picky Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 I chose to post this in "General" in hopes that some of the forum members who haven't yet attended a Klipsch pilgrimage might read this and find themselves interested enough at the idea that it might coax them to consider attending a future pilgrimage. It'll be three months tomorrow (Friday 9/15) since many of us drove out to Hope, Arkansas and met in order to exchange handshakes, thoughts and ideas about audio. It certainly doesn't seem that long. Some of us met one other for the first time, while others rekindled old friendships. There were plenty of family members to meet and it was fun to watch some of them, who came along to support us, but weren't as interested in audio as the rest of us, sort of splinter-off to form circles of there own to discuss their common interests. I heard lots of laughter from my wife's little group, whom we named, "The Four Musketeers". There were so many things to do in those 2-1/2 days that I don't see how we accomplished everything we had set out to do. But, we did! I found myself and others along with Trey Cannon and his son, Trace, tearing down a tent behind a church at 6:30 am on Friday morning, only to transport it a few miles and set it back up, adding additional sections to make it 3 times the size behind a farmhouse a half-hour later. Some of us opted for a working tour (the plant in full operation) of the Klipsch plant on Friday afternoon. My wife Verna and I enjoyed that very much. No photos were allowed on that tour, which meant we would again take the non-working tour on Saturday where photos and video would be allowed. Friday night there was an awesome, catfish fry at the farmhouse. There was also more work to be done in the tent to get the stage sound and light gear ready for Saturday night's concert. Many members had brought their own audio gear and they had two listening rooms set up inside the farmhouse. There was music playing no matter where you went! There were even K-Horns to listen to! Saturday morning came early as did the plant tour at 9 am. The tour began in the cafeteria and was broken down into three sections: The Plant Listening Room (given by Mark Kaufmann), which concentrated on the heritage line, the Klipsch Museum of Audio History (given by executive engineer and museum curator, Jim Hunter), the assembly line (with Trey Cannon) and the plant test laboratory (including the anechoic room) and PWK's last, personal office (Jim Hunter). The tour ran until 4 pm. We even got to watch Trey use his technical, trouble-shooting skills to resolve a mis-match issue with the crossover networks in Seadog's pair of vintage Cornwalls! At 6 pm, we began arriving at the farmhouse Klipsch had rented. A BBQ was in session and beef brisket was the main course. Folks, this was beef brisket unlike no other beef brisket I have ever eaten! It was very tender, meaty and delicious! Awesome BBQ! Three local (Arkansas) bands showed up to perform for us and things got under way around 7 pm. Trey Cannon had been working virtually, non-stop since he got to Hope in order to make certain that everything was ready to go on time with each planned event. He even slept on a picnic table under the tent Friday night to make sure all of the gear stayed where it belonged! As the lights went up, our M.C. for the evening, Trey Cannon, greeted everyone from the plant and the forum and made everyone feel welcome. The evening's first group "Pail" hit the stage as Dr, Who manned the controls of the awesome Klipsch commercial sound system. This was truly one of the best-sounding PA set-ups I have ever heard! Pail performed a powerful and highly-skilled one-hour set. The first drawing was held by Trey and Daddy Dee was awarded a pair of new, black ash RF-7s! The second act was "Worthless Dave Almond", whose wife has worked at the plant for years. Dave and his Gibson acoustic guitar took over, singing bluesy tales about drinking, life, work, women and more drinking. Dave said he, "only worked at Klipsch for a little while.............'cause he had a showin'-up problem!" Following Dave's one-hour set, Trey held the second drawing of the night and dtel was awarded a brand new pair of Cornwall IIIs and was allowed to choose which finish they were to be made in! Last, but not least, was the group, "Hazy Jane". Their lead singer, Lee Brooks, is one of Klipsch's own: He's an engineer that helped work on the entire heritage line redesign (along with Mark Kaufmann and others) including the LaScala II, the Heresy III and the re-introduction of the Cornwall III to the heritage line. He also worked on the Commercial Jubilee project with Roy DelGado. Hazy Jane rocked us for an hour and then Trey bought the weekend to a close with the proper thank you's and goodbyes. I shot 7 hours of video during those 2-1/2 days. I really don't remember shooting that much, but I know I did as there is proof in the seven MiniDV tapes sitting here on my desk. I guess it must have been my passion over the subject matter that made the time behind the camera seem so much shorter. Verna and I enjoyed ourselves so much that weekend. It was a pleasure seeing those of you again whom I'd met for the first time in Indy the year before and finally being able to introduce you to Verna. It was also wonderful meeting the rest of you for the first time this year. When this passion for audio began, way back in my early teens, who would have thought that it would turn into something like this, where my wife and I would be driving hundreds of miles to meet others with common interests in audio and a particular band of speakers? It almost sounds mad, doesn't it? Yet, there it is! I can't thank Trey Cannon and Klipsch nearly enough for everything that they did for us and the rest of the pilgrims this year. And, I also want to thank our fellow forum members who attended and the ones who weren't able to make it but offered their support and their curiosity. If you have not attended one of these pilgrimages as of yet, I highly recommend it. If you decide never to go yet, still say you are passionate about audio: You really do not know what you'll be missing! I hope to see you all next year! A special thanks to fini for the photo below. I've obviously modified it after he took it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 Glen, if your pic is not a poster... It should be! Great write up for sure. I am always amazed at how these things come together. I have been a part of some helping last few years, and just atteneded as well in awe! The best, your right, is meeting the Klipsch people behind our speakers, as well as other fanatics.. Till Next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 Picky, Thanks for the look in the rear view mirror. It was a fine weekend. The poster is excellent, too. But, it was only ninety degrees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 And now two forum members got them Jubilees that everyone has been drooling over [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Thanks guys. Yeah the temperature did get above 90 a few times and the high humidity made it feel as though I was back home in Michigan. Thanks goodness that Trey had the forethought to rent that tent for us: It rained during the first portion of the concert and the tent was so large that we barely noticed! Those Commercial Jubilee's are simply amazing. They look quite imposing when placed in the home environment. Now, THAT is what I call DEDICATION! [] Congratulations to both Coytee and mikebse2a3!! The sound has to be incredible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted September 16, 2006 Moderators Share Posted September 16, 2006 Yes it was a very good time and I would like to say thanks to Trey for all the hard work and planing, and of course Klipsch for going way past what anyone could ask of a company. And for Picky, this is the second time you spent most of your Pilgrimage filming or posting on the forum for people who could not make it, thanks. If that DVD ever comes out please put me on the list, I would love to buy one. Just for the record, for the people who could not make it, I had never met anybody in person from the forum before the Hope Pilgrimage. Everyone we met could not have been nicer. You would start talking with someone and after a few minutes you would realize you didnt know who you were talking to, then you would look down and read their name tag. It was kind of funny because you kind of get a picture of what you think people look like just from reading their post and it is never even close. If you have never been to a Klipsch pilgrimage you really are missing out, be there, it's worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 dtel: Thanks, pal. You're right, I have spent a lot of time either posting or filming the goings-on and that does detract some from my ability to mingle with everyone at the pilgrimages. But, it's a labor of love. The cool part was that many folks came up to me to talk after they recognized my name tag. I got SO many congrats from folks on our theater and our magazine article! I could not believe the out-pouring. Everyone had questions, too which were fun to try and answer. I certainly don't know everything so I hope I answered at least some of the questions to their satisfaction. It was also fun to watch Verna (my wife) mingle with the other wives. She got to know your better-half, Christy too, dtel and they had a few laughs together watching all of us geeks drool over all of the tube gear and horns in the farmhouse. As for the DVD, it IS out! I went through all 7 hours of video and edited it down to 71 minutes over the last 11-1/2 weeks. I've sent the Masters to Trey Cannon (a week ago) and given him permission to duplicate them. One is in native 16:9 Wide screen format and the other is in full screen 4:3 Letter-boxed format. At this point, I am leaving everything up to Trey to decide whether Klipsch will offer to distribute them or not. They cannot be sold for profit for a number of reasons. But, I am certain that if Trey decides to offer them to the forum members for a small fee to recover the cost of the blank media, duplication and shipping, that he will post the information on the forum some place conspicuous. I would have offered to distribute them myself, but I do not have access to mass-duplication facilities and I hope you will all please understand that I I'm not willing to use my personal computer equipment to burn 50 or 100 DVDs or possibly even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 Picky, Yes, thanks for the labor of love. That is alot to get together. Hopefully Trey will be able to get those out to folks soon. I'll be looking forward to seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 Daddy Dee (and everyone): Trey started a new thread about the video: LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I really wanted to be at Hope this year having had such a good time last year at Indy...Picky...as usual...you made us feel like we were there and want to go next year...it is always a good time. Thanks for sharing, Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted September 23, 2006 Author Share Posted September 23, 2006 Bill: Thanks. I was talking to Trey just the other day and he mentioned that the folks at Klipsch will be sitting down in just a couple more weeks in order to begin planning next year's pilgrimage. No details on where or when it will be. However, he did say that they had an opportunity to view the movie I sent to them last week and he said they want me to attend next year AND be sure to bring my videocamera again. .....It sure sounds exciting to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 That is exciting indeed. I'm glad Klipsch is talking about the gathering so as to get the calendar set farther out on the horizon. The odds makers in Vegas are leaning toward Indy this year. We'll just have to wait and see what Klipsch decides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 It was kind of funny because you kind of get a picture of what you think people look like just from reading their post and it is never even close. Sometimes, that is a good thing! Also fun to see in person their remarks are pretty funny too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Picky was kind enough to send me a 4:3 version of the DVD for my home enjoyment. I'm just halfway through but had to post. It's just an amazing video. Having attended the 2005 tour, I was somewhat familiar with the factory tour, but seeing all the people, hearing Hunter give the tour, and watching the tent/PA setup (go Doc!) was both enjoyable and heartbreaking that I did not get to attend due to work committments (why must girls get married on weekends always?) Just wanted to say right off Thanks to Picky for taking the time to record the events of the weekend and for such a superb editing job. In particular, the music and sound mix is of the highest quality, especially for a home studio project. I love all the musical selections and feel that they really add to the atmosphere of the recording. Thanks Glenn! I'm headed back into the main room to view the remainder! Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Oh yeah, it was especially cool to watch the Doc in action! And someone wins the award for kookiest roadie lighting ever! What's with the table lamp at the mixing console? LOL And very nice speech, pep talk by Trey to lead off the festivities of Sat night. Well spoken sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Michael: Thank you so much for your gracious review of my work. I had promised to send you your own copy way back before we all went down there because we all felt so bad that you had ear-marked one weekend in June not to work just for the sole purpose of attending. And then, the pilgrimage got switched to the following weekend. We were all heart-broken that you would not be able to go. So, always trying to be a man of my word, I was honored to send a copy to you. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and thanks again for the good words about it. It was such a fun propject to work on, and I hope to make an even better video at next year's event. All: Trey is working with the Klipsch web guru's to make the video available for viewing here on the forum. Since the video is 71 minutes long, it's far too large to download all at once. So, I have clipped the movie out into 13 smaller segments in .wmv format. Klipsch's web folks are no converting it into Flash videos and hope to have them posted for download by some time next week. I guess there will be an announcement of some kind when it's ready. Downloading all 13 segments will give you the complete movie. I do not know what to expect ragarding the Flash movie video resolutiion or sound quality. The wmv's I have are good video quality and in stereo sound. But they are still too large to post for folks with dial-up service. So, to be fair to everyone, that's why they are taking it down further into Flash. I do not know if Klipsch plans to distribute any DVD's of the video. That will be totally up to Klipsch. -Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted September 28, 2006 Klipsch Employees Share Posted September 28, 2006 We had to see what the heck we were doing....any light would do. It worked out well. DR. Who did a fin job. The guy could make a living running sound. I am 80% that "P7" will be in Indy. If the number of flolks that come keep going up, moving 130-150 folks around town is tricky. I have been working on something to do for Sat night. Indy, you know I like to play big...there is no telling who or what I will put together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Indy, you know I like to play big...there is no telling who or what I will put together. heheh YES I do.. LET's ROCK!!!! Keep me in this loop too!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 I vow to FIGHT DrWho for the sound board and WIN! I'm BIGGER, I'm higher on the food chain! Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 lol Mike...by next summer I should be a brown belt (one step below black)...you sure you want some of this? [6][][H] Naw, I just love mixing - like it's the most fun thing I can think of doing (when the bands are good of course). But if someone else is mixing then rock on! I would just sneak my way over and watch - probably pick up a tip or two and add it to my bag of tricks. [] Or maybe I would just sit back and enjoy the show...now that would be a real treat. You gotta give Trey a lot of credit...he really puts together one awesome PA. I would argue that 90% of the sound is determined before the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.