UK - Style By Solares managing director, Wren Solares contracted TAO Group to design and produce L'Oreal Redken's Tribe '08 Hairdressing Awards, held at Battersea Evolution during London's Fashion Week this September.

Presented by TV's Alex Zane of Popworld, Tribe '08 is L'Oreal's annual awards for the UK's top hairdressers and was attended by over 1,200 hairdressers from around the country.

This year the aim was to achieve a more rock 'n' roll feel. TAO's Andy Cotton designed a production that included two 4mx 3m rear projection screens with Barco SLMR12 projectors, interspersed with 240 panels of stealth screen, supplied and operated by High Resolutions' Peter Canning.

The stage was installed as a three-stage system with a 12m x 10m main stage and a 9m central catwalk protruding into the audience arena. A connecting DJ stage was set at 18 inches higher and occupied

France - Barco reports that the world's leading car brands have again selected Barco LED solutions to deliver maximum brand impact to their booths at this year's Mondial de Automobile in Paris. Barco LED displays are used on over 70% of the booths at the show.

Held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, the Mondial de Automobile is a showcase for over 500 international brands and a celebration of the European automotive industry. This year, the show will be celebrating its 110th anniversary and pays host to over 90 world premières. It runs from 4 to 19 October 2008.

The use of black LED is a major trademark of this year's show with many auto manufacturers choosing Barco's new true black LED displays, the NX-4 and NX-6, as an integral part of their booth design.

"Alongside the trend to black, creative use of LED at auto shows also continues a dominant trend," says Andr

China - Lighting designer Durham Marenghi specified individual i-Pix BB4 LED cells to up-light the performers onboard the special double decker London bus in the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics 'Handover' sections of the 2008 Beijing Olympics & Paralympics Closing Ceremonies.

The two Handover events took place three weeks apart in the Birds Nest stadium, and were integral elements of both Games' Closing Ceremonies.

Marenghi chose BB4 cells - high power homogenized 20 degree RGB lightsources - because they were "efficient, bright and low power". There were 24 individual units bordering each of the two scissor lift platforms either end of the bus, and 20 on the central hydraulic ram lift.

The bus was designed by Stufish, and the BB4s - along with other lighting elements - were integrated into it by Stage One, who customised the whole vehicle for the shows.

(Ji

South Africa - DWR Distribution has been appointed as the official Vari*Lite distributor for South Africa.

Vari*Lite had been scouting South Africa for some time, and Bob Schacherl, VP of sales visited earlier in the year with the objective of identifying a suitable partner company. Whilst there, he consulted with many industry professionals and "the company most frequently mentioned was DWR," he reports.

He was also familiar with Duncan Riley's history in the industry, and the passion and enthusiasm that drives the company and has carved out its reputation for delivering world class customer service and support - a goal shared by Vari*Lite.

Riley and Schacherl met recently at PLASA 2008 in London and came to a verbal agreement which has now been formalised. Schacherl says he is "very excited" to be entering the South African market.

Riley comments: &qu

Spain - For the first time in three years DJ Tiësto returned to the Spanish island of Ibiza to host his own weekly residency at Privilege, the world's largest nightclub. Playing accompaniment to the four-hour DJ sets in the form of a dynamic backdrop was a high impact 120sq.mMartin LC Series LED wall.

The event ran every Monday night from early July until the closing party on 22 September and featured new production and effects gear including a customized DJ booth and the state-of-the-art LED backdrop.

"The use of lasers was not an option this year so we took a look into the LED screens on the market," says Bart Roelen, production manager for Tiësto. "We couldn't do lots of rigging in the club so lights had to be hung on a steel layer construction placed upstage. Video is a very important element of Tiësto's show so we needed a system that could be placed on

UK - Sustainable events came a step closer to reality with the announcement of the UK's single largest self-funded programme on implementing the new British Standard, BS 8901 Sustainable Event Management.

The programme, which commenced earlier this year, involves every part of the industry sector, from event clients to organisers, and venues to suppliers and features large corporate companies through to small and medium-sized enterprises.

This programme is managed by the Sustainable Events Group (SEG) and is due to run through until the planned review of the new standard early in 2009. Experiences from the programme will feed directly into the BS 8901 revision process undertaken by the British Standards Institution.

"The programme gives the UK event industry a real chance to lead the world in the application of sustainability principles to their activities and events,&q

Australia - Swinburne University in Prahran, Victoria, already a client of Coemar De Sisti Australia contacted the company regarding requirements for a lighting and dimming system for a new studio under construction.

They required a dimming system with patch facilities, so Coemar De Sisti Australia specified LSC. The installation was completed in just two days. Michael Ellul Coemar De Sisti's project manager attended on-site and commissioned the system immediately.

The studio is now up and running with a LSC EKO installation dimmer rack, LSC iPatch and Minim lighting console along with De Sisti Giotto over head cyc lights.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Developer of system design and control software, Stardraw.com, has appointed Joel Schwartz as business development manager for North America. Schwartz joins Stardraw.com with 30 years experience in IT, consumer electronics, custom installation, commercial audio-visual and healthcare industries.

"I have had a great informal relationship with Stardraw.com for several years," says Schwartz, "and have enjoyed being something of a sounding-board for strategic planning. As Stardraw.com has accelerated its growth into new markets using cutting-edge technologies, the opportunity to cement that relationship was just too good to miss."

Schwartz's career began as a programmer and systems analyst in the days of punch-card computing. Since then he has held senior positions with well-known organizations including Harman International and Mordaunt-Short, and sat for

France - The 95th annual Tour de France was followed by hordes of passionate crowds cheering along the road. Covering the event for television with a highlights programme was Belgian national broadcaster VRT. Rosco provided gobos and a gobo rotator to animate the images.

VRT Broadcast presented its programme, which included interviews with cyclists and other TV personalities from France and Belgium, every night, in a different location along the route.

Set locations included places such as the courts of old castles as well as vineyards, with facilities supplied by Videohouse and lighting rented by Lites. Seeking visual interest for its coverage, VRT approached Rosco looking for a "bright and easy to use" visual aid that they could set up.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique 4 took place on Saturday 27 September, attractingaround 20,000 people to the show on Madeira Drive, Brighton. The event marked the end of a 38-day world tour of festivals and beach gigs for the DJ.

LM Productions supplied multiple laser systems for the performance these included their powerful 40W emerald green lasers, two high powered full colour whitelight lasers, stage left and right, and a green diode laser positioned behind Fatboy Slim's booth.

LM Productions also supplied lasers for Fatboy Slims headlining slot at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park this summer.

You can view video footage of the Brighton event at www.lm-productions.com.

There will be more on Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique in November's Lighting&Sound magazine.

(Claire Beeson)

UK - PLASA has launched a major new initiative on behalf of companies who work in, or supply to, the production and events sectors. In partnership with the Sustainable Events Group, PLASA has put together a programme of workshops designed to take companies through the development and implementation of BS 8901 - the major new event management standard that will influence how all events are delivered in the future.

Attaining compliance with BS 8901 will give businesses a significant market advantage as the new standard is already being specified by major organisations such as London2012 and is a core commitment of the recently-issued DCMS Sustainable Development Action Plan.

The programme, which is open to both members and non-members, is based on a series of five one-day workshops held at 4-5 week intervals, and has been specifically designed to provide a low-cost route to achi

Belgium / USA - To continue the worldwide promotion of the WARP series of profile spotlights, Belgian manufacturer ADB Lighting will be exhibiting at LDI in Las Vegas from 24-26 October, showing its WARP Motorized and the WARP Daylight fixtures for the North American market.

The WARP Motorized high-efficiency light output matches that of a standard 1200W profile spotlight, yet consumes only 750W. The WARP Motorized offers precision optics combined with beam shaping capabilities, accurate repeatability, and silent fanless operation.

The WARP Motorized has been chosen by major houses around the world including Opera Oslo, Opera Brussels, Palau de las Artes in Valencia, Casa de Musica in Porto, Bayerische Staatsoper in Germany, the English National Opera in London, Glyndebourne Opera House, Theatro Franco Parenti in Italy, the new National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijin

UK - An innovative new product which allows clients to light up their business image, in an easy to use, portable and compact format, has been introduced by Apticol Ltd. The new LED Imaging Spotlight, for use in applications which require full colour image projection or accurate beam shaping, has already attracted major interest from a number of sectors who have identified a variety of uses for the compact, high quality product, the company reports.

Applications for the LED Imaging Spotlight include advertising, logo projection and point-of-sale to name but a few, and is well suited to such environments as retail, pubs and clubs, hotels, museums, galleries and leisure facilities.

"Utilising LED technology, the Imaging Spotlight is both energy efficient and environmentally friendly, boasting long life-time and reduced waste", say Apticol. The company, which specialize

USA - Lighting manufacturer Elation Professional has announced that Everlast Productions, based in Dania Beach, FL, will serve as its East Coast Service Centre. The move will enable customers on the East Coast to have warranty and non-warranty authorised repairs on Elation products performed at Everlast by factory trained technicians.

"We're confident that this association will result in better service to Elation customers on the East Coast and faster turnaround on repairs," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "Everlast is a highly regarded production company with experience in a wide range of lighting applications, and they share our strong dedication to quality and service."

Specialising in corporate events, outdoor events, night clubs, trade shows, HOW installations, hotels, stadiums, museums and more, Everlast Productions provi

UK - Horizon Control has published an Open Source section on its website for ET Marquee and Strand Light Palette lighting control software.

When it comes to software, there is never a shortage of ideas, but more-so a lack of skilled developers, especially in a niche market such as entertainment lighting. HCI's core technology is its internal fade engine and Universal Attribute Control, but with the release of the new Open Source area on its web site, there are now countless 'hooks' into this powerful software product, says the company.

Giving users that may dabble in software development the tools needed to 'poke and prod' the main fade engine allows them the ability to write powerful macros that go beyond recording a series of keystrokes. The mere ability to branch execution with a simple IF statement "opens the doors to possibilities that have never before been availabl

Belgium - Barco reports that its OLite 612 LED display was selected to support rock band Queen + Paul Rodgers on their 2008 European tour, The Cosmos Rocks,which kicked off in Kharkov, Ukraine on 12 September. A grand total of 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules are used to create a massive backdrop screen on stage.

The stage set for the tour was created by Stufish, whose team has created stage designs for Pink Floyd, U2, The Rolling Stones and many others. The giant backdrop screen, which forms the key visual element to the show, measures 17m wide and 5m high and contains 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules.

"Barco's Olite 612 fitted our design perfectly", says Mark Fisher, managing director at Stufish. "We wanted to present the audience with a spectacular video and light experience befitting a band of this statue. Olite's modularity once again enabled us to create some

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden's W-DMX features on Céline Dion's Taking Chances world tour which visits five continents, 24 countries and 84 cities, with a total of 120 performances.

The show is directed by Jamie King, who lists Madonna's Confessions Tour, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour, as well as tours for Kanye West and the Spice Girls among his credits. Lighting Designer is Yves 'Lapin' Aucoin.

The tour setup is a 360-degree production, designed 'in the round' style, and includes t20 LED screens, including one that orbits the stage, plus conveyor belts and elevators. The touring system is provided by Montreal, Canada-based Solotech, which is also the provider for various Cirque du Soleil productions.

With such limits in place regarding 360-degree viewing angles and elaborate movement, W-DMX was chosen as for sending wireless DMX s

USA - Janet Jackson's Rock Witchu tour features a spectacular moving lighting rig created by lighting designer Vince Foster. A total of 150 PixelLine 1044s adjourn the lighting rig - half are used to construct a bridge that comes in and out, whilst the other half are rigged on moving trusses. The moving bridge creates another dimension for Jackson's stage presence and provides a dramatic platform for both singing and dancing.

Foster explains: "I've been a great fan of PixelLines since I started using them back in 2003 on a Massive Attack tour. They are consistently a very reliable and robust fixture - and I don't think I have designed a show without them since then."

He continues: "Janet Jackson contacted me after seeing one of my Kylie shows on DVD. I worked with her creative director who had a story and a script for the show - and after several meetings

Germany - The Robe The Future is Digital international road show hit Germany last week, staged at Sky Europe's Mainz-based TV Studio, in the same neighbourhood as ZDF Television's massive HQ and complex.

Robe presented a two-day opportunity for guests to enjoy hands-on product demos and comparisons in a relaxing, convivial atmosphere and a real working environment.

The event was attended by visual designers, operators, programmers, technicians and a wide assortment of interested industry professionals from across Germany and Austria.

The Future is Digital gave visitors an opportunity to experience the new technology behind this concept. Digital moving lights and the new Robe DigitalSpot 3000 DT and the DigitalSpot 7000 DT moving light projectors were creatively positioned around the studio's large, curved cyclorama, shooting onto the screen and around the room.

UK - Following a busy summer, temporary power specialist Power Logistics has moved its operations to new, expanded premises in Wiltshire in good time to serve the winter events market.

The new base is in the Chippenham area just minutes from the M4. The move was planned last year, when it became apparent that Power Logistics was rapidly outgrowing its previous operational base, as it experienced growth in the live music, public events and sporting sectors.

The new premises have two warehouses for storage and handling, allowing the company more efficient turnaround of equipment and quicker access to the motorway network.

"The move to new purpose-built offices and storage facilities puts us in an ideal position to offer the best value service to the winter market," says Mike Whitehouse, Power Logistics' business development manager. "The premises give us a numbe

UK - At the 2008 PLASA Show, the White Light family welcomed two new members - truss manufacturer Tomcat, and JB Lighting, manufacturer of LED moving lights.

For Tomcat, White Light will be the exclusive UK distributor for the Tomcat One range of truss products. The One range includes both ladder, rectangular box, triangular and stacking truss designs with either 48mm or 50mm diameter tubes.

JB Lighting is an innovative new manufacturer of LED and more traditional automated lighting fixtures, including the VaryLED A7 Zoom adjustable-beam moving LED washlight. The fixture won a Silver PLASA Award for Innovation this year.

The VaryLED A7 will be available from mid-November, with it and the rest of the JB Lighting range available in the UK exclusively from White Light.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Rosco has confirmed that Paul de Ville is joining the company as senior sales manager UK.

"Despite the weakening economy, Rosco's British business remains ambitious. We continue to see increased opportunities to enter new markets and expand our existing market share," says Kees Frijters, Rosco vice-president European business. "Growth continues to be one of our main objectives. The timing for Paul de Ville joining Rosco couldn't be better.

De Ville trained as a stage manager and lighting designer before working for Theatre Projects London. From there he spent 16 years with Action Lighting and the Lighting Technology Group.

(Jim Evans)

Canada - CAST Software has introduced its joint innovators for BlackBox, which made its world debut at PLASA08 in London.

CAST's BlackBox is built with special hardware and proprietary software to be an integrated, bi-directional high speed communication solution which enables all control devices connected to it to send or receive instructions from each other. Live, realtime input is received in all forms by the BlackBox which acts as the brains - running on an ultra high-speed hybrid version of WYSIWYG.

CAST is working with key industry leaders - each a respected innovator in its own field -- to ensure BlackBox meets its technical objectives. In exchange, each will get a 12-month exclusive leadtime to enhance their own products to capitalize on the power and speed of BlackBox. Representatives of these companies were on hand during PLASA for the Beta launch phase to announce t

UK - Large format projection specialists E/T/C London supplied seven 6kW PIGI projectors with double rotating scrollers to produce a 120m wide backdrop on The Old College building at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for Music On Fire 2008.

It is the third time that E/T/C London has been involved in the biannual three-day mixed-media extravaganza and Firework Prom which attracted audiences of up to 10,000 per night with proceeds going to the Army Benevolent Fund.

The PIGI scrollers contained 19m of film and produced over 100 looks on the building, with all artwork created by media designer Paul Chatfield.

Chatfield took approximately a month to research and compile the finished artwork, working closely with show producer, Major Sir Michael Parker who also storyboarded the production.

The seven projectors were positioned 46m from the building, covered by S

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