Multi-talented Canadian singer Bryan Adams was recently accompanied by three of EST’s familiar purple and yellow trucks for a show in Stockholm as part of his UK and European tour. As well as entertaining fans in his distinctive, gravelly voice, Adams is a highly sought after portrait photographer and was recently commissioned to produce a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II for her Golden Jubilee. Keen EST spotters may recently have seen one of their trucks at Buckingham Palace. Delivering rolls of film perhaps?

Staying on a Canadian theme, French Canadian rock star, Garou is currently utilizing five EST trucks to entertain our French cousins on a tour which runs through to April 14. Meanwhile, the inexhaustible cast of Riverdance has now legged it up to Scotland, hotly pursued by as m

This month sees the launch of PE Consulting, introduced to provide business development expertise to entertainment technology and themed entertainment companies that wish to grow business in new markets and countries.

Developed by Peter Ed, who, since beginning his career at Theatre Projects in 1978, has worked with some of the industry’s most influential entertainment technology companies, PE Consulting helps its clients towards a clear definition of their objectives and the method of achieving them. "The most successful companies involve everyone pulling in the same direction and all resources having the same end in mind," said Ed. "PE Consulting looks at all aspects of marketing from growth planning and international market development, marketing strategy and product pricing, to internet marketing and customer relationship management, image building and public

Crest Audio, the US-based manufacturer of professional audio equipment, has announced new distribution arrangements for its products in the United Kingdom.

Crest Audio UK is a newly formed division of Peavey Electronics Ltd, joining MediaMatrix and Architectural Acoustics. Group marketing manager Dave Bearman welcomes Crest as a perfect fit with the other products. He has also announced the appointment of Andy Simmons as sales manager for Crest Audio UK. Andy has a wealth of experience with Crest products and will strengthen the brand’s position as a leader in the industry.

Crest manufacture a high end range of power amplifiers and professional mixing consoles, together with the Crest Performance series of power amplifiers, speaker systems and audio equipment. The entire range will be available through the new distribution channel. Although Crest Audio UK will be a separate ope

Show Presentation Services has appointed Tim Brewster as its new head of scenic construction, following a review of operations taken in January this year. Brewster joins SPS after working with Set and Stage for three years as a project manager, following 11 years as construction director for Lewis Productions. During his career, Brewster has worked on staging and sets for a huge variety of shows from the Conservative Party Conference and trade union events to exhibitions in Azerbaijan.

He first became interested in set design and construction after building Doctor Who sets, amongst others, for the BBC following a five year apprenticeship as a pattern maker for British Aerospace. "This is a challenging role," said Brewster. "My focus is to integrate our scenic business fully into the rest of the company and to raise the department profile both internally and externally.

Marking 10 years of in-depth industry training courses, another successful Hoist and Rigging Workshop was recently hosted by Tomcat USA in Midland, Texas. Leading instructors were joined by nearly 50 industry professional participants from all over the United States and Mexico.

Instructor, Don Dimitroff from Columbus McKinnon, as well as Tomcat’s own Dave Beard, worked participants through the Lodestar electric chain hoist. Rocky Paulson of Stage Rigging and Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances stressed safety in rigging techniques and fall protection equipment while Keith Bohn, Tomcat design manager, wrapped up with truss theory and design. Participants were treated to not only four days of informative classes, but also four nights of fun and the traditional factory night at Tomcat USA with extensive tours, demonstrations, contests and a graduation ceremony.

(Ruth Rossington)

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

A new face on the international trade show circuit is Le Mark's Rebecca Lace. She has joined the company as project manager with the task of expanding sales and the product profile of Le Mark’s reusable PAL Roadcase Label and accessory range within the US. One of Rebecca’s first outings came at the recent NAMM show held at the Anaheim (Los Angeles) Convention Centre in January, where Le Mark shared a stand with Penn Fabrication.

Penn has developed a unique range of steel dishes for Le Mark's label range. The dish can be specified by clients and can be built in as original equipment for all new roadcases. It is available on a worldwide basis through Penn and its extensive Dealer network.

(Ruth Rossington)

The official laying of the foundation stone for Martin Professional’s new ultra modern manufacturing facility took place at noon on Friday 15 February 15 in Frederikshavn, Denmark, with a host of top Martin personnel and local dignitaries taking part.

Both Frederikshavn mayor Erik Sørensen and Martin President and CEO Kristian Kolding addressed the large crowd, which numbered nearly 300. Kolding told us: "This ceremony marks an important milestone in our expansion programme and confirms that our new facility will be up and running on schedule later this summer." Geared towards the production of Martin’s most advanced lighting products, the $20 million 12,500sq.m factory is slated for completion in August. Upon completion, Martin will effectively double its production capacity for the manufacture of automated lighting; its current production facility, also located

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Just a few days remain before the Institute of Sound & Communication Engineers (ISCE) ISCEx 2002 - an event designed to address those who work in the installed sound sector. The event, which takes place at the Alexander Stadium, Perry Barr, Birmingham this Wednesday (27th February), will combine a one-day seminar programme and a small exhibition. It will also feature the first ever Warren-Barnett Memorial Lecture given by Peter Mapp.

In addition to the Memorial Lecture, the main seminar programme will feature presentations on Audio for Video Conferencing by Jon Raper; Getting the Measure of Intelligibility by Peter Mapp and Helen Goddard; The Future of the VA Standards by Phil Pratt and Teaching an Old Bear Tricks by Helen Goddard and Robert Thornton.

Exhibitors at the event include AMS-Mapp Acoustics, Baldwin Boxall Communications Ltd, CIE Group Ltd, Communication Technology Ltd, D

Artsitic Licence has launched an update to its award-winning Micro-Scope technology. Micro-Scope 3a, which is now shipping, provides a host of new features, many aimed at the forthcoming DMX512-A standard. Terms such as Text Packet, System Information Packet, Alternate Start Code and Network Test will be added to the lighting technician's dictionary when the new standard is launched and Micro-Scope 3a supports them all!

Micro-Scope 3a also provides a range of new features derived from customer feedback. A complete show patch can be downloaded from the new version of Mic-Edit. This allows Micro-Scope 3a to identify each and every channel by both lamp and function. The new version of Mic-Edit also provides a range of new features, including the ability to output DMX via Micro-Scope 3a. This feature alone will greatly speed the task of entering lamp personalities and test patterns. Mic-Ed

Hels Australia Pty Ltd will now be handling the transtechnik Lichtsysteme range of professional lighting systems for television studios and theatres in Australia. The appointment is recognition of the increasing importance of the markets in the Pacific region. Hels, which is based in Templestowe (a town in Victoria, not far from Melbourne, the state capital), will handle both the Australian market and the entire south-east Asia region. In addition to sales, the company will also work with companies in the planning stages.

Hels is run by Zoltan Seles and Tomas Bardos. The two businessmen have been working together since 1998, supplying technical equipment and services to the television and theatre markets.

(Ruth Rossington)

Central Theatre Supplies in Birmingham were the hosts of a Lighting & Sound Workshop held at Solihull Arts Complex in Solihull on 2 February. Almost 250 people from amateur theatres, drama groups and schools attended the day and were given a full insight into stage lighting and sound. Exhibitors including Zero 88, Selecon, Audio Technica, Strand Lighting, Celestion, HW International, Doughty Engineering, Stonewood Audio and Prolyte were in attendance to demonstrate their latest products and services.

The first session of the day - entitled ‘Lighting from Scratch’ - was led by Jason Larcombe of the White Light Group. This was later followed by a demonstration of effects by Ian Knight, hire manager for Central Theatre Supplies. This offered those in attendance an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the recommended practices when working with pyro. Ian also demonstrated

AC Lighting has announced three new appointments at its corporate headquarters located in High Wycombe. The Special Projects Division has been strengthened by the appointment of Ray Dolby in the role of project manager. Dolby has worked in the lighting industry since leaving school, firstly as resident theatre technician at a Birmingham Arts Centre, then as lighting designer at the Leicester Haymarket and subsequently at the Derby Playhouse, where he lit 34 shows, covering everything from plays to musicals and pantomimes. Ray then joined Stage Services in Loughborough as general manager before progressing his career with Lighting Technology Projects in London. He worked on many projects whilst there including the design and installation of lighting schemes at the Lakeside and Bluewater shopping centres, numerous major corporate headquarters in London, airports, railway stations, colleges

XL Video UK, the touring and live event video specialist, has just completed a purchase that makes it the owner of the biggest and brightest fleet of Barco DLP projectors in the UK. The order gives XL 16 of the new ultra-bright Barco ELM R18 17,500 lumen projectors and four of the new, smaller, SLM R8 projectors (7,500 lumens) which will be added to their rental fleet.

It’s the first order for ELM R18s in the UK and adds to XL’s already extensive stock of Barco projectors which currently includes Barco ELM G10s ELM G12s and SLM G5s, plus assorted smaller projectors. XL Video’s Lee Spencer comments: "Having access to such a diverse fleet of projectors allows us to offer our clients the latest in projection equipment. It also means that we can be highly competitive and still give our clients the best service whether the event is large or small, conventional or lef

Vertigo Rigging - specialist in the art of events and entertainment rigging – has now completed on its new, larger, high-tech premises in Deptford, London. Sited between Surrey Quays and Greenwich, Deptford is ideal for accessing central London and the West End. The premises consist of 14,500sq.ft of purpose-built warehousing. Vertigo has specially designed offices for project management and administration, and staff amenities have been given a priority, to account for the ever-increasing requirement for the provision of out-of-hours rigging services.

Vertigo Rigging director Rebecca Loughran is delighted with the new premises, and comments: "We now have the capacity to expand our equipment inventory and hold the largest stock of quality truss, motors and associated rigging in the UK. This will allow us to offer clients more choice and flexibility in the world of increasingl

North London-based Powerhouse Audio were the first production company in Europe to stock the new EAW SM84 wedge monitors. Powerhouse, who handle a great deal of the high profile corporate production work in and around London, count some of the capital’s major names among their clients. These include companies such as Virgin Records, Channel 4 Television, BBC Radio 2, The BAFTAs and The Financial Times - to name just few.

Nigel Winer explains: "We worked on a TV dance programme, 'Flava' for Channel 4. We were responsible for the production of the studio sound for guest live acts. TV producers try to keep wedge monitors out of shot where possible. One of the advantages of the SM84s is the fact that they are so low profile. We had one in shot and the rest at the other end of the studio. The beauty of the EAW wedges is that the sound is there when you need it. Hence none of the

Screenco provided high-brightness LED displays, including a vast centre stage screen backdrop, enabling a star-studded cast at the Royal Albert Hall to be seen by a packed audience at the 2002 Grand Prix Party. The VIP evening - A Gala Evening of Stars, Cars & Guitars - kicked off the new Formula One season and saw Ferrari, McLaren, Jordan and the other F1 teams shelving their on-track rivalry for one night only, in aid of Professor Sid Watkins’ Brain & Spine Foundation.

Promoted by Chas Cole for CMP Entetainment, guests were treated to the guitar playing of Damon Hill and Eddie Jordan’s V10 Band from the motor racing world, as well as performances from Marc Almond, Atomic Kitten, Sam Brown, Ruby Turner, Edwin Starr, Mick Hucknall and Ronnie Wood - all to the backdrop of Jules Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. Presenters were Carol Vorderman MBE and Tony Jar

Marantz Professional Europe has announced a distribution deal with acclaimed UK manufacturer Mordaunt-Short for loudspeaker products suitable for use in professional surround sound and installation applications. Following careful evaluation of the newly-acquired Mordaunt-Short (MS) range, the Marantz team has introduced the Declaration THX Select System, Premiere System 300 and MS302 2-way cabinet to its professional collection.

Mark Perrins, European general manager, states: "The market is changing and we needed a high quality and visually stunning speaker range to complement our existing AV control and installation products for the boardroom, presentation and SI sectors. The MS systems sound great but they also offer a more relaxed choice of finishes to get away from the normal rugged standard."

Both pre-configured surround sound systems and the MS302 cabinet offer stylis

Stagetec is supplying a custom-built show relay and paging system for the prestigious new state-of-the-art Laban contemporary dance centre on Deptford Creek. The £22 million project is due for completion in autumn this year, and will be the largest purpose-built contemporary dance centre in the world. The huge 7,800sq.m building, designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron, includes 12 dance studios and a 300-seat theatre. There’s also a community studio/meeting room for local schools and community groups - a media information resource centre, 100-seat lecture theatre, café and public gardens.

The project specification was put together by theatre consultants Carr & Angier, with whom Stagetec have worked on numerous other projects around the country. For Stagetec, the Laban project involves the supply and installation of the equipment, plus the design of the system and project man

Barco Events, a division of BarcoProjection, has announced a new range of display and projection products. With the announcement of the new ELM R18 Director and SLM R8/G8 Performer projection platforms, Barco adds three state-of-the-art projectors to its product range.

The ELM R18 Director, based on the ELM platform, now becomes the first projector to reach brightness levels of 18,000 lumen, while also offering the added features of seamless switching and high contrast mode. It is equipped with an innovative Digital Light Processing (DLP) sub-system, including high-resolution Digital Mirror Devices (DMD) and a state-of-the-art optical system.

The SLM R8/G8 Performer platform now offers the market the first projector of this size with brightness levels of 8,000 lumen, as well as features geared specifically at the rental and staging markets. Barco also adds a new ultra-high resolution

Brand experience consultancy Hotcakes has made two new appointments to its rapidly expanding team. Tracey Poulton, founder of sponsorship and production company The Staging House, has joined as associate producer. Working closely with Matt Briggs (producer and client services) and Sean Canning (creative director), Tracey will manage the implementation of projects, co-ordinating and overseeing all elements of production, bringing additional creative input to the conceptual stages of each job, liaising closely with clients and assisting in new business development.

Jason Ward moves from his post at global conference and exhibition company Mice International to join as production manager. Ward, who moves from London to the company’s headquarters in Skipton, will manage technical design and resourcing, freelance production staff, and the scheduling, technical and administrative requi

John ‘Brad’ Bradshaw, formerly of Triflite Cases (Trifibre Containers), has started a new Flightcase business called Dragon Cases based in Cwmbran, South Wales. Brad - a well-known face in the industry - started his career in flightcases at Autopia some 15 years ago. After being made redundant after five years from Trifibre in December of last year, he returned to Autopia (then renamed as Encaseit) for a couple of weeks until again being made redundant after the receivers were called in on 16 January.

Brad will be working in partnership with Nomad Cases, a manufacturer of custom-built flightcases, polypropylene cases and padded bags, based in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

(Lee Baldock)

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