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USA - Space is still available in a series of courses taught by industry experts Richard Cadena, Vicki Claiborne, Steve Irwin, and Richard Wolpert during The ESTA Foundation's Mid-Atlantic Training Week, 29 January - 2 February 2007. Designed for lighting designers, programmers, electricians, and technicians, you can register for the full week of courses or individual days.

The courses will be held from 10am - 5pm at Prince George's Community College in Largo, MD (12 miles from Washington D.C.) and are sponsored by The ESTA Foundation's Seminars and Training Committee and Theatre & Entertainment Technology at Prince George's Community College.

The schedule of classes is as follows: Monday and Tuesday offers an Entertainment Electrician Seminar, led by Richard Cadena. Basic Elect

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UK - Audio-visual sales and service company, Green-i, has marked its fifth anniversary by acquiring the interests of corporate event service company, Canegreen Commercial. The deal was confirmed on December 1, 2006, and becomes effective from January 1, 2007.

Both companies were set up as associate business units to the successful rental production company Canegreen Ltd, established by Yan Stile and Pete Edmonds back in 1982. In 1996 Andrew Frengley spearheaded Canegreen's expansion when the new Canegreen Commercial made an instant impact in the corporate event market. In 2001 Green-i, under Ian 'Woody' Woodall further underpinned the expansion with a vibrant installation division in the industry's growing leisure hospitality sector. Concurrently Richard Brooker Sound Design added a third string to Canegreen's bow.

The new Green-i executive brings the two successful former ind

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UK - Britannia Row, Blackout, Creative Technology, PRG Europe and Avolites held their joint Christmas ball, for the second year, at the newly refurbished Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square on Tuesday, 12 December, 2006.

Delighted by the success of the black-tie and flamboyant themed evening, Bryan Grant, managing director at Britannia Row says: "Around 1,200 friends and clients attended the ball during the course of the evening. This was twice the number of guests who were present last year and everyone was expecting it to be at least as successful. Big stress, but our merry band of rascals pulled it off - it was twice as good!"

Jim Baggott used his creative and directorial talents to design the party. Lost Vagueness provided the live entertainment which included Santa's Grotty, The Laundrettas, Dynamo Rhythm Aces, The Fat 45s, Gurlesque and Anna Piana.

Special th

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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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Malta - The opening of the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC) represents a further success for Arena Structures' award-winning TFS temporary venue. The company was presented with an internationally challenging project, which it delivered on time and on budget.

Ruben Caruana, managing director of the Maltese events company Sign-It, was impressed by the TFS when he saw it in action, hosting concerts of up to 10,000 fans, when it was used as the temporary Wembley Arena Pavilion venue during the refurbishment of Wembley Arena, London. At the time he was researching solutions for a large exhibition, conference and concert venue in his Malta.

Arena's account director, Simon Marsh, supervised the removal of the TFS from Wembley and its delivery in Malta. At the same time, Arena dealt with the arrival of 20,000sq.m of temporary structures' equipment from other clients, including t

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Europe - From September to December, George Michael toured arena venues throughout Europe. Celebrating the two and a half decades of his career in music, the 25 Live tour finished off in style, playing nine huge London gigs - four at Earls Court and five at Wembley Arena.

Throughout the tour, three DiGiCo consoles have been the beating heart of the audio system - a D5 Live on Front of House, another for George Michael's monitors and a D5T for band monitors.

Andy 'Baggy' Robinson has worked with George Michael for the past three years. He is the tour's head of sound and Michael's monitor engineer. He says: "Early on it was obvious this show was going to need a digital desk solution. With 15 in the band, including six backing vocals, plus the lead vocal who has very exacting monitoring requirements and needs large amounts of time devoting to him, it swiftly became ap

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USA - The Special Event Show and Vivien - Virtual Event Designer are getting together in Los Angeles next week to offer a series of "firsts." In a first-ever virtual lab setting, a diverse group of Vivien Users comprising students, event planners, and designers from around the world are coming together to participate in the inaugural seminar, Getting Started with Vivien - Virtual Event Designer. In this unique environment, attendees will not only learn directly from the Vivien team, but also from Vivien Ambassadors-industry leaders, clients, and students who are eager to share their design expertise with others. Participants will learn how easy it is to adopt Vivien's award-winning tools into their event planning process, the company says.

"This truly unique learning environment will provide attendees with valuable design skills that they can immediately ap

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USA - When it comes to spectacular shows, few can top these annual holiday season tours of the Eastern and Western USA. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) just keeps getting bigger every year, along with their db/EV rigs. Starting in early November and running through the end of December, the show has grown into a phenomenon that becomes more elaborate every season. For the 2006 concerts, each tour hit the road with a powerhouse 64-box EV X-Array system. Blending a contemporary Christmas narrative with metal-tinged takes on festive classics, these events pack stadiums night after night.

Since visionary composer Paul O'Neill formed the TSO back in 1996, db Sound has brought their sound to legions of fans with EV's X-Array loudspeaker systems, providing a balance of rugged reliability and warm, musical reproduction that have made the db crew and their EV systems a fixture on the t

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UK - Following the successful launch of the MICROseries system of electronics and loudspeakers for background music and pro AV applications, the company has introduced a range of aesthetically complementary accessories for greater ease and flexibility of installation.

The first of these is the MFS, a floor stand for the MICROpoint and MICROline loudspeakers. The elegant stand is one metre tall and is designed for meeting rooms with glass or other forms of partition wall where fixed loudspeaker mounting is not possible or desirable. It is also suitable for semi-permanent installations requiring the loudspeaker positions to be movable. Using heavy steel construction for maximum rigidity and audio performance, the stand merges with the style of the loudspeakers and allows for vertical or horizontal loudspeaker mounting with full use of the pivot functions of the loudspeaker's built

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USA - Once again Total Structures will be helping one the largest motor manufacturer's promote their products at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) being held in Detroit in January. Hot on the heels of last year's massive Ford corporate structure (a total of 1.5 Miles of truss was supplied) the company has just finished the production of additional equipment for both the Ford and General Motors booths.

For NAIAS 2007 the Ford Motor Company made some changes to the previous year's enormous 110,000sq.ft. ceiling structure, with the entire ceiling moving 15ft. upstage to allow lighting troughs to be repositioned over the new floor layout.

One of the cross stage trusses now fell under an air-wall and the top of the truss at trim sat above the low position of the air-wall track. Total Structures had to make a 240ft. dummy truss 2" thick (essentially a ladder ly

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UK - Tower Productions, with locations in Edinburgh and Oxford, have recently added a number of new products to their hire inventory, including: Chroma Q Color Block DB4 units, SGM Palco 3 LED washlights, and the Jands Vista T2 console.

Chroma Q Color Block DB4 units satisfy the increasing demand for LED fixtures in both compact and batten formats and are available with either five way or 30 way Controllers/PSUs and a full range of rigging accessories.

SGM Palco 3 LED washlights fill the requirement for a lightweight, versatile, wash fixture that also benefits from an IP65 rating and a built in scheduler for standalone architectural use.

The Jands Vista T2 console heads the line up of existing Jands consoles including desks from the Hog, Event and Stage ranges. The Vista features timeline based programming as well as extensive networking functionality and a highly visual use

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UK - Liquid is the first nightclub to open in the picturesque Monmouthshire town of Chepstow, South Wales. With a funky minimalist design, an innovative LED mood lighting scheme and a broad mix of good music, it's immediately started becoming a destination for discerning clubbers from in and around the area.

Independent owners Stuart Hayles and Ian Fell, who also own The Castle pub in the town, spotted a gap in the market that they thought they could fill with their brand new 300 capacity venue concept, sited on first floor a former bank.

They wanted to combine high production values with a friendly and chilled vibe, and were also keen to utilise other local businesses and skills, so asked i-Vision's Luke Dodd to design, specify and supply environmental lighting. He had previously produced a small mood lighting scheme for the pub, which had made a real difference to the atmosp

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USA - Two brand-new rooms were recently commissioned at theCleveland Institute of Music: a recital hall and a state-of-the-art audiocontrol room. Theroom was designed by Dr. Peter D'Antonio, adjunct professor of acoustics atthe Institute, while the installed system was developed by Bruce Egre, headof the conservatory's audio recording degree program with an ATC (AcousticTransducer Company) 5.1 surround system as the cornerstone of the new soundsystem..

The two new rooms were added on to one of the existing buildings at the CIM,with the recital hall on the front and the control room on the back. "Thenew control room was designed and built from the ground up to beacoustically precise," says Egre. "We didn't have to try and fit a squarepeg into a round hole, so we were able to avoid some of the more commonpitfalls of re-fitting an existing space. The institute was ve

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USA - Originally a burlesque LA dance revue, the Pussycat Dolls have developed into an A-list phenomena with the likes or Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera queuing up to join in the Doll's flirtatious show for a night.

Lighting designer Scott Warner has worked with the band since March and they have been performing shows all over the world. The lighting rig has developed along the way and now boasts a battery of Martin fixtures and 35 PixelLine 1044s.

Warner actually first discovered PixelLines purely by chance. He explains: "When we first came to the UK I was using a different LED fixture that wasn't available in the UK. The rental company asked if I would like to try PixelLines - and I was hooked!"

Warner wanted a clean look with a disco feel and was happy that the budget allowed him to creative a stunning show that would complement the sexy movement of the ban

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USA - grandMA played a key role in the lighting of the DVD shoot for Amy Grant marking the release of her new CD. The production was shot over two nights in full concert mode at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.

The goal of lighting the DVD was to provide an upbeat, theatrical, yet calm atmosphere to the living room set where Grant performed. "It had a very 'MTV Unplugged' feel," says lighting programmer Demfis Fyssicopulos of New York City and Florida. "Lighting designer Sparky Anderson had to light for the concert audience as well as for the film cameras. In addition Anderson accentuated the breath-taking architecture of The Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, TX, where the shoot took place."

Gemini Productions supplied the lighting complement which had grandMA controlling 20 Vari*Lite VL2500 spots, 10 Vari*Lite VL3000 spots, five Vari*Lite VL3000 washes,

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UK - Media communication took a giant step forward in the entertainment world this month when leisure giants, Luminar Leisure plc, looking to amaze customers in their Branded Destination Dancing venues, piloted a revolutionary 3D rear projection concept. Their aim is to bring 'virtual' live performance into their large UK dance venue estate.

Luminar Leisure's CEO, Steve Thomas had been investigating the idea with Eminence Leisure CEO Martin King, sole suppliers of acts to the company, for the past 18 months. Into the equation came the Connecta Group, whose subsidiary Tactectic Ltd had acquired a five-year exclusive license for Wonderworks Media Ltd's radical Eyeliner® Foil System technology for live entertainment venues in the UK, Channel Islands and Eire.

The Eyeliner Foil System provides the virtual 3D imaging which can be choreographed to incorporate, and integrate with

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Germany - One of the biggest solar module producers in Europe and operator of the world's most powerful solar plant, celebrated its 10th anniversary in December in Berlin, and Multisound of Erzhausen, Germany, was engaged with the technical planning and implementation of sound reinforcement, lighting, video, stage and rigging for the event.

Hangar 2 at Berlin Tempelhof airport, with a cantilevered main hall of about 5,000sq.m (55m wide, 98m long and 21m high) and an additional gallery (660sq.m) provided an appropriate location for the 3,000 invited guests. Claus Breidert and Martin Steinfels of Multisound set up the main sound reinforcement for the event, choosing K.M.E.'s PANO line array systems.

As the main stage was on the long side of the Hangar, the pre-planning made a separate PA for the side area necessary. In the following simulation with PANO Focus, the number of K.M.

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Sweden - Hotel Tylösand is situated in Halmstad on the western shore of the bay of Kattegat in Sweden. With 225 rooms and suites, 29 conference and breakout rooms, a 700 capacity convention hall with sea views and a total spa area of 2,000sq.m it hails itself as the largest conference and recreation centre in Northern Europe.

The hotel is owned by Per Gessle, of Swedish pop duo Roxette fame, and his business partner Björn Nordstrand. The pair have taken what was an old beach hotel and invested millions of Swedish Kronor to create an exclusive property that provides the best spa experience in Sweden.

With a musician at the helm, the audio installation was an extremely important part of the mix and, as equipment supplier New Musik's sales manager Håkan Sjöö explains, was based around a Turbosound loudspeaker system.

"While the hotel industry is not a new end-customer

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UK - Currently promoting their greatest hits collection, top British R&B band, The Sugababes recently played an impressive private gig at the 100 Club in London's Oxford Street, performing a whole set of numbers to an appreciative audience. To ensure that the girl band's performance had a real impact, Concert Sound (Luton), organising the show equipment, chose HK Audio's versatile new ConTour Array, hired in from London-based ConTour users, Euroscope TV and Picture it Facilities Ltd.

The company says that their ConTour Array bridges the gap between conventional PA systems and large touring line arrays. Whereas full-on line array rigs for smaller applications are not a cost-effective proposition, ConTour Array is the first of its kind to put the technology to more efficient use, and is applicable to a variety of sound reinforcement situations, including such medium-sized club gig

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UK - Building on a highly successful 2006, OHM, the British designer and manufacturer of professional loudspeakers and sound systems, is launching a series of new products into the market, available from January 2007. OHM offers tailored solutions for every application and environment from dance floor to ceiling, and its speaker ranges can be experienced in venues around the globe, including the Vienna State Opera House and Moscow Airport.

OHM's recently improved TRS front-of-house stacking system is continuing to be a huge success, say the company: used extensively for live events and favoured by many in the music industry, such as the Leeds-based band Soul Story, who toured with the system for 21 consecutive performances in December. Additional TRS models will be available in 2007. Other successes include the installation of BR speakers in a number of UK venues, including Birm

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UAE - Located beneath the luxury Fairmont Hotel, one of the most distinctive buildings in the rapidly-expanding urbanisation of Dubai, the 400 Club is an exclusive 700 capacity nightclub. Decorated in a classic French style, the club was originally scheduled to open in December 2005. But the owners delayed the opening by nearly a year in order to ensure everything was "perfect".

With a choice of music heavily influenced by the UK club scene, the audio system needed to be versatile and high quality, in order to complement the rest of the facilities, and XTA's DP series processors were the choice of local audio specialists Reference Audio.

"The décor features heavy drapes and furniture everywhere," says Reference Audio's Brent Davenport. "Our brief was that we could not fly any loudspeakers above the dance floor. Everything had to be in a place th

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USA - Nemetschek North America announced today the release of VectorWorks version 12.5.1, a maintenanceupdate for VectorWorks Designer, VectorWorks Architect, VectorWorksLandmark, VectorWorks Spotlight, VectorWorks Machine Design, VectorWorksFundamentals, and RenderWorks.

"As with any major VectorWorks release, it is our goal to improve thestability and performance of that release, as well as respond to ourusers and address any problems they may encounter," says Paul Pharr,Nemetschek North America's chief technology officer. "With VectorWorks12.5.1, we've worked to resolve our users' most frequently reportedissues with VectorWorks 12.5."

VectorWorks 12.5.1 contains important fixes that improve the program'sstability and robustness, particularly when opening and saving filesover a Macintosh network. Memory and other issues when working withviewports, as well

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