Jack Kelly of Eye Dialogue was approached by theatrical lighting designer Eric Wink to light up the event, which was called the Studio 50 Party and held in Charlotte, NC at the city's Grand Central venue. "Eric thought I would bring the psychedelic element to the design," said Kelly.
Kelly put together a package of lighting consisting mainly of American DJ and Elation Professional effects. He set the mood with two ADJ Fantasy 250s, a 250-watt discharge unit that creates 3D textured-glass-gobo patterns, projected onto a 20" mirror ball. "The hypnotic effect of the Fantasy broken into over 600 spots circling the room was mind-blowing," said Kelly. He complemented this with two Fantasy Scan 250s (scanner versions of the effect) which cross washed the back wall framing a Studio 50 poster.
Moving lights from Elation - four Vision Scan 575s and two Power Wash 250s - scanned the floor during the DJ set, then projected onto the stage when the band performed. "The 22° beam angle of the Vision Scan 575s completely filled the stage from only 30 feet away, without resorting to the prism effect, which greatly reduces the output of any light," Kelly noted.
Six Elation Opti RGB LEDs worked with the Power Wash 250s to provide side washes on stage. More Elation LEDs - eight Octopod fixtures - were used to light up two dance boxes on each side of the stage. Placed on all four corners of each platform, the Octopods "ran random intensity sweeps and sparkles on the back curtain and dancers," said Kelly.
Everything at the bash came together - from the lighting, to the music by a cover band called Party on the Moon, to the guests in "the craziest outfits" - to evoke the wild, heady days of Studio 54, said Kelly. "I think Andy (Warhol) would have been proud to see his club immortalised at this party."
(Jim Evans)
