Lighting

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UK - The Glade stage at Glastonbury Festival was the forum for cutting edge electronic and dance music. In 2004 the team behind Glade started their own event and continued running the stage at Glastonbury. The Glade Festival provides a platform for electronic music from around the world.

The atmosphere combined with the range of dance music and live acts with top live acts and DJsperforming back to back throughout the day is unique. Running late into the night things switch over to a more chilled and laid back pace, but it is the blend of stages and areas that make the festival so enjoyable, notably the Overkill and Breaksday tents.

The Breaksday stage is a mix of break and psy trance. Live acts include Hybrid, Krafty Kuts, Meat Katie and many DJs from Canada, Australia and Italy. Breaksday featured an arch of AC Lighting Colour Block as a centre-piece over the stage with each

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USA - System Of A Down, supported by David Benveniste of Velvet Hammer Management, tour manager Ken Denson and production manager Janet Taylor, recently wrapped up a tour as part of Ozzfest- a touring festival with two stages and approximately 15 bands. In its eleventh year, Ozzfest kicked off on 29 June, in Seattle, Washington and wrapped up on 13 August in West Palm Beach, Florida. System Of A Down shared time with Ozzfest's very own Ozzy Osbourne headlining the show. This is the eighth year Bandit has provided lighting for System Of A Down.

System Of A Down's lighting designer, Chaz Martin chose to incorporate four 36 lamp pods with 600w ACLs, 20 atomic strobes, 12 Martin 2k washes and 12 Martin 2k profiles (six moving lights on each pod). Martin used a Martin Maxxyz console with a Martin Maxedia linked to the console.

Martin said that the general idea was to create somethi

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USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) has named Darren DeVerna president of the company's east coast operations. He will work out of PRG's offices in New York City, Mount Vernon and New Windsor, NY, and North Bergen, NJ.

DeVerna most recently served as PRG's senior vice-president of business development. He also managed the company's lighting, audio, and video operations in the northeastern US and oversaw PRG's support for theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour throughout North America.

He began his career with Four Star Lighting, which he was instrumental in growing into one of the major lighting companies serving the Broadway market. He was president of Four Star when the company merged with PRG in 2001.

"Darren literally grew up in the entertainment industry and his range and depth of experience give him an unparalleled ability to understand a client's needs

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UK - Dialight Lumidrives has introduced four new 110v/240v power LED drivers designed for use with single colour light arrays and ideal for interior architectural lighting applications.

Each driver is compatible for use with Dialight Lumidrives' range of single colour light arrays including Lumilines, Lumispots, HL11 and HL16 products and linked LED modules. They are therefore ideal for use in retail, restaurant and office locations.

Range leader is the VariLED 16, a dimmable 350mA output driver which can drive up to 16x 1W LEDs in two banks of eight. Dimming is via a remote potentiometer or 0-10V input.

The Microdriver 8 can drive up to eight 1W LEDs or six 2W LEDs. A selection of sevendifferent output voltages is available. The VariLED 16 and Microdriver 8 are 109.5mm in length, 50mm wide and 23.5mm high.

Dialight Lumidrives also has two new compact LED drivers available

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UK - Wireless transmission is a fast-growing technological phenomenon which is already being widely used in the entertainment industry, and the technical team at Navigator Systems, computer specialists in the entertainment industry since 1995, have put together a free information website to assist people when they're designing and building wireless networks, whether it be for shows or community projects.

"As visitors make their way through the free information pages, it will soon become apparent that the wealth of hands-on experience in projects such as Wireless FOH control, Wireless DMX distribution and conference delegate hot spots as well as an understanding of the physics makes the Navigator Systems Wireless website one to add to your Favourites list," says the company.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Syncrolite, the US-based pioneer in the production and design of automated xenon skylights who introduced the first DMX-controlled xenon light to the industry in 1989, is promising a brand new product to be introduced in Las Vegas at the LDI trade show (20-22 October). Syncrolite, and the new product, can be found at LDI on booth 179. The company will also exhibit at the forthcoming PLASA Show in London (10-13 September) on stand D34.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Bandit Lites would like to recognise the fourth annual recipient of their Bandit Lites Excellence in Lighting Award. The award was given to a promising student at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). The school opened in 1996 with the help of Former Beatles' legend, Sir Paul McCartney and former actor, Mark Featherstone- Witty. Dedicated to people interested in pursing a career in arts and entertainment, LIPAoffers diploma, degree and postgraduate courses.

The awards ceremony took place on 29 July, 2006 at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts' graduation. Kathy Sandys, a lecturer in Theatre and Performance Technology, presented the award.

The Bandit Lites Excellence in Lighting Award went to Miriam Evans, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Theatre and Performance Technology. Her citation read, "in recognition of her

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UK - During the summer an interactive campaign - 'Join the Party with Bacardi' - was launched in Dutch cinemas to promote the Bacardi drink. The advertisement was filmed in the Now & Wow Club in Rotterdam. The recognisable theme of girls and boys partying with Bacardi was used to accompany the additional storyline of the DJ wowing the girl.

VisualDMX was specified as controller for the DJ Booth which boasted an LED wall and thus the necessity of a Matrix controller with the versatility and strengths that are offered by Matrix Mania, the specialised Matrix controller within VisualDMX. Matrix Mania's ability to quickly adapt all inbuilt matrix patterns to the red, Bacardi-style colour theme proved very useful and saved the crew valuable time when programming on site, say the company. The LED and VisualDMX equipment was supplied by Amsterdam-based rental company, PartyTime.

(Lee

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Austria / UK - LDDE will launch its brand new SpectraLed144* Line at the PLASA Show. The SpectraLed*144 Line is the first colour mixing unit for the professional theatre, television and entertainment application with an RGBAW configuration of 144 x 1W high-power LEDs, say the company. With its compact design of only 1200x120x80mm (LxWxH) it is designed for use on stages, events and show lighting of all kinds, say the company.

With its 36 x 1W blue, 36 x 1W green, 24 x 1W red, 24 x 1W amber and 24 x 1W cold white high-power LEDs, the system enables the reproduction of the full spectrum of colours on stage. The unit shares the same dsign of housing and the clever multicore concept of the company's award-winning SpectraConnecT5. Each Unit can be fitted with two different optical-modules with beam angles of 10° and 25°. A slot in the front of the unit allows for the insertio

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UK / USA - On Broadway, the runaway hit Avenue Q has already won the Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. If this wasn't accolade enough, its lighting designer, Howell Binkley, this year scooped the prestigious Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for the musical Jersey Boys. Both musicals were programmed using a grandMA lighting control system.

Lighting designer Ken Posner for the Broadway musicals Hairspray and Wicked has also used grandMA control systems. Now, with Sinatra and Avenue Q already running on grandMA in the West End, Wicked is the next to move over from Broadway to the West End, scheduled to open on 27 September, 2006. Interestingly, the Apollo Victoria Theatre, home to Wicked, already has a fixed installation of a grandMA ultra controlling its LED house light system.

The consoles have alr

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USA - Exactly one year to the day that Hurricane Katrina ravaged Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, the hotel is re-opening on 29 August, featuring a large installation of High End Systems lighting and control products.

It was 29 August 2005 when a reported 40ft wave from Hurricane Katrina slammed into the facility, demolishing the level where the casino, nightclub and theatre were located. All production gear was reportedly destroyed and unusable, including all the HES DL.1s, which had recently been installed. The hotel was closed for massive repairs.

After a re-design and renovation, the hotel's 17,000sq.ft Magnolia Ballroom opens with 28 HES DL.2s, 64 Studio Beams, 12 Studio Spot 575s, 12 Studio Color 575s, four Intellabeams and two Wholehog 3 consoles running 5 DP (Data Processor) 2000s.

The Camelia Room features a Catalyst Media Server and 16 Studio Bea

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UK - VisualDMX will be exhibiting at PLASA this year controlling TDE's LED fixtures on the stand of their UK distributor Lightstorm.

New features of VisualDMX on show will notably include Visual3D running remotely via a network and VisualTouch. VisualTouch is a self contained section of VisualDMX software that enables the software to be run and controlled using a touch screen interface, ideal for installations in bars and clubs where, typically, non-technical staff are often responsible for insuring the mood of the venue, both lights and sound, to suit the event.

For a demonstration of the new features and to see the latest hardware - the Frontier - in action please visit us during PLASA06 at stand no. B39.

(Chris Henry)

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Finland - Since 1887, the Hotel Kämp has been an integral part of Finnish history, blending eastern and western Europe with art, politics and business life. Faithfully restored a while back, this Helsinki hotel today is as genuine and elegant as in the past.

Earlier this year the hotel's restaurants were renovated, with Ideafix, LSC Lighting's Finnish distributor, chosen to supply and install the sound and lighting, and so for Kämp Club, the hotel's cosmopolitan late hour upscale club, an LSC 24-channel EKO system was installed.

The EKO is an ideal choice for venues such as Kämp Club for a variety of reasons, say. Firstly it is one of the most compact dimmers for its capacity (24 x 3kW channels) on the market and often available space in venues is extremely limited. Secondly the availability of the LSCnet option allows the EKO to be controlled via DMX when the venue is in c

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USA - Bandit is proud to announce their involvement with Melissa Etheridge's management team, including manager, Bill Leopold, tour manager, Steven Girmant, production manager, Jon Schimke and lighting designer, David Hamilton for Etheridge's 2006 tour.

With nine albums and twenty-plus years under her belt, Melissa Etheridge is known for being an activist for a variety of causes and charities. However, her talent as a lyricist and her passionate performances are what have earned her respect in the music industry and produced loyal fans.

June of 2006 marked Melissa Etheridge's first tour back since finding out she had cancer in 2004. When deciding on lighting design for Etheridge, Hamilton said that it was more important to focus on the artist and the music than to put on a big flashy production. "I was primarily trying to create subtle scenes and looks rather than big eff

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USA - Lighting designers Stacey LaBarbera and Paul Rogers used the new Robe LEDBlinder 196 and 148 LTs on the latest US leg of country music legend George Strait's 2006 tour. Straight - with no less than 53 number one hits under his belt - more than any other living artist! - played 18 to 25,000 capacity sheds and arenas across the US and Canada in a new in-the-round production design. Onstage Systems from Dallas, Texas supplied all lighting, sound and video equipment.

LaBarbera was extremely pleased with the performance of the LEDBlinders, which were used over the stage as a wash effect. The LEDBlinder 196LTs (an 8-lite equivalent) were rigged in each of the four corners of the lighting rig, pointing downwards towards the band set up, which was in a circular format centre stage. The LEDBlinder 148LTs (the 4-lite version) were positioned up on the rig, lighting the four differen

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UK - PixelRange lighting fixtures are LED luminaires for entertainment and architectural applications. New fixtures for PLASA 06 include two PixelLine Micros, compact versions of the legendary 1044 and 110 battens - a small housing but the same power.

The PixelLine micro E is a three cell effects batten featuring 174 high brightness red, green and blue 5mm LEDs and the PixelLine micro W is a wash batten containing 22 red, green, blue and amber Luxeon K2 LEDs. Both fixtures feature completely new software which includes 16 bit intensity personalities and a sophisticated user programmable effects engine that can be synchronised across multiple fixtures. Both units can be integrated with full size battens.

The PixelArc series, introduces two self-contained units offering the choice of a circular head (PixelArc C) containing 44 new K2 Luxeon red, green, blue and amber LEDs or a re

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UK - 400 employees of O2 were given a night of entertainment to remember in July when phone manufacturer Motorola staged a spectacular evening at Manchester's New Century Hall, organised by event producers Rodber Thorneycroft. Birmingham-based PSP was appointed to provide all of the technical services for the event.

Hosted by popular TV presenter Vernon Kay, guests were invited to take part in two game shows, entitled SLVR of Fortune and Play Your RAZR. One of the UK's brightest new music stars, Paolo Nutini sang four songs from his new album, while magician Paul Zenon and comedian Al Murray added to the entertainment.

The event proved to be technically complex: PSP's 8-way buzzer system was used for the quiz section as well as Flash to create a random name selector for participants. All of the quiz graphics were specifically designed to reflect the Motorola brand. For the sou

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UK - PRG Europe Sales have been awarded the exclusive distributorship of Pathway products in Europe. Pathway Connectivity is the leading data communications company in the entertainment lighting industry. Based in Canada, Pathway has been defining the future of lighting network functionality for more that a decade.

Founder and president of Pathway, Dave Higgins says: "We're very pleased to be able to expand our long-standing relationship with the PRG organisation. As Pathway's exclusive distributor in the European, Middle Eastern and African regions, PRG Europe's commitment to these markets will ensure that our new product ranges, as well as our CE and RoHS programs, receive maximum exposure. The opportunity to work with the great sales team at PRG Europe is the icing on the cake for Pathway."

Pathway designs, manufactures and supports an innovative family of product

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USA - The General Electric Company (GE) through its Consumer & Industrial business, and the Nichia Corporation, have announced a strategic alliance agreement to support GELcore LLC, based in Cleveland, Ohio. GELcore, formed in 1999, was previously a joint venture between GE and the Emcore Corporation of Somerset, New Jersey. GE purchased Emcore's 49% interest in the joint venture for $100m, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to invest in LED technology and the future of lighting.

This agreement combines GELcore's LED system strengths in the Transportation, Signage, Specialty Illumination, and General Illumination segments with Nichia's extensive phosphor and optoelectronics products, such as LEDs. Both companies expect to benefit significantly from each other's expertise and penetrate the high-growth LED general illumination segment.

"This agreement is a true win-win ou

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UK - Hawthorn has announced that Mark Bailey has joined the company as a project manager. A renowned lighting designer, Mark Bailey, has been successfully running his own lighting company, Embee Lighting, for the last 17 years, working with a diverse range of clients, including major corporates.

"For the last 10 years I have had an association with Hawthorn and had admired how the company had grown, with the right attitude and philosophy for our industry," said Bailey, "so when Martin Hawthorn offered me the opportunity to join the Hawthorn team, I was flattered and I am really looking forward to 'making a difference' for our clients, in my new role."

"Mark is a valued member to the growing team at Hawthorn," said general manager Simon Wood, "He did a great job on his first project for us at the Edinburgh Moonwalk and we expect great things f

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UK - ETC dealers and staff will be showing off the company's latest lighting control console, Congo jr, at PLASA 2006. Packing the same channel and output counts as the original Congo and running the same operating software, the sibling comes in a standard 19" rack-style modular design console. This makes it an extremely flexible desk for smaller venues and an ideal back-up unit for the larger console, say the company.

As part of its flexible design, Congo jr features an optional Master Playback Wing, which accesses all 40 multi-purpose masters of the main console. The Master Playback Wing contains 40 faders and two LCDs in the same configuration as the Congo console, for full playback capability and complete control of all masters and Direct Selects.

With the international communications standard ACN having just received ratification by the ESTA Technical Standards Progr

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UK - Launch earlier this year at ProLight+Sound inFrankfurt, the Tube from G-LEC is the first 'walk-through' LED system. The Tube follows the same principles as the company's highly acclaimed transparent LED frame systems - but minus the frame. Without the frame, each individual transparent tube hangs free, so walking through the G-LEC Tube is like walking through a slash or beaded curtain. With the ability to create a 'forest' of LEDs, including different lengths of individual tubes, this brings enormous potential to lighting and set designers, from having performers literally walk through the set to a dramatic 3D design, say G-LEC. Like the G-LEC Classic and the PhantomFrame systems, the G-LEC Tube is transparent to light, audio and wind.

G-LEC - stand D30 + D33.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - This year's PLASA Show will see the return of an old friend - but in a fully revised and updated form - when lighting supplier White Light launches the latest edition of its ever-popular catalogue as a Reference Guide.

Long considered the standard 'de-facto' reference for those working in lighting for entertainment, packed with useful information yet still compact enough to nestle comfortably in a designer's bag, the last edition of the catalogue was published in 1999 yet it is still in demand, with the electronic PDF edition regularly downloaded from White Light's website.

"An update to our catalogue is long overdue," admits White Light's managing director, Bryan Raven, "but the last seven years have seen us move premises, enormously expand our stock and the areas of lighting we work in, and re-design our website. Somehow through all of that the it kept sl

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UK - Norwich based Viking Stage Lighting has just purchased its 200th Robe fixture. The company, headed by Ian Leonard, passed the 200 mark with the acquisition of a batch of the all-new ColorWash 575AT Zoom s.

Viking specialises in theatrical sales and hire, and initially bought the ColorWash 575AT Zoom because of its "Superb zoom - which, along with light output and functionality, is better than any other product on the market at the moment".

Since having these fixtures in their own hire stock, Viking has demo'd them to many others and consequently sold several more CW 575AT Zooms to its clients.

Viking has steadily replaced their entire hire stock inventory with Robe moving lights over the last two years, now only leaving six non Robe units. In terms of fixtures, they have everything from the expediently sized Spot 150XT spot to the powerful workhorse ColorSpot

  1. Artistic Licence expands the Light-Switch
  2. Fixture Exchange keeps the Status Quo
  3. Blizzard for HSL
  4. Robe at PLASA 2006
  5. Head to PLASA '06 for all the answers
  6. Robert Juliat launch Lancelot at PLASA
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