DJ Sunday - featuring the Gemini ‘Extreme V DJ competition’ and iDJ-sponsored Talk Zones - raised the volume at the first day of the PLASA Show as DJ hopefuls lined up in front of hundreds of spectators to showcase their talents in the hope of launching a successful DJ career. DJ A.D., the runner-up in last year’s DJ competition went one better and reversed the tables on the 2001 defending champion, DJ Angelo (placed third this year), to win the Gemini ‘Extreme V’ DJ competition.

The audience and judges got a taste of DJ A.D’s (real name Adrian Hall) cross-sectional DJ’ing capabilities during the early stages of the competition, where he kicked off with an energetic display of technical ability matched with an impressive mix of unconventional sounds. "This is an excellent competition because there is an enormous variety of DJing styles and

L&SI profiles the new industry trade association taking its first steps in Australia.

The Australasian Lighting Industry Association (ALIA) has been formed with the aim of bringing together everyone in the region with an interest in lighting - at any level and in any area. After many months consulting with the industry, ALIA became incorporated in June, and has since been signing up members. An interim committee is currently in place and the association’s first Annual General Meeting is planned for this month.

The focal point for the association, which covers an area larger than Western Europe, is the website - www.alia.com.au - where news is regularly posted. It’s also proving an invaluable source of technical information, and includes one of the web’s most extensive pages of lighting-related links. Like PLASA, ALIA aims to promote an understanding of the industry

At the PLASA Show today, visitors and exhibitors alike will join together in observing one minute’s silence at 1.46pm, in memory of those who lost their lives in the attacks on America one year ago.

A brand new cool beam zoom profile luminaire, available in both static and automated versions, has been launched at the PLASA Show by Belgium-based manufacturer ADB. The stylish Axis comes in 15-30 degree and 25-50 degree versions, and utilizes an 800W halogen axial lamp and a dichroic glass reflector to produce a light output greater than a conventional 1200W profile, with low gate and beam temperature. The Axis Automated fixture provides full pan and tilt control, with beam-shaping functions. The ACN ready unit uses three-phase stepping motors and no fan provide true noise-free operation. With other features including a slide-in iris diaphragm and a 360 degree rotating gobo (or two gobos without iris), and a patented, integrated, endless rotating shutter system with four 360 degree rotating shutters, the Axis looks set to provide an attractive addition to lighting designers’ tool

The 25th PLASA Show closed on a high yesterday thanks to one of the most positive shows in the event’s history. Business was high on the agenda for all exhibitors - many of which reported the highest levels of business they’d ever done, some saying that they had signed up orders of significant size at the show. The exhibition was buzzing practically from the moment it opened and the visitor count will significantly outstrip last year’s figures.

The show was active on many levels - the PLASA Product Awards for Excellence attracted one of its highest number of nominations ever with 64 products displayed in the L&SI sponsored New Technology Gallery - a clear indication of the importance of the event as a showcase for innovation. The Masterclass, Seminar and Round Table sessions that ran throughout the show added to the appeal of the event, allowing visitors to learn more

L&SI has arranged an exclusive backstage tour of the Palladium Theatre where you can meet with those who worked on the production and see first-hand how some of the more complex effects in the Show have been achieved. Following the tour, you'll have a chance to network with industry colleagues at an L&SI-hosted reception where you can talk further with members of the creative teams, before sitting down to watch this much talked about show from some of the best seats in the house.

The event takes place on Thursday October 10, 2002 at the Palladium Theatre, London, running from 3.30pm onwards, and costs just £69.00 (which includes a full reception, the backstage tour and a £40.00 ticket for the Show).

To sign up contact Sheila Bartholomew at L&SI on +44 1323 418400 or e-mail sheila@plasa.org.

The Media Show - the biggest out-of-London trade exhibition and conference for media professionals, will take place in Cardiff in October. The Media Show will focus mainly on television and video production with a eye on developments on the current big issues affecting the industry such as DVD production, conference presentation systems, the Internet, broadband and new media.

Attending the show will be a wide cross section of UK media professionals including production companies, TV and video producers, feature film companies, companies involved in broadband delivery, internet companies, conference organisers, new media producers, web designers, cameramen, lighting directors, sound recordists, editors of all types, videographers, people working for the studios, facility houses and the broadcasters - from senior executives to freelance film crews.

Representatives form the television i

ALC Truss is a new exhibitor at PLASA. Spawned from ALC, a Belgium-based sound and light service provider, ALC began manufacturing aluminium products to solve problems for its rental client base. Of most interest is the self-erecting 10.5m tower for line array PAs: load rated to 1000kg and TÜV approved, the tower can be erected by one person, using the lifting motor to raise the main mast. This is very neatly packaged: all components except the actual motor - that’s truss pins, hammer, gallows head and struts - travel securely on two 2.4m truss section dollies.

Austrian Truss Constructions (ATC) presented what looks to be an excellent modular outdoor stage roof system. Based on a regular 3D truss frame, the roof forms a grid using ladder trusses between with four-way steel node connectors. Although ATC doesn’t have official rating figures, it is confident the system can su

When the organizers of the Panasonic Mercury Music Prize announced the nominations for this year’s event, at a press conference at London’s Royal Commonwealth Club, they asked Avesco Group company Creative Technology to provide all the audio visual support for the event.

Project manager Matt Hunter then involved fellow Avesco company MCL-London to handle the audio, and his colleague Simon Waters to provide a sophisticated playback rig, providing separate audio feeds from the digital mixing desk to the cameras. CT provided two 37" Hitachi plasma displays, which were used as relay monitors, and a Barco i6 high-resolution daylight screen, cut into an aperture - raised on a platform and suspended from behind as an integral part of the set design created by Frames Design and Build Ltd.

Cameras were supplied by the television companies but using Beta playback, CT flipped b

In what can only be described as a milestone event, the Professional Lighting & Sound Association (PLASA) has cause to celebrate after recording one of the most successful shows in its 25-year history. PLASA's annual show confirmed its status once again as the leading international trade show for the entertainment, communications and presentation technology industries, as more than 400 companies from across the globe filled the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London from 8-11 September, 2002.

13,810 people (subject to ABC Audit), up by 4.2 per cent from last year, visited the PLASA Show to see the array of new product launches, attend the Masterclass Programme, network with industry colleagues and strike up new business relationships. PLASA managing director, Matthew Griffiths, said the show bucked the exhibition industry’s recent downward trend as many exhibitors conducted good

Industry consultant Peter Ed is all set to achieve exactly that: take on the challenge of climbing 14,000ft over just one October weekend in Morocco. In the name of charity, Peter and his wife will be scaling Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, located in the High Atlas Mountain Range. The couple will be raising money for ARK - Absolute Return for Kids - a charity established to transform the lives of children who are victims of abuse, disability, illness and poverty. Last year, ARK raised nearly £1.5m from an awards dinner plus a trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and they're hoping to top this figure for 2002.

Locally, Mount Toubkal is known as Adrar n'Dem: Mountain of Mountains. The area is the most popular trekking destination in Northern Africa and is home to some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery in the world. The biggest problem for climbers is the a

Pro Audio Light Middle East (PALME) is the first dedicated professional sound and lighting showcase to be launched in the Middle East. It will run at the Dubai World Trade Centre from February 16-18 2003.

PLASA Members interested in expanding their international business, would be well advised to look to the Middle East. The area has recently seen a huge surge in entertainment, tourism and leisure facilities. Major new venues are planned and there’s a huge catalogue of investment in entertainment projects resulting from a need to satisfy one of the youngest populations in the world.

Following discussions with organizers IIR, PLASA has been offered special rates exclusive to its members. Any member booking a stand at PALME will receive a 35% discount for the first nine square metres and 20% off anything above this. The show joins a strong IIR portfolio of professional exhibition

The second wave of the PLASA Industry Research ‘Market Trends 2001’ has now been completed and a detailed overview of the findings has been mailed to all those members who agreed to take part in the survey.There are four product reports, giving detailed findings on Professional Lighting, Pro-Audio, Staging and AV, all of which can be purchased by contacting Helen Willis at the PLASA office on +44 (0)1323 410335 ore-mailing research@plasa.org. The reports are priced at £125.00 (+ VAT) and as a special offer you can purchase all four reports for £350 (+ VAT).

Super Vision International Inc, a world leader in the manufacture of fibre optic and LED lighting, announced today that it was awarded a jury verdict in the amount of $41,200,000 against the following individuals and companies: Samson Mong Wu, Jack Caruso, David Winkler, Susan Sumida Wu, Debbie Wu, Thomas Wu, Ruby Lee, James Lee, Optic-Tech International Corporation, Shanghai Qiaolong Optic-Tech International Company, Ltd (PRC), Shanghai Qiaolong Optic-Tech Industrial Co Ltd. (PRC), Marsam Trading Corporation, Marsam Trading Corporation (HK) Ltd, Cosmic Corporation Ltd (HK) and Travis Pochintesta.

The jury found the defendants liable on all counts including fraud, civil theft, violations of Florida's RICO act, civil conspiracy, misappropriations of Super Vision's technology and destruction of evidence. Among the witnesses testifying in the case was a Special Agent with the FBI who test

Attempts at e-mail fraud are on the increase if the latest batch of unsolicited e-mails are anything to go by. New strands of approach have appeared - alongside the now routine appeals from West Africa offering access to salted away gold reserves, are a new breed of European lottery front men claiming that a ticket in your name has just won $1.5m US dollars.

Given the almost daily nature of these approaches, a PLASA Member has passed on to us advice issued by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS): "Make contact with your local constabulary fraud squad or commercial crime unit. Each constabulary has a dedicated officer to whom you should forward such communications. Do not under any circumstance reply to the fraudsters responsible for sending out these communications.

"If you have entered into communication with the fraudsters and thereafter sent money or met wi

Light Relief, the charity that supports lighting designers with personal difficulties, raised both its profile and plenty of money at this year's PLASA, while adding a different flavour with an R 'n' R Area, offering weary visitors and exhibitors upper body and foot massages.

"Thanks to the generosity of the sponsor companies, including DHA Lighting, ETC, Forester Health, Harmer PR, Martin Professional, PLASA, Stage Electrics, Strand Lighting, Vari-Lite Europe and WWG, the R 'n' R Area was a great success, raising in excess of £1,500," said Tony Gottelier, co-founder of Light Relief. "This was a first for both PLASA and Light Relief, and there was no way of predicting response, so we were delighted to be so busy on the Sunday that we had a queuing system! Thanks to its success, there are plans to make this a permanent amenity for the show."

Also at this year's P

In response to feedback from the industry that the PLASA show, at 25 years old, was in need of re-energizing, exciting new plans for the exhibition were unveiled to both exhibitors and press at PLASA 2002.

We took time out with Matthew Griffiths, managing director of show-owners the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) and Nicola Rowland, acting show director for organizer Clarion Events, to hear about the plans and their implementation. Matthew Griffiths expands on the background to the decision: "The PLASA show is the leading entertainment, communication and presentation technology show in the world. To maintain this position, the Association realises that the show needs to be a pioneer in adapting to industry change. It also needs to ensure that the visitor experience is kept vibrant, fresh and business-focused.

"After ongoing discussions and regular feedb

Andy Ciddor profiles the New Zealand-based lighting manufacturer . . .

If you were setting out to establish an innovative luminaire company, it is unlikely that you would choose to site it in a country with only a handful of professional theatres, and strategically located over 10,000 kilometres from its major markets. Yet that is precisely the situation in New Zealand, the base from which Selecon has launched its international success. It has turned what ought to have been disadvantages in its location into major strengths.

Selecon luminaires can be found in places as disparate as the Opera Bastille in Paris, the Royal Tyrell Museum in Alberta, Canada, Boston Catholic Television, the Grand Theatre in Blackpool, the Sydney Opera House and Santa Monica High School in California. The broad range of products it produces, includes families of fresnels, PC spots, fixed, zoom and condenso

JR Clancy, specialist in the design and manufacture of rigging systems for theatres around the world, has produced a series of posters designed to demonstrate how theatrical rigging systems work. Originally intended as catalogue illustrations only, the company has had repeated requests to make the images available to end users, new employees, architects, general contractors and students. As a result, they are now offering readers of L&SI the chance to obtain the set of 20” x 28”colour posters - which depict both manual and motorized rigging systems - for free. You can request the posters via the literature section of the JR Clancy website at www.jrclancy.com.

Although the news may have passed you by at the time, Guildhall Yard in London wrote itself into the history books in 1998 following the discovery, by archaeologists, of a Roman Amphitheatre at the site.

Since then, the remains have been kept under lock and key while a major feat of engineering suspended them in situ between the floors of the Guildhall Art Gallery. The painstaking and lengthy restoration process - costing £1.3million - revealed an arena that was oval in shape and approximately 100m long by 80m wide.

It’s believed that the Amphitheatre was first built in 70AD and would have been the setting for gladiatorial fights, executions and a range of activities, many of them more bizarre, cruel and horrific than anything Hollywood has ever dreamt up. Animal bones, including those of a bear, have been found, as well as remains of a timber drainage system used to carry a

R.W. Salt Communications, one of the UK’s longest standing wholesaler/distributors has announced the first phase of its scheduled restructure. The RWS branches in Birmingham and Watford have now closed and all products are now distributed centrally from the Manchester head office.

General manager Craig Buckley commented: "We have been distributing all products to customers from Manchester since March 1st this year, and have essentially only been using the satellite depots for bulk stock-holding. In recent years we have seen less of a need for trade counters, and an increased requirement for ex-stock product availability and for reliable next-day delivery. As a result of the central distribution scheme, we have already expanded our Manchester-based technical sales team."

Parallel to the restructure, R.W. Salt have been appointed sole distributor for the new ‘Smar

PLASA member Carlsbro, the UK manufacturer of amplifiers and loudspeakers for live music performance, has alerted PLASA Media to the looming problem of the forthcoming ‘none in a bar’ licensing reform Bill. Under these proposals, the government plans to end the ‘two in a bar’ system, by which two performers can play music in a pub or bar without a Public Entertainment License (PEL). This change will effectively outlaw any unlicensed public performance in the pubs and bars of England and Wales - Scotland is not affected - and will leave licensees liable to fines of up to £20,000 for any ‘entertainment’ which occurs on their premises.

PELs can be very expensive and require venues to meet strict rules regarding access and fire safety, which often means expensive structural alterations, such as the widening of exits, installation of fire doors and redes

Derek Power, the former general secretary of BADEM, died on Tuesday 22 October. As General Secretary of BADEM (the precursor to PLASA) at the end of the 1970s, he gave a collection of disco equipment manufacturers the self-belief to take their wares onto an international stage, and knock on the right government doors for funding and subsidy. He forged links with the British Overseas Trade Board, organized the first export missions, and as exhibition organizer, put the early BADEM Shows on a firm footing. Sartorially dressed in pinstriped suit and bowler hat, he had a fierce legal brain and wore the persona of the diplomat. This was hardly surprising. For 29 years, Power was a regular army officer, active in various parts of the world, including Korea in the 1950s. Gaining an army exhibition scholarship to Oxford, he read Equity and Jurisprudence, and on retirement planned to go to the Ba

A significant new provision has recently been inserted by the Government into the Employment Bill on flexible working.

There will be a new statutory right for employees with at least 26 weeks’ service who have parental responsibility for a child up to six years (18 if disabled) to request flexible working (e.g. changes to working hours, time or place of work etc) and for the employer to have to consider it.

This is only a right to request flexible working, not to be given it, but a strict timetable will apply for a meeting to discuss it, a reply to be made and a right of appeal. Acceptable ‘business reasons’ have been set out for the request to be rejected, namely . . .

- additional burden of costs

- detrimental effect on employer’s ability to meet customer demands

- inability to organise work in employee’s absence

- detrimental effect on qualit

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