UK - An injury to a cast member during a performance of Lord of the Rings at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, led to preview performances being temporarily suspended late last week. It was reported on the BBC News website that one of the actors caught his leg in the moving stage during an early scene. The set includes a large hydraulic stage which can revolve, and be raised or lowered in sections.

Audience member Tori Lowe was quoted by the BBC as saying: "The hobbits were on stage and had a group of dancers dressed as rangers with them. There was suddenly a lot of screaming, but at first we thought it might be part of the show. But a stagehand came runnning on, and when the music stopped we could hear someone shouting 'My leg! My leg!'."

In a statement, the producers said they were "looking at modifying the staging" so previews could resume. The &

USA - Tomcat is known for its stage systems and equipment that are on tour with some of the biggest names in the music business. However, the company reports that it is also supporting local Midland, Odessa, Texas performers as well.

Tomcat recently sold a custom fabricated 40ft wide x 20ft deep stage system to Rusk Elementary which is adjustable between 4ft and 6ft tall. The school approached Tomcat in 2006 about supplying a new stage system for the annual Veterans' Day show that the students perform at the Commemorative Air Force every year. Their old stage had become so worn out that safety had become a major concern.

For its part, Tomcat donated the stage decks required for stage set up they needed - some of the younger students would probably be very excited to know that the same deck was used on a Bob the Builder touring production. Rusk Elementary paid cost for t

UK - LED lighting manufacturer i-Vision has installed a variety of its standard Lumos range of LED lighting products into the stylish new Intoto Kitchens showroom in Cardiff.

This illustrates the concept of 'The Green Kitchen' in terms of energy consumption, whilst also attractively illuminating the various premium kitchen ranges in the showroom, and offering Intoto's designers and clients a series of lighting packages and ideas to combine with their kitchen planning.

There is a heavy emphasis on contemporary designs, all of which lend themselves to feature lighting. Intoto's Chris Galtry says, "Introducing integral lighting as an option has been a great success so far, and definitely gives us the edge as designers and suppliers."

The showroom features examples from i-Vision's extensive white and RGB LED ranges including the Lumos Strip, Lumos +3s and +1s up/down-l

Norway - Originally acquired by the City of Fredrikstad in 1931, the Lykkeberg Kulturhus House has only recently been converted from its cinema origins to become a multi-cultural venue for the community at a cost of NOK 35 million (around £3 million).

As a result of the progressive digital audio distribution backbone designed by integrators LydRommet, using the Harman HiQnet control and communications platform, this waterfront city in the south of Norway can now stage a wide variety of performances from theatre, classical orchestras and rock concerts to civic meetings.

LydRommet has devised an advanced, and economical audio transport system culminating at the new digital Soundcraft Vi6 console, incorporating a 64-channel Stagebox and local rack.

Owned by the Fredrikstad Kommune, the completely refurbished venue is divided between the large auditorium (Blå Grotte) and

UK - Bandit Lites UK continues its busy early summer run with another major arena tour - this time with Girls Aloud, one of the most successful pop groups of the decade. Bandit is once again working with Production North.

Lighting for this Greatest Hits show was designed by Peter Barnes with whom Bandit has worked on many other projects including Westlife, McFly and the X-Factor. Lighting is being directed and operated on tour by Andy Hurst.

"It's great to be working with Iain Whitehead (production manager and set designer) and Production North again," says Bandit UK chief executive, Lester Cobrin. "We all work really seamlessly together, and once again Pete has put together another excellent looking show."

Barnes chose to use Martin Professional MAC 2K washes as the principal moving lights on the design, with 32 of these specified as opposed to ju

UK - Following on from successful stints in Sunderland & Dundee, Radio 1 ventured to Preston to kick-off UK Festival season in style. Adlib Audio supplied a JBL VerTec sound system for the INMWT (In New Music We Trust) stage at Radio 1's One Big Weekend in Preston. Featured artists included The Gossip, Maximo Park, Bloc Party, Groove Armada, the Klaxons and many more.

It was the first time that Liverpool-based Adlib has been involved in the event, brought onboard by promoters SJM and Radio 1's Sam Cunningham. Adlib's client manager Phil Kielty says: "When Andy Redhead at SJM invited us to supply for this event he stressed how important it was to impress Radio 1 and we were determined to do so."

"We did everything in our power to deliver the service to an exceptional standard", commented Dave Jones Adlib's PA manager, who liaised with Andy Redhead to ensure

Singapore - Leading line array manufacturers are being invited to go head-to-head in a shoot-out at this year's PALME Asia show, (previously known as PALA) in Singapore, 12-14 July, Singapore Expo.

The opportunity for visitors to make their own evaluation on a large scale is a development of the idea piloted at PALME India last year - on a much larger scale. As a result, PALME Asia's associate partner, UnUsUal Productions, will build the special infrastructure for the Event 360° segment of the show to support this in Hall 5 at Singapore Expo (which will now operate in parallel with the integrated exhibition in Halls 3 and 4).

"This is a major breakthrough for PALME Asia," said the show's sales manager, Hanslee Azhar. "We will be offering a maximum of 12 manufacturers the opportunity to participate - and the response has been overwhelming."

To date, DA

Dubai - Awards recognising outstanding use of lighting in the GCC territories, were presented at the Middle East Lighting Design Awards (MELDA) gala dinner, which took place during the recent PALME Middle East exhibition in Dubai.

The standard of this year's entries reflected the remarkable pace of development and scale of new commercial projects in the region.

The difficult task of adjudication fell to a panel of top lighting professionals, including Barry Hannaford of the IALD, and director, dpa Lighting Consultants; Yahya Jan AIA, vice president, design director, Norr Group Consultants; Riad Saraiji, associate professor of architectural engineering at UAE University, and Paul James, Editor, Mondo*arc magazine.

Paying tribute, James said: "There is a general feeling in the design community that lighting, particularly in Dubai, is becoming increasingly 'Las Vega

USA - Wireless Solution Sweden was recently part of the team responsible for an installation at Evangel Cathedral in Upper Marlboro, Maryland which features High End Systems DL.2s controlled with W-DMX.

Creative Stage Lighting from North Creek, NY supplied all the new equipment and the complete wireless system. This installation is in addition to Evangel's large existing lighting rig consisting of Wholehog 2 and Wholehog 3 Consoles, High End Systems x.Spots and Cyberlights, Morpheus Color Faders, Vari*Lite VL1000's and over 575 dimmers.

Koster Design of Branson, MO was responsible for the design and installation of the entire project. Kelly Koster and Mike Gormley of Koster Design first met with Bryan Meares from Evangel Cathedral at the High End Systems booth during LDI 2006.

The new gear was shipped directly to Creative Stage Lighting, where a staff of four worked exclusiv

UK - Scheduled to open on 19 June at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Lord of the Rings, at £12.5 million, is one of the largest and most expensive musicals to be staged in the West End. The entire rig is being controlled by two grandMA full-size, one grandMA light, one grandMA ultra-light and seven NSPs. grandMA 3D and grandMA onPC software were used for the pre-programming of the show.

"We used the grandMA due to the complexities of the lighting rig. It consists of approximately 200 moving lights and 300 conventional lights, and the requirement that after the opening night the lighting operator also controls special effects and triggers the Catalyst Video System," explains associate lighting designer David Howe. "During the three month preparation and detailed technical process, three programmers (moving lights, conventionals and special effects)

UK - Hawthorn's continued commitment to the Clay Paky Alpha range of moving lights has been further advanced by the addition of the Alpha Profile 1200 to its rental stock.

The Alpha Profile 1200 is a professional beam shaper which combines the technology of the Alpha units with an exclusive framing system, designed and patented by Clay Paky. With the Alpha Profile 1200 it is possible to achieve any effect you desire using the wide range zoom 10° - 30°, a full colour system, 14 gobos (6 of which rotate), an animation effect and a prism. All of the effects can be combined with endless varieties of beam shapes and sizes, says the company.

"The Alpha Profile is an exceptional unit to add to and to compliment our current range of moving lights" said Martin Hawthorn, Hawthorn's MD. "We have received many requests from both lighting designers and hire customers

USA - Humpin' Hannah's in Boise, Idaho recently upgraded its sound system to match its high-energy, eclectic environment. The system includes four JBL VP7215/64DPAN powered, 15" loudspeakers.

Located in the heart of downtown Boise, Humpin' Hannah's has been a staple of the city's nightlife since it opened 29 years ago. The tri-level venue serves as both a live rock club and dance club. Having worn out its existing 10-year-old loudspeaker system, Hannah's needed a new high-performance system that could serve a variety of events.

"We average almost 1,000 people on any given Saturday night, so we needed a PA system that could handle a lot of volume but was lightweight enough to reconfigure if necessary," said Rocci Johnson, co-owner of Humpin' Hannah's and lead singer of the club's resident rock outfit, The Rocci Johnson Band.

After a demonstration of the JBL VP

UK - Gerhard Schroeder, Jesse Jackson and explorer Monty Halls will be sharing their thoughts with UK business people this month - and making sure their words of wisdom aren't drowned out by rain or echoing acoustics is a Yorkshire-based sound specialist.

The 12th Yorkshire International Business Convention is being held at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate on 8 June. There, an audience of the region's key business people will be keen to hear from the former Chancellor of Germany, from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, business guru Jonas Ridderstråle and Lyn Heward, former creative director of Cirque du Soleil.

TMC engineers, sub-contracted by Saville AV, have the job of installing and running a sound system that ensures every one of the 1,500 delegates can hear clearly, but is visually discreet enough to blend into the background. "Acoustically the room isn't ideal,

UK - Digital mixing console manufacturer DiGiCo and Nexo UK distributor Fuzion plc pooled their resources to put on a demonstration of both DiGiCo consoles and the new Nexo Geo D10 array at London's Hippodrome in Leicester Square.

The event offered live hands-on experience and training on DiGiCo's D5 and D1 digital consoles, sending multitrack mixes to Nexo's Geo D10 tangential array, which was flown in the venue.

Paul Ward of Fuzion comments, "Our objective was to create interest in the new Geo D system among touring professionals. We wanted to communicate directly with Nexo's potential end-users, hence the choice of an easy-to-get-to central London venue and a very relaxed format that allowed the system to be demonstrated as it would be used in a real situation.

"Nearly 40 front-of-house engineers came through the doors, and I think their experience of the system

UK - ISCE's revised Training Initiative got off to a flying start. Already nearly 50 attendees have been trained and accredited with their certificates, in the Measurement & Certification of AFILS Systems, to the newly revised IEC60118-4 Standard. This is a vital course for anyone involved with Induction Loop Systems.

Regional courses have already been held in Watford, Warrington, Washington (Tyne & Wear), and Northern Ireland and, with places filling fast for course venues at Bristol and Crowborough on 9 and 16 July respectively, there is no time to lose if you don't want to miss out on this essential training and accreditation, says ISCE.

Future courses being planned include Design and Installation of AFILS; Commissioning, Balancing and Equalisation of Sound Systems; Implementation of the new EMC Standards; and courses specifically for Voice Alarm Systems. For those new to

Finland - A huge Cyberhoist motion control system was used to animate the dynamic set created by lighting and screen designer Mikki Kunttu for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) semi-final and final, broadcast live from Helsinki's Hartwall Arena.

The set comprised over 400sq.m of Barco LED modules which formed the stage floor, a catwalk out into the audience and left and right screens. The screens, and a total of 16 lighting trusses, were lifted and lowered by four ultrafast Cyberhoist CH250 (250kg load capacity / 0 to 40 meters per minute, variable speed) intelligent chainhoist motors and 34 Cyberhoist CH500 (500kg capacity / up to 20m per minute variable speed) motors.

The complete system, programmed by CyberHoist-operator Joeri Swagemakers, operated by Cyberhoist technician Chris Sabelleck and supplied by Flashlight from The Netherlands, was under the control of an InMo

UK - Selecon is offering visitors to next week's ABTT Theatre Show the opportunity to win one of four top of the range Leatherman Charge TTI hand tools.

Entry forms for the promotion can only be obtained at the Show; either at the Selecon Stand or keep an eye out for someone in a bright yellow 'Get a Grip!' t-shirt and collect one from them. Fill it in, pop it in the tombola at the Selecon Stand and you are in the draw - the earlier you enter the more chances you have to win, says Selecon. There will be a total of four draws with one winner per draw.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Multiform Technology has announced the sale of its trademark, product IP and company history to an affiliate of Hong Kong-based Adelto Group.

Iain Price-Smith, founder of Multiform, will continue to act as a consultant to the company, who will be developing a new range of quality performance lighting products designed in Europe, which are to be manufactured at Adelto's affiliated manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, China. Global distribution will be handled by Adelto offices in Hong Kong and Germany.

Existing products will continue to be manufactured and distributed in the UK under licence by Light Engineering who will continue to provide service, spares and technical support for these products.

The first new products to be released will be a range of sophisticated, colour changing, DMX-controlled LED luminaires, followed by a range of dimming controllers to succeed Multi

UK - Boost Juice Bars UK is screening colourful, energetic promotional content at its outlets nationwide using digital signage software from 3M. Rapidly updated multimedia material, generated in Australia but displayed on screens globally, is central to the 'Boost Customer Experience' which takes place every time a customer visits a store.

Originating from Australia, Boost Juice Bars has a 200-strong international network of stores spanning South East Asia, South Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South America. To support this expansion, Boost Juice has adopted 3M Digital Signage software for its global network of screens and is now rolling out the network in the UK, starting with new stores in Manchester and Oxford.

"3M Digital Signage is a powerful tool to create movement and colour and builds the vibe in all Boost Juice bars worldwide. This adds to the unique experie

Norway - Massteknik, one of Scandinavia's leading AV rental and installations integrators has installed two digiLED LED video screens at FC Start's new stadium in Kristiansand.

Two widescreen displays each measuring 7m high x 4m wide have been installed at either end of the stadium using digiLED's latest effective resolution digiLED d12 modules which offer a 25mm physical, 12.5mm effective, pixel pitch.

The bespoke modules were specifically designed to suit FC Start's stadium, maximising the screen size in the available space. Measuring 1m wide x 1m high x 0.140m deep, the 7 x 4 module configuration provides a screen with an effective resolution of 560 x 320 pixels.

The digiLED d12 screens are controlled by an Omnivex Director feeding live camera, graphics and other sources to the screens. The Ominvex system, located in the control room, connects to the screens via fibre opt

UK - The recently re-launched website for theatre lighting clamps, stands and associated equipment from Doughty Engineering of Hampshire (www.doughty-engineering.co.uk) is proving a hit with the company's distributors and customers worldwide, it claims.

The new site features an easy-to-use navigation system based on a mix of pictorial images for fast recognition combined with a simple, sectional menu for those who know exactly what they are looking for.

Doughty sales manager Julian Chiverton says, "The people we deal with have been asking for more on-line information for a while now, hence this six-month project to completely redesign out site, but nothing prepared us for the almost immediate and massive increase in traffic which we are experiencing. Judging by current response I guess we must have got it just about right."

Over 1000 products are featured along wit

USA - Fletcher Cove is a stretch of ocean paradise on California's lower left coast. It's a favourite spot for surfers, swimmers and residents of north county San Diego. As with any populated beach, lifeguards have their hands full with watching the waters and keeping people safe. Communicating over the ocean's roar can be critical, and is always a challenge.

"The area had been experiencing some minor issues," explains Steven Manno, systems designer at BlueWater Audio. "Typical stuff like swimmers and surfers straying into each others' areas and such, and they needed a marine announcement system. They only had this one small, out-of-the-way lifeguard station and a very limited budget."

Manno opted to mount a pair of Community R.5-HP loudspeakers midway up a bluff overlooking the cove, which maximised throw and limited potential vandalism. The installation w

UK - Architainment Lighting Ltd, the exclusive UK distributor for Color Kinetics Inc, has announced that rental company HSL Group has become the first company in Europe to invest in the new iColor Accent Powercore linear fixture from the US-based LED manufacturer. iColor Accent Powercore is an IP66 rated linear fixture available in 600, 1200 and 2400mm lengths and is controllable in 30mm increments.

Power and control is through the new Data Enabler EO, which can power up to 30m of product, with the capability of receiving both DMX and video inputs into the same box.

Simon Stuart, managing director of Blackburn-based HSL Group, comments: "The fact that this fixture can accept both DMX and Video through the same box puts it head and shoulders above similar products on the market."

The initial investment has gone straight onto ITV1's new talent show Grease Is The W

USA - In an unusual project, dB Audio and Video's system advisor Keith Armstrong oversaw the conversion of a gym to a sanctuary at Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Gadsden, Alabama.

The gymnasium was a large 120ft x 80ft x 22ft box covered with reflective surfaces, and Armstrong measured its reverb time at 7.5 seconds. However, the church had determined that they could place a generous stage along one of the long walls and still accommodate 900 church members.

"Diffusion panels would help kill the rather extreme flutter echo," Armstrong explained, "but there was still a massive slap-back echo from the back wall to the stage." To combat the problem, dB Audio and Video designed a regiment of two-inch absorption panels and installed them along the back wall. They soaked up most of the energy above 1kHz and a good deal below that frequency.

"Although we did

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