The Week in Review

In Memoriam: Bruce Jackson: the audio world was shocked to hear that Bruce Jackson, the Australia-born sound engineer and product innovator, was killed in an airplane accident on January 29. He was alone on board, flying a plane that crashed about six miles from Furnace Creek, Death Valley National Park, California. Jackson was a founder of Jands, which eventually became Australia's largest lighting and sound company. Moving to the US, he joined Clair Bros, for whom he mixed Elvis Presley's live appearances. Starting in 1978, he spent ten years mixing for Bruce Springsteen. Around this time, he also helped to found Apogee Electronics Corporation. More recently, he was senior vice president of research at Lake Technology. He also served as Barbra Streisand's sound engineer for ten years, and was audio director for the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening and closing ceremonies -- a task he repeated in Vancouver last year. News of a memorial service is forthcoming.

Rockwell Wins Art Director Guild Award: David Rockwell, who is having a busy year on Broadway, also won a Art Directors Guild Award on February 5, for his design of the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony. Other winners include Eve Stewart (The King's Speech), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Inception), Therese DePrez (Black Swan), Dan Bishop (Mad Men), Richard Berg (Modern Family), Robb Wilson King (Secrets in the Walls) and Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, and N. Joseph DeTullio (Saturday Night Live). Just before the holidays, Rockwell had both Elf and A Free Man of Color on Broadway; this spring, he opens the musical Catch Me If You Can.

PLASA Facebook Pages: PLASA has announced the launch of its Facebook pages. Visitors to PLASA Focus, the PLASA Show, and members of PLASA can now join their Facebook pages. Members will be the first to find out about industry news, PLASA news and show news and content. In addition, PLASA 2011 is offering the first 1000 members the chance to win a pair of Sennheiser HD 380 Pro collapsible high end headphones.

Wybron Mobil Light Lab Back on the Road: Wybron's Mobile Light Lab, a 48' pop-out equipped trailed, commences its Visuality 2011 Tour today. It will continue touring the country an average of ten days each month though the end of the year. Now the company's major marketing tool, the Light Lab brings Wybron's products directly to customers in key cities and markets, allowing them the opportunity to demo them for themselves. The showroom features six stations -- each representing a product family and featuring an actual working product, a controller, and a flat-screen TV - allowing visitors to interact with a product and choose the content they want displays. Competing products are available at every event for shootouts. Upon arriving at a host dealer, visitors will enter the Mobile Light Lab's reception area. There they'll be able to view the day's schedule, which will include educational presentations and refreshments, as well as learn how to get the most out of their experience. As a bonus, those who register will be entered to win an iPod Touch - one of two Wybron will be giving out each month - and complimentary copies of all of Wybron's iPhone apps. After registering, it's "off to the show." Stay tuned to www.lightingandsoundamerica.com for updates on the Light Lab's latest appearances.