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New Gear From Strictly FX Part of ‘The Package’

CryoJets on New Kids on The Block's tour. Photo: Marcello Ambriz

New Gear From Strictly FX Part of ‘The Package’

CHICAGO – “The Package,” the current New Kids on the Block tour includes more than just the members of the band. It also includes two new pieces of gear that merge lighting and special effects from Strictly FX. Production Designer Butch Allen and New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, who is very involved in the production, wanted something fresh. “Butch and Donnie wanted a party atmosphere for the production, and we had something new that fit the bill perfectly,” notes Ted Maccabee, partner and visuals director at Strictly FX.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Loyalty

I like shooting the breeze with the old timers in our biz. People who have been around the block a few times. The folks who follow all the unwritten rules just the same as the pertinent ones everyone knows. Whenever we start chatting, the subject of loyalty will eventually rear its head. It may be a great story of “Gee, look how far that person has come. So and so has kept them busy.” Or it may be ugly as in “Shame about that one, he had a shot… once.”

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Glastonbury site. Photo: Jason Bryant.

Robe Lights Stages and Spaces at Glastonbury Festival

SOMERSET, UK – Around 400 Robe fixtures were on site in various areas at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Pilton, Somerset UK. “Glasto” had a capacity of 175,000 with an eclectic line up of live music and entertainment over three days. Robe UK’s Ian W Brown took his tent and Wellies and got into the festival spirit, where iffy weather turned to sunshine, soaring temperatures and sizzling expectations.

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Eurolite at the EDC in Las Vegas.

Eurolite Dazzles 345,000 at Electric Daisy Carnival

LAS VEGAS – Dominating what may be one of the largest stages ever constructed in the U.S., AG Light and Sound provided 430 Eurolite Performance Clusters (PMC 16x30s) to the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), the electronic dance music festival taking over Las Vegas Motor Speedway June 21-23. Deployed on the Steve Lieberman-designed main stage “Kinetic Field,” the PMC 16x30s represented fully 20 percent of the more than 2,000 fixtures used on the stage, which required over 2 million watts of power.

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USITT Selects Wingspace to Design US Exhibit to PQ’15

NEW YORK – Wingspace Theatrical Design, a collective of theatrical designers based in Brooklyn’s Old American Can Factory, has won USITT’s national competition to design the U.S. exhibit for the 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in Prague, Czech Republic. The large performance design event draws more than 25,000 visitors to Prague every four years for an exposition of the best in global scenography. USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, oversees and sponsors U.S. participation in the PQ.

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LD Mark Tringail at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando.

Vari-Lite at the Hard Rock Live Orlando

ORLANDO – After the Hard Rock Live Orlando was originally built in 2001, the production team operated over the next 11 years without a lighting system upgrade.  So to update the venue, Production Manager Brian Mandigo and Lighting Director Mark Tringali received approval for a full system upgrade consisting of Philips Vari-Lite VL880 Spot and VLX Wash luminaires supplied by Zenith Lighting.

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Activision

Prelite Adds LightConverse Software to Previz Toolset

NEW YORK – Prelite Studios continues to set itself apart from other previsualization services with the addition of LightConverse 3D Show to its arsenal of software tools.  Unlike companies that rely on a single software solution to fit all their clients’ needs, Prelite offers a range of platforms, including ESP Vision’s Vision and Cast Lighting’s wysiwyg, both powerful previsualization tools.

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President Obama in Berlin. Photo: Joachim Dennemann

Poolgroup’s SGM P-5s Highlight Obama in Berlin

BERLIN – President Barack Obama recently visited Berlin for the first time since his election. The highlight of his 25-hour stay was his speech before an invited audience of 5,000 people at the Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The technical planning and equipment necessary to transmit his speech to the world media was undertaken by event production company, Poolgroup on behalf of the German Foreign Office and the Federal Press Office.

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Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Laser Light Shows For Egypt’s Protests Hit Headlines

CAIRO, Egypt – The recent demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square have all eyes watching Egypt to see how this political situation will unfold. The demonstrations in the area hit home with laser light show company and International Laser Display Association (ILDA) member Laseronics, because they have family ties and friends living in the area. So, in a safe, ethical, and highly visible manner, the team at Laseronics created a laser light display in Tahrir Square, to bring demonstrators together under a unified message seeking to remove Mohamed Morsi (the sitting president of Egypt) from power.

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StageHand, formerly known as the PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund

StageHand Assists with PSA Member’s Convalescence

LONDON– StageHand, formerly known as the PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund, has used its resources to help a PSA member during a period of convalescence from a serious illness. The PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund was founded in 1998 with the backing of the Production Services Association on behalf of people working in the UK entertainment production industry.

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