David W. Robinson, a portrait. Tiberius, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022 (Photograph by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson)
Sunday during the LAOC AS Gala is the main gathering of the audioclan. Running from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., it's five solid hours of drinks and a quality buffet lunch, followed by the awards presentations, and concluding with the Gala raffle. Attendance was down somewhat this year, which is not too surprising given the tripledemic of COVID, flu, and RSV currently raging in southern CA. Regardless, those who were there had a great time...
More photographic moments follow.
Gala time, and getting ready to start: LAOC AS Exec VP Carolyn Counnas and LAOC AS President/CEO Allen Taylor.
Group photograph of the leadership team at the LAOC AS. Minus the photographer...me...who was making this photograph.
Abey Fonn of Impex Records, winner of the Audiophile Recording of the Year Award (ARYA) for new albums, with her husband Bob. Her winning title was Saturday Night in San Francisco, a truly brilliant LP and SACD set.
John Atkinson, recipient of the LAOC AS Founders' Award for 2022, chats with LAOC AS Senior VP at Large Ray Kimber of Kimber Kables.
My portraits of the LAOC Gala are never complete without one of EveAnna Manley of Manley Labs.
Done!
Also in attendance: my good audio friend and gifted audio/mastering engineer Joe Harley of AudioQuest Music. Check out the Tone Poet series to see how brilliant Joe's work is!
John Atkinson enjoying a conversation with audio friend and former colleague Michael Fremer of The Absolute Sound and The Tracking Angle. EveAnna digs it all!
Holger Stein, CEO/Lead Designer of Stein Music, and also Senior Vice President Industry Relations, Europe for the LAOC AS. Holger was the winner of the Counnas Innovation Award for 2023.
A Positive Feedback veteran: Dean Seislove. He is also a member of the LAOC AS ARYA committee, where I serve as Chairman.
Long-time audio friend Hajime Sato, who serves as Executive Vice President and Secretary for the LAOC AS.
Mike Wechsberg, past President/CEO of the LAOC AS, now fulfilling the role of Executive Vice President for Lifetime Members.
Now here's a portrait...a real moment! Another good audio friend, J. C. (Chip) Moore, who is the Executive Vice President for Programming with the LAOC AS.
A portrait of Paul Seydor, VP at Large for the society, a member of the LAOC AS ARYA committee, and also a contributor to The Absolute Sound.
Another long-time Positive Feedback audio friend: Roger S. Gordon, a moment.
After the banquet lunch comes the LAOC AS Gala Raffle. Once again, Michael Fremer and I co-hosted this final portion of this year's event. Here we see Michael with Bill Lowe of AudioQuest, with some AQ cables being offered up as prizes. Somebody won them!