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Big Screens Stand Up for U.K. Comedy Tour

Big Screens Stand Up for U.K. Comedy Tour

LONDON — With 59 sold out dates and a total audience estimated at 400,000, the Lee Evans Big Tour is measuring up to be the U.K.’s largest comedy tour of 2008, and the laughter from way back in the balcony can be credited at least in part to a very large LED screen.

Gobos Go Green as Use of Lasers Expands

FORT WAYNE, IN — Apollo Design Technology, Inc. announced that it is switching from chemical etching to laser technology for all gobo production. The switch, prompted by safety and environmental concerns, started with steel gobos in 2007. Laser-etching technology is now being used to produce Apollo’s glass gobos as well.

Prince Albert’s Coliseum Reopens with New Gear

LEEDS, U.K. — The big Gothic building which opened as the Coliseum in 1885 by England’s Prince Albert has since housed circuses, bingo games and TV studios. Known since 1992 as The Town and Country Club and as Creation Nightclub, the venue re-opened once again as a 2,300-seat concert venue called The Academy, featuring new moving lights, LEDs and an Avolites control system.

Starbucks Conference Serves as AV Showcase

NEW ORLEANS — Starbucks may have announced plans earlier this year to close about 600 of its locations, or about 5 percent of all U.S. stores, between July 2008 and March 2009, but the company went full steam ahead with a reported $3 million investment in its recent Leadership Conference, which drew more than 10,000 of its management team members to New Orleans to experience a show staged by Seattle-based production company Touch and AV Concepts, Tempe, Ariz.

LEDs Put “Isle of Woman” Castle In the Pink

ISLE OF MAN, U.K. — As a symbol of breast cancer support and awareness, the Falcon Cliff Castle on this British isle, dubbed the “Isle of Woman” for a recent fund-raising event, was washed in pink hues cast by Chauvet COLORado LED light fixtures. Part of “In the Pink Day,” the architectural lighting installation helped mark the end of a year-long fundraising drive that raised $55,000.

CSL’s Studnicky Receives Community Award

NORTH CREEK, NY — George B. Studnicky III, president and CEO of Creative Stage Lighting (CSL), recently received recognition for his community service from the Hudson Headwaters Health Network, a not-for-profit system of community health centers serving the Adirondack, Lake George, and Glens Falls areas in Upstate New York.

ETCP Exams Set for USITT 2009

CINCINNATI, OH —The ETCP Council and USITT will offer electrical, arena rigging and theatre rigging examinations in a paper and pencil format at the USITT Conference and Stage Expo on March 20 and 21, 2009. Interested applicants should submit their application, along with supporting materials and fee, postmarked by Feb. 27, 2009.

White Light Appoints Business Development Manager

LONDON — White Light has appointed Martin Palmer as business development manager. A lighting and sound industry veteran, with recent posts at Stagecraft Ltd. as an engineer and sales director, Palmer has designed and worked on over 200 projects involving lighting for performance venues.

Followspot Shootout Waged for Summerfest ’08

MILWAUKEE, WI — The crew for Summerfest ’08, which takes place at the Marcus Amphitheater in Henry Maier Festival Park along the lakefront, staged a followspot showdown this year. The winning instruments — Robert Juliat Super Korrigan 1200W and Victor 1800W followspots — were used for shows attracting up to 25,000 attendees per performance and more than a million people over the course of the summer.