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14 March 2016

Recent months have seen a landmark development for the events industry with the arrival of BS 8901, a major new standard set to radically transform the events landscape.

Launched at the end of last year and currently going through a series of pilot trials, BS 8901 specifies the requirements for a sustainable event management system. It encompasses all events, from large-scale tours and unique events such as the 2012 Olympics, to music festivals and amateur sporting events. It will take no prisoners, applying throughout the industry supply chain to venues, organising companies and industry suppliers and contractors.

Major event clients such as the London 2012 Organising Committee and the Greater London Authority are already referring to BS 8901 in their tenders. C

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14 March 2016

This includes the popular Eurotrucker 3 general purpose road trunk, which will be on display complete with a striking new colour scheme.

The Eurotrucker won't be the only 5 Star case to have a new, unique or different visual appearance. Audio console manufacturer DiGiCo has worked closely with 5 Star to produce a new case for its new SD8 product .

5 Star's CNC machining facilities will once again be highlighted by a top of the range Pioneer VJ console. Pioneer is another brand with which 5 Star has collaborated very closely. The special console case will house the new Pioneer MEP7000 multi-media player, an SVM1000 Audio/Vision mixer and two DVJ1000 players.

A selection of smaller cases will also be displayed, including the n

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14 March 2016

"It goes without saying that Bill is a leader in our industry," said THD founder and CEO Tim Hunter. "After more than 30 years of experience with some of the best companies around, he has acquired a breadth of knowledge and experience few can match. His outstanding people skills enable him to pursue, develop and close challenging new business opportunities. Almost as important - his thoughtful, calm and organized demeanor ensures that complex projec

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14 March 2016

The company worked with Loudsound and Radio 1 presenter Rob da Bank, to put a "pioneering and robust" lost children system in place, which saw every child given a wristband with a phone number attached. Showsec provided lost children teams - adapting the idea of the traditional "rapid response" team - who would bring any lost children to a centrally located area run by the Isle of Wight Youth Trust.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

TMB Architectural will present a comprehensive range of products and solutions: Distributed Architectural products include Blues System by Global Design Solutions (GDS); CueServer by Interactive Technologies; curveLED digital light curtain; the new Deja Cue lighting playback and integration processor; Digital Festoon DFS colour changing LED display systems; Falcon xenon fixtures by Alpha One; Leader Light flood and linear LED fixtures; ProAqua submersible custom cables and Tempest all-weather fixture and projection enclosures.

Innovative Film and TV lighting equipment will also be featured. A revolutionary product introduction, on display for the first time anywhere, is the ne

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14 March 2016

"Pandoras Box is a turnkey solution that perfectly unites state-of-the-art rendering technology with intuitive media control, and it is a tremendous honour for Coolux to be recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the engineering involved in developing this unique and very powerful solution," said Steve Gilbard, president of Coolux International.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

With half-price online pre-registration available until the final day of the show, PLASA08 (7-10 September, Earls Court, London), which has attracted a host of new exhibitors and the promise of numerous new product launches, looks set to break all records.

"The industry is heading for Earls Court," commented Director of Events Nicola Rowland, "and the buzz is tremendous among exhibitors and visitors. We also have some strong contenders for the PLASA Awards for Innovation and huge interest in the Gottelier Award - we're anticipating a great turnout for the Awards presentation on Monday evening. PLASA08 is also a fantastic opportunity to see all the key technology brands that helped deliver a successful Beijing Ol

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14 March 2016

Artist John Pasche, who sold the artwork, was originally paid £50 for creating the design. Pasche was studying at London's Royal College of Art when Stones frontman Mick Jagger, disappointed by the bland designs put forward by record label Decca, began looking for a design student to help create a logo. The singer went to see Pasche's degree show, which eventually led to the iconic pop art design's creation, first used on the Stones' Sticky Fingers album in 1971. The artist went on to design

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14 March 2016

Totalling nearly 200 drapes of varying sizes, it's the Sowerby Bridge based company's largest single contract to date, with the work being delivered in four phases.

J&C Joel project manager Tony Griffiths, worked closely with ACCL production manager Gail Wroth to design curtain requirements for the various areas.

In the main 10,000 capacity Arena itself, the space needed to be turned into a variety of flexible formats including a complete 'black box', the traditional end-on stage D-shape format, in-the-round and sub-divided as a series of individual smaller performance spaces - all with curtains.

The main c

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14 March 2016

The company's stand features leading brand innovations from its four specialist divisions - A.C. Lighting, A.C. Audio, A.C. Rigging and A.C. Video - as well as providing specialist knowledge on applications using these technologies. A.C. Lighting will be showcasing a selection of innovations across its range of traditional and intelligent lighting fixtures, control, dimming and power distribution, effects, cables and connectors.

As the worldwide distributor for Chroma-Q, the stand will feature the brand's complete range of LED products for all types of entertainment and architectural lighting applications - including the new Color Span - a configurable, low-profile, ultra-b

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14 March 2016

MRL Productions will specialise in providing a complete sound, lighting, video and staging technical service to the corporate event, theatre, fashion show and concert sector.

Their biggest contract to date has been with Great Leighs, the first new racecourse that has been set up in the last 80 years.

John Holmes' new venture - situated between Braintree and Chelmsford - hosts night racing as well as a large number of corporate functions for which MRL has been providing sound and lighting. This includes the opening night when Alexander O'Neal performed in front of an audience of 600.

The company has already developed a cutting-edge hire fleet. This

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14 March 2016

Once a year the little town of Towersey in Oxfordshire, with a population of 400, becomes engulfed with festival-goers, keen to soak up the five-day festival's atmosphere. Towersey is now in its 44th year, and has again attracted the cream of folk and acoustic music artists including The Commitments, who opened the show during the August Bank Holiday weekend. The festival also includes a showground, a wide range of trade stalls and catering venues. Daily visitors to this year's festival topped 2,500, with a further 3,500 choosing to camp.

Stage Electrics has been heavily involved with the festival for 15 years, and is also a main sponsor. Steve Heap, director of the festival comments: &q

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14 March 2016

Sunday's special interest seminar programme includes two Infocomm seminars; the Institute of Acoustics, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Skills Academy, PMA and Arup feature on Monday; Tuesday sees sessions from the Arcola Theatre, National Theatre, ATG/ABTT and Cirque du Soleil; while Wednesday's line-up is headed by the Institute of Acoustics and CC Skills' Creative Apprenticeships seminar. Technologies For Worship is hosting seminars on every day of the show.

Meanwhile, manufacturer-led sessions include Zero 88 (Sunday), Alcons, Wireless Solution, White Light and Martin Professional (Tuesday) and Cast Software (Wednesda

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14 March 2016

The programme has been completely rebuilt, using the latest techiques. RMS25 uses an entirely new technique to handle the data. This allows users to either use the native RMS-dataformat, or use a SQL-database.

Features include a new look with the Explorer-bars, which allow quick access to frequently used functions.

RMS - Rental Management Systems was one of the first software-solutions for the AV- and entertainment industry. Started in 1987 with a DOS-based version, RMS is now used worldwide by more than 2000 users, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The introduction of black non-reflective coating on the surface of the Black Steel Gobo cuts down on internal reflection to produce a crisper image when projected and eliminating unwanted halo effects, says the company.

The black coating will not burn or peel off under extreme heat and reduces the risk of image distortion caused by heat damage. The full range of Goboland Steel Collection is available in black steel, plus all custom steel gobos are manufactured from Black Steel with immediate effect.

Goboland Black Steel Gobos can be seen on the Goboland Stand F 31.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Tour News - With a canon of classic songs, unbowed enthusiasm and his musical faculties still sharp, Stevie Wonder has opened his first European tour for a decade. The US star took fans at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on a two-hour journey through almost 50 years of songs that helped shape soul and pop. A sold-out crowd of 13,500 saw him play with a 10-strong band and four backing singers, including his daughter Aisha. Wonder, 58, now visits Manchester and London before other European cities.Festival News - Amy Winehouse has played her last scheduled show of the year

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14 March 2016

Presented during the PLASA Awards for Innovation on the second night of PLASA08, and named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise innovative developers who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of the equipment and tools that enable entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

Voted for by the industry, the Award was presented to John Stadius by Tony's wife Susie.

Stadius is a distinguished audio designer: in 1978, he joined Soundtracs PLC, designing disco consoles, mixers, power amplifiers and speakers. As technical director between 1980-1994, he continued to design a wide range of ana

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14 March 2016

Crisp, who has left by mutual consent, joined the major German electronic suppliers from Numark Alesis Europe late last year and made an immediate impact.

Commented Marco Willroth, managing director of Monacor International: "We would like to thank Damon for his input and commitment, and wish him every success in his future endeavours."

Taking over as managing director, Monacor UK, is Scott Davis, a veteran of the company for the past 13 years. "This is a great opportunity for me to step up from purely an operational and sales role," said Davis.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Simon Cox, PRG Greenford's deputy warehouse manager, has long been the crew chief and organiser for the company's extensive PLASA stands. However, after three years on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, Simon was given "the call" just seven days before PLASA and rushed into hospital. The rest of the PRG team rallied to the fore and were delighted and amazed to see Simon well enough to visit the show to see how they were getting on.

Everyone at PRG is delighted to see Simon doing so well and look forward to having him back to work after the great work by the transplant team at Hammersmith Hospital.

Pictured from left to right are Chris Henry (freelance), Phil Sharp (grubby lampy), Simon Cox (complete with new

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14 March 2016

Almost 30 miles of cable, 600sq.m of staging and over 2000 generic lanterns from Stage Electrics' rental stock were employed to transform a variety of spaces including churches, student unions, masonic lodges and assembly halls into professional theatre venues.

Stage Electrics' long association with the various Edinburgh festivals, was strengthened this year with Underbelly and Universal

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14 March 2016

Alan Thomson, a leading figure in the industry and formerly a director of PRG Europe, has joined Unusual to manage this new venture.

Alan brings over 30 years of experience in the provision of technical solutions within the entertainment industry and will be a valuable asset to Unusual.

Alan Jacobi, managing director of Unusual confirmed: "This is a major investment for the company. There is no doubt that the market in the Middle East continues to grow with an increasing demand for proven expertise in temporary and permanent rigging installation projects.

"Unusual Dubai will replicate

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14 March 2016

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso described business involvement in the EIT as "crucial, because the lack of business-funded R&D [research and development] explains almost 85% of the gap between the EU and the USA, for example".

Internet News - Only Japan has the broadband quality to cope with next-generation internet applications, a new study has revealed. Swe

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14 March 2016

Making the presentation, Mark Engel, president of Rosco, said: "This is the fourth year we've been able to support Light Relief with a cheque at PLASA. Our contribution to date now exceeds $15,000 and has been funded by purchases of #313 Supergel. We envisioned this arrangement as 'a gift that keeps on giving' and we're delighted that it continues to fulfil that promise."

Developed with the help of Rick Fisher, co-founder (along with the late Tony Gottelier) of the industry charity which supports lighting designers in difficult times, Light Relief Yellow is the vibran

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14 March 2016

Matthew Griffiths, CEO of PLASA, who welcomed the guest speakers and audience members to the launch, told LSI: "We're very proud to be able to host the launch of the Mayor's Green Theatre Plan at PLASA08. Many of the manufacturers represented here on the show floor are already playing an active role in developing new equipment and technologies to help theatres achieve the goals set by the Mayor's Plan, and the lighting and sound industry still has a great contribution to make. PLASA and its members are very keen to work with theatres and other industry bodies, not only to help improve the power efficiency of lighting and sound systems themselves, but also to support and encourage the adoption of the many s