USA - "These things are awesome" said 44 Designs Clayton Thornton following their delivery of Le Mark's custom printed cable labels.

Ordered in to brand and identify 44 Designs vast cable inventory, Clayton Thornton continued, "We had a lot of cable in our inventory that came pre-fabricated and the thought of re-soldering an end on each of them was a bit overwhelming. Being able to brand cables we have in stock already was a major selling point."

Based in Nashville, TN, the team at 44 Designs share over 25 years combined experience in lighting, touring, rentals, and production, working together to bring a mix of individual talents to each project. This knowledge and experience carries over when looking for products that help brand and visually represent their companies equipment.

Le Mark's export manager Matt Every added, "The simplicity of our cable

Germany - GUIL, one of the major European companies dedicated to the manufacturing of lifting towers, stages, and stands and structures for the audio and lighting industry, celebrates 30 years as a leader in innovation and technological advancements within the entertainment industry.

Since the beginning, GUIL has focused on developing high quality products, allowing them to help over 5000 companies around the world in the improvement and increased efficiency of their events.

Their continued growth and enthusiasm over these three decades have meant that GUIL is now a reputable brand, with its evolution concentrating on the design and manufacturing of products which meet the ever changing needs of professionals in the industry, both now and for the future.

GUIL will once again be exhibiting their products at the Prolight & Sound trade fair which takes place from the 10-13 Apri

UK - AED Distribution has announced the opening of a new AED Distribution UK facility, based out of their existing AED Rent premises in High Wycombe - to be headed by David March, as sales director.

AED Distribution UK says it will provide distribution for a cohesive range of entertainment technology brands, underpinned with professional logistics and order processing, supported by the AED Group Solutions. The range will initially include CM Entertainment Technology, Prolyte (including the four complementary but independent brands of Litestructures, Prolyte Structures, StageDex and ProLyft), GLP lighting, MDG foggers, High End Systems' Hog 4 control family, Fenix lifting towers, Swisson DMX solutions and sine wave dimming, SRS motor controllers, dimmers and power distribution, plus hardware from Manfrotto and Doughty.

Formerly director of European Sales for Philips Vari-Lite a

Australia - Mojo Barriers' Australian office was appointed to supply stage barriers and crowd safety services across three of the country's biggest summer music festivals in 2013 - Big Day Out, Soundwave and Future Music Festival.

The contracts follow the announcement late last year that Mojo Barriers had opened its first permanent Australian premises, offering improved services to events across the continent.

Future Music Festival, which tours nationally and kicked off in Brisbane on 2 March, boasts acts including The Prodigy and The Stone Roses. Mojo Barriers is supplying 2.5km of aluminium stage barriers across all stages.

The national Soundwave tour kept Mojo's team busy installing over 4.5km of barrier across the festival's five sites (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth) helping to keep audiences, crew and headliners including Metallica and Linkin Park safe

USA - Few times of the year feature as much gonzo production work as Fashion Week in New York City, when designers from all over the world come together to unveil the new clothing designs for the coming year.

The event takes over venues across the city from Lincoln Center to the 26th Street Armory. To master the gruelling schedule and bring all of the designers' runway visions to life, Sapsis Rigging, Inc. (SRI) is the technical management company of choice for designers including Mark Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, and Kenneth Cole.

Production manager Michael Sapsis assembled a crew of more than 35 riggers who worked steadily for two weeks, installing 225 chain hoists, 3,000 feet of assorted truss, and one 4,000-pound sodium-vapour lighting effect, contained in a circular truss rig and lifted by a mother grid. The final assembly of this effect took place twelve feet above the floor

Germany - XTA are attending ProLight + Sound 2013 in what is a very significant year for the company - its 21st anniversary.

Says the company, "We 'quietly' celebrated our 20th Anniversary within the company last year with a few celebrations for staff, as you may have seen on Facebook, and serendipitously also reached a milestone in the form of shipping our 50,000th unit, but this year it's going to be a little more about saying thanks to our friends starting with some anniversary events in Frankfurt and seeing if we can make the festivities last all year.

"We are running a facebook competition all through March right up until the first day of the show itself on Wednesday 10 April, giving away two very limited edition flagship units, our DP548. These will have uniquely designed front panels and will only be available to the lucky winners."

Two units will be up

Germany - For this year's Prolight+Sound, German manufacturer Sommer Cable presents another two interesting devices under the Cardinal DVM brand name, both of which are designed for use on stage or in the studio.

As is the case so often with products from Sommer Cable, the company received a lot of inspirations from customers and users of the now highly proven devices of the Cardinal DVM series. Thus the idea for the VCA keyboard mixer came at the urging by different musicians from the musical scene. The normal situation requires as many sounds as possible at very short intervals, but the musician also needs to keep the dynamics under control. The VCA keyboard mixer solves this problem by using a master level control with a standard swell pedal; this keeps your hands free and eases your mind. That way the device covers an incredible 90 dB control range while sporting heavenly S/

UK - The PLASA Show, a driving force in the development and promotion of the professional entertainment technology industry for over 35 years, is preparing to launch the most important edition in the show's history this Friday 15th March 2013. Taking place at Excel London for the first time this year, the show will open under its new name PLASA London 2013, in its new dateline of the 6-9 October.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths explains; "PLASA London 2013 reflects a new focus on international visitors, which is the number one reason we moved to Excel. Excel London is just five minutes from London City Airport, which handles 350 flights per day from over 40 international destinations. London is already the best connected City in the world and this October, PLASA London 2013 will take place in one of the best connected venues in the world, and that's a fact."

With seven o

UK - ToughGaff is a gaffer and camera tape holder that sits solidly on the worker's belt and allows him quick loading & release of the tape with one hand quick motion. ToughGaff is available in two sizes: 1"& 2", both suitable for up to 60YD roll. ToughGaff is made from High Quality Materials which ensures a long lasting, durable product.

Instead of using conventional clip for attaching the gloves to the belt, which requires both hands, and longer time, ToughGlove provides an easier solution.

With super strong magnets, the gloves will stay in place all day long, attached to any belt up to 2" wide, or to the ToughGaff. In addition, ToughGlove enables taking out only one glove if needed, leaving the other in place. An option which is not possible with most glove clips today.

If working near a camera, magnets can be easily removed from the gloves by a Velcro atta

UK - IT & AV rental company DB Systems has promoted Jay Goldson to head of division, responsible for overseeing the business' Event Networks division, which specialises in providing fixed line internet, Wi-Fi and networking services.

DB Event Networks has grown significantly since it was created in 2008. Last year, it provided the temporary internet and telecommunication networks for two major global shows, Sibos, held in Osaka, Japan, and the Farnborough International Airshow.

Other 2012 events to benefit from Event Networks' expertise included the Sony Ericsson launch at Mobile World Congress, the UK launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, International Golf Travel Market, as well as Business Travel Market.

Jay Goldson said, "We've experienced an incredible few years and I'm really excited about leading the division in 2013 and beyond. The explosion of Wi-Fi at events

UK - International dance troupe and dance school Dance Reality Studios has selected Le Mark's brand new Dynamic Compression Dance Floor as part of their latest studio expansion.

Increasing their existing studio facility by over 30%, the new dance floor has offered both amateur dancers and Dance Reality's 50 professionally employed dancers the opportunity to learn and rehearse on one of the most sophisticated vinyl dance floors on the market.

The specifically designed professional dance floor offers nearly 6mm of compressed foam, providing an instant and discrete shock absorbing top layer for hard floors.

Le Mark's Sharon Marshall said: "The transformation of this room was incredible. A huge advantage of Dynamic Compression is that it takes minimal time to install and it offers dancers and the studios themselves an impact absorbing surface with minimal cost.

"The

UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards' Concert Touring and Events category, recognising excellence in lighting design in Concert Touring Stage and Arena, Live Events and Video Electronic Content, is buzzing with more entries than ever only one month after launch, the organisers report.

Four weeks in to this year's Awards submissions an incredible array of exciting and diverse nominations have been received via the KOI website celebrating LDs pushing the boundaries of lighting design.

"So far we have had an inspiring range of entries from LDs touring with the bigger arena shows," says Concert Touring and Events chairwoman, Sarah Rushton-Read. "This has really boosted the build-up to this year's Awards ceremony, which is growing and evolving at a rapid rate. We are still keen to hear from lighting designers or their colleagues working on the smaller theatre and c

Australia - The Intercontinental Sanctuary Cove in Queensland is one of Australia's premier leisure, conference and incentive destinations. Working closely with Staging Connections, provides a full event service from state-of-the-art audio visual equipment, meeting aids and technical assistance.

With such a varied range of events to cater to, Staging Connections has found the flexibility of their JBL VRX900 Series Constant Curvature Line Arrays to be ideal, so much so they ordered even more JBL VRX932LAP speaker and JBL VRX918SP subwoofers.

"The VRX line array is a welcome addition to our audio inventory," commented Matt Danks of Staging Connections. "These powered top boxes are light which means they are easy to fly and saves time not having to set up additional amplifier drive racks."

"They sound great. The array has an even sound-field and wide di

UK - Ian Hall has been promoted to sales director at Total Solutions Group. Joining the company nine years ago as sales manager, Hall has watched Total Solutions Group (TSG) evolve to engage with the ever growing demands of special projects. "From Slick to Solutions is a heady mix. TSG's involvement in providing specialist engineering skills to the ceremonies section of the London Olympics last summer was the high point in what has been for me, a tumultuous nine years since Slick Trussing first became part of TSG in 2004," says Hall.

In recognition of Hall's experience and success, company founder and group CEO Chris Cronin has asked Hall to step up to the role of sales director. Cronin comments: "Since he first arrived Ian Hall has demonstrated a balanced approach to the TSG business. While driving the roller-coaster of special projects with their unforeseen eng

UK - PLASA London launches its first show at ExCeL London today with free entry for the first 5000 people to register via its new website. Taking place on 6-9 October 2013, the new name, new venue, and new autumn dateline aren't the only changes afoot for the industry-owned event.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths explains, "This year marks the first stage of the show's long-term strategic development. ExCeL is located just five minutes from London City Airport, which handles 350 flights a day from 40 international destinations, and ExCeL's seven onsite hotels provide thousands of rooms within walking distance. With increased connectivity to Europe and beyond, as well as new, world-class facilities, we hope to send a clear message about the show's plans for future international growth."

In addition to the new campus-style experience for international visitors, PLASA Events

USA - J. R. Clancy, Inc., has added to its sales and estimating staff, maintaining and expanding its technical services and expertise to serve its customers.

Eric Huss has joined Clancy as technical salesman. Prior to joining J. R Clancy, Huss worked for Artec Consultants on projects including Darat King Abdullah II Performing Arts Centre in Amman, Jordan; Dr. Phillips Centrefor the Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla.; Grand Theatre du Bouregreg in Rabat, Morocco; and the Star Performing Arts Centre in Singapore.

Scott Uhrig joins J.R. Clancy as an estimator, coming to the company from The Oncenter entertainment complex in downtown Syracuse. As the complex's technical services manager for nearly 20 years, he was responsible for the technical operations of three facilities: the John H. Mulroy Civic Centrer Theaters, the Onondaga County War Memorial, and the Nicholas J. Pirro Conve

UK - The Royal Armouries at Leeds is the venue for the first ever Riggers' Forum to be held outside of London on Tuesday 30 April. Building on the success of the Riggers' Forum held at Earls Court in 2012, PLASA Events will host the Forum alongside the consistently popular PLASA Focus: Leeds trade show event.

The Forum will provide a unique opportunity for members of the rigging community to discuss all things rigging and to exchange their views and experiences of the industry. The Forum will open at 2pm with a short presentation entitled The Dunning Kruger Effect - The Dangers of Unconscious Incompetence. This will be followed by a chaired question and answer session led by a panel of experts from the rigging industry, including members from the National Rigging Advisory Group.

Also on the panel will be Paul Rowlands, rigging development manager at NEC Group Arenas. Ro

Germany - At Prolight and Sound 2013, ShowTex will demonstrate its collection of stage and cinema screens for front, rear, or twin projection as well as the enhanced HiSpeed Roll Up hardware system for fast screen motion. The company also specialises in panoramic glassless mirrors, giant mirrors, and projection foils for glow-in-the-dark fabric effects and glasslike inflatables. ShowTex will also present its improved EasyDrape system in Frankfurt.

The new EasyDrape now features a versatile coupler and telescopic horizontal drape supports with double Velcro. The flexible couplers make it possible to install the EasyDrape system in several directions at the same time allowing for multiple corners with one coupler. A variety of EasyDrape applications can now be built up by just one person. Expo drape and starcloth curtain heights of 2 to 5 meters can be easily obtained by adjusting

USA - At the USITT Stage Expo in Milwaukee 21-23 March, J. R. Clancy, Inc., will unveil a new rigging control system that expands its SceneControl 5000 line, with the flexibility schools and universities need to grow as their production values become more complex.

Clancy has partnered with Niscon, Inc., creators of the Raynok Motion Control System, to develop the SceneControl 5000 Stage Automation Control System series. The SC5000 series extends the already popular SceneControl series of rigging control systems, taking the system's functionality to unprecedented levels.

The SC5000 series offers multi-level cueing, sub-master control, free and locked groups, and unlimited numbers of axes in a system. There are no restrictions on the quantity of cues in a performance, or on the number of stored show files or concurrent axes in motion.

At USITT, Clancy introduces the SceneContr

UK - Star Events Group was recently back in Trafalgar Square, this time with their 13m x 12m Alpha mobile stage to celebrate the Maslenitsa and St. Patrick's Day festivities.

The weekend kicked off on Saturday 16 March with the Russian Maslenitsa Festival. Maslenitsa is the Russian Sun Festival, a celebration of waving farewell to winter and where Russian's all over the world say "Zdravstvui Maslenitsa!" to Spring, welcoming the start of warmth.

The Square was transformed into a bustling bazaar and the stage hosted performances of traditional songs and dance. The event in Trafalgar Square was the grand finale of Russian Week in London (11-17 March).

The Alpha mobile stage built in five hours, ensured that production had maximum time to load in and the quick de-rig of the stage meant that the Square was cleared within a few hours of the event finishing on the load o

UK - Dirty Rigger have launched "one of the most innovative work gloves the world has ever seen", the Dirty Rigger GlowMan.

The GlowMan features a super bright thumb mounted LED. Mounted in a shock and water resistant enclosure; the LED increases visibility in dark environments allowing a hands free approach to the hand-held torch alternative.

New touch screen compatible index finger and thumb tips have been designed to help you operate all major touch screen devices without the inconvenience and safety hazard of removing your rigger gloves on site.

The GlowMan also boasts the usual Dirty Rigger comfort & quality features including low profile palm padding, nylon double stitching, wrist mounted ID tag and heavy duty synthetic leather in key wear areas.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Having spent three years supporting Le Mark's export manager Matt Every, Hannah Attfield is set to take on her new role as international team leader.

True to say, flying has been a regular part of Hannah's last 18 months, seeing many air miles recorded visiting Le Mark's clients throughout Europe.

"It's always sad to say good bye to a colleague, especially one as experienced as Matt, we will all miss him. For me, moving into my new role as international team leader is both exciting and a little daunting. However, I love a challenge and a new opportunity!

"I am very hopeful that I will be able to meet many of my valued customers next month at the Pro Light and Sound Fair in Frankfurt. It's going to be an excellent event where I hope to meet old friends and new customers. If you won't be visiting Frankfurt, please let me know, as it's my wish to visit as many of

Germany - The latest additions to the CyberMotion range, the CyberHoist II and C-Trolley, will be presented at ProLight+Sound.

XLNT CyberHoist II is the new generation of the world's first intelligent chain hoist and is specifically designed for heavy-duty, world-wide touring and large-scale events. XLNT CyberHoist II allows a show designer to create precise, complex 2D and 3D movements at variable speed (1.5 ft/sec.), with multiple actuators in single, group or subgroup formations.

Extra creative power and convenience are enabled by combining products within the XLNT CyberMotion family. Features include a compact all-in-one design including motion processor; world-wide multi-voltage power supply (200-440V (+/- 10%) / 50/60HZ), absolute positioning (0.1 mm), elevated duty cycle (60%) for fast lifting of heavy loads and network controlled E-stop and Dead Man's Handle without ad

UK - Popstar Olly Murs' first ever UK TV performance of Army of Two, on ITV's Dancing on Ice, was set in motion by automation equipment from LS-Live.

The singer opened the show accompanied by his marching band of female dancers to perform his new single. As he entered onto the stage, the set was flanked either side by four of the dancers, who marched and danced up and down two 10' long travelators below that constantly moved throughout the song. Their fluid movement was mirrored by the ice-skating contestants who took it I turns to make their entrance onto the rink, all choreographed by Nathan Clarke.

Creative director for Olly Murs and staging producer for Dancing on Ice, Dan Shipton, wanted to add an exciting effect that hadn't been seen on the show before. He said: "Initially I was worried that there wouldn't be a company out there who could provid

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