The Black Joy Parade is a celebration of the black community’s influence on cultures past, present and future. This year it involved a parade that started at 13th Street in downtown Oakland just after noon and made its way down Broadway to a four block ‘Celebration Site’ around 20th and 21st Street that was filled with vendors, attractions and two performance stages. The roads of the site were closed for the day and the party ran throughout the afternoon up until the 7pm finishing time. Across the Main Stage and Diaspora Community stage, a continuous lineup of DJs and performers entertained huge crowds, building up to a headline performance from RnB singer Ashanti.

Technical production for both stages was the responsibility of Islay Events, a full-service event planning and production company based in Buellton, CA. The company, headed by industry veteran Jeremy Cable, also took care of production for the last Black Joy Parade event in 2020, which took place just weeks before the global pandemic brought the events industry to a grinding halt. The parade wasn’t able to run in 2021, but Jeremy and his team were invited back for this year’s event based on the professional service they provided to the organizers back in 2020. Islay Events’ in-house Lighting Designer, Lazer Freidman, was responsible for the design, programming and running of the main stage rig, which had scaled up production for this year’s show due to the caliber of the headline artist.

‘Nicky Romero and Friends Presents NewYear Show 2022’ was streamed exclusively on Nicky’s website from 10pm until 1am, local time. It featured warm up DJ Marc Benjamin, a guest performance from Wildstylez, and an hour-long set from Nicky himself to welcome in the New Year. Filmed outdoors in front of the iconic Kreelpoort (town gate) in Nicky’s hometown of Veenendaal in The Netherlands, the livestream was organized by his management company, Artist Division. Ronald de Man, through his company RDM Productions, was responsible for managing the project and brought in local rental company N.T. Sound to supply all the lighting and audio equipment, including over 100 ADJ fixtures. The company’s owner and manager, Jonathan Jansen, designed the lighting rig, while programming and operating duties were handled by Koen van Elderen, one of the most prolific Lighting Designers and Programmers in the Dutch EDM scene.

“The brief from the customer was to create something nice with LED strips and moving heads that would fill the street in front of monument and they liked the idea of curved lines,” explains Jonathan. “So, I came up with a design based on four arcs of fixtures in front of the DJ position and another arc, curving in the opposite direction, behind. This put Nicky and the other DJs right in the middle of the rig. Then we also lit the Kreelpoort itself and put moving heads behind and also within the structure, so that it could be filled with beams and GOBO projections. Koen did a really great job of using the rig to its full potential, he created a really interesting show that made good use of all the different fixture types and locations. He is a very talented programmer and operator; he is very creative and everything he does looks nice, so kudos to him on a great job!”

Following a hugely successful first leg, the Reunited Thru Light Tour is set to return – bigger and better – as the industry looks towards a brighter future in 2022. This second phase will feature a programmed lightshow showcasing ADJ’s latest entertainment lighting fixtures as well as individual demos of the company’s hottest products. It will also offer an exclusive opportunity to see brand new, soon to be announced, ADJ fixtures in the flesh for the very first time.

“Words can’t describe how much I’ve enjoyed getting back out on the road and seeing ADJ customers, both old and new, in person during the first leg of the Reunited Thru Light tour,” comments ADJ USA’s National Sales Manager, Alfred Gonzales. “I also know that the feeling is mutual as I’ve heard from lots of visitors to the events how much they have valued the opportunity to meet and network in person again with other local industry professionals in a fun and focused environment. For the second phase of the tour, we’re dialing things up a notch with the addition of a programmed light show and exclusive demos of some very exciting new projects. I’m really looking forward to the up-coming events and look forward to welcoming you to your local tour stop!”

Located in the downtown area of Temecula, CA, the Old Town Community Theater is a 354-seat proscenium stage venue with an adjacent 48-seat intimate ‘black box’ performance space known as The Merc. Having recently celebrated its sixteenth anniversary, the theater is well established at the heart of the community and hosts an extensive program of performances each year. Its resident companies produce a variety of musical theater productions and straight plays, while the popular ‘Temecula Presents’ series sees the venue host musical performances covering everything from blues to classical as well as regular tribute band concerts. In addition, numerous promotors and outside theater companies also utilize the space, making for a packed calendar that requires a comprehensive and versatile technical system.

The man responsible for designing and specifying this audio and lighting system is Bill Strawn, an industry veteran with a wealth of experience. Having spent much of his career touring the world, Bill’s transition into his current role as Technical Director at the theater was truly serendipitous. On the back of a six-year run working as an Electrician on the touring production of Riverdance, he bought a house in Temecula and happened to see a new theater was being built in town. He knocked on the door, offered his services, and over sixteen years later is an integral part of the venue’s team.

ADJ’s Halloween Spooktacular Contest is back for 2021, offering you the chance to win ADJ lighting gear simply by sharing your spooky lighting projects on social media and including our hashtag. We want to see the creative ways you put your ADJ lighting, video, or effects equipment to use to create shiver inducing displays or spinechilling events. Whether it’s a professional project or home haunt, as long as you use ADJ fixtures, we want to see your Halloween 2021 display and it could win you one of three fantastic prizes!

Just like last year, the 2021 ADJ Halloween Spooktacular Contest is incredibly easy to enter. Just take photos or video of your Halloween project, display, or party and post it to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #ADJSpooktacular. Your contest entry could be a project you’re creating for a client, for example a haunted house, scare maze, themed attraction, or Halloween party. Or you could simply use your ADJ lighting, video, or effects equipment to decorate your own yard, front porch, or home for the holiday. We won’t be judging entries on their scale or professionalism but will instead by looking for creativity and effective use of ADJ fixtures.

A new professional recording studio has been opened in Atlanta, GA to provide local businesses and creatives a turnkey solution for producing high quality video content. Anthony Murray Studios features a multipurpose space with a large ADJ high resolution LED video wall backdrop on one side and a green screen setup on the other. The studio is equipped with high quality video capture and editing equipment as well as a versatile lighting rig comprised of fixtures from ADJ as well as sister brand Elation Professional.

Conceived by speaker, author and faith leader, Anthony Murray – founder of the Oasis Church in Greater Atlanta – the new studio is designed to provide individuals and organizations in the city with the tools to produce high quality video content quickly and easily. The facility is available for rent to anyone who wants to use it, but will also be utilized by Anthony’s church, and others in the area, as a resource for recording video sermons and other faith-based media.

Coinciding with the voting for its Top 100 Clubs poll, DJ Magazine’s Virtual World Tour saw a line-up of big-name DJs live stream sets from some of the most iconic nightclub venues in the world. Bootshaus, located in an industrial area along the River Rhine in Cologne, Germany, has regularly appeared in the Top 100 Clubs list, ranking number 6 in 2020, up two places from the year before. For its edition of the Top 100 Clubs Virtual World Tour, the club partnered with German DJ and producer Felix Jaehn who has achieved worldwide chart success with a number of tracks, remixes and collaborations. Arguably his biggest hit, a remix of Jamaican singer Omi’s ‘Cheerleader’, made it to #1 in 55 countries, including 6 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. As a DJ, Felix has toured extensively, playing some of the biggest festivals and clubs around the world.

The task of designing and implementing the technical production for Felix’s DJ Mag livestream fell to Guido Schütz and his company LaserFrame together with regular collaborator Patrick Hirt of Creative Sounds. Having served as the exclusive technical service providers for Bootshaus for some time, Guido, Patrick and their teams are responsible for designing, maintaining and operating the club’s house rig as well as covering any additional requirements for special projects and one-off events. They also have extensive experience of production design for livestreaming, having previously partnered on the creation of ‘The Tunnel’, ‘The Cube’, ‘The Wharf’ and ‘The Tower’, which provided a wide variety of local DJs and brands innovative studio setups for their live streams and video recording sessions.