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UK - As the sun set over Waterloo Bridge on Wednesday evening, the stars came out in force at the Old Vic and the BA London Eye glowed a glorious orange. Two separate events linked by one lighting supplier: The Moving Light Company. At the Old Vic theatre, Elton John played a concert to raise funds to repair the theatre's leaking roof - and also to welcome the theatre's new artistic director, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey. As well as Elton John, the concert included appearances from Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Lulu, Elvis Costello and Courtney Love.

The lighting designer for the event was Nick Richings. Basing his design around the rig for The Tempest, currently playing at the Old Vic and also using equipment from The Moving Light Company (including DHA Digital Light Curtain

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USA - Switchcraft Inc, the US manufacturer of connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies, has strengthened its international distribution by appointing Orbitec to distribute its products to the French broadcast and pro audio markets.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, said: "Orbitec is an established stocking distributor of our products and we are very pleased to enter this enhanced relationship that will provide our audio and broadcast customers with improved product availability, service and support."

(Lee Baldock)

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The Netherlands - Prolyte Products, in conjunction with the Stageco Group, have developed a range of stage decks, called Stage DEX, which they claim are among the strongest and most versatile demountable staging systems on the market. The Stage DEX is an efficient and lightweight stage system with high loading capacity. The decks can be assembled quickly and easily and are available in several standard sizes and different heights.

The Stage DEX consists of an aluminium frame with a plywood top bolted and glued to it to reduce noise and vibration. The legs can be fitted to the frame and fixed with one simple handle, without the need for tools. Rails and other accessories can easily be attached to the by inserting a spigot in a pre-bolted hole on each corner of the deck, allowing the rails to be assembled after the decks are built.

Apart from the standard sizes 2 x 1 m and 1 x 1

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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UK - Event services supplier ARB and international temporary utility supplier Aggreko announced a strategic alliance at the 2003 Event Show in London. Since being acquired by the CSS Stellar Group Plc, ARB has implemented significant restructuring and expansion plans, focusing its various services into specialist divisions to offer clients improved service in all areas.

Aggreko is a world leader in the supply of temporary power, temperature control and oil-free compressed air services and has a track-record of successfully supporting events such as the FIFA 2002 World cup, numerous winter and summer Olympic Games and the 2003 Ski Championship in St Moritz.

This exclusive partnership will see the complementary strengths of both combined to deliver total power, cooling and technical solutions to events of all sizes and type throughout Europe. "The opportunity this link pres

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USA - The Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA) has appointed David Taylor, director of project management at Theatre Projects Consultants, to its Board of Directors. A recent vacancy in the position of Affiliate Director allowed ESTA President Mike Wood to appoint David to the Board to fill the remaining two years of the vacated term.

Commenting on his appointment Taylor told us: "Theatre Projects are privileged to specify a huge amount of performance equipment for the US and world markets and we value our close relationships with manufacturers, suppliers and contractors - I look forward to contributing to the ESTA Board and supporting the mission of the diverse ESTA members to create a better, safer and more efficient entertainment market."

Taylor joined Theatre Projects in the UK in 1985, became a project leader in 1989, and a senior consultant

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UK - To mark the start of the New Year, Navigator Systems has released a free upgrade to its best-selling rental management software HireTrack Eclipse.

The upgrade - which consists of more than 70 new features - comes in response to customer feedback, and demand for the new version has already been high, with the system now a regular feature of many company's business plans. One such client, Saville Audio Visual, winners of the AV Rental Company of the Year at the AV Awards 2002, has grown its rental turnover by 26% - an achievement "based around the use of HireTrack Eclipse", which is now installed in all 14 outlets. Navigator will be showing the new release at this year's Frankfurt Pro Light+Sound/MusikMesse in March.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Spain - Barco last week hosted what has become an annual networking event to the events and Rental & Staging industries - its annual Rental Partner Meeting - in Marbella, Spain. Held at the Meridien Los Monteros Hotel in Marbella from 26-29 January, the three-day event was attended by 120 key commercial and technical representatives from 50 rental and staging companies from across Europe.

Due to the overwhelming response, attendance was strictly by invitation only for Barco's key European Rental Partners, who in line with Barco's Golden Account Strategy, were treated to a carefully-constructed agenda which included hands-on workshops with Barco's proprietary Events Controller and ViewScape, as well as demonstrations of the brand-new SLite 10 and SLite14 LED displays and workshops on the SLM R10 Performer and RLM G5 Performer projectors. As a finale to the three-day event, the Ba

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UK - EAW has appointed Sean Martin as European technical sales manger. Martin, one of the UK's most experienced international sales people, claims that the reason he's been in the business for 23 years is because "I just can't seem to get out of it". During that time, he has worked for a number of loudspeaker companies including JBL, Turbosound, Tannoy, Canon and Court Acoustics where he started out as a projects engineer.

Martin commented on his appointment: "Although my recent roles have been in international sales, I look at each system from a technical perspective. Being a member of the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers certainly helps that aim. I am absolutely delighted to be joining EAW, as it enables me to return to the touring sound market with one of the major loudspeaker brands. It also allows me to continue the relationship I have made wit

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UK - Liverpool-based Adlib Audio has taken delivery of the first of Soundcraft's new MH3 consoles. The mixing desk has gone straight out with FOH engineer Steve Cole on a two-month nationwide tour with tribute band 'Rumours of Fleetwood Mac'. The tour is playing a wide variety of town hall and theatre-sized venues, and they had been looking for a versatile and outstanding sounding console for some time, when the MH3 came on stream.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty ordered the 24-channel desk immediately. He knew its high spec and expedient sized footprint were ideal for medium-sized tours such as this one. The console is very dynamic, serving equally well for mixing monitors as FOH, in addition to being keenly priced. The MH3 has many neat features you would expect to find on a more expensive piece of kit, including an extra 4 stereo channels, which can be utilized for stereo keyboards, mi

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UK - Skan PA Hire has invested in a DiGiCo D5 Live digital console, adding rock and pop concerts and touring to the brand's fast-growing applications. Skan chose the D5 Live 56E after trying out competitive brands. The console, which can be upgraded from 56 to 96 microphone inputs in the future should the need arise, comes complete with a channel control surface. It includes local and remote DiGi racks which contain the A/D and D/A converters and are connected to the console via optical fibre.

"We chose the D5 Live for its intuitive and simple operation and good features," says Skan PA Hire director Chris Fitch. "We also liked the fact that it was a British product, and had confidence in the DiGiCo sales and support team."

According to Fitch, the decision to invest in a digital console was informed by its customers while reflecting the company's desire to s

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France - Le Petit Prince has come back to life in the Casino de Paris Théâtre. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's grand novel is now a journey through worlds of enchantment and colourful characters, a metaphor for man's vices and virtues. The show began on 1 October, 2002 and will run through the end of June 2003. Produced by Victor Bosch/NODO Productions, the show features music by Riccardo Cocciante, with lyrics by Elisabeth Anais, and is directed by Jean-Louis Martinoty.

Jean Kalman served as lighting designer, a lighting artist whose work has appeared onstage at the National Opera of Paris, the Musical Theatre, the Royal National Theatre of London and numerous other theatres, festivals, and concerts the world over for internationally acclaimed artists.

In Le Petit Prince, Kalman demonstrates how recently the possibilities of theatre lighting have expan

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Austria - Five giant Lighthouse LED video screens are greeting visitors to the Austrian Tyrol this winter in a networked advertising project by Munich-based advertising specialists City Channel. City Channel run LED advertising billboard sites in a number of European cities, and for this year's ski season decided on five prime locations at leading ski resorts for semi-permanent screen installations, showing a mixture of advertising and TV and satellite broadcasts.

The locations are in the Tyrol region, in the Kitzbuhel area at the Fleckalmbahn ski-lift (800 metres), the top of the Pengelstein ski-lift (1939 metres), by a popular bar in Mayerhofen at the foot of the Penkenbahn ski-lift, nearby at the bottom of the Horbergbahn ski-lift, and at Haus near Schladming at the foot of the Hauser Kaibling ski-lift.

The screens were installed between 11-13 December and will be used thro

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UK / France - Anytronics took advantage of the SIEL show in Paris from 2nd - 5th February to launch their new Anycolour stacking light box system on the Areco stand. Their demonstration was based on 12 of the new Anycolour Lightboxes arranged 3 high and 4 wide to give a seamless 2m x 2.6m wall of colour. The light boxes were controlled by the DMX output of an Anycolour ColourDesk controller via a DMX interface to give a wall of attractive and easily-controlled moving colours.

"The entire installation took me less than 20 minutes to unpack and construct from time of arrival on site, thanks to the simple interlocking Lightbox design and the 'plug and play' interconnection system," said Bob Hall, managing director of Anytronics, who was reportedly delighted with the attention that the new product attracted to the stand throughout the show. The Anycolour Lightbox is an ext

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UK - Blitz Birmingham was recently commissioned to add the audio-visual elements to the biggest dating party the UK has ever seen. The first ever 'Chemistry' event, held at London's Vinopolis from 29-30 January, offered the 3,000 people who attended the chance to find Mr or Miss Right. It was managed by Brand Events, who commissioned Blitz.

A number of different zones were created to help break down barriers and encourage mingling. 'The Ocean' was the centre of the action with Capital FM DJs Martin Collins and Justin Wilkes getting the party started. A 10k d&b audiotechnik sound rig was provided for the DJs, and Blitz supplied a network of Sony plasma screens to provide ongoing images of the crowded dance floor switching to vox pops carried out during the evening, which gave participants a few minutes of fame and a chance for some self-promotion.

Speed dating, an adult version

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UK - Sister companies Tomcat USA and Brilliant Stages recently came together to create a stage system for the 'Curtain Up' show designed by Joe Ragey for Princess Cruise Lines. One of the challenges of the project was a very demanding stage system. Its complexities included the need to change several times during the run of the cruise. With this in mind, the design teams of Tomcat Global created a system which could be easily assembled and disassembled using their own bolt-free hook and channel system.

The multi-level stage system is made of a series of decks on aluminum frames. Each deck has a birch plywood surface covered with a black dance floor surface from Harlequin Flooring. As space is limited, two of the main upstage risers may be turned on their sides and used as dollies to store the remainder of the stage.

Fourteen collapsible 2ft x 2ft x 6ft dressing room lockers we

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USA - L-Acoustics US has made a further appointment this week with the addition of Michael MacDonald to the L-Acoustics US team in the role of sales and marketing consultant. Jeffrey Cox, L- Acoustics US CEO and general manager, told us: "Michael's 20-plus years of diverse pro audio experiences have given him a tremendous amount of insight into this industry, particularly with regard to the loudspeaker market," commented Cox. "We've also worked together successfully in the past, so when the opportunity recently arose to work with him again, I jumped at it."

During the early stages of L-Acoustics US - known then as Cox Audio Engineering - MacDonald consulted for Cox, providing information that was critical to the early growth of the company. Since that time, L-Acoustics US has evolved into one of the largest providers of touring systems in North America. This

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UK - Shure Incorporated, the leading manufacturer of microphones and audio electronics, announced yesterday that it had purchased its long-time United Kingdom distribution centre, HW International, from Wilton Investments. The new Shure subsidiary will keep all current employees, as well as the distribution of its other existing product lines - Phonic, QSC and PreSonus. Dennis Harburn will continue as managing director at HW, and will report directly to Shure Europe GmbH management.

"The purchase of HW International provides an opportunity for Shure to have more direct contact with its customer base in the UK, one of Europe's largest markets," said Mike McGinn, Shure's executive vice president of global marketing and sales. ''This supports our plan to further develop the brand there.'' Markus Winkler, managing director of Shure Europe added: "From the standpoint o

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Russia - The world-famous Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow recently took delivery of 35 DHA Digital Light Curtains, the first permanent installation of these fixtures in Russia. The DLCs will be used to add the finishing touches to the much-needed renovations at the theatre.

Damir Ismagilow, lighting designer for the Bolshoi Theatre, said: "I specified DHA DLCs after seeing them in use in New York - I really liked the many varied effects that can be achieved with them. DHA has a very strong reputation as a company and its equipment is consistently reliable. The DLC provides a unique combination of features for the lighting designer - it's a multifunctional and flexible product. There is nothing quite like it in Russia."

This project is representative of the progression towards the use of new technology in Russia. The latest equipment in theatrical applications will bring gr

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UK - Chameleon Audio amplifiers helped power the Apogee Sound PA system for Cirque du Soleil's recent sell-out performances at London's Royal Albert Hall. 28 Chameleon 3500 DP/2s and eight 2000 DP/2s were supplied by Alex Schloesser Audio of Cologne, a hire company supported by Chameleon's German distributor, AS Audio. The amps powered an Apogee Sound rig comprising 24 3x3 cabinets and three Apogee Sound AE 15 subwoofers. In addition, six Apogee APL-220 full-range self-powered loudspeakers were added to the existing AE-8 Compact Concert loudspeakers.

Says Schlosser: "I had no hesitation in choosing Chameleon amps to power the Apogee Sound system. They have proved themselves on past projects that I've been involved in, such as the Chancellor Party in Berlin, and did so again at the Albert Hall. The self-powered speakers worked very well with the existing system, too."

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Germany - When well-known television lighting designer Manfred 'Ollie' Olma was looking for an exciting new light to integrate into the set for the final three shows of the German version of Pop Idol ('Deutschland sucht den Superstar'), he opted for Color Stream from Pixeon.

The blockbuster show, broadcast on German station RTL was the world TV premier for Color Stream. Color Stream uses LED technology in an encapsulated package to create subtle colour effects and linear sequences which have hitherto been unattainable in the lighting designer's pallet. The system consists of one metre long diffused tubes, which conceal the LEDs, and connect together seamlessly to make long lines of light that can be programmed to evolve in a series of synchronous events.

The Color Stream tubes contain dense arrays of red, green and blue LEDs arranged in individual pixels. Each pixel is control

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UK - When publishing and exhibition giants CMP Information held their Business for Excellence awards recently they were set on presenting a stage backdrop that everyone would remember. Hired by production company Reality Ltd, Creative Technology dressed the stage in Grosvenor House Hotel's Great Room with an array of plasma screens, together with crisp and powerful images on two motorised projection screens - supplied by Reality - to enable the 900 attendees a clear view of the activity at the event.

A white gauze created a 72ft x 20ft backdrop, behind the stage, to create a blank canvas for the intelligent lighting to wash ever-moving colours behind the guest MC, Jack Dee. An avi file was transferred to a Doremi hard disk, which looped a continuous flame rising above the CMP logo. CT drew exclusively from their pool of Christie DLP projectors, providing Christie S6 SXGA DLP pro

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