There‘s a Spyder in the bowling alley and bowlers are delighted! Vista Systems‘ Spyder is at the heart of the sophisticated AV display spanning the lanes at Pinstrikes, the bowling component of the first IPic Entertainment complex at the Bayshore Mall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

IPic Entertainment, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, is a new entertainment complex offering luxury movie theaters, casual elegant dining, stylish bowling and a high-energy bar to neighborhoods across the US. Pinstrikes, in Bayshore, features 11 bowling lanes. more

Stage Research, Inc., the developer of audio, sound design and lighting software, will hold a one-day training session in Houston to introduce sound designers to SFX 6, the new version of the company‘s leading live entertainment sound playback software. The session will take place March 19 in the Hilton Americas hotel.

“Sound designers worldwide have adopted SFX so we‘ve scheduled this training session for the new SFX 6 software the day before we exhibit at the USITT Trade Show for the convenience of convention-goers,” says Carlton Guc who is partnered with Brad Rembielak in Stage Research. more

Medialon Manager V4 Pro scored at the Opening Ceremony of the 13th World Soft Tennis Championship in Anseong, South Korea where it controlled sound, video and special effects in a three-minute multimedia show.

The six-day tournament, held last September, was hosted by the International Soft Tennis Federation, which welcomed players from 40 countries. Soft tennis is a fast-moving racquet sport, played in singles and doubles matches, primarily in Asia. It features a rubber ball, which is filled with air and is quite soft; but it can be hit extremely hard which makes for exciting game play. more

Dynamite FX, a system integrator of sound, light, video and automation, has selected Look Solutions‘ Unique2 haze machine for the extensive AV packages it supplies to a worldwide bowling chain. The package provides music video playback, digital signage and lighting effects to enhance the bowling experience.

“We don‘t have to put more than one or two Uniques in most locations because the system‘s fan covers a large area, and Unique has a nice variable output,” says Mike Bovino, President of Dynamite FX. “We want to generate just enough haze to make the light beams visible — we don‘t want too much. With Unique, we can really control the amount of output. We send out a little haze, it carries and stays out for a long period of time.” more

Medialon, thanks to the Greece-based integrator TELMACO, marks its first installation in Greece with the integration of a pair of Medialon Manager Pro show control systems at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW) in Athens. FHW is a not-for-profit cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of Hellenic history and tradition.

In March 2006, FHW’s Cultural Center completed construction of the Tholos, a building housing a Virtual Reality system with a capacity of 130 people. Medialon controls the AV equipment for the Preshow and Tholos areas and is responsible for the operation of four plasma displays used for signage throughout the Center. more

The show may have been called “Clash of the Choirs” but it was all sweet music with the grandMA controlling the lighting for the new NBC series. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of the grandMA in North America.

“Clash of the Choirs” featured five music celebrities — Nick Lachey, Patti LaBelle, Blake Shelton, Michael Bolton and Kelly Rowland — who assembled amateur choirs in their hometowns. The choirs performed on four consecutive nights in the week leading up to Christmas with viewers eliminating groups as the nights wore on. Lachey‘s Cincinnati-based choir emerged the winner taking home $250,000 for the Cincinnati Children‘s Hospital. more

Look Solutions‘ CRYO-FOG low-fog system is contributing to the theatrical magic of Disney‘s “Beauty and the Beast” now enjoying an open-ended run in Mexico City. Four CRYO-FOG machines are used throughout the show as low smoke in forest scenes and around the castle exterior.

“Ten years ago ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ opened in Mexico City with four liquid nitro machines,” recalls Nic Phillips, the show‘s technical advisor and programmer. “It was the first big musical for the producers and Disney‘s first in Latin America. When they moved it to Spain all the equipment went with it. Since then this production and it‘s equipment has been touring the world. Now back in Mexico for the tenth anniversary, the producers asked me to replace some equipment, including liquid nitrogen low smoke machines which were actually dangerous.” more

Stage Research, Inc., the developer of audio, sound design and lighting software, is pleased to announce that its SFX software, for creating reliable and enriched soundscapes, is being used by the innovative BLUE MAN GROUP in its shows in Las Vegas, Orlando, Berlin, Oberhausen, Tokyo and Stuttgart.

The BLUE MAN GROUP‘s production team taps SFX for multitrack music and audio playback and sound effects during their sell-out shows. “It‘s been great,” reports Matt Koenig, sound supervisor for BLUE MAN Productions. “SFX was easy to get going and manage, and it‘s easy to make changes with the software — something we do frequently during the tech process. SFX gives us the flexibility to set up screens, pages, playlists and cue lists and revise them quickly and easily.” more

When Swedish Film (SF) decided to build the most inventive and modern cinema complex in Europe, Filmstaden Bergakungen in Gothenburg, they also wanted a restaurant, bar and café which would be an attraction in itself, not just a complement to the cinema. With that in mind, SF teamed with Primetec AB and concept developer Stylt Trampoli to create Danilo restaurant, bar and café where a Medialon ManagerV4 Lite orchestrates lights, sound and moving images. more

Stage Research, Inc., the developer of audio, sound design and lighting software, will hold two one-day training sessions in London to introduce UK-based sound designers to SFX 6, the new version of the company‘s leading live entertainment sound playback software. The training sessions will take place January 29 and 30, 2008 at the renowned Central School of Speech and Drama located in central London. more