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NEW YORK — In their acceptance speeches, Spring Awakening’s Michael Mayer, winner for Director (Musical) and Kevin Adams, Lighting Design (Musical) winner, supported the creation of a Tony award honoring Sound Design — a category many feel has been neglected for far too long. The musical Spring Awakening was the clear winner at the 61st annual Tony Awards on Sunday June 10, picking up eight awards, including the Tony for Best Musical. Tom Stoppard’s three-part epic The Coast of Utopia also did well, winning Best Play and six other Tonys.

A complete list of the awards follows:

CHICAGO — Wrigley Field, home to Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, recently upgraded the ballpark’s audio system, incorporating Crown CT Series amplifiers loaded with Harman Pro HiQnet-compatible network control modules. The Cubs organization has been updating the audio system at Wrigley as part of a multiple-phase expansion project, upgrading amplifiers to units with more power as speakers are replaced. Dallas-based design and consulting firm Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) was brought in as the consultant on the project with Advent Systems of nearby Elmhurst serving as the contractor.

MEMPHIS, TN — FOH was on hand for the start of the annual Memphis event called the Beale Street Music Festival, hanging out with Allstar Audio’s president Mike Borne and the rest of the crew. (You can see the video interview at www.fohonline.com under FOH Press.) As part of the Memphis in May International Festival, the Beale Street Music Festival, along with the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the Sunset Symphony, are all spread across 33 acres overlooking the Mississippi River. This year’s rock portion of the festival hosted over 45 national acts from Steely Dan to Corinne Bailey Rae over three large stages. Contractor Allstar Audio Systems, Inc., along with crew chief Tony “Coop” Cooper selected D.A.S. Audio equipment for the event.

Powersoft introduces the K20 digital amplification system, measuring only one rack space, yet capable of producing 20,000 watts. Powersoft’s regulated Switch Mode Power Supply with Power Factor Correction (PFC) is designed so that 95% of the power goes to the speakers, and less than 5% is dissipated in heat. Because the K20 is a single space design and intended to run cool, no spaces are required between amps. The amp’s reduced size should also result in space-efficient racking and cost-effective truck pack.

TOA Electronics Inc. is launching two new models for their DA Series multichannel digital amplifiers at the 2007 Infocomm trade show June 15 – June 21 in Anaheim, Calif.

Nady Systems has introduced two new powered subwoofers — the PSW 18A and the stereo powered SSW-15A.

LAS VEGAS —Shure microphones took the stage for a majority of the performances at the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards. For the event, Randy Faustino was at the FOH mix position, and there were an array of Shure microphones onstage. ATK Audiotek of Burbank, Calif., managed sound reinforcement for the star-studded gathering, supplying Shure UHF-R Wireless mics.

MEDFORD, OR — Joy Christian Fellowship in Medford, Ore., announced that it is one of the first houses of worship to install Meyer Sound’s M’elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker. Music minister Jake Schmelzer chose the Meyer system because of his experiences at the Britt Festivals in nearby Jacksonville, for which George Relles Sound of Eugene, Ore., has provided a Meyer Sound rental system every summer since 1985.