UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Video division has been appointed as a UK distributor for the Pufferfish range of high impact visual display systems.

The Pufferfish PufferSphere range offers a 360° spherical viewing window for the display of digital video content in a wide range of environments.

Fully portable and easy to transport, set up and operate, the PufferSphere is suitable for temporary exhibitions as well as permanent installations.The PufferSphere can stand upright or be inverted and suspended, maximising its usability over a variety of environments. Applications include concert-touring, set design, sports, music and cultural events, trade shows, exhibitions, branding, experiential advertising, alternative marketing, promotions, art installations, educational exhibits and shop-dressing.

The PufferSphere range includes hardball and inflatable options rangin

European Affairs - The European Commission says it wants to know why Italian officials spent 720,000 euros (£613,000) of EU cash on a concert by Sir Elton John last year. "We're asking the managing authority about this. We want to know why they think it fits in with the rules," the Commission's regional policy spokesman Ton van Lierop said. The expenditure only recently came to light, he told the BBC.

The concert was part of the Piedigrotta festival in Naples in September 2009. A right-wing Italian Euro MP, Mario Borghezio of the Northern League party, called it a "shameful" misuse of EU funds by the Campania regional authority. The Commission does not know how much was paid to Sir Elton John for the gig, Mr Van Lierop said. Cultural projects can be co-financed by the Commission and regional authorities in the EU, he explained, "but we want to know

Argentina - Rio de Janeiro's Theatro Municipal marked its 100th anniversary last year and, to celebrate, the building underwent a massive renovation.

While the renovation restored the historic theatre's façade and interior to their original splendour, the stage has also received attention. Brazilian ETC dealer Telem replaced the outdated lighting system - comprised of products from many different manufacturers - with a complete ETC system including ETC Selador LED fixtures.

Theatro Municipal's 2,361 seat auditorium houses the Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and a local ballet troupe, and plays host to a litany of plays, dance performances, concerts and private events every year. Running the lighting for these shows is an ETC Eos lighting control system, with an ETC Ion backing it up. Both Theatro Municipal's in house staff and touring light

UK - Pink Floyd fans will have a chance to own a slice of the band's live performance history when the hand built quadraphonic mixing consoles used on the Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell world tours are auctioned at Bonhams in Knightsbridge on 15 December 15.

A percentage of the proceeds will go to concert industry charity Stage Hand, the new name for the PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund. The consoles are being sold by their owner, Britannia Row Productions (BRP), the sound company originally formed and owned by Pink Floyd, which has been independent for the last 26 years.

Every Pink Floyd tour since the late 1960s featured quadraphonic sound among the many live sound and lighting effects pioneered by the band.

Sound effects including helicopters, the famous chiming clocks and gongs of Dark Side Of The Moon and many more, were whirled around mas

UK - When Northern Light won a competitive tender to provide an advanced technical infrastructure for the new £35 million Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, the company set out to design a fully-integrated system that was versatile, reconfigurable and provided the facility to carry out remote system diagnostics over a LAN via the resident PC.

Working to a specification devised by Carr & Angier Theatre Consultants, evenly dispersed sound was of paramount importance, since there are three audience tiers (including fixed-seating balcony and upper balcony levels), and optional ground floor seating wagons to enable the 1200-seat auditorium to convert into a larger 1800-capacity standing space.

Thus Northern Light project manager Simon Cooper decided to base his sound reinforcement solution around Martin Audio's purpose-designed Wavefront theatre systems.

For the primary system, h

Italy - Proel is running an international competition to create a name for their new series of professional digital loudspeakers. This range of speakers, that can be networked and remotely controlled, will use the latest Proel Group digital technologies and is targeted at the live sound and installation markets.

The winner of the competition will be awarded a Proel M16USB mixer for "their imagination and ingenuity in suggesting the chosen name".

Full details are available at www.facebook.com/proel. The competition closes at midnight on 22 November 2010.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Martin's UK distributor, Stage Electrics, is the company's first UK dealer to add the small, super-light and simple LED moving head washlight - the MAC 101 - to its hire stock.

The MAC 101 features a tight and bright beam, rapid movement and calibrated colours that allows for "revolutionary set, stage and decorative lighting designs".

Adrian Searle, head of technical and hire at Stage Electrics commented: "The MAC 101 is a great product which we had to have. We have started with an initial investment of 24 units and plan to expand to meet demands for this superb little product."

(Jim Evans)

China - The opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games was held on Haixinsha Island on 12 November and Barco presented a festival of lights on the water-stage for the occasion. During the 16 days of competition, the Guangzhou Asian Games will feature 42 events.

For the opening ceremony's water theme, the 2000sq.m main stage was covered by water 10cm deep, and four sailing ships, with a total of eight LED velamena, were set around the stage. Barco and BeiAo, one of China's largest event planners and executors, had placed 16 XLM HD30 projectors around the 10,000-person audience area, projecting an array of lights onto the huge water-stage. As the velamena opened under the stunning light, the audience felt as though it was on a huge ship sailing east.

Barco and BeiAo were both pleased with the results of their team effort. The video lighting solutions enable the event to present th

Norway - Gronningen Lyd, a sound company based in Lensvik, has become one of the latest audio rental specialists to invest in an Eclipse digital mixing console from Innovason. Supplied by Innovason's Norwegian distributor, FotoPhono AS, the new console was put through its paces for the very first time at a corporate event which was held at the Orkdal Cultural Centre 14 November 2010.

The Orkdal Cultural Centre is a large, multi-purpose performance and exhibition space based in the Norwegian town of Orkanger, the region's second largest town after Trondheim which is 45km away. The Cultural Centre serves the municipality of Orkdal and beyond and hosts everything from concerts to theatre shows, dance and of course conferences and corporate events. The event in question was a corporate event with a number of bands and lectures. According to Jan Gronningen, owner and MD of Gronningen

China - Robert Juliat has supplied a large quantity of profiles and followspots to the newly built Guangzhou Opera House in China.

Designed by London based Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House has been created as a leading 'palace of art', and a landmark of both the city's new development and Guangzhou's cultural status.

Based around a 'twin boulder' design, the venue consists of an 1800-seat opera house and 400-seat multi-functional theatre. These will run a broad programme encompassing ballet, symphony orchestral music, experimental drama and artistic and cultural exchange.

Robert Juliat Asia supplied the Opera House with a range of 2000W profiles in the form of 20 RJ 711SX, 16 RJ 714SX and four RJ 713SX, and a total of six followspots: two Lucy 13/22° 1200W HMI, two Alex 7/14.4° 2500W tungsten and two Ginger 13/22° 2500W tungsten units. The Concert Hal

UK - The durability of VDC supplied cabling and live sound kit was put to the test by Placebo and LEE Engineering during a gruelling, two year world tour which came to a close last month - a test that it passed with flying colours. According to Ian Nelson, director at LEE Engineering and Placebo FOH engineer, the man who, with VDC, oversaw the specification and development of the tour's audio technical infrastructure, its performance and reliability was unparalleled.

He said: "When we came to pack away the kit after the last date in Brixton, Brandon Reece and myself just looked at each other in disbelief. I can honestly say that I have never seen a line system go more than four or five weeks without a problem cropping up, let alone two years, and I've been in this business for 15 years."

Niall Holden, MD at VDC Trading said: "It's always great when customers tak

UK - Arcstream AV created a grand entrance into the exclusive launch party for Swarovski's Fashion Meets Tradition exhibition at the Swarovski Crystallized concept store and lounge on Great Marlborough Street in central London.

The exhibition got underway the evening prior to opening to the public with an exclusive fashion show which featured creations from renowned global designers.

Design agency M managed the event production and decorated the venue in the style of an Arabian palace with mirrors, mosaics and jewel encrusted drapes creating the ultimate glamorous environment. Arcstream AV added a 21st Century twist to this glamour by installing its interactive floor system at the entrance into the exhibition. This was designed to look like a sea of Swarovski diamonds, gems and crystals.

Arcstream AV sales & operations director Neil Manwaring explained, "The inte

UK - This summer, The University of Sheffield completed an expansion of their Students' Union, and PSCo, partnered with Universal AV Services, were chosen to provide AV solutions that befitted the Students' Union's new, modern look. This included two Samsung 46" Ultra Thin Bezel LCD videowalls to be viewed though glass windows from outside the building, displaying the latest news, offers and events taking place inside the Students' Union and enticing people inside.

The University of Sheffield approached Universal AV Services to provide display solutions for the Students' Union that would effectively advertise their latest events, special offers and news to attract attention both on two videowalls that could be viewed from outside, the first in a huge 3x3 138" formation and the second an impressive 2x2 92" size. Inside, different information is displayed throughout

UK - 2010 marked the release of the Feeder's seventh album Renegades, and the band embarking on a sell-out international tour.

As part of the live set up they used a pair of HK Audio CT115 Contour Series monitors which had been biamped off two channels of a Lab.gruppen fp+10000QSP and channel 1 of a HK Audio DSM2060 speaker management processor.

Taking the drum seat for the tour is noted session drummer Karl Brazil, whose previous tub-thumping exploits have seen him work with the likes of Robbie Williams, Take That, James Blunt, Elton John and Leona Lewis. He chose to use HK Audio monitors from the Contour Series (a pair of CT118 subs and a pair of CT115 speakers).

"Karl is a very musical and dynamic player," says monitor engineer Dan Trowhill. "It has been difficult for us on previous shows as the drum-fills provided haven't delivered a satisfactory pe

Russia - The 2010 Victory Day Parade in Moscow saw the skies over Red Square alight with colour and a spectacular fireworks display. Clay Paky fixtures were at the heart of the event which marked the 65th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War in 1945.

The festivities began in the afternoon with the largest parade held in Moscow since the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991 and saw 11,135 troops and 127 aircraft and helicopters making a fly over the Kremlin to form the number '65'. For the first time, the 2010 parade also included military units from foreign countries who were allied with the Soviet Union during World War II, with representation from France, Poland, the UK and the USA and members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Approximately two dozen world leaders also attended the event.

But it was the evening celebration that had all

USA - When plans took shape for the new Arthur Zankel Music Centre on the campus of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, J. R. Clancy was chosen to provide customized rigging.

The music centre's 600-seat Filene Ladd Concert Hall can accommodate performances of any size, from a single musician to a full orchestra and chorus. At the back of the stage, a three-story-high glass wall overlooks a nearby pond, adding visual interest and acoustical challenges. In addition, the hall can be scaled up or down in size for smaller and larger audiences.

To make the acoustical elements as variable and easy to manipulate as possible, J. R. Clancy provided seven motorized Patriarch tracks for front of house, and two motorized acoustical panel and lighting arrays onstage. Each 6000-pound array is lifted and tilted by custom line shaft hoists.

J. R. Clancy's SureTarget 10 rigging automati

Malaysia - Established in 2007, Banana J Entertainment and Event is a fast growing Malaysian event production and management company.

Banana J owner Jason Ng has recently been working extensively with local broadcast stations and has chosen MSX48s from ARX for his signal splitting requirements as they offered an affordable solution to his requirements.

The MSX 48 splitters were supplied by K.L based ARX dealer Impact Pro Sound and Light.

(Jim Evans)

UAE - RFW / SES reports that due to demand in the UAE region for their extensive range of power distribution products and accessories, they are having to re-locate to bigger premises.

Fragille Wade comments, "The demand for 'off the shelf product' has been incredible since we started the joint venture with SES, and we are having to stock more products to feed the insatiable appetite for quality product here in Dubai and other regions.

"This new facility within the Dubai Investment Park will also house our office, and will mean that all the stock will be under one roof making it easier for clients to collect at any time. With extended racking within the warehouse, we are able to stock more product and a wider variety, which our customers enjoy. Within easy reach of the Emirates Road and the Al Quoz industrial area, we can offer outstanding unrivalled service."

Greece - This past October, the renovated Galaxy Bar on the roof of the Hilton Hotel in Athens unveiled its new look. Its refreshed and innovative appearance is based on 35 Martin Professional smartMAC gobo and colour-changing moving heads which, recessed in the ceiling, project onto an equivalent number of hanging 'drums', giving an impressive luminous effect of pattern, colour and movement.

The smartMACs are controlled via a PC-based Martin LightJockey system with the DMX line protected by nine opto-splitters. A Martin Fingers controller is also used to allow hands on access to LightJockey functions.

The lighting scenarios at Galaxy Bar run automatically during the day and night. Using Fingers, the lighting looks can be manually bypassed by the lighting operator if he wishes to choose another scenario out of a list of more than sixty combinations.

The DMX network design an

Argentina - Opened in 1908, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires is considered one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. Renowned for both its architecture and magnificent acoustics, it has hosted such stars as Maria Callas, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Igor Stravinsky, Enrico Caruso, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Over time, the opera house began to show signs of its age and was in need of a technological update. When Mayor Mauricio Macri gave the approval to move forward with the redesign, Teatro Colon turned to lighting designer Ernesto Diz who enlisted the help of Stage Tech SRL and Philips Entertainment for a complete lighting design renovation.

"Teatro Colon is one of the most celebrated buildings in all of Argentina," said Antonio Agra, CEO of Stage Tech SRL. "When we were contacted by Ernesto to supply the gear for the lighting system renovation we w

UK - The Lords Mayor's Show, which took place on 13 November in London, celebrated the new appointment of Alderman Michael Bear as the 683rd Lord Mayor of London. The procession which commemorated over 800 years of the city's history included a three-mile long parade mixed with a display of the city's past, present and future. Local businesses, charities, HM Forces, the City Police and Londoners all celebrating the citys tradition and future joined the procession.

As part of the Lord Mayor's evening celebrations, Stage Electrics worked closely with lighting designer Rob Mills to supply all the lighting equipment including 30 Pulsar LED ChromaFlood lights, 16 Thomas Pixeline 1044 LED battens and 13 LED Showtec Arcbar3, plus a selection of moving lights including Martin MAC 301's and Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300's. This was used to illuminate the HQS Wellington moored on the Thames wh

UK - Llannelli-based Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) has created an elegant lighting design and completed installation of the scheme for the new Alfie Morland pedestrian bridge in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

LTP was commissioned by developers Dandara, who co-ordinated the construction and delivery of the bridge, an eye-catching addition to Hemel Hempstead's new contemporary town centre 'Image' development.

Apart from being subtle in terms of the installation and looking fabulous, the lighting design had to conform to BS Standards BS5489-1:2003 + A2:2008 for road lighting - which governs the specific lux levels required to light public bridges and highways.

The LTP team - project managed on site by Jonathan Adkins and co-ordinated in the office by Keith Elms - formulated a design and specification that met and exceeded the required lux levels of 300 or above, utilising

China - FotoPhono AS, a Norway-based AV supplier, was responsible for the entire AV installations at the Norwegian Pavillion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. Ole °yvind Heier, audio visual consultant, contacted Multitekst to design, programme and implement the Medialon Control System.

The Norway Pavilion was constructed with 15 models trees made from Norway's pine trees and Chinese bamboo where visitors can feel Norway's harmonious relationship with nature and environment. The pavilion features four different areas: the Coast, the Urban forest, the Waterfall/Fjord and the Arctic.

In the daytime, specific musical moods emphasised the themes of each of the pavilion's areas. While walking through the pavilion, visitors could experience the subtle changing nuances of the music piece while watching themed video presentations. At night time, northern lights shows were stag

USA - The Class of 2005 ETCP Certified Riggers who passed the inaugural examinations came up for renewal this November, as certification is valid for five years. Two-hundred and seven Rigger-Arena and Rigger-Theatre certifications were awarded and 94% of these certifications have been renewed. Those who are in the Class of 2006 ETCP Certified Entertainment Electricians will come up for renewal in October of 2011.

Eddie Raymond, chair-elect, PLASA North America, commented on the renewal rate, "Among those who took the first round of ETCP Rigging Certification exams in 2005 were some of the very best and most experienced riggers in the US. The fact that 94% of those who passed have chosen to renew those certifications speaks to the value garnered by the programme in the ensuing years. Being recognized as a Certified Rigger by a testing body led by their peers has meaning to t

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