Germany - Clay Paky will present four compact 300W moving body projectors for professional use at Frankfurt: the Alpha Beam 300 moving light beam, the Alpha Spot HPE 300 and Alpha Spot 300 effect projectors, and the Alpha Wash 300 washlight.

The Alpha Beam 300 produces a "superconcentrated parallel light beam" and is billed as the ideal moving light beam for "live" professional use, especially "long throw", to penetrate the background brightness of the stage washes or LED systems with Aircraft Landing light effects that have never been seen before.

The Alpha Spot HPE 300 features a wide Zoom, CMY, 8+1 Colour wheel, 15 Gobos (eight fixed and seven rotatin), Morphing Effect, Rotating Prism, Frost, 0-100% Dimmer on dedicated channel, iris and stop/strobe.

With the same optical, lighting engineering and constructional qualities as the Alpha Spot HPE

USA - A full Martin rig which included 50 Stagebar 54s, 12 MAC 600 wash lights, 19 MAC 250 Entours, 22 MAC 2000 Profiles and Maxxyz lighting consoles together created an extraordinary backdrop for the 5th Annual Premios Fox Sports Awards.

Presented by DHL, the event took place at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in December and was telecast to over 33 million homes throughout the United States and Latin America.

Because this award show was a high profile production, the team at Paradigm Production Services relied on the most dependable lighting products most certain to create a visual presentation that would be as dynamic to the studio audience as it was on screen.

"The Stagebar 54s were very effective," said Jorge Valdez of Paradigm Production Services. "They were a pleasure to work with." The Stagebars were located upstage and betw

UK - Ceravision Ltd, the company behind the ultra energy-efficient Continuum 2.4 bulb system, has selected Sanmina-SCI as its worldwide manufacturing partner.

Unveiled as the lead technical paper at the LS-11 lighting industry conference in Shanghai in May 2007, the Continuum 2.4 bulb is "a revolutionary high quality, high-energy efficiency lighting system which uses microwave technology", the company says.

"Since we launched the Continuum 2.4 system in May 2007, we have been overwhelmed by the response we have had from the lighting industry. The Continuum 2.4 addresses a global need for high light quality and enhanced energy efficiency, with an almost limitless range of applications," said Tim Reynolds, CEO of Ceravision. "With a number of OEM customers evaluating our design and more keen to do so, we realised that we needed a world-class manufacturin

Belgium - Showtex has introduced its latest innovation: the TrusSleeve, designed specifically to cover truss constructions, allowing trusses to be used "as decorative elements, instead of being a technical necessity only", says the company.

The TrusSleeve is made out of Trevira CS, an inherently flame retardant (FR) yarn. The fabric is seamless and can be perforated to attach lights and hide cables.

When a TrusSleeve is lit up from the inside, the light is equally distributed, due to the ribbed fabric structure. TrusSleeves are available in black or white to create different atmospheres. Thanks to the fabric's elasticity one sleeve can fit various truss sizes.

The ShowTex Group is provide rental, sales and installation of showbiz textiles and draperies on a top international level and aims at offering a complete fabric product range with the highest flame-retardanc

UK - Reading-based lighting design and rental company Blinding Light is enjoying a busy year at the O2 Arena, supplying lighting for several different elements including a large seasonal ice rink, ambient and mood lighting for The Chill Zone installation plus a series of corporate events in different areas.

Blinding Light invested in a new Litec trussing system for the ice rink project, which was supplied by AC Lighting. With it they built a 32 x 32m box truss on a 7m high, eight-legged ground support system to surround the 30 x 30m ice rink. The rink is installed at the O2 for four months, taking advantage of the huge popularity of ice skating during the winter months.

Blinding Light's Patrick Stacey designed the rig for the ice. It had to be dynamic and flexible, and account for the fact that the rink is effectively operating in a daylight zone of the O2 for the majority of

Australia - Australian stage lighting pioneer Denis Irving died on 16 February, aged 74. Irving was born in 1933 to Phil and Veranne Irving, the latter a director of many theatre productions in the UK and Australia. Irving began his career as an office boy at Strand Electric Australia, eventually rising to the post of chief executive.

During his time there, he worked on such projects as the Festival Theatre in Adelaide, Seymore Centre in Sydney, and the Victorian Arts Center. He also opened Strand first branch office, in South Yarra, Victoria. In 1979, he founded Entertech, a theatre consultancy, working on many buildings, including theatres, casinos, and performing arts centres.

Among his projects were The Araluen Center in Alice Springs, and regional theatres in Renmark, Port Pirie, Mount Gambier, and Whyalla. He was also passionately interested in theatre restoration; the T

Germany - Coemar will feature the CycLite Led from its LED technology range at ProLight & Sound 2008. It's a digital cyclorama expressly devised for theatres, live events and TV shows.

Three unbound rotating bars (motorized in the two-cell version) allow symmetric and/or asymmetric light output, with linear adjustment of incidence angle. It is equipped with 96 (48 in the compact, single-cell version CycLite Led SC), high-output LEDs 1,2W each.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Exactly 500 hours after the stroke of midnight that saw in the New Year, car manufacturer Fiat introduced its new 500 model at the London Eye. The event, which was produced by innovision, who were brought on board by project co-ordinator Arc Worldwide, saw PRG Europe supplying lighting and services throughout the site, which included the Eye itself and main stage, plus two VIP areas and the roadway leading to the site.

One of the new Fiats was driven into one of the pods and lit by lighting designer Paul Cook using PixelLine and Palco LED lighting, while in every second pod, MAC 2000 wash luminaires provided sparkle for thousands of onlookers and invited guests. On the stage in adjoining Jubilee Gardens, Cook lit performances by Mika and The Feeling, and, along the roadway up through the gardens to the site, he replaced the permanent blue floodlighting with Fiat's corporate

Australia - During the recent APEC summit in Sydney, an entire fleet of yachts sailing through Sydney Harbour were illuminated with SGM Palco 5 fixtures with OEM installed W-DMX receivers.

The exhibition was part of a showcase for the leaders and ministers from 21 APEC economies, displaying the best that Sydney has to offer. The APEC summit involved a series of meetings focused on the discussion of economic, trade, security and environmental topics.

Produced and designed by Mark Hammer of Hammer Lighting, in conjunction with Simon Crow of Chameleon Touring, the sailing display was part of the formal finale event hosted at the Sydney Opera House.

Each of the yachts involved had their sails illuminated by two SGM Palco 5 RGB LEDs with onboard W-DMX receivers, on either side of their sails. The effects included colour changing, rainbow effects, chases and the ability to light u

UK - The Smashing Pumpkins are on their third European run of their current world tour which features six different lighting designs, all based around a central theme of triangles.

The act decided to take some of the lighting equipment from Bandit America, which was seamlessly incorporated with Bandit UK's power distribution and motor systems- thus allowing the current system to meet codes throughout Europe.

"Apart from making the logistics flow, it was a great opportunity to show how inter-continental co-operation offers the client ultimate continuity," says Bandit UK's Lester Cobrin, adding, "It has been a great pleasure for us here in the UK to work with Chris Gratton (production manager) and his team."

Lighting designer Greg Shipley has been working with the band since June 2007. In that time, the lighting design has undergone several metamorphoses. E

Switzerland - Zero 88's Jester consoles are helping the company to continue its expansion into the TV sector with two recent studio installations in Switzerland.

The first installation was for a virtual studio for the French speaking Swiss Television station TSR. This 'blue box' studio has been commissioned by a mobile phone television company to produce news, sport and weather forecast programmes for their network. The 72sq.m studio includes a digital camera and 24 DMX softlights controlled by a Jester 24 console.

The second installation was for Canal 9 TV. Their new studio features 24 tungsten fresnel cyclo lights, 12 DMX softlights, another Jester 24 console plus five Betapack 3 dimmers from Zero 88.

"Both companies were impressed with the Jester consoles", explains Thomas Gottschlich of Swiss Light Consulting. "Firstly, having both a French manual and Fren

South Africa - Celine Dion kicked off her Taking Chances world tour with nine dates in South Africa, where lighting equipment was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa.

Part of the rig designed by Yves Aucoin, Celine's LD for 19 years, and also the production designer on this tour, involved using Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs as key lights for the band and central onstage positions. The 12 Robe fixtures were rigged on the downstage edges of two U-shaped trusses. "They are a very bright light and I knew we could count on them," says Aucoin.

t was only his second experience using Robe fixtures. The first had been for a radio show in New York, where most of the moving lights were Robes, and he was impressed with the performance. He adds, "I had also heard a lot of good things about Robe lights."

Aucoin programmed and operated the show using a GrandMA console.

UK - In early March, Stage Electrics was the first supplier of lighting, sound and rigging at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool. Stage Electrics was contracted by Steve Burrell at LXFX on behalf of the Social Enterprise Coalition.

The BT Convention Centre is a purpose built meeting facility that consists of three auditoriums, 18 breakout rooms and a 3,725sq.m multi-purpose hall.

The centre hosted the Social Enterprise Coalition's VOICE08 Conference with Stage Electrics responsible for the provision of two 30m truss structures along with lighting and sound systems. The project was overseen by Stage Electrics' project manager David Wicks, account manager Chris Philpott, with sound by Rob McNeil and lighting by Tim Massey.

Production manager Steve Burrell from LXFX in East Sussex commented: "I was very pleased with the way Stage Electrics dealt with this project

USA - Altman Lighting shares the news that Victoria Altman, the wife of Robert Altman, passed away on Sunday, 17 February 2008. Vickie was 53 years old and had been privately fighting ovarian cancer for several months with the support of her immediate family.

A company statement says: "Vickie always had a warm smile and an easy laugh to share with all of us when we would meet on occasions such as LDI or other industry events. Vickie saw the employees at Altman Lighting and its customers as family and friends. She enjoyed talking about the history of the industry and always had a story to share having spent many years working with Charlie and Alice Altman learning the business.

"Vickie met Bob when she was just 15 years old and he was only 16. Together for 38 years, they ran Altman Lighting and raised a family. Vickie was always generous of heart and was particularly

USA - Acclaim Lighting has appointed Montreal-based Rite Lites as its Canadian distributor-partner. Under the agreement, Rite Lites has been granted exclusive distribution rights for Acclaim's line of interior and exterior LED lighting and control products throughout Canada.

"We are very excited to welcome Rite Lites to our team," commented Eric Loader, director of sales for Acclaim Lighting. "We feel this move will greatly expand our Canadian presence and open new markets for our products. Rite Lites shares our vision of the huge upside potential for LED lighting in a variety of industries and applications, and they have the expertise, creative thinking and dedication to carry this out."

Founded by lighting rental/production veteran Mark Etcovitch, Rite Lites is focused on providing energy efficient lighting solutions to the commercial/industrial, landscap

UK - HSL supplied moving lights, LED elements and set for the launch of theatre producer Bill Kenwright's new boyband and their debut of the Dream On album made by seven finalists from the recent hit BBC TV series Any Dream Will Do. The show was staged at the London Palladium theatre.

HSL supplies many of Kenwright's theatre shows and tours, but what clinched this one for them as suppliers was that they came up with a unique set and lighting concept that could also be integrated with the existing lighting rig servicing the Palladium's current resident production, The Sound of Music

Project manager, HSL's Mike Oates reports, "The brief included creating a design for the show that resembled the TV series in some ways, but that also had a bit of rock 'n' roll attitude and individuality of its own. It also had to be got in and out and rigged in a day.&quo

USA - Live sound and lighting production company On Cue Systems of Phoenix, AZ recently provided the sound reinforcement system for a Barack Obama presidential campaign rally at Phoenix Veterans Memorial Stadium in Arizona. The Stand For Change rally drew more than 13,000 supporters and included appearances by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Caroline Kennedy.

On Cue Systems deployed a Vertec line array system consisting of a left/right arrangement of 12 VT4889 full-size line array elements per side, with 10 VT4880 full-size arrayable subwoofers per side. Additionally, On Cue Systems set up six VT4889 line array elements each for two out-fill side hangs.

According to Dan Myers, system technician for On Cue Systems, the event drew larger crowds than expected. "The campaign staff was only expecting five or six thousand people to show up, so it was amazing to see

UK - Through dealer White Light, lighting manufacturer ETC has installed lighting at London's Arcola Theatre in Hackney. But the installation was the easy bit for the theatre. The difficult bit was keeping the show's peak power consumption below 4.5kW. And the reason why they had to do that was because the venue has recently had a hydrogen fuel cell installed, as part of its bid to become the world's first carbon neutral theatre.

ETC's technical director Adam Bennette, who happens to live just a couple of streets from the theatre, assisted with the installation, which includes nine 375W ETC Source Fours and a SmartFade ML control desk - which is also able to control the LED and fluorescent lighting on the show. "I have a pet hate of West End shows which are over lit and can even end up dazzling the audience," explains Bennette. "So it was nice to be able to work o

UK - For the third consecutive year, Stage Electrics supplied staging and lighting for the Laurence Olivier Awards, presented annually by the Society of London Theatre.

Stage Electrics provided crew together with 36 Source 4 lanterns, four MAC 250 Entours, 12 MAC 300s, 10 MAC 500s, six MAC 700s and 14 MAC 600s for the awards held on Sunday 8 March. Lighting design was by Matt Evered, the awards were project managed by Stage Electrics' Andrew Loveday.

Production Manager Andrew Loveday said, "This is Stage Electrics' third night in a row in the Great Room. We provided equipment for Revolution Awards, Variety Club Awards and the Oliviers."

(Jim Evans)

UK - PRG Europe has supplied lighting for the relit Tosca at London's Royal Albert Hall, which ran until Sunday 9 March. It was lit by Andy Bridge, who says, "Although this is a reproduction and relighting, it needed a lot of refining. A lot of the equipment we used nine years ago is no longer in normal use, so we had to go to PRG Europe's demo studio with the show file and lighting plots, and compare old with new - a mammoth task."

Bridge, who worked with assistant Mike Odam, is using Vari-Lite luminaires, as well as some 200 ETC Source Fours with Wybron colour scrollers, on the show. The moving light programming was by John Harris on a PRG Europe-supplied Wholehog II, while static lighting is by Dan Last on a Strand 520.

"Nine years ago," continues Andy, "we still preferred not to rely on moving lighting, but now we can be more confident about

Germany - ADB Lighting Technologies will preview its new flagship in dimming technology, Euyrodim Twin Tech, at Pro Light + Sound this week. Eurodim Twin Tech allows Sine Wave dimmer modules to be freely mixed with cost-efficient Thyristor dimmer modules in a single cabinet.

Mixable in any proportion up to 128 x 3 kW or 96 x 5 kW channels, divided into 32 plug-in modules, each module has a 63A supply protection for optimum safety. ADB's R&D team made this possible through the development of an Assisted Ventilation system that provides high efficiency cooling and ensures continuous and reliable operation up to the nominal power of 600A per cabinet, says the company.

Eurodim Twin Tech also incorporates new remote operation facilities which provide both multi-user remote dimmer channel assignment via wi-fi PDA's, and remote dimmer diagnostics over IP.

Also on display will be a

Germany - The A.C. Lighting stand at Prolight & Sound 2008 is featuring the recently launched Jands Vista I3 lighting console and a selection of other leading entertainment technologies distributed by the company.

Also on show is the new Chroma-Q Color Punch, a compact LED washlight with a 1350 lumens output. The fixture is also IP65 rated, features convection cooling for silent operation, a built-in power supply and standalone mode for ease of setup, and a choice of RGB, RGBI and HSI control modes, making it suitable for a wide range of indoor and temporary outdoor applications.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Philips Electronics will present its latest innovations in entertainment lighting technology at Prolight & Sound 2008 this week.

In addition to the successful Philips FastFit lamps, Philips has extended the FastFit product range with the Philips MSR Gold 300/2 FastFit and Philips MSR Gold 2000(/2) FastFit. The base and lamp holder design allow changing lamps in a matter of seconds. On top of that the FastFit system reduces the overall length of the lamp, which means lighter and more compact fixture designs are possible, says the company. The total FastFit range will be displayed at the Philips booth.

Recently, Philips acquired Lighting Technologies International (LTI), a US manufacturer of high-power Xenon lamps for the entertainment industry. The Philips Helios Xenon lamps will be shown.

(Jim Evans)

UK - BDP Lighting won the special projects category and had a further entry short-listed in the workplace category in this year's Lighting Design Awards. The awards were presented at the London Hilton on 6 March. BDP's Guerilla Lighting events in London and Manchester won in the special projects category and Westminster Academy, London was short-listed in the workplace category.

The concept of Guerrilla Lighting was created by Martin Lupton, director of BDP's lighting group, to promote lighting design and create a platform to discuss key issues such as professional design, waste and sustainability. The power behind the exercise was the participation and collaboration, which was what particularly impressed the judges.

Under the guidance of a team leader, the teams created transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot ligh

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