"Who can blame Kurt for moving to a town with such an awesome football team?" said TMB's sales manager, Tommy Stephenson, famous follower of lost causes, adding: "Paul, did you get a chance to look at my resumé yet?"
"These have been great years," comments Ke
The ENO approached Stage Technologies for a solution with the view to purchasing a Nomad control console and renting 36 Big Tow winches. This would allow them to move very heavy loads quickly and safely, including a two-tonne suspension bridge, which is part of the set for Rhinegold, and allows them to stage some complicated and impressive effects for forth coming productions such as Valkyrie and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The well-pub
As director Richard Lee explained: "Our four main studios were equipped with pine sprung floors but the differing demands of theatre and dance companies, as well as public events, meant these had to be protected with a practical roll-out floor - practical but unattractive and requiring frequent taping."
The solution proved to be Harlequin Fiesta, a floor originally developed to stand up to the rigours of percussive dance, while Fiesta's oak-strip patterned hard su
Pro-Gaffer is one of the best vinyl coated cloths available and is used by leading movie technicians and engineers worldwide. The advantages over Scapa 3101 are that the range offers 20 standard colours plus a superior matt surface thus reducing light reflection. Vinyl coated cloth tapes offer advanced performance in both high and low temperature applications and a high adhesive weight ensures a strong hold for extreme conditions such as 'off shore location-filming' and extreme rigging and fixing. Pro-Gaffer now companions Permacel P665 within the ever-growing Le Mark waterproof cloth based specialist tape range.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
The Technical Focus article will also go on to provide a round-up of chain hoist motors and their control systems. The review will examine standards and safety,
Since opening the UK's first purpose-built motor racing circuit in May 2001, with grandstand seating and modern facilities for visitors' comfort, Rockingham has encouraged family audiences to visit the state-of-the art venue by adding funfairs and pop concerts to the racing days.
Rockingham's Jeff Carter commented: "Last year we hosted several successful concerts with Star Mobile and this year we have bought in Star Orbit with their dome-shaped stage, which looks great and the arti
The event took place in a huge Kayam tent, in which Star Events Group created the show's focal point. A 20m x 15m Vertech stage was erected inside the structure with an impressive video and lighting set-up. The stage was branded with BBC Radio 1 and Music Live logos. A crew of 10 built the impressive structure over three days with Pete Englis
LGH Rigging Services was established as a dedicated, back-up, equipment resource for the entertainment industry in 1997 by LGH Group plc, leaders in lifting and winching equipment for over 30 years. The business has until now been solely UK based at Three Mills Island Studios, London and is managed by Bob Dean.
Following its success in the UK, it has been decided to further support and develop European customer relationships by establishing a new mainland European base at Utrecht in Holland. Paul Fulcher, operations director, LGH Group, explained: "Our personnel's lifting and rigging expertise in the entertainment industry has been combined with a vast h
The Miami Herald reported that Homicide detective, Ed Avila told them: "Wally Thomas and two other workers - who were looking after stage spotlights - were all wearing full body harnesses. However, the speculation is that Thomas was not clipped into the safety line when he fell to his death.
According to colleague and stage hand Chris Ryan - who has worked with Thomas since 1978 - he was stunned to hear he was on a truss spot
Balanced Tech was featuring two new products. Brown's Precision Welding have developed a 500mm stacking truss system which, due to its advanced webbing design, is rated for higher loads than 500mm box truss. One person can comfortably move eight 3m lengths of this truss on a simple dolly.
Also on stand, Nic Moreau of Enttec was demonstrating his unique DMX Datagate, a sophisticated DMX device with one Ethernet port and eight bi-directional DMX512 (RDM) ports. The device can be configured, via its web interface, to perform any conceivable function with its ports: DMX distribution and routing, Ethernet to DMX, DMX to Ethernet,
Each Elevation 1+ Variable Speed hoist controller allows the variable speed running and full positional control of an electric chain hoist via an RS485-based protocol. The unit itself also incorporates a full variable-speed manual control plus remote handset control for basic running. Units can be daisy-chained together for easy set-up of multi-point lifts.
Summit is using Kinesys' Vector Motion Control software as the primary show control. Vector is a fully-featured motion control sequencing system that c
Star Rigging's Phil Broad designed the rigging plots and programmed the company's Ibex motion control system, ever mindful of the safety of th
Blackout France's project manager, Damien Slaney, headed up the team and was responsible for designing and supplying a massive 27m x 9m drop cyclorama, which played a central role in the set design. Fabricated out of ecru-filled cloth at Blackout's UK headquarters in South London, it divided the set between a jazz combo downstage centre and a 40-piece orchestra behind.
Offering a huge semi-circular blank canvas, the cyc was used by Lenchampt, to create a stunning barrage of light
"MGM asked us to come up with a concept for the stage set, sending us to a top secret preview screening of the film to give us the opportunity to sketch out some ideas", explained Hangman's Sam Booker. &qu
For the European election launch Stage Electrics provided a full set in Studio 12 at Granada TV Studios. Placed in front of 100m of white cyclorama, the opaque polycarbonate set was applied to a white steel frame grid of squares. Two large projection screens were incorporated into the set with projection also provided by the company. The huge stage consisted of four varying height linked circular platforms which ranged from two meters to six meters in diameter. The set was constructed in short order by the Stage Electrics scenic workshop and m
"I have been delighted to have been associated with Prolyte for the past four years," said Trevett, "It has been a genuine pleasure to have worked with so many great people, both distributors and co-workers. Moreover, having been involved with the company during one of its most innovative phases - as it brought so many radical products, for example ProTrac, to the market - has been very exciting. However, I feel that I need to seek a new challenge, particularly as the Prolyte UK Distributor network is now in place and functioning very well."
A Prolyte spokesper
Spot banks are available in various configurations of Par 36 lamps. Lamp changing is simple due to quick-release knobs on lamp's front retaining ring. Units can be supplied with stand-off colour frames if requires, and with two or four-way barn doors. Adapters are also made for all the major brands of colour changers. Spot Bank units can also be supplied w
"We've been looking for a good manufacturer of this type of kit for a while and came across JAB in Rimini this year," said Charles Haines, Hall Stage commercial director. "They have a fantastic sense of design, quality and detail and fit very well into our catalogue."
Featured here is the WingNut spanner set, for use on 13mm, 17mm and 19mm wings as well as the standard bolt hex heads. The second spanner in the set is specially designed for mini Omega bracket hooks and wing nuts found on moving heads. The set is laser cut from aero-grade aluminium and comes in a neat b
The 17-hour event took place at Matterley Bowl in Hampshire, and brought together live bands and DJs for thousands of visitors. Faithless and the Scissor Sisters topped the live act bill, with the likes of Erik Morillo, Paul Van Dyk and Judge Jules taking to the decks. Star Orb
The chain hoist of choice was the CM Prostar, but a problem still existed in how to achieve repeatable and reliable positioning. The solution was the Prostar Elevation, a product that Kinesys believes is the only variable-speed Prostar solution in the world. Kinesys was able to combine their Elevation 1+ control units with a conversion to the Prostar chain hoist to allow precise positioning and a full range of speeds t
He set up PCM in 1993. The company was responsible for establishing the CM Lodestar motor as the UK and European concert touring industry standard motor in the 1990s. Another major achievement for Jones was the establishment of a comprehensive infrastructure of motor and rigging training programmes based at PCM, and open to all. Training is one of the many areas he is passionate about.
Jones comments with trademark Liverpudlian dryness: "I've had a fantastic time with the company, but the time was right to move on - or I was in danger of becoming part of the furniture!" Jones is also a
Hall say that as much thought and effort has been put into the pricing and purchasing options available to potential users as to the design of the hardware itself. A full range of finance is on offer to support the purchase, with leasing, hire purchase - and even rental - provided directly by Hall Stage and the Bank of Scotland -
Since its launch at LDI 2002, the innovative new wave, with its carbon fibre technology and nine-port aluminum extrusion that is used for the shear webs, has caught the eye of entertainment and exhibition industry professionals. The truss and, in particular, the shear webs have now been recognized by the global aluminum extrusion industry.
Ian Coles, president of Total Structures Inc, said: "I am delighted that the product has now received recognition outside of the entertainment and exhibiti
