ellen, David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Our Joys and Dissapointments of 2024; New technology that did not make it in 2024; Apple Vision; Boeing Blues; The future of the Vari*Lite Hive; The secret why David was not invited into the Vari*Lite booth; The (Real) Hive Medea Server; Our most interesting topics of 2024; New technology visions for 2025; AI vs. AGI; They still can't make a color picker that works!; Protecting your AI intellectural property; "MAGA the Musical"; New Year's Predictions; and Our New Year's Resolutions.  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this BEST OF LIGHT TALK episode from 2020, The Lumen Brothers and Sister celebrate the holidays with this year's Lumen Holiday Extravaganza! Join Ellen, Steve, Brackley, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: URTA audition deadline; Favorite Holiday Songs; Lighting devices for our stockings; Stan's new eyeballs; Brackley's drug store glasses; Rudolph's gender identity; What do Jews do for Christmas?; Yiddish Fiddler; The Perfect Storm of guilt; How many Xmas lights can you plug into one wall outlet?; Red and Green cookies; Electric menorahs; Techniques for exterior landscape holiday lighting; Theatrical Epicurean Delights' 2020 Stagehand Friendly Fruitcakes; "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Story"?; Are drones a good Christmas gift?; Our favorite holiday drinks; "Why are there two fuses in Xmas lights?"; the Barreca Family German Christmas Party; How to make fake snow; The deadly combination of eggnog and fruitcake; Our Christmas wishes; and Santa Stan's true meaning of the spirit of Christmas. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Surviving LDI to MFA Programs to Avoid. Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: The LDI Awards; Our LDI most interesting products reports; Vari*Lite's hidden booth with "The Hive"; How to budget resources for a production; Wearing multiple hats at a lighting production company; How to handle work that you might not be qualified to do; "Las Vegas LDI Convention Mites";  How American MFA lighting programs are failing to prepare lighting students for the profession; and, Is lighting equipment becoming too complex? Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, Lumen Brother David welcomes Opera Resident Lighting Designers  Michael Clark, John Froelich, Chris Maravich, and Justin Partier to the show. Join Chris, John, Justin, Michael, and David as they pontificate about: How do lighting designers meet; Followspots anyone?; The responsibilities inherent in being a Resident Lighting Designer; Discussions with visiting guest designers; The time contraints of lighting opera; Organizing the lighting tech time; Ballet companies adapting to new technology; Heartbeats and Humans; Draining the Chicago River; Fond memories of the VL3500; Our fantasy moving lights; Why lighting designs are getting brighter and brighter; We love Robert Juliat; Can AI and VR technology be applied to the opera lighting process?; How and when to adapt to new technologies; Remounts vs. new productions; Working with international designers and directors; Expectation management with American designers; Surprising and classy paperwork from some designers; Advice for young designers; and Blaming it all on Chris. Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sisters) present their 7th Annual LIGHT TALK LIVE show from LDI!  The Lumen Family talks about everything from AI Madness to Our Favorite Sandwiches. Join Anne, Steve, Brackley, Zak, Stan, Snoot, and David as they pontificate about: The future of AI in our industry; What will be the relationshop of lighting and video sources in the future regarding output and control; Chapter 7 of "Bobby Danger... The Lighting Guy"; Our favorite lighting fixtures; Our favorite Vegas lighting displays; Zac's Casino heritage; The Neon Museum; Who thought that a Podcast was a good idea; and How do you tell an actor that they continually miss their spike mark? Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.  

In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Time Warps to Bette Midler. Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Our big Light Talk celebration at LDI; Does it make sense to retrofit old Source 4's with Source 4WRD's?; Using AI and Chat GPT in Projects; When is a design finished; Freezing a show; "The Perfectionism Trap"; Bad Hombre Productions' "The Mist Liquid Hydrogen Fogger"; Our Dream products for LDI; What to do with a professor who is a Jerk; and Stan's Valley Girl impersonation.   Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very Little Makes Sense.