Hot News - A major initiative for NAMM 2010 this week will be the introduction of NAMM's H.O.T. Zone which will offer specialised training courses and networking events for music industry professionals in live audio, house of worship and stage and lighting industries.

"NAMM recognises the importance of the live audio, house of worship and stage and lighting industries to the music products industry and welcomes these music industry professionals to the 2010 NAMM Show," says Kevin Johnstone, director of trade shows, NAMM. "This year, we're working closely with a number of partner organisations and media outlets that serve these segments to create a new and valuable education track to meet their needs and giving them even more reasons to attend this year's NAMM Show."

More than 15 industry partners, publishers, organisations and associations will offer a seri

USA - During the holidays, New York City has some of the world's most beautiful outdoor displays. This year, the iconic display of large vintage C7 Christmas light bulbs in front of the McGraw-Hill building at 1221 6th Avenue has gone green. The traditional display has been replaced with a giant string of 31 LED holiday lights. PRG Scenic Technologies partnered with the designers from American Christmas, a leader in holiday décor and installations, to build and install the massive display.

"We initially pitched the new design to our client, the Rockefeller Group, owners of 1221 6th Avenue," said Lance R. Caffrey, chief production officer, American Christmas. "The Rockefeller Group puts a lot of emphasis on being LEED-certified and being environmentally aware, so as a nod to that, we suggested they change the existing display of conventional holiday lights t

UK - As part of an ongoing relationship with Songtime Theatre Arts, London Light has again supported the theatre school with its latest production, Hairspray The Musical. London Light provided full support services from lighting design and pre-production to rental, get-in, operation and get-out.

The production was presented at the Magna Carta School theatre in Surrey, which presented a number of challenges including power, space and access restrictions during school hours.

Lighting designer Andy Vere explains: "We had a very short time in the theatre before the first performance so we arranged to do a pre-rig on the Thursday night, leaving the Friday night for focusing and plotting. Then the cast was onstage at 11am on the Saturday for re-blocking before the first performance at 8pm.

"Having pre-plotted the show back in our offices meant the only touch ups t

USA - Following successful discussions at PLASA 09 Multiform Lighting has appointed Apollo Design Technology based in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis as its US distributor of LED lighting and controllers for the Stage and Architainment markets.

Apollo will be exhibiting at the Big City Bash 14 January and at Super Saturday on 16 January in Atlanta, Georgia.

On display for the first time in the US will be the latest LED luminaires from Multiform, the MultiSpot HP and MultiBeam HP. Rated at 27W and 54W respectively these fixtures use 3W Multricel LEDs to produce a uniform, shadow free, colour output. Fitted with interchangeable lenses they can provide beam angles of 25, 40 and 60 degrees.

Manufactured from rugged aluminium extrusions and galvanised steel they are equipped with a combined hanging bracket/floor stand, safety cable and designed for DMX or standalone operation making the

USA - The exterior of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles was awash in colour and patterns recently for the LA Philharmonic's Annual Gala. In concert with the energy of music director Gustavo Dudamel, lighting designer Raymond Thompson (Images by Lighting) created vibrant colour and pattern combinations using Martin MAC III Profile luminaires to give the iconic concert hall a glowing effect.

Thompson's lighting rig, supplied and operated by Kinetic Lighting of Los Angeles, consisted entirely of new luminaries including the MAC III Profile, LED sources, and other automated lights. Thompson sought a rig that featured LED, but also needed a luminaire that could handle the long throw distance and challenging surface of the building and turned to the MAC III.

Thompson comments, "We had to project colour and patterns from the east side of G

UK - Belfast based lighting rental company Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied lighting, rigging and crew for the 2009 Young Voices Christmas Concert, staged in the city's Odyssey Arena with a lighting design by Joe Byrne.

It was at least the 5th year that PSI has been involved with the Belfast YV Christmas concert, produced by London based Sound & Light Productions and featuring a mass choir of 5000 schoolchildren, plus featured artists which this year included VV Brown and classical superstars, All Angels.

The Odyssey Arena was used in a 'back-to-front' format for this show, with the stage at the opposite end to normal, due to there being more bleacher seating in the rear of the venue to accommodate the enormous choir, which was wrapped around the back and sides of the stage.

This presented its own challenges for the PSI team - who had to light all the choir

Italy - This past fall, Italian singer-songwriter and rock musician Gianna Nannini was out on her 15 date GiannaDream Tour with lighting and set design by Mamo Pozzoli.

Pozzoli incorporated a visually stunning cylindrical LED screen made up of Martin LC Series LED panels into the design. He explains his decision to use the LC panels, "I needed LED panels with a medium pitch between 30 and 60mm to ensure intelligibility and transparency simultaneously. Rental company Giochi di Luce offered me the LC Series so I took the opportunity to test them in combination with Martin's Maxedia media server and Maxxyz lighting console."

The LC panels formed an arcing 6m wide by 4m high cylindrical structure positioned at centre stage, the visual centrepiece of the set.

"With both concave and convex sides facing the audience, in practice we achieved two superimposed sc

Australia - The North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast is a function organised by the North Melbourne Football Club on the morning of the AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final - marking the traditional start of Australia's landmark sporting day.

In addition to being a major social highlight and an annual must-watch ritual for thousands of footy fans, it plays a huge role in the pre-match build up. The breakfast includes a Grand Auction, with all proceeds donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Clifton Productions were employed to provide lighting and visuals for the 1500 guests, including a veritable who's who of Australian sport, politics and culture plus performances from some of the biggest acts in town.

Robe moving lights were employed to creatively light the event, with 28 Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs and 24 Robe ColorWash 1200 ATs rigged above the triangular s

Denmark - Seelite A/S of Copenhagen completed one of its busiest years with the lighting for one of the most historical political summits that the world has ever seen.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 15 for short, closed with top marks given for the lighting of the entire proceedings. Seelite A/S under the direction of lighting designer Lars Nissen, deployed more than 1000 GLP Impression fixtures to light the plenum rooms, television broadcast locations and other ancillary areas. Seelite used all of their own fixtures, which they originally purchased for the Roskilde music festival and sub hired the remainder from AED Rent in Belgium, knowing that the Impression could easily handle this task.

A goal for using the fixtures was the reduction in power consumption over previous systems, without compromising light quality. The Danish foreign ministry, Se

USA - Lighting designer Lee Rose of Design Partners used some of the first Martin MAC 401 Dual lighting fixtures available in the US on two holiday TV specials - Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve, both on ABC.

For the last 25 years, Rose has lit every annual New Year's Rockin Eve (NYRE) show, and if you were tuned in on 31 December you couldn't have miss Martin's newest LED fixture prominently lined on each side of two performance stages.

"When I had the fixture in our light lab for pre-programming on the Disney Parks Christmas Parade I got a chance to explore its capabilities, I was quite impressed by it," Rose commented. "I wanted something for the NYRE stage that looked different, an LED fixture that didn't show discreet LEDs per colour."

Production designer for the event, Bruce Ryan a

UK - PR Lighting's new XLED 590 moving head washlight is proving a big hit for Ipswich-based Eclipse Sound & Light.

Proprietor Andy Collins says he has been using various PR Lighting products virtually since setting up his sales and rental company back in 2003 - and He also has a quantity of PR's Solo 250 conventional moving heads in his hire fleet.

But it was the new XLED 590s, containing 90 high power 5W RGB LEDs, that really "provided the wow factor", after UK distributors MilTec (UK) sent Eclipse a pair to trial at a massive fireworks display.

When the pair of XLED 590s made their debut at the massive fireworks event in Ipswich's Christchurch Park, it wasn't only the pyrotechnics that amazed the 50,000 people.

Says Collins, "We had them on either side of a 40ft x 30ft stage for a Michael Jackson tribute act. The colour wash we got was fantastic. We gener

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

USA - ETC's Source Four Revolution has been enjoying a short run at New York's Broadhurst Theatre, where lead actor Jude Law decided it looks like a Star Wars character.

Programmer Rob Halliday says: "The fixtures were only a short distance above Jude's head, and when they were in the reset position, pointing straight down, he thought he was going to bump his head on them. It's unusual for an actor to notice the moving lights, let alone comment on them - so we were very amused when he started saying they reminded him of something from the Star Wars movies. More importantly, in this incredibly precisely lit show, his understanding of what we were trying to do was remarkable and his positioning was always spot on."

The show was a transfer the Donmar Warehouse production of Hamlet, first seen at London's Wyndham's Theatre as part of the Donmar's year

UK - London Light Production Services worked with Capitol House Productions to supply over 200sq.m of Chroma Q Color Web, along with an ETC Eos console and HippoCritter media server for the British Hairdressing Awards at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in November.

Production manager Amanda Murray at Capitol House says, "We already have our own in-house lighting, but we contacted London Light because we knew they stocked Color Web, which we'd seen and loved at other award events.The first meeting with [London Light directors] Sam Crook and David Buffham took place around six months before the event, when they discussed the show's requirements with our lighting designer, Quentin Jarman, including programming the effects to go with the music that would be used. We were really impressed with their helpful and creative attitude - I wouldn't hesitate to use them again or recommen

Singapore - Anime Festival Asia 2009 (AFA09) is Singapore's most impressive festival targeting fans of Japanese animation and popular culture.

AFA09, which took place at Singapore Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 21-22 November, included concerts by a power-packed list of Japan's top musical performers collectively themed as I Love Anisong.

Trio AV of Singapore supplied audio, visuals, trussing and lighting for the two-day event with a package that included Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC TW1 Washes, MAC 2000 Washes and MAC 301 Washes with lighting control from a Martin Maxxyz Compact and two of the new MaxModules, MaxModule Submaster and MaxModule Button. Video clips for the wide projection screen were from a Martin Maxedia PRO media server.

Programming the Maxxyz Compact was Joel Tay who has worked with a number of different lighting d

UK - ARRI has confirmed the appointment of Flashlight as its main distributor of lighting and grip products. As part of a global exercise to reorganise sales operations within the ARRI Group, Flashlight Ltd have been carefully selected for their ability to provide the best possible service and support to ARRI customers in the UK, says the company.

Flashlight will continue to receive direct support from ARRI to ensure that they are always up to date with the latest lighting products, and will also continue to maintain the high standards on which ARRI's reputation is based.

Flashlight carries large stock to maximise supply chain efficiency, as well as offering various levels of service for its specialist markets.

The 2009 GBP price list is no longer valid. A Euro price list is available on request. (Tel: 01706 625866 E-Mail: sales@flash-light.org.uk)

(Claire Beeson)

Germany - e:cue lighting control has been awarded the iF Product Design Award 2010 for their Light-Drive Elite standalone DMX controller.

The iF product design award recognizes outstanding achievement in design and design innovation. This year's competition included 2,486 products from 1016 contestants, representing 39 countries.

Specifically designed for the end-user, this DMX controller features a sleek, high-end design and an intuitive interface that allows anyone to create static and dynamic lighting scenes. The glassy interface features an LED ring around the touch wheel to guide users in selecting and adjusting colours, intensity, and speed, as well as the ability to select four colours for graceful colour-changing lighting scenes, says the company.

Light-Drive Elite is the first e:cue standalone DMX controller and user interface for dynamic RGB LED lighting; it does n

Finland - Over 100 of the new Robe CitySource 96 LED wash fixtures were utilised to illuminate two high profile light works - at Parliament House and the Council of State and University buildings in Senate Square adjacent to the Cathedral - featured in Helsinki's 2009 Light Season.

The exterior light art for both sites was designed by Finnish lighting designer Mikki Kunttu. It was the second year of the event, and followed on from Kunttu's successful lighting of Senate Square last year.

Kunttu chose the sites for their prestige and visibility in the city. The newly launched Robe CitySource 96 units were specified following site tests. The fixtures were delivered to lighting rental company Moving Light via Robe's Finnish distributor Live Nation Finland a couple of weeks before the installations went live.

Having these at his disposal enabled Kunttu to produce a spectacular co

USA - Element Labs has announced today the release of the SP2 Video Processor with several improvements over its predecessor, most notably: creative mapping capability and new 48/50/60 Hz frame rate modes. With a new SP2 Mapping Software Utility, users can rotate Stealth panels upside-down or sideways to achieve even more creative screens. 48, 50, and 60 Hz DVI input modes allow Stealth screens to be used in a wider film and television market.

"We have refined the Stealth processing components to meet the unique requirements of our touring and creative architectural markets," says Jeremy Hochman, VP software development for Element Labs. "Flexibility in panel arrangement has always been a priority for Stealth users, and the new SP2 Video Processor delivers on expanding its flexibility. In addition, the SP2 is a 2U rack mount unit that actually replaces both the SP

USA - When the new musical Fela! opened in November, it marked the Broadway debut of the PRG V676 lighting console. The musical and the console both won rave reviews. PRG worked closely with lighting designer Robert Wierzel and automated lighting programmer Timothy Rogers on this distinctive production.

Fela! directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones, is a musical about the controversial life of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti. Jones charged the design team, which also includes sound designer Robert Kaplowitz, projection designer Peter Nigrini and scenic/costume designer Marina Draghici, with the task of transforming the Eugene O'Neill Theatre into Fela's Shrine Club in Nigeria.

Wierzel explained, "When you enter the theatre, you are immediately aware of being inside the club. For our production, there is nearly as much lighting equipment in th

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,

UK - The London Eye New Years' Eve celebration has become a regular event for Stage Electrics, marking a successful beginning to the New Year.

Following eight consecutive years of supplying elements of lighting equipment and staff, this was the first year that Stage Electrics was the sole supplier of all the lighting for the New Years Eve event for Jack Morton Worldwide. This year's event stepped up a level with lighting designer Durham Marenghi making use of 14 Clay Paky Alpha Beams 700s, which were programmed by associate designer Paul Cook, to form 50ft tall digital count-down clock, on the Shell building façade, achieved using some precise indexing of the oblong slot Gobos.

The cues were triggered by a satellite time code via MIDI into the console, which set the stage, attracting over half a million New Year revellers, who again braved the cold to usher in the New Year as

UAE - The Abu Dhabi Formula 1 (F1) weekend saw a plethora of related events and entertainment taking place around the city. This programme was known as Yasalam, the final element of which culminated in four nights of after-race concerts on Yas Island over the race weekend. Held at Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi, the headliners were Beyoncé, Jamiroquai, Kings of Leon and Aerosmith.

Concert and festival lighting designer Steve Shipman used two grandMA full-size consoles, five MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors) and three MA video stations with the MA VPU (Video Processing Unit) software. Shipman stated, "We chose the MA system primarily because of the networking capabilities - we had a large system. Having two operators running two consoles networked in Multi-User-Mode was a convenient way of controlling everything including the LEDs of which we had plenty. We ran the

Italy - Located close to the Tuscany city of Pisa, Ippodromo San Rossore is one of Italy's most progressive horse racing venues and has recently enhanced its facilities with the installation of a large Lighthouse Technologies LED screen, the biggest to be installed at an Italian racecourse.

Supplied and installed by Firenze-based Project Italia, the 8 x 5 panel (9.6m x 5m) R12-ER 12mm screen utilises a Lighthouse LIP-XGA controller. Located opposite the main entrance to the racecourse and with excellent visibility from both the main stand and clubhouse, it is used to show live coverage of races from different cameras around the track, action replays, advertising and interviews.

Completed on 17 October 2009, just before the venue's first race meeting of the new season (which is also one of its biggest events of the year), the installation was supervised by Lighthouse Italy proj

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