Wilkesboro, N.C.⎯Held on the grounds of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina April 23-26, MerleFest celebrated its 22nd year with four days of music over 11 stages: Americana, Austin Songwriting, Cabin, Creekside, Dance, The Pit, Watson, Walker Center, Hillside, Little Pickers, and The Lounge, with a couple of ‘just get up and pick’ stages. more

BRANSON, Missouri⎯The Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, MO is celebrating its 20th year as an entertainment venue, recently adding a Yamaha M7CL digital audio console to mark the occasion. With 39 hit songs under his belt, Gilley, who built the theatre back in 1989, placed 17 of the 39 songs at the number one spot on the country music charts. The theatre, which seats 1,000 people, plays host to Gilley himself five nights a week as well as an afternoon comedy show featuring Joey Riley. The venue has welcomed many entertainers over the years including Les Brown Jr. and the Band of Renown, Bob Anderson, and Johnny Lee, to name a few. more

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J.⎯Sound company ACIR Professional (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) sponsored a day of training classes held by Yamaha Commercial Audio Training Seminars (YCATS) in early April for customers wanting more hands-on training on three of the Company’s most successful digital audio products. YCATS training manager, Jose Perez, spent the morning session on the Yamaha PM5D console with the afternoon dedicated to both the M7CL and LS9 digital audio consoles. ACIR provided six of their Yamaha consoles for training purposes. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. has announced a major software upgrade to its successful M7CL-32 and 48-channel digital mixing consoles. The Yamaha M7CLv2 software incorporates features requested by thousands of Yamaha console users worldwide including Global Paste, enabling simultaneous editing of multiple scenes, and Matrix Sends on Fader, providing access to 24 mix buses. more

Baltimore, Md.⎯ Recher Theatre located in Towson, Maryland opened in 1929 as a movie theater and today is one of the few live venues of its kind serving the rock population of Baltimore. In 1959, the Recher family purchased what was known as The Towson Theatre and continued its operation as a single screen movie theater until it closed in 1992. In 1996, the three Recher brothers, Brian, Steve and Scott, re-opened the building as Rec-Room Billiards. With its incredible acoustics and tapered design, it wasn’t long before the inevitable was observed: a natural venue for live music. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯In conjunction with co-sponsors Shure, Martin Lighting, Media Shout and Yamaha Corporation of America, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. will host a training opportunity open to all church technicians who seek in-depth knowledge in the areas of audio and recording during the Worship Arts Technology Summit (WATS) to be held June 8-10 on the campus of Biola University in LaMirada, CA. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯The Yamaha Commercial Audio Training Seminars (YCATS) group will hold its two-day Digital Sound Reinforcement (DSR) 101 class on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 5 and 6 in Nashville. Sponsored in part by Shure Microphones, the class provides complete audio system design and networking solutions and will focus on set up techniques ranging from microphones to large-scale speakers. Topics include: gain construction, attenuator settings, and SPL estimation. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯2008 focused on every aspect of Steve Miller’s multi-faceted music, from solo acoustic numbers and hard driving Chicago Blues, to R&B and his own classics, always including his top ten hits, “The Jokerâ€?, “Rock ‘n Meâ€?, “Fly Like An Eagleâ€?, and “Jet Airlinerâ€?. Miller heads back out on tour this May with his band featuring blues singer Sonny Charles, Norton Buffalo (who’s been with Steve for over 30 years) on Harmonicas, Kenny Lee Lewis on guitars, Billy Peterson on Bass, Gordy Knutsen on Drums, and Joseph Wooten on keyboards. And, the band’s monitor engineer, Ira Malek, will be taking a Yamaha PM5D out along for the run. more

TAMPA, Florida─ESI Audio, formerly E-Tech Systems of Tampa, Florida, recently purchased 24 NEXO GEO T line array speakers and eight S2 subs bringing their total arsenal of NEXO speakers to 72. Founded in 1996, ESI Audio provides audio production for live events, concerts and corporate events. The company recently provided full audio production for SeaWorld (Orlando) New Year’s Eve celebration supplying two hangs of seven Geo-T 4805′s with two Geo-T 2815 downfills and four S2′s (two per side), as well as the ‘Bud & BBQ’ event for Budweiser supplying seven NEXO 4805s, two 2815s, and four CD18s per side. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯Every year, Break Forth Ministries holds conferences and all-day intensive workshops throughout North America and Europe, and this year Break Forth Canada 2009 was held January 30-February 1 in Edmonton, Alberta. The events at Break Forth have been experiencing explosive growth over the years with over 15,000 attending the largest equipping and renewal conference in North America. more