UK - PLASA is hosting a special update day for members on legislative developments and business issues. The event, which takes place on Thursday 25 November at ETC's offices in West London, will see HR specialist Clive Payne providing members with an overview of recent changes and the implications for their businesses.

In addition to a focus on legislative issues, the day will also feature presentations from Simon Miller of Allan Chapman & James, who will provide an update on recent changes to the insurance market and how members can keep insurance costs down, Krystyna Gibbons of Westfield Health, who will outline the options for a cost-effective alternative to private healthcare and Paul Robson of Medialease who will talk about leasing funding, providing an overview of current market conditions and how members can get into the best possible shape to attract leasing funding when

At The Q Awards - Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, was a double-winner at the Q Awards in London taking best female and best track for You've Got The Love. Take That also made their first public appearance since Robbie Williams rejoined them in July. The band, whose comeback single, The Flood, and new album, Progress, are both due out next month, won the magazine's hall of fame award.

Kasabian were named best act in the world. Take That, who were sneaked into the awards to avoid the red carpet, were led on stage by Gary Barlow to collect their award. Another newly reformed band - Suede - picked up the Q inspiration award.

On The Move? - Almost €400,000 has been spent in the search for a new home for Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey - but so far without success, reports newspaper.

Arts minister Mary Hanafin told th

Denmark - Martin Professional has introduced the Ether2DMX8, a DMX router and much more. As a DMX router, the Ether2DMX8 translates Artnet protocol into DMX in/out universes but can also be used as a DMX merger, DMX splitter hub, fail safe device, cue playback, and DMX viewer monitor, says the company.

The Ether2DMX8 uses the Artnet protocol and can therefore be used to interface with any third party product that can interface with Artnet. It can also be used to merge incoming DMX lines with other DMX outputs.

It can store up to 99 cues that can be linked together for playback with fade time and hold time. Cues can be triggered remotely and a cue can be assigned as a fail-safe mode (if the incoming Artnet signal was to be lost, the device would automatically enable the cue). Another helpful use of the cue is to link it to a building's alarm system.

The Ether2DMX8 can be remo

UK - Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production to the 2010 Loerie Awards staged at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town for the second year running.

The event was again produced by H-Factor, with a production and set design by H-Factor and The Loerie Awards Committee, to celebrate the most innovative creative talent in advertising, communication design and experiential media from Africa and the Middle East. The two nights of Award presentations is the biggest seated awards show in the country, and a high pressure event in terms of design and technical production, requiring plenty of invention and originality to match the occasion.

The 2010 event energised the skills and resources of Gearhouse's Sound, Lighting, AV, Media, Rigging, Structures and Power departments. Sister company Sets, Drapes,Screens built the set and supplied all the scenic elements, and the proje

USA - At Chicago's United Centre, 16 Martin MAC III Profile spot luminaires play a key role in generating excitement and raising the energy levels for more than 200 sports and entertainment events per year.

Last year, the United Centre production team took a hard look at their ageing lighting gear and decided it was time to upgrade. Brady Tieman, technical production manager at the United Centre, reports, "Eight of the fixtures were a pan and tilt model that was prone to frequent failures; they spent too much time in the shop which resulted in countless hours of programming to come up with workarounds for defective fixtures.

"The other eight moving mirror fixtures were over 12 years old and had become too expensive to maintain. Unlike a touring act, we don't have full time light techs on staff to quickly repair moving lights." The tech team brought their challen

Russia - The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, national theatre of Russia and home to the Bolshoi Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and the Bolshoi Opera, is presently closed to its millions of annual visitors while undergoing extensive renovations. The doors were shut to the main building in 2005 and it is scheduled to reopen in a year's time. The Theatre has undergone many renovations in its time, but nothing anywhere near as major as this undertaking which is estimated at US$730 million and is being entirely funded by the federal government.

Early in October, 110 cartons packed with new lighting equipment left the Philips Selecon Auckland factory in New Zealand journeyed halfway around the world ready to take part in this crucial preservation project. In all, 561 Philips Selecon luminaires will grace the lighting rigs for the grand stage of the Bolshoi Theatre when it opens its doo

Australia - Jands has scored at the 2010 Australian Musician Music Gear Awards, being announced as the winner across four product categories. Jands has taken first place for: Best Mixer: Soundcraft FX16ii; Best Speaker/Monitors: JBL EON 515 S; Best Live Microphone: Shure Beta 58A, and Best Studio Microphone: Shure KSM313.

The annual Australian Musician Music Gear Awards is in its second year. The products within each category are nominated by the Australian Music Association member wholesalers, which is then opened to the public for voting.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Edgar Bernal, aka, DJ Etronik has joined American DJ as the new product/sales specialist for American Audio. Bernal recently took the 2010 US DMC DJ Championship title in New York.

Tom Freret, national sales manager of American Audio, comments, "We are very excited to appoint Edgar Bernal, a highly celebrated DJ, to this position. His passion for music and his understanding of our vast family of products really embodies what American DJ is all about. We know we will see great things from him."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Following the positive response to the new products from both Philips Color Kinetics and Sensacell at last month's PLASA show, Architainment Lighting has created a new technical sales engineer position to spearhead the promotion of its lighting products into the entertainment sector, and promoting current employee, Phil Grice, to this position.

Grice, who joined Architainment early in 2010 as a technical services engineer has a strong background rooted in the entertainment side of the business. Prior to joining Architainment, he worked for Dorking Halls.

Commenting on this new role, Phil Grice said, "I am excited for the opportunity to meet potential clients and introduce them to the LED fixtures Architainment can provide and the various benefits and functionalities these fittings can offer."

Managing Director, Nic Tolkien added, "We've been looking at es

USA - Bandit Lites played a key part in an historical event when the Grand Ole Opry House needed to be restored following last spring's devastating Nashville flood.. The day the rains stopped, and before the water started to recede, Opry lighting director Tyler Bryan and other Opry staffers were inside the Opry House in canoes. The entire stage and seating area was under several feet of water. The devastation the floodwaters left behind was unimaginable. One of the first calls Bryan made was to national director of sales & installations Chris Barbee to begin the task of restoring the storied building.

Four days after the water receded, Barbee and John Jenkinson toured the facility with Bryan to evaluate the damage, create a plan for the renovation and provide cost estimates for the work. The planning and decision making time were critically short as the Opry's 85th birthday cele

USA - When Scott Chmielewski, president of Digital Media Designs, put a pair of grandMA2 full-size consoles through their paces at Virgin Mobile's FreeFest, a day-long music and dance extravaganza, he deployed the grandMA2's new 2.0 software.

FreeFest attracted some 40,000 fans to the Merriweather Post Pavilion and surrounding grounds at Columbia, Maryland where headliners included Joan Jett, Lucacris and Chmielewski, whose Digital Media Designs served as the designer, programmer and production provider for the event and was responsible for the dance stage and one of the two primary stages.

"Everything went exceptionally well," he notes. "I was able to previz the show about a week before the event and, with the use of grandMA 3D, I was able to have most of the show done before we ever loaded in. Running the software on my MacBook Pro I never saw a

UK - Richard Martin Lighting continues to support lighting designer Martin Kempton on the latest series of Harry Hill's TV Burp. The four-time BAFTA winning ITV show uses a small and selective amount of lights to create a bright yet 'homely' look to compliment the set.

The rig comprises of Mac 250's, Mac TW1's and Pixel Par 90's on the floor. It also includes Alpha Spot 575 HPE's.

"The rig is very low indeed so it was important that they were silent. Secondly, being tungsten lamps, they are very good at the warmer colours - reds and ambers," says Richard Martin.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - As the 2010 FIFA World Cup Championship team from Spain returned home, they had waiting for them one of the largest public celebrations ever to be held. A crowd of more than 2m ecstatic fans would gather to celebrate their first World Cup title with an evening filled with congratulatory speeches and a concert headlined by multi-platinum artist David Bisbal. Behind the event, lighting designer David Gavilan and Mario Ortega were ready to tackle all challenges with the assistance of 122 VARI*LITE luminaires.

"We first became involved with the World Cup celebration through the Spanish Royal Federation of Football who we had worked with previously on a few other events," says Gavilan.

"When we were putting the initial design together we had to take into consideration three main elements; with the number of members of the audience being around 2m, we would ha

UK - Coemar's Infinity M range of moving heads feature strongly in London's West End at present.

Flashdance, The Wizard of Oz, Love Never Dies and We Will Rock You all employ the Infinity M moving heads.

"Their reduced size makes them easy to transport and easy to handle during the setting up phase," says Coemar. "While their modular construction facilitates maintenance work. From a technological viewpoint, the Infinity M models have artnet control, digital ballast, and a display that can be commanded by remote control via a dmx 512.

"Above all, they use the multi-lamp patent to assemble 700W and 575W fast-fit lamps, without distinction."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Pedestrians passing through one South London street should remember to look up later this month, following the installation of an innovative new lighting feature.

Located under the arch of the Clink Street tunnel on Bankside, the installation has been programmed to create a subtle firework display effect, running along the brickwork and bridge walls.

The lights react to the volume of pedestrians passing underneath them, with the illuminations changing in intensity according to the flow of people.

The quiet phases will be marked with a twinkling star effect and when the area becomes busier, the firework effect will build up momentum reaching its most striking display in times of increased activity.

Councillor Fiona Colley, cabinet member for regeneration at Southwark Council, said, "Southwark will become famous for the way it has transformed spaces that were previ

UK - Entec Sound & Light supplied sound and lighting equipment and crew for Steve Miller's recent UK and European tour, showcasing his latest Bingo album.

Entec won the contract after being recommended to production manager Brett Enzensperger by Milwaukee based Clearwing Productions, the company that supplies technical production for all Steve Miller's US based live work, and with whom Entec also has a close association.

They wanted an operation that could deliver a competitive all-in production package for sound and lighting. Says Enzensperger, "I asked Clearwing's Gregg Brunclik who I should use for production in Europe, and Entec was the clear choice. Gregg knows the standards I expect from a rental company, so I knew that Entec would fit the bill - and also that account manager Noreen O'Riordan would put up with me."

Steve Miller's show was designed by N

USA - Stardraw.com, has appointed industry professional Tim Van Grove as business development manager for North America.

Van Grove joins Stardraw.com with 20 years experience in systems contracting and commercial AV. Most recently he was the director of sales for Antex Electronics where he was responsible for direct sales, marketing and product management operations for both branded and OEM product lines for the install and commercial sound markets.

Van Grove will be responsible for business development across North America and Mexico. In particular this means developing business channels including the rep network for Stardraw.com's branded products, as well as handling existing OEM business and seeking out new OEM opportunities.

Stardraw CEO, Dave Snipp comments, "Tim's resumé speaks for itself. He has been a successful systems integrator for several years, and

USA - Four leading female artist all led the push into green lighting technology in 2010 with Bandit Lites as their lighting partner. Each of these artist chose to move toward a more environmentally friendly solution with LED technology.

Melissa Ethridge first went green with Bandit two years ago when tour manager Steve Girmant, lighting director David Hamilton and Melissa all requested for LED solutions that included GLP Impressions, GRNLite Moving Wash 3-120, and Pixel Range Pixilines.

Multi talented and long time environmentalist Jewel worked with lighting director Will Anglin and tour manager Sean Murray to become more eco friendly. To that end, they engaged a number of GRNLite PAR 3-36 fixtures along with their other equipment.

Wynonna and her tour manager Ken Craig challenged lighting director / production manager Keith Hoagland to come up with a great look while also

Denmark - Martin Professional's new Fixture Beam Analyzer (FBA) uses a standard webcam to analyse a lighting fixture's output on any surface, making lamp adjustments an easier and more accurate procedure for a more uniform field of light.

The FBA consists of software and a set of three dimming filters in various grades that mount directly onto a Logitech Pro 9000 webcam. Light output is measured and a set of detailed photometric data is generated in real time. The data illustrates the level of uniformity of a fixture's output, allowing users to easily view the effect of luminaire and/or lamp adjustments on the field of light.

Viewing the beam in greater detail on a computer screen allows for more accurate adjustments and eliminates the uncomfortable need to stare directly into the field of light.

Not only does the FBA make for faster, more accurate lamp adjustments, it ensur

Italy - Proel hosted its annual distributor meeting at its headquarters last month. This year more than 60 people from over 45 countries took part in the meeting and listened to the numerous speakers who presented Proel's plans for the future and its partnership strategies for each region.

The programme also included study sessions focused on Proel products, among which was a demo on sound systems and, for the touring sector, a presentation devoted to the active EDGE models and their applications.

The second day included a demo introducing new Proel and Sagitter products, and a session focussed on Proel's solutions for Public Address systems and installations.

The event closed with performances from endorsers who played instruments from Proel's proprietary brands: in particular, Massimo Zagonari for Grassi (brass instruments), Giovanna Famulari for Vox Meister (stringed inst

Denmark - Martin Professional One-Key is a "future-proof concept in lighting software distribution" that eliminates the inconvenience of storing software licences in DMX hardware. This simple USB dongle can store one or more licences and protects the software from illegal copies.

Martin One-Key simplifies software distribution, improves protection and protects investments, says the company. All Martin Professional PC-based applications will eventually share this same protection method.

With Martin One-Key, adding new software is a few click process; no need to wait for a box to be delivered. In addition, Martin One-Key allows any user to try Martin Professional software for a 45-day trial period with full features.

Martin One-Key is currently bundled with the following products: LightJockey 2 Kit, M-PC-Basic 8 universes Kit, M-PC Pro 64 universes Kit, MSD5 Gold, MS

UK - Lighting designer Mark Cunniffe called on Bandit Lites and UK C.E. Lester Cobrin for the new road show version of the BBC's Dr. Who Live! The stage version of this television favourite is part of the global move toward green technology as Cunniffe has chosen a fair amount of new LED fixtures. Among the offerings in the eco friendly green vein are Thomas Pixel PAR 90, GLP Impression, and Chroma Q Color Block DB 4. Nearly 100 different green LED fixtures are utilised, meaning less electricity is needed as well as lower levels of heat on the stage.

In addition to the new green technology, Cunniffe has called on some industry standards, including Martin MAC III, MAC 2000 Wash, VL 3000 Spot, VL 3500 Wash, Lycian 1290 spots, Lycian M2 spots, Thomas 8 Lights and a large array of truss and cable.

The entire system is operated daily by Marcus Robinson on a Grand MA console

UK - The Pavilion Dance Centre in Bournemouth has just opened, with a raft of new equipment from ETC, including six Selador Vivid-R LED fixtures.

The kit, which was supplied by Audio Light Systems, also includes an ETC Congo jr control desk with fader wing, Source Four Zoom luminaires, two Sensor dimmer racks and a non-dim control panel custom built for the project by ETC at their factory in the US.

"We originally specified another manufacturer's LED wash lights two years ago," sayss Andy Stone, the theatre consultant who worked on the project for Drama by Design. "But by the time we came to place the order, Selador had been released by ETC - and they worked out cheaper and better. I like the light output and excellent colour rendering, as well as the smooth dimming and excellent range of lenses - so I'm busy specifying them on a number of different projects acr

UK - Black Light has completed the installation and commissioning of a new auditorium dimmer system at The Sage Gateshead.

"The existing dimmer system at The Sage Gateshead was over complex and was proving to be unreliable," says Black Light's installations project manager Paul McGreal. "We replaced it with a simplified set up, using equipment that we knew were the best on the market in terms of its reliability and functionality." The main equipment used by Black Light's team comprised ETC Sensor dimming and Unison Paradigm control systems.

"We were very happy working alongside the Blacklight installation team; they were very helpful and efficient," say Clair Willis and Neil Colebeck, who led the project for The Sage Gateshead. "The product that we specified has, so far, proven to be reliable and much more satisfactory than the previous insta

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