USA - Jands' Vista lighting control system has won Best Automated Lighting Controller and Best Overall Lighting Product at the recent WFX 2006 New Product Awards in Dallas, Texas. The awards program is part of the annual Worship Facilities Conference & Expo, the leading event for church facilities and technology teams, and is designed to recognize the most innovative new technology products to hit the worship market.

Fred Mikeska, US sales and marketing manager for A.C. Lighting Inc, the exclusive North American distributor for the Vista range, received the two awards on behalf of Jands from conference co-chair Brian Blackmore.

Brian commented: "The Jands Vista was selected for the two awards based on input from an expert panel of judges. Houses of worship present a unique set of circumstances that the Jands Vista feature set directly addresses. The console is a time-save

UK - Bandit Lites supplied DJ Shadow's latest UK tour with full lighting production and crew - as specified by lighting designer, Jason Hyne. The tour culminated with two sold-out nights at Brixton Academy.

Bandit UK's executive officer, Lester Cobrin says: "DJ Shadow was an interesting show that involved great teamwork between lighting and video crews, which is becoming increasingly common. It was one of the very diverse selection of tours that closed a tremendous 2006 for us."

Hyne has been lighting DJ Shadow since June of 2006 when The Outsider was released, with the touring schedule ramped up for the second half of the year. The show is heavily visual-based. Hyne's lighting was thus designed to let the visuals have their place, while simultaneously complimenting and illuminating both artist and the stage set.

"The visuals are unique and extremely we

UK - Stage Electrics has added to its £10 million hire stock with the purchase of the ChromaFlood 200 TC from Pulsar - and claim to be the only hire company in the world to offer "this exciting new product".

The ChromaFlood 200 TC is a high output solid state wash light containing 66 RGB tri-colour LEDs with an 8° beam angle. The tri-colour LEDs prevent split shadows and offer the user a possible 16 million colours. The unit can be powered directly from a 100-240v AC supply and has full remote DMX control of RGB levels to allow remote control of its colour mixing, internal sequences provides operation of the fixture without the need for a separate control system. The LCD menu system allows for quick fixture configuration and it's IP65-rated, therefore suitable for outdoor or indoor use.

Adrian Searle, head of hire from Stage Electrics said: "This is a

UAE - This year's PALME Middle East expo takes place on May 20-22, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, set within five halls and hosting three distinct vertical exhibitions. Organisers IIR Entertainment & Installation Technology Group have embraced a wide universe of technology applications, spanning architectural lighting and audio visual contracting, live event technology and staging, home automation and musical instruments.

Install @ PALME will be staging the inaugural Middle East Lighting Design Awards (MELDA), which represents a unique opportunity for the region to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the world's leading lighting designers. Winners of MELDA (which includes the Middle East Lighting Designer of the Year), will be presented at an extravagant Gala dinner held at the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel in Dubai on May 21.

MELDA is endorsed by the world ren

USA - ESTA's Technical Standards Program has announced that three draft standards have been posted on the ESTA website for public review through to March 12, 2007. The draft standards, BSR E1.22, Entertainment Technology - Fire Safety Curtain Systems; BSR E1.35-200x, Standard for Lens Quality Measurements for Pattern Projecting Luminaires Intended for Entertainment Use; and SR E1.36-200x, Model Procedure for Permitting the Use of Tungsten-Halogen Incandescent Lamps and Stage and Studio Luminaires in Vendor Exhibit Booths in Convention and Trade Show Exhibition Halls, can be accessed atwww.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php.

BSR E1.22 - 200x, Entertainment Technology - Fire Safety Curtain Systems, describes the materials, fabrication, installation, operation, testing,

UK - 2007 is shaping up to be a year of new entertainment lighting products - and entertainment lighting supplier White Light is offering chance opportunities to see some of those products at a series of hands-on open days during January and February.

On Monday 22 January and Tuesday 23, White Light will be showing products from the ranges for which they are the exclusive UK distributor: Robert Juliat, LSC, ELC, Rainbow, Look Solutions, LDDE and Wireless Solutions. In addition, Isac Alkstrand from Wireless Solutions will be on hand to explain the advantages of Wireless Solutions' range of wireless DMX products, as featured in The Great Wireless DMX Shoot-Out in the July/August 2006 issue of Lighting&Sound Internationalmagazine.

The two open days will run from 10am-4pm at White Light's West End office at 52 Shaftesbury A

UK - When the Mela came to Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre, PSL, one of the UK's leading production services suppliers, was pleased to let a bit of the Bollywood magic rub off. Billed as the Ultimate Asian Experience, the huge three-day event occupying three halls of the NEC represented a fresh challenge for PSL.

Contracted by Clarion Events, PSL's Birmingham team, based at the NEC itself, provided all of the technical production for three main stages, from creating the specification for the stage areas and building them, to designing and providing all lighting, sound, and projection.

In the Bollywood Cinema area, which was run by BAFTA, some of Bollywood's leading stars were appearing, and PSL set up a 20ft x 15ft screen, using twin projection producing 24,000 lumens of brightness. In the vast space of the NEC's Hall 3a, capable of housing crowds of 5,000, PSL also fl

The Netherlands - Alcons Audio will be exhibiting at the ISE show (Upper Deck booth AA6) in Amsterdam with a representation of its pro-ribbon speaker systems of both the general product line-up as well as the cinema product line-up.

The CRMS, Cinema Ribbon Monitor System is a unique hybrid 3-way main- / 2-way surround-system. Each system consists of a separate mid-high frequency ("MHF") section, featuring one RBN401 pro-ribbon driver HF with non-vented 8" MF and a low frequency 15" ("LF") section, with low power-compression 4" voice-coil. The MHF section is specifically designed to act both as MHF section for the main/front system, as well as full-range surround system. This unique design results in a very uniform sound stage throughout the entire listening area.

The LR14 ultra-compact line-array system will also receive a new sibling: The LR

UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied leading professional lighting company Ianiro with a selection of flight cases to house their tungsten open-faced lighting fixtures, designed specifically for location video shoots.

The Italian company has its UK base in Redditch, and was established in the 1950s. it manufactures its own classic Ianiro product line as well as distributing leading lighting brands primarily in the film, video, TV and photographic markets. They were looking to reduce the lead-time and shipping costs involved in sourcing certain flightcases from Italy, and so initially asked 5 Star to produce three different designs - all in their traditional Ianiro red colour.

5 Star's Dave Harris recommended that their 'Light Industrial' specification would suit the application, made to house different combinations of the tungsten lights. Ianiro's Nick Allen-Mills says: "We're

USA - American illusionist and stunt performer David Blaine's latest feat had him suspended 50ft in the air over a parking lot near Times Square in Manhattan while strapped by shackles inside a giant gyroscope. His goal was to escape from his shackles after spinning for 16 hours. The stunt began Tuesday 21 November 2006.

Scott Wolfeil of the Lighting Design Group in New York City was tasked with "popping him out of his surroundings" as he dangled high overhead. He comments: "The client in our first meeting actually said, 'We envision Mr. Blaine being hit with four really big lights.' My concern was that he stand out - not only at night but in broad daylight - in the middle of one of the busiest areas in the world."

Wolfeil took his client literally and used four high-powered BigLite 4.5 units to highlight the performer. The 4500 W BigLite 4.5 offers real-ti

UK - HSL will be co-ordinating and supplying lighting for the 2007 Total Production Awards, to be staged at the Novotel West London in Hammersmith on 5 February. It's the second year HSL has taken on this project.

The lighting design in the main room is based around Martin Professional moving lights which have been donated to the event. This will include 30 TW1s, 12 MAC 700s, 10 Entour Washes and 10 Entour Spots. Lighting will be operated by Neil Vann using a Jands Vista console, supplied by AC Lighting.

Downstairs in the party room and main aftershow bar, HSL's design will utilise nearly 100 James Thomas PixelArc LED battens and 12 Robe DigitalSpot 5000 moving head projectors. These are to be operated by Nathan Wan using an Avolites Diamond 4.

The lighting technology takes a historical journey in keeping with the general theming of the Awards, from monochrome in the

USA - There's a cool new wave sweeping the hippest clubs, bars and nightspots. The Wave from American DJ is a high-output 800-watt mood effect that sends out 60 unique 'S-shaped' beams in vibrant blue and aqua tones.

The wavy beams, combined with the shades of blue, make the Wave a unique effect. When used at slow speeds, it will create a serene mood with water-like imagery. Then, simply increase its speed at the flick of a switch, and the mood instantly changes from tranquil ambiance to a high-energy party atmosphere.

To give users this easy versatility, the Wave comes with built-in programs at both slow and fast speeds. The programs make it simple to run the Wave in plug-and-play Sound Active mode.

The Wave also has two DMX-512 channels for use with a programmable DMX controller. For larger venues, a series of Waves can be daisy-chained by XLR cables in Master-Slave mode.<

UK - The British Airways London Eye - named the 'World's Leading Attraction' this year by the World Travel Awards - is the latest high-profile destinations to undergo a complete lighting overhaul with Color Kinetics' LED lighting technology.

"The London Eye has become a 21st Century symbol for Britain, and it's a thrill to see this long-planned project come to realization. We've achieved an ambitious goal in bringing dynamic, visually appealing colour to the structure while at the same time eliminating the maintenance costs and requirements of the previous fluorescent system. We're extremely pleased with the results, and believe Londoners and visitors alike will agree," said Kevin Dyer, head of technical operations for the British Airways London Eye.

Color Kinetics was approached to replace this system with an LED-based alternative. Approximately 640 ColorCast 14 uni

UK - A.C. Lighting has been appointed as the exclusive UK dealer for the K5600 discharge lighting range. K5600 was formed in 1992, developing and producing small, portable HMI lighting kits for the film and TV industry. The company has been a constant innovator, launching a range of extremely versatile fixtures including the Joker-Bug, a single light source featuring a 360° beam which can be used with a wide variety of accessories, and the Black Jack 400 with a unique spot and flood focussing system.

A.C. is stocking the full range of K5600 fixtures, which includes the Joker-Bug 200/400/800 kits and associated accessories such as the Softubes, Black Jack 400 and innovative new Alpha 4K and 18K Fresnels. The new Alpha 4k is the first 4kW HMI to give versatility to an "open-eye" Fresnel-type fixture. The compact and lightweight unit features interchangeable Fresnel l

UK - The 78th Royal Variety Performance was broadcast on BBC1 on 12 December 2006. Held at the Coliseum in London in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, it is an annual gala charity event in aid of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.

The show contained an illustrious line up from the worlds of Theatre, Television, comedy and music, such as Wicked, Sound of Music, Spamalot, Avenue Q, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Sugababes and Take That, as well as big production pieces staged especially for the show.

Bernie Davis was the lighting designer for the show and it was his seventh year lighting the Royal Variety Performance. All the lighting was supplied by ELP Lighting at Pinewood Studios and consisted of MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 500s, MAC 600s, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC TW1s, and MAC 300s as we

USA - Bandit recently provided lighting for the NASCAR Nextel Cup SeriesAwards Ceremony, held at the Waldorf-Astoria's Grand Ballroom in New York City, NY.Speed broadcasted the live awards ceremony pre-show while TNT aired the ceremony.Comedian, Jay Mohr, co-hosted the evening and singer, Jewel, provided the musicalentertainment.

Lighting designer, Jason Robinson, chose equipment that included PAR 64s, Lycian M2 Spots, MAC 250s and 600s, Vari*Lite 3000 Spots, PixelRange Pixelines and ETC Source Fours. Lighting was controlled by two Whole Hog IIs and two Compulite Reds.

Co-production manager, Steve Hoover, said that the VL 3000s, MAC 600s and PixelRangePixelines all acted, in part, as the heart of the show. The VL 3000s served to paint theceiling, while the MAC 600s were a base color wash for the entire set. The PixelLines added an element of versatility that allowed Robinson t

UK - Stage Electrics Bristol is to host Strand Light Palette training at their Bristol Head Office on Friday 9 February. The training on this new desk is completely free and will be conducted by Strand's Ken Berreen. The Light Palette range includes three models, the Classic, Live and VL.

The two-and-a-half-hour training sessions will begin at either 10am or 1.30pm, refreshments will be provided and there is free parking on site. This customer training session follows an in-depth training day for key Stage Electrics technical staff held in January.

Linda Moore, Stage Electrics' head of sales and marketing, said: "This is a great opportunity for our customers to get hands-on experience with the latest range of consoles from Strand Lighting."

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Lighting Technology Projects has completed the illumination of a 500-bottle wine rack central feature at Sexton's restaurant in Thrapston, Northants, plus front and back entrance feature lighting. Sexton's is a new build venue in the charismatic old corn exchange building. The tasteful conversion and cool contemporary design has retained many original features including the vaulted ceilings and original beamwork.

LTP's Terry Reeves was asked to design and specify a lighting scheme by HSP Architects from Leighton Buzzard, who oversaw the build. The independent owner is Stuart Sexton, who also owns a wholesale wine importation business.

The five metre wide by two metre high stainless steel wine rack dominates the area behind the bar. Reeves' brief was to come up with an innovative and effective way of lighting it, thereby making it a central feature of the room.

He chose

Brazil - The party was gigantic, five Cities - New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin and Rio de Janeiro, all took part in the Nokia New Year's Eve. All over the world music fans were celebrating the countdown to 2007. An estimated 1.3 million people attended the live shows and 150 million watched the event on TV or the internet. Operator and programmer Carioca used one grandMA full-size and one grandMA ultra-light with an NSP to build the grandMA 3D plot, to light the party in Rio, at Posto 8 in Ipanema.

The grandMA consoles were integrated into a multi-user session, which was a new concept to the Brazilian technicians. "The people were really surprised and constantly asked, which console controls which part of the lighting plot?" reports Daniel Ridano of MA Lighting Latin America. "The answer was simple: They are able to control anything from any of the consoles in

UK - For the first time, the Parans System will be shown at the ARC 07 exhibition in London, February 12-13. The Parans System transports sunlight into buildings via thin and flexible fibre-optic cables. Benefits of experiencing more sunlight include improved wellness and productivity as well as reduced energy consumption.

Sunlight is collected by a Parans Solar Panel on a building's exterior and transported into the selected room where it shines through a Parans Luminaire When the sunshine hits the Parans Solar Panel, two layers of lenses focus it into optical fibers. These optical fibres form the Parans Optical Cable which is drawn to the area in the building that shall be illuminated with natural light. The cable diameter is only 30 mm and can be 15 meters long which normally covers the three top floors in a building. If sunlight is to be taken to lower floors in high buildin

UK - PRG Europe once again worked with lighting designer Durham Marenghi to produce a spectacular light show on the London Eye on New Year's Eve. 100 VL5 arcs were placed on a pontoon at the base of the Eye, illuminating the giant wheel. PRG Europe also supplied a Wholehog II, operated by associate lighting designer Paul Cook, to control the lighting, as well as mains power and cabling.

An incredible ten-minute pyrotechnic display entertained up to 250,000people who went into central London for the evening, plus millions morewho watched on TV. As the fireworks finished, three PRG Europe-supplied Lightning Strikes made a strobe-like effect on the smoke which was still hanging in the air.

The display was produced by the London office of communications agency Jack Morton Worldwide, who produced and staged the opening and closing ceremonies for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, which

USA - American DJ have brought out their new Accu Fog 1000, an innovative moving-head fog machine. Designed for clubs, concerts and productions, this new high-output fogger is the latest addition to American DJ's popular Accu Series of professional intelligent fixtures.

The 1,000-watt unit uses its moving-head mechanism to rotate a full 360°, providing any venue with total atmospheric coverage at a rate of 10,000 cubic feet per minute. The Accu Fog 1000 can be stood upright, hung, or even mounted upside-down to create different types of effects.

This upside-down positioning is possible because of a removable metal bin on the back of the Accu Fog 1000, which houses its 1-litre fog juice container. The bin is attached with two screws - you can unscrew them quickly, then simply flip the bin around and re-attach it for upside-down use.

"The Accu Fog 1000 provides amazin

UK - At Tate Britain on 4 December 2006, artist Tomma Abts was announced by Yoko Ono to be the winner of the Turner Prize 2006. To provide the ultimate setting for this leading event in the art calendar, Tate's accredited production supplier, Event, used its most recent stock of LED lighting technology for the first time. Event's latest kit provides maximum design flexibility and uses minimum power.

'The LED rig runs on a domestic power supply and is brighter than many conventional lights. Our clients have peace of mind as their events use minimum energy and the technology allows our designers to achieve even better effects', says Event's head of lighting operations, Roger Deane. "It also eradicates the need for bulky cabling which can be difficult to conceal. We can deploy the lighting quickly and efficiently without impacting on the architectural environment." In add

USA - Bandit Lites is excited to be working with country music artist, Dierks Bentley, for the first time. Bentley's third studio album, Long Trip Alone, was released 17 October, 2006. Fans will have the opportunity to hear some of the new tracks, plus all the hits, on his current 'Locked and Loaded' Tour, which started on 4 October, 2006 in Auburn, Alabama and will wrap in late-April, 2007.

Currently in the Canadian installment of the tour, Lighting Designer, Chris Reade, chose to use the following equipment: Coemar Infinity XL Lights, Martin MAC 600 Washes, Martin MAC 2000 Profiles, Martin MAC 250 Profiles, Martin Atomic Strobes, Strand Fresnels, James Thomas Engineering Pars and Molefays. Lighting is being controlled by a High End Wholehog II console.

Reade said that after listening to Dierks' music about a hundred times, and this being his first country artist, he decided

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