USA - Milos was chosen as support structure supplier for the largest Ninja Warrior course in the United States. Located in Peachtree Corners (a metro area of Atlanta, Georgia), the 12,000 m2 course is part of the Slingshot facility and was designed by American Ninja Warrior contestant, Jason Huewe.

The course uses Milos QTL/QTV truss to support 24 challenging obstacles for different ability levels. Areas of the course include a peg board, slack bridge, gecko wall, disk slide, ropes and ramps.

Asked about Slingshot's decision to use Milos, Jason replied, "Some of the main deciding factors which made us go with them instead of some of the other brands out there was the strength of their product, the quickness that it could actually be assembled together by a limited number of people, and the price point."

Milos truss has given Slingshot the ability to strike a winning co

UK - If you own an sE Reflexion Filter Pro, you can now purchase a hardware upgrade to simplify its ease of use, increase stability, and provide better overall performance and durability.

In 2006, sE Electronics released the original Reflexion Filter Pro and created a whole new market of portable acoustic treatment devices. Ten years and six different sE Reflexion Filter products later, the company has sold over 120,000 units worldwide. In May of this year, sE introduced a special 10th Anniversary Reflexion Filter Pro, limited to 1000 pieces worldwide. This commemorative RF Pro included completely redesigned mounting hardware, which has now been made commercially available due to popular demand.

The new Reflexion Filter Pro Mounting Bracket Upgrade Kit is now available for purchase through authorized sE distributors worldwide. Customers who have purchased a Reflexion Filte

USA - Kinesys automation customers have a new choice in chain hoists for their systems. After successful testing of several models, Total Structures is has announced that Pointman Electric Chain Hoists have been approved for use with the Elevation drive system.

Currently hoists are available in

USA - Computer-based testing for the new Portable Power Distribution Technician examination is now available. ETCP needs as many candidates as possible to test by 23 August 2016 to obtain cut-score information on the new examination.

The first 25 candidates to apply will receive a free t-shirt with the new PPDT logo and their name if they receive a passing score. Because this is a new examination, score reports will be delayed during this time.

The ETCP PPDT certification is focused on the large population of industry workers in the roles of technicians, stagehands, portable power set/strike technicians, as well as facility maintenance personnel for a wide variety of venues. This certification targets the top two-thirds of people working with this technology at various types of facilities in the corporate, trade show, outdoor event, theatrical, and motion picture/televisio

Germany - The Lower Bavarian city of Straubing recently had every reason to celebrate: its picturesque tower - the town's visual flagship - celebrated its 700th anniversary. The round birthday was honoured with a large festival.

Joining the celebrations was Adam Hall Group's newest brand of stands, Gravity. Exclusively deployed on two of the four stages, Gravity stands have won the internationally-recognized Red Dot and IF Design awards, while being recently nominated for the German Design Award.

Michael Wittenzellner, head of rental company StereoMike and responsible for the production, comments, "The event in Straubing was my Gravity premiere. And I must say the optically outstanding stands also fully convinced me in terms of handling and stability. They did a great job - which is why I also relied on them for the Bluetone festival."

The StereoMike team was responsib

UK - ModTruss has been used for the first time in the UK as a structural piece of scenery at Sheffield's Crucible theatre.

At the end of June, a team from Triple E travelled up to The Crucible to support the installation of ModTruss for the Sheffield People's Theatre production of A Dream, described as a 'modern-day mash up of Shakespearan romance'. The structure was a 37' x 19' (11.27m x 5.7m) platform on 8' (2.4m) uprights made up of the three available sizes of aluminium ModTruss - 3", 6" and 12".

"The front span is 5.5m and had to be supported between two pillars. Achieving this with standard scaffold is do-able but would mean that we'd end up with a massive frontage to the set which wasn't desirable for the designer," Stuart West, technical manager for Sheffield Theatres, explains.

"However, a 12" box of ModTruss could do the span with no problems at all; w

UK - On behalf of Festival Republic, Dick Tee of 'enteetainment Ltd', was asked to look after the technical production management of the recent EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) show in Milton Keynes Bowl, working alongside his counterpart, production manager Jake Berry, who was representing Los Angeles-based Festival producer, Insomniac.

Electric Daisy Carnival UK returned to Milton Keynes Bowl for a one-day electronic dance music party. The main stage built by Serious Stages was some 70m wide and incorporated a huge Owl, a Dragon and two 'Guardians' as well as a massive 400m2 LED screen and a fully functioning 'waterfall'.

"It was a great challenge to be able to combine such a huge stage based construction with so much creativity and artistic design," said Tee. "Unlike conventional stages which offer complete weather protection to the performance area, the only 'on stage roo

UK - On Thursday, 23 June, the Queen Mary 2 returned to Southampton, remastered. Over the course of the luxury liner's refit, the interior and exterior had been fully transformed, offering those who step on board a first class experience at sea, where guests are treated to the very best in accommodation, dining and entertainment.

As part of the grand refurbishment, multi award winning piano dealership Chris Venables Pianos, was contracted to supply a premium hand crafted Yamaha CF6 recital grand piano for one of the entertainment spaces.

Will Venables, partner at the company, which is based in Ringwood, Hampshire, explained: "The new piano was not only a much better instrument than their existing model, but also significantly bigger in size. This might not sound like much of a problem, but when you realise that the piano has to fit under the stage, then the challenge becom

UK - After six years of negotiation, Jorge Otero Pailos' artwork, The Ethics of Dust: Westminster Hall was unveiled to the public on 29 June. The artwork, commissioned and produced by Artangel for Westminster Hall, is a 50m long translucent cast of the Hall's internal east wall, revealing how the dust and pollution which have gathered over hundreds of years register a broader environmental history.

To exhibit a piece of such scale in such a precious and delicate building, Artangel contacted Unusual Rigging for advice and expertise in suspending the piece from the Hall's 28m high hammer beam roof without damaging the building in any way.

Michael Morris, co-director at Artangel explained: "Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament and has been in continuous use for nearly a thousand years. Its walls have seen many political events - from the trials of G

UK - Serious Stages designed and manufactured a custom-built scaffolding system along with bespoke specials to accommodate the impressive 1,200m? Crystal Village stage at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) UK, Milton Keynes, 8-10 July.

Serious Stages was tasked with producing a 30m tall by 70m wide stage structure, complete with cascading waterfalls, crystal towers and a giant owl's head, synonymous with this magical event. The EDC owl incorporated 1,000 lighting fixtures, over 400 video tiles, 28 lasers, pyro and 15 CO2 cannons, and Serious Stages was entrusted to ensure the stage could withstand its weight-loading requirements. Serious Stages also designed and built the stages' bespoke crystal towers, to ensure they were structurally sound.

To support the stage set and the three pyro platforms, the Serious Stages scaffolding was constructed using three heavy duty truss system

UK - Power distribution specialist ide Systems has launched ide Online (ideonline.co.uk), an online store where customers can buy power distribution equipment. The user-friendly interface and enhanced navigation ensures online orders are quick and easy. Free delivery is available on all orders and, as an introductory offer, all first time orders will qualify for a five per cent discount.

The range of equipment available to buy on the new website includes power distribution units, automatic transfer switches (ATS), site transformers, single and three-phase power cables ranging from 16A-125A, as well as a wide range of electrical accessories.

The new website will also feature an online exclusive in the form of the Vulcan range. This budget range of power distribution units features a high-visibility orange enclosure, making it ideal for outdoor use.

"We've launched ide O

Singapore - The Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) is a national ceremony held on 9 August 9, Singapore's National Day. This year's theme, Building Our Singapore of Tomorrow inspired the Singapore Armoured Regiment, organising the event, to create a Sky City for its show. ShowTex was involved in building this Sky City representing the future development of Singapore.

ShowTex Hong Kong supplied 15 large set pieces, shaped like buildings, making up the Sky City to represent Singapore's vision for 2065. Of the 15 buildings, 10 were futuristic buildings, measuring up to 35m high and five of them illustrated existing landmark buildings of the Singapore skyline. Each had a footprint of about 5m by 5m.

This large scale project was a major undertaking for which ShowTex tackled multiple challenges. One of the main concerns was the lead time given to design, engineer and man

UK - Continuing their longstanding relationship with the Ricoh Women's British Open, Arena Structures once again provided temporary event structures for the Championship, which this year took place at the prestigious Woburn Golf Club, 28-31 July.

Arena Structures, project manager Matt Clark comments, "This being my first project delivered since joining the company, I am delighted to have joined a team that took the same pride and attention to detail when delivering 25,0000sq.m of event structures at The Open, as they do sporting events with smaller infrastructure needs. It is inspiring to see Arena Structures go above and beyond to support every client, regardless of size, to deliver installations of the highest standards and bespoke creativity, maximising the impact for both the event and sponsor brands."

A total of 5,000sq.m of temporary structures was installed, includi

UK - Members of PLASA attending the 2016 AGM at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire were presented with the Association's plans for the next 12 months.

Ed Pagett, formerly managing director of Panalux Broadcast & Event and current chairman of PLASA's Board has led the organisation through very challenging times. In his speech Ed outlined the many changes that have taken place over the last year including bringing in a new managing director following the departure of former CEO Matthew Griffiths, and the demerge from PLASA North America (which has now returned to its former name of ESTA) after four years. This development, said Ed, although not desired by PLASA, had brought fresh clarity and new opportunities for PLASA, but had also resulted in a financial fallout with the North American organisation that has yet to be resolved.

Ed commented, "My role as Chairman has been to navi

Germany - When the Ehrlich Brothers needed a bit of special production magic to move a giant set of scenic doors smoothly and horizontally on and offstage to top and tail the two acts for their 2016 performance at the Commerzbank Stadium in Frankfurt, their production turned to Belgian automation specialist WIcreations!

Magic - The Unique Stadium Show is the first time that the magician duo has ever played a football stadium and it also signalled the end of a sold-out 120-date arena tour by the Ehrlich brothers in spectacular style.

WI's Geert Stockmans was contacted by production manager Thomas Bartz who was in charge of co-ordinating all the ambitious show's massive automation elements.

The stage was built at one end of the stadium and the production used the massive LED screen already installed for public viewings of Germany's UEFA Euro 2016 soccer championship matc

UK - HSL supplied lighting and rigging to Earth Wind and Fire's recent UK and European tour which included a closing headline slot on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury 2016 as the second show.

Lighting was designed by Merle McLain who has worked with the band for 23 years. He was on the road operating the key and conventional lights and also directing and switching seven robo-cams as well as keeping an overview on all-things visual. Running the moving lights was Robin Seefeldt. Lester Cobrin was HSL's project manager on the road, with everything at the warehouse end managed by Sean McGlone.

Earth Wind and Fire, one of the most successful bands of the 20th century have embraced many musical genres including soul, funk, jazz, hip hop, R'n'B, pop, rock, Latin and African - and have a huge and eclectic fanbase as a result. Their live shows are known for their vibrance and en

UK - Chris Brown's recent One Hell of a Nite UK and European tour featured a production design by Tom E. Marzullo from Out Of Our Minds Creative Services, LLC, developed in collaboration with Christie Lites' Robert Roth and Robert Achlimbari from staging specialist All Access. The design included two lighting pods which were moved using a Kinesys automation system supplied by HSL from Blackburn UK, also the tour's lighting and rigging vendors.

The Kinesys elements comprised eight Elevation 1+ drives working in conjunction with one tonne Liftket motors capable of 12m a minute movement, controlled via Kinesys Vector software operated by Paddy Neilly and the set-up included a Kinesys PD-ES power distribution and Emergency Stop system.

The two lighting pods were both loaded with a 6 x 6 grid of Elation SIXPAR 200s with 16 x Clay Paky Sharpys around the perimeter of each. They

UK - Named in memory of Tony Gottelier, the renowned industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the annual Gottelier Award aims to recognise those product developers who have made significant long-term contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.

Voting in the Gottelier Awards is only open to PLASA Members, registered readers of LSi magazine and pre-registered visitors to PLASA 2016. All will receive an email with a unique code inviting them to place their individual vote via the PLASA Show website. Voting closes on Friday 9 September 2016 and the winner will be announced at the PLASA Show at Olympia, West London, on Monday 19 September.<

China - Production company Stage Tech Limited has discovered the many creative uses of Milos truss and how it can be used to deliver on their customer promise of "highlighting your ideas, enchanting your guests and making special occasions even more memorable".

They have used the Milos M400 range of truss to realize custom installations in various public places in Hong Kong. Among their many creations is a hanging sculpture in Pacific Place shopping mall for its 25th Anniversary celebration and a hanging goat display at the PMQ Goat ARTventure exhibition gallery.

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Date Jonkman from Prolyte recently came to South Africa for the first time, visiting local distributor DWR Distribution and Prolyte users in Johannesburg.

"We met up with a lot of clients, really nice guys," said Date. "I felt very comfortable with them. The funny thing is that typically when you walk into a rental company, no matter if it's based in North of Europe, Holland or Spain, the people are always the same."

Date has been with Prolyte since 2002. "Like many other people in this industry, I was a DJ at the time, playing records and that is how I came to meet the former owner of Prolyte," Date recalls. "We had a beer together and he said I should work for his company."

Robert Izzett from DWR has met with Date many times over the years. "He is an amazing guy and we appreciated the visit," said Robert. Date is temporarily filling in for Paul-Erik Ha

UK / USA - Hoffend LivePipe hoists - Engineering Product of the Year at the 2016 ABTT Show - are now shipping for installation from Hall Stage dealers.

The innovative approach taken to design and operation has led to a faultless installation in Tennessee, completed by BellaTEX Inc. who sent this independent report.

"I have nothing but good things to say about the LivePipe product," says Ty Prewitt. "It offers significant and unique advantages - and showed us it will work in very difficult situations.

"Live Pipe was not only the best solution in this case, but its cost was on par or lower than other options. I believe its appeal will be broad. It can be exceptionally quick to install. Since it doesn't include hoisting a 150Kg motor, 'quick' actually has some validity.

"The assembly and installation process is significantly simpler than any other products I've encoun

USA - Several years ago, J.R. Clancy inspected the rigging at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, Texas, and found it was near the end of its useful life after 48 years. Not surprising, considering the length of operation, the venue's busy schedule and extreme environmental conditions. The Miller's older rigging equipment was also having difficulty handling some very heavy sets. The fact that J.R. Clancy components lasted nearly a half-century is a testament to their quality and regular maintenance.

The Miller is a unique venue - a free, outdoor, full-proscenium theatre; the original facility was built in 1923. Rebuilt in 1968, the Miller now includes a 64' x 41' stage, 54 line sets, orchestra lift and a 100-ton air conditioning system to cool the performance area. Seating is provided for approximately 1,700 patrons, with a sloping lawn that accommodates roughly 4,500 more.

USA - Several years ago, J.R. Clancy inspected the rigging at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, Texas, and found it was near the end of its useful life after 48 years. The Miller's older rigging equipment was having difficulty handling some heavy sets, but the J.R. Clancy components had lasted nearly half a century thanks to their quality and regular maintenance.

The Miller is a unique venue - a free, outdoor, full-proscenium theatre; the original facility was built in 1923. Rebuilt in 1968, the Miller now includes a 64ft x 41ft stage, 54 line sets, orchestra lift and a 100-ton air conditioning system to cool the performance area. Seating is provided for approximately 1,700 patrons, with a sloping lawn that accommodates roughly 4,500 more.

To assist with the renovation, J.R. Clancy turned to Beck Studios, a long-standing J.R. Clancy dealer. "It's a great partnership,"

UK - Star Events turns 40 today, 26 August 2016, with its commitment to invention, safety and best practice the key to all the candles on the birthday cake.

Founded by Roger Barrett and Maddy Sheals as touring sound specialist Star Hire, the company's first contract, in 1976, was with singer/songwriter Carol Grimes. Star went on to provide for the likes of Split Enz, the Rock Against Racism tour of 1979 and Miles Davis in a similar capacity.

Star Hire stages made their debut at Notting Hill Carnival 1983, Barrett, and Sheals who retired in 2014, determined they could make a better, safer job of it than the platforms then available to them as a PA supplier.

Later the same decade, Star formalised its interest in improving standards, writing a technical safety guide for the National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA). Star Mobile platforms were patented in 1989 and the Ver

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