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This is an actively updated page. Last update occurred on 02/04/08 04:19 PM TIMELINE 2000- The New Millennium!
WCSL monitor engineer Craig Young uses WCSL & MIP studios to springboard into a record deal with EMI Former WCSL monitor engineer Craig Young lands EMI record deal. Modestan's songs attract record deals By
ROGER W. HOSKINS Things just keep getting better for Craig Young, Beyer High, Class of '89. Young played with Jewel on the Lilith Fair tour in 1997. He now has gone above and beyond being just another "bass player for hire. I am definitely living my dream," says Young, who recently signed a publishing deal with EMI. "There are a couple people with holds on my songs," Young says. A hold is an option to record. One of those people is country singer Faith Hill, who may put Young's "Loving You" on her next CD. "A publishing deal is like a record contract for songwriters. The company takes my song and they get them placed on records. "If your song is a hit, you get paid two ways -- album sales and performances, how many times it's played on radio and commercials. "Either way," Young says, "if you have a song on an LP that sells well, you'll do good." Right now, Young is splitting time between Nashville and New York, spending about two weeks a month in each locale. He recently finished studio work on a LeAnn Rimes-Elton John duet without meeting either star. "Such are the joys of technology," he says. "New York is really cool -- it's like living in Disneyland," Young says. In Nashville he becomes a rabid Tennessee Titans football fan. While he's moved on geographically, Young says Modesto still occupies a place in his heart. "Home is always in the back of my mind. Every childhood memory I have is set between Coffee (Road) and Floyd (Avenue) and Riverbank. "There's no way to separate yourself from that," Young says. "My entire family is still in Modesto, and I try to make it back for the holidays every year." Young says a lot of his music comes from his father, who also was a musician. And he admires the work of Marvin Gaye, especially the classic album "What's Going On?" Young says there is something even more important than imitation when it comes to making your way in the music world. "People should listen to what's coming from inside. Growing up, we were poorer than poor. But I learned to take risks and always listen to the voice inside."
WCSL provides surround sound for July 4th celebration at Stanislaus State University Turlock It was a record cool 82 degrees that brought many out to Stan State in Turlock for WCSL's 13th year of providing sound reinforcement and stage lighting for the annual event. It also marked the first year WCSL brought out it's new surround sound system to the delight of the 16,000-20,000 strong crowd on hand. Click here or the photo for a photo essay of the days events. At the beginning of the year we joked that this would be the “Summer of Fun Tour” year. The staff talked about taking the time to enjoy the summer season as it flew past at it’s break neck pace. Taking time to remember why we had all gotten in to the business in the first place. The element of fun. In keeping with that tradition, we lined up some really special production for our shows at Stan State in Turlock. On the 25th of July we lit the entire lake, painting it with a wash color. On July 11th we treated a large Latin Jazz audience to a concert on the lake with a little technical wizardry, real reverb. A favorite trick of ours at the lake is to run a 400’ speaker cable into one of the schools nearby men’s rooms. This particular room makes a great natural reverb tank! We then run two 400’ mic lines for two PZM microphones that we point to the extremities of the two sides of the “L” shaped restroom. The program material from the stage is fed into a speaker located into a lower corner of the room and the resulting reflections of the room is then returned into the original program source and fed back through the house PA with the original content. The resulting sound is not like any artificial reverb on the planet, because it’s the real thing! The result is a pleasantly strange experience for the listening audience, they see a group performing on an outdoor lake stage, but they hear a group performing in a concert hall with wonderful acoustics. The university in Turlock has always been a venue close to our hearts and a forum for exploring new technologies over the past few years.
WCSL overflows it's walls this year and moves into a new warehouse facility in the industrial section of Modesto.
WCSL finds itself in arenas more than ever with shows in both the LA Forum and Arco Arena.
In 2000 WCSL looses friends WCSL friend, NHRA announcer Steve Evans, dead at age 58
NHRA.com
Steve Evans, a familiar face to drag race fans for more than two decades
through his outstanding television work covering NHRA Winston Drag Racing,
passed away Nov. 1. Evans, 58, was discovered dead in his motel room in
Las Vegas, where he was preparing for a World of Outlaws event. Evans had a long and rich history in drag racing, having managed
dragstrips, served as editor of NHRA's weekly publication, National
DRAGSTER, and, later, as NHRA's public relations director, and for
eight years was the host of the weekly television program NHRA Today,
but was widely known throughout the motorsports community for his coverage
of all forms of racing.
Friends, fans gather to honor Steve Evans
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian and musician Steve Allen, who was the first host of NBC's ``Tonight Show,'' has died, a spokesman said. He was 78. Spokesman Kevin Sasaki said Allen died of a possible heart attack during a visit to his son's home to see his grandchildren. Once called television's ``man for all seasons,'' Allen was celebrated for his quick wit, horn-rimmed glasses and for his song-writing skills. Among his 4,000 songs were ``This Could Be the Start of Something Big'' and ``Impossible.''
Above: Leslie Doty shakes hands with Mr. & Mrs. Dick Cheney at a GOP rally which WCSL provided event lighting for.
On December 15th WCSL does it's 100th show in the historic State Theater in beautiful downtown Modesto. The Flying Blind show is sold out and it broadcast to over 1000 additional viewers live on the internet.
WCSL finishes out the year by providing production staff for an upcoming ESPN documentary on father and son World Champion motorcycle riders Kenny Roberts Jr. and Sr.
TIMELINE 2001
In February WCSL installs the largest sound and light rig in the State Theaters history as they help bring in "Larger Than Life"....The Ultimate Tribute to KISS!
WCSL uses a new 20 box McCauley Stage Array system for the first time at Jazz On The Waterfront with 30,000watts of Crest amps powering.
WCSL supplies numerous concert stages for the huge X-Fest festival in Modesto. It marks the companies largest one day event in it's history.
WCSL unveils its 9th FOH console, a 48ch. Crest X-VCA. The company also expands into state of the art loudspeaker management systems for both FOH and monitor rigs with dbx driveracks. As the company outgrows the ability for one man to handle, Matt Cross comes on board full time as West Coast Sound & Lights General Manager. Matt's brother Andy comes on board soon after to serve as assistant manager. West Coast Sound & Light is now on the fast track to being a large regional sound & light production company.
In 2001 "Tribute" debuts at the AFI film festival featuring
TIMELINE 2002
As 2001 comes to a close and 2002 begins, WCSL takes a firm jump into moving lights putting more emphasis on the "light" of "West Coast Sound & Light".
In August 2002 Paul's book "Rubber Meets the road" is re-released on CD-ROM
TIMELINE 2003
Installations boomed in 2003 replacing internet sales for the company, and accounted for half of WCSL's business.
TIMELINE 2004
TIMELINE 2005
At the close of 2005 and the start of WCSL's 20th anniversary, the company caries so many consoles, amps, speakers and monitors, one has to check computerized inventories to know amounts.
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This Page Last updated on 02/04/08 04:19 PM by West Coast Sound & Light © 2001, 2008 All rights reserved
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It's
a new Millennium! Owner Paul Doty has the honor of being the host who welcomes
Modesto into the new millennium at the Modesto Centre Plaza on New Years Eve.
WCSL begins a yearlong equipment expansion project and complete system upgrade
for 2000. Purchases for the year include our 8th FOH board, a new 48
channel Crest X Series Front of House console, a new 40X18 Crest X series
monitor console, an array of new smaller lighting rigs, & new 200' 48ch. snake.
September 30th marks the first time in the companies history that we are able to
provide three fully manned and lighted festival stages at the Turlock Music
Festival. The company fly's it's systems for the first time in the LA
Forum.
The NHRA drag
racing family -- brothers and sisters from all walks of the sport -- came
together Thursday night at Pomona Raceway to celebrate the life of one of
its most respected and well-liked members at a memorial service for NHRA
announcer and television personality Steve Evans, who passed away Nov. 1.
A gathering of
approximately 500 people united as one at the Racers For Christ tent at
Pomona Raceway following the conclusion of the opening day of qualifying at
the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, filling the tent and
the areas outside to listen to the friends and family of Evans share their
memories and thoughts, and to offer their support, love, and grief with one
another. A veritable Who's
Who of drag racing was in attendance; Professional racers from all classes
and all eras -- including just about every current star driver -- mixed with
Evans' broadcasting peers, NHRA officials, sponsors, and race fans. Evans' longtime
friend and broadcast partner Dave McClelland hosted the affair, along with
NHRA Chaplain Ken Owen. Guest speakers included NHRA founder Wally Parks;
Evans' son, Cameron, and brother, Roger; longtime Evans friend Jim Busby, a
former drag racer and sports car racer; producers John Mullin and Tom Gee;
and Don "the Snake" Prudhomme. Their tributes,
often humorous and nostalgic, offered varying looks at an incredible man --
his love of movies and music; the "Evans circle" he would walk
while memorizing his next lines, then delivering them flawlessly; the caring
and inquisitive man who always grilled others to share with him their
experiences, even off camera -- often far different and far deeper than the
Evans most knew from the small screen, but one thing was clear: Everyone
knew he was special. "Steve was
someone everyone knew, and they felt like he was their friend," said
Parks. "All of us should be very thankful and very grateful that he
shared our world." McClelland then
moved through the audience, offering the microphone to anyone who wanted to
share their thoughts of Evans. Among those taking advantage were Ed
McCulloch, Frank Hawley, Gary Beck, Shirley Muldowney, NHRA's Steve Gibbs,
announcer Richard Schroeder; fellow television announcer Gary Gerould, and
one of Evans' most frequent and colorful interview subjects, John Force.
Force's speech,
as usual, was one of the most memorable, as he recounted how Evans counseled
a young, broke, and down-on-his-luck racer, and helped lead him to
greatness. "Steve Evans
made me," said an emotional Force. "He made all of us. I told him
I didn't have a lot going for me, but I can talk. He told me, 'Shut up and
just follow me. I'll lead you, because you don't have a clue. Just listen to
me.' Twenty-five years of my life I followed him, and I loved him."
Later, as the
final speaker shared his thoughts, engines roared to life from cars parked
just outside the tent, beginning with the famed Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top
Fueler, then the Pro Stock Olds of 2000 champ Jeg Coughlin Jr., and finally
the Castrol Mustangs of Force and Tony Pedregon. The cars idled in
tribute to a man whose heart lived for horsepower and the roar of high
performance engines, a man who on this night was truly missed and proudly
remembered.
WCSL client comedian Steve Allen dead at
age 78
In March and again in May, WCSL continued it's long history of being trusted
with production for some of our countries most well known leaders as former
Secretary of State James Baker and Oliver North came to Turlock.
WCSL provides sound & light production for
Dionne Warwick in April.
During the summer the company is featured in the business section of the
Modesto Bee.
In September the company moves into a 
From 2002-2003 WCSL begins to provide large scale events at John Thurman
Field in Modesto including sound for 
WCSL rings in the new year for the first time in San Francisco's legendary
Cow Palace.
The
Summer Olympics chooses Monarc MLA3's as the official loudspeaker of the 2004
Summer Olympics. Along with Athens, WCSL is one of the first organizations
in the world to take order of the new technology. In the Summer of 2004 WCSL
throws it's hat into the high end sound reinforcement ring when it debuts its full scale Monarc MLA3 Line Array system
at 
For
the first time in the companies history installations surpass live sound events
as the companies main source of income in 2005. Church installations
quadruple for the year and installation dates run on into the next..
Large
scale shows and events do not slow down or suffer however. WCSL is
contracted in 2005 to design and build the fair festival stage and lighting for
NBC's television show
