# Southern California MECA Shows



## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

I took a year off doing MECA shows because frankly I was sick of shooting down ridiculous rumors, manufacturer politics, people calling to ask who is judging shows, and competitor . . . . douchebaggery for lack of a better word.

I LOVE MECA. I think the organization is great and I think Steve Stern does his best to make sure everyone is happy (impossible) and to create a fair atmosphere. I have NEVER had any issues at all with Steve or MECA.

The last paragraph was in response to rumors that I stopped doing shows because of MECA.

I will be doing 6 shows between November 2013 and September 2014, *IF* I like the way they are going.

A few words about why I do SQ shows:

I like the SQ community, for the most part
I enjoy getting together and sharing ideas and opinions
I like helping people out with their systems
I like getting feedback about my own system
I do it so that the people who want to compete can 

A few comments about money:

I have NEVER made money over the course of a year. In general I lose or break even.
The ONE time i had extra cash I gave away $1,000 to the 1st place finishers at the IASCA state finals (which essential came directly from my pocket)
This means that I do these shows for free. 
I figure I spend about 200-300 hours a year doing these shows for 0$ (hard to believe but true)
Do the math on that one ! It means I make 0$ per hour.

My Expectations for Competitors:

Show up on time
Be polite
Do not show up expecting to win
Don't complain about your score to ME, the JUDGE, OTHER COMPETITORS, on FORUMS. 
If you need to complain write me a letter and never send it. (it might help)
When you fill out the score sheet you are accepting that the judge's word is law.

I would like to continue to do these shows, but I will only do so for as long as it is fun. Competitor attitudes directly affect my fun factor.

I realize that I am not perfect and I have made many mistakes along the way.
I don't put a HUGE amount of effort into the shows because honestly I don't have a whole lot of time to devote to it.
I do the best I can with the resources and time that I have.

If anyone has made it down this far then kudos. Please let me know any things that you think I could be doing differently, that would help ( ie medals not trophies, online registration, more banners, naked judges, whatever)

Just threw that in to see if anyone was listening.


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## vwdave (Jun 12, 2013)

I feel like I am coming in after a huge fight...I would be interested to check out the shows. I won't compete but I miss being able to see and hear some great installs in person.

Do you know when/ where these shows will be? Hopefully not too far from SFV.

I used to compete in IASCA back in the late 90s. Not to any high extent, but it was always a blast to meet everyone and see the phenomenal work. I kind of miss that, so this is pretty cool to read about.

Do you need a source for naked judges? I might be able to help with that (kind of kidding and kind of serious).

If there's anything I can do to help please let me know. I haven't been to a competition since the 90s so I can't tell you what you did wrong.


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## frmdrkside (Jul 13, 2008)

I'm glad to see you bringing shows back to SoCal. 

We'd probably be interested in hosting something again, but we may be to far North for a decent turn out.

Just let me know.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

vwdave said:


> Do you need a source for naked judges? I might be able to help with that (kind of kidding and kind of serious).


Definately !! 

You heard it here first, now at all So Cal MECA shows . . . . naked female judging !!

Entry fee has gone up to $100, spectator entry fee is now $50.

Wait, I better run this by Steve first.


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

frmdrkside said:


> I'm glad to see you bringing shows back to SoCal.
> 
> We'd probably be interested in hosting something again, but we may be to far North for a decent turn out.
> 
> Just let me know.


Kimo is still busy doing shows up that way. I will be in touch for sure. The finals you hosted last year turned out to be spectacular.


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## michaelsil1 (May 24, 2007)

Naked Judges?


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## MrFriskles (Mar 29, 2011)

Sounds like a party. Thanks for the contribution.


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## Black05Hemi (May 10, 2010)

Both my cars are ready Todd...I get it, you walked away for a breather. I will continue to support like I have since 2010. Oh, and I promise to keep my mouth shut as much as possible about the judging, since I usually never agree, win or lose.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

I know of 3 modified cars, one extreme, and one mod street down here ready for the naked judges


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## michaelsil1 (May 24, 2007)

BigRed said:


> I know of 3 modified cars, one extreme, and one mod street down here *ready for the naked judges*


Naked Jim Williams


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## SoCalSQ (Oct 7, 2008)

OMG, Michael I said FEMALE !

Its looking like the show will be on Black Friday. Any objections ?


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## godfathr (Jun 22, 2009)

I feel you Todd. We missed you this year. I don't think any of us are in this for the money. The passion for perfection, camaraderie we all share, are just two reasons I think most of us are in this. You can count on Team Audio Xperts supporting you for at least two of your shows. I want to thank you personally for sparking the interest here in California back in 2009. You inspired me to get back in this game after 16 years being away from it. It has challenged me and my guys to raise the level of our game and strive to better our scores in the lanes. As always if you need anything from me please don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call me. Maybe we can put our heads together and create a Mobilewarz series of shows for the entire state. We have all, ( competitors, retailers, and promoters), created a huge momentum for SQ these past few years and I only see it getting bigger. If we can get a few more retailers to support this, I think the vendors might consider putting more marketing dollars behind our efforts. We might even see this thing get as big as it was back in the 90's!
Wouldn't that be something!
gf


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## darrenforeal (Jan 14, 2011)

anything ever come of this? Love to see some shows down here.


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## Dave Ritter (Apr 23, 2010)

I can definitely relate to what Todd is talking about. The most difficult aspect of dealing with complainers in the sound off arena is that most of them don't have the backbone to address concerns with the Event Director directly. 

It is not fun at all being an Event Director when one has to wade through the ******** at your feet while more is coming from above. In my case, "the above" was from the commissioners office regarding unsubstantiated complaints to outright fabrications of the truth that he accepted at face value. The only people who addressed concerns with me directly were Willie Watson and Matt Scheremeta; I respect them for that. With all due respect to Steve, he is not a position to address complaints, valid or not, at any event at which he was not present. My educated guess is that (you) Todd went through some of the same headaches.

Todd (,you) stated virtually everything - very well stated, I might add - about how I felt about being an Event Director for MECA. Like Todd, I prefer the SQ crowd as whole, but I will say the first group of SPL people we had at Southwest Audiofest were pretty damn cool. I still feel if I had be granted more autonomy in dealing with the less desirable people who started to creep into the mix, things would been okay. However that is water under the bridge and long since evaporated. Instead of complaining myself, I started Car Audio Tournament of Champions (CATOC) instead.

Candidly, I would love to talk to (you) Todd about being an Event Director for Car Audio Tournament of Champions (CATOC). I don't mean to highjack this thread, but I think that the competitors in SoCal and elsewhere would get a chance to experience "sound offs" the way they used to be, in other words where there was a lot more fun and a lot less politics.


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## UNBROKEN (Sep 25, 2009)

I just wanna get my feet wet at a competition...any competition. I have no grand delusions of winning I just wanna see what it's all about and maybe learn a few things along the way.


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

I encourage you to enter it unbroken. It's that good! Many will be surprised


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## BigRed (Aug 12, 2007)

black friday is right around the corner....whats the deal Todd?


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## darrenforeal (Jan 14, 2011)

BigRed said:


> black friday is right around the corner....whats the deal Todd?


+1....


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## michaelsil1 (May 24, 2007)

BigRed said:


> black friday is right around the corner....whats the deal Todd?





darrenforeal said:


> +1....


+2 ....................................


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## UNBROKEN (Sep 25, 2009)

Anything new?


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

I would be very interested in hearing anything I can but in March when I will be down there looking for great sounding vehicles to hear. I have a pretty good one to demo myself (so I am told at least). Once the new year rolls around I will likely be trying to contact some of the owners of the vehicles I really want to hear and see if I can get some listening sessions setup. It would be much better if there was a get together or a competition going on instead however. Would be nice not having to travel all over Cali trying to find vehicles to listen to. It is supposed to be a vacation after all.


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## thehoff (May 7, 2013)

I would also be interested in some shows in So Cal. There might be a couple of us AZ people would make the journey to So Cal.


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## xxx_busa (May 4, 2009)

So is this a go ? Some of us need to plan if it is. Thanks Todd


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## thehoff (May 7, 2013)

Not sure if anyone in So Cal would be interested, but there is a 2X Meca Event in Phoenix on Dec 7th, and another one in Vegas on the 14th. We are having a little state rivalry between Az and Nv as to who is the loudest state (SPL)...but the shows also offer SQ judging too.


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## Dave Ritter (Apr 23, 2010)

I don't mean to highjack the thread, but Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) is planning events in so Cal for 2014 and beyond. Please check out Events.

If Todd is planning to host MECA SQ events, I be happy to work with him so that my events don't conflict with his. However, I don't want to assume that he is, or is not planning to do events. (Ideally, if he is looking to make a change, we would love to have him on board with CATOC™.)


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## Dave Ritter (Apr 23, 2010)

thehoff said:


> Not sure if anyone in So Cal would be interested, but there is a 2X Meca Event in Phoenix on Dec 7th, and another one in Vegas on the 14th. We are having a little state rivalry between Az and Nv as to who is the loudest state (SPL)...but the shows also offer SQ judging too.


Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) is hosting an SQ that same morning in Scottsdale, AZ. In case you're wondering, ours was originally announced on LinkedIn before the MECA event was on their calendar. No worries, their event is in the afternoon in Tempe.


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

james2266 said:


> I would be very interested in hearing anything I can but in March when I will be down there looking for great sounding vehicles to hear. I have a pretty good one to demo myself (so I am told at least). Once the new year rolls around I will likely be trying to contact some of the owners of the vehicles I really want to hear and see if I can get some listening sessions setup. It would be much better if there was a get together or a competition going on instead however. Would be nice not having to travel all over Cali trying to find vehicles to listen to. It is supposed to be a vacation after all.



if you come to so cal, we'll definitely can plan a meet around your visit, James.


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## Team Bassick - Kimo (Sep 15, 2009)

james2266 said:


> I would be very interested in hearing anything I can but in March when I will be down there looking for great sounding vehicles to hear. I have a pretty good one to demo myself (so I am told at least). Once the new year rolls around I will likely be trying to contact some of the owners of the vehicles I really want to hear and see if I can get some listening sessions setup. It would be much better if there was a get together or a competition going on instead however. Would be nice not having to travel all over Cali trying to find vehicles to listen to. It is supposed to be a vacation after all.


You have to come through Nor Cal before you hit So Cal and we got some nice cars to hear up here too. None of my cars do but, I know of a few.....LOL


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