MR

Sorry to hear this. He was a big part of the Frontiers and Beyond documentary.

Part of Steve's speech included a mention of him as the "late, great Benny Collins". Beautiful poignant and touching.

When I was a much younger man, I was a stagehand at the Meadowlands in NJ. In 1986, we did the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope show at Giants Stadium. Benny was the stage manager - and employed a rotating stage which allowed one band to be playing live facing the audience, while we (the crew) prepared the band gear for the next band up in the rear. When one band finished their set, we simply rotated the stage 180 degrees, and the next act up was ready. Benny kept saying, "We did this at Live Aid last year and it kept the show on time." Simple, but genius. And this was before the days of hydraulics or motors. It took manpower. Christopher Reeve (pre-accident) was hanging out in the wings and Benny kept yelling, "Hey Superman - help us rotate this stage!" Fond memories.