Germany - For 20 years production designer Manfred Voss has been with the popular German TV game show, Wetten, dass..? (which translates as Wanna bet that...?).

The Road Hog Full Boar is in control of up to 16 Showpix pixilation luminaires and 12 Showgun 2.5automated luminaires for its broadcasts on ZDF TV throughout Europe. For Wetten, dass...?, Winkler AG in Switzerland is supplying the Road Hog Full Boars, DP8000s and Road Hog Wings, while Arcus Lighting in Germany is supplying the Showgunss and Showpix.

The show travels to different European cities setting up in a variety of venues from open air theatres to outdoor theme parks for live broadcasts. Celebrity guests, including musical groups, participate in the action, placing their bets on contestants who compete in crazy tasks such as: climbing a tower using toilet paper; flipping coins with a forklift

UK - Leading UK installers were recently treated to a JBL dance club solutions demonstration at Ministry of Sound, London.

Hosted by JBL UK distributor Sound Technology, the listening session showcased the new flagship Marquis Series dance stack - an unapologetic return to an old-school ground stack system.

Attendees were also able to hear the JBL AE Compact series of premium small format speakers for ancillary club areas, and the sub-compact VerTec line array ideal for clubs hosting live music events as part of a multi-use set-up.

"This was an opportunity to showcase our premium JBL solutions for club sound" commented Ian Cullen, marketing director, Sound Technology. "We were delighted with the event and think people were impressed with what they heard."

(Jim Evans)

USA - Elation Professional Lighting, has entered into a licensing agreement with Litepanels, Inc. covering the use of the latter company's patented LED technology for broadcast, photographic and motion picture lighting production.

Under the terms of the agreement, Elation has been granted the rights to use Litepanels' patented LED technology for the primary illumination of subjects for image capturing in film and video. The patented Litepanel technology will be used in Elation lighting fixtures intended for television, film and video production applications such as the TVL2000.

Under the terms of its agreement with Litepanels, Inc., Elation will be able to use the patented technology in the products it sells in all of its markets. Elation maintains a policy of respecting the valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others.

A Vitec Company, Litepanels Inc. manufa

UK - XL Video supplied a camera and PPU system, media server control, projection and scenic Barco MiStrip LED elements to the UK leg of Kasabian's recent successful Velociraptor! world tour.

Video director Paul 'Eggy' Eggerton worked closely with engineer Wolfgang 'Wolfie' Schram to produce an original IMAG look for the band, which was rear projected onto two 20 x 11ft side screens, each fed by a single Barco HD20 FLM machine.

The set design was acollaboration between lighting designer Nick Gray and the band's creative director Aitor Throp. It included a striking 20m wide by 10m high structural arch which was raked forward, and rigged with 134 x 1.5m lengths of Barco MiStrip LED.

Eggerton enjoyed his third tour with the band. He used five Sony DXCD 50 cameras with TX7 backs - two at FOH with long lenses, two in the pit and one hand-held onstage - all busy between them

Qatar - Over 100 fixtures from PR Lighting were deployed recently at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park Inauguration in Doha. Situated alongside one of the most iconic buildings in the Qatari capital, the park offers panoramic views of the city.

The official opening was marked with a ceremony and concert in the presence of HH the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and included the launch of the world-class sculpture '7', by international artist Richard Serra. This 24m high creation is the first work of art produced by Serra to be displayed in the Arab region.

The ceremony was also attended by a number of Their Excellencies sheikhs, ministers and heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Qatar.

A temporary concert shell housed musicians from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra who performed Hughes de Courson's The Magic Lutes and prior to that a dramatic

UK - Ambersphere Solutions, the UK supplier of Clay Paky and MA Lighting products across the UK entertainment market, has welcomed Kent-based company Automated to the growing list of Ambersphere customers.

Headed up by James Ashdown, Automated had never previously purchased Clay Paky products but has recognised that his recent purchase of Sharpys are important additions to his rental stock. "I decided to invest in the Clay Paky Sharpy as it is an increasingly popular and useful tool for my TV designer clients. They like the looks it creates from such a small footprint. We realised we needed to have these fixtures readily available for them, and the team at Ambersphere have made the whole process really easy. I know they will look after me with any product support I need for a long time to come. All in all it has made these products a sound investment for me and for my custo

Italy / Denmark - RCF Group has announced the sale of SGM, its lighting division, to a consortium headed by Danish entrepreneur Peter Johansen, with effect from 1 February 2012.

The new company, SGM A/S, which replaces the former SGM Technology for Lighting spa, will be headquartered in Aabyhøj, near Aarhus, Denmark, and will concentrate exclusively on developing LED solutions, while continuing to support SGM's current catalogue of discharge lighting.

For Peter Johansen, the man who originally founded Martin Professional, and who joined SGM in late 2010 as R&D director, the buyout provides the opportunity to spearhead his own company again, dedicated to LED development in the entertainment and architectural segments.

For RCF Group, by divesting themselves of the lighting interest they purchased in April 2009, the company can focus on its core audio brand, and build on

UK - The free programme of demonstrations, seminars and tutorials at PLASA's Leeds event is even bigger and better this year as visitor registration doubles in size.

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 looks forward to welcoming a record number of visitors to the fourth annual PLASA Focus event at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 April - as PLASA Events confirm that visitor registration to date is already up 100% on 2011. Building on the success of the two-day educational programme from previous years, PLASA Events is delighted to announce the launch of the new PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme: a series of free seminars and demonstrations delivered by some of the industry's leading experts.

Events manager Sophie Atkinson confirmed, "As promised, we are bringing a broad choice of sessions to Leeds, including a look at some exciting regional pr

Live News - Madonna has announced the dates for her latest world tour, which will start in Israel in May. The 53-year-old will play two dates in the UK, while the tour will also visit South America and Australia, where she has not performed in 20 years. The announcement comes days after the singer performed during half time at the US Super Bowl. A record 111.3m people tuned in for the game. Madonna's 12 minute performance received mixed reviews.

According to Nielsen, the company that tracks TV viewing figures, the football game was the most watched show in US history. However, TV network NBC and the National Football League (NFL) apologised on behalf of rapper M.I.A, who appeared as a featured artist during Madonna's set. The British hip hop musician raised her middle finger whilst facing the camera during the performance. The picture was temporarily scrambled, but it came too l

France - LumenRadio's CRMX wireless lighting controls played a key role in a new 'green' lighting installation at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle located in the historic part of central Paris.

The monumental Grande Galerie de l'Evolution, opened in 1889, is the centrepiece of the many buildings and sites making up the expansive French national museum of natural history. Its spacious central hall features a magnificent glass canopy above an equally impressive interior. The building houses an extensive collection of artefacts dating all the way back to Louis XIII who became King of France in 1610.

Pierre de Cazenove, head of operations and planning for exhibits at the museum, and his staff have developed a new energy saving lighting concept in collaboration with LumenRadio's French distributor AVAB Transtechnik.

An ETC Unison Mosaic controller was selected for

Norway - Mojo Barriers has appointed Norwegian security firm Vaktvesenet AS, making them an official distributor of its stage barriers.

The appointment of Vaktvesenet AS as an international partner gives live event and venue clients across Norway access to Mojo's products and expertise.

Frank Klaveness, operations manager Vaktvesenet said, "The partnership officially began on 1 January this year and was the result of strong demand from the local Norwegian market. We are very pleased to be working with Mojo Barriers, and bringing their products and experience to events in the region.

"Mojo is already well known in Norway as the leading stage barrier and crowd control company and many acts tour with their own systems, which we will now be able to supplement with additional barriers.

"To enable maximum market reach we have formulated our own partnership with gl

UK - Sunday's Offies saw Howard Hudson pick up the award for best lighting designer, sponsored by ETC.

Mark White, ETC's regional Manager for UK and Ireland, joined actress Linda Marlowe on stage at the Theatre Royal Stratford East to present the award to Hudson, for his lighting of Burlesque at Jermyn Street and both Ragtime and Hired Man at the Landor.

The Off West End Theatre Awards were launched in 2010 to recognise and celebrate the excellence, innovation and ingenuity of independent theatres across London. The awards help raise the profile and status of independent theatres in London by giving them greater power to promote their work individually and collectively and to reward the new talent that they nurture.

ETC also sponsored the award for best sound designer, which was awarded to Neil Alexander for Snake in The Grass at The Print Room.

UAE - PALME Middle East will celebrate its tenth anniversary when the 2012 edition takes place from May 1-3 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre (DICEC).

PALME Middle East exhibition director Richard Brook brings the added experience of having piloted last year's inaugural Middle East EVENT Show. Attracting professionals from both the corporate (MICE) and concert staging sectors, organisers, Informa Exhibitions, will this year run the two events side by side at DICEC - and Brook believes this will create "an enormous synergy".

However, he adds, "While the live event market contributes millions of dollars to the local economy, the AV integration sector is also enjoying a period of growth right across the GCC." This has enabled Informa to place heavy focus on Install-ME, the long-running vertical show that operates under the PALME Middle

The Netherlands - Integrated Systems Europe featured a total of 825 exhibitors occupying 11 halls of the Amsterdam RAI. The total registered attendance over the three show days of Tuesday 31 January to Thursday 2 February was a record-breaking 40,869.

Both numbers are the highest ever achieved by ISE, with the exhibitor total representing a 15% jump on 2011, while the attendee increase was just over 17%. The show also broke new ground in other areas, say the organisers, with net floor space exceeding 30,000sq.m, and the number of people registering for ISE's conference, education and pre-show event programme passing the 2,000 mark for the first time.

"ISE is now clearly established as the best-attended event of its kind anywhere in the world," comments Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events. "To be able to post record numbers in every key ar

Germany - EVI Audio invited international distributors to a meeting at its Straubing, Bavaria headquarters that ran from 11-13 January. A team led by Robert Hesse, vice president sales communication EMEA and managing director of EVI Audio, welcomed around 200 distributors from the entire EMEA region. The rich and varied programme included live demos, workshops and tours of the plant, as well as glimpses of coming product innovations.

The settings for the product demonstrations were EVI Audio's 600sq.m demo hall and the presentation room. Aaron Chisena (product manager, Electro-Voice Mobile Audio) and Markus Schmittinger (product marketing manager, Electro-Voice) introduced guests to the new ZXA1-Sub, a 12-inch powered subwoofer from Electro-Voice. When paired with the ZXA-1 eight-inch two-way powered loudspeaker this subwoofer forms a compact PA that is at the same time light an

UK - The London broadcast studio for last year's Rugby World Cup was brought to vivid, dynamic life by Shock Solutions, making use of some of the very latest lighting and media server technology from ArKaos, Christie and LSC - all supplied to Shock by entertainment lighting specialist White Light.

To provide a punchy yet versatile background to proceedings, the set design for the World Cup broadcasts replaced a conventional printed, brightly lit backdrop with a 20m wide rear-projection screen lit using four Christie L2K1500 15,000 lumenprojectors soft-edge blended together to create a 180 degree digital canvasthat wrapped around the rostra that housed the presenters and pundit team.

"The Christie projectors provided a lot of punch and incredibly vibrant colours, really bringing the background to life and ensuring that Stuart Gain, the lighting designer, didn't have to com

Canada - CAST of Toronto has announced the wysiwyg R28 Video Challenge, effective 6 February 2012 through 14 March 2012.

Create a lighting design with wysiwyg R28, then make a video using R28's Cue List and Camera Path features. Be as creative as you want, just make your video two minutes and use R28's features only. You get to be the lighting designer, the producer and the director for this challenge, says the company.

Entries will be voted upon by two groups: CAST's pick (a small panel chosen by CAST) and the People's Choice (where your peers and friends can Twitter their vote for you to CAST). Winners will be notified in advance and announced at Prolight + Sound 2012 in Frankfurt.

For a full list of rules and details, visit www.cast-soft.com

(Jim Evans)

UK - Audient's ASP4816 was well received by a good turnout of visitors to SAE's Bankstock Studios last week, where a live recording session of folk/rock group Flight Brigade showcased the pro audio manufacturer's newest compact console.

The band certainly approved of what they were hearing from their side of the glass, and Audient's Steve Flower was at the controls to enable visitors to experience the sound and features of the console first hand. "It was an intense few hours, as there was a constant stream of people coming to listen. I'm very pleased the console is so intuitive and rewarding to use," he says.

The one day event took place in Studio 2 and the live room at the new SAE studio facility near Shoreditch, welcoming industry dignitaries including engineers, producers and studio owners, as well as SAE students and representatives from the education sector wher

Tanzania / UK - IT & AV rental company DB Systems is this year helping to support the health and well-being of children at an orphanage in Tanzania.

As part of its programme of corporate social responsibility, DB is supporting St Francis Orphanage through financial donations to the charity Inter Care - Medical Care for Africa, which collects returned patient medicines from GP practices in the UK. After a screening process, suitable medicines are then sent to health units in Africa. The children at the orphanage are among those that benefit from these medicines.

David Bulley, managing director of DB Systems, said, "We are fortunate to be in a country where if we fall ill there is medication available to help us recover. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many people in other parts of the world. Inter Care does an incredible job of providing medication to Africa and I'

USA - McDonald's founders Ray and Joan Kroc were known for supporting a variety of charitable causes, and their legacy continues with a multi-billion dollar donation to the Salvation Army for the construction of several community centres in cities across America.

The latest Kroc Centre, recently opened in North Philadelphia, is one of the largest facilities of its kind on the East Coast. Its 130,000sq.ft includes a world-class aquatics centre, fitness centre, worship and performing arts facilities, café and culinary education centre, as well as a wide range of programmes for kids, adults and senior citizens.

Powerful sound was a big part of the plan for the facility, explains RTS Unified Communications' Joe Zamborsky. RTS specified a selection of Community Professional Loudspeakers for the project, including R-Series, WET-Series and CLOUD6 in-ceiling systems to cover th

USA - In Indianapolis on the weekend of Super Bowl XLVI, over 135 Elation Platinum Beam 5R ACL beam effects were lighting the night sky over the city's downtown.

Dodd Technologies of Pendleton, IN used the Platinum Beams and Elation ELAR 108 PARs to create a dazzling lighting design that transformed Georgia Street into "a magical Super Bowl Village experience" for the many visitors that descended on the city for the big game.

All in all, over 600 Elation Fixtures were used in Super Bowl and Super Bowl related events over the weekend. In addition to the Platinum Beam 5Rs and ELARs, these included the ELED Tri 56, the Design Wash LED 60, the Platinum Wash LED Zoom, the TVL3000, the Flex Tape and the EPV 762MH moving head video panel.

"This was a very exciting weekend," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional who was in Indianapolis duri

USA - Portland-based Hollywood Lights have taken stock of the full Dirty Rigger Gloves range as part of a new Northwest U.S. distribution deal.

Dirty Rigger's product manager Steve Marshall says, "For more than 60 years Hollywood Lighting Services has been dedicated to providing the customer with exceptional service and superior equipment, for us to be working with them in the US is a great step forward."

As well as distributing the range, Hollywood Lights has also worked with the Dirty Rigger design and production team to specifically tailor the gloves for the US market. Enhancing the gloves to work better under the various environments they're subjected to and making subtle but hugely effective changes to their design.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Martin Professional will have "world premiere lighting and control products in its luggage" when it arrives at the inaugural PLASA Focus exhibition in Austin, Texas.

Showcasing for the first time will be Martin's new MAC III AirFX moving head along with two new lighting controllers in the M-series, the M2GO and M2PC.

Several other products will also be on display at Martin booth 707 including the award-winning MAC Aura and popular MAC 101™ moving heads, as well as Martin's high-performance EC-10 LED display panel and Jem K1 Hazer.

The new MAC III AirFX is a highly versatile beam, effects and wash luminaire in one and is the latest high-performance 1500-watt moving head in Martin's popular MAC III family. Capable of projecting a dense, hard-edge beam with stunning mid-air aerial effects, the MAC III AirFX's unique optical system allows it to adjust from a

USA - Lighting designer Trevor Ahlstrand has been using a Martin MAC touring rig supplied by Christie Lites to help set the slightly macabre mood on hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold's last tour, which wrapped up in December.

In August, Ahlstrand created a new design for the American band's latest outing, a tour that saw them hit many of the same cities as the previous tour. "That's why we needed to change the design," Ahlstrand explains, who first started working with the band in late 2008. "We wanted to keep the look fresh so we incorporated some new looks using some new gear like the MAC III Performance."

Central to set designer Jordan Coopersmith's setup is a larger-than-life set piece of the band's logo, a 56' wide x 18' tall Death Bat. "There is a lot of pyro throughout the show and the Death Bat also catches fire in every way you could possibly i

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