So I know Ben and Noah have been roaming all over creation on behalf of GE for the GE Adventure blog, but I’ve been doing a lot of travelling too (sniff sniff), and I thought it would be fun to share some of the fascinating ad-related places and companies I’ve discovered and visited in the last few months.

The first place I discovered was while I was down in Austin in March for SXSW (which I wrote about from a brand perspective here). One night during the music festival I was enjoying a lovely set by Echo and the Bunnymen, and I get a text message from John Nussbaum, formerly of Goodby and now @ Fallon, and he offers to pick me and my friend up in a white limo, wherever we are, and take us out to the Red Bull Moontower party. This, of course, seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up, so we hoof it a few blocks and sure enough, John meets us and picks us up in a 70’s white stretch limo.

As we drive out to the Moon Tower, John makes some introductions and explains what’s going on. The Limo belongs to Nussy’s friend Neal, who is one of the partners in a company called Sustainable Waves. Sustainable Waves is a zero-emission sound, lighting, stage and production company with offices in Austin and San Diego. And the Red Bull Moon Tower party is both produced by them, and held on their lot.

Sustainable Waves, in their words:

So as we pull the limo into the back lot, we go into a quanset hut and slide into the Red Bull VIP area, which is behind the stage, connected to the stage by a fog-filled silver pipe that the bands come out of. It’s all made by the staff at SW, and the production values are stellar.

From here we take a tour, heading over to side stage and then eventually out onto the grounds, which hold a couple thousand people. It’s early still – maybe 1 AM – so it’s just filling up as Shepard Fairey is DJing.

The place is beautiful. There are several amazing interactive pieces – many owned or commissioned by Red Bull, shipped into the event, and many that Neal and his team has built. He explains to me how the hundreds of giant glowing blocks around the field are really giant cooking oil containers, that he bought in bulk from “a barrel man that I know,” reinforced with metal, implanted LED lights in them, and made several giant, interactive glowing walls throughout the party – with each brick maybe 3 feet cubed. “The best part,” Neal says “is that all hundred of them or so are using LEDs and are all running off of one circuit, powered by a fuel cell battery that we charge via solar.”

Everything SW does is zero emission – even the Limo, which isn’t zero emissions yet – is getting the fuel cel treatment. Later, as we drive back into Austin, one of Neal’s co-workers goes on and on about exactly how many fuel cells they’ll need, exactly how long they can hold a charge, etc. It’s monstrously complicated to keep everything zero emission and solar at rock events – they use a ton of power and are, of course, at night. So they charge fuel cell batteries, which can only be depleted to a certain amount or their effectiveness is diminished and the batteries are eventually ruined. So they have a whole engineering staff that monitors the batteries, swapping them out as the night progresses, making sure everything stays smooth.

The amount of light, sound and sheer volume of electricity at the event is obvious, and it’s impressive that it’s all running on solar.

Neal and Nussy and I talk about the controllers for the light wall, trying to make the lights dance in an interesting way. This is an area where I know a bit more about – mainly thanks to Robert, Chandler and Andrew and their work with Saturn, and processing, and Robert’s experiments with the USB Powermate nobs and our work at the McLeod Residence. The digital part is known to me, but I am always in awe of the people who bring that into the physical realm: interfacing with the computer to actually power and control hardware. Finding “a barrel guy” and repurposing old industrial containers into giant lights. Hanging the fabric to make the lights dance above the audience.

It’s all magic to me, and I can’t help being truly impressed with Sustainable Waves, the work they did for Red Bull, and their offices and workshops – a lot, a compound, really, filled with determined people making things with their hands.

Anyway, the place was marvelous. If you are ever in need of show production services – lights, stage, sound – or some awesome zero emission art, lights, etc. – definitely give them a call. I’m dying to find a way for us to work together in the future.

And getting a ride home from Moon Tower in a Limo instead of waiting with the masses for a cab back to downtown didn’t hurt either.

All photos reused without permission from China Shop Mag who had some great coverage of the events there. Apologies and thanks, and I’ll pull ‘em if you want.