South Africa - SGM has appointed South African importer Prosound, as its new distributor for Sub-Saharan Africa, with immediate effect.

It joins an already rich brand portfolio of globally-recognised sound and lighting companies - which includes SGM's parent company, RCF - and will be managed under Prosound's Theatre & Architectural Lighting (T&A Lighting) subsidiary.

T&A Lighting general manager Ian Blair stated, "We were particularly keen on SGM's newly-developed LED range, for both the architectural and entertainment markets; this will fill a gap in the product portfolio and at the same time offers great value for a highly professional range. With Peter Johansen heading up the R&D initiative at SGM we foresee some interesting times ahead."

With operational bases throughout South Africa, Prosound is no stranger to the Italian lighting company's catalogue. Set up

USA - Michael Stone, lighting designer and vice president of US operations at HMS, Inc. specified the use of Chauvet's COLORado 1-Tri IP wash lights aboard the Princess Cruises' 17-ship fleet. The fixtures will create a "trendy yet tropical ambiance as they illuminate enormous spandex shapes at the Island Nightparties during one night of each voyage".

"I've used a lot of different lights and have never really been able to find a good outdoor lighting solution for these cruise ships," Stone said. "If you ever want to test the durability of a product designed for outdoor use, put it on the pool deck of a cruise ship for one month. We did some testing and discovered these COLORado washes were ideal for this installation because they are portable, waterproof and durable fixtures that include tri-color LEDs and create an outstanding wash."

With

UK - Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up hits the TV screens this month. Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support LD Dave Gibbson on the show which is filmed at the BBC Television Centre and will be shown on CBBC at 6pm.

The lighting rig consists of Mini Scan 300s, MAC 500s, VL1000TSs, ChromaBanks, Chroma Strips, Pixel Par 90s, Alpha Beam 300s, Nova Flowers and 8-Lights. Additional extras are brought in each week to compliment the music numbers and help bring a new and different dimension every time.

(Jim Evans)

UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which has just closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events Manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new d

Croatia - Whole Nine Yards Productions were contracted in May to provide production & overlay services to Europe's premier bass music festival. The Outlook festival is geographically split between Fort Punta Christo (a 19th Century abandoned fort) and a working harbour that was especially cleared for the festival. Playing host to nine principal music stages and over 400 appearing artists the design, planning and coordination of the festival was a complex endeavour.

Technical director Ben Price was responsible for a crew of over 200 and charged with the planning, design, procurement and coordination of all overlay and technical infrastructure. The festival required technical equipment from over six different European counties and the impressive supplier roster included some of the industry's leading companies including NUSSLI, Aggreko, RG Jones and HSL.

Planning commenced in Ma

UK - Avolites Media announced during the PLASA show formation of a strategic alliance with Immersive Ltd and is now sole manufacturer of a suite of products under the brand name Ai.

Immersive Ltd is a re-seller of the Ai system, integrating the Ai product range into their global business of design, animation, motion graphics and show production.

The Ai media server was showcased in the UK for the first time at PLASA 2011 with the aid of demonstrations and a show-reel presentation from a selection of Immersive productions which highlight the versatility and enormous potential of the Ai product range.

Avolites Media Ltd will release Ai media servers through the existing Avolites international distribution network. Meanwhile, Immersive Ltd will continue in its successful business of event production, experiential design and content creation for an expanding and diverse, high pr

UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL supplied three trucks worth of lighting equipment to C venues for the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival - totalling around 650 generic lighting fixtures and 34 moving lights.

C venues is one of Edinburgh's leading independent venue producers, curating and hosting the Fringe's largest theatre-based programme, an eclectic mix of drama, dance, physical theatre, musicals, cabaret, circus and visual and performance art. Over 200 shows and events took place during the three-and-a-half week Festival period.

The kit was being deployed throughout C venues' 25 performance spaces at six venue locations, including bars, outdoor areas, found performance spaces and other non-conventional theatres,.

The project was managed for HSL by Mike Oates, working closely once again with C venues' production manager Richard Williamson and their head of te

UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which last week closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new

UK - Lighting designer Nick Gray of Renegade - well known for his work in fashion and live music - has worked on many shows in strange and idiosyncratic places in his day - but a recent Kasabian gig for music video website Vevo broke new ground, staged aboard a disused Boeing 474 airliner which has lain abandoned at Buntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire, UK, for some years.

As soon as Gray got wind of the event - attended by some 160 lucky Vevo competition winners - he jumped at the challenge of lighting a very intimate space inside as well as the enormous industrial form of the 747's exterior, an iconic shape in aviation history. "It was the most amazing and totally atmospheric site-specific setting," he states, "And apart from that, lighting it required some serious imagination and lateral thinking".

The video - released as part of the new Vevo Prese

USA - The Gypsy Kings - credited with helping to bring the distinct sound and style of Rumba Catalana pop music to worldwide audiences - have just finished their latest US tour, with lighting designer Michael Sharon using his own Jands Vista I3 console for control.

Sharon, based on the US West Coast, is an independent lighting designer with a wide variety of clients. In addition to four years of designing for the Gypsy Kings, he has also designed a wide range of corporate shows for many different clients.

He first used a Jands Vista, on this occasion a T2, when he originally started working for the Gypsy Kings. This was provided by the lighting contractor at the time, PSI Production Services in Denver. He completely "fell in love" with the console and decided to purchase his own Vista I3 from Jands US distributor A.C. Lighting Inc. so that he never had to go back to

UK - PLASA 2011 turned out to be a highlight for MA Lighting and its co-exhibitors MAJOR and Rainbow Colour Changers. The new grandMA2 software release 2.4 received much praise.

MA Lighting's managing director Michael Althaus commented, "This year's PLASA was the ideal platform for our new distributor Ambersphere Solutions to position itself in the market and to convince with its total support approach. Next to this, the show underlined again the trust the market has in grandMA2.

"We received a lot of positive feedback on the console. Especially the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 has drawn much attention to our control and network solutions that proofed their reliability in this biggest TV-show of all times. Additionally introducing our software release 2.4 at PLASA gave us the opportunity to directly receive comments from our customers who were very content about this

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden would like to congratulate the Best of W-DMX winners for 2011, awarded at a special ceremony during PLASA to celebrate 100,000 W-DMX units shipped worldwide. The company held its famous Swedish vodka and meatball party to toast the event.

And the winners are: Best European Partner: White Light Limited, Best American Partner: A.C.T. Lighting, Inc, Best Asia/Oceania Partner: ULA Group, Best European Partner: Lightpower, Highest OEM Sales: Golden Sea Professional Equipment, Best Debuting OEM: Guangzhou Yajiang Photoelectric, Most Promising OEM: Philips Vari*Lite, Best Installation Asia: Laservision for Marina Bay Sands, Best Installation Asia: ULA Group for Marina Bay Sands, Best Installation Europe: Prolight SP.Z.O.O. for Warsaw Palace of Culture.

Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution says, "We owe so much of our success to the hard work a

UK - City Theatrical had record breaking attendance at its stand at PLASA 2012 caused by the great buzz on the show floor about SHoW DMX Neo and SHoW DMX SHoW Baby. These two products are the latest innovations in City Theatrical's 10 years of wireless DMX development and manufacturing.

SHoW DMX Neo features the high data fidelity that the multi-award winning SHoW DMX is noted for, as well as fast 7mS latency, ensuring that wired and wireless DMX sources will appear exactly alike on a production. The extensive on board user interface that professionals prefer allows optimized control over output power, full or limited bandwidth broadcast, and the ability to broadcast less than the full DMX packet to shrink the radio "footprint".

For the users who do not want to manually optimize their broadcast, SHoW DMX Neo also has Neo Adaptive Mode that will select only open radio

UK - LumenRadio announced their support for Art-Net 3, the latest release of the public domain Ethernet protocol from Artistic Licence Engineering. As of PLASA 2011, Art-Net 3 will be supported in all of LumenRadio's Ethernet enabled products.

Art-Net is supported by 200-plus international manufacturers, and is one of the protocols of choice in LumenRadio's smart and adaptive CRMXTM wireless lighting control system.

"By upgrading to Art-Net 3, we can be confident our products stay way ahead of the data demand curve," explains LumenRadio's Senior R&D Engineer, Michael Karlsson. "For example, one particular project that I recall used a single network to control a media server and distribute its output to a LED wall. Such a set-up could easily break the limit of many of the Ethernet protocols in common use today."

Wayne Howell, technical director of Artistic

UK - GDS has reported "phenomenal success" at this year's PLASA show held at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. GDS reported a high footfall over the four day event with particular interest being paid to the newest addition to the successful LiteWare Range, LiteWare Satellite and the new ArcSystem, LED Auditorium Lighting System.

Sunday saw the eagerly awaited launch of the LiteWare Satellite, following a successful teaser ad campaign customers flocked to the GDS stand to see its latest offerings. LiteWare Satellite is the newest member of the LiteWare family and provides a completely flexible new way of thinking for battery based Luminaries, it incorporates a remote, fully adjustable head offering 360 degree pan and 180 degree tilt.

Monday and Tuesday continued to deliver success for GDS with ArcSystem winning an unprecedented three awards; the PLASA Award for Innov

Poll Toppers - Coldplay have been voted the best festival headliner of 2011, in an online poll conducted by BBC 6 Music. The band - who headlined Glastonbury and T In The Park - topped the survey with 22.7% of votes cast, breakfast show host Shaun Keaveny announced. US rock band The National came in second with 14.2%, while Muse were third with 13.9%.

Coldplay's drummer Will Champion told 6 Music playing festivals gave the band "a chance to win people over". He added, "There's also a strong possibility that people have already made their mind up about you - and no matter how well you play they're not going to be happy about it." Glastonbury, which also saw U2 and Beyonce play headline slots in June, is taking a fallow year in 2012.

In The Saleroom - The Beatles showed their support for the US civil rights movement by refusing to play in front of segr

USA - McCoy-Rigby's recently-launched national tour of Peter Pan hit the road with all-new lighting rig, supplied by Pacific Coast Entertainment (Huntington Beach, CA).

Working with the show's lighting designer Michael Gilliam, PCE put together a complement of automated spot, wash and specialty fixtures that included Elation Professional's DesignWash 1400E 1,200-watt DMX moving head wash and Power Spot 700 CMY-II 700-watt DMX moving head spot.

The tour, which will run through 2013, marks a reprisal of the production, starring Tony Award-nominee Cathy Rigby in the title role of this classic tale about a boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up. Olympic gymnast-turned-actor Rigby, who co-owns the production company with her husband Tom McCoy, has been playing Peter Pan since the early 1990s.

"This show is a juggernaut," said PCE's Ryan Steidinger. &quo

UK - When ETC introduced its iRFR (Radio Focus Remote for iPhone and iPod Touch) two years ago, Luke Delwiche from ETC Tech Services in London suggested that the profits be shared between Light Relief and its US equivalent, Behind the Scenes. Little did his bosses realise just how much this would amount to.

At PLASA 2011, Delwiche presented Light Relief trustee Rick Fisher with a cheque for £12,458, collected over the previous 12 months. A similar amount of money will be presented to Behind the Scenes at the LDI show in October this year. These two cheques bring the total raised by the sale of the iRFR application to a staggering $86,000.

Delwiche was obviously delighted that his idea has paid off so handsomely, while CEO Fred Foster said,"One of the nicest aspects is that each individual who has found our iRFR to be a useful tool has helped raise this money. Chris

UK - Robe lighting enjoyed an "Awesome" PLASA 2011 exhibition at Earls Court in London, combining flair, innovation and action with many highlights including the showcasing of new products, plus the launch of the Robin DLX Spot - the world's first RGBW LED based moving head, and the Robin 1200 LEDWash, the latter to complement the existing popular LEDWash 300 and 600 units. There was also a special preview of the Robin Sniper concept.

The stand was busy constantly for all four days of the show, with major interest in the new launches as well as the Robin MMX Spot - the first in the next generation of 'workhorse' 1200 series fixtures - and the ROBIN 300 and 600 Spot, Wash and Beam ranges.

All of these reinforce Robe's ongoing and future commitment to producing smaller, lighter and brighter and genuinely more environmentally conscious technology.

Another major featur

UK - London-based lighting rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) supplied lighting to the main stage and four other areas - Swamp Shack, Wishing Tree, Rizla and The Production Office - at the 2011 Bestival festival on the Isle of Wight.

Bestival is a truly eclectic and eccentric universe of entertainment, fun, sociality, music and live performance - from psyco-chic afternoon teas to Bollywood, wooded grottos, numerous fantasy worlds, banging dance environments and a diverse main stage live line up, this year headlined by Pendulum, The Cure and Bjork. There is something for everyone of all ages and tastes at one of the final events on the UK festival calendar, staged in the fabulous grounds of Robin Hill Country Park curated by BBC Radio 1's Rob Da Bank.

For Colour Sound, it topped off a super-hyperactive festival season, with lighting, scenic LED screens and crew sup

UK - A lighting designer and programmer from Tel Aviv, Israel has been named the winner of Clay Paky's Win-a-Sharpy competition at the recent PLASA show in London.

Alon Cohen, 41, said it was a "huge surprise" to hear his name called out over the public address system at the Earls Court exhibition.

"I was so happy, I couldn't believe it. I thought someone was having a laugh," said Cohen who was one of almost 2000 PLASA attendees to try their luck at winning a Sharpy by playing a pair of specially customized slot machines at the Clay Paky stand.

The vintage machines had been carefully restored by Clay Paky president Pasquale Quadri, a long-time collector and slot machine enthusiast.

Alon Cohen was at PLASA in his new role as product manager for lighting console maker Compulite Systems. "It was almost not to be," said Cohen. "I've only been

UK - At PLASA 2011, Coemar presented Reflection LEDko, its new range of LED profilers complete with accessories and optics that make it "the ideal tool for TV studios and installations of every type".

Reflection LEDko is especially suitable in segments of the lighting market particularly attentive to innovation, and which are sensitive to the need for energy savings and reduced maintenance - the real strengths of the Reflection LEDko range, says the company.

Reflection LEDko is a further step in the Coemar strategy: after winning the Award for Innovation at the 2010 Plasa Show in London with its Reflection technology, Coemar now aims to revolutionise the profiler market.

The Reflection LEDko range offers three models - Full Spectrum, VariWhite 3000/7000 K and White 3200 K with interchangeable optics, and Soft Profile with Fresnel or PC lens and Profile Zoom 28°

UK - Hundreds of lighting professionals gathered at the fourth Knight of Illumination Awards in London on 11 September to celebrate the work of lighting designers working in the UK.

Organised by The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Clay Paky, the Knight of Illumination Awards provide public recognition for outstanding achievements in touring, television and theatre lighting design, and forge closer ties between designers and the industry as a whole.

This year's winners included Simon Butcher, for the television drama Casualty, Roger Williams for the variety series Tonight's the Night, Matt Carter for the morning talk show ITV Daybreak, Al Gurdon for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Michael Straun for the Glasvegas tour, Nick Whitehouse for the last Kylie tour, Jamie Thompson for The Script'

UK - Leading international agents and promoters John Giddings of Solo/Isle of Wight Festival, Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live and Rob Hallett of AEG Live will be among the speakers at the LIVE UK Summit, set for 5-6 October in London.

Other speakers will include Free Trade Agency boss Paul Boswell, HMV/MAMA Group's Daryl Robinson and Academy Music Group's Carl Bathgate.

One particularly lively part of the conference programme will undoubtedly be the ticketing session, Selling The Show, following eBay-owned US resale giant StubHub's announcement that it's about to enter the UK, and the surprise takeover of See Tickets by French media conglomerate Vivendi.

"StubHub's arrival will significantly increase activity in the resale sector, especially in the battle for hearts and minds, and general endorsement of the concept," says Summit producer and Audience managing

Latest Issue. . .