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The Man Behind the Music
By
Frank Pastor
Published in the St. Petersburg Times, Wed., May 19, 2004
TAMPA -
Brad Lukowich likes modern rock, Vinny Lecavalier techno.
Assistant equipment manager Jim Pickard prefers Jimmy Buffett.
Some fans
expect
the arena to be rocking, others family friendly.
The man
charged with pulling off the balancing act is Jim Ciotoli,
director of broadcast production and game operations for the St.
Pete Times Forum.
"We're
like the glorified cheerleaders up there," said Ciotoli, 45, of
Lithia. "Anything we can do to bring up the decibel level and
make it exciting. Hopefully, the players hear that and react to
it."
From his
seat in a control room on the fifth floor between the XO Clubs
at the south end of the arena, Ciotoli is responsible for all
the audio and video elements used during Lightning and Storm
games, concerts and other events at the Times Forum.
He
oversees everything from the videos fans see on the overhead
scoreboard to pregame and intermission entertainment to news
conferences held inside the arena to audio highlights callers
hear when placed on hold.
It is a
14- to 16-hour-a-day job during game days and 8-12 hours on off
days.
But to
most, Ciotoli is the man who chooses the music. On game nights,
he communicates via a headset to a staff of about 30, including
organist John Goresh and music operator Sean Bovelsky.
Unlike
Storm players, who prefer hip-hop, Ciotoli says the Lightning
likes modern rock before games and classic rock during breaks.
He adds an occasional country song for variety.
Goalie
John Grahame said the heavier music gets the players prepared to
play.
"It puts
that electricity in the air where you kind of get goose-bumps,"
Grahame said. "The hair stands on the back of your neck. There's
a loud song playing and a song you like, and the crowd's going
crazy and you can just hear everyone getting louder. It just
brings the whole atmosphere to where it's electric."
Over the
years, fans have grown accustomed to hearing AC/DC's
Thunderstruck when the Lightning takes the ice, circus music
when the opponent arrives, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the
Wall when Nikolai Khabibulin starts in net and Chuck Berry's
Johnny B. Good when Grahame plays.
Recent
additions include a classical piece from Pirates of the
Caribbean when the lights go down during pregame and Win the
Cup, a song Toronto-based musician Yurko Mychaluk wrote that
includes a verse about the Lightning.
Ciotoli is
open to feedback from players, and fans make requests through
the team's message board. Lukowich said he likes most of the
music, especially songs by Disturbed, Sevendust and Nickelback.
"The only
thing I don't like to hear is country music," he said. "It's too
depressing. You don't play country in a hockey arena."
Pickard,
on the other hand, has little use for modern rock.
"I have no
idea what they're saying," he said. "It's all too loud, and if I
can catch any of the words - which is pretty hard - it's not my
cup of tea."
Surprisingly, one of the songs players least like to hear is the
one they're most closely associated with - Thunderstruck.
"The guys
want something else," Lukowich said. "They want something more
up to date."
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