USA - Apollo Design Technology has announced the appointment of Jeff Salisbury as laser/gobo technician. In this role, Salisbury will operate the high precision laser machines to produce metal and glass gobos. Prior to joining Apollo Design Technology, Salisbury worked in various sales and customer service positions. He is also a freelance theatre arts instructor / director and works extensively with local theatre groups.

Dan Boldt has joined the CNC team as a machinist. In this role, he will operate the CNC lathes, CNC mills and laser machines to create the precision parts used in the Averre fixtures and other products.

Jeanine Usher has joined the team as as QC technician and will work with the production teams to insure both purchased and manufactured parts and products meet quality standards.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - The InLED AT10 from Litecraft was developed as an indoor spotlight based on the successful OutLED AT10. A high IP protection class is not absolutely necessary for many events if they are held indoors or fixtures are placed under a stage roof. The InLED AT10 does not need certain components, reducing costs and improving handling. The indoor version does away with permanently mounted cables and instead integrates XLR and PowerCon connectors in the original Neutrik quality expected from Litecraft. Wiring and rigging of the lights can be completed in less time.

The InLED also is equipped with an RJ45 EtherCon jack. This makes it possible to easily update the software at any time. The optional accessory holder for attaching colour filter frames and barndoors is also new. An omega bracket for mounting hooks or clamps is also available. The omega bracket can be attached witho

UK - When lighting designer and technician Malte Hauge became involved in the preparation of comedian Andreas Bo's original set design at an early stage, he was able to participate in the perfect format and scenography; at the same time he could meet the technical challenges in order to achieve the vision of technical consultant Thomas Scharling and the artist himself.

"I'm a fan of surprising the audiences," explains Hauge about his refined yet downplayed design. "Instead of having one big SGM LED screen, we have divided the screen surface into three equally large segments to generate new opportunities for interaction between Andreas Bo and the video content." Between the three screen surfaces are beams of light, adding to the depth of the scenography.

With 69 scheduled performances (which are expected to reach nearly 80 with extra shows throughout the cou

Germany - This summer saw 1980's German rock/punk legends Böhse Onkelz (Bad Uncles) come together at Germany's Hockenheimring for their first show in nine years, with 80 Clay Paky Sharpys and 36 A.leda B-EYE K20s delivering the gigantic reunion's key lighting and supporting the extensive visual content.

Well-respected lighting and show designer Jerry Appelt specified the Clay Paky fixtures, supplied by PRG, to reinforce his architectural show design, that saw the band brought closer to the audience through a set that comprised a main stage as well as B-stage.

"When designing a show of this size, the power of the fixtures was very important," explains Appelt. "They also needed to hold their own in sunlight, with it being an outdoor event. I had used the B-EYEs before, but only indoors, and I was really impressed with how they performed on this show in the open a

UK - For the second year running, Light School will be holding true to its school motto: Inspired by Light, giving its 'students' inspiration and ideas on how to use light within spaces and buildings. Hosted within Surface Design Show, at London's Business Design Centre from 10-12 February 2015 and presented by Light Collective and the Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) is Light School, an area dedicated to lighting.

Light and surface are inseparable partners; the interplay between light and surface can change a building's interior or exterior dramatically creating breath-taking results. Light School consists of three parts: The School Room, Product School and the School Newspaper all of which are designed to educate and inspire visitors about the latest in lighting design and lighting products.

The aim of Light School is to provide architects and designers with educa

New Zealand - Oceania Productions,New Zealand's largest and most experienced event technical production specialist, has invested in 32 of Robe's new Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire (BMFL) Spots. These are the first BMFL Spots in New Zealand, and were delivered by the ULA Group, Robe's distributor for Australia & New Zealand.

Oceania Productions provides production solutions for a diverse range of shows and events all across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, from theatres to arenas, rock 'n' roll to corporate and industrial shows, sports events to large spectaculars.

General manager Simon Garrett comments: "The current look for many event designs is 'screens and beams', so we really needed a powerful and bright general purpose moving head spot that can be utilised as a workhorse shooting between 20 and 50 metres. It had to meet international specs as well as being app

World - In a nod to her status as working mum pop star, British singer Lily Allen has been touring both the festival and venue circuit in front of a backdrop of baby bottles laced with LED strips and controlled by Avolites Ai.

Allen first unveiled her baby bottles set - a concept conceived by acclaimed stage designer Es Devlin - at Glastonbury 2014 and went on to perform with the bottles throughout the US, UK and Europe in the autumn as part of her Sheezus tour. In January and February 2015, the tour continues to Asia.

The bottles were designed by bespoke lighting creators Light Initiative and feature LED strips inside, making up a mapped 'video screen' of colours and effects.

For the tour, Ai operator and content creator Aislinn 'Ash' Clifford and Ai programmer Toby Dennis are using two MacBook laptops with Ai software licences to control the array of effects running throug

USA - Everyone knows that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but some things are too good to keep a secret. Specifically, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards, where champion Kevin Harvick was honoured for his incredible win. With lighting provided by Bandit Lites and hosted by comedian Jay Mohr, the televised event featured performances by soul/R&B star Aloe Blacc, country super group Lady Antebellum, and the talent sister duo Lennon and Maisy from ABC's hit TV show, Nashville.

"The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards present the opportunity to spotlight the biggest names in NASCAR, and we are thrilled to augment that star power with some of the most popular personalities in the entertainment industry," said Zane Stoddard, NASCAR vice president of entertainment marketing and content development.

In addition to celebrating Harvick's win, The NASCAR America group

Canada - Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino in Windsor, Ontario has added 26 Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20 LED-based moving lights to the inventory of its concert venue, The Colosseum.

A 5,000-seat venue, The Colosseum ranks #15 among venues in North America in desirability, service and shows, reports production supervisor Dan Leroux who toured for 25 years with Metallica, Pearl Jam and other top bands. "Artists come through this venue and are blown out of the water. We have close to 600 fixtures in the air, 10 moving pods on back and front truss, and all the latest lights, including B-EYE K20s.

"When a recent artist came, they left their lighting truck in Detroit because they didn't need it. Another major headliner didn't need to bring in their two trucks. Our rig is used by artists 90 percent of the time, which saves time and labour. They bring their ground packages and

Switzerland - Auviso audiovisual solutions, one of Switzerland's leading players in the event equipment/services market, has purchased 14 high-brightness Barco projectors to raise its rental fleet to new levels of performance. The AV expert chose Barco's HDX- and HDF- projectors on account of their exceptional brightness, robustness and reliability, as well as the outstanding services provided by Barco distributor Baranday. With this order, auviso becomes one of the first Swiss AV suppliers to offer Barco's high-brightness HDF- and HDX- projectors.

Auviso is a market leader in central Switzerland and one of the key players in the country. Besides offering technical services and consultancy, auviso also boasts a large fleet of advanced audio, video, lighting and rigging equipment to help its customers stage successful events. "Every three to four years we replace our complet

USA - Clay Paky Sharpy and B-EYE K20 fixtures helped light up the New York City sky when Nights by Absolut launched on 12 September with a high-volume, high-energy twist on the club scene.

Vita Motus, the design studio of Heather Shaw, transformed the Pier 9 Container Terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn into one of the most exciting clubs in the world for just one night. The iconic silhouette of the Absolut vodka bottle took center stage with the New York City skyline illuminated behind it. DJs Alvin Risk and Araabmuzik took command of the music on the stage below and built suspense for a surprise appearance by guest DJ Zedd.

The event, produced by VICE, was part of the innovative Absolut brand campaign, Transform Today, which launched last year. Nights by Absolut staged in Johannesburg, Berlin and Sao Paulo followed.

DMDS7tudios of North Miami Beach worked w

France - Ayrton, French manufacturer of original LED lighting solutions, reports that its MagicPanel 602 LED panel fixtures are touring the world with the 2014/15 Queen + Adam Lambert world tour.

Following this summer's sold out dates across the Far East, Australasia and North America, the champion combination of Queen + Adam Lambert is due to embark on a 26-date (11-country) tour of Europe in early 2015. From the very beginning, lighting designer Rob Sinclair chose to light the show's iconic centrepiece, a giant 'Q', using Ayrton MagicPanel 602 LED lighting fixtures.

"I have worked with Queen since 2012 and know that Brian May and Roger Taylor have definite ideas, born of long experience, in the production values of their shows," explains Sinclair. "When they requested the reproduction of the iconic 'Q' stage for the tour, I knew we needed a lot of lights to cr

USA - Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to lighting beauty pageants, getting things right means adhering to an exacting set of standards. So say Darren and Tyler Lussier, who speak from experience. Aside from lighting concerts and major league sporting events in New York and New England, their company, Image Production Services, has become a beauty pageant maven, illuminating no fewer than six state segments of Miss USA in 2014.

This year, the father-son team added a new twist to their pageant lighting when they replaced the fabric curtains they had been using on stage risers with MVP Ta8 Curve 8.33 mm pitch LED video panels from Chauvet Professional. "The panels have taken us to a whole new world when lighting pageants," said Tyler Lussier. "They give us much greater flexibility to change colours and scenes to match what's happening on t

Singapore - In a prominent intersection on the outskirts of Singapore City in Paya Lebar lies the Trinity Christian Centre, Trinity@Paya Lebar. Designed to imitate the vast canyons of the Israeli deserts, the building's beige-coloured facade mimics the folds of the desert landscape and now boasts Martin Professional lighting.

The original lighting scheme did not live up to Trinity Christian Centre's aspirations to become a neighbourhood night time landmark. In fact, even the next-door gas station outshone it and made more of an impact on the surroundings with lights. In consequence, ONG&ONG (Lighting Design) were commissioned to design and implement a new lighting concept for this house of worship.

ONG&ONG (Lighting Design) installed 14 Exterior 400 Image Projectors, 28 Exterior 410 fixtures, all controlled by Martin's M-PC controller. Inspired by the original visions, ONG&ONG

UK - TV presenters Ant and Dec have recently turned their popular TV show Saturday Night Takeaway into a touring arena show, which saw a over a hundred Clay Paky fixtures delivering brightness and portability to the complex production.

Lighting designer Adam Bassett of Woodroffe Bassett Design specified 57 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 32 Alpha Profile 1500s, 4 Alpha Spot QWO 800s, 20 Sharpys and 12 Sharpy Wash 330s, supplied by Neg Earth, to add ultimate versatility to the design. The design house also relied once more on their associated collaborator Roland Greil of Einstein and Sons as lighting director and operator during the run of the tour.

"The basic idea was to create a versatile lighting design to generate looks that would suit the very different parts of the show," says Bassett. "It was important to create a classic TV show look as well as a stron

UAE - Leading Dubai-based equipment distributor Procom ME has been named as the exclusive Philips supplier for UAE in a move to further expand its offering to the high profile Middle Eastern market.

UAE is an ever-evolving landscape of innovation and construction, with many new projects under development from universities to theatres and hotels, all of which generate strong demand for professional lighting.

"We are confident Philips will have a significant share of the new-build market, for several reasons," says Procom's business development manager Rami Harfouch. "It is a highly recognized brand name, and its catalogue of high quality products is extensive, with a strong LED offering which meets the increasing requirement for energy-saving solutions. Philips also has strong local support in terms of design, commissioning and servicing of the equipment and Proc

Brazil - The Main and VuuV stages at the 2014 TribalTech Reborn Festival in Brazil buzzed with energy and over 200 Robe moving lights which were integrated into two very different but equally eye-catching lighting designs, by UK based LD Alex 'Junior' Cerio of Smash Productions.

The vibrant 20,000 capacity multicultural dance / trance extravaganza staged at the Fazenda Heimari showground in Parana, Brazil, was completely sold out, offering 13 enigmatic live music stages delivering the very best of techno, house, electronica, trance and psytrance action over 20 hours of non-stop intense dance music and entertainment.

The lighting equipment for the two main stages - and for most of the rest of the site - was supplied by Sao Paolo-based Apple Produções, one of Brazil's leading rental companies, which has a substantial amount of Robe fixtures in its hire stock.

Junior - well k

USA - Glen Harn and his wife, Cynthia Harn acquired PrimeTime Lighting Systems in 2013 and learned that the company had changed the brand name from KW/2 to PrimeTime five years ago without marketing the new brand name.

"The same Texas team continues to design, engineer and manufacture the broadcast studio lighting products resulting in the KW/2 and PrimeTime legacy of high performance, superior quality and lasting durability," according to Glen Harn, PrimeTime CEO. Throughout 2014 the PrimeTime team has been focussed on developing innovative LED lighting instruments.

"Chief engineers at television stations across the country tell us that KW/2 lights are the most durable and lasting luminaires in their studios," said Harn. "Some engineers and lighting designers were not aware of the brand name change and have been thrilled to know that they get the same

USA - Warren Haynes and friends took the stage for his 26th Christmas Jam, an event filled with amazing music for a great cause. Proceeds for this "one-of-a-kind, semi-structured marathon of music" benefit the Habitat for Humanity, and this year's lineup included Gov't Mule, Jason Isbell, The Hard Working Americans, The Revivalists and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead's new band, Billy and the Kids.

This year marked the fifth year of Pulse Lighting's involvement with the event, with lighting designer Preston Hoffman working each year to create an even more sophisticated design, a feat enabled with Bandit Lites.

"The Xmas Jam is a very special show for me each year," said Hoffman. "The Christmas spirit is always in the air, and it is a time for me to help give back to families less fortunate than I am. Bandit Lites lends a hand each year by providin

Finland - Finnish rapper Cheek recently made part of pop music history with a sold out show at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. To ensure the show packed a huge punch, Eero Helle and Mikko Linnavuori from visual design company Visual45 chose an array of Clay Paky fixtures to add power and reliability to their bold design.

Cheek enlisted Visual45 to create the entire show design, including staging, video content and lighting, after the company designed two of the rapper's sold-out shows back in 2013 at the nearly 8000-capacity Ice Hall in Helsinki.

"After the Ice Hall shows, the artist was really impressed with our work so got us on board for the fantastic Olympic Stadium concert," says Helle. "Our brief was to create something completely exciting and never-seen-before for the artist, so working closely with him we specified the Sharpy, Alpha Beam 1500 and Alpha

USA - How do you add extra bam to one of the hottest A-List after parties during the ultra-hip internationally acclaimed Art Basel art show? At Mansion Nightclub, the answer was obvious, sometimes blindingly so, as 38 Nexus 4x4 Panels from Chauvet Professional created a searing and intense design at the VH1 + Scope party.

"Lighting designer Joe Paradise and the VH1 Production team created an awesome design that took full advantage of the Nexus panel's intensity," said Jorge Tellez, who was lighting director for the Mansion/Opium Group at the time of the party. "The panels were positioned to create a three-dimensional effect using Mansion's current LED system. They were rigged in three different positions, on the stage, front stage truss and main room truss. The arrangement provided a very nice depth illusion and an interesting lighting effect. The panels were also

USA - A collection of roughly 175 COLORado 1-Quad Tour par-style LED fixtures from Chauvet Professional provided by Barbizon Lighting Company were used to help illuminate and enhance the more than one million lights at Busch Gardens Tampa's Christmas Town.

Most of the fixtures provided external lighting for the attraction's impressive 50' tall tree.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The Sheraton Houston Brookhollow Hotel is an all-purpose hotel that recently refreshed its meeting and banquet rooms with a dynamic lighting scheme that includes decorative colour looks from Elation LED Flex Tape, a high-output yet energy-efficient solution.

As with many hotels that keep a close eye on overhead costs, energy savings was at the forefront of the new design but because the hotel specializes in wedding receptions and cultural weddings, system designers Louis Kong Architects sought a product that offered more than just the typical ambient lighting.

Jay Cid of Elation rep firm PSLP (Professional Sound and Lighting Products) introduced Louis Kong Architects to Elation Flex LED Tape, thin and flexible RGB LED tape with 40mm centres that can be cut to any length and easily installed no matter the size or shape of the space. After Jay provided on site demos, Louis

Norway - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden AB recently joined legendary Norwegian alternative rock band Seigmen on stage for a three-day show in Tønsberg, Norway, lit with an impressive rig designed by lighting designer Petter Nilssen.

In total, five universes were run via W-DMX by Wireless Solution. Nilssen used W-DMX F-2500 G4 and three W-DMX BlackBox F-1 G4 MK2 units with 16 W-DMX Micro R-512 G4 receivers spread across 4 truss sections and the floor. The concert received "fantastic" reviews both in Norway and abroad.

Nilssen explained, "The reason for choosing W-DMX was to be able to not have several universes sent through the audience with cables, and to really test W-DMX in different situations. I used 5 DMX universes all sent wirelessly. The possibility to easily change the design without having to deal with a lot of cables that needed to change was

Latest Issue. . .