USA - Michael T. Strickland, Bandit Lites founder and chair, will be the 2020 winner of the Parnelli Visionary Award.
Strickland has now led Bandit for 51 years, having founded the company in 1968 when he was just 12 years old. The award will be presented at the 19th Parnelli Awards on 17 January 2020 at the Anaheim Hilton in California.
“You must remember that in 1968 no one had stage lighting,” Strickland commented, “they all played with the ceiling lights on in a high school gym or National Guard Armory. When we showed up with ‘borrowed’ lekos and Fresnel’s, this was all new to the acts. At the same time, others in New York and LA were also experimenting and doing very psychedelic stuff, but they were adults, and I was a 12-year-old kid.”
Because

UK - ROE Visual Europe has appointed David Morris to lead business development in the UK and Ireland region.
“Having worked in the AV market for several years and with a broad experience in the live events market, Morris is the perfect candidate to support our current client base on the one hand and open up different market segments on the other,” comments ROE’s operations and sales director, Auke Meijer. “For ROE Visual Europe Morris is a good addition to the sales team, which is now covering key countries in the European and Middle East region. We’re happy to have him joining our team.
“Following our continued growth, recently spiked with the introduction of our LED line for fixed installation and AV integrators, an expansion of our sales team was high on the wish list. We like to keep our customer support at 200% and with David located in the UK, we’re

USA - Elation Professional’s 50,000lm all-purpose luminaire Proteus Maximus is now shipping.
With flexible use as a profile, beam or wash light and all-weather IP65 rating, the Proteus Maximus is suitable for any outdoor or indoor application that would require bright output, powerful beam looks and precise gobos and colours. The dust and waterproof design makes the fixture ideal for theme parks and cruise ships, while its quiet operation, flicker-free functionality and DMX-controllable LED refresh rate will be welcome in TV and other broadcast environments, says the company.
“With Proteus Maximus we managed to create the perfect package for the most challenging environments,” says Elation product manager, Matthias Hinrichs. “From its hotspot engine to its large front lens, this is an outstanding fixture that provides designers the power to cover huge areas and

Mexico - Fifteen years after winning the Mexican reality/talent show La Academia, Carlos Rivera is still finding new ways to connect to audiences and stir passions. The award-winning singer and actor is demonstrating this on his current tour of South America, Mexico and the United States in support of his latest album, Guerra.
At his tour’s recent stops in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico, lighting designer Daniel ‘Gacela’ Romero delivered a richly textured lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by Pro Audio Solutions.
Romero chose 12 Maverick MK1 Hybrids, 12 Maverick MK3 Wash luminaires, 14 Maverick MK2 Spots, and 24 Rogue R2 Washes to amp up his tour design. The Maverick fixtures anchored his show.
Drawing on the overlapping 8- and 4-facet prisms, as well as the versatile gobo package of the Maverick MK1 Hybrid

China - Marking the start of the summer season in China, the Xi’an Strawberry Festival was one of the first major multi-day festivals of 2019 and featured a Martin Audio PA on the main stage.
The event included multiple stages, many top Chinese acts and indie foreign acts over the two days. The festival included Chinese rock legends New Pants, well known R&B singer and producer Fang Datong, creative singer Wang Shi’an, Tizzy T & Man Shuk, the young generation’s leading female rapper Wan Nida, and avant-garde Japanese act Yahyel.
Modern Sky, the company behind the Strawberry Festival and a number of other large music festivals, has a long-term relationship with Beijing Pacific Budee and Martin Audio that dates back to 2012. Since then, the Strawberry Festival has been held over 75 times in 27 different cities and Martin Audio’s line arrays have always

Belarus - Kraftwerk Trade LLC, the exclusive distributor for Adamson Systems Engineering in the Republic of Belarus, has installed the country’s first permanent S-Series solution in the Grodno Regional Philharmonic’s new concert hall.
In addition to being the professional home for the philharmonic, known locally as Kapella Grodno, the hall will serve as a creative and cultural hub for both the city and wider region of Grodno in Western Belarus, presenting various artistic disciplines for residents and visitors alike.
“As the new, state-of-the-art home for arts and culture in Grodno, this venue will showcase world-class artists and performers, so we were tasked with installing a world-class audio system that would properly cater to their needs,” shares Ulyana Barkova, deputy commercial director, sales & field services division, with Kraftwerk Trade. “Adams

Italy - Prase Media Technologies is the latest addition to Absen’s value added distributor (VAD) network. Prase will promote Absen LED products in Italy and provide training for local end users as well as building showrooms, exhibiting at relevant trade fairs and organising roadshows.
The company joins a list of Midwich Group plc group members from France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. The agreement, which is already into effect, will also strengthen the growing video portfolio of the Veneto-based distributor.
“Prase started life as an audio distributor, setting very high standards for ourselves along the way,” comments Ennio Prase, managing director and BDM at Prase Media Technologies. “Recently, we have been working hard to build our video portfolio up to meet those same levels and have identified Absen as a perfect partner in this process.”

USA - Biamp has acquired Audioprof Group International, the parent company of Community Loudspeakers and Apart Audio.
The two audio brands will join as separate product families within Biamp's product portfolio but business functions will gradually blend to form a single Biamp business.
Rashid Skaf, Biamp president, CEO, and co-chairman, comments: “I am tremendously excited to complete this transaction. Building a comprehensive lineup of speakers has been a priority of mine as we move to position Biamp as a full line provider of professional audiovisual solutions. Acquiring Apart Audio and Community Loudspeakers was my preferred route to accomplishing that quickly with incredibly strong and respected brands. The many products added to our portfolio give us powerful positions in several key growth markets for Biamp - most notably retail, hospitality, restaurants, sta
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USA - Bandit Lites has appointed Jesse Poreca to the sales team. Poreca joins the company’s Charlotte office as an installation and service specialist where he will assist in project management, installation and customer support of new theatrical lighting system install projects and renovations along with assisting the sales and installation division to provide existing clients customer service support, service calls and repairs.
“Jesse brings years of permanent AVL installation experience to the team and will immediately lead another crew to service the multiple ongoing projects we have,” said Chris Barbee, Bandit Lites director of sales and installations. “He is a very welcomed addition to an incredibly busy time of growth.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Polar has announced that Biamp’s new Parlé ceiling microphones are available for shipping. Aimed at conference rooms and utilising the Beamtracking technology found in the TCM-1 pendant microphone, Biamp has responded to a growing demand amongst architects, designers and end users for ‘invisible’ technologies, with the TCM-X ceiling microphone.
With four 90° zones for full 360°room coverage, the TCM-X’s beam tracking technology, which actively tracks and intelligently mixes conversations, works straight out of the box, simplifying installation and reducing commissioning time.
Each microphone uses just one channel of acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) for far more efficient processing resource utilisation than conventional beamforming models. The range also includes the TCM-XA with 2-channel PoE and amplifier for further ease of installation (requiring onl

USA - Vari-Lite has announced that its new Vari-Lite VL6500 Wash is now shipping.
The high-output wash lighting fixture, first demonstrated at Prolight+Sound 2019 in Frankfurt, combines the VL6000 Beam’s arena-scale performance with a visual attraction reminiscent of the legendary VL5. The fixture offers show designers a mix of modern power and vintage styling.
“The initial response to the VL6500 Wash has been tremendous, and it’s not surprising really, because we made this fixture as a direct response to the requests we have received from lighting designers,” explains Martin Palmer, senior product manager, Vari-Lite and Strand Luminaires at Signify. “We partnered with designers every step of the way when creating this fixture and tailored it to provide the capabilities our customers asked for most often.”
Palmer reports that customers like that the

USA - ADJ has announced the expansion of its Focus series of LED-powered moving head fixtures with the introduction of the Focus Beam LED.
The first dedicated beam fixture in the range, this new model generates a concentrated beam that is suited for creating impressive and engaging aerial effects.
Powered by an 80W white (7400K) LED light source with 50,000-hour average life, Focus Beam LED features an optical system that creates an output comparable to an MSD 5R lamp. The front lens projects a beam with a 5° angle that has an even field with no hot spots, and which remains uniform over long projection distances.
The fixture is also compact and lightweight, measuring 10.96" x 6.85" x 17.61" / 278 x 174 x 447mm (LxWxH) and weighing 27 lb (12.25 kg), whilst its relatively low profile also makes suitable for installations in venues with limited ceiling height or f

USA - Two Princess Cruises ships - Diamond Princess and Sun Princess - have undergone a major upgrade to their entertainment offerings with a new approach to live sound, bringing L-ISA Hyperreal Sound and Immersive Hyperreal Sound experiences to their guests.
Princess Cruises decided to raise the on-board sound reinforcement to a new standard and has specified L-Acoustics L-ISA configurations, supplied by L-Acoustics certified provider Norwest Productions.
L-ISA is an object-based immersive sound technology that uses placement of sound sources to achieve spatialisation, enabling anything from a customisable, ultra-realistic live sound field to fully immersive 360° sound design.
Princess Cruises entertainment experience department began exploring implementation of immersive live sound, noting that live performance audiences are increasingly exposed to immersive

Europe - It was a coincidence that the paths of Papa Roach and lighting designer Mathias Kuhn should cross.
"About two months ago a lighting man was looking for a few shows in Russia and a festival gig in Germany," recalls Kuhn. “Three months later it became Papa Roach’s European tour, while another colleague took care of the gigs in the USA.“
For Kuhn, the band made their decision in his favour after a festival tour of Europe last year. “It just feels good when the lighting is turned on,” says frontman and band leader Jacoby Shaddix. “It’s a lot of fun for me too,” retorts Kuhn. “Performing live, this band is simply full of energy, and meanwhile I‘ve practically become a member of the family.”
Currently Kuhn and Papa Roach are more or less constantly on the move. After a support tour with Shinedown in the USA, playing mainly arenas, in the

USA - Sue the T. Rex has a new home in the Chicago Field Museum’s Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet.
Lighting and AV presentation for Sue’s new home were designed by Lightswitch Chicago using ETC and Xicato luminaires and ETC controls. The fossil is named after Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the skeleton in South Dakota in 1990.
Following a three-month prototyping phase to show the curators how Sue would be lit the new quarters, the design team at Lightswitch Chicago produced a meticulously-cued AV presentation worthy of the $8.7m fossil.
“Conservation of the delicate stones and resins is very important - Sue will receive about a quarter of the light, and none of the direct sunlight it did before,” says Thatcher Waller, senior lighting designer for Lightswitch Chicago.
The project called for the complex integration of control protocols and diverse

Hungary - Alt-rock band Vad Fruttik (Wild Fruits) headlined a special concert to celebrate the eighth season opening of Budapest Park, one of the largest outdoor venues in Europe.
Lighting designer Peter Pálocska from Budapest rental company Lajter Light designed a production lighting scheme to ensure the band and their 8,500 fans enjoyed a memorable night out.
Part of his distinctive luminescent styling for this show was a backwall of 72 Robe Spiider LED wash beam fixtures, which added drama and excitement to the visual picture.
Pálocska has also lit many other concerts in Budapest Park - which features a 24m x 12m x 12m (WxDxH) stage - and a landmark gig which any Hungarian band is extremely proud to play.
Vad Fruttik trusted him to produce something special for this show, utilising a combination of the house lighting fixtures (including moving lights

Norway - Prostage, the Oslo-based distributors of Prolights, invited lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson to lead a two-day workshop hosted in Oslo’s Riksteatret. The designer discussed various design techniques, stories and lessons learned throughout his career in the entertainment industry.
Fredrik Jönsson designed the lighting for the international Eurovision final in Malmö in 2013 and in Stockholm in 2016 and was awarded an LLB Award for best Lighting Design for his work on the 2013 Eurovision final. In 2019, he designed the lighting for Melodifestivalen (the national Swedish Eurovision finals), bringing his grand total of live performances for Melodifestivalen to 103.
Jönsson drew from his vast experience of designing global concert tours, international events and broadcast and concocted the two-day interactive seminar program covering topics such as bas

USA - Prolyte Group has partnered with Houston entrepreneur Craig Koopersmith to distribute Prolyte products under his rigging and trussing services company, Sabre Structures.
Koopersmith is the CEO of the Sabre Group of Companies, which also includes service exhibit and design firm Skyline Displays of Houston, and corporate interiors and signage specialist, Innovative Environments. The Group supports the tradeshow, display and interior environment sectors and works with Houston-based clients ranging from sole proprietors to Fortune 100 corporations.
The addition of Prolyte products will complement Sabre Structures’ existing display modules whilst enabling the company to offer larger, truss-based tradeshow exhibits and stands. It will also expand the Group’s operation into the event staging and entertainment sectors.
Keith Bohn, Prolyte general sales manager

Spain - Midwich has announced its Spanish subsidiary Earpro S.A has acquired the entire issued share capital of value-added lighting solutions distributor Entertainment Equipment Supplies S.L (EES).
Based near San Sebastian and founded in 2004 by Nacho Acha-Orbea, EES distributes products from key vendors including Robe Lighting, Verlinde and Prolyte on an exclusive basis to the Spanish market with a focus on the live events and rental sectors.
The acquisition will strengthen Midwich’s position in the Spanish and Portuguese markets, particularly in relation to lighting.
Miguel Mezquita, MD of Earpro, comments: "Having known Nacho and his team for a number of years, I am confident that we can look forward to a successful partnership between Earpro and EES. I believe we will now be able to provide customers of both companies with an even higher level of service

Then Play On - Entertainment venues in Scotland will receive protection from noise complaints after the ‘agent of change’ planning principle was enshrined into Scottish law. The principle means if an existing entertainment venue is in place before a new development is built nearby, the developer is responsible for soundproofing against noise.
An amended version of the Planning (Scotland) Bill was passed into law on 21 June, which included the agent of change principle as well as four other references to culture. The other references require culture to be considered in local development plans, town and county planning and the country’s National Planning Framework.
A group representing 50 arts organisations in Scotland called Culture Counts has welcomed the changes. Executive leader of Culture Counts Jennifer Hunter says: “The Planning (Scotland) Bill has recogni

USA - Experts in hearing wellness at Sensaphonics recently held a Gold Circle Seminar in Chicago to promote hearing protection practices in the music industry.
Five audiologists from across the US learned the basics of live sound production along with insights on how to help musicians and sound engineers achieve both robust stage monitoring while retaining their long-term hearing health. Sensaphonics president, Dr. Michael Santucci and sound engineering consultant Joe Tessone of Mystery Street Recording Company, led the two-day seminar.
“One of the biggest issues with IEMs is that they aren’t covered in audiology school,” says Santucci. “The Gold Circle Seminar fills that gap by teaching how IEMs work, how they are used professionally, and how they can be used more safely. Where others offer vague suggestions on how to use in-ears safely, Sensaphonics remains u

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