Italy - A group of 20 technicians from UK stage and rental companies has taken part in a three-day training event organised by Clay Paky at its Italian headquarters in Bergamo. The trip was designed to give the crews command of one of the most widely used tools in stage lighting today - the Alpha 700 range. The course was held from 9 to 11 November 2010 and was hailed as a success for its in-depth focus on a single product line.

The event was instigated by Clay Paky UK Sales Manager Ashley Lewis. "We had no problem filling places on the course, and I am sure this was partly because we chose to focus on the Alpha 700 range.

"Most courses try to cover too much, skating over the detail. Here our aim was to provide our customers with really useful, detailed information - with help from the guys that developed the Alpha range in Italy."

Clay Paky's Marco Zucchinali

UK - Point Source Productions has supplied the lighting, power, control and smoke solutions for La Soirée, a new show on London's South Bank.

La Soirée presents a 'twisted take on cabaret and variety'. Playing to audiences of 900 people a night, the show takes place in a spiegeltent sandwiched between the National Theatre and Royal Festival Hall.

This is the second time Point Source Productions, working in conjunction with Dan Watkins of The Production Desk, has worked with lighting designer, Willie Suddon, having provided the lighting equipment for last year's La Clique show at the Roundhouse.

Point Source Productions' equipment includes Litec trussing, cabling and power distribution, lighting control via an Avolites Pearl, and all exit and emergency lighting. Dimming is in the form of the new 48-way Jands FPX touring dimmer, with Point So

China - Faye Wong is one of China's most popular icons, and arguably the most famous female Chinese-language pop singer of all time. She is also one of the most offbeat. Famed for her reserve, her effortless "cool" and her fierce independence, Wong received over seven million votes in a government web portal's online poll on 'The most influential Chinese cultural celebrity of the last 60 years', second only to Wong's own personal idol, the deceased Taiwanese singer, Teresa Teng.

Wong has recently embarked on a national 'comeback' tour after a five-year break from performing. Such is her popularity that, according to local media, a computerised ticketing system in Taiwan crashed within a minute of tickets going on sale for the limited number of performances. However, the tour has been recorded for posterity via an Innovason Eclipse digital mixing console.

The tour kic

USA - Rascal Flatts' managers Trey Turner and Doug Nichols turned to designer Bob Peterson and Bandit Lites for their lighting needs. The current tour, Unstoppable, is not only the name of the current album, but also seems to describe this music machine. Sold out shows, TV appearances, award shows and movies are all part of the daily life of Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney, otherwise known as Rascal Flatts.

To enhance the already high energy show Peterson used over 150 VL3500 Spots, VL3500 Washes, VL3000 Spots, VL500 Washes and VL2500 Spots as his battery of moving lights. Martin Atomic Strobes, Lycian M2 Spots, Thomas 4 Lights and cyc lights as well as Thomas 9 Light Maxi Brutes were all pressed into use. Peterson used a touch of LED as he engaged 40 GRNLite Washes for set and up light in various locations. His control of choice is the formidable GrandMA, run

UK - The recent 2012 digital switchover open days held by the Audio division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies have proven to be a sound investment for attendees, with many commenting on how useful and informative the events were.

Held in conjunction with leading manufacturers Sennheiser and Shure at the company's High Wycombe and Leeds offices, attendees received an in-depth 2012 digital switchover Q&A session by members of the BEIRG committee and demonstrations of the manufacturers' new Channel 38 compliant equipment, as well as showcasing other brand ranges distributed by Sennheiser and Shure.

James Hudson, director of Futurist Sound & Light commented: "We've attended a couple of seminars previously at AC-ET, and indeed in this instance visited both open days at their High Wycombe and Leeds offices as we were keen to learn as much as possible about the ramifications o

USA - Adding another staple to the Las Vegas bar, restaurant and nightclub scene, systems integration firm R2W designed and installed a complete JBL loudspeaker system at Fine Entertainment's recently constructed PBR Rock Bar to support all audio from background restaurant music to televised sporting events and live rock concerts.

The 1,100-capacity venue, located in the Miracle Mile complex at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Hotel, combines a rock and roll atmosphere with a nightclub, American grill, more than 100 high-definition televisions and a mechanical bull. In addition, the PBR Rock Bar's main dining hall transforms into a stage for live performances after dark.

R2W installed 21 JBL AM7212/95 12-inch full-range 2-way loudspeakers, five ASB6125 high-power dual subwoofers, eight AC28/26 2-way loudspeakers and four Control 24CT 2-way ceiling speakers for the 13,000 square-

UK - XL Events has won a 2010 Eventia Award for 'Technical Supplier of The Year', which was presented at a gala dinner evening attended by 800 leading events industry professionals at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel in London.

The Awards were hosted by BBC Breakfast regulars Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams. XL Events' director Rich Rowley and business development manager Nick Hart collected the Award on behalf of the XL Events team, who have offices in Hemel Hempstead and Bromsgrove in the UK.

Says Rowley, "XL Events has enjoyed an outstanding year. Our market position has strengthened and we have continued to deliver during a fragile economic climate. More importantly our business has been agile and adaptable enough to offer these Agency's a whole series of multiple and creative solutions for their clients."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Adlib Audio has supplied an L-Acoustics dV-DOSC modular WST line source FOH system to the Spa Bridlington for its 3,800-capacity Royal Hall venue. Technical manager Emrys Jones required a system that could cope with a demanding events schedule and performances ranging from tea dances and sporting events through to comedy, rock concerts and punk festivals.

Adlib Audio was appointed as audio supplier by approved electrical contractor K Binks Heating. The Art Deco Royal Hall ballroom and Edwardian spa theatre have recently been restored, and any installation work needed to be sympathetic to the classic interior decor.

As the venue already owned some L-Acoustics equipment, the dV-DOSC system was the first choice for both Emrys Jones and Adlib's installations director Roger Kirby. A high speech intelligibility factor was crucial, and Adlib was confident it could draw upon its

UK - Point Source Productions teamed up with Secret Cinema for two of their recent screening events: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner at Canary Wharf and the David Lean epic, Lawrence of Arabia, at Alexandra Palace.

Secret Cinema events operate by providing a creative, immersive experience for its audiences in which to view the film, recreating settings and characters reminiscent of the films such as Blade Runner's China Town and Lawrence of Arabia's souks and deserts.

More ambitious than Secret Cinema's customary one night extravaganzas, Blade Runner ran for eight screenings and proved to be the 11th biggest grossing film in the UK that week.

Point Source Productions supplied a QX30S trussing system and lighting which included ETC Source 4s, CCT Minuette Fresnels, PAR 64s and floor-mounted Birdies providing general cover and uplight from a desi

USA - When did the theatre industry move from hemp to counterweights? Who invented the sophisticated automatic release system for fire curtains? What did the first computerized rigging control system look like?

These and many other questions are answered in the catalogues of rigging products published by J. R. Clancy throughout its 125-year history. Members of USITT soon will be able to see digital files of every page of these catalogues, beginning with the first from 1886.

In celebration of J.R. Clancy's 125th anniversary year, the company has scanned and digitized all the pages and cover of every catalogue. J. R. Clancy has provided access to these digital files to USITT in acknowledgement of the company's 45-plus years as a member of this organization. These files are available to educators, students, faculty members and other researchers with a serious interest in the hist

UK - Between 30 November and 2 December, the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's Southbank was used as a canvas to trailer Disney's 3D digital movie, TRON: Legacy. The architectural 3D projection mapping by creative agency Guided Collective in collaboration with Flat-e / Seeper was carried out using six Christie HD18K projectors supplied by large scale projection specialists, QED Productions, and was accompanied by the music from the Daft Punk soundtrack.

The feature also included a re-creation of Flynn's Arcade, inside which housed the original TRON arcade game, a replica of the Light Cycle, the TRON: Evolution video game and an HP demo area with new HP ePrint Technology - that could be used to print the photos taken at the event directly via email.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - EVR Media, one of the companies in Proel Group, organised a grand opening for its new offices in Rome.

EVR Media created an entertaining event that was also an opportunity to show off all the new technology that the company deploys in its daily activities. The event was enlightened by Jazz, DJ sets and effects created by the systems available on site. EVR Media worked together with New Sound Service of Rome and installed two Proel Axiom systems. They also chose indoor and outdoor Proel lighting systems and eight Sagitter 'Mantis' LED Moving Heads for the dance floor.

(Jim Evans)

Qatar - Pearce Hire provided all the temporary power to the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, 26 - 30 October 2010.

The Tribeca Film Festival celebrates a year of films, education and community. International film stars including Robert De Niro, Kevin Spacey and Salma Hayek, who all graced the red carpet for the event.

The complex event site was split into several key production areas, each of which needed to be treated as a separate entity with its own needs and considerations. The central point to it all was red carpet area and other areas such as the Festival Esplanade, Family Area, the Lacombe Gallery and a huge outdoor theatre where 2,500 people could be seated in an 82m wide dome, constructed by Al Laith. The buildings and streets of Katara cultural village and amphitheatre were illuminated with architectural lighting designed by Adam Basset and supplied by PRG.

Pearce Hire

Peru - Twelve years and $20 million after it was destroyed by a disastrous fire, the Teatro Municipal de Lima has enjoyed a gala re-opening by President Alan Garcia Perez and Luis Castaneda Lossio, the Mayor of Lima. All eyes on the President, all ears on the new Nexo Geo D sound reinforcement system, discreetly installed stage side.

No expense has been spared on expert advice and the best technical solutions in the refurbishment of this prestigious cultural venue in Peru's capital. One of the city's most important theatres, it was home to the metropolitan opera, ballet and drama companies before the fire in 1998.

Art and architecture experts, as well as the best Peruvian artisans, have lovingly executed the restoration, using pictures and design drawings from the original 1920 house, even decorating 350 ornaments in gold leaf. Now equipped with state-of-the-art acoustics, vis

UK - A networked public address system from UK-based ASL Safety & Security has been installed at the Dungeness site, a former nuclear power station in the southeast of England now being decommissioned.

The Dungeness project features customised microphones connected to the client's voice information consoles with toggle switching that triggers digital voice announcement (DVA) messages. The four-zone monitored PA system covers much of Dungeness A which is a legacy Magnox power station.

Areas where access to the public address system can be obtained by microphone include the central control room, emergency indication centre, emergency control room and reception.

Following a successful first phase, ASL's rack-mounted Intellevac voice information network was installed to BS 5839-8:2008-compliant standards in the nuclear facility's accommodation block which has been created so tha

USA - QSC Audio Products has introduced the GX7 as the newest model in its GX Series of power amplifiers. Engineered and assembled in the company's Costa Mesa, California facility, the GX7 maintains all of the key form and functional elements of the existing GX Series while delivering more power in a lighter weight package, says the company. The GX7 features 725W per channel at 8-ohms and 1000W per channel at 4-ohms, while weighing a mere 15.5 lbs for the 120V version.

"The QSC retail amplifier customer expects a truly professional solution at a value price point." states Ray van Straten, QSC director of marketing communications. "Our customers continually reinforce their message to us that they consider three key feature/benefits to be of utmost importance in a power amp - Clean, high-output power, maximum portability, and bulletproof reliability.

"In deve

USA / Italy - Rational Acoustics LLC has appointed ModsArt as the exclusive distributors for all Rational Acoustics and Smaart branded products for Italy.

Founded by brothers Davide and Luigi Lombardi, ModsArt provides Italian distribution for a select group of lighting and equipment including Jands lighting consoles and Outline loudspeakers. They also provide training classes for audio professionals including Outline's Certified System Engineer course and, in the future, Rational Acoustics Smaart Training Classes.

Davide Lombardi comes from a successful career as a sound engineer and system technician, having worked extensively with UK-based Britannia Row over the past 8 years on such tours at Oasis, Amy Winehouse and James Taylor. He is currently on tour with opera star Andrea Bocelli. Luigi Lombardi comes from an equally successful career in lighting design.

"We are

UK - Systems integrator IVC Media, has confirmed the completion of the final stage in its project to bring content alive with augmented reality at the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre. The public audience can now view a new interactive film which shows enhanced and individualised content through the medium of bespoke hand held touch-screen devices, designed by IVC.

"The film, entitled Who do you think you really are? features a film making technology allowing Sir David Attenborough to take the audience on a virtual journey back through our evolutionary past, to where extinct creatures will appear to roam around in the studio," says John Smith, managing director, IVC Media. "By simply moving the interactive hand held touch screen, individuals in the Attenborough Studio auditorium can effectively interact with the environment from their perspective. The

Spain - Hosted by Desperate Housewife movie star Eva Longoria, the 2010 MTV EMAs were broadcast live from Madrid's Caja Magica and Plaza de la Independcia in the historic Puerta de Alcalá on 7 November. For the eighth year running Sennheiser supported the star-studded occasion, which featured live performances from some of today's most popular artists.

Sennheiser UK's team of Mark Saunders, Andy Lillywhite and new addition Tim Sherrattt once again worked closely with audio provider Britannia Row and the event's sound designer Derrick Zieba to ensure the smooth execution of this technically challenging production. Magnetron, Sennheiser's presence in Spain, also provided valuable local support.

Equipment supplied included a significant number of SKM 5200 Mk I and II microphones, with extra 'bling' by Crystalroc for Eva Longoria's handset, plus ew 300 in ear monitors for

In The White House - Acts including No Doubt and Dave Grohl played Beatles songs at a US gala on Sunday to celebrate Sir Paul McCartney and other winners of a cultural award. Sir Paul had earlier received a Kennedy Centre honour along with Oprah Winfrey, choreographer Bill T Jones, composer Jerry Herman and singer Merle Haggard.

Receiving his medallion at a White House dinner on Saturday, Sir Paul said "great things just come in bundles." The ex-Beatle was at the US President's home in June to receive another award. "I am a big fan of this president, and I think he's a great man who's got some difficulties," Sir Paul said at Saturday's event, hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sunday night's concert, held at Washington arts venue the Kennedy Centre, was filmed by US network CBS for broadcast later this month.

In The Money - Susan Philipsz

UK - Creative Technology London partnered experienced stage and set designer Misty Buckley to help Channel 4 realise the spectacular T4 Stars Of 2010 televised show at London's Earls Court recently.

An all-star cast included Ellie Goulding, Tinchy Stryder, The Saturdays, Mark Ronson, N-Dubz and Pixie Lott, who became immersed in a galactic-themed world of comets and asteroids, brought to life by heavy use of CT London's modular Flyer 12mm pixel pitch semi-transparent LED display.

Misty Buckley, who also designed the set for last year's Channel 4 show, said that because of budget restrictions and concept uniformity, this year's event was set to follow a similar design model - until CT London stepped in. "Last year we used MiTRIX to produce vertical solid blocks of colour; but CT were so accommodating that we were able to increase the production values this year, and

UK - The extravagant world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti has moved to London's National Theatre - and with the move from New York came the change from two lighting consoles on Broadway to a single ETC Eos on the South Bank.

The National's senior lighting programmer John McGarrigle says, "We had just four weeks before the beginning of tech to convert the entire show - and one of the consoles we were moving from has no export function. We had no option but to sit in front of it for two weeks, reading all levels and parameter information from its displays, and painstakingly enter the data into Eos. We then had two weeks of visualisation with ESP Vision, where associate designer Paul Hackenmueller and I had a full 3D model of the Olivier, and worked our way through the show cue by cue."

With just a few days for tech, the lighting team made good use of the Eos sy

UK - NSA Creative & Cultural has announced The National Skills Academy Annual Industry Conference which will take place on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 March 2011, at the newly opened Pavilion Dance, Bournemouth.

The conference will bring together the backstage and offstage industry to network, take part in practical seminars and look at the changing landscape of the industry.

Confirmed Speakers include Paul Latham of Live Nation, Melvin Benn of Festival Republic, Alison Wenham from the Association of Independent Music and John Northcote of the Academy Music Group.

Seminar sessions will include: Maximising your resources - practical session for staying on top; Industry & Education - Effective 2-way communication; Apprenticeships - How can your business benefit?; National Training Vs In-house training - what works for you?;

Delegates will also have the opportunity to attend th

UK - Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull has completed a visual overhaul of its exterior to carry it through the festive season - for which 36 PixelRange PixelPars have been deployed, following a design created by Wickford, Essex-based DPL Production Lighting.

With sustainability high on the agenda and the need for environmental performance measurement, DPL's technical director, Pete Watts, specified PixelRange PixelPars. "The requirement was for low current fixtures with the ability to colour change, so LED units were obviously the way to go - and PixelRange is the brightest and the best quality you can get."

The project came about following a very successful installation completed by DPL, at another shopping centre. When the centre manager moved to Touchwood he picked up the phone to DPL and asked for their help again.

The brief was to enhance three outside are

Latest Issue. . .