Precise Corporate Staging and Alice Cooper team up for a good cause.
Thanks to an ever-widening web of generosity, dozens of underprivileged and underserved segments of the population are being helped in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago.
Indeed, entertainers of all stripes are standing up and lending their talents to events that range from the grand — Live Earth comes to mind — to the intimate, à la the annual gathering in Phoenix, Ariz., known as Christmas Pudding, a benefit evening of comedy and music that helps support Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation.
Cooper and a handful of friends in Phoenix launched the Christian, nonprofit Solid Rock Foundation to help disadvantaged kids throughout Arizona. The foundation is opening a 29,000-square-foot teen center called The Rock, which will hold one of the only vocational schools in the United States that will teach teens sound, video and lighting for the entertainment and corporate market. Interested teens will receive music lessons (guitar, bass and drums) and the facility will boast a pair of recording studios for any who are curious about learning how to work in that environment. The Rock will be on the grounds of Grand Canyon University, a private Christian college in West Phoenix.
David Stern, president of Precise Corporate Staging, has been working with The Rock for a year now and has talked a number of audio companies into donating gear. “We want kids to have the best gear made to learn on,” he says, “so when they go into the real world they’ll be working on that gear.” To date, sponsors include L-ACOUSTICS, Martin Professional, Color Kinetics and a handful of others. “We are trying to pick the best of the lot for the kids.”
In addition to his work at The Rock, Stern and his team donate their time and skills, as well as all the sound, lighting and video equipment, to pull off the Christmas Pudding event. PCS has been working with the Solid Rock Foundation on the Christmas Pudding event for the past six years, although 2006 was the first time the company provided audio gear.
“When we do the Christmas Pudding we try to get the best talent and comedians coupled with the best production of lights, staging, sound and filming,” says organizer Alice Cooper. “That is why we turn to Dave and Marla Stern of Precise Corporate Staging. The equipment they use is always top of the line and current with the latest technology. Their expertise in the field and their professionalism help make the Christmas Pudding show a fantastic event.”
The 2006 Christmas Pudding event featured musical guests Alice Cooper, Stephen Stills, Glen Campbell, Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades, California Transit Authority, Al Di Meola and members of Tesla, including singer Jeff Keith, drummer Troy Luccketta and guitarist Dave Rude, among others. Mark Cordes, Mike “Black Jack” Wilson and MC Danny Zelisko handled the comedy end of things and Destiny Dancers provided additional entertainment.
The wide range of artists meant that Stern and FOH mixer Michael “Milk” Arnold needed to be on their toes, yet Stern remained nonplussed at the demands of the show because he got mixed up in the event early in the process. “It’s just another day in the life,” he says. “My wife and I are heavily involved in this charity and we get a lot of the people who we work with throughout the year to donate their time. So, it’s a work of love as opposed to another gig.”
The event was held at Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, a venue that features curved walls and a couple of balconies that were challenging. To overcome those acoustic issues Stern worked with L-ACOUSTICS vice president of sales and marketing Paul Freudenberg. “I sent them the CAD drawings of the building and they mapped the room for us using their Soundvision software. That was part of their involvement with the charity.”
PCS hung 12 L-ACOUSTICS V-DOSC cabinets per side, with three dV-DOSCs down and 16 SB218 subs. The console at FOH was a Heritage 4000 and the monitor board was a Yamaha 3500M. The monitor system was L-ACOUSTICS 115XT HiQ with Kudos sidefills and a single 18-inch subs.
Backline — a pair of drum kits, several guitar and bass amps and two keyboards — was provided by S.I.R. Arizona.
To be sure, Christmas Pudding is exciting for PCS on a number of fronts. “It’s out of the box for us,” he says. “We do mostly corporate events in convention centers and ballrooms, so having a full show of live entertainment is very exciting for us to do, as opposed to having a corporate meeting and one act of entertainment.”
There’s also the fact that the PCS team is full of music fans. “The list of those playing at Christmas Pudding includes all recognizable names,” he says. “It was very exciting, especially for the people who work for me, to actually meet these people.”
