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UK - Hawthorn recently assisted a major national youth organisation celebrate its100th birthday. Hawthorn's brief was to turn an overflow car park into an arena concert venue for 5,000 young people.

Hawthorn provided all technical and site services for the event including power, lighting, sound, staging and site services. During the event and licensing stages of the project, the team worked closely with the Venue and the Licensing Authority on both health and safety and noise restrictions.

Hawthorn's project manager, Chris Knight, commented, "It's great to be involved in this important Centenary event and see so many people have such a great time."

A total of eight acts performed, combined with a birthday address from the head of the organisation. Between the acts members of the organisation performed on the front of the stage whilst the rear was set for the next a

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UK - Maurice Marshal, MBE and co-founder of Stage Electrics, died on Saturday 10 July 2010 following a courageous fight against cancer, aged 76. A life-long passion for the technical side of theatre saw Maurice pursue a dual career as a partner in Stage Electrics and also as chief electrician at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, where he launched the careers of a number of the country's top stage lighting designers and technicians. His services to drama and his commitment to training in theatre resulted in him being awarded an MBE in 2009.

Maurice co-founded Stage Electrics with David Whitehead in 1979, and the company has grown into an internationally trading business with a turnover of £27.5 million. Recently, with the onset of illness, Maurice has helped create the current management structure to ensure that the company continues to thrive without his guidance.

His lon

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Tour News - Ticket sales for major concert tours across North America have fallen to their lowest point since 2005, a US trade publication has said. During the first half of the year, the top 100 tours made a total of $965.5m (£636.2m), the lowest since 2005 when gross revenue was $730.9m (£481.6m). It marks a 17% decrease from the same period last year.

Pollstar magazine said an average of 6,951 tickets per show were sold, down 9% from the same period in 2009. The information comes just after it was announced that two weeks have been cut from the American Idol tour. Promoters Live Nation said eight shows by the Idol finalists, including winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox, have been dropped. The Jonas Brothers, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, John Mayer and Limp Bizkit have all pulled summer dates in the US.

Influential Music

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UK - Stage Technologies has been recognised in two top business league tables published by the Sunday Times.

In September 2009, London-based Stage Technologies was listed number 52 in the ninth annual Sunday Times Tech Track 100, sponsored by Microsoft. Tech Track 100 ranks Britain's 100 fastest-growing private technology companies.

In a corroborating follow-up this month, the company has been picked out at number 48 in a new listing published on 11 July, International Track 100, which ranks Britain's private companies with the fastest-growing international sales, highlighting important contributions being made overseas.

Stage Technologies has strong regional presences in Las Vegas, where the company has been providing equipment for opera houses and educational performance venues as well as for high-technology, Vegas spectacular shows; Macau, where the c

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UK - The second SFX Live! event, organised by lighting, audio, MI and DJ distributor, CPC, will take place at CPC's head offices in Fulwood, Preston from 11am to 4pm on 25 July.

As a direct result of last year's bumper turnout CPC decided to host the show again this year, maintaining the freeentry to all ethos. Products on display will range from live sound, DJ & musical instruments through to installed AV solutions.

The day will feature 29 suppliers representing over 65 brands all in one venue. In addition there will be free prize draws and discounts available on the day.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Emma Thorpe, a well known figure in the industry, having worked for Martin Professional as their UK marketing co-ordinator for several years, has decided to go into business for herself as a Virtual Assistant.

Emma explains: "a Virtual Assistant (VA), is an experienced professional who provides a range of administrative and marketing services for busy business people, undertaken remotely from their own office."

So often, while Emma was at Martin, she would speak to many clients who didn't have the time to write their press releases or complete their exhibition paperwork; all of which help to promote their business; because they were always out on site setting up equipment, or seeing potential customers. These clients didn't have the time or resources to have an assistant in the office to help with various marketing or administrative tasks, so Emma believes that

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UK - A crew member working on a Will Young concert died yesterday after a fall before an open-air show at Rochester Castle in Kent. The man, who has not been identified but is reported to be in his 40s, was reported to have suffered severe facial and head injuries in the fall and died later in hospital. An appeal for witnesses was made over the PA before the delayed start of the show; Police have said the death was not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem examination would take place. Significantly, they also added that the incident was "not thought to be in relation to any health and safety issues".

A spokeswoman for the Ambulance Service said that the man "had apparently fallen off the stage".

(Lee Baldock)

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Germany - Pop star Pink was injured during a gig in Nuremburg, Germany when a flying stunt went wrong. She fell out of a harness which was supposed to carry her out over the crowd, and was dragged into a barricade. The concert was stopped and the performer was taken to hospital for checks.

She later apologised to fans on Twitter, and added: "Didn't get clipped in2 harness correctly, drug me off stage, fell in2 barricade. Getting xrays. I hope it at least looked cool!!!"

(Lee Baldock)

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South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa was contracted by ceremonies producers VWV Group to deliver all technical aspects of the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup - including rigging, power, sound, lighting and large format projection (which was contracted out to French-based ETC) - utilising the dynamics, skills and services of most companies in the Gearhouse Group.

The 30-minute show at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto happened just ahead of the Final match. It reflected the vibrancy, energy and colour that characterised one of the most successful World Cup tournaments ever. It featured a cast of 740 including 40 'elephant operators' plus 35 headline artists.

Mark Ransom was technical production manager. Technical director Mik Auckland and David Proctor, David Zolkwer and Adrian Bourke from Jack Morton Worldwide acted as consultants. A spectacular lightshow was d

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UK - Pro Audio Stash has further improved its website. The new look website (www.proaudiostash.co.uk) has been designed to make searching and buying as painless as possible, says the company. This has been achieved by including easy to follow navigational menus and advanced search filters.

In order to reduce the time clients typically spend sourcing the right racking product, Pro Audio Stash has incorporated a Rack Unit Calculator. Further innovations include more video content on the fitting and installation of available products, and the latest product launches are also regularly updated.

Managing director Rob Platt states, Our main focus is customer service and with this in mind the new website has been designed to assist clients make the most of their time. We believe that the products should be easily accessible from the ordering to the delivery, deadlines are becoming ev

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USA - The biggest stars in country music gathered at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville on 9 June for Country Music Television's annual awards show. This year's show, which came on the heels of the May floods in Nashville that saw widespread damage and loss of life, gave a much needed boost to a devastated community.

Lighting design was by Tom Kenny, who has designed looks for some of the music industry's biggest names and events over the years. He commented, Nashville had just been through some terrible flooding and this show proved how strong a community the city is. The show celebrated the city's rich musical culture with great success and record-breaking ratings.

Compliments on the lighting design and the overall feel of the show (the stunning scenery was by Anne Brahic) have been many. The show was produced by Jesse Ignatovich and Chris Choun with direction by th

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USA - BSUN Media Systems, a full service audio design, sales and installation provider, recently worked with GoVision, a Daktronics rental partner, to provide a Supersize Surprise for a series of special events at LuLu's restaurant at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores, AL.

When tropical storm Alex forced the postponement of a Gulf Shores charity concert to benefit victims of the BP oil spill, LuLu's was left without an act to entertain the large crowds expected on 30 June 30 and 1 July. Fortunately, when your name is Lucy Buffett, you've got an ace up your sleeve. Lucy convinced her brother, Jimmy Buffett, to make an impromptu, surprise appearance with his Coral Reefer Band at her harbor-side restaurant and bar on 30 June.

Special accommodations for staging, video, sound and other logistics were made last minute to enable the legendary performer to do what he does best. BS

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UK - Milton Keynes Dons' stadium has recently opened a luxury hotel, complete with pitchside views and high-specification event / conference facility. At the heart of it is a Yamaha audio system.

The stadium has been home to a Yamaha LS9-16 since it opened, used for announcements and background music, and club chairman Pete Winkelman is well aware of Yamaha being located nearby. So when the Doubletree Hotel was opened within the stadium, the company was the natural choice for the sound system installed in its Ballroom.

The 50m x 22m room can be used in a variety of ways, as a single space or divided in up to three separate rooms by the use of moveable acoustic screens. Winkelman approached Yamaha with a tough brief - to provide a system that was extremely versatile, could be controlled by novice users and would provide high quality audio for speech purposes, but could still de

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USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program Council has announced that the Academy of Production Technology (APT) has been approved to become an ETCP Recognized Training Programme.

The Academy's three-day course covers the concept of electrical theory, power distribution and networking for stage and studio. Course instructor is APT Founder Richard Cadena, who is an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician and Recognised Trainer. Now that the course is recognised, ETCP Certified Technicians who attend will receive full ETCP Renewal Credits.

The course is designed for practising professionals as well as novices. This seminar is an excellent review for the practising entertainment electrician as well as a primer for the aspiring electrician, says Cadena. It has enough detail and information to challenge the experienced among us, but is presented in such a way as to c

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France - Genesis Networks recently teamed up with digital audio solutions specialist Digigram to provide broadcast services to France's leading pay-television channel Canal Plus for their coverage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in the UK.

Genesis needed to transmit 10 broadcast quality duplex audio channels between South Africa and France, and similarly, six duplex channels between Wimbledon and France. Digigram was able to provide a simple and cost-effective solution based on the IQOYA*SERV/LINK multiple stereo / multichannel IP audio distribution codec.

In this instance, Digigram provided six IQOYA*SERV/LINK devices for a fully redundant contribution system; one 'main' unit and a second unit for redundancy purposes for each site (Wimbledon, Paris, South Africa). The flexibility and scalability of the IQOYA*SERV/LINK system meant

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Russia - With Over 200,000 DMX Channels, the Kremlin State Palace is one the largest architectural LED installations worldwide. Formerly known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, it was built in 1961 and intended for use as a modern arena for Communist Party meetings, congresses, performances and concerts.

It contains over 800 rooms, and its central space remains one of Europe's biggest auditoriums with seating to accommodate 6000. Today the space is used primarily for concerts and ballet performances, is home to Kremlin Ballet Theatre, and acts as a second stage for the Bolshoi Theatre.

The main auditorium is encased by towering walls which, during the recent contemporary update led by architects from the studio OTASH, were plated with RGB LED panels creating two vast curvilinear LED screens (25mx60m).

Centrally controlled by an e:cue lighting control system, the new multi

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UK - Cloud Electronics has announced the addition of six new distributors, now representing the Cloud brand across Europe and the Nordic region.

In the Nordic region, Standard Audio Systems AB represents Cloud in Sweden, while in Denmark, DTK Audio Produkter is flying the flag.

The BeNeLux area is covered by two companies - Mennegat Trading BV across the Netherlands region with M-Pro BeNeLux BVBA providing for Belgium and Luxembourg.

Sound Directions SARL France is the new distributor for France, as Show Supply is for Switzerland.

"The appointment of so many new distributors at one time is unprecedented for us and reflects our ongoing strategy to strengthen our brand throughout EMEA," says Mark Bracken, Cloud sales manager EMEA.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - New York's Major League Soccer team, the New York Red Bulls, finally have a place to call home. The new Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, New Jersey, was completed on 20 March 2010, and features an EAW-based sound system.

The arena features a European design, with a canopy that encircles the entire two-tiered seating area. The first row seats are approximately 21ft from the touchlines, while the following rows are steeply raked, creating an intimate experience for fans that are closer to the playing field than in traditional US soccer stadiums.

This is the only soccer stadium of its kind in the United States, states Brian Elwell, project manager for Acoustic Dimensions. A catwalk that follows the path of the canopy made access to the hang points easier, but the proximity of the canopy to the seats created coverage challenges for the PA system design.

The closer speakers wer

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Financial Matters - U2 have been the world's biggest-selling band over the past 12 months, raking in $130m (£84.9m), according to the website Forbes.com. The Irish group have been staging their global 360 tour in support of their album No Line on the Horizon. They claim the title despite singer Bono's bad back forcing them to cancel a Glastonbury festival appearance.

AC/DC were in second place with $114m (£74.5m) followed by Beyonce Knowles on $87m (£56.8m). Bruce Springsteen was fourth on the list with $70m (£45.7m).

One of the few relatively youthful acts on the list was Lady Gaga, who has amassed $62m (£40.5m) in the year to date, according to the website. The singer has been performing the Monster Ball tour around the world. Madonna demonstrated that she remains a major player in the music industry by coming in at eighth place, w

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UK - Equipment produced by a North East company is helping to ensure the safety of the Tate Britain Art Gallery in London.

Attracting over one a half million visitors a year, the gallery, at Milbank in London, has joined the list of major buildings across the world using products from Sunderland-based Current Thinking.

The gallery, through its facilities managers SPIE Matthew Hall, faced the challenge of replacing its ageing voice alarm system and one of the key benefits of using Current Thinking's products was that it could be installed with the minimum of disruption to the fabric of the historic building.

Current Thinking managing director Anthony Smith says, "What appealed to the gallery - and to the installers VA Systems - was that our equipment enabled the use of the existing speaker installations at the same time as enabling the upgrading of the overall system to

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USA - BSR E1.17 - 201x, Entertainment Technology - Architecture for Control Networks, has been posted for review at www.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php. The draft standard is a suite of documents that revise sections of the existing ANSI E1.17 - 2006.

The revisions include changes to the Device Description Language, the Session Data Transport protocol, the Device Management Protocol, and to various EPIs.The revisions are being done to correct errors and to add additional functionality to the standard. The review period runs through 23 August. The review is over when 24 August starts. Responses must be submitted before then to be considered.

ANSI E1.17-2006, Entertainment Technology - Architecture for Control Networks (ACN), is a suite of documents that specifies an architecture, including protocols and language, that may be configured and combined w

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USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Programme Council has confirmed that the Navigator Automation Class at Fisher Technical Services, Inc. (FTSI) has been approved as an ETCP Recognised Training Programme.

FTSI's four-day course gives students an overall view of the principles of entertainment automation systems and teaches the basics of how to configure and programme an automation system using FTSI's Navigator hardware and software.

The course is taught by Dana Bartholomew, a vice president of Fisher Technical Services, who has over 26 years of theatre automation experience. Bartholomew is one of the foremost experts on both Navigator software and practical installations. She is involved with the development of industry standards as a member of ESTA's Rigging Working Group. At Fisher Technical Services, she has been integral to the design, manufacturing, and inst

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UK - Arcola Theatre launched seven of its new HyLight fuel cell powered lighting systems across the Latitude Festival site; providing lighting for everything from marquees, to forest performances to toilets, as well as powering laptops, phone chargers and ticket machines.

HyLight is the first fuel cell product to be developed specifically for the events industry and offers the high reliability demanded through an onboard 'brain' which monitors performance and seamlessly switches to battery back-up in case of fault or user error.

Running on hydrogen, with a run time of 50 hours between refills, the system produces zero emissions and is almost silent. Carbon emission reductions of up to 60% are likely in performance settings through use of the latest LED lighting. The system is also suitable for safety and security lighting where emission reductions of up to 90% are possible by

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UK - MTR has introduced the next product in the stageClix family, the stageClix 'Pack', a belt-pack version of the 'Jack' digital wireless system from Holland.

The 'Pack' continues to provide all the features of the 'Jack' for which stageClix is already well known. These include rechargeable NIMH batteries, receiver with a built

in charger, 15 hours playing time on one charge, no menus, no compander, a frequency response of 10Hz-20kHz ±3db, 24 bit digital converters, no audible latency (2.4 ms), twelve user selectable channels, encoded transmission, and unique triple-diversity, 3 frequency transmission in each of the 12 channels simultaneously.

And like the 'Jack', the 'Pack' operates in the 2.4GHz band, legal throughout the EU and beyond, and completely sidestepping the government frequency sell-off problem.

The 'Pack' transmitter has two inputs: a 3.5mm high impedance j

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