UK - ELC Lighting's Buddy has made its PLASA debut. Launched in summer 2014, the pocket sized Ethernet to DMX node has already won rave reviews from industry lighting designers and those who visited stand C03 at this year's show were amazed at just how capable the little device is. Designed and engineered as an entry level product, the Buddy was originally aimed at students, but is already being hailed as an essential piece of kit that established designers want carry in their back pockets, with several hundred units already sold.

Speaking at the ELC-Lighting stand, Silvio Cibien said, "Buddy has all the functions required to enable a user to get DMX out of their laptop at an entry level price. We feel that those taking their first tentative steps in the industry need to be able to experiment without the fear of doing something wrong, or losing all their work.

"The B

UK - ETC has handed over a cheque for almost £17,500 to the Behind the Scenes UK charity at PLASA London 2014.

The donations come from people who bought the European version of the ETC iRFR or aRFR remote control app for their phone or tablet over the past year, all of whom had the choice of whether their money went to the US charity, or its UK branch, which until recently was called Light Relief.

Handing over a cheque to John Simpson, trustee of Behind the Scenes UK, ETC's CEO Fred Foster said, "Lighting can be easy to control using the ETC iRFR for iOS and aRFR for Android, but sometimes life can be more difficult. That's why we're pleased to continue to support the Behind the Scenes charity, which provides much needed support to our colleagues and their families when times are hard."

The apps - which turn any smartphone into a remote lighting controller -

UK - The new series of BBC's long-running comedy quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks will now be filmed at Elstree Studios.

One of the constants for the show is Richard Martin Lighting. RML has lit Never Mind the Buzzcocks for a number of years and while the set remains the same, the lights are constantly evolving and tweaking to maximise the effect.

LD Chris Kempton specs MAC 600s, Stage Zoom 1200s, MAC 250s, Alpha Beam 300's, Chroma Set Kits, MR16 Birdies, Pixel Bricks and a Nova Flower.

Now that the series is being filmed in a different, larger studio, there is also some audience lighting which consists of two Pixel Par 90s, GLP Impressions and LED 12 Lites.

(Jim Evans)

USA - At Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas, the congregation holds two distinct worship services. The first is a traditional worship service, but the second is a more contemporary worship environment.

Wanting to upgrade their lighting system to better encompass all the aspects of both services, Walnut Ridge turned to Gemini Light Sound and Video to oversee a full lighting renovation. Fully understanding what the church wanted to accomplish, Gemini installed 74 Showline SL PAR 150 ZOOM luminaires from Philips Entertainment.

"Gemini previously worked with Walnut Ridge Baptist Church on another lighting application and for this lighting renovation they were looking to mainly do two things," began Todd Graham, project lead installer. "First, they were looking for something more efficient than their current system which consisted of high-wattage traditi

China - Known for its modern architecture and artistic design, the Macau Tower, located in the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a landmark that features an eloquent banquet hall which was recently revamped using Martin Professional Lighting fixtures.

Featured in this lighting renovation are four Martin MAC 350 Entour LED lighting fixtures, 16 Mac Auras, six Rush PAR 2 RGBW Zoom cans, an M2GOTM lighting console and an iOS MAXRemote. This package is centred on compact performance, as each of these lighting elements take up minimal real estate, but are able to emit powerful beams of output.

The tower is a popular destination amongst international tourists, avid shoppers and romance seekers. Donned with ballroom chandeliers and magnificent crystals, the banquet hall needed specialized lighting solutions to complement the elegance of the room. By

UK - The seventh Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) was held on Sunday 5 October and once more it was a sparkling success. This year London's glamorous art deco Troxy saw representatives from the professional entertainment lighting and video industry come together to celebrate the creative achievements of lighting and video professionals working on shows across the UK.

The ever-popular awards, organised by The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Clay Paky and Ambersphere Solutions, was established to offer public recognition for outstanding achievements in touring, television and theatre lighting and video design.

Hosted by prolific and popular lighting designer for the theatre, opera and ballet, Mark Jonathan, the winners for each category were announced as follows:

Theatre

Dance: - Paul Keogan, No Man's

South Africa - Three new Philips Strand Digital Wallracks, 24 x 2.5kw, have been installed at the Springs Civic Theatre in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. Along with Longman LED parcans, the equipment has been tried and tested in the production Prison Without Steel Bars, Changing Times and various school reviews recently.

While Ekurhuleni may mean "place of peace" in Xitsonga, the past seven months have been flat out for the team running the theatre. In the midst of it all a tender was awarded to DWR Distribution to supply and install lighting equipment.

"We have used the gear and so far we are totally happy with the upgrade," commented Dawid van Eeden, theatre stage manager.

"Philips Strand provided the most economical but reliable dimmers for this size theatre," said Dave Whitehouse of DWR. "We have known Dawie and Eduard Coetzee

USA - When Garth Brooks announced he was launching a world tour, Michael T. Strickland, chair of Bandit Lites, knew the production would be something special.

"Garth is, and always has been, an innovator," said Strickland. "He creates or recreates almost every aspect of the industry each time he tours. 2014 is no different! The massive, interactive lighting system that Dave and Garth have designed is second to none. It is simply stunning."

Lighting designer David Butzler, who has worked with Brooks since his very first tour, requested a fixture that, simply put, did not exist on the market: a bright single source RGBA in a small PAR 30 form factor with a very smooth dimming curve that looked good on camera.

"The intention was to design these fixtures to mount in various elements of the set," said Roth Edwards, Bandit's director of special operat

UK - The buzz around the aisles and stands of PLASA London 2014 has created an incredible atmosphere for visitors and exhibitors alike. The entertainment technology industry is full of brilliant characters, giving the industry its special personality. While the social side of the show has flourished, so has business, as exhibitors continue to launch new products and make important connections.

Green Hippo has chosen PLASA London 2014 for the launch of the Hippotizer v4. The company has taken the award-winning features of the Hippotizer v3, such as UberPan, Cross-Fade on Layer, Presets and Region Mapper success, and added new hardware and an array of key software features that will make the user experience better than ever before.

Raycom is exhibiting at PLASA London for the first time, using the show as a platform for moving into the live market. The company has built up an ex

USA - Lighting designer Saxton Waller selected a grandMA2 full-size with a MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) for two sold-out STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9) concerts at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, the lead up to the band's US cross-country fall tour. The console was provided by Brown Note Productions, Inc. in Thornton, Colorado.

The instrumental band STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9), which plays self-described post-rock dance music, is one of the nation's top-grossing tour acts with a heavy presence in the festival circuit. Their dates at Red Rocks preceded the start of their first tour in nearly a year. The tour will play venues in the Midwest and East, including Chicago, New York, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Brown Note Productions, Inc. is a full-service audio, lighting and video production company specialising in touring, festivals and special events. It won

UK/Ireland - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) reports that Aaron Cripps, a regional account manager in the company's International Sales division, will be taking on the new role of regional sales representative for Ireland (ROI) and other selected European sales territories - effective from 20 October 2014.

Aaron has been working at AC-ET for over 10 years, having joined through the company's Sales Trainee recruitment programme. During this time he has helped to strengthen the existing business relationships with key suppliers, and develop new customer relationships across Europe.

County Limerick will be Aaron's new base. He will be working in a roving sales and support capacity for his existing customers, as well as actively looking to generate new business relationships across all sectors of the company's core business areas.

(Jim Evans)

South Korea - The Incheon Asian Games in Korea is the largest sporting event in Asia - set on an Olympic scale, with around 10,000 athletes from 45 countries representing 36 sports.

For the 17th edition, both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held in the 62,000-capacity purpose built Incheon Asiad Main Stadium, with K-Pop stars and Gangnam Style singer Psy headlining the star-studded opening show.

With 'Diversity' as the theme, the large rental company Canlite drew on huge quantities of PR Lighting fixtures, deploying nearly 200 heads to perform specific tasks - comfortably the largest single brand represented. At the same time it met the specification of lighting designer, Han Soon Na, and his programmer Yoiung Gu Kang.

The inventory included more than 100 powerful PR 5000 Spot, Wash and Framing variants - many of them positioned, along with XR 330 Beams on the top of

UK - Max Narula, a student at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, has won this year's Michael Northen Bursary (MNB), picking up a £500 cash award at a special presentation at PLASA London.

The Bursary is awarded annually to a student or recent graduate who has demonstrated strong, imaginative and creative lighting designs. It is organised by the Association of Lighting Designers, a professional body representing lighting designers in the live performance industry.

Northen was both a former Chairman and President of the ALD and the first credited lighting designer in the UK.

Each year an award of £500 is presented to a young lighting designer who has shown excellence in the field of lighting design. The project must be a performance-based lighting design in or out of the college environment. Two runner-up prizes of £250 each are also presented: an ETC sponsor

UK - Robe Lighting enjoyed its biggest, busiest and best PLASA show to date over four days at London's ExCeL Centre and also won its fourth PLASA Innovation Award for its new Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire (BMFL) high powered signature product.

"PLASA 2014 was awesome in every way!" declared the Czech moving light manufacturer's CEO Josef Valchar.

"We welcomed an incredible number of visitors on the booth every day, we met a wide selection of innovative lighting and visual designers all showing a keen interest in our products, we saw representatives from most of the leading UK rental companies ... and winning the Innovation Award was the icing on the cake! We could not have asked for a better show - it absolutely rocked!"

As well as all of the above ... PLASA 2014 was special for Robe in many other ways.

The 1000sq.m Robe Arena was the biggest physic

UK - The PLASA Awards for Innovation (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International) were presented on Tuesday 7 October, revealing the most ground-breaking products of PLASA London 2014. It was a night of celebration and remembrance, as the prestigious Gottelier Award was awarded posthumously to Clay Paky founder, Pasquale 'Paky' Quadri, who recently passed away.

Clay Paky's Chief Operational Officer, Pio Nahum, graciously accepted the Gottelier Award on behalf of his friend and colleague. The other nominees - Richard Belliveau, David Cunningham and Dr Christian Heil - withdrew from the running following the sad news. The lighting industry has lost a great character and a true pioneer.

Every year, PLASA recognises products that demonstrate progress, through attributes like a new style of thinking, an improvement in technical practice, new technology, materials or technique

UK - PSCo has announced the expansion of its specialist LED team with the appointment of Mike Bone. Bringing more than 22 year's AV industry experience and a wealth of LED knowledge to the position, Mike has been appointed to work closely with PSCo's customers to understand their needs and build solutions utilising the company's growing LED portfolio.

Mike joins from LED screen provider Mediatec Solutions UK where he was managing director for over five years. In his previous role, Mike was responsible for developing the sales of large outdoor screens and this experience stands him in good stead to help PSCo capitalise on the increasing opportunities for the rental and sale of LED screens in the UK.

"I am pleased to be joining the PSCo team at an exciting time for the company as they expand their LED offering," comments Mike Bone. "LED technology is evolving dram

UK - On the eve of the PLASA Show in London came the very sad news of the death of Highlite UK's Sue Burlow. Highlite International issued the following announcement on behalf of Hub and Connie de la Haye, Patrick Herveille, and all the management and staff of Highlite International BV.

"On Saturday 4 October 2014, shortly before 18:00, our dear British colleague, Sue Burlow, passed away in the presence of her loved ones and dear friends.

"Many people have known her for years as our tower of strength, our strong support at the Highlite UK office. For years, many of our English customers have known her personally and trusted her, because of her sincere and honest way of treating and advising customers. People who did not know her personally, know her voice: the warm welcome message when calling Highlite International.

"It will be a major challenge for our UK sa

UK - The recipient of this year's Gottelier Award, given during the 2014 PLASA Awards ceremony, was founder and managing director of Clay Paky, Pasquale 'Paky' Quadri. The Award, which recognises members of the industry who have made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of event, entertainment or installation technology, was given posthumously as very sadly Paky passed away on September 6th.

Following his death and as a testament to the huge respect 'Paky' had garnered over the years, the remaining Gottelier Award nominees, Richard Belliveau, David Cunningham and Dr Christian Heil, unanimously agreed to withdraw from the running.

Coming from humble origins the young entrepreneur Pasquale Quadri grew up in an extremely creative environment. The son of a magician he was raised in a small provincial Italian town. 'Paky' established Clay Paky in 1976 and in j

UK - AED Rent UK and AED Distribution who designed their 110sq.m sized stand around a shared lounge area for networking, report a positive experience at PLASA London 2014. "PLASA was a good show where we were able to spend quality time with many LD's, Operators, integrators and rental companies from across the UK," comments David March, managing director at AED Distribution UK.

"It was another key opportunity to communicate and explain the strong solutions that AED can offer to AV Professionals, going from Rent and Distribution, through Lease, Second Hand, Store and even the AED Studios. As Master Distributor for respected brands, we were able to discuss how we provide training and product support to truly underpin our customers so they can concentrate on their key strengths."

HOG Factor, which was organised and hosted for the first time by AED Distribution

USA - Astera will be attending LDI, in Las Vegas from 21-23 November, 2014. Booth 1286 will be occupied by Astera and their totally wireless event lights.

Sebastian Bückle, sales and marketing director at Astera, commented: "We're delighted to be going back to the LDI. It's the biggest show on the calendar to showcase our event range and this year we have a complete line of state-of-the-art wireless fixtures as well as our new app."

The AsteraApp will allow users to control and target any or all lights, group lights, change the effects of lights, as well as brightness, fade, speed etc.

The Lightdrop is a waterproof fixture equipped with a 15W Cree LED chip and many types of application, including magnetic underside, diffusors, hanging hooks, bracket, wall-washing ability, and truss applications via clamps.

The younger brother of the SpotMax (AX10), the SpotLite

UK - Clay Paky was the Gold Sponsor of PLASA London 2014 and one of the leading players at the event, which saw an excellent turnout this year, especially from Britain.

The company says: "The Mythos made its world première at PLASA 2014 and won a PLASA Award for Innovation. Clay Paky's founder and chairman Pasquale Quadri, who passed away last month, received a posthumous lifetime achievement award [the Gottelier Award]. The Knight of Illumination Awards, created and organised by the Italian company, were more popular than ever and very highly acclaimed. Above all, Clay Paky's new lights were able to reveal their outstanding performance to the world, thanks to a specially set up, thrilling multimedia show."

Pio Nahum, Clay Paky's CCO, reported that "the success of the demo show went beyond all expectations. Not only was the seating packed every day of the fair,

UK - Indie rockers The Courteeners UK headlined the NME / Radio One stages for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals, complete with a rig of Robe moving lights specified by their lighting designer, Dan Hill.

The band's new studio album Concrete Love was also released a few days prior to playing the two high profile gigs to great acclaim and enrapt audiences, and they also announced a major UK tour for the autumn, so it was quite a big week for everyone involved.

Hill wanted to ramp up the excitement and make the Reading and Leeds appearances as visually fabulous as possible, and designed a high impact specials lighting package which was supplied by UK rental company Siyan. Siyan also supplied the 'house' lighting kit to both NME / Radio One stages at two sites.

He decided to recreate elements of the big tungsten feel that featured very successfully on the last tour,

UK - Black Light used its theatrical expertise to help revamp a classic Newcastle cinema. The Edinburgh-based company installed AV, sound and lighting systems to create a new, flexible entertainment space for the Tyneside Cinema, the city's only full-time independent picture house.

"We drew on our expertise and experience in the worlds of theatre and conference venues to come up the right mix of equipment to suit the client's technical requirements, creative vision and budget," explains Phil Haldane who led the team that carried out the installation. "In particular we used Q-Sys to manage all the AV and lighting systems. We also installed Selecon LED theatrical lights onto Prolyte Truss to allow a wide range of lighting schemes to be easily set up and implemented. These were recalled via an eCUe replay unit over rs232 from the Q-Sys Core."

The solutions Bla

UK - Nick Gray of London UK based creative lighting and visual design practice Renegade pushed the 'risk-taking' and 'imaginative daring' envelope for a number of high profile offsite shows at the latest London Fashion Week - SS15 - with five different lighting designs in five distinctive architectural spaces.

Staging a series of innovative interventions Gray helped showcase collections from leading designers including Anja Hindmarch, Julien Macdonald, Marchesa, Roksanda and Whistles, as well as lighting the main British Fashion Council (BFC) Showspace at Somerset House.

"I wanted to take a completely different approach," he explained. "It's very easy to play safe for these shows, but there is no reason why the lighting can't embrace the same sense of adventure as some of the designers. Being experimental adds another layer of excitement."

As soon as his

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