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UK - Sweeny's, a new bar and restaurant in Royal Leamington Spa, has just opened with a complete Community system designed and installed by Leamington-based sound and lighting specialists, PSL Distribution. The owner of the venue, Tony Sweeny, has had a long association with Leamington Spa and the Sweeny name brings with it an enviable reputation for excellent food; a reputation that this new venue intends to continue.

Décor in the venue is smart and stylish, so the sound system was required to complement the aesthetics as well as provide the highest quality audio to meet the expectations of its clientele. Peter Smith, proprietor of PSL explains: "The system also had to be dual purpose, providing a high power, DJ-driven system for weekend use in the bar and a more subt

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UK - Lighting designers and programmers can now realise their vision with greater accuracy than ever before, thanks to PRG Europe's investment in ESP Vision software.

The software was added to PRG Europe's pre-production portfolio following a request from Marc Brickman, who is working with programmer Mark "Sparky" Risk on the lighting for Roger Waters' worldwide tour. Brickman and Risk are also using ESP with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo's current tour.

"Marc and I asked for ESP as we've used it on previous tours and love it," explains Sparky, who is lighting director for Roger Waters and programmer together with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo. "Marc's based in LA, and using a standard broadband internet connection on his Mac PowerBook, he can see exactly what I'm seeing on screen. It means we don't have to take a long flight to meet one another, and nor do we

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UK - Adlib Lighting held a week of WholeHog training seminars at their premises in Liverpool, which proved a great success, attracting people from a wide cross section of the industry.

The two 2-day courses - which were completely free and aimed at all levels expertise - included WholeHog users, programmers and operators, and were designed to be hands-on, covering High End's popular WholeHog control range, specifically the WholeHog 3 and the Hog iPC.

The courses were deliberately restricted to six people each to ensure that everyone received enough individual attention and sufficient time on the consoles. "We also used it as an opportunity to discuss people's constantly evolving operating and programming needs and expectations," says Pete Abraham, Adlib's head of lighting. High End Systems' Frank Schotman and Adlib's in house lighting designer Ian Tomlinson were on h

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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 - blackbox-av has announced the formation of a new in-house creative agency called Clocked In, at their Port Talbot HQ. The company specialises in providing AV equipment and bespoke interactive installations to the museums, heritage and attractions industries across the UK and overseas.

The dynamic new agency is a natural extension of the organisation's core interactive business. The creation of Clocked In has brought together a highly skilled group of creative professionals, dedicated to the principals of superior design and stunning interactive systems.

The Clocked In team is keen to act as creative consultants from the start of a project, advising clients right through the design process from day one, developing a client's brief into a fully integrated brand image. The company says Clocked In's new clients will have easy, one -stop access to a wide range of creative desi

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USA - Chris Parry, who had a distinguished career as a lighting designer in both the UK and US, died unexpectedly on January 16. He was 56. Born in Manchester, England, he grew in the town of Welsh Pool and began his career as a telephone engineer. His work in amateur theatricals led to a strong interest in lighting; he joined Royal Shakespeare Company as an electrician. He remained with RSC for 13 years, becoming assistant head of lighting, then a designer.

An early success with Royal Shakespeare was Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which earned him his first Tony nomination (in association with Beverly Emmons). The production established him as a major designer at the RSC, and was followed by such productions as The Plantagenets, which combined Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays and parts of Richard III, The Blue Ange

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UK - XL Video UK supplied full video production and crew to Blink TV for Kylie's visually stunning Showgirl Homecoming tour. The live IMAG mix was cut by Ruary MacPhie and the tour's video elements were co-ordinated by crew chief Stuart Heaney. It continued XL's long standing relationship with the artist.

Added for this final section of the tour were four extra Barco ILite 10 high resolution screens, all flown on a Kinesys automation system supplied by Neg earth, coming in and out at various points throughout the show. The new screens were each constructed from 6 x 6 panels of ILite, measuring approximately 2.7sq.m, They joined a centre portrait format hi-res screen that was on the previous tour, made from 6 x 10 modules of I-10.

XL also supplied an upstage SoftLED LED curtain measuring 100ft wide by 33 high (it was the first UK tour for this product back in 2005 when <

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UK - Located on the south side of the River Thames, close to Lambeth Palace, London's brand new Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel offers 400 deluxe guest rooms, including executive studios and serviced suites, with sweeping views of the River Thames and city skyline.

Created by RHWL Architects, the hotel also offers unsurpassed conference and events facilities. These include an entire floor of the hotel that features a groundbreaking arrangement of moving partitions, allowing the floor to be used as a single, large space or configured as up to ten individual rooms.

TGM Solutions specified and installed the audio system. The company's Ian Kersen says: "The partitions can be arranged in many different configurations, allowing the conference space and A/V facilities to be re-organised according to client-specific requirements," says Kersen. "Being a brand new, four star h

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USA - Bandit Lites added a substantial amount of new equipment to their inventory as 2006 drew to a close. After examining the upcoming needs for 2007, Bandit worked withvarious manufacturers and purchased several million dollars worth of inventory.

New equipment includes: Vari*Lite VL 3000s, Martin MAC 2000s, Coemar Infinitys, CoemarHalos, Grand MA Consoles, PixelRange PixelLines, DF- 50s, Compulite Vector Consolesand a large quantity of related support equipment.

The recent additions were initially intended to fulfill needs well into 2007 but due to theglobal workload, Bandit has already used the majority of the recently purchasedinventory. As a result, Bandit has begun purchasing additional equipment to fulfill all ofits current and potential lighting obligations.

With nominations for Lighting Company of the Year from Pollstar and Total Production,the future is bri

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USA - WI- Intelix LLC, U.S. manufacturer of audio/video equipment and software, recently announced the release of the DIGI-VGA-F, which distributes VGA video and professional-level 20 Hz to 20 kHz audio up to 850 feet over standard structured cabling such Cat 5 or Cat 6.

"The DIGI-VGA-F is our latest audio/video over Cat 5 extension solution, and the second in our new DigiCat series of audio/video extension products," states Cameron Smith, Intelix sales and marketing manager. "Our goal was to combine Intelix's industry-leading audio and video extension technology with high-quality distribution amplification circuits. The result is an extremely high-quality VGA and audio balun set with very unique features."

Built-in distribution amplifiers provide the DIGI-VGA-F send balun with a local audio/video output and the receive balun dual amplified audio/video outp

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UK - As the sole UK dealer for Zaxcom RF Products in the UK, audio specialist Orbital is putting its Zaxcom products forward as a potential counter to the threat posed to the entertainment industry's use of RF spectrum by Ofcom's planned auctioning of the channels currently used under license.

"This presents two immediate problems," say Orbital, "the first being that under the current proposals there will be far fewer frequencies left for the theatre industry to operate in and the second being that there may be many new high power carriers like Mobile TV used in the frequencies that are to be auctioned off, that have the potential to create considerable interference spilling into previously available frequency bands such as Channel 69."

Recognising the serious implications of these proposals, Orbital is keen to provide a solution to what could otherwise thr

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UAE - Dubai-based production company HQ Creative, working closely with Done Events, delivered the opening ceremony of the 18th Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City Stadium. The show, conceived by HQ's creative director Katie Veira, was a 37-minute mixed media spectacular, and the largest opening event to date for a football tournament.

The performance featured 1200 live performers, 55 horses and an international production team of over 400, working with around 1700 local crew over the build period. The show was enjoyed live by 55,000 excited spectators and a TV audience of 50 million who tuned in to Dubai Sports.

The building of the complex technical infrastructure was co-ordinated by production director Jo Marshall, working with his key HQ team including project manager Jo MacKay, production co-ordinators Ian Greenway, Candice Dalziel, Nadine Manning and site manager Nig

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France - L-Acoustics have announced that Stéphane Ecalle has been promoted to director of marketing. Previously in charge of Sales for Northern and Eastern Europe at L-Acoustics, Ecalle boasts more than a decade of international experience in Pro Audio.

Previously affiliated with Yamaha Music France and BSS Audio USA, Ecalle says: "Having worked in sales with L-Acoustics for several years, it is with the utmost pleasure that I have accepted this position as marketing director of one of the most prestigious speaker manufacturers in the industry."

Christian Heil, CEO of L-Acoustics adds: "Stéphane has been a tremendous asset for the company since he joined the L-Acoustics team. His previous exposure to marketing and his knowledge of L-Acoustics markets will bring him on his new assignment with an ideal blend of skills, experience and talents to be su

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Hong Kong - Being one of Europe's oldest university towns, Bologna is synonymous with Italy's largest motor show which is hosted annually. In December 2006, the event was once again the showcase chosen by many motor manufacturers to launch their new models. There was widespread use of AV technology at the show, and several key exhibitors including Mercedes, Audi, and Subaru, chose Lighthouse LED screens at their booths.

"Motor shows are a particularly innovative arena with the major manufacturers continually raising the bar for the design of their stands," says Roberto Segato, Lighthouse sales director. "Lighthouse LED screens have become an important part of this for many high profile car manufacturers and it's good to see this trend continued at Bologna."

Three Italian rental companies used Lighthouse LED screens on several key exhibitor's stands to let v

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USA - Total Structures, Inc., a manufacturer of industry standard truss, custom set and structures and a Columbus McKinnon hoist distributor has announced a new initiative to benefit The ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes Programme. Total Structures will donate $10 to Behind the Scenes for every Lodestar and Prostar Columbus McKinnon hoist they sell.

Adrian Forbes-Black, vice president operations, made the announcement to Lori Rubinstein and Bill Sapsis, members of the Behind the Scenes Committee, during the recent LDI exhibition.

"Behind the Scenes is a wonderful programme and we wanted to find a way to help," said Forbes-Black. "There are a number of people and organisations that have put together programmes to benefit Behind the Scenes, and this idea seemed to be a good way for us to do our part." Forbes-Black also noted that "this initiative is fo

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USA - In one of the most anticipated tours of 2006, Barbara Streisand, hit North American venues last autumn in her first U.S. tour since 1994 and the first live events since her farewell concerts in 1999. Sharing the stage with the iconic singer was operatic pop group Il Divo.

Billed as an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues, the show was heavy on standard classics. Streisand left it up to lighting designer Peter Morse to "create the moods with light. I've been with Barbra for quite some time - she trusts me and lets me do my thing," he says.

Streisand played in the round with very limited scenery. The stage was an open platform with long, tiered, lit runways surrounding a full symphony orchestra. "The stage design was basically a square with a pit in the middle," Morse explains. "I used a series of square trusses above and dropped

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UAE - Located at the lobby level of Dubai's Al Murooj Rotana Hotel, C Bar is a sibling of the popular Crystal restaurant and certainly lives up to the latter's chic and contemporary reputation.

C Bar is an L-shaped venue with a relaxed yet elegant feel, where curves predominate, from its entrance - right the way through to its furniture. Also installed is a Turbosound loudspeaker system that comprises eight TXD-121s, four TXD-215s, four Impact 80s and a TXD-118 subwoofer all controlled by an LMS-D24 Loudspeaker Management System, installed by Louay Agha's Lebanon-based installation company, Thunder Electronics.

"The entrance to the bar is on the small side of the 'L'," explains Louay. "This is where we have installed the Impact 80s [compact passive 2-way loudspeakers with 8" LF drivers] with TXD-118 subs, as this area has a more subtle type of music. In the

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UK - Plans for a National Skills Academy for the creative and cultural industries have been boosted with the addition of more influential supporters. PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - is the latest organisation to join the unprecedented alliance of employers and industry bodies backing the project.

The Academy is designed to address shortages in offstage and technical skills for live music and the performing arts. Detailed plans being prepared by Creative & Cultural Skills, the employer-led Sector Skills Council, will be submitted to the government in April 2007.

"PLASA's support is hugely significant," says Tom Bewick, chief executive of Creative and Cultural Skills. "Its wide membership of leading specialists in professional audio, lighting, staging, rigging, communications and related disciplines fully understands what skills are neede

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Czech Republic - Students and graduates of art schools and young beginning artists have until the end of January to sign up for workshops that are being prepared within the framework of the Scenofest - Student Section of the Prague Quadrennial 2007. The international competitive showcase of scenography and theatre architecture, PQ 07, will take place from 14-24 June 2007. The Scenofest program is one of the three main sections of the event.

Workshops and informal meetings with authors working in the field of theatre will occur over the entire ten day event. The rich program will include scenography, lighting design, sound design, theatre costumes, puppet theatre and various types of theatre technology. The workshops will be held in the Central Hall of the Industrial Palace (in the centre of the Scenofest exhibit), at the Alfred in the Courtyard Theatre and the NoD Experimental S

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UK - A 22-way Kinesys Elevation motion control system was in action on the final leg of Kylie's epic Showgirl Homecoming tour - using an additional 10 Kinesys motors over and above the 12 on the original tour. The system was specified by lighting designer Vince Foster.

The 10 new motors - a mix of half and one tonne Liftkets - were used to control four extra high resolution video screens, two punchbags that dropped in for one song, plus the tips of a massive pair of wings that opened out at the end of the second encore.

The 10 original Kinesys 500kg 400mm/s vari-speed motors were utilised to suspend five lighting trusses, supplied as part of the lighting rental package from Neg Earth Lights. The other two 1 tonne Kinesys hoists flew the centre hi-res Barco I-12 screen that was in the original show.

For the updated Homecoming tour, all five video screens glided

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Spain - Midas' Spanish distributor Auprosa has delivered two Heritage 3000 consoles with 16-channel extensions to L'Auditori de Barcelona, the city's leading cultural centre which houses several music halls. One of the H3000s is for mobile use and can be moved wherever it is needed, though mainly based in the 2,340-capacity Symphonic Hall, while the second has a permanent home in the 700-capacity Chamber Music Hall.

Spanish installation company Twin Cam were responsible for commissioning the new desks into the halls, together with a package of Klark Teknik equipment including 24 channels of Helix DN9340 dual digital EQ and Helix DN9331 Rapide graphic controller. Five DN360 graphic eqs and four DN1248 Plus mic splitters join the second H3000 in the Chamber Music Hall. The Helix EQs were configured as part of a Show Command system, with the H3000's Solo Tracking System (STS), Rapi

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USA - Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) began a year-long celebration of its 50th anniversary with a cocktail party on 42nd Street in New York City. The event was held in the Penthouse Lobby at the American Airlines Theatre on Monday 15 January. The party was attended by over 250 guests including architects, theatre and entertainment professionals, TPC clients both past and present, acousticians, theatre consultants, TPC alumni, the media, and other friends of TPC.

Speeches and toasts were made by Emmy and Tony-winning set and costume designer Tony Walton, theatre architect Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration, and Richard Pilbrow, TPC Founder and Chairman Emeritus.

TPC was the theatre design consultant for the renovation of the American Airlines Theatre (formerly the Selwyn Theatre) which reopened in 2000 and is now home to the Roundabout Theatre Company.

(Lee Baldock)

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