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PLASA 2012: Philips Vari-Lite celebrates 30 years

Genesis Abacab tour wowed spectators with the first Vari-Lite Series 100 system comprising 50 VL1 luminaires.

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - It's been 30 years since the first ever Vari-Lite luminaires hit the world's stages. This year, PLASA 2012 (Earls Court, 9-12 September) will see the Philips Entertainment brand Vari-Lite mark three decades of moving light development.

"Live entertainment has changed dramatically since Showco (the company set up by Rusty Brutsché and Jack Maxson in 1970 and which subsequently became Vari-Lite) pioneered the first moving and colour changing fixtures," explains vice president of worldwide sales & marketing for Philips Vari-Lite, Bob Schacherl. "It's hard to imagine that before Vari-Lite, concerts typically demanded up to 3,000 fixtures, each of which had to be manually focused and coloured."

It all began back in the 70s when Showco engineers looked

Classic NJ church gets Community makeover

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Like most of New Jersey's seaside communities, life on resort island Brigantine near Atlantic City is affected by the seasons. In the summer months, the sun seekers and beach lovers help to swell the congregation at St. Thomas the Apostle from 1,000 to more than 3,000 - well beyond what their existing sanctuary can handle. As Bobby Harper, VP of Sales at Egg Harbor-based ACIR Professional explains, the church came up with a creative solution.

"It's an older structure, and it has some history, and they didn't want to just tear it down and build something bigger," says H

The acclaimed recent production of Cycle Songin the grounds of Brumby Hall, Scunthorpe

dbn lights Cycle Song opera

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Manchester-based lighting and visuals rental company dbn has continued its work with ground-breaking theatre and arts companies with the supply of lighting equipment and design for the acclaimed recent production of Cycle Song in the grounds of Brumby Hall, Scunthorpe.

The new large-scale community opera was a collaboration between Huddersfield based theatre company Proper Job and Scunthorpe Cooperative Junior Choir.

Directed by Jamie Beale, it told the emotional and compelling story of Albert 'Lal' White, Scunthorpe steelworker and winner of countless cycling trophies i

Capital Sound rolls back the years

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Since its inception four years ago, the Rewind festival has seen the 1980s reborn for two days every year in Henley-on-Thames, while its sister event - at Scone Palace in Scotland - made its debut in 2011. Both enjoy the benefits of great audio courtesy of Capital Sound.

Rewind attracts a wide demographic, from legwarmer-toting 40 and 50-somethings keen to recapture their Pac Man-inspired youth for a weekend, to their children and many younger people keen to discover if the music of the 1980s stands up to 21st century scrutiny.

Despite acts on this year's bill like OMD, Midge U

K-array embraces Caffè culture

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - As part of its music and arts promotional campaign, coffee shop chain Caffè Nero is hosting an ongoing series of free live gigs by up-and-coming artists at its UK outlets. July has seen guitarist/singer-songwriter Jamie Abbott nominated as the retailer's Artist of the Month, accompanied by a compact K-array KB-1 audio system as he travelled across the UK.

Abbott's tour has visited 30 Caffè Nero outlets, tying many of them in with sets at local radio stations. This has meant that he was often playing two or three gigs in different towns or cities on the same day.

Accompanied b

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