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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

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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

Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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Lighting companies trading on the Internet are being warned to keep a watchful eye after a number of businesses in the industry have seen their Internet traffic unlawfully directed to a rival’s website.

The warning comes from commercial law firm, Taylors, who successfully helped a leading Lancashire-based lighting manufacturer win a legal battle against their competitor who had unlawfully placed meta tags on their website so that customers searching for their rival’s products would be directed instead to their own. Further investigations by intellectual property lawyers at Taylors also revealed that the website contained 15 meta tags for other rivals’ sites.

Elaine Hurn, managing partner at Taylors said: "Some unscrupulous companies have been including meta tags giving the names of their competitors, so that when the competitor’s name is searched for, the

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Employers invariably have fluctuating levels of demand for work or may, on occasion, have a rush job or a deadline to meet which can only be achieved if workers are prepared to put in some overtime. Can the employer insist upon this?

As the result of a case heard earlier this year by the European Court of Justice, the answer is ‘no’ unless there is a provision in the employment contract giving the employer the right to insist that overtime is worked. The employee had been dismissed for refusing to work overtime and the Court held that he was quite entitled to refuse as his contract said nothing on this issue. Accordingly, contracts should contain an appropriate requirement and always be checked before any attempt to insist upon overtime being worked is made.

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Following our news story last week on the death of Derek Power, we now understand that his funeral will take place at midday this coming Friday at St Mary's Church, Callington, Cornwall. Flowers have specifically not been requested in favour of a collection at the service for the benefit of the church itself.

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Le Mark continues to experience a year of success. Returning from a successful launch by Apollo Design Technology of Le Mark’s PLASA 2002 double award-winning product GEL-TAK Filter Fix at LDI Las Vegas, the Cambridgeshire-based company has found that they have been short-listed for a ‘Huntingdonshire Business Award’ in the category of ‘Spirit of Ingenuity’.

"The award is presented to the company and its staff rather then for an individual product", said managing director Stuart Gibbons. "We are extremely thrilled and honoured to even be shortlisted," said Gibbons, "being based in the high-tech county of Cambridgeshire so close to ‘silicon fen’, we are aware of the high calibre of competition within our catchment area."

(Lee Baldock)

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Veteran entertainment industry writer, photographer, publicist and designer, Cat Strom (Forcer), has announced the launch of a new entertainment technology service: Catriona Strom Design. The company aims to deliver a complete design, content and production package, including graphic design, web design, editorial content, photography and website maintenance, or any one of those services as required.

Should you need a media release, photographs of your project or production (digital or traditional), web site design or content updates, a newsletter (electronic or printed), a product brochure or a magazine ad, this new venture offers a comprehensive range of highly-integrated publicity and promotion services for entertainment technology businesses - from someone who knows the industry.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The Music Managers Forum (MMF) has appointed John Glover as its new chairman. He replaces outgoing chairman Keith Harris and will be assisted during his tenure by Phil Nelson, who has been re-appointed vice-chairman. The announcement comes after a successful AGM, which was held in early November at the offices of Willott Kingston Smith in London's Regent Street.

As a well-known and respected music industry manager, John Glover brings a wealth of experience to the role of MMF chairman - a position he last held four years ago. A manager for over 30 years, Glover has been involved in the careers of Free, Mott The Hoople, Jim Capaldi, Joe Brown, Paul Kossoff and, more recently, Victoria Beckham. His company, Blueprint Management currently represents Tony Hadley, Go West, Beverley Craven, Alison Limerick and Outbreak. He is also a board member of the British Music Centre and sits on the boa

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Socapex has launched a new website fully dedicated to the entertainment industry. The website is complete with all the last information about Socapex inter-connection solutions, such as SL61 standard and monopiece back-shell, rectangular and audio connectors, as well as the RJ Field - the ruggedized RJ45 connection.

Socapex designs and manufactures connectors according to the highest standards of quality, safety and robustness. Socapex is part of Amphenol-Socapex (France), which designs, manufactures and markets connector products for the following the Entertainment, Industrial, military, aeronautic, fibre optic, data and telecommunication markets. Amphenol-Socapex is part of the Amphenol Corporation (USA).

(Lee Baldock)

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A credit card scam, using ‘electronically stolen’ credit card details, which has recently affected US companies in the entertainment industry, is now seemingly targeting UK companies. Up to a dozen US companies, members of ESTA, have been targeted by what appears to be the same individuals, operating from Indonesia. In a warning issued by ESTA to its members, one company’s experience is described as follows.

"We were contacted by email for info, stock availability, and whether we could ship internationally (to Indonesia) against payment by credit card. Relatively small dollars were represented on first contact. No shipping account could be supplied via UPS, FedEx, or DHL, so prepay and add terms were requested. The credit card company originally approved authorization for future shipment, although it was noted that the name and address on the account did not m

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The Barco Technology Showcase, held at Pinewood Studios on the 8-9 October provided an interesting opportunity to view the display specialist’s wide range of projection and display products, while the company’s experienced and knowledgeable staff were on hand to talk visitors through each product.

The Barco portfolio is certainly impressive, ranging from the compact state-of-the-art Cine Versum 80 home theatre projector through to the ScenergiX seamless wide screen and SLM Performance projectors - ideal for panoramic backdrops on stage.

Also on view to visitors was Barco’s iStudio, one of the most advanced all-in-one solutions for managed monitoring. Intended for use in studios, control centres, playout centres, uplink centres and for downlink monitoring, it has a high quality display with rear screen projection, a graphic controller and web-based operating softwar

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Freelancing in the 21st Century is the title of a seminar to be held at the next PSA Get Together, which will take place at A.C. Lighting facility in High Wycombe on 4 December 2002 at 7.30pm.

The evening will begin with a review of the current system of using freelancers as self-employed subcontractors, the rights and responsibilities of the freelancers and their clients and the potential problems now facing the Industry as a result of the abuse of the IR56 self-employment regulations, particularly the possibility of crippling tax arrears bills faced by some users of freelancers. Following this will be an examination of the alternative ways of freelancing, either as one-person Limited Companies or as Temporary Employees, taxed at source under PAYE. Finally there will be presentations of management and freelance points of view, followed by a question and answer session, drinkies and ni

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Theatre Projects Consultants has worked all over the world, but never created a drive-through theatre - until now! At the eleventh hour, the Emir of Abu Dhabi has called in Theatre Projects Consultants to work on a new 500-seat waterfront theatre being built for the Royal Court, one of the requirements being enough space between the stage and the stalls to allow the frail leader to be driven to his seat.

Although the original plan had been to erect a tented theatre, this was abandoned when the Royal Court decided it wanted a more permanent structure and contracted local company Algeemi Code to design, build and fit-out the new facility. Soon after the metal framing had been put in place, it was realized that there were opportunities to improve the design and one of the Public Works Department's architects contacted Theatre Projects: within a week Mark Stroomer, design director, was in

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Twenty-year laser industry and special effects veteran, Kevin McCarthy, has launched a new firm, Holo-Walls, specializing in producing large holographic environments and effects that are available for sale or rental to the entertainment and display industries.

Previously with Laser Media until 2001, he moved on to work with Hiro Yamagata, producing spectacular holographic art installations throughout the world - the largest being the critically acclaimed 'NGC6093' at the Ace Gallery in New York, which comprised of 25,000sq.ft of holographic mylar panels covering floors, walls and ceilings.

In his new venture McCarthy has a total of eight patterns with five patterns producing varying multi-coloured effects while three patterns simulate the raw look of steel such as galvanised metal, diamond deck or brushed aluminium. "Holo-Walls are basically a product that incorporates a thin fi

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The Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA) has announced the election results for its 2003 Board of Directors. The new directors are: Mark West, re-elected as Affiliate Vice President (President, Downhome Productions); Rick Rudolph, re-elected as Dealer Director (Vice President, Stage Equipment & Lighting, Inc.); Fred Mikeska, elected as Manufacturer Director (Marketing Manager, Creative Stage Lighting Co., Inc.); and Greg Meeh, elected as Affiliate Director (CEO, Jauchem & Meeh, Inc.).

In addition, Cindi Manning of Vincent Lighting Systems has been appointed to fill the recently vacated position of Dealer Vice President and Patrick O’Rourke of Big Apple Lights has been appointed to fill the remaining two years of Cindi’s previously held position of Dealer Director. ESTA has also paid tribute to two long-time and highly effective Board members - Beverly In

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The McKenzie Group has acquired its fifth live music venue which will allow for further expansion of the successful Academy brand to Scotland. The Group has concluded negotiations to purchase the former New Bedford Cinema on Eglington Street in Glasgow from Scottish property developers E.D.I. Group, and will fully refurbish the venue before its relaunch in March 2003.

MKG currently owns and operates three other Academy branded live music/club venues - Brixton Academy (London), Birmingham Academy and Bristol Academy; and also London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Bar Academy in Birmingham City Centre.

An extensive £3,000,000 planned refurbishment programme will commence immediately by MKG’s in-house project team headed by Archie McIntosh - previously responsible for the refurbishment programme of McKenzie Group’s Birmingham Academy, Bristol Academy and Bar Acade

  1. 6th Sense moves to new premises
  2. ESTA opens Code of Conduct to non-member complaints
  3. Fire Safety seminar
  4. TESA moves into training
  5. E/T/C UK projects the greatest!
  6. Retro feel for Children in Need
Page 85 of 242
Showlight (Tickets) - MPU - Jan 2025

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