AMOA-New York Presents Jukebox Award To The Stylistics Photobooth Visionary Allen Weisberg Is Man Of The Year

THE MAN!Ken Goldberg (r.) presents AMOA-NY's Man of the Year award to Allen Weisberg during a May dinner honoring the photobooth innovator and New York operator. The plaque's inscription reads: "Recognizing more than fifty years of quality, innovation and leadership as an operator and manufacturer..."

The celebration took place on the night of May 4 at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse, where coin-op industry members, among other notables, packed the second floor of the midtown Manhattan restaurant. With nearly 100 people there, it was the state trade association's best-attended blowout in five years.

The Stylistics is one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. It formed in 1968, merging two previous Philadelphia groups: The Percussions and The Monarchs. Accepting AMOA-NY's jukebox recognition were early and current band members Airrion Love (1968--present) and Herb Murrell (1968--present), and newer members Eban Brown (2000--present) and Jason Sharp (2011--present). The foursome treated partygoers to the group's 1971 hit "You Are Everything," a cappella.

That song was one of the soul group's 12 consecutive R&B top 10 hits of the early 1970s in the U.S. Others included "Stop, Look, Listen," "Betcha by Golly, Wow," "People Make the World Go Round," "I'm Stone in Love with You," "Break Up to Make Up" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New."

"This is an acclaimed group that I personally have enjoyed for decades," said AMOA-NY president Ken Goldberg, who presented the 2015 Jukebox Award plaque. "This band continues to perform, and in terms of music they have stayed true to their principles."

JUKEBOX COMPLIMENTS: AMOA-NY president Ken Goldberg presents "2015 Jukebox Artists of the Year" plaque to The Stylistics; from left, they are Jason Sharp, Airrion Love, Eban Brown and Herb Murrell. The engraving reads: "To one of the most accomplished recording artists groups. In recognition of their leadership and devotion to music spanning 50 years. The Amusement and Music Owners Association is proud to pay tribute to The Stylistics."

This year's award presented to the Stylistics is the fourth made by state association in recent years. Previous award winners were Judy Collins (2014), Dionne Warwick (2013) and folk legend Peter Yarrow (2012) of Peter, Paul and Mary fame.

AMOA-NY's Man of the Year is not without his own accomplishments, too. Allen Weisberg is founder of Greenvale, NY-based Apple Industries, which develops, manufactures and markets photobooth products under the Face Place brand. In just a little over 10 years, the company has sold some 10,000 automatic picture machines around the world.

Face Place models include the Scene Machine, the compact Royal and Sapphire, the Photo2Go, Magazine Me and Pix Place. There's even a model cross-engineered with one of AMI Entertainment's digital jukeboxes, the NGX Face Place Photo Juke, and a weather-resistant outdoor machine. Apple also pioneered the integration of green screen technology into booths. And now his company offers a machine that creates the green screen effect without the green screen.

THE BOB H. Betti Industries chief executive Bob Geschine (l.) congratulates AMOA-NY president Ken Goldberg, Emerson Amusements (Woodside, NY), for his industry leadership.

"Allen Weisberg began in Brooklyn, transitioned to the Bronx and then moved onto Greenvale. As a second-generation operator myself, I respect him as a competitor," said Goldberg, who added that he's a better operator because of Weisberg's competitive spirit.

But it's in the areas of manufacturing and product development in which Weisberg deserves the most praise, according to Goldberg. "Eight years ago, Allen purchased a distressed, obsolete photobooth maker and breathed new life into it, and subsequently the entire amusement vending industry," the AMOA-NY president said. "And as an operator in the greater New York City region, I have become one of Allen's best customers because I believe in his product."

Weisberg is now part of an elite group of coin machine entrepreneurs who have been honored by the New York association in the past decade. He joins Rick Kirby, Robert Geschine and Kevin Fritz of Betson Enterprises, along with Firestone Financial Corp.'s David Cohen, AMI Entertainment's Michael Maas, Raw Thrills' Eugene Jarvis and Tricorp Amusements' Chuck Peitz.

"It's been another successful year in which AMOA-NY is able to rally its troops and raise its flag through this gala," said Goldberg, who for the past six years has propped up a struggling association in an increasingly challenging music and amusement market. "If you are an operator in 2015," he summed up, "you have passed the test."

Founded in the 1940s, AMOA-NY Inc. is a nonprofit group that represents the interests of businesses that own and install coin-operated amusement and music equipment in locations throughout New York state. The association has won numerous legislative victories in the past decade that have helped advance amusements. At the state level, it repealed a gambling law preventing amusement devices from awarding free credits, and in Nassau County it rescinded a COAD tax. In New York City it has racked up more than a half-dozen legal wins. These include raising the number of pool tables and amusement games allowed in a location without requiring billiards and arcade licenses. It also succeeded in replacing the term "coin-operated amusement device" with "player-operated amusement device" in the city's administration code.

BIG NIGHT:AMOA-New York president Ken Goldberg (third from l.) and New York's Man of the Year Allen Weisberg (third from r.) greet soul vocal group The Stylistics at the entrance of Uncle Jack's on W. 56th St. The state trade association presented on Monday, May 4, its Jukebox Artist of the Year Award to The Stylistics. From left, they are Eban Brown, Airrion Love, Herb Murrell and Jason Sharp.

BIG APPLE WELCOME: Ken Goldberg welcomes Virginia operator Chris Thorton, Ajax Amusements, to New York's awards dinner. AMOA-NY's 2015 banquet attracted industry members from around the country.

JUKE BUSINESS: AMOA-NY's Mitch DeCarlo (c.) of Jami Amusements (Bronx) discusses 21st century jukebox operations with TouchTunes' Marc Felsen (l.) and Phil Cohn.