Every January, we all step up to the home plate of the New Year and get ready to take our swings at the wild pitches of life. Some of us dream of pointing to the center field fence like Babe Ruth and swatting one over. Me? I'm happy just to not strike out. I still remember the words of my little league coach, who used to tell me, "Just meet the ball. Just get on base."

Ross Ashton from E/T/C London created a series of three projection art works for the 2009 St. Andrews Festival, a three-day event. Two of the three works were projected on the ruins of the Cathedral of St. Andrews in Scotland, a structure that took 150 years to build and was completed in 1318.

Highlands Community Church's "Inside Out" project in Renton, Wash., uses a HD video production infrastructure provided by Advanced Broadcast Solutions (ABS) for its expanding congregation, and also for a second, video-based service in Kent, Wash.

Catering to a clientele that wants to see and be seen, Voyeur, an electronic music nightspot in San Diego's Gaslamp district, has been equipped with lipstick cameras placed throughout the venue, feeding imagery of patrons onto nearly two dozen plasma TVs.

LD Mariano de Tassis credited Clay Paky gear for helping him fulfill Claudio Baglioni's ideas for lighting his 2009 tour, which included stops in historic venues. "The original idea for the lighting design came directly from the artist and was then developed jointly by myself and Fabrizio "Bicio" Marchi, production and designer manager," said de Tassis.

HSL supplied lighting equipment, a Kinesys automation system and crew to the final leg of Snow Patrol's 2009 world tour, "Snow Patrol Reworked." As the tour's name suggests, there was a departure from the group's standard five-piece rock band setup, with 12 extra musicians onstage, bringing an orchestral feel to the show.

Try reaching Alan Falkner, an ETC field service engineer based in Hollywood, during the two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving. Usually Alan is jimmy-on-the-spot, a testament to ETC's exceptional service. But for those two weeks, Alan completely disappears. His friends anticipate it; his co-workers prepare for it; and his fellow church members make fun of him for it. Come December, though, Alan's reclusiveness reveals its yuletide bounty.

LD Tim Dunn used 282 Robe fixtures in his design for Miss World 2009, which was staged at the Gallagher Convention Centre. The show was televised and broadcast live to 80 of the 112 participating countries, including, for the first time, the U.S., India and China. Along with the 3,500 in the live audience, an estimated 1 billion people saw the show.

The tour for Train has been rolling across America with lighting and video gear provided by LMG. Lighting designer Matt Mills and tour manager Thomas O'Keefe co-designed the rig, then handed it off to lighting director Shawn Seithel.

As ranked by Billboard Magazine, based on revenue.

1: U2

Lighting Co: PRG

Crew
Show Director/Designer: Willie Williams
Production Architect/Designer: Mark Fisher/Stufish
Production Director: Jake Berry
Lighting Director: Ethan Weber
Systems Crew Chief: Craig Hancock
Video company: XL Video
Video Director: Stefaan Desmedt

Upon Ragtime's official opening night performance at Broadway's Neil Simon Theater last November - when the curtain rose and the crowd saw fancily-clad Americans (in early 20th century chic) standing atop a three-story steel and wood set - the audience erupted in applause.

I recently got an e-mail from the editor of PLSN asking if I would mind covering The Monsters of Folk show for him while he was out of town. Would I mind?! The band has just released its first self-titled album in September and had seen it climb to number 15 on Billboard's Top 200 list. Its members include M. Ward, a personal favorite. Its LD, Marc Janowitz, was a part of the design team for the Blue Man Group, another one of my favorite acts.

To download a copy of the Jan. 2010 PLSN Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE

You need go no farther than your local concert hall to see how the smart phone is shaping our lives. Take a seat in the upper level, look down at the audience, and what do you see? A virtual sea of miniature video screens capturing stills and video of the performance on stage. But the influence of the smart phone goes much deeper than photos, Twitter feeds, and IM.

Media servers typically support many types of still image formats. What are the benefits of using one format over another? Recently, while I was using an Apple Mac-based media server on a show, I asked myself this very question when I ran up against an issue involving the use of the Alpha channel. Here are a few reasons why I'm now a big fan of PNG.

I am very pleased to have been working as an automated lighting programmer for over two decades. I have learned many skills over the years related to lighting and I have also learned quite a lot about business. Most automated lighting programmers do not have a single salaried position, but they work for many productions each year.

In the last 20 years we have seen more lighting consoles come on the market than I can remember. They all strive to achieve the same thing; talk to lighting fixtures, dimmers and media servers. They all get the job done eventually, but I've come to conclude that certain consoles execute some tasks well and others, not so much.

LSC Clarity is a PC- or MAC-based lighting and media server control system. Features include Carallon fixture library, effects engine, LED matrix control and media server integration.

Cooper Controls' Version 2.2 LightFactory software introduces multi user functionality, built on an SQL database that allows shows to be shared with real time updates from any number of users, plus full partitioning for distributed playback and programming.

Elation Professional's Accent Strips are adhesive-backed nine-LED strips that can be placed in a wide number of spots for a decorative accent or for a border of lights. They are well-suited for indoor applications such as nightclubs, bars, restaurants, casinos, limousines, cruise ships and retail locations.

OmniSistem's Omni Nite LED Curtain is designed to hang from a truss structure or on a wall. Measuring 23 feet wide by 14 feet tall, the curtain includes red, green, blue and amber LEDs disbursed within a 10-foot-by-20-foot area. An all-white LED Omni Nite is available as well.

SGM announced that its Pilot 3000 software Version 2.0 supports additional cue storage systems and faster scene programming and management tools. The update is available free of charge to all Pilot 3000 owners and users.

Martin Professional has launched the new Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass fog machine with an 1,800 watt heat exchanger and 1,200 cubic meter per minute output. It is capable of continuous operational and has a 9.5 liter fluid reservoir.

Elation Architectural's Accu SSL Series MR 16, A19 and Par 30 LED replacement LED lamps are designed to serve as a replacement for halogen, fluorescent and metal halide lamps.

Elation Professional's Platinum Spot 5R uses MSD Platinum 5R Lamp Technology from Philips. The 160W/ 7,950 lumen discharge lamp source helps the fixture combine brightness and quick pan/tilt and color/gobo movements in a compact, lightweight package.

Checkers Industrial Safety Products' low profile top-loading cable protectors are available in 1-, 2-, 3-, or 5-channel models. They are 1.25" high with a .75" channel height and feature Dog-Bone connectors for modular interconnectivity and storage.

The Jarag, manufactured by Chromlech, is an integrated, programmable, lighting effects system that can be used to create arrays of light. The Jarag-5 is a matrix of 25 lamps with integrated electronics that provides dimming and sequencing. It is available with 75-watt PAR20 or PAR30 lamps and it draws 8A at 230V or 16A at 110V.

ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.) has unveiled a line of motorized hoists and hoist-control systems for theatrical and architectural use called ETC Rigging. Its first offerings are the fixed-speed ETC Prodigy hoist systems and ETC QuickTouch controls.

Landru Design has released two new Vectorworks software plug-ins: VideoScreen 4 and SoftGoods. VideoScreen 4 is a suite of plug-in objects that enables users to insert 2D and 3D models of video devices such as projection screens, plasma televisions and CRT monitors, customizable screen images, into Vectorworks drawings.

Rose Brand's Eco-Liner fabric, which had been initially developed for recyclable graduation gowns, is now available for entertainment industry use. Eco-Liner fabric is made from Repreve yarn with 100 percent recycled content using pre-consumer polyester fiber waste and post-consumer plastics.

Da-Lite's Arena Electrol, available in widths over 39 feet, is designed for large venues needing motorized projection screens. Features include a built-in balancing system and steel cable guides for smooth, even screen retraction and a flat viewing surface.

Morpheus Lights' PacificFader is a dichroic CYM color mixing, optical dimming and color correction accessory that "slots in" to the optical system of the modular Selecon Pacific luminaire to deliver a wide variety of colors - deep saturates as well as a range of pastels.

Nemetschek North America announced that A&A Co., Ltd., its distribution partner in Japan, has released its localized version of Vectorworks 2010 line of software including: Designer, Architect, Fundamentals, and Renderworks.

Enttec Pty of Melbourne, Australia recently entered the LED engine market with the introduction of the Aleph 1 series of LED linear strips. Designed for cove, under-cabinet and display applications, these medium-powered strips are available in warm white, cool white and RGB, in 300mm, 600mm and 900mm lengths.

The JBLED A4 from JB Lighting is a compact LED moving head fixture designed for use on smaller stages, clubs, and other smaller venues. The A4 contains 60 Luxeon LEDs and features the same 8 degrees to 28 degrees optical zoom system found in the JBLED A7.