UK - A.C. Special Projects has provided lighting and audio equipment to Brittany Ferries as part of an upgrade of the live entertainment facilities on board their Bretagne and Cap Finistère cruise ferries.

Brittany Ferries are a leading provider of Western Channel ferry routes to Spain and France from the UK and Republic of Ireland. Depending on route and time of year, the ships feature entertainment programmes, including resident music duos, cabaret singers, close-up magic and headlining illusion sets, through to cocktail pianists, tribute acts and DJ sets - even a full pantomime production in the school holidays on one longer route.

An established supplier to the cruise ships market, A.C. Special Projects was approached by Brittany Ferries to provide a high quality upgrade solution for the Bretagne's Main Bar lighting and audio systems. The installation includes Martin MAC

USA - Gary Ellegood has joined the Nashville office of Theatrical Lighting Systems (TLS). Ellegood brings 25 years of industry experience to TLS, having spent 24 of those years specifically with Freeman Companies and Swank Audio Visuals working with the corporate and special events markets. He has held various positions in all aspects of the industry from sales and marketing to planning and production, exhibits, tradeshows and A/V production.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The University of Tennessee honoured entertainment lawyer Joel A. Katz and Bandit Lites founder Michael T. Strickland on 10 September 2010.

Katz is known as a pioneer in the field of entertainment law. Starting with a single client, James Brown, Katz built a dynasty and became representative for clients from Jimmy Buffet to Christina Aguilera to Michael Jackson and everything in between. Corporations such as AEG, Live Nation, Verizon, Sony and The Grammy's all seek Joel's advice on a regular basis. Katz was honored because of his long and successful impact on the business community and his generous contributions to the University of Tennessee Law School.

Founder and Chairman of Bandit Lites, Michael T. Strickland was given the Alumni Service Award for his generosity and efforts to promote the University over a long period. Strickland is a graduate of the College of Busin

USA - The ESTA Foundation will host the Behind the Scenes Boutique at LDI 2010. The State of Nevada has denied the charity's request to hold a raffle, traditionally one of its largest annual fundraisers. To make up for this loss of income, Behind the Scenes is asking LDI attendees to bring your raffle dollars to the boutique in booth #744 and show your support for your colleagues in need by picking up some special Behind the Scenes swag for yourself or as gifts for family and friends.

Many exciting items will be available for purchase, including the 2010 Holiday Cards, sold in packs of 10 and featuring artwork by some of the industry's top designers - David Gallo, Christine Jones, Jeremy Railton, and Andrew Hefter.

In addition, a new line of general purpose note cards will be offered featuring artwork by Hefter and Jones that are perfect as opening night cards or throughout th

UK - White Light, now the UK's sole supplier of the PIGI large-format projection system, recently supplied four PIGI 6K projectors with double-rotating scrollers to the 60th Anniversary presentation of the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo.

The Tattoo's projections were designed, as they have been for the last five years, by Ross Ashton and his new projection practice, The Projection Studio. Once again, Ashton conceived a show that utilised the full 90m width of the walls of Edinburgh Castle as a projection surface for images to complement the action taking place on the Esplanade below. The walls are covered by three of the projectors, with the fourth used to provide drop-in images around the castle gates, highlighting performers' entrances.

Working with the show's producer, Major General Euan Loudon, Ashton developed all of the imagery for the show, striving to create material

UK - GDS received another notable accolade at this year's PLASA show. The GDS BluesSystem LED performance working light system was nominated for the Theatres Trust Peoples Choice Award alongside prominent manufacturers including, ETC, Philips Vari' Light, Whitelight, I-Pix, JB Lighting, Robert Juliat and Prism Projection Inc. The award was presented to GDS by the Theatres Trust at its new Ecovenue feature on Tuesday 14 September.

The Theatres Trust's Ecovenue feature was designed to highlight the pioneering environmental efficiency practices being implemented across London venues and featured technologies designed to improve the environmental footprint of theatres. The People's Choice Award was voted for by industry professionals visiting the show and was presented to GDS, for the product that demonstrated the most significant improvement in sustainable theatre technology.

Tim

UK - The people of Sunderland gathered earlier this month for the unveiling of the city's revamped rail station. The £7m renovation has seen new waiting areas, lighting, ceilings, floors and wall panelling installed, but the most impressive additions are the three art installations, one of which is a dazzling new light installation designed by Jason Bruges Studio and supplied by Architainment Lighting UK.

In creating the light wall installation on platform five, Jason Bruges called on Architainment for a custom solution. Architainment supplied 717 Philips Color Kinetics eW Flex SLX fittings with 15 node strings. This warm white string LED solution is a versatile strand of 50 individually controllable white light LED nodes. The durable, flexible form allows for dynamic points of white light to be installed across nearly any interior or exterior surface, including walls, cei

UK - The long running BBC children's TV show Blue Peter is in its 52nd year this year and continues to go from strength to strength. Richard Martin Lighting continues to support Lighting Designer Lee Allen in bringing a fresh and energetic look to the ever more contemporary show. This week Disney Channel diva Selena Gomez and her band The Scene perform her latest single Round and Round in the Blue Peter garden.

RML's recently purchased Global Design Solution (GDS) Liteware HO-Uplighters were the focal of the music number - 24 of them positioned around the trees, stage and tree house.

"The Uplighters were used to up light bits of the garden and facing towards the cameras for some eye candy for the music number," says Allen. "As always the close up of the guest had nothing behind them but that wasn't a problem I just picked up the lamp repositioned i

UK - Lighting designer Tim Routledge has finished two major shows at the homes of rugby in England and Wales - A Concert for Heroes and The Ryder Cup Concert.

Routledge was lighting director for the Help for Heroes concert at Twickenham Stadium. Headlined by Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow. Also performing that night were Enrique Iglesias, Alexandra Burke, Alicia Dixon, The Wanted, Katherine Jenkins, Peter Kay. Creative director was Kim Gavin for Live Nation.

The rig was co-designed by Tim Routledge and Steve Nolan who was also production manager of the show and managed by PRG's Rich Gorrod. The comprehensive rig based around the 'H' stage designed by Misty Buckley was supplied by PRG and featured a large rig of VL3000 spots, VL3500 wash and FX units, GLP Impressions, Alpha Beam 300's, 2 lites, Color blocks and Infinity XL washes.

Routledge was responsible for the lighting o

USA - With 11.6m tickets sold between 2000 and 2009, the Dave Matthews Band was the top touring act of the last decade. Now with its 2010 tour, DMB is picking up where it left off, selling out even the largest arenas and baseball stadiums such as Wrigley Field.

The group's ability to create a genuine emotional connection with its audiences, along with its widely-known support of environmental and charitable causes - from Farm Aid to Hurricane Katrina relief - have undoubtedly played a big role in attracting this loyal fan following. One of the 'newcomers' to the 2010 tour is the Design Wash LED Pro, a compact energy-efficient high-power RGBW moving head colour wash from Elation Professional.

DMB lighting designer Fenton Williams and programmer Aaron Stinebrink are using 16 Design Wash LED Pros, supplied by Theatrical Media Services (Omaha, NE), as colour-changing truss toners.

China - Wireless Solution Sweden participated in the ACE Open House in Shanghai on 17 September, where the new W-DMX G4 range of products was introduced to over 100 professionals from the Chinese market.

Attendees of the open house, which included prominent lighting designers from the television, live event and architectural lighting segments, were given a presentation of the W-DMX G4 product line, detailing its range of innovative new features including Adaptive Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum technology to dynamically avoid frequency ranges in use by other radios, built-in dual-band 5.8GHz support to allow designers and technicians access to unfettered frequency bands, and support for RDM to allow fixture feedback information through the W-DMX system.

Attendees were also impressed by the fact that all three universes of DMX in the presentation venue were running off W-DMX

Denmark - Following the success of the Martin US road show this past summer - a 37-city, 18-week tour that saw Martin personnel hold 85 local events across the US - Martin EMEA is launching a Road Show of its own this fall with local events scheduled across Europe.

Martin EMEA is continuing the Martin Brighter World road show theme yet in a slightly smaller format. The Brighter World road show tour is an innovative approach to relationship building that brings Martin directly to important lighting professionals, says the company. Targeted at the entertainment, as well as commercial and architectural markets, the on-the-road concept allows for a more detailed, personal dialogue and is aimed at exposing lighting professionals to the latest Martin gear through product demonstrations, application and hands-on training, and on-site presentations.

The Martin European R

Australia - Established in Cairns in 1992, the JUTE Theatre represents the vision of three women, Kathryn Ash, Susan Prince and Suellen Maunder who recognised the need for a professional theatre company to service the Far North Queensland region of Australia.

When an overhaul of the JUTE black box theatre became necessary, Arts Queensland as the venue managers put out their tender and after demos and quotes were submitted, and with the invaluable guidance of Keith Clarke they decided on the Philips Selecon SPX and called on the long-time, local Philips Selecon dealer to supply.

"There were a few raised eyebrows around the place when the order came in and we saw the required delivery date; to say it was going to be a little tight is something of an understatement but as ever, and with very little persuasion, our friends in Auckland came through and the fixtures were built

China - Multiform will be announcing the latest additions to their range of LED lighting fixtures on the booth of their international distributor Adelto at the Shanghai Pro Light & Sound show 12-15 October.

The new Gll products are designed for indoor or outdoor use with an IP65 rating. The HP3 uses single chip RGB LEDs to provide a very bright light source. The new HP5 models incorporate RGBAW LEDs to provide the widest range of colours. All models use Neutrik XLR5 and PowerCon connectors and a conversion kit to replace these with PG9/11 fittings for outdoor use.

The MultiSpot GII-HP3is designed for use where narrow beam angles are not needed, but the colour consistency at short distances is a requirement. It features a flexible DMX control scheme with four different control modes, RGB and HSL, with either combined or separated dimmer/strobe channels.

The MultiSpot GII-HP5

Sold Out - Tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2011 sold out in just over four hours after thousands of fans flooded the website and phone lines. The festival's website and Twitter feed apologised to those who missed out, adding there had been some issues with getting through "due to the sheer volume of people". Tickets sold out eight hours quicker than last year, the festival said. Fans were able to reserve up to eight tickets at a time. They had to pay a £50 deposit now and the rest when the booking site re-opens on 1 April 2011. Passes for next year's festival, which starts on 22 June, cost £195 - up £10 on last year's price.

Staying On - Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis says he's not ready to hand the day-to-day running of the festival over to his daughter Emily yet. Eavis, 75, celebrated the festival's 40th anniversary earlier this year but

USA - The Wybron Mobile Showroom will return to the road 11-15 October, making stops in Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky during the thirteenth leg of its first national tour.

The showroom will make its first stop Monday, 11 October at Mainstage Theatrical Supply in Memphis, Tenn., before heading to Bradfield Stage Lighting in Nashville and Tennessee Lighting Company in Knoxville on 12 and 13 October respectively.

Then it's off to Vincent Lighting Systems in Solon, Ohio, where the showroom will remain parked on 14 October before visiting Vincent's sister store in Erlanger, Ky, 15 October for its final stop of the month.

Each stop will provide visitors with a hands-on survey of new and classic Wybron gear, including the Cygnus advanced color LED line, as well as a chance to chat with Wybron staff members and enjoy complimentary food.

"In this first year of touring we've pi

Denmark - Since its introduction at the Prolight + Sound exhibition last spring, interest in the energy-friendly Martin MAC 350 Entour has been great with the innovative LED profile luminaire now winning the prestigious 2010 Confederation of Danish Industry Product Prize.

Following an intensive two-year research collaboration with Denmark's Aalborg University, and with development funding from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation, the MAC 350 Entour has proved a pioneering and energy-efficient alternative to traditional discharge lighting.

The Danish Industry Prize, awarded once a year to honour companies which develop exceptional customer solutions, was conferred at the commercial organisation's Business Summit in Copenhagen on 29 September 29.

"We're very proud to receive this prestigious award, but we're even more proud that we now have a unique product

UK - At the 2010 PLASA Show in London, Coemar announced the launch of Reflection FullSpectrum, a new concept in LED lighting fixtures.

Reflection brings a familiar part of traditional Par lighting fixtures - the interchangeable light source - to the new world of LED lighting fixtures. The lightsource directs light from a combination of LEDs onto a parabolic reflector, giving an output which is bright, but which also eliminates the RGB dots and multi-coloured shadows which have plagued many other LED fixtures. Reflection gives a pure, uniformly coloured beam that can also be zoomed smoothly from 18 to 37 degrees.

Two version of the Reflection lightsource are available. The RGB version offers full spectrum colour mixing and also a dramatic, boosted strobe/blinder effect that can be used in any colour. The VariWhite version offers colour temperature selection across the white ran

Europe - Philips Entertainment is pleased to announce the appointment of Graham Eales to the role of regional manager with immediate effect. Formerly entertainment controls systems director Europe, Eales now assumes responsibility for the business growth and operations of Philips Entertainment in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Eales, who has been instrumental in leading the development of new Strand product and service, now heads the European team, along with Michael Goldberg, sales director for EMEA and Grant Bales-Smith, sales manager. Eales comments, " I am looking forward to working with our great team of dealers, staff and customers to keep building the Philips Entertainment brands across all our geographic regions and segments."

(Jim Evans)

China - The new Guangzhou Opera House - one of the three largest performance venues in China - opened in May, with ETC entertainment and architectural lighting systems in control.

The permanent ETC equipment has now helped light one of the most prestigious platforms for the nation's top talent, the 9th China Arts Festival, for which Guangzhou was the headlining venue.

When the £130m (€155m) facilities debuted in May, the lighting control was from two ETC Eos control desks; Eos Client software (for remote console programming); and multiple ETC Net3 Gateways for full ACN networked functionality.

ETC's Eos product manager Anne Valentino says,"The Eos control system has rapidly established itself as the leading control choice for opera, theatre and ballet institutions around the world. It was specifically engineered for the demands of such productions, with fu

China - The Danish Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai is a cutting edge and technically complex installation, as well as one of the most popular of the 200+ country pavilions. Every aspect of the installation is not only professional but highly innovative, including the Martin lighting control solution.

Lighting control is handled by two separate artnet systems, one for the LED facade and one for the rest of the Pavilion's lighting. The LED facade is controlled via a project-built media server developed by Aarhus University's Centre for Advanced Visualization and Interaction (CAVI, Denmark). The CAVI media server controls the look of the facade by triggering timings using sensors mounted around the building.

The non-facade lighting areas are quite substantial however. There are 25 other areas of the Danish Pavilion which are illuminated and controlled individually - a soc

UK - Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied moving lights, LED surfaces, rigging and crew for the BBC Northern Ireland Proms In The Park event, staged in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle, an impressive 18th century mansion and the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

It was the first year that PSI has supplied a full rigging and comprehensive lighting and digital lighting package to the event, which was co-ordinated with BBC Northern Ireland's own lighting department, to meet the spec of lighting designers John Gallagher and Philip Brines. The Ulster Orchestra played a special programme and guests included The Priests, flautist Brian Finnegan, violinist Alexandra Soumm and Duke Special.

The stage was supplied by Star Events. It measured 18m wide by 13 deep with 8.5m of headroom, underneath which PSI installed a 16mwide by 13 deep box truss.

UK - Mortons private members club in Mayfair's Berkeley Square, has undergone a major refurbishment to each of the four floors in this Georgian town house.

This includes a new sound system designed over eight separate zones and a club lighting system in the newly-created Night Lounge located in the basement area. All spaces have been conceived, installed and supplied by The Sound Division Group (SDG).

When proprietor Marlon Abela reopened the venue towards the end of last year, there was just one piece of the jigsaw remaining. For while the ground floor bar, first floor restaurant and second floor private members' lounge had received their first major overhaul in many years, it was only after the owners decided to convert the basement into an exclusive nightclub - termed a 'night lounge' - that the real 'wow factor' was delivered.

With its colour-washed, exposed brickwork, d

UK - Students at the Guildford School of Acting (GSA) staged West Side Story at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, for their Graduation Show. The lighting team opted for PixelLine 110s from PixelRange.

The lighting design team comprised seven students, taking their lead from designer Richard G Jones, recently applauded for his work on The Railway Childrenat London's Waterloo station. The brief was to recreate the emotional journey of The Story with lighting as the sole scenic element.

Second-year student and assistant lighting designer for the production, Natalie Davey, specified the PixelLine 110s to work in conjunction with conventional cyc floods already in the school inventory. The 110s were positioned on side booms to wash across the white cycloramic scenery wall where the cyc floods also washed from their positions top and bottom.

Davey approach

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