Mike Baldassari, Part 1: from The Garden to The Road to The Street

It was 1977, and Mike was headed to a Kiss concert at Madison Square Garden.  The audience blinders came up, 20,000 people cheered, and Mike knew he'd found a home.  Since then, he has lit Broadway musicals, including collaborating on Cabaret with the great Peggy Eisenhauer; television shows, including episodes of Saturday Night Live; theatrical tours, including Phoenix Entertainment's Camelot; major events live to broadcast, including A (RED) Thank You; concerts, including tours with icon Neil Young; and feature films, including Nine.  All that said, Mike's greatest strength may be his ability to draw inspiration and practice from one genre for use in another.

Join your host Jason Marin and first-time co-host Carrie Wood for the first part of a two-part interview with Mike.  In this episode, we discussed his work on feature films, television, live events and shows that involve elements of all three.  We discussed how he got into the business, including finding his way to the lighting console after rock shows to introduce himself, the difference between working on a feature shooting film and one shooting digital, what SNL has to do with Australia, and what happens when one of the cameras on your multicamera shoot is attached to a helicopter.

Join us next time for the conclusion of the interview, where we discuss concerts, theater, and, of course, Cabaret.