Let there be Light(s)!

This baby is sitting on a shipping pallet in Detroit. It's a 24 ch dimmer rack (which, for the uninitiated, does exactly what it's name suggests -- offers variable intensity for 24 independent channels of stage lighting). It will be coming into our Spring Hill location sometime next week.

We were lucky enough to find a top-notch supplier, Tom, at his Dimmerrack.com.
Tom is a former lighting designer/technician who was sick of ordering expensive units from major corporations, units that never offered the customization he required. So, what did he do? He started his own company, selling personalized dimmer-rack systems over the internet.

When I call Tom to talk about the system (yes he takes orders personally) you can here the bustle of activity from employees and machines on the shop-floor from which he works. He tells me his business is booming (all without advertising, corporate bloat, or mark-ups) and that he can't expand shop-space and payrolls fast enough.

As it is, Dimmerrack.com is one of the few businesses in down-and-out Detroit that's employing more and more skilled-laborers each year. It's a real triumph of American ingenuity, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the internet's ability to bring customers to the suppliers who truly deserve them.

If it wasn't for people like Tom, 1st Stage would be THOUSANDS of dollars poorer, a handful of Detroit's unemployed manufacturers would be TENS-OF-THOUSANDS of dollars poorer, and we all would loose the Art that so many more can now make at a much-reduced cost... ...and all that art is probably PRICELESS.

This is a real hope-inspiring bright-spot in these somewhat darker economic times. And I am proud to share it with all of you.

Thank you Tom.