Germany - MA Lighting has expanded its grandMA range with a new member - the grandMA pico. The new console is specifically designed for the use in theatres and is similar to the grandMA micro. The hardware of the new console however has been optimised for the needs of theatres.

Similar to the bigger consoles of the grandMA range, a number-pad, a Go-plus, a Go-minus and a pause key are all present. One colour touch screen display, five manual faders, five physical playback buttons (on 128 pages), 1,024 DMX channels and free visualisation software make the grandMA pico the perfect introductory console, says the company.

Additionally it is also possible to connect one remote and up to four grandMA video stations. The console utilises the same syntax, windows and menus as the larger consoles. The new desk will be on show at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Visual Productions, the makers of VisualDMX and Matrix Mania! will be presenting the Canvix dedicated Matrix Server at ProLight + Sound.

Visual Productions has "decided to allow their future generation of lighting control software to be led by the current market developments in lighting: namely LED technology". Canvix has been designed for the exclusive use with LED matrixes.

Working with the established hardware available from Visual Productions, Canvix tackles the control of matrixes with "a unique concept": instead of controlling the LEDs individually, Canvix bundles together all fixtures to form one whole canvas; a 2-dimensional area on which effects and graphics can be applied. This powerful approach allows for sophisticated video-alike visuals, as well as fast pixel painting for the easy creation of graphics, says the company.

By reusing c

Germany - The German contemporary restaurant franchise Café 7 has opened its latest franchise featuring fully integrated lighting control from Zero 88. Style and branding are core to Café 7's philosophy and part of their franchise agreements is to maintain their distinctive ambience and style. During the day they operate as cosy café's but as evening approaches Café 7's evolve into relaxed bars offering a range of international wines and cuisines.

For its fourth franchise, which opened in Münster during February 2007, Cafe 7 chose Zero 88 for the lighting control. The management of the café needed a simple way for staff to seamlessly integrate ambient house lighting, colour changing LED and disco lighting effects. The combination of Chilli dimmers, remote panels and Frog-Box replay unit were chosen for their ease of installation, ease of use a

UK - PRG has bought a 30-way Kinesys automation system which has gone straight out on the Lionel Richie tour, for which PRG is the lighting contractor.

The Kinesys system was specified for the lengthy UK and European leg of the tour by show designer and LD Chris Medvitz. PRG's account handler Carol Croft says, "We had been looking at buying a system for some time, and then this came up - so the time was absolutely right."

On the Richie tour, the Kinesys system's Elevation 1+ motor drives are working in conjunction with 28 tonne Lodestar JJ vari-speed motors, being controlled by Kinesys Vector software, operated by Blaine Dracup.

The Motors are suspending nine lighting pods, eight of them each contain six Vari*Lites, and the ninth has ten 5K Skypan fixtures. All are hung over the stage, with the Skypan pod right above the piano riser.

The pods are static for most

Germany - Sunlite is showing a broad spread of its products at ProLight + Sound and reports that all the company's software products are 100% compatible with the new Microsoft operating system, Windows VISTA. All software have been successfully tested and work perfectly on this system, says Sunlite.

"As it is expected, all of our software will take advantage of the new Windows VISTA features in the future. Our engineers are already working on new releases that use these features, which will be launched throughout the year," adds the company.

(Jim Evans)

Denmark - In 2006, Martin Professional successfully maintained the positive developments in the company's operations that began in the second half of 2005. Substantial improvement produced a DKK 18 million profit before tax in 2006 (approx. $3.2 million), an increase of DKK 83 million over 2005 figures (approx. $14.7 million).

Revenue was up from DKK 955 million in 2005 (approx. $171 million) to a record level of DKK 1,027 million in 2006 (approx. $183 million), the highest ever as Martin generated new sales records in a number of geographical markets, among them France, Germany and Scandinavia. The year to year improvement in EBT was also the largest in company history and operating cash flow reached DKK 113 million (approx. $20.2 million), the highest level ever.

The improvement was attributable to a more focused sales effort, combined with the successful launch of new produ

UK - Nitelites, the North East provider of sound, lighting and staging, has re-confirmed its commitment to JBL Professional's range of products by investing in eight Vertec VT4880A subwoofers. The units, which were supplied by Harman Pro UK, are being powered by four new Crown IT8000 amplifiers to provide 32kW of sub-bass for Nitelite's existing VT4889 rigs.

Founded in 1984 by current director Jim Moore, Nitelites was born out of a touring system from the halcyon days of 'Rock n Roll.' After years of on the road with Lindisfarne, the system and the company evolved to encompass Moore's experience in the sound reinforcement industry, which over the years has seen him work with artists including Frank Zappa, Journey, Def Leppard, Chris Rea, Dr Hook, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin.

Nitelites has been stocking JBL Professional's Vertec series for six years and was one of the first tour

Germany - High End Systems chose ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt to launch the newest member of the Wholehog family: the Road Hog, billed as a new breed of lighting console designed for speed and affordability.

Brad Schiller, HES Director of control systems development, says, "The Road Hog console has been developed as a lower cost alternative, allowing a wide range of users to experience the benefits of the Wholehog operating software. Its compact size and fast operating speed provide a sleek package that will fit nicely into various markets including corporate events, houses of worship, smaller touring shows and rental applications. We are pleased to strengthen the Wholehog family with another superb lighting console."

The Road Hog console provides 2048 DMX channels of control, offering fast performance speed. Two internal touch screens display data and allow quick a

USA - Color Kinetics Incorporated and Element Labs have announced a global cross-licensing agreement, fostering ongoing product development in the entertainment-focused market for intelligent LED lighting. Element Labs will acquire access to Color Kinetics' complete patent portfolio, enabling the development and sale of certain LED-based product lines worldwide.

Element Labs is a prominent manufacturer of LED systems that merge lighting and video in a wide range of theatrical, touring, television and other entertainment applications. Its systems have been used in many high-profile projects around the world, including three of the last four Super Bowl halftime shows, the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, and the concert tours of Madonna, the Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and Coldplay, among many others.

Several of Element Labs' intelligent LED product lines apply Colo

USA/Japan - Konica Minolta Holdings, Konica Minolta Technology Center (collectively KM) and the General Electric Company have signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialisation of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years.

Masatoshi Matsuzaki, president, Konica Minolta Technology Center, said, "Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, light weight, and sheet form, OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future. We are delighted to collaborate with GE to accelerate the development and launching of this revolutionary new lighting technology."

Michael Idelchik, vice president, advanced technology programmes, GE Global Research, said, "The alliance o

Greece - Lighthouse Technologies made its first appearance in Greece at one of the country's most important electronics exhibitions, Electronika and Digitec, a show that spans a number of markets including professional sound and lighting, held in Athens at the beginning of March.

Lighthouse showed a 5-panel x 3-panel (5.08m x 2.8m) configuration of its best selling R6-III, 6mm pixel pitch display on the stand of Athens-based sales and distribution company, Spectratech. The R6-III incorporates Lighthouse's Uniformity Control, developed to guarantee that the colour balance of every pixel and the brightness of every LED is identical, thus "ensuring screen uniformity to an exceptional level".

The cooperation with Spectratech heralds an agreement between the two companies for Spectratech to promote Lighthouse products within the Greek market. "We have chosen t

USA/Australia - ENTTEC has announced the opening of its US sales office. Based in Brooklyn, NY and run by Jeremy Kumin, the sales office will support the growing network of ENTTEC dealers in the US.

Kumin, a veteran lighting designer and programmer, has been using and dealing the ENTTEC products through his company, Tri-Luminary, for some time now. He has worked in theatre, dance, fashion, video, film, special events, and retail store lighting, as well as consulting on new theatres and renovation projects.

ENTTEC reports healthy growth in the last few years. "This US office is just the next step in our growth plan and supporting our sales network in the US is very important to us," says Nicolas Moreau, ENTTEC's founder. "With a string of new high tech products about to be launched this will be a big year for ENTTEC and its partners."

The Sales office will

UK - Academy Music Group Holdings have confirmed Live Nation, Inc. (Live Nation) and Gaiety Investments (Gaiety) have together completed the acquisition of a 56% interest in Academy Music Holdings Group (AMG) from RJD Partners.

Bob Angus (Metropolis Music) and Simon Moran (SJM Concerts), leading promoters in the UK music industry, have also considerably increased their shareholding in Academy Music Group to forty four percent (44%), under the terms of the deal.

Academy Music Group owns and operates 12 live music venues across the UK. Its venue capacities range from 250 to 5,000 and include the multi-award winning Carling Academy Brixton (London), Shepherd's Bush Empire (London) and Carling Academy Islington (London), with further concert venues in Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford and Brighton.

Metropolis Music and SJM Concerts are responsible for pr

USA - Production Resource Group, LLC, has named Paul Morrill account executive for the company's corporate and special events group. He will work out of PRG's offices in New York City.

Morrill will provide lighting, video, scenic and audio solutions for PRG clients in the northeast. His 20 years of entertainment design and production management experience covers a wide range of applications, including corporate and special events, concert tours, television and film productions, sports entertainment, and permanent installations.

A graduate of the School of the Arts at SUNY Purchase, Morrill holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre design and technology. He comes to PRG from Motion Laboratories Inc. where he was a systems designer for chain hoist control and portable power distribution systems.

"Paul brings a broad range of production experience to PRG. We are fort

UK - Philip L. Edwards, lighting manager at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, has been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship for 2007. Fellowships are offered to British Citizens resident in the UK and from all walks of life to enable them to acquire knowledge and experience abroad.

Edwards will be spending a month in the USA in the autumn to visit a number of music colleges and universities to observe the way in which student productions - particularly of opera - are supported by design and technical back up.

Edwards has been staff lighting designer and chief electrician at the RNCM for over 30 years and this Fellowship offers an opportunity to observe the way in which American colleges approach the problems of staging opera to train singers and musicians.

(Lee Baldock)

Germany - Philips Electronics announced a number of new product developments at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt.

Philips has enlarged the MSR product range with Philips MSR Gold 700 FastFit and Philips Hi-Brite 750 FastFit. This rear load lamp base system has been codeveloped with Bender & Wirth. The benefit of this new lamp concept is not only a fast lamp replacement due to the unique lamp and lamp holder design, it also includes an increased brightness, provides the opportunity to reduce fixture size and weight, assures reliability due to pinch protection technology and has an excellent colour quality, says the company.

The new Philips Ceramic ST 500HR has a colour temperature of 3200K, "excellent" colour characteristics and homogeneous beam intensity. Light output of the Ceramic ST 500HR equals the light output of a Halogen 2000W light source.

In co-development wi

UK - AV Matrix reports its continuing association with Martin Professional with a major investment in Martin effect lighting for its installation business. These lights will be used for the installation of various high profile nightclubs in the UK. Also, AV Matrix has expanded its stock of Martin lights in its rapidly expanding events department which caters for corporate events throughout the country, with further investment planned for 2007.

AV Matrix managing director Mark Parker comments, "Martin Professional offers a true partnership approach to business. Their product range is excellent and the back up and support is second to none. Over the next 12 months we are going to be investing substantial amounts of money new lighting stock as well as updating our current hire stock."

Benn Timbury, sales representative from Martin Professional comments, "It's a ple

UK / Italy - Fuzion plc has made a significant addition to its distributed lighting portfolio by reaching an agreement with Coemar SpA to represent the Italian giant's range of LED and automated lighting products in the UK. The move follows just a month after confirming a similar agreement with Israeli digital lighting control and dimmer company, Compulite.

Fuzion's lighting manager David Stewart said: "Fuzion are thrilled to be working with Coemar and are looking forward to revitalising the brand in the UK. We had been looking for a moving head manufacturer with a good pedigree and product range and a reputation for providing support, including spares. We were introduced to Coemar, and visiting their premises in Northern Italy we were hugely impressed by the company's innovative approach - particularly their policy of designing their products to meet the needs of lighting

USA - Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc (TPC) has announced that Scott Crossfield has joined its US office. Crossfield has been a theatre consultant for 11 years and is a former principal of the theatre consulting firm Davis Crossfield Associates. At TPC he will specialise in auditorium design and theatre planning, working as a senior consultant in TPC's design department with John Coyne, director of design, and Brian Hall, principal theatre designer.

"I have been a long-time fan of TPC's work, which I believe is reflected in many of the theatres that I have designed, and thus my desire to work at TPC," explains Crossfield, "I am excited and proud to be joining the company, which I consider the best in the world. I am looking forward to sharing experiences, stories, and ideas and am especially looking forward to collaborating with such a talented group of people.&

UK - Following the success of last year's series of Professional Laser Display Safety training days, laser safety specialists Laser Visuals Research have announced the next course date - 16 April 2007 - to be held at the Kent Science Park, near Sittingbourne, Kent.

The one-day course combines theory with practical examples of many topics specific to laser display safety. In addition to the subjects covered during the course, each attendee receives a copy of the Laser Visuals Research handbook on laser display safety, and receives a certificate of attendance.

The course has been designed to provide essential and valuable information for anybody involved with working with laser lighting products, whether they be show operators, installation companies, manufacturers, or resellers of laser projectors. Attendees of the course will also be automatically enrolled onto the new Laser S

Canada - Pyrotek Special Effects Inc. and Laser Design Productions have appointed Jim Schorer as marketing manager. Schorer comes with experiences working in the field of marketing and sales for Coca-Cola and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

He will provide direct support to the marketing efforts working in conjunction with both Pyrotek Special Effects and Laser Design Productions. "We're so excited to have Jim on board to not only get to know the ins and outs of our exciting industry, but to also propel Laser Design Productions and Pyrotek Special Effects new products and services into the market place," stated President Doug Adams.

(Jim Evans)

South America - As an extension to the Twisted Logic tour, Coldplay recently capped off a three week tour in South America. Once again, Laser Design Productions provided laser effects with its new compact 5 watt air cooled white light diode laser system.

The 11-date tour took in four different venues in Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paolo, Brazil and Mexico City, Mexico. According to Mark Ward, Coldplay's production manager, "The South American tour was a huge success. The new technology Laser was a great solution to the production management's concerns of equipment size, weight, power consumption and venue water limitations. The 5 watt air cooled diode Laser provided spectacular multicolour atmospheric and beam effects."

(Jim Evans)

Dubai - Following hot on the heels of the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, Shakira's sell-out concert at Dubai Autodrome has provided the curtain raiser for this year's Event 360 expo at PALME Middle East. Event 360 Exhibition Manager Jonathan Gadalla says that when the recent Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and Dubai Jazz Festival are added in, it illustrates just how far the industry in the region has developed.

"The Philharmonic Orchestra shows at the new Festival City recorded a huge turnout, indicating a real interest in the classical music market," he said. "On top of that, 25,000 people attended the Jazz Festival. It is evident from this that whether the music is classical, Latin American, heavy metal or jazz the level of appreciation is now unprecedented."

Some of the magic of show production will be introduced to the Dubai International Exhibition

UK - A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has provided the complete supply and installation of lighting technical facilities for the Northern Stage theatre in Newcastle as part of a two year, £9m refurbishment programme.

Formerly known as the Newcastle Playhouse, Northern Stage is the largest producing theatre company in the North East of England and regarded as one of the top-ten UK producing theatres. The venue has been completely redesigned, doubling in size to accommodate three very different performance spaces.

Northern Stage's activities include performing their own major new productions on all three stages, co-producing new work with theatre makers from around the world and all around the UK, and inviting the most exciting theatre companies of all sizes and shapes to bring their work to the North East.

Stage 1 is the theatre's spectacular and versatile main

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