Installations

Sitting, literally, under the stage of the Auditorium at the Community of Christ's international headquarters in Independence, Mo., event media systems coordinator Bob Haworth is thinking about the changes he's seen at the place where he's worked for the past 40 years.

Shortly after the installation of an all new set of racks and stacks at the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium last spring, production manager Tony Bova and his staff started to hear a curious observation from the venue's season ticket holders. "People thought it was too quiet," Bova remarks with a laugh. "That's an interesting reversal in the complaint department, but it's been a nice change and everyone has noticed the improvement."

As the owners of Victory Brewing Company are fond of pointing out, American beer has been the butt of many a European joke. Since starting out 12 years ago, the Downingtown, Penn.-based company has made great strides toward refuting that stereotype, with more than 15 of the company’s acclaimed brews garnering rave reviews and a reputation far beyond that of a typical microbrewery.

Say what you will about the tired adage “everything’s bigger in Texas,” but there’s at least one man in the Lone Star State who has made it his life’s passion to keep it fresh. That man? Jerry Jones, the main brain (and wallet) behind the Dallas Cowboys. Those who work for him, or around him, call him “The Owner.” Football fans have other, sometimes colorful, names for him.

When Bret Lambert, owner of Procure Distributing in Owasso, Okla., walked into the University Heights Baptist Church earlier this year, he was a bit surprised. It wasn’t the complete gutting and rebuilding of the church’s sanctuary, not the expanse of musical styling that the members perform or the fact that so much happens in this Stillwater church that they had to update their PA. No, what surprised him was what was already installed.

You hear many great things when you get the call to work on a brand new installation. When Lee Dennison, project manager at Delta Sound in Surrey, U.K. picked up the phone, though, he did not hear many great things. First, the client let him know the space he’d be working in was in the middle of a 43-acre site, that it was in a shopping center and that the location’s construction called for glass ceilings and marble floors. Oh, and there was no time or inclination to add any kind of aural treatments to the space.

Long before Billy Joel hit the first notes on his piano during the inaugural date at The Show, a new venue at the Agua Caliente Casino, Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Kevin Rummel was walking into a meeting to fine tune the room’s audio, lighting and projection systems.

Music fans around the world would be hard pressed to name a venue that’s had the history that the Whisky a Go Go has had since its opening on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in 1964. Indeed, the famed club has hosted a virtual who’s who of rock and roll royalty that starts at The Byrds and The Doors in the 1960s, runs through The Kinks and The Who and continues with such bands as Roxy Music, Nirvana, Soundgarden and The Police.

Those seeking subtlety should drive right through the 702 area code and head east another 1,200 miles or so until the Topeka town limits are in sight. Then again, those looking to be dazzled should pull right up in front of The Mirage and wait for the newly reworked volcano feature to fire.

James Elizondo has been a member and staffer at the Las Vegas International Church for eight years now. Over the years, he has seen four different PAs go up, including the recently completed move from D.A.S. Aero 48s to a hang that includes D.A.S. Aero 28as, Variant 25as and ST 215 subs.

The latest system is quite an upgrade from the first PA he found when originally attending services. “It was homemade from a guy in Reno,” Elizondo starts. “He specialized in car audio and he made something like I’ve never seen before, it was the most gigantic looking contraption of a speaker you’ve ever seen."

Performance Audio’s Craig Hylton admits with a laugh that he has spent more time watching the Utah Jazz in person this season than he has in recent memory. It helps that Hylton is both a basketball fan and that he can call his appearances at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City a work gig. “The team had a rough start,” he says, “but it’s fun to go to the games. I’m still learning what their needs are and how to tune the system.”

Long before Le Poisson Rouge opened its doors this past summer, the building located at 158 Bleecker Street in Manhattan was home to the legendary Village Gate. It was at this club where Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus and Allen Ginsberg performed their magic until it closed down in the late ‘90s.