UK - Litec will be present at this year's PLASA show with lots of new products in both the trussing and rigging areas.

Libera 105 is the latest product in the well known and innovative roofing, grid and truss system line, say the company. It will be officially on show at PLASA for the first time. This truss has countless applications which have already been appreciated by many professionals during the events and festivals which took place this summer in several European countries, including Live 8, MTV Music Island and the 50th L'Oreal Colour Trophy awards in London.

The latest Litec products in the Ground Support Tower sector will also be on show, including the entirely aluminium Varitower 2, the now well-known Unitower complete with accessories, and the new square twist-resist

Australia - Over 100 Robe ColorSpot 170 moving heads and Anolis Arcsource RGB LED fixtures have been installed in the newly refurbished banqueting and ballroom facility at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne, Australia.

The new facility's multi-purpose function areas now cover two levels, offering 2100sqm of conference facilities, and include the new Art Deco style Mayfair and Savoy Ballrooms The banqueting facility is designed to meet the highest international standards and is unparalleled anywhere else in Australia.

Lighting was integral to the whole interior design: designed by Michael Huggins the installation was completed by two companies - Premier Lighting (for the Robe elements) and Lightmoves (for the Anolis fixtures). Robe Show Lighting and Anolis brands are both distributed in Australia by ULA.

The Savoy Ballroom features over 100 Robe ColorSpot 170s which are discreetly lo

USA - The government of San Luis Obispo County, California recently moved into its new administration building. The move was the culmination of more than five years of designing and building a facility tailored to its specific and varying needs.

The slow pace of design and construction was a reflection of the desire to get everything correct. This was particularly evident in the increasingly vital area of audio/visual and information technology, according to Joey D'Angelo, principal consultant with Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc., the San Francisco-based consulting firm who designed the facility's A/V system.

The design specification went through several incarnations, but one element recommended by D'Angelo at the outset remained on the list: SymNet Audio Matrix from Symetrix. "Much of the project's architecture and A/V system design changed over the years, but the rec

UK - Following the success of his first two restaurants in Willesden Green and Hoxton, David Azouri has taken his concept into west London and recently opened a third Shish in Bayswater.

For the sound system, Shish has once again called in the services of installation specialists, the Sound Division Group. Sound Division's David Graham described the brief: "Given that there was already an existing sound system in the premises when Shish took it over, we weren't required to start from scratch. However, a fair amount of work was needed to bring the installation in to line with the rest of the venue. We completely serviced the existing WORK loudspeakers and Cloud mixer amplifier, and added two DBX 215 dual graphics and a Pioneer PDM603 6-disc multiplay CD player. The restaurant space has been reconfigured into three separate zoned areas so we've provided three Cloud RSL6 devic

USA - Northern Sound & Light (NSL) recently received the Outstanding Sales Performance Award for 2004-2005 from dbx/Lexicon Professional Products. The company was chosen from many competitors in the Eastern region of the United States

The award was given to NSL based on a phenomenal sales performance representing 23% sales growth year over year for the dbx/Lexicon product line. It was personally delivered to Steve Raslevich, president of NSL, by sales rep Bob Podolinski of RLA and Aaron Kunz, eastern regional sales manager for dbx/Lexicon Professional Products.

"The partnership between NSL and dbx/Lexicon is a winning combination," said Kunz. "We have a collective goal to increase sales and brand promotion while offering first rate service and expertise to the pro audio market."

"I am thankful that Bob and Aaron took the time and effort to recognize

UK - Event branding specialist Sunbaba will unveil its new 'Digital Austronet' air permeable fabric, at the Showman's Show this year. Sunbaba has been the sole UK supplier for Austronet fabrics since 1996, however the printing process has now been perfected to allow for digital printing, having been under development for the last two years in conjunction with the company's colleagues in Austria.

The new 'Digital Austronet' has been developed for customers who want to create large format, full colour, digitally printed displays on air permeable fabric (suitable for outdoor environments). Being a polyethylene based material, the product offers a more eco-friendly alternative to the traditional PVC based products.

This is the seventh year the company will exhibit at the Showman's Show and this year the company plan to reveal its new corporate image, literature and website.

(Sar

UK - Multiple Brit Award-winner Scissor Sisters has employed the services of Specialz to custom design and build an illuminated curved sign that incorporates their famous logo - the scissors with legs. The dramatic, sparkling sign has 4ft letters spelling out 'Scissor Sisters' with the 9.5ft glyph motif in-between.

The 16-part sign and has over 800 15W E14 prismatic light fittings which are across three circuits to enable chasing. The sign and transportation dollies were built in 10 working days. The effect of this sign works well with the artistic nature of Scissor Sisters and their cabaret style. The overall look creates an amazing Moulin Rouge spectacle on the stage.

Scissor Sisters lighting designer David Ross commented: "From the initial phone call to reality, the whole project was handled in the most professional of manners, and within the very limited deadline that

UK - Serious Stages supplied two of its new 25m Space Roof structures for the main stages at both Leeds and Reading sites creating a new look for the Mean Fiddler's flagship Carling Weekend Festival event.

Serious also supplied decked staging for most of the tented stages at both festivals, including the Carling, NME/Radio 1 and Comedy stages, the Dance Arena, plus the Lee Sounds Live at Leeds.

The Space Roof is a new product, launched by Serious earlier in the year. Its first outing was as Glastonbury's Other Stage, and the 25m version is one of the largest complete temporary festival staging systems available in the UK.

The Space Roof features a substantial eight tonne distributed load bearing capacity, which will accommodate all types of production requirements for flying lighting, video, sets, etc.

The Leeds and Reading Space stages measured 25m wide by 26m deep and al

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UK - Steve Hoffman, director of sales for Gamproducts Inc of Los Angeles, California has announced the introduction of two new SX4 gobo changer trays. "Designers now have the ability to effortlessly project multiple gobo pattern images from just one lighting instrument, saving power and space," says Hoffman.

The SX4 B size gobo changer tray holds four B size metal or glass gobos and the M size gobo changer tray holds six metal or glass M size gobos. "Changing gobo direction is simply done using the onboard stand alone program modes, or to create your own custom gobo changes you can use any DMX-controlled lighting board," says Hoffman.

The SX4 was built for the rugged demands and duty cycles of the architectural, retail, display, and theme park markets.

(Lee Baldock)

UK/Canada - Photonic Products Ltd, is sponsoring Paul Cocksedge as a keynote speaker at IIDEX/NeoCon, Canada, 22-23 September 2005, in Toronto.

Paul Cocksedge is one of the UK's most exciting lighting designers working today and will present his lighting designs plus an overview of the latest products, designers, innovations in technology and emerging lighting trends coming out of the UK today.

"Crystallize", designed by Paul Cocksedge for the Swarovski Crystal Palace Collection, is a chandelier made from light. When there is no light the chandelier disappears. Using lasers and crystals in perfect alignment, the iconic shape of a Swarovski crystal is drawn in mid air. At the heart of the chandelier is a single crystal which sparkles as it catches the light.

The development of this chandelier was made using Photonic Products' green laser modules.

The 532nm DPSS gr

UK - HSL Group Holdings is exhibiting at PLASA 2005 for the first time in its own right, highlighting a diverse range of products and services.

The Blackburn-based company has three divisions - HSL Rental, HSL Rigging and HSL Sales and Distribution. In addition to illustrating its own products and projects, HSL is joined on its stand by some key suppliers, including Rope Assemblies and Radical Lighting. The latter will be demonstrating the latest version of their NG1 digital media server.

HSL will be showing several new products designed in-house. These include the 500Kg DMX mirror ball rotator, the DMX controlled Snow Dropper and a range of Check-IT plugs and sockets.

Highlighted at the show is HSL's own brand of PA/delay tower system - the Totem Tower 2T-V - capable of lifting loads up to two tonnes. The 2T-V tower is suitable for hanging all types of PA either from a one

UK - The Liverpool Culture Company this year gave the City's Mathew Street festival a compete makeover, resulting in record crowds of up to 350,000 enjoying Europe's largest free urban live music festival.

The three-day event culminated on the August Bank Holiday Monday with six stages in and around the city centre, featuring top live performers from all over the world. Liverpool Culture Company's general manager of events, Lee Forde explains that the Culture Company took over full control of this year's event: "It was an absolutely essential move to keep the festival progressing and diversifying."

Two stages were installed at the Pier Head for the first time - North and South. The North stage was effectively the main stage. On the Sunday, it featured The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Tony Christie, The Christians, Liverpool Express and Neville Skelly among others. The

UK - During the forthcoming PLASA Show (11-14 September, Earls Court 1, London), PLASA is planning to launch a new National Rigging Award, and would like to invite members of the rigging community to a short presentation to be held on Monday 12 September, from 11.30am - 12.00pm. During the presentation, PLASA's representatives will give an overview of the structure and criteria that the Association hopes to apply to the proposed PLASA National Rigging Award.

An article from the September issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine, which also appeared in the August issue of PLASA's Standards News, explains the background to this new initiative - read it here.

If you would like to attend, or nominate a colleague in your place, please RSVP to the e-mail address below.

(Lee Baldock)

Italy - Ribalta from Italian manufacturer SGM is a colour-changing projector utilizing 90 Luxeon LEDs to provide colour washes over large areas such as walls, theatre and television backdrops, and architectural elements. The IP65-rated unit is suited to both indoor and outdoor use.

Other features include RGB colour mixing, high-power Luxeon LEDs 30 blue (1W), 30 green (3W), 30 red (1W); Luminous flux 3,000 Lumens; Colour temperature: 5,500°K (variable); interchangeable lenses - 8° asymmetric, 30° asymmetric, 10°x 90° (elliptical) horizontal and vertical; pan: +/- 45° and tilt: +15° / -70°.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - The organizrs of the PLASA Show have advised that pre-registration for this year's show )11-14 September) closes today at 5pm so today is the last chance for visitors to benefit from the half-price tickets. However, visitors will still be able to purchase tickets on the door at the full price of £15. To pre-register today, please visit the website below.

(Lee Baldock)

Sweden / UK - Wireless Solution Sweden AB, the producer of the award-winning W-DMX product at PLASA 2004, is again entering the PLASA Awards for Innovation with the new W-DMX IP65 Repeater - "a new and innovative product in the W-DMX family that brings the wireless technology for lighting one step further", say the company. The repeater solves a lot of problems for productions and installation companies, for example differences with very long distances or physical obstacles, the company claims, as it supports a distance up to 20km between each repeater.

Wireless Solution Sweden is also showing the W-DMX IP65 Transceiver, which supports RDM. All W-DMX products offer talk-back function, and the plug and play solution can be set up in less then 60 seconds, the company says. W-DMX follows the standard of ETSI and FCC to cover the European and the North American market.

L

Italy / South-East Asia - Italian pro audio manufacturer Outline has appointed Discovery Lights & Sound Pte Ltd as its sole distributors for Singapore and Malaysia, with effect from 20 July 2005. The sales and technical staff of Discovery have around 30 years experience in the entertainment industry and Outline has told LSI Online it has every confidence in their capability to support its customers in these territories.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Boston's AVFX serves clients such as Medtronic, Philips Medical, IBM Software and TJX (the parent company of retail chain TJ Maxx), and has gained a reputation for having the latest media technology, the know-how to use it, and the experience to understand how to best service corporate needs.

Although much of AVFX's emphasis has always been on visual media (multi-image projection was the rage when the company started in the early 1980s), the company has also supplied sound systems for years. One of their long-time audio mainstays has been the classic UPA-1A loudspeaker, which AVFX started using many years before the self-powered UPA-1P became available. The versatility of the UPA-1A insures that those conventionally-powered legacy speakers not only remain in AVFX's inventory, but continue to see constant use.

As AVFX continues to grow, the firm's Meyer Sound inventory ha

UK - London PA and Promotion company, Up All Night Music, employed its new Allen & Heath GL3800 live sound console at the recent Reading Festival. The mixer was installed in the Tiscali VIP tent, which hosted exclusive sessions from a variety of the artists performing on the main stages over the weekend.

The 32-channel mixer managed 20 bands over the three days, providing live sound reinforcement for acts such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Graham Coxon, The Rakes, The Subways, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Futureheads, Funeral For a Friend, and Mondo Generator. The select 100-capacity audience even included some big names such as Dave Grohl and Pete Doherty, who came to see their celebrity associates perform.

"The GL3800 performed flawlessly - it's a fantastic desk," commented sound engineer, Ed Shackleton. "I particularly love the new EQ, which has a great range

UK - Shortly before the official UK launch of the ADB Warp/M at PLASA 2005, Glyndebourne Opera House in East Sussex, England became the first British venue to acquire the new luminaire. An advance consignment of the Motorised Warp was built and installed in time for the legendary opera house's summer season.

Glyndebourne's lighting manager, Keith 'KB' Benson, organized a head-to-head 'luminaire shootout' when the venue's management decided to make its first long-term investment in automated lighting. He explains: "We've used generics for years because I never felt that the moving light for opera was there, although we have tried a few - we used a couple of 2K PCs for a few years and they performed pretty well. But we have never really gone for anything else; I am not so keen, personally, on colour mixing, as it can be difficult to get a really pure specific colour. But usin

Norway - Now in its 51st year, the annual St Olav Festival in Norway is held to mark the historic battle of Stiklestad in 1030, which marked the country's transition from paganism to Christianity and established the cult of St Olav after the slain king. Central to the festival is the St Olav Drama, performed in an outdoor amphitheatre at the Stiklestad National Cultural Center before an audience of 6,000, with over 20,000 people watching the drama over four performances. For the first time this year, the sound was handled by local PA rental company Stiklestad Lyd & Lys (SLL) who chose to use a large quantity of DPA microphones for the performers and musicians.

The St Olav Drama, which unfolds in the last 24 hours before the battle, revealing the transition between paganism and Christianity, is the largest and oldest open-air play held in the Nordic countries, encompassing elemen

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