P.C. Richard Earns Top Monster Award

By John Laposky -- TWICE, 1/10/2007

Las Vegas — Monster Cable honored its most prolific retailers at the annual “Most Monsterous” awards ceremony Tuesday at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. The top U.S. honor, the Gold Award, went to New York metro chain P.C. Richard & Son.

Other Most Monsterous award winners were: Gramophone Ltd., Timonium, Md.; Myer Emco Audio Video, Gaithersburg, Md.; The Entertainer, Jefferson City, Mo.; Your Electronic Warehouse, Quincey, Ill.; and M Power Motorsports, City of Industry, Calif.

The Most Monsterous Retail Sales Person of the Year was Chris Leonessa, of Harvey Electronics, Lyndhurst, N.J. Buyer of the Year honors were given to A.J. Jaeger, Ultimate Electronics, Thornton, Colo.; Al Hudak of Harvey; and Joe Campos of P.C. Richard.

DBL Distributing, Scottsdale, Ariz., was named Domestic Distributor of the Year.

Seventeen other U.S retailers received Silver Awards and Monster also honored its top international retailers.

An estimated crowd of 4,000 enjoyed a concert by Grammy winning artists George Benson and Al Jarreau immediately following the ceremonies. The concert featured songs from the artists’ album “Givin’ It Up,” a joint release by Monster Music and Concord, which is currently nominated for three Grammy Awards. A DVD version of the album was released in Monster’s proprietary High Definition Surround (HDS) format designed to optimize Dolby Digital and DTS home theater systems. Monster calls HDS “an interactive music experience allowing listeners with a home theater system to select their own surround experience, choosing, for example, to be ‘in the studio’ of a live recording or ‘in the room’ sitting next to the band.”

Jarreau described the sound at a pre-concert press conference: “In HDS you can reach in and touch George’s guitar, you can reach in and touch my lips. It’s like being there as the music is created.”

Monster Cable founder Noel Lee, who served as the executive producer of the album and mixed the surround effects himself, added: “As our first newly recorded studio Monster Music project, extreme care was taken to preserve the naturalness of the moment. Being able to capture George and Al’s artistry on Monster HDS has been a true highlight of my career.”