USA - Bandit Lites has announced the promotion of Jake Tickle to director of technical services. He will oversee all technical aspects of Bandit including support for road staff, research and development, training and repairs.

"Jake's tireless efforts to ensure that our technical department reflects the high standards our clients have come to expect has made Jake an integral part of Bandit for some time," said Pete Heffernan, Bandits' president. "We are proud to have him in such a position where he will continue to guarantee Bandits' success for years to come."

Tickle joined the Bandit family in 2006 and was promoted to tech service manager in 2007. He previously worked for Carnival Cruise Lines as an entertainment technical coordinator.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Olly Murs is dancing his way around Britain's biggest arenas in the sharp focus of four shape-shifting Clay Paky Sharpys.

Multimillion-selling artist Olly Murs is benefitting from the high output Sharpys in a live show with lighting design by Peter Barnes.

"I needed a fixture I could mount on the trussing picture frames around the LED screens that was small enough to ensure that the body of the lamp remained within the dimensions of the truss. The fixtures also needed to be light enough that we could out-rig them from the face of the trussing without tipping the frame off balance," explains Barnes. "As well as being light and small they needed to deliver a brightness that could compete with all the LED in the set."

The Sharpys were supplied to Barnes by HSL, where project manager Mike Oates comments, "The Sharpys helped to create the bold and dy

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light has helped English National Opera replace the dimming system at its London Coliseum home, supplying the company with a versatile new system using the ADB Eurodim Twin Tech modular dimming system.

"We knew the time to replace our dimmers had come when the only way to stop lights flickering uncontrollably was to physically pull dimmer modules out of the rack," explains ENO's head of lighting, Kevin Sleep. "We also knew that we wanted the new system be reliable, to last for a long time, and to be flexible enough to cope with the wide range of crazy light sources that we end up dealing with on shows here."

He discovered the ADB dimmers almost by accident. "Some of our team were at ADB learning how to service our Warp moving lights. They came back saying 'you have to look at these dimmers'. When we went to

USA - Stampede Presentation Products has been appointed to serve as a North American distributor of the entire Philips Commercial Signage product line through MMD, the exclusive licensee for Philips Commercial Signage and Philips Monitors. The appointment was announced by Craig Rathbun, sales and marketing director for MMD, and Stampede president & COO Kevin Kelly.

"Our knowledge of the ProAV industry, along with our network of over 11,000 dealers, uniquely qualifies us to distribute the Philips commercial product line to the North American digital signage market," Kelly said. "Philips provides a digital signage solution for every imaginable commercial market, including hospitality, healthcare and education. We look forward to introducing the Philips line to all of our ProAV dealers."

Stampede will offer a variety of Philips Commercial Signage product solut

UK - The Panalux Broadcast & Event team provide specialist, creative solutions to the television, film, live event and concert touring industries. Home to an extensive selection of modern lighting, rigging and control equipment, Panalux B&E has grown steadily over the past few years to become a firmly established, well respected production resource.

With a reputation built not just on service and equipment but on relationships and a willingness to assist throughout every stage of the production cycle, the B&E team remains committed to facilitating the smooth transition of client ideas from concept to completion.

Recent investment and expansion has seen the introduction of a myriad of new products to the B&E equipment range, with a strong focus on new technologies and the design and development of 'own brand' product, created specifically to meet the specific needs of the enter

UK - The Royal Albert Hall played host to the Mountbatten Festival of Music last week. The three nights featured Massed Bands of Her Majesty's Royal Marines and captured the versatility of some of the world's finest military musicians.

The Royal Albert Hall's Richard Thomas designed the lighting rig which was supplied by a number of lighting companies, including Richard Martin Lighting (RML) who provided 24 Sharpys.

All proceeds of the festival go to the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund and CLIC Sergeant.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Clay Paky Sharpys are lighting up country singer Jason Aldean on the Night Train Tour, a musical powerhouse of a show also featuring Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett with location specific appearances by Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, and Kelly Clarkson.

Aldean is a double-Platinum recording artist who has had nine singles reach #1 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Bandit Lites Inc. is providing him with 24 Sharpys on the tour along with a pair of grandMA2 lighting consoles.

"The show design by Mike Swinford incorporates a lot of automation," notes Bandit Lites client rep Michael Golden. "Video panels carry the fixtures."

Lighting designer and programmer Aaron Swetland calls the show "very dynamic" with "a lot of elements and layers. The automated video screens move in all directions with 24 axes of movement."

Swetland says the <

Slovakia - A substantial Robe moving light rig was used for the final of the 2013 Miss Universe Slovak Republic event, a high profile co-production between the In Agency and the Miss Universe Organisation, staged at the Aegon Arena National Tennis Centre in Bratislava and broadcast live on national TV channel RTVS 1.

Lighting was designed by Martin Kubanka, Slovakia's top television LD, and included over 100 Robe fixtures including LEDWash 600s and 1200s, ROBIN MMX Spots, ROBIN 300 and 600 Beams and LEDBeam 100s.

Kubanka worked closely with set designer Daniel Sichman on creating the show aesthetics which also featured a plethora of LED screens and lightsources in addition to all the Robes. The majority of the lighting and video together with the L-Acoustics Kara sound system, plus over 50 points of rigging was supplied by leading Slovakian technical solutions provider, Q-99.<

USA - Chosen for their video and pixel-mapping abilities, 130 Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip and 16 ÉPIX Bar fixtures complete the design for country singer Luke Bryan's Dirt Road Diaries tour.

"The main design concept as far as the ÉPIX Strip lights were concerned was to have a way to expand our video surfaces throughout the lighting rig," said lighting designer for the tour Justin Kitchenman. "Our lighting trusses cover the width and breadth of half the arena. We wanted to create the feeling that the entire space was alive with colour and motion." Kitchenman accomplished this by adding rows of single hung strips throughout the rig and then mapping them into the full screen video. The fixtures were provided by Elite Multimedia Productions with headquarters in Memphis, Tenn.

"We were already utilising the ArKaos media serve

UK - Lumonic has appointed Pacific Lighting as Distributor in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Lumonic director Mike Edwards comments, "We are delighted that Hugh and his team have decided to become distributors for the ilumo brand in Hong Kong and Singapore. Our brand fits perfectly with the ethos that drives Pacific Lighting. That is they strive to bring innovative lighting units to their market place, supported by technical knowledge and expertise and backed up with many years' experience in theatre, opera and leading festival lighting. They operate at the professional end of the market place offering excellent service to their discerning clients."

Hugh Chinnick, director Pacific Lighting adds, "Over the past 14 years Pacific Lighting has gained a reputation for supplying quality lighting products to the expanding professional entertainment markets in the region, and

UK - The Lighting Hospital has recently moved to new expanded premises in Bristol. This has enabled further streamlining of its processes to offer an even faster and slicker service for damaged lighting kit needing urgent treatment.

The success of the operation, launched in 2009 by well-known industry engineer Dik Welland, has been built on the fast turnarounds, friendly and efficient service, attention to detail and the quality of the repairs - all of which carry a 90 day warranty, but are rarely seen again.

"We pride ourselves on the excellent recovery rate," says Welland.

The Lighting Hospital space now comprises over 2500sq.ft dedicated to the repair of lighting fixtures of all types, specialising in electronic ballasts and moving light control boards as well as the full fixtures themselves and also lighting consoles.

Welland and his team of engineers and tec

UK - Blackburn-based lighting and visuals company HSL supplied lighting designer Neil Carson with full lighting production for chart topping, Brit Award winning singer songwriter Emeli Sandé's most recent UK tour, together with a 'specials' package for the European section.

Carson - who has worked with HSL on several previous projects including Chase & Status - was instrumental in getting the company on-board, where the account was project managed by Mike Oates.

Says Carson, "I wanted a lighting supplier that I knew could deliver the best quality kit, crew and attitude - HSL were my first choice."

Sandé's meteoric career trajectory which includes some interesting and inventive collaborations - has included three number one singles and a number one album Our Version of Events in the last two years and she performed at both Opening and Closing Ce

UK - Creative Technology (CT) will be the first customer to take delivery of the exciting new 8mm Outdoor LED product launched at ProLight+Sound by Barco's specialist LED division, LiveDots.

The new 8mm product is lightweight, low profile and silent in operation due to its fan-less design. With full outdoor brightness and high contrast to ensure optimal operation in direct sunlight, the product has been specifically developed by LiveDots in consultation with CT to service the companies growing portfolio of high profile sports events.

The C8 investment follows CT's successful introduction of the C5 and specially developed C16 as its mainstream indoor LED platform in early 2012. The C5 has established itself as one of the High Resolution product others are judged against and CT expect the C8 to be similarly successful.

The new product is expected to arrive at CT in May and wil

USA - American rock bands Three Days Grace and Shinedown are on the road with Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures helping to light up their tour.

Three Days Grace and Shinedown are co-headlining a national arena tour, which commenced in February.

"Using Sharpy is almost mandatory these days," reports Mike Filsinger, the lighting designer for Three Days Grace. "It's an advanced light - pretty much the only technological advancement in lights lately: Clay Paky has really done the R&D to make better fixtures and is now reaping the rewards."

Bandit Lites supplied 28 Sharpys in the main package. A primary lighting rig serves both shows; each band also has a supplemental rig. Three Days Grace has eight additional Sharpys in its package; Filsinger's Sharpys are the dominant light in the rig and are used in the air and on the floor. Shinedown has 24 additional Sharpys, whi

UK - The ABTT took the opportunity the recent PLASA Focus Show to pay tribute to Ivor Dykes, in recognition of his longstanding contribution to ABTT NorthNet, upon his retirement as the committee's Honorary Secretary.

Ivor's initial career began as an apprentice organ builder in Leeds. In the late 1950s he worked at London's Selfridges store as a television repairman whilst volunteering at the Questors Theatre in Ealing and the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

This lead to a formal role with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop Company as its theatre engineer, working alongside Gerry Raffles and John Bury, amongst many others.

During his time with the company, Ivor researched and produced the original glass slides used for the inaugural production of O What a Lovely War, sourced from images held at the Imperial War Museum. These slides, now digitised, are - some 50 years l

UK - "I'm having the time of my life with these," said an ebullient Simon Tutchener, lighting designer for Mark Knopfler. "I'm still getting to know the lights but everything I've seen so far is just what I was expecting."

Tutchener is using the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash and the Alpha Spot QWO 800. "I knew the Sharpy Wash was coming, and had read about the QWO 800s, so I suggested to Noreen O'Riordan at Entec that we should take a look. She agreed and we duly set of for a demo at Ambersphere. There are many features that attracted me, even on first examination you see they're not huge hulking great lumps of metal work.

O'Riordan comments, "As a company Entec chooses very carefully where we spend our cap' ex' budget, but this was a straight forward decision. The Sharpy has proved a world beater since its launch; we expect nothing less from the Shar

USA - Good Friday and Easter Sunday are typically some of the most celebrated days in the Christian calendar, making it only fitting that the services be as stunning as possible. To that end, Bandit Lites aided lighting designer Ed White and production manager Ian Cattle of Black and White Live Ltd. in creating two stellar services for Passion City Church.

"My aim with this event is to support the atmosphere, and what is going on musically, without overpowering or distracting people," White explained of his lighting design. "There are moments that need to be like a rock show, with huge dramatic cues and changes; but then also times for a lot of restraint, and subtle changes to enhance what is happening on stage and in the crowd."

For one of the more dramatic aspects of the show, a large 25ft cross was placed as the centrepiece of the rig, whereas in the pas

India - When Norah Jones, daughter of Ravi Shankar, made her first ever appearance in India - at A Summer's Day Festival in Mumbai - around 8,000 fans turned up at the Mahalaxmi Race Course to cheer her on.

Making sure that the stage dynamics lived up to the performance were local production company E2Tech. Among the FX used were 24 of PR Lighting's new XLED 1037 moving heads with zoom.

Characterised by the use of 37 x 10 Watt RGBW LEDs (containing four colours in one), one of its outstanding features is its wide linear zoom, with variable beam angle. It was deployed on this show with 26° beam angle.

The lights were flown down specifically for the event - purchased by E2Tech from Modern Stage Service, PR Lighting's Indian distributors.

E2Tech owner, Jasjeet Singh comments: "We have been using PR fixtures for the last four years and are very happy both with

USA - GLP German Light Products Inc. has announced that it has become a sustaining member of USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

President of GLP Inc., Mark Ravenhill said, "Since we started our US operations in 2009, we have been endeavouring to support more and more of the valuable associations within our industry, and we are very proud that we can now call ourselves members of USITT."

USITT is a not-for-profit Corporation and is operated exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes.

Carl Wake, Technical Director of GLP Inc. added, "We are very excited about working with, and supporting the organisation and in particular its student membership in any way that we can. Having done many years of product and application training through my career, I see some exciting opportunities ahead."

(Jim Evans)

France - LED lighting solutions are taking over TV studios. And the increase in popularity of ETC LED products across France can be attributed to the meeting of two men: director of photography Jacques Audrain, and Jean Louis Pernette, commercial director at ETC distributor Avab.

Pernette says: "Jacques was in charge of the lighting of a documentary for the Arte TV channel. He showed a lot of interest in the LED fixtures which we were demonstrating; he could see the fixtures' potential, and saw that they had a much better output than their regular RGB counterparts."

As a man who professes himself artistically committed to improving the lighting in TV studios, Audrain is among those who believed in LED from its early days in entertainment technology; his faith in the technology was confirmed with the launch of ETC Selador, and its seven colour mixing system.

"F

China - Wireless Solution Sweden AB will be showing its growing line of G4S products during PALM Expo, June 7-10 2013 at the New China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing.

The W-DMX G4S software platform includes an improved adaptive frequency hopping algorithm that improves the plug and play use in crowded radio spectrum situations and better avoids interference from Wi-Fi, DECT Phones, Intercom and more. The adaptive frequency hopping technology has been granted a patent in the USA and patent pending in the EU.

G4S also has a new Invisi-Wire MK2 with support for wireless software updates, which will make it possible to perform wireless software updates to all your receivers, with an easy connection to your transmitters with all receivers updated at the same time.

Another new feature is W-DMX Slot In, a new module that makes it easy to retrofit for the market and is

USA - The newest members of Martin Professional's award-winning MAC Viper Family and the first fixtures in Martin's RUSH range of affordable effect lighting await visitors to InfoComm.

Held 12-14 June at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, visitors to InfoComm will be some of the first in North America to get an up-close look at two Martin product lines that are taking the industry by storm.

Martin will also have on display its EC Series of LED video panels as well as its Exterior 400 range of outdoor LED lighting fixtures.

Martin invites all industry lighting professionals to Booth 6151 for a relaxing chat and demo from their own personal Martin rep.

(Jim Evans)

Europe - Two giants of the lighting world have come together to help provide a dazzling show for one of the world's leading artistes.

The introduction of the g X-5 LED strobes from Peter Johansen's SGM provided all the inspiration necessary for multi-award winning production designer, LeRoy Bennett, to specify almost 450 pieces for Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.

When the set climaxes with her popular song Halo, the accompanying drum roll is the cue for lighting director Whitney Hoversten to trigger every strobe in the house, completing a blinding blitzkrieg. "We throw everything plus the kitchen sink at it," he says.

Beyoncé herself had expressed a preference for a lightshow-dominated stage set this time around (rather than the current video-led paradigm) and Bennett immediately set to work creating a stunning light ladder 'torm', i

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light was recently chosen to supply lighting for the highly anticipated The Jacksons: Unity Tour, which packed venues across the UK in March of this year. As Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon took to the stage each night for a non-stop, pop-fuelled frenzy, their high energy performances and glitzy costumes were matched with a range of powerful lighting visuals designed by lighting director Theryn Knight.

For the UK leg of the tour, Knight and production manager Scotty Ross worked with Lester Cobrin, White Light's head of concert touring, to choose the layout of the lighting rig. Having already toured the show in America, Knight decided to go in a new direction with the lighting for the UK tour. "In the US, we used mostly conventional sources - incandescent pars and similar - which didn't give me a lot of flexibility and required

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