Professional Lighting & Production - Fall 2017 | Page 34

34 PL&P
Michael Herkimer
By Megan Beam
B
eing the tourism hotspot that it is, one would
think that Niagara Falls, ON would also be a hot-
bed for the live entertainment industry; however,
as Niagara native Michael Herkimer explains,
that’s not necessarily the case. He says that in a
town full of struggling musicians, working in the entertain-
ment industry was more of a pipe dream for most than an
attainable reality, but that never dissuaded Herkimer from
chasing after the dream.
“I couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble from a young age,”
he says, reminiscing. “Music was everything; school was an
inconvenience.”
After graduating from the recording program at Metalworks
Institute in Mississauga, ON, a 21-year-old Herkimer started
down the path of producing and recording music and believed
he’d found his calling. After some success with radio play and a
few awards and accolades, he thought life was great; the only concern
was his bank account balance.
He decided it was time to pursue a means of income outside of
freelance recording and wound up at the now-closed Kool Haus in
Toronto, working as a stagehand. It was during his third week there that
a lighting technician who worked in one of the smaller clubs within the
complex at the time approached and informed Herkimer he was going
to be filling in for him.
“He told me, ‘I am going to be sick next week, and you are going to
fill in.’ I told him I had never seen a lighting console in my life and would
not know the first thing about oper