"Friends of Gungi" Launches on Web

LAS VEGAS — Ray Amico, a production/tour manager, has launched a new Web site called Friends of Gungi to benefit Gordon "Gungi" Paterson, an engineer and tour and production manager who has worked with such acts as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Live, System of a Down, Tears for Fears and most recently, Fiona Apple, and who was diagnosed with cancer last summer.

WASHINGTON — From Wednesday, January 24, through Friday, January 26, representatives from Shure Incorporated, the Grand Ole Opry, the Professional Audio Manufacturer's Alliance (PAMA), the Sports Video Group (SVG), PRG Audio, Springboard Productions, Masque Sound and Sound Associates, Inc., among others, participated in a series of meetings in Washington, D.C. with U.S. Senators, members of the House of Representatives and Commissioners and staff at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

ROSWELL, GA — While in the process of shifting from a more traditional style to a more blended style of worship, the people of Northbrook United Methodist Church began to notice that their audio system wasn't capable of handling the change, so the church enlisted the help of Ronnie Stanford, systems advisor for dB Audio and Video, Gainesville, Ga., a company that provides installations for schools, government agencies and businesses, in addition to churches.

ANAHEIM, CA — SLS Loudspeakers recently introduced its RLA/4 (LS7500) full-range, bi-amped true line source array module at Winter NAMM 2007. The RLA/4 was developed for applications from permanent sound reinforcement installations in churches, auditoriums, arenas and performing arts centers, to a professional portable PA system.

LAKE SILJAN, SWEDEN — Approximately 360 million years ago, a meteorite (roughly four km in diameter) collided with our planet about 280 kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden, and the modern day result of this impact is Lake Siljan, home to the music venue Dalhalla. (The name is a deliberate reference to Valhalla, home to the gods of Norse legend.)

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The musical/stand-up comedy show, Funny Business, running at Minneapolis' Hennepin Stages Theatre, has switched sound reinforcement over to Sennheiser's HSP4 hands-free headmics.

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, WASH — Symetrix, Inc, provider of signal processing technology for the installed sound, broadcast and recording markets, has appointed manufacturer representative Audio Geer to promote its products in southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona.

COSTA MESA, CA — Key changes were made in senior management at QSC effective January 22, 2007, when Joe Pham began serving as the company's chief operating officer. As the new COO, Pham took over an office long occupied by John Andrews, who will move to jointly share the duties of CEO with brother Barry Andrews. Pham, a UCLA graduate with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, will report directly to Barry and John Andrews within the new corporate hierarchy. His duties will include day-to-day management of sales, marketing, R&D, operations, human resources, finance and strategy. Currently serving QSC in a dual capacity as CEO and senior VP of sales and marketing, Barry Andrews will in turn relinquish all sales and marketing responsibilities, and the position of senior VP of sales and marketing will be effectively eliminated. Within the new order, QSC founder and chief designer Pat Quilter will continue to steer research and development on QSC's amplifiers.

LONDON — For Daddy Cool, which has been running at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Richard Brooker's audio design deploys a combination of Cadac analog and digital mixing equipment, with an 82-input J-Type Live Production Console and a Digital Series Stage Rack, using D16 Digital Mix Matrices and M16 remote controlled microphone amplifiers. He is also using a large-scale Opus Audio PA system.

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Robbie Williams recently played the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile as part of his current "Close Encounters" world tour, and a crowd of 50,000 people came to see and hear the English pop artist and songwriter, whose career began as a member of the band Take That. As part of the celebration of its 90 years in the nation, Citibank was the official sponsor of the concert in coordination with CIE Chile.

ANAHEIM, CA — The new AKG Acoustics C5 and D5 vocal microphones feature transducer technology with maximum isolation of handling noise to deliver reproduction of vocals in venues ranging from small clubs to large concert stages.