Yesterday, I got word that my friend Richard Beers had passed away.
Richard, as many of you know, was the showrunner for both T.H.E. Show in Newport and T.H.E. Show in Las Vegas. I wish I could say that I knew him better, but I’ve only been covering his shows for the last four years and Richard has been a pillar of the audio community for far longer than that.
A lovely tribute, far more detailed that I could have managed, is available over at T.H.E. Show. A guestbook to share memories can also be found there.
In our short acquaintance, I found Richard to be utterly charming and hugely generous. He always had a kind word, a quick smile, and seemed ever on the edge of that legendary laugh. He never sat still, but was always on the move — there with a quiet word, a wink, a handshake or hug — and then off to the next person, plan, problem, or adventure.
Richard was funny as hell and mean as a bag of snakes. Never without his wit, which had been sharpened to a point that was casually murderous, Richard stole every scene he entered. A story-teller of truly epic proportions (all of which I will keep to myself for good, solid, legal reasons), he was a grandmaster of the outlandish and outrageous. I’m pretty sure he saw it as a personal mission to scandalize as many as possible, as often as possible, and he was terrifically good at it.
He was a dervish, a devil, and he will be sorely missed.
With much love and affection to our beloved friend, Richard — Godspeed, sir. Your memory will always make me smile. And laugh.
We will miss you terribly.
This sounds like my kind of guy: gregarious, funny, to-the-point, and gracious on top of all that. Shame we never met, we would have raised some hell in the afterhours of one of his events.
RIP.
i actually met him last year at Newport, he seemed so happy about being able to bring the show to the people. I told him that i always looked forward to his show
Thank you, Scott, for this sweet (and accurate) tribute.
I exhibited at many CES and THE Show events, starting in the 80s before Dave Wilson was a household audiophile name, and when Stereophile sponsored a huge Saturday night bash for exhibitors at a major hotel on the Vegas strip (forgot the hotel name, the suite looked like a 70s Playboy Magazine venue).
Richard was a very “hands on” President/Manager/CEO. If you were an exhibitor, you’d have at least one if not multiple brief and memorable (in a good way) encounter with dear Richard.
One might suspect it would be a cold day day you know where before an exhibitor would bump into the CES President during setup or tear down. Yes, of course CES is a much larger event. But I suspect it would be the same if the roles reversed. We’d still see a lot of Richard running CES, and none of the other guy/gal running THE Show.
RIP Richard…