Kelite

Good morning Blue Room friends, I trust all is well with you!An update is certainly in order, as I've been offline since the move began 1/21.The new Apollo/Blue Pony/Avid Labs HQ is a building which has ample warehouse/manufacturing space but limited offices. Joel and Keersten purchased the facility in July and renovations began soon after. A proposed move in date was mid-November, but between supply chain issues and labor crews dodging the 'Rona, we've been chasing dates on the calendar. When all equipment was moved out of the temporary building 1/21, the new space became a holding area while office framing, drywall, and painting were still underway.Local building inspectors will be onsite soon, and we anticipate receiving occupancy in the coming two weeks. With the record number of local commercial construction projects taking place in 2021, it's been a marathon keeping up with the renovation schedule! The proposed relaunch date has been moved to Monday, February 21st to ensure all lasers and CNC equipment are leveled, recalibrated, tested and ready to produce quality products for the entertainment industry.It's been difficult turning away business, as we pride ourselves in providing last-minute miracles for unexpected needs. Our sales staff is anxiously awaiting filling the production schedule, and I'll do my best to communicate our progress.As far as the two young arsonists who broke into the building and left a fire behind them, 60 days in juvenile detention was all the punishment received. They are back on the street, likely looking for their next thrill. Let's hope they had an epiphany and realized the disastrous results of their actions, changing the trajectory of their young, tarnished lives.We can hope...

Greetings all, As we prepare to move to our brand new gobo making facility, we're getting the word out that the doors will be closed January 17-25. Thank you, and I trust the New Year is treating you well!

After an agonizing three months of rebuilding after a devastating fire, Apollo is once again making high quality custom and catalog stainless steel gobos using brand new laser equipment! Custom and catalog glass gobos are soon to follow, we'll keep you updated as additional lasers arrive. And thank you for the many calls, texts and emails of support and encouragement our Apollo family has received during our rebuilding process! https://apollodesignblog.com/apollo-designs-metal-gobos-are-back

You're really close, Sandall. We first walked the PLASA floor at Earl's Court in 1999 and had our first stand in 2000. Looking forward to relaunching Apollo with brand new state-of-the-art laser equipment very soon!

Yes, thank you. So yesterday our art director and I noticed a flatbed semi truck with four lasers on it slowly driving by our temporary facility. Our enthusiasm was similar to kids on Christmas morning, let me tell you! Unfortunately the truck stopped three blocks away at a machine shop to unload THEIR new lasers! We'll begin to receive our equipment next week and look forward to cranking out product soon. :)

Thank you very much, Gareth. Yes, we're finding the silver lining to this unfortunate situation is that all equipment in our 29 years of business is now being replaced with brand new, cutting edge stuff. That's exciting!!! Cheers!

As many of you know our building was involved in a disastrous fire Dec. 9 and is considered a total loss. The vandals have been arrested and have confessed. So there's that. Exciting news as several new Okuma CNC 4 axis machining centers and 3 axis turning centers with live tooling just arrived. The large format printer for DesignScape, PrintScenic and other items (hint hint) has also been delivered and is scheduled for installation and training. Metal gobo lasers have shipped from the factory and we expect to see them in the coming days. There will be some time to install the custom optics and proper exhaust runs so we can't state a specific 'GO' date at this time. Our new Microsoft Surface Books are a wiz to use and allow us to work from home on icy/sleety days like today. I'm taking care of business from the comfort of my couch at the moment. Thank you all for your support and care these past few months as it has certainly been an interesting time. My thanks to the MANY phone calls and emails asking what can be done to assist us over here. You people are what make our industry a family of caring friends, and we appreciate that so very, very much. I'll post some photos and details as they become available to me. Thanks all!!!!

I believe Cosmo Wilson is the guy-

While we anticipate the 11/13 release of AC/DC's 18th album "Power Up", the video is quite entertaining. (No surprise here!) Who lit the stage for this music video???