Show News - The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has announced the final registration and exhibitor numbers for the 2010 NAMM Show, the longest-running trade show in the United States. At show close, NAMM reported 87,569 registrants, a 2 percent increase from last year. International registration experienced a 2 percent decrease from last year. The association reported 1,373 exhibitors at this year's show, including nearly 250 new exhibitors - a new record number in the event's 108-year history.

"This year's NAMM Show marks a critical turning point for the international music products industry," said NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond. "A strong NAMM Show signals the beginning of a comeback with buyers returning to their hometowns with renewed energy, passion and hope for a strong 2010, and exhibitors enjoying strong floor traffic and sales as they in

UK - Cooper Controls has announced the appointment of Francois Barthelemi as sales manager for Southern Europe. As part of the company's new structure and strategy for the performance entertainment marketplace, Barthelemi will manage France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey for the State Automation high density dimming systems and Zero 88 entertainment lighting controls product ranges.

After studying the classics at university, Barthelemi turned to his passion for theatre and continued his education in lighting technology before joining rental company Texen in the South of France. From 1991 to 2008 he managed their Montpellier office, specialising in the installation of stage equipment for all kind of venues, from small cultural centres to large scale Opera.

In September 2008 he moved to State Automation to manage their European agency based in Paris. During t

UK - Enterprise UK has confirmed the appointment of Tom Bewick as its new chief executive.

Enterprise UK was founded in 2004 by the four leading UK business membership organisations - British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors and the Federation of Small Businesses - to increase enterprise and entrepreneurship in the UK. It is primarily funded by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Chairman Peter Jones commented on Tom Bewick's appointment: "Promoting entrepreneurship has never been more vital as entrepreneurs and their ideas have a critical role in driving the economic recovery. For many, 2009 was all about survival and, while uncertainty remains as we start 2010, one thing we can be sure of is that entrepreneurs will drive growth as downturns always force innovative and creative solutions to the top.

Switzerland - Digital signage manufacturer SpinetiX has announced the appointment of Datumstruct as Certified Distribution Partner (CDP) for the SpinetiX digital signage hardware & software solutions for the South East Asia region.

"HMP100 represents an alternative to the traditional distributed video from a single PC or individual PCs at each display which have previously been used to deliver content." said Serge Konter, marketing manager at SpinetiX, "The HMP100 is an incredibly small solid state solution with low power use and reliable operation."

"Datumstruct Group is very pleased to be able to offer such an innovative product in South East Asia and China," said Timothy Tiah, director and head of the technology business division. "SpinetiX' solution is unique in providing alternative PC solution for the growing digital signage market. The

UK - Hundreds of churches could face bills to replace or retune sound equipment rendered useless by changes to the way that radio frequencies are allocated. It has prompted the Church of England to join an industry-led campaign to press Government to provide adequate compensation for affected groups.

Many larger churches use wireless microphones to transmit the voice of clergy and others leading services through a public address system. Some of these audio systems, in churches and cathedrals using four or more such 'radio microphones', currently use a channel dedicated for use by programme makers and special events production staff (along with other frequencies that are subject to geographical restrictions). But changes proposed by the communications regulator Ofcom, and supported by Government, to clear and sell spectrum currently used by radio microphones mean that this channe

UAE - Creative Technology Dubai has launched its new revamped website - www.ctdubai.com. Following the launch of other Creative Technology Group operations throughout the world, CT Dubai's site features the same principal properties and qualities bringing CT Dubai into line with CT Group's corporate image.

The new website displays photos of recent regional and global events, contains news items and downloadable case studies detailing the latest projects CT have been involved with and links to all other CT offices around the globe.

The new format also offers visitors the option of registering to receive CT news as the information goes live.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Global entertainment lighting rental company Bandit Lites says it is currently practicing all possible environmentally friendly actions in its offices around the world. This includes a huge reduction in printed paper materials, energy-efficient task lighting in all its facilities and sorting all its waste for recycling.

Bandit is further educating its staff on 'Green' thinking and urging all team members, as well as all its vendors and clients, to consider the environment first in all decisions. The company says: "A bold new look is on the Bandit website, reaffirming the commitment to eco-friendly actions. The greening of Bandit is a process and not a single action. Bandit will work toward every possible action that is environmentally friendly and saves energy."

The staff at Bandit has spent the last year working with GRNLite to develop a full range of rugged,

USA - Sting is to lend his support to the Hear the World initiative, a global hearing loss campaign that helps raise awareness about the importance of hearing and the consequences of hearing loss.

Sting joins a host of other celebrity ambassadors including Jude Law, Elle Macpherson, Annie Lennox, Jerry Hall and Peter Gabriel. Each supporter has been photographed by musician and photographer Bryan Adams holding the Hear the World pose - with one hand cupped behind their ear to convey conscious hearing.

Over 800 million people worldwide, more than 16 percent of the world's population, have hearing loss and experts predict this will to increase to 1.1 billion by 2015. In the UK an estimated 8.5 million people have hearing loss and struggle for up to 15 years before seeking advice. Studies have shown that this has a significantly negative effect on a person's social, emotional and

Money Matters - The music industry is suffering because financial pressures mean money is being put ahead of creativity, Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien has warned. "I sense, and many artists sense, that it's become dominated by money, and the need to make more money," he said. "And I think the problem with that is that the creativity's gone out of the industry, the fun." O'Brien is a leading member of the Featured Artists' Coalition, a lobby group for artists' rights, which has often been at odds with the major record labels.

O'Brien's comments were made in a video message to the Midem music conference in Cannes. He said the music industry's current upheavals, however, presented big opportunities to bring creativity back. "What's great about the moment is the very fact that we're living in this time of change, huge uncertainty, and of course these times

UK - PLASA Focus: Leeds 2010, which takes place on Tuesday 27 - Wednesday 28 April 2010, has already surpassed last year's record breaking event - not only selling out all its exhibition space by the New Year, but adding no fewer than 15 new exhibitors in the process.

As the venue reaches full capacity and with 1,000 visitors already registered to attend, the demand for a high quality show for the North of England's entertainment and installation technology community is self-evident. PLASA Focus is once again on track to bring the latest products from around the industry to a region that looks set to become the location for an annual creative forum for the North.

Since the show and its website were launched in early December, both exhibition halls have completely sold out. New exhibitors Adam Hall, Chauvet Lighting, Cloud Electronics, GDS, Hi-Lights, Le Mark, Lumen Radio, Pola

UK - Calibre UK, which this year celebrates its 21st year in operation has opened a new sales office located at the Oxford Science Park in Oxford and has appointed Mark Lusby as product manager, broadcast & proAV.

Lusby has over 30 years experience in technical sales, exhibition, project and product management working in at various companies such as Samualsons, Teletape Video, JVC Professional Europe and Ultra Electronics.

"I'm delighted to have joined Calibre, a company with a long established reputation as a manufacturer of high quality image processing solutions used in a variety of markets ranging from broadcast, digital cinema, professional AV, medical, defence simulation & training," says Lusby. "Calibre has a new and expanding range of HQView image scalers, switchers and warp & blend processors. With the increasing range of formats and ways in which video

USA / UK - Xantech Corporation has announced the appointment of RGB Communications as its UK distributor.

Gordon Innocent, RGB chairman, states: "We are excited to work with Xantech, who share our passion for providing reliable, innovative and technically superb products. We look forward to bringing our new solutions to market and have extensive marketing and support activities planned."

Graham Hallett, Xantech president, adds: "RGB Communications offer a level of professionalism that provides our customers with consistency, high-level technical support and experience, which precisely aligns with Xantech's product line and planned trajectory for growth. Xantech is proud to have RGB join our network of distributors."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Firefly has announced that it is to be the exclusive technical production partner for the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2010. Firefly will be with the festival to ensure internal productions are delivered sustainably.

Brighton Festival Fringe is one of the largest and fastest-growing open access arts festival in the world and the largest in England. Anyone can put on an event in the Fringe, so it functions as a springboard for new work as well as a guaranteed platform for more established acts.

Brighton & Hove has held Fringe activity since the Brighton Festival was launched in 1967. In 2006 the Fringe became a company in its own right and appointed an independent board of directors: it is also a registered charity. Fringe 2010 will run from 1-23 May.

Firefly will be providing a number of solar powered stages as well as supplying all technical infrastructure

Sweden - The TC Group has announced a restructuring that has resulted in the formation of a new organization known as TC Group International which will operate out of Aarhus in Denmark and Coatbridge, Scotland.

The new organisation, which comes into being today (1 February), will offer "a new and revitalised sales and support structure based on vertical markets" across all TCGI-owned brands, namely TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Lab.gruppen, Lake and Tannoy, as well as the distributed brands Dynaudio Acoustics and Blue Microphones.

All sales activity that was previously handled at individual brand level, such as order processing, and account management will now be centralised and handled at group level out of the offices in Aarhus and Coatbridge.

In addition to this, all sales force and sales support activity will be organised by market segment, of which there are five

USA - Behind The Scenes, an initiative of The ESTA Foundation, has announced its first-ever holiday card student design contest, open to any lighting, set, video or costume full-time design student interested in creating an original design for a 2010 card.

The winner will be chosen by an all-star panel of previous holiday card designers including Bob Bonniol, Beowulf Borrit, Scott Pask, Bruce Rodgers, Douglas Schmidt, and Tim Hunter Design. The winner's design will be among the cards offered for sale to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals who are ill or injured.

The winner will also receive a free pass to the Live Design Master Class of choice (lighting, sound, or projection) to be held in May in New York City.

"This is an incredible opportunity for student designers to have their work seen by

USA - Alcorn McBride, Inc. has promoted Tommy Bridges to the position of sales manager.Bridges has been a senior account manager at Alcorn McBride Inc for the past six years and has 20 years of experience in the AV industry, beginning when he sold AV equipment as a manufacturer's rep for Sony, Panasonic, and other industry giants. As sales manager, Bridges will focus on the Western United States and will manage Alcorn McBride's relationships with many of its international distribution partners.

"We are fortunate to be in a growth mode," said Jeremy Scheinberg, COO of Alcorn McBride. "Our customers were the reason 2009 was such a great year for us and Tommy's elevation to sales manager ensures more personalised attention for our loyal client base while the company expands. Tommy really cares about our customers. Not only does he remember everyone he meets, he's tru

UK - The first National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills (NSA) annual conference takes place at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 25 February 2010.

This exciting conference will bring together 200 delegates in the context of discussing the current state of the offstage and backstage industry in today's economy, evaluating problems and discussing the solutions to key issues.

The NSA is a network of industry professionals working together to develop and improve the skills of people working in the sector. Their vision is to create an internationally acclaimed technical theatre and live music sector supporting the best stages in the world.

More information and to register for the conference, go to the website address below.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Eat to the Beat provided catering support for the Cirque Du Soleil's spectacular show Varekai, which took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 January 2010. Eat To The Beat joined forces with the CDS touring Kitchen Team - an idea that came originally from Varekai's production manager, Jamie Reilly. Now Jamie's idea has come to fruition. Headed by ETTB event manager, Michele Bearsby-Lewis and CDS kitchen manager, Isabelle Turcot, the team will cater for the CDS during their London residency.

Jamie Reilly commented: "Having an opportunity to collaborate with a company like Eat to the Beat is a privilege to learn new methods of working, new recipes and meeting extraordinary people, this is how, at Cirque du Soleil we remain innovative in all different aspects of our business, from the stage to the Kitchen! I am very pleased to have found with Eat to the Beat the op

Teenage Cancer Trust - Noel Gallagher is to play his first solo concerts since quitting Oasis. The guitarist and songwriter will play for the Teenage Cancer Trust, which he has long supported, at the Royal Albert Hall on 25 and 26 March. Other acts announced for the annual run of charity gigs include Arctic Monkeys, The Specials, Depeche Mode, JLS and reformed Britpop band Suede.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Teenage Cancer Trust shows, which are curated by The Who's Roger Daltrey. Announcing the line-up, he said, "When The Who first got together in 2000 to raise money for this brilliant charity, I had no idea we'd achieve so much from these shows. In the last 10 years we've raised over £8.7m, helping Teenage Cancer Trust to open nine more specialist cancer units for young people across the UK."

Eurovision Update - Pete Waterman is to write

USA - Sean Hoey has joined Robe Lighting (US) as rental/staging segment manager.

With 22 years of industry experience, Hoey has held similar positions with High End Systems and Vari*Lite in the past. "I am very excited about coming onboard with Robe," he states. "The product line offers the choice of a wide and dynamic range of lighting tools for all types of applications, and Robe's reputation for innovation is one of its great strengths."

Hoey will be based in Austin, Texas, and will spend considerable time on the road visiting clients and contacts and actively demonstrating the kit.

Robe Lighting (US) CEO David Srba states, "It is great to have someone of Sean's calibre join our team. It will allow us to serve the production and rental customers better than ever, combined with outstanding product reliability and a diverse range of technology spann

Spain - This month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (15-18 February) will be the stage for the first large scale unveiling of DB Systems' newest piece of software solution for exhibitors, ecoXpress.

ecoXpress is billed as a revolutionary touchscreen-based system that has been designed to help companies save money and reduce their environmental footprint when exhibiting at events all around the world, as it removes the need for printed brochures and corporate material.

At MWC, ecoXpress will be installed on numerous exhibits. When delegates visit those exhibits rather than taking away a printed brochure or guide, they will instead be able to browse the exhibitor's literature on touch screens. Delegates can then choose what information is most relevant to them and email that selected information to their office computers.

Oliver Richardson, DB Systems' sales director, said

UK - The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) has suspended a member of staff after it emerged that he was using a false name.

As reported in the Scottish News of the World on 7 February, the lecturer, who for six months had gone by the name 'Simon Cadell', was in fact Simon Brophy, the former head of lighting at the Millennium Dome who was jailed for four-and-a-half years in 2005 after being convicted of a £4m fraud at the Dome.

The deception apparently came to light following allegations that Cadell had had a relationship with a student. He was immediately suspended by the Academy.

Last year, "Simon Cadell" was mentioned in RSAMD press releases as part of its lecturing team that had been named "the best in the world" by OISTAT at the World Stage Design Exhibition & Conference 2009, in Korea. As of this morning, "Simon Cade

Sound in the Round - The Human League, Gary Numan and Grace Jones will all play special shows at a new temporary venue, the 5DX dome, in Miami and London in March and April. The venue will offer "3D Surround Sound and 360-degree visuals as well as dining facilities, with five-course meals for guests". Gary Numan is quoted as describing the experience as "The entertainment equivalent of walking into a laptop - the audience are immersed in a 360 degree digital environment unlike any experience known before."

Back to The Eighties - Blondie will play an outdoor show in the UK as part of The Forestry Commission's annual series of outdoor concerts. The show, at the Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire will take place on 20 June. Happy Mondays will headline the Saturday night of this year's Wychwood Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse on 5 June.

Kenya - Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production - sound, lighting, AV & video, staging, sets, rigging and power - and one of their massive new In2Structures SupaDome venues for Swedish cosmetics multinational Oriflame's 2010 Diamond Conference.

This was hosted at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel & Spa in Bamburi, near Mombasa on the Kenyan coast, and produced by Oriflame's in house production team.

The project, the site and the logistics were managed for Gearhouse by Bill Lawford and Eyal Yehezkely, working closely with account handler Gareth Hadden.

Forty four Gearhouse SA crew - designers, engineers and technicians - worked across all the disciplines, utilising 63 tonnes of production equipment that was air freighted out of SA via Nairobi in a 747 freighter. The SupaDome was transported to Mombasa in seven 40ft Hi-Cube sea freight containers.

The event compr

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