FOH online.com NEWSROOM

11/16/05 05:50pm pst
Parnelli Awards Ceremony Held at LDI

ORLANDO, FL—"Welcome to the 5th Annual Parnelli Awards,” said FOH publisher and Parnelli Award dinner host Terry Lowe. And thus began LDI/ETS convention’s most anticipated event. Held this year at the beautiful Rosen Centre, live event professionals came to honor this year’s top performers in 18 categories. Additionally, emotional highlights included bestowing achievement awards on Patrick Stansfield and Bruce Jackson.

“Tonight, the production community comes together to honor its own,” Lowe said in his introduction. He pointed out that the industry’s influence could be found in the way we worship, how we present our political leaders, at tradeshows, and “all the way to retail. Many of those pioneers who developed the technology and methodology of our industry are here with us tonight.”

Appropriately, Roy Clair of Clair Bros was on hand to present Bruce Jackson with the 2005 Parnelli Innovator Award. FOH editor Bill Evans, with sound engineer Buford Jones, came next, presenting the Sound Company of the Year award to Clair Brothers.

An evening highlight came next when well-respected Dave “Rat” Levine of Rat Sound received the FOH Mixer of the Year honor for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Rat received one of the biggest laughs of the night when he said: “I spent my career making sure I’m not in front of the mic when the audience is in the house, and here you go and do this to me.”

Monitor Mixer of the Year went to Dave Skaff for his impressive work with U2, and Evans and Jones presented the Parnelli to Mid-America Sound for Regional Sound Company of the Year.

One of the biggest highlights was when a
special video tribute to Patrick Stansfield from the current Neil Diamond crew, including Diamond himself, was shown. In presenting the lifetime achievement award to Stansfield, Michael Chugg said the respected production and tour manager “exemplifies all that is great about our industry.”

An eloquent and humbled Stansfield received a standing ovation, and graciously thanked the many who worked with him over his long successful career which included an amazing quarter century with Diamond in addition to working with Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan, and many more.

“The fashion plate of the audio industry,” Shadoan presented the Coach Company of the Year award to Ziggy’s Custom Coaches and the Trucking Company of the Year to Upstaging.

Publisher Lowe was later joined by Peter Morse, and the two presented a pair of the most highly anticipated awards of the show. Jake Berry received the Production Manager of the Year honor for his work with U2, while David Milam of Toby Keith received Tour Manager of the Year.

Lowe thanked all the Parnelli sponsors, without whom the evening and the contributions to the Parnelli Education Fund for Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien’s three children would not be possible: All Access, Apollo, ASI, Brown United, Littlite, Paradise, Martin, PRG, Robe, Rock-It Cargo, and Techni-Lex. The multi-media award dinner was produced by Kent Black.

For more information, visit www.parnelliawards.com.