This page is a chronological catalog of the last years news stories from WCSL and the industry in general, cataloged from latest to oldest. This page can get a bit long, so if your machine runs out of memory and you get an "X" instead of a picture, simply hit the "refresh" button on your browser. Click on photos to enlarge them to high resolution when available.

Rob Gainey's Rockin' Your Stage Sound is now available as a pre-order from Amazon and Borders. The book features photo contributions from WCSL and commentary and instruction by WCSL's Paul Doty, as well as a virtual who's who of the professional music industry. Available in Borders and music stores everywhere Oct. 10th.

Elements, the long awaited 2 CD debut of rock super group Yoso debuts across America July 27th with it's related world tour to follow. Once again joined by WCSL's CEO Paul Doty as tour manager and FOH engineer, Yoso, made of members from both YES & Toto, will cross the US this summer then head to Europe in late summer/fall. WCSL to provide production on select dates in 2010. You can follow Yoso on their Facebook page, website at yosohq.com and MySpace.

The new Slim Man CD "Thousand Miles Away" entered the mastering stage today in the capable hands of Grammy Award Winner Charlie Pilzer. The new album will feature "Now and Forever", a live single recorded by WCSL's Paul Doty. The album is set for a July release.

After taking a few months off to allow show host Paul Doty to tour, The AudPod returns next week with all new shows and an all new format. "Keeping up with a weekly show this year was going to be next to impossible" stated Paul this week. Many options were discussed from retiring the show after 140 episodes to changing the format of the program. WCSL has opted to "post when able" rather than put the podcast on the shelf entirely. KRVR's Roman Guzman has come on board in a greater support roll as reoccurring guest host and co-host to help produce shows. Other options for the new format being considered this month is a change in the AudPod bumper music. "The last thing anyone wanted to see is the AudPod go away simply because of Paul's busy schedule." commented Roman last week during a studio session at WCSL's production studio. "I'm happy to support any way I can to help keep the ball rolling. I think the new format idea is a great one." Log on to The AudPod's home page to see the current schedule of new shows.

Long time WCSL friend Andre DeLorenzo passed away last night following apparent heart problems. Andre was a life long supporter of the arts and a good friend of WCSL CEO Paul Doty & family. Paul worked along side Andre numerous times over the last decade while working on productions in the Atlanta Georgia area. Andre promoted the arts with a passion and was a guest of WCSL's podcast "The AudPod" on a number of occasions. All of us that knew Andre have lost a member of our community and family. Click here to listen to Andre on The AudPod. Check the AudPod home page for other episodes with Andre.

4/13/10 WCSL clients Bloodgood named 2010 inductee's into the Christian Music Hall Of Fame

We are honored to announce that WCSL friends and clients Bloodgood have been named as 2010 Christian Music Hall of Fame inductees. “We believe these artists are most deserving to be recognized for their outstanding contributions to not only Christian music, but for their ministries as well,” states Andy Woolard, Director of Operations for the Christian Music Hall of Fame. “We are excited to pay tribute to the great careers these artists have had and those who continue to encourage others with their music and ministries.”

This past Easter, WCSL CEO & CFO Paul & Leslie Doty paid a surprise visit to clients Fountain Of Truth in Fontana California to take in their Easter production. Fountain Of Truth features a WCSL engineered and installed 7 cluster line array hang as well as extensive lighting and video. "It was great to see one of our installations in the hands of creative individuals." Commented Paul on Monday. "FOT's extensive lighting and sound rival many theater installations. To see everything in action was defiantly rewarding." The in-house sound, video, and lighting crew was unaware of WCSL's presence until the crew received a standing ovation at the end of the performance, and the staff turned around to acknowledge them. "We didn't want to let anyone know we were there until the end. we just wanted to enjoy the congregation enjoying the performance. And enjoy they did." FOT also features an extensive seismic bracing system engineered by WCSL due to the regions proneness to continual earthquakes. Coincidently, the system was tested as a 7.2 earthquake happened south of Southern California and rolled through the area that very afternoon while the Doty's were still in the area.. As expected, the hang structure performed exactly to spec.

WCSL's annual April 1st Edition drew more than 7X the hits over last years one day edition. WCSL's Leslie Doty attributes the growth mostly to social networking sights like Facebook. The April fools front page featuring, well, basically, nonsense, has become a staple at wcsl.org. The company website has continually walked on the weird side for the past five years. Dating back to 2005, the site has poked fun at all corners of the industry and ourselves, from manufactures, to employees, to running gags spread over numerous years, like the fictitious and infamous "Neptune Finalizer", an evil piece of audio gear capable of everything from rearranging the DNA of a human, to literally swallowing entire states. Anything is fair game on April 1st. The page is gone now, but lives in the wcsl.org archives to be seen for years to come. You can access all the April 1st editions of wcsl.org by visiting our humor page by clicking here.

Back in the day when WCSL was touring with two of Christian Metal's biggest heavyweights, Bloodgood and Barren Cross, a media mainstay of the day was White Throne Magazine. The 80's era may be long gone but we are very happy to see White Throne back, modernized, and in the digital online world. Your invited to visit the White Throne Metal Reviews blog at http://whitethronereviews.blogspot.com/ Welcome back guys! You've been missed.

Bad Religion's 30th anniversary tour rolls through Southern California this week with multiple dates all featuring WCSL projection. The iconic group sought an addition to it's tour to commemorate 30 years of in your face punk. The solution is a trip down memory lane, or in the case of BR, it's more like a four lane freeway, with visuals from the past 30 years featured as part of the stage show. WCSL's Wes White serves as the tours live switcher and video op.

WCSL's Paul Doty will travel to Germany next week with Yoso to serve as tour manager and FOH at the 2010 Frankfurt Music Festival. This years festival will feature performances by Simply Red, Alicia Keys, The Scorpions, and Whitney Houston. "Think of the Messe Frankfurt as NAMM on steroids." said Paul on Monday. There are over 200 performances at the festival this year. We are honored to have been asked to showcase at this prestigious event. Watch for photos and video from the Messe here at wcsl.org as well as on our wcsl Facebook page, and the YOSO fan page on Facebook.

WCSL will be on the road with punk rock legends Bad Religion helping the group celebrate 30 years in the industry. The 2010 World Tours kicks off with an unprecedented relentless barrage of dates in Southern California's House Of Blues, back to back, every night, March 17-April 17. WCSL is supplying video projection during the shows that will feature a trip through 30 years of band history. After the stellar kick off month in SoCal the tour takes to the world with dates in Germany, Amsterdam, Milan, and Rome. More dates and countries to be added for the remainder of 2010. The group will also be recording a live album that it will offer to it's hard core fans as a free download of the tour. WCSL will post photos from the tour on it's site as well on the WCSL Facebook page. Click here to go to the official Bad Religion 30 Year Website.

Back by popular demand, wcsl.org will once again embrace the weird side of the entertainment industry as we celebrate April Fools day for at least 24 hours. Two years ago we took a break from the online April 1st edition and did a special April 1st episode of the AudPod. While we continue to this day to receive fan emails on the AudPod Bafoonary, Many emails came in the weeks that followed April 1st chastising us for skipping that year online. So,once again, we're back with all the idiocracy you've come to expect from years past. New to wcsl.org in the last two years? Have no idea what were talking about? Click the following links to see the April 1st editions from years past. Click here for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 (audio), 2009.

WCSL clients Yoso have launched their new website at http://www.yosohq.com . The site will be expanding over the next few weeks to include an online store. The launch comes just before the release of the bands debut self titled album. Watch for Yoso on tour in 2010 with WCSL production and staff.

While many companies regroup and downsize in a struggling economy, WCSL see's opportunity and expands. New for 2010 is a larger Northern California facility for the company and a major expansion on it's power amp inventory. WCSL recently took order of 60,000 watts of the new Crown Xti series 6000watt power amps to drive its inventory of JBL Vertec speakers. "We've been using our existing inventory of Crest amps from the various MLA3 rigs to power over the last year, and that's been fine." commented WCSL CEO Paul Doty last week. "However, with multiple stages, festivals, and events happening simultaneously on the 2010 calendar, it became clear it was time to expand." The Crown amplification package was chosen on performance, dependability, and price, in that order. The company also noted a substantial savings potential in the fact that the amps are "smart amps" with built in processing. "This also makes our set ups faster" noted Paul. The company built one prototype rack earlier in the year and also plans to add to this inventory before the start of the summer season.

The first phase of the new wcsl.org renovation went into effect this week with the launching of it's interactive Facebook page. "This year will bring a new look to the website and more interactivity" stated WCSL webmaster and CEO Paul Doty. "In 2010 we move into a much more web 2.0 existence. We've opened up the Facebook page for clients, fans, and employees to interact. The main site at wcsl.org will simplify greatly this year with an estimated 90% size reduction. Show photos and the like will migrate to the Facebook site so people can be more interactive with the company. Employees will now be able to help keep the content current, even those without web development skills." So pop over to WCSL on Facebook and don't just enjoy WCSL on the web, be part of it. Search "West Coast Sound & Light" on Facebook and become a fan!

The Modesto Bee

B92.9FM does a great community service every year in presenting its annual all-ages Acoustic Christmas show. Tonight's sell-out concert included everyone from young children to grandmothers, with a healthy helping of teens. Who says you have to be over 21 to see top acts? I was only able to attend part of the show because of another holiday engagement but I was happy I got to see my favorite act - Ingrid Michaelson - perform her lovely hit "What I Am." She turned it into a contest trying to see if she could get the audience to clap in certain parts and then stop when she cut them off. The audience had mixed results. She sounded great throughout her set, showing off a beautiful, sweet voice. Also showing off superior vocal skills was the next act - Coldplay-soundalike Mat Kearney. His song "Breathe In, Breathe Out" was so arresting it was hard to believe the sounds were coming from only him and one other musician. Sorry in advance to Third Eye Blind fans but I was less than impressed with that group, which was the headliner. Lead singer Stephen Jenkins just doesn't have even close to as good a voice as the other two. He sounded strained during a few of the songs. Unfortunately, I missed the two opening groups - Green River Ordinance and A Fine Frenzy.

- Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan

Stephan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind headlines B92.9FM's annual Acoustic Christmas tonight at The Modesto Centre Plaza. The event has become an annual tradition to start the holiday season for WCSL and Modesto. The hugely popular show is an annual sell out.

The transition from WCSL's old long time home to it's new digs is almost complete. "You can imagine the size of such an endeavor to move a large company with it's equipment inventory and offices to a new location" commented CEO Paul Doty Wednesday. "We're almost completely back up and running after just a few short days. The staff was incredible on the changeover and really stepped up to the plate to get the job done...while prepping for three event days this week! Telephone and internet was only down for two days, an incredible feat for AT&T to have us back up so fast as well!"

On this Thanksgiving day 2009 we are thankful for the facility that has served us well over the past decade. Through these doors we've loaded trucks for thousands of event days and hundreds of clients, but now it's time to say goodbye. Last night we closed the last business day at 1019 N Emerald Ave. at the Northern California Corporate office of West Coast Sound & Light, bringing an end to an era in our companies history. This little building in Modesto watched WCSL go from a small local sound & light provider to an international touring and installation company, but now expansion demands we abandon our friend that has served us for all these years. Next week WCSL opens it's doors in a larger facility with five times the office space. Now we take a few days before the hard work of reopening begins, and we take time to pause with our families, and look back on the last quarter century of WCSL, and thank God for the gift he has so richly blessed us with, the ability and the means to make a living practicing a craft that we all love. On this day we're also thankful for all the faithful clients who have stood by us for all these years as we've made our best attempt to live up to our promise....."Faith Comes By Hearing"

WCSL has learned that one of four tours busses on the current Miley Cyrus Tour has crashed and one crew member, the driver, has been killed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters on the road. Click here to see breaking local news coverage.

Both Matt Cross and Drew Fischer enjoyed birthdays Sunday. We wish both warm birthday wishes from the entire WCSL family.

CNN has announced that it's iReport website has now become integrated into it's main CNN site. This means that WCSL's weekly AudPod podcast available on iReport is now accessible directly from CNN. You can listen to this weeks AudPod on CNN by clicking here, or check out last months Skynyrd crash survivors episodes by clicking here. Paul's CNN bio can be found here, and you may see a list of available CNN AudPod episodes by clicking here.

It's being billed as "The magic of YES with the voice of TOTO. Add the fidelity of West Coast Sound & Light and you have a super-group combination to die for! So says tour manager and front of house engineer Paul Doty. "This group is a dream come true, both for the fans, and for us." "It is such an honor to be working with a group of musicians on this level". Said Paul upon retuning from the first leg of the bands tour, a "shake down" tour in Mexico before the release of the bands upcoming album "YOSO". For those not "in the know", YOSO (A combination of both bands YES & TOTO) hit the road this year with WCSL production and tour management, bringing it's unique style of commercial prog rock to arenas to the delight of both YES and TOTO fans. Watch for the release of the new album and US tours to follow in 2010. Click here to see photos from the Mexico leg of the tour.

WCSL staff leaves for South America this weekend with Super group YOSO, a hybrid band made up of key members of both YES and TOTO. The 2009 tour is a warm up for extensive touring in 2010. Tour Manager and YOSO FOH engineer Paul Doty reveled Friday that the band will be doing 6 Toto hits and 6 YES hits, along with 4 brand new original songs to be released on YOSO's forth coming album, out by Christmas. Group co-lead vocalist Bobby Kimball from Toto chats with WCSL staff at a recent lunch in LA.

WCSL is only a month away from starting it's move into a larger facility in it's Northern California shop. The new facility offers the company 5 times the office space over it's current property. The new building also has greatly expanded facilities for client meetings with an expanded boardroom and numerous offices for WCSL's expanding departments. Parking improves as well with over 10 times the available asphalt. The high security facility is located only blocks from WCSL's current location.

WCSL is proud and honored to to involved not only with classic Laserium in Hollywood but to serve as sole production provider for The Headsets project with legendary performers from the bands YES, Circa, & Asia and radio legend Jim Ladd. The Headsets album release produced a standing room only audience in Hollywood and tomorrow debuts live on stage. WCSL's Paul Doty will serve as sound engineer for the event as the band is augmented by state of the art lasers, lighting and of course, sound. Click the photo at left to see a video featuring footage from the CD release party and small cuts of the tracks from the album Headsets II: Sides. If your in the LA area, we'll see you Saturday night as the stars come out in Hollywood for the live premier of Headsets II: Sides.

A podcast on The AudPod with in depth interviews of survivors from the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash. Click here to listen.

9/10/09 Reality Ventura enjoys First Sunday with new WCSL sound, light, video

9/7/09 After 20 years, one of WCSL's favorite clients on the come back trail

Breaking The Sound Barrier, Taking Control Of Your Stage, will hit stores by Christmas 2009 and features over 100 tips by professional musicians and engineers working in the concert industry. WCSL's Paul Doty was asked to participate in the project and was honored to contribute. Watch wcsl.org for details on how you can get your copy. For more details visit the books website by clicking here, or find out what other engineers and musicians have graced the pages of BTSB by clicking here. Breaking The Sound Barrier, available in stores, Christmas 2009.

California fires bared down on WCSL Montrose this weekend as staff stood by for evacuation. The fires as of Sunday are still burning dangerously close to WCSL-LA in Montrose, and are reportedly only 5 percent contained. "We had a scary time Friday" said Director Of Southern California Operations Tim Nesbitt. "You couldn't see across the street and it was raining ash most of the morning." By Friday night things seemed more under control near the populated areas of Montrose, but the situation continues to be monitored.

In July Canadian Country Artist Dave Carroll became an overnight You Tube sensation when he released his video "United Breaks Guitars". Since the release he's been swamped with requests for interviews as the video mustered nearly 5 million hits since. He's currently working on a follow up video and sends us pix of behind the scenes footage of the shoot. we hope to have Dave on The AudPod soon, WCSL's weekly podcast. Stay tuned. You can see Dave's original video on our humor page.

American Jazz guitarist and inventor Les Paul has died at age 94. He is credited for massive inventions in our industry including overdubbing, delay effects, phasing, multi-track recording and of course, the iconic Les Paul Gibson guitar.