USA - Oliveto Restaurant and Cafe, the innovative, Italian-inspired dining destination in the heart of Rockridge in Oakland, unveils a new look-and sound-this week. Addressing the industry-wide issue of noise pollution in restaurants, Oliveto has found the perfect balance in its new partnership with Berkeley's Meyer Sound, installing a state-of-the-art acoustic solution in addition to making enticing aesthetic changes as part of the restaurant's first major renovation in 18 years.

At the same time, the Meyer Sound system allows the restaurant to advance on its soon-to-launch Oliveto Commons, an ongoing series of classes, panel discussions and workshops focused on food policy issues, producers, cooking techniques, and wine and spirits.

Led by owners and founders Bob and Maggie Klein, Oliveto's renovation speaks to the 28-year-old restaurant's deeply ingrained curiosity and driv

Portugal - The recent concerts of the British band James in Portugal were promoted by PEV Entertainment and it was part of the tour to promote the new album La Petite Mort.

Split into three distinct concerts, two of them on the north of Portugal with the Next-proaudio's sound reinforcement. According to the band, the first concert was a surprise for the fans, "on the magnificent and historic Sao Bento railway station in Porto and free to attend" where they "played a couple of tunes and answered some questions of the public".

The systems for these two different concerts were supplied by rental company Technosound, which provided full technical production services for the two events with the use of two Next PX Systems (Stackable System) for the small venue and the LA12 (Line Array System) for the big venue.

The first one, on 27 November was a mini-co

USA - Virtually every new club lighting project has its own challenges, whether they involve dealing with limited power draw or trying to accommodate some unusual architectural limitation. For Jay Krause of Sound and Lighting Solutions (Fort Lauderdale, FL), the biggest challenge when working on the city's Hunter's nightclub was getting the ten Rogue fixtures his client wanted in fast enough.

"As soon as our client saw demos of the Rogue R1 Spot and R1 Beam, they fell in love with the fixtures," said Krause. "They wanted them yesterday. They were super excited, because they saw what the Rogues can do in a bi-level club -- which is create added depth plus all of these magical uplifting images in the air."

There are six Rogue R1 Spots and four Rogue R1 Beams in Krause's rig at the club. He positioned the beams midway between the first and second levels. "

The Netherlands - Frontline Audio & Vision of Lichtenvoorde in Holland has chosen STM M28, Nexo's new compact modular line array, as the tool for its future expansion, building on a substantial existing commitment to Nexo PA technology.

In just three years, Frontline has acquired a considerable inventory of Nexo loudspeaker cabinets, including PS15 full-range compacts, RS15 subbass, and 45°N-12 line monitors. Taking the next step forward, Martijn Klein Gibbink's company has made its first investment into Nexo's STM Series of modular line array, buying 18x STM M28 main cabinets together with 4x RS18 subbass and a NUAR (Nexo Universal Amp Rack) containing two NXAMP4x4s. All equipment has been supplied by Nexo distributor Iemke Roos.

"The M28 is the ideal line array for us," says Klein Gibbink, "it is very small with high output, and the consistency of its cove

UK - The HOME organisation's new performing and visual arts complex is set to open this winter. In the meantime, its recent production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was staged in Manchester's historic Victorian swimming baths. This performance was also the maiden voyage for HOME's new Solid State Logic Live L500 console. Supplied by HD Pro Audio and chosen by technical director Jasper Gilbert and sound designer Paul Gregory, the L500 will be installed in HOME's new facility for continued use.

HOME evolved from the Library Theatre Company, from which actors such as Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, Alan Rickman and Martin Jarvis have gone on to fame. When Manchester's Central Library was renovated in 2010, the company lost its intimate 312-seat basement venue of 58 years, and has since presented in a variety of unorthodox spaces, such as the productions at the Victori

UK - London's Dominion Theatre has recently completed the biggest refurbishment and restoration project that the theatre has seen since it opened in 1929. This multi-million pound, four month long project sees the theatre transformed to its original 1920s grandeur with over half a million pounds spent on upgrading the technical infrastructure using over 36 kilometres of Van Damme cabling from VDC Trading supplied through Edmundson Electrical, Greenwich.

Included in the technical refurbishment was a brand new stage, a complete overhaul of the entire stage electrical system, the installation of a new flying system and a new stage lift. As most of the productions brings their own sound system and lighting, attention has been paid to installing a comprehensive network for video, sound, data, dimmers, patch panels and lighting looms. Cable used included Van Damme Cat 6 Data and Digil

USA - Core is establishing a branch office in Virginia Beach, Virginia headed by Martin Lawrence, and will be the exclusive distributor for Core Lighting in the USA and Canada.

Core MD Phil Ion comments: "This shows we are serious about promoting our brand in the American market, which has seen a steady increase in business over the last two years."

In that time, Core has developed relationships with several leading American event lighting companies who are investing in their 'Made-in-the-UK' products which has brought a raft of innovative and successful fixtures like ColourPoint to the events market.

The US operation is also part of Core's overall medium-term expansion strategy, which up until now has been focussed on Europe.

Says Ion: "We're generally experiencing a surge in demand for quality products, and the 'Made-in-the-UK' marque is a real advantage.

USA - Pantano Christian Church already had a good lighting system, when its leaders concluded that "good" lighting wasn't quite good enough when it came to creating the kind of engaging worship experience they wanted to offer their congregation. So they contacted house of worship design/build firm CCI Solutions of Olympia, WA to implement a comprehensive lighting and audio upgrade at their church.

Consultants Duke DeJong and Todd Gathany of CCI Solutions spent two days with the senior leadership and programming teams at Pantano, working with the church to define their vision and walk through their potential new lighting and audio systems, describing how each could help them achieve their goal. For the lighting side of the upgrade, CCI Solutions added a collection of LED stage lighting from Chauvet Professional to the church's system.

"Pantano was already doing s

USA - PLASA Events has announced that it will be making its first trip to the mid-west for PLASA Focus: Kansas City 2015. This will be the second PLASA Focus event to occur in 2015, and will take place on Wednesday, 20 May and Thursday, 21 May, 2015 at the Kansas City Convention Centre.

Companies already signed up to exhibit at the show include: Altman Lighting, Group One, Avolites & Elektralite, Elation Professional, ETC, GLP, Harrington Hoist, Heartland Scenic Studios, IATSE, PixelFLEX, RC4 Wireless, Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas, Technologies for Worship, TMB and Ultratec. Companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure their spots, as applications are coming in quickly.

Running alongside the show is the highly acclaimed PLASA Professional Development Programme, which offers two days of free educational seminars and workshops. The program featur

UK - The first of Robe's new BMFL Spot fixtures to tour in the UK were specified by Boston based lighting designer Jeff Maker for the recent Gaslight Anthem tour - for which they were purchased by Leeds based rental company Zig Zag Lighting.

Jeff - whose CV includes imaginative lighting for several 'alternative' bands including All Time Low - presented his first lighting design for the US punk rockers who kicked off their Get Hurt album campaign. He was recommended for the gig for his creative flair by FOH sound engineer Joe Amato, who also mixes All Time Low.

Jeff has worked with Zig Zag on several previous occasions, and they are his rental company of choice for the UK and Europe.

Zig Zag's Neil Hunt says: "Essentially I needed a super-bright fixture to use on large spec shows that often have a high video or bright LED elements. Various fixtures appear on light

Cayman Islands - Located due south of Cuba, the British Overseas Territory known as the Cayman Islands is not only well known as an offshore financial centre, it's equally regarded for its resort / tourism trade. And for the various concerts, festivals, and other special events that take place here, AI Rentals is the company to contact to handle the various logistical considerations. To ensure the best possible sound reinforcement for the myriad of projects that come through its doors, AI Rentals relies on its sizeable arsenal of loudspeakers from D.A.S. Audio.

Keith Tibbetts serves as the managing director of AI Rentals. The company owns a large assortment of D.A.S. Audio equipment, including 40 Event 210A 3-way active line array elements plus 24 Event 218A powered subwoofers. Additionally, the company owns several D.A.S. Action Series loudspeaker systems, including 12 Action 1

Brazil - Under the wise guidance of jurors Alarico Sanchez, Césio Lima, Daniel Ridano, Danny Nolan, Francesco Romagnoli and Marcos Olívio, the second MA 3D contest was hosted in São Paulo, Brazil.

The first day of the contest started with a grandMA2 Advanced User Training course accompanied by a lecture by renowned lighting designer Danny Nolan in the evening. During the lecture Nolan illustrated his personal approach to designing a show.

The following day focused on the actual contest, starting with the 29 participants presenting their projects which had been programmed using the MA 3D software. From here, 12 participants made it to the second round on the following and final day. Throughout this final day, the contestants could illustrate their show on a real stage equipped with Clay Paky moving lights.

After this final presentation, the winners were announced: 1s

Turkey - Tarkan, one of the most popular singers in Turkey as well as around the World, has met with his fans with nine concerts during September at the Harbiye Open Air Theatre. The spectacular stage was set by Staras, one of the top rental companies in Turkey which has invested in the cutting-edge Clay Paky Sharpy and for the first time they added the DiGiCo SD5. As exclusive distributor of Clay Paky and DiGiCo in Turkey, Asimetrik's expertise and dynamism lead to Staras's sourcing decision.

Staras rents sound, light and audio-visual systems and provide technical production services for events in a diversity of fields with 30 years of expertise. Staras closely follows the global trends and technologies to ensure outstanding events. Staras is already experienced with Clay Paky's spectacular lighting solutions with their previous purchases.

Morever, Tarkan's production team or

USA - Coinciding with the reopening of an iconic Manhattan venue, PBS recently broadcast a 60-minute primetime special, Michael Feinstein at The Rainbow Room, as part of its Fall Arts Festival programming. As a loyal DPA Microphones user, Feinstein's long-time production manager and FOH engineer Andy Brattain ensured that the performer's microphone of choice was used for the taping, which included a variety show and a series of big band performances. Several DPA microphones were used for the production, including the d:facto Vocal, d:vote 4099 Instrument, d:dicate 4011 Cardioid and d:screet Miniature mics.

The PBS-special featured Michael Feinstein and a 17-piece big band, along with June Squibb, Christine Ebersole, Cheyenne Jackson, American Idol Season 11 runner up Jessica Sanchez and the noteworthy tap duo, the Manzari Brothers, all using DPA microphones. Workin

UK - Opened in 1968 and part of University College London, The Bloomsbury Theatre is a true multi-purpose venue and one of London's busiest, hosting as many as 20 different productions in a single month.

The theatre presents a variety of productions, from rock 'n roll to ballet, drama, corporate events, film and opera as well as numerous UCL student productions. However it is perhaps most well-known as a comedy venue, one which has seen performances by Jo Brand, Mel And Sue, Eddie Izzard, Lily Savage, and John Shuttleworth among many others.

More recently comedy A-Listers Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais and Harry Hill have recorded shows there for DVD release. With almost 550 seats and with completely unobstructed views of the stage throughout the house, it manages to pull off the difficult trick of combining intimacy with the atmosphere that is only generated by a certain audience

USA - Hip hop music comes in many forms and positive hip hop artists are finding mainstream success like never before. Grammy Award-winning artist and one of inspiring hip hop's most successful names, Lecrae, is one such example. Touring the US through the end of the year beneath an Elation lighting rig supplied by live events brand management company LabeLive, Lecrae's latest album debuted at No. 1 on several charts from the Billboard 200 to Urban, Independent and Christian charts.

LabeLive, out of Franklin, Tennessee, has provided full production and stage design for the artist's current Anomaly tour, which features a rig of Elation Platinum Wash 16R Pro and Platinum 5R Extreme moving heads, along with Elation Cuepix Blinders. LabelLive, who operated for five years as live production company Sixdegrees Touring before launching under the LabeLive name in May, support a f

UK - So popular was a 'learn-to-drift' day out last year organised for staff, crew and regular freelancers by west London lighting and visual specialists Colour Sound Experiment ... that they revved, roared and oversteered their way right back for more of the same ... this time at Rockingham, the UK's fastest racing circuit..

The experience liberated a thousand petrol-head fantasies and gave everyone - at all levels of driving ability - a fantastic, all-action day of speed, skidding and sliding to remember. Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank, himself a bit of a drift exponent, illustrated first-hand the potential adrenaline rush and sense of achievement to be gained from this exciting motorsport.

Over 50 guests joined team Colour Sound eager to learn from the expertise and audacity of instructors from Learn2Drift (L2D), who taught everyone the basics of how to control an out-of-

USA - This past November CNBC tapped The Lighting Design Group (LDG) to light their 25th anniversary celebration. This year also marks LDG's 25th anniversary. The elaborate event was held at Rose Hall, home to Jazz at Lincoln Centre, in The Time Warner Building. LDG staff designers, programmers, gaffers, and Local One I.A.T.S.E crew members worked to install the affair over the course of two days and within several Rose Hall locations.

The first event of the evening occurred in The Rose Theatre, lit by LDG president Steve Brill. The one-hour, panel show was broadcast live and hosted by CNBC's Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money. "Due to several variables we opted to use VL 3500s for much of the heavy lifting," said Brill. One was the shutter capabilities, which allowed granular control over the lighting of each panelist. "They are also very powerful units, allowi

South Africa - South African audiences were captivated as War Horse, brought to the country by Pieter Toerien and the National Theatre, played at The Teatro, Montecasino in Johannesburg recently. The show then moved to Cape Town at Artscape Opera House from 5 December 2014. Technical support in both venues was provided by Gearhouse Splitbeam.

A truly iconic show based on a book written by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse was only designed to run for a couple of weeks . . . then they did it again and again and again and it's currently in its seventh successful year on the West End in London. The journey has seen the horses redesigned - the life-sized puppets were created and built in Cape Town by Handspring Puppet Company - and the early days saw performers receiving hours of physio every day. As the show was very physical on performers, more actors were brought in to ta

UK - In December 2013 Stage Technologies' sister company Delstar Engineering was commissioned to provide a huge scenic structure for the set of ANNE, a new play about the life of Anne Frank. Produced by Imagine Nation, with set design by Bernhard Hammer and directed by Theu Boermans, the play is performed at the new 'Theater Amsterdam', a purpose-built venue in the Westerlijke Houthavens district of Amsterdam.

The play covers the two years that Anne Frank and her family hide in an attic in Amsterdam, as well as some events prior to their secret life and following their discovery and deportation by the Nazis. The intimate and powerful production not only utilises Anne Frank's own words from her diary but also plays out against a life-size backdrop of the Frank family's flat.

The audience views a series of projection screens that part to form a proscenium at various times

Denmark - Danish brand Change Lingerie recently held an outstanding fashion show for the presentation of The Intimate Britney Spears, the collection created and designed in conjunction with the American pop star. Nordic Rentals, a leading Danish rental and event management supplier, opted for Analog Way's Ascender 48 to ensure a flawless and visually stunning show.

At the Forum in Copenhagen, Change Lingerie introduced the Intimate Britney Spears line in the presence of the artist, as well as 5,000 attendees. Nordic Rentals was selected to create an astonishing fashion show.

As a background to the catwalk and stage where lingerie models and dancers performed, an ultra-wide curved screen of 44m x 5.5m was utilised. A total of six Panasonic DZ-21 video-projectors were blended to provide the panoramic curved image. The entire show was built in a Watchout 5 system, with eye catchi

USA - One way to keep the Halloween spooks away is to keep the lights on and that's what they did at Hard Day of the Dead Fest in Pomona, California, using an Elation lighting rig of Platinum Beam 5R's, LED moving heads, Par lights, and Elation LED video displays. Held on 1-2 November at the Fairplex, Elation dealers Stage Tech, Felix Lighting and Vision's Lighting delivered a large Elation package for Southern California's ultimate Halloween DJ and dance event.

The festival's Hard Main Stage incorporated a Mayan Pyramid design that was conceived by designer Charley Guest of Stage Tech of Santa Fe Springs, California, their fifth year doing the event. The scaffold structure was 210' wide and 70' tall and was accentuated by using two Elation video products throughout the structure's facia. The Hard Stage setup featured Elation EPV 375 HO LED panels that were specified, says Charl

USA - Birmingham, Alabama's Iron City is a new 1,300-capacity music venue that plays host to acts both local and national. It occupies two former automotive warehouses downtown that the owners gutted and renovated to hit the perfect middle between steely grit and modern elegance. As general manager Mike Creager put it, "At Iron City, we aim to do everything a cut above. From production to hospitality, we always shoot for a high standard."

That philosophy extends to sound reinforcement as well. Creager worked with Tim Ogletree at MediaMerge (Chelsea, Alabama) to design a zero-compromise system that would be appropriate for Iron City's wide footprint. Rather than a line array, Creager and Ogletree designed a point-source system using Danley Sound Labs' patented Synergy Horn loudspeakers and Tapped Horn subwoofers.

Although sometimes sceptical of the system's relatively

UK - With just 24 hours notice, London based large format projection specialists, The Projection Studio (TPS) delivered a full projection design to enable a giant image of the BandAid30 music video to be projected onto the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

It was the first time a full motion video has been projected onto this landmark building.

The song is helping to raise funds and awareness in BandAid30's ongoing fight against Ebola.

TPS's Creative Director Ross Ashton received the call on Friday afternoon from Des Shaw at event production company Ten Alps, who had received final clearance from Bob Geldof, on all the permissions to make the high-profile event happen on the Sunday evening in front of the world's press.

Says Ross Ashton, "We were called at 13.30 on Friday, and by 13.00 on Saturday we had started the install. Naturally I was thrilled to be involved.

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