Mike D, crobar New York
Last year’s winner in this category, the lightman’s lightman boasts over 20 years’ experience, including lead gigs with Junior Vasquez at Tunnel, Twilo and Palladium; and an international tour with Sasha & Digweed. At crobar, he commands the Martin Professional moving lights with a MA Lighting grandMA console every Friday and Saturday night into the wee hours, working non-stop. And aside from his operator duties, he’s also the club’s light tech, with the ability to take apart ailing fixtures and put them back together again, good as new. –DS
www.crobar.com

Johnny Eubanks, Oz New Orleans
It takes a lot of flash and panache to get noticed in the gay club world, and Johnny Eubanks has proven himself a real stunner over the years, with a lighting style as theatrical and flamboyant as your average Bourbon Street drag queen. He’s quite versatile as well, handling straight cabaret performances like Oz’s Revival shows with the same ease as he does the club’s DJ nights. This versatility served him well when Katrina detoured him into Memphis club Backstreets. But with improved gear upon his homecoming, he’s set to do further damage next year. —JH
www.ozneworleans.com

Andris Kasparovics, 1015 San Francisco
Former NYC live event lighting guru Kasparovics is excited about the prospect of networked LED systems. “It’s nice to see chases again on the dancefloor,” he said. “1015 opened our newly renovated Cirque Lounge with an eight-foot ceiling that had a large circular grid of 1,200 LED nodes running animation around the room. People were losing their balance just standing there staring at the ceiling!”

But it’s Kasparovics’ kinetic and dramatic style with moving lights that heightens the club-going experience for 1015’s patrons. His lighting philosophy? “Darkness is a good thing.” –DC
www.1015.com

Dougie Lazer, Duvet New York
Lazer learned the LJ trade at Sound Factory under owner/legend Richard Grant. Now he’s the principal of his own company, XS Lighting & Sound. Even though XS’s business covers event clients like A/X, JetBlue and Bergdorf Goodman, Lazer always has nightlife on his mind. “It’s in the clubs that I let my imagination run wild,” he says. Duvet’s white beds made the space look more like a furniture showroom than a hotspot, but Lazer’s Color Kinetics LED installation, and his manipulation of the traditional dancefloor fixtures, eliminated the retail vibe. –DS
www.duvetny.com