Power Gems, the manufacturer of electronic ballasts for entertainment lighting, has merged with Quartermaster, specialist supplier of products to the entertainment lighting industry. The Power Gems London office will form the sales and marketing division of Power Gems Ltd, and will be headed by Patrick McGuane, who joins the board of directors. Power Gems will exhibit at the PLASA Show at Earls Court, 10-13 September 2000.
André Tammes, the founder of the Lighting Design Partnership and a number of well-known figures in the field have this week launched under the new Lighting Design Partnership International (LDPI) banner. Tammes, continuing to work with long-standing colleagues Lawrie Nisbet and Kevin Sturrock, will now be joined by Alan Mitchell and Gavin Fraser, formerly director and principal designer respectively with Jonathan Spiers Associates. Douglas Hamilton, who has worked for the past six years with Lawrie Nisbet at Edinburgh-based Architectural Lighting Design (now merged with LDPI) completes the senior LDPI team. LDPI, in addition to its London and Edinburgh offices, will be based in Sydney Australia, under the direction of Tammes and Sturrock, with a design team of eight.
The West Yorkshire Playhouse's production of the classic Hollywood musical Singin' in the Rain, which opened to excellent reviews on 22 June at London's Royal National Theatre, has seen the UK debut of Vari-Lite's first for-sale product - the VL2201 zooming spot. In addition to the new fixtures, the rig also includes VL6 and VL6B spot luminaires, augmenting the National's installed rig of 36 VL5B was luminaires and seven VL6 spots, all run from an Artisan II console. Lighting design is by Andrew Bridge, assisted by Mike Odam. The VL2201s were purchased by the West Yorkshire Playhouse as part of their sales and leasing agreement with VLPS.
ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association) in the United States has announced that the following draft standards have been made available for public review. - BSR E1.3, Entertainment Technology - Lighting Control Systems - 0 to 10V Analog Control Specification - BSR E1.7, Entertainment Technology - Recommended Practice for the Design and Use of Manual Systems for Flying Performers - BSR E1.10, Entertainment Technology - Minimum Loading requrements for Theatre Stage HousesIn each case, the review period closes on September 12, 2000.ESTA has also announced the start of a Standards-Drafting Project for Theatrical Boom & Base Assemblies.
One of the masterminds behind the birth of concert video support nearly a decade ago, Malcolm Mellows has returned to the UK from California to become manager of the Concert Touring Division of Presentation Services Ltd (PSL). A familiar face among road crews from his 18-year career as a lighting designer, Mellows will head a dedicated team at PSL's Cricklewood HQ that also includes Mick Ryder, Scott Russell and Stephanie Jefcoate. Malcolm headed up the original Presentation Services Ltd for three-and-a-half years when it was based at Scrubs Lane. After becoming lighting designer for Suede's Dog Man Star world tour, he then persuaded PSL chief Gary Davis to set up a US office for PSL in Burbank, California, which he established and ran for nearly three years. During his first two stints with the company, Malcolm Mellows was responsible for project managing on PSL's behalf ground-breaking
White Light's Lighting Design Bursary - now in its third year - has been extended to include any student over the age of 18 studying lighting design in the UK. Launched in 1998 as part of The Training Inititaive, White Light's wide-ranging training and education programme, the Bursary was only open to Lighting Design students at Rose Bruford for its first two years. As in earlier years, the Bursary involves students initially producing a short synopsis outlining a project they would like to light. Students selected at this stage are then invited to develop their concept into a full lighting design proposal (within a theoretical budget) and a 'pitch' for that proposal, which they must present to a panel of industry professionals. This year's competition offers a prize of £500 for each of up to three winners; the prize presentation, which for the last two years has taken place at the Roya
Following considerable success at the top end of the market, Starlite Mk5 distributor Lane Lighting has passed the baton to High Wycombe-based AC Lighting to launch the product into the mainstream market. At the same time, the latest generation of the fixture has been launched, featuring an 18º - 35º zoom module. To coincide with the launch, AC has also announced a substantial price reduction with the aim of making the product affordable to a much wider market.During the past two years the Starlite Mk5 has been a feature of many of the major UK festivals and events, with appearances at Glastonbury, V98 & V99, Reading, Party in the Park and Homelands. In addition, the fixture was used in abundance at the opening of London's Millennium Dome. The first customer for the new zoom fixtures was lighting design specialist Metropolis Lighting, who have just installed six of the units into the b
The famous Limelight Club in London recently hosted the DI UK Light Jockey Contest 2000 main heats - sponsored by Clay Paky and Pulsar. Over three weeks, 20 contestants put their programming and creative skills to the test. Judging the six heats were Pulsar's Jane Monk and Simon Cox, DI's Paul Fowler and Limelight's Jane Vernol. The six winners - Chris Penney, Rob Calvert, Stuart Wardale, Josh Moreton, Colin Walker and Pete Ramdine - will all now compete in the semi-finals which will take place at the Ministry of Sound on July 26th and 27th . The three best will go through to the all-important UKLJ2000 Grand Final to be staged at the Hippodrome on 12th September during the PLASA Show.
April 22 1500 - April 22 2000: 500 years after the landing of Pedro Alvares Cabral on the South American coasts, Brazil celebrated its own discovery with a major event involving the whole Country. Brazil 500, organised by TV network Rede Globo, kicked off two years ago on April 25 with a huge concert in São Paulo - in the interim, a series of concerts have taken place in cities across Brazil. The culmination of these came in April this year with a major concert in Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasilia. It attracted an audience of over 400,000 people with millions more following the event broadcast live on television. The lighting supply for this major performance fell to the experienced Elo Iluminação who used a large amount of SGM kit in the spec, including Giotto Spot 1200s, Giotto Wash 1200s and Galileo IV Live 1200s
Having only just celebrated Celco's 21st Anniversary during the PLASA Light & Sound Show, Keith Dale and Colin Whittaker have parted company with Celco Ltd. In a move that will come as a surprise to many, the separation is a result of another change in the ownership of the company - one that did not meet with the agreement of Dale and Whittaker who had been trying to strike a joint venture with a major British manufacturer. The new shareholders of Celco are Amptown of Germany, Applied Electronics of USA and Sonoss of France with Lightstorm Trading maintaining an equal interest with the new investors. PLASA Publishing understands that Dale and Whittaker intend to take a well earned break before evaluating their options in the industry - either jointly or individually.
With Showlight 2001 just nine months away, many fascinating speakers are being arranged for the event, covering topics from lighting for cruise ships, theme park concepts and military tattoos to theatre lighting. Visitors to the 'International Colloquium on Entertainment Lighting' will hear papers presented by leaders from the world of lighting design, including Paula J. Dinkel, Principal Lighting Designer, Walt Disney Imagineering. Other speakers already confirmed include lighting designer Robert Ornbo, who is presenting Tournaments, Tattoos and Tantrums, focusing on his own experience of lighting large military and Royal shows and Bernie Davis who will talk about the practice and pitfalls of lighting orchestras. For registration and other information visit the Showlight website.
ARRI Lighting has introduced the new Arrisun 5 Event lighting system - created to save set-up time and costs when large numbers of daylight Pars are required. Facetted cold-light glass reflectors and spill light baffles optimise the new lamphead. ARRI has also introduced the EB 575 Event-Six electronic ballast pack, designed for 19" rack-mounting. Each contains six 575W electronic ballasts, with output for six lampheads via a single multicore cable.
City Theatrical has appointed Tim Bourgeois as lead engineer. Bourgeois has extensive experience as a lighting designer, technical director and freelance electrician for theatre productions in Boston, and will be developing products for City Theatrical's expanding customer base in the performing arts, convention centres and other entertainment sectors.At the same time, City Theatrical has also appointed lighting designer Brian Patrick Byrne as a technical liaison to dealers and end-users. As well as lighting design, Byrne's experience includes work as a director, production manager and master electrician. His LD credits include productions of Godspell, A Lie of the Mind, Six Degrees of Separation and The Who's Tommy for Evader Productions.
Legendary Parisian restaurant Chez Maxim's, in the heart of Paris, has always represented the epitome of refinement and elegance. Steeped in tradition, it maintains its position by mixing old world sophistication with the best from today's modern life. To this end it has recently installed a number of Martin's MiniMAC luminaires (supplied by Martin France) in the legendary dining room. These are discreetly positioned around the restaurant and now enhance the atmosphere with subtle colour washes and delicate colour hues.
High End Systems lighting plays a part in South Africa's version of the popular TV game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. LD Hugh Turner (previous projects include The Three Tenors) specified 20 Studio Color 575 and 9 Studio Spot 575 automated luminaires to highlight the set and add excitement to the contest. Installation and weekly operation is by Southern Lighting. The show is shot every week in Johannesburg at the AGN studios downtown for clients M-net and Videovision entertainment.
AC Lighting has supplied an extensive amount of new lighting equipment to the University of Derby for their Live Performance Technology course that was recently launched. Students progress to degree level over the programme's three years, which aims to produce technically competent researchers, designers and operators for the growing entertainment industry. Equipment from manufacturers such as James Thomas, ETC, Anytronics, Vision, Zero 88 and Manfrotto were supplied along with a multitude of cables, internally wired bars and power distribution equipment. All of this equipment is now located in Richardson Hall, the main training and performance area for the programme.
PLASA Exclusive: Vari-Lite has entered into a letter of intent to sell its operations in Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Sweden to an investment company which owns Focus Showequipment BV in Amsterdam. The intention, according to Vari-Lite CEO Rusty Brutsché, is to allow the company to concentrate on the development and sale of its automated lighting systems in the US, Asia and London. The sale is subject to various conditions, but is scheduled to be completed in September.
Stu Chalmers has joined High End Systems as the company's new vice-president of operations. Starting in mid August, he will be based at the automated lighting manufacturer's headquarters in Austin, Texas, to oversee product manufacturing. Areas of responsibility include all production and assembly areas, materials and purchasing. Chalmers was the first employee of the Kaizen Institute of America and as a consultant, has worked with a number of manufacturers including Ford Motor Company. Prior to that, he worked for 3M Company for 15 years. High End is currently working towards ISO Certification which it hopes to complete before the end of this year.
Le Mark Group of St Ives, Cambridgeshire has announced a closer business association with GAM Products Inc of Hollywood, California. GAM has been Le Mark's exclusive West Coast Dealer for StudioTak stick and peel temporary studio and stage flooring, and has appointed LeMark as its lead distributor within the UK, tasked to re-introduce selected items from GAM's unique Lighting and Effects range. This includes items such as GAM Patterns (gobos), Twin Spin Rotators, and GAM ColourTube. Jeremy Bramley will head up the GAM distribution in the UK.Le Mark will introduce the products at the PLASA Show in September, and a free seminar will be held on Sunday 10 September in the Kensington Room above the Earls Court showfloor. The seminars will be introduced by Steve Hoffman, US sales manager for GAM Products Inc.
Martin Professional is continuing with the expansion and strategic reconfiguration of its sales department with the appointment of Graham Barron as corporate sales co-ordinator.Barron brings to Martin 26 years' experience, most recently running outdoor lighting specialists Lumenation for Coe-Tech. A fully qualified lighting designer, Barron will be using his vast experience to provide a dedicated service to designers and installation contractors whose core business activity is with the nationwide, corporate club and bar estates.
MAD Lighting has gained an out-of-court legal settlement to stop UK distributor Terralec Ltd importing the Pearl River Tornado - a product which is practically a look-a-like of its own MAD Scan. The settlement followed MAD's decision to register the design for its MAD Scan fixture and, in particular, its plastic casing (reg. 2058915). As a result, Terralec has given an undertaking not to import, sell, and advertise infringing goods in the UK, nor can it infringe the design or assist others to do the same. Full story August L&SI.
Geoff Jones of Laser Studio and Illuminatum, has teamed with Dublin-based Kevin McCarthy (AVL) to form a new company, JMC Lighting. The new enterprise will be dedicated to providing an exclusive UK and Irish dealership for the full range of Coef intelligent lighting products and will operate out of both the UK and Eire. AVL has already used an assortment of Coef products for a series of high profile venues in Ireland, including many of Dublin's major recently opened venues.
PJ Lighting has been granted a full patent for its PLASA Award-winning Multi Truss Adaptor - the CD146. The product, which was highly commended in the 1998 PLASA Awards, is a heavy-duty, multi-use truss adapter for mounting trussing to tripod or trussing stands. The main feature of this product is its unique ability to hold trussing in all of its differing angles - apex up, apex down, ladder truss and box truss. As well as holding trussing to stands, the adapter can securely clamp light or sound products to trussing.
The high-profile circus of the Republican National Convention 2000 in Philadelphia, which ended yesterday with George W Bush's nomination as the Republican Presidential candidate, featured an extensive entertainment lighting system, composed mainly of High End Systems fixtures. Lighting designer Bill Klages specified 44 Cyberlight Turbo units, 40 Studio Color 575s, 30 Studio Spots and 40 Dataflash AF-1000 xenon strobes, supplied by the Production Resource Group (PRG), to enhance the stages, seats, ceilings and spectators in what is literally a political arena. Performers during the four-day event have included Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-a-Whirl Band, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, The Delfonics, Jon Secada and Lee Greenwood.
