American Entertainment Magazine

As we start a new decade here atAmerican Entertainment Magazine,we do so with a new zest and a

new mission. Rather than concentrateon a single segment of the entertain-ment industry, we look toward bringingtogether buyers and sellers in the vari-ous markets, simply because it makessense. Far too long now have Perform-ing Arts buyers been limited to what ispresented to them by the various artsorganizations when all around themare artists, shows and events theyhave never seen which could be per-fect for boosting ticket sales and put-ting more butts in seats. The same istrue with association and corporate

buyers who are now starving foremerging talent, looking for acts thatwill “wow” their clients without themhaving to shell out huge dollars. Folks,the college market is the trainingground for talented acts that are look-ing for the next big step in their careers.You will regularly see these acts on“Last Comic Standing,” “America’s GotTalent” and other similar network andcable offerings with incredible skillsthat were honed before student activi-ties buyers.

How many Casino acts have comefrom the various stages represented bythis magazine? The $100 million Terry

Fator performed at the very first IACEPshowcase in Chicago and landed oneof the sweetest deals ever on recordfor a virtually unknown performer out-side the corporate market.

Recycled Percussion stunned theaudience of “America’s Got Talent”and after performing to standingroom only college crowds fornearly a decade at America’s cam-puses, signed their own multi-mil-lion dollar deal for a casino showon the strip in Vegas.

These are just a few of the successstories. But let me assure you, thereare hundreds more out there andcross-marketing is the key for both theartists and the buyers.

Previously, artists and agencies werestruggling with the burden of promot-ing to all of these different organiza-tions. It can be a daunting task bothconsuming time and financial re-sources. For the buyers, the chanceof finding these acts was remote andaccidental at best because there wasno regular exposure. You never knewthese acts existed.

Here at American Entertainment Mag-

azine, our goal in starting this newdecade is to change all of this. Our jobis to seek out new and innovative acts,some already getting exposure but oth-ers that are below the radar. In cooper-ation with AEP (The Association of

Entertainment Professionals World-

wide), we are not only going to findartists in every genre that we feel aretalented entertainment values, but weare going to provide cost effective mar-keting and showcase opportunities tobring them to the buyers.

Changing The Way You Look At Entertainment

4, AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT MAgAzINE, January 2011 www.americanentertainmentmagazine.com

We plan to seek out artists from spe-cialized organizations whom we feelhave the cross-over appeal and the po-tential to perform for a wider demo-graphic. We plan to use ourrelationship with agencies to help iden-tify acts that have that “universal” ap-peal. But we also invite our readersand the members of AEP to bring po-tential feature material to our attention.We want our scope to be wide-reach-ing and offer content relevant to a di-verse group of buyers.

This first issue of the new decade wasour chance to spotlight country music -a legendary art form with fierce Ameri-can roots. The evolution has been onewhich along the way has encom-passed other markets including but notlimited to pop and adult contemporary. Five or six years ago when I was in-volved with the birth of IACEP (The In-

ternational Association of Corporate

Entertainment Producers), I was sur-prised how much of the sideline con-versation among the foundingproducers involved the acquisition ofcountry artists for their events.

The appeal of the new country art formand its ability to easily move into theperforming arts, fairs & festivals, casi-nos and other markets are wordswhich come, not from our mouths, butfrom legendary executives in the enter-tainment marketplace.

YOUR CHOICE: ONE OR BOTH

Most of our readers have told us theyprefer to have the convenience of ahard copy of the magazine in their

hand. They like being able to pull it out ina few minutes of relaxation or on a flightand peruse the issue at their leisure. Oth-ers say they archive them to refer toagain at a later date when there is a storyor ad which appeals to them.

But if you are one of those folks run-ning on “tech” energy, we are in themidst of revamping our website. Notonly will you be able to find a full “flip”digital version of the magazine, butthere will be additional content which

didn’t make the print edition. There willbe easy links to Campus Activities

Magazine®, the AEP website and TheCameo Group of Companies which of-fers exclusive additional services likeCreative Artist Development (a com-plete review of artists’ marketing mate-rials, videos, general businessdevelopment, photography, showcaseapplications and more), ShowcaseVideo (Where you can acquire a cus-tom video developed exclusively foryou, highlighting what you do best),Cameo Graphics (Which providesgraphic design and printing of your ma-terials at very competitive costs) andCameo Web (custom designed web-sites for entertainers and agencies).

The AEP organization will include amembers-only website. That site willfeature a complete searchable data-base for the membership as well aseasy sign-up for conferences, show-cases and exhibit space. Buyers willhave direct access to the artists andthe agencies representing them. Thesite will also feature artist videos anddirect links to member agencies.

Volume 10, #55

January 2011

Staff:W.C. Kirby, Jr., Publisher

Ian Kirby, Editor and GM

Charmagne Loveless, Marketing Director

Bryan Waldrop, Design Team Head

John Thorne, Web Developer

Chandler Cook, Graphic/Video Sales

Samuel Hooker, Writer

Greg Schwem, Contributing Writer

AEP WorldwideW.C. Kirby, Jr., Partner

Leona K. Plaugh, Partner

Ian Kirby, Artist & Agency Development

Chandler Cook, Graphic & Video Services

John Thorne, Website Developer

Charmagne Loveless, AEM Coordinator

American Entertainment

Magazine

Offices/Contact:• 15420 Newberry Road, Blair SC 29015

(803) 712-1429 • (803) 712-6703 (F)

• PO Box 509, Prosperity SC 29127

Accounting & Mailing

• 7338 SC Hwy 395, Newberry SC 29108

(803) 276-1635 , Graphic Design Office

On the Web:

americanentertainmentmagazine.com

A CAMEO PUBLISHING GROUP

COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

PUBLISHING PARTNERS

American Entertainment Magazine

Is The Official Publication of

The Association of Entertainment

Professionals Worldwide (AEP)

THE PAST EVOLUTION OF THE AEM BRAND

www.americanentertainmentmagazine.com January 2011, AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT MAgAzINE, 5

Friend Me.

Do I Know You?

On December 10, 2010, I hit anothermilestone in my life: I hit The Big 3-0-0!”

No, I’m not THAT old. I’m referring toFacebook friends. On a cold snowymorning, I “friended” my 300th personin cyberspace. “Friended” incidentally,is another word that technology cre-ated, sort of like “Googling.” “Friend”used to be a noun; now it’s a verb.

I can remember when I only had 100friends, then 200, and now 300 andclimbing. I “friended” four more peo-ple today so the official count standsat 304.

Problem is, I don’t know who half ofthese people are.

Where did I meet the “profes-sional makeup artist fromFlorida?” Who exactly is the guywho keeps sending me “Get Outof Jail Free” cakes via Face-book? And why exactly did Ichoose to be friends with the“president of a managementcompany that represents eco-friendly professionals?” Theremust have been SOME reasonbecause this guy has 4,724other friends. I’m guessing Iwon’t be getting a Christmascard from him any time soon.

Speaking of Christmas cards, onthe same day that I friended my300th Facebook user, I sat at mydesk addressing holiday greetingcards, complete with personalnotes. I recognized every nameon the list. In many cases I couldinstantly recall the names of kids,pets and job titles.

Therein lies the difference be-

tween Facebook friends and actualfriends: friendship. Your actual friendsare there for life. Your Facebookfriends are there to clutter your life.

When I was 12, I had two friends.John, Gerry and myself were insepara-ble as we navigated the tricky world ofmiddle school. We hung out together,studied together and learned aboutgirls together.

When I entered high school I ex-panded my social network by addingabout four more friends. At 17, Igraduated high school with what Iconsidered to be more than enoughfriends: nine.

Now I’m 48. If I added nine friendsfor every 17 years of my life, I shouldhave about 41.7 friends. Instead I have 300.

Luckily Facebook allows you to “group”

your friends by category. I’ve heard alot of social networking experts say thisis the only way to deal with all the in-formation that we are bombarded withevery day, be it email messages, blogposts, newsletters or contacts. Sortthem into groups and look at thosegroups at your convenience rather thanall at once.

So here are the Facebook groups Ihave developed. Go ahead and usethem if you think your Facebook friendslist is getting out of control. Also, feelfree to rename each group to suit yourpersonal needs. Here goes:

1) Friends I actually care about2) Friends who I can vaguely recallafter something in their profile joggedmy memory3) Friends who I friended just to be po-lite4) Friends who I plan to “defriend” be-cause they keep sending me links to

political sites5) Friends who really don’t valuemy friendship because they havemore than 5,000 other friends6) Friends who are fans of the TVshow Friends7) Friends whose names I don’trecognize and aren’t helping mat-ters because their profile pictureis an animal8) Friends who I didn’t need tofriend because they are familymembers. (Shouldn’t that beenough?)9) Friends who I accidentallyfriended by clicking on the wrongicon10) My dog. After all he is man’sbest friend

Greg Schwem is a corporate

stand-up comedian, speaker and

author of “Text Me If You’re

Breathing: Observations, Frustra-

tions and Life Lessons From a

Low-Tech Dad.” www.comedy-

withabyte.com

THE BIG 3-0-OH!BY GREG SCHWEM


There are speakers and there are entertainersbut there is only one Craig Karges!There are speakers and there are entertainersbut there is only one Craig Karges!

“We recently had Craig Karges perform at a business seminarwhere most of the attendees were top level executives whoget to attend many such functions. When it comes to seeingspeakers, business gurus and entertainers our audience has‘been there done that! ’ At least that was the case until theysaw Craig Karges. To put it simply, Craig astounded,delighted and entertained our group with his uniqueperformance. I would highly recommend Craig Karges to theevent planner that is looking to find someone who is trulydifferent. Craig engages the audience and enthralls them.The real magic involved is how good you will look forbringing Craig to your group.”– Frank Daley, Vice President, AmeriQuest

“We recently had Craig Karges perform at a business seminarwhere most of the attendees were top level executives whoget to attend many such functions. When it comes to seeingspeakers, business gurus and entertainers our audience has‘been there done that! ’ At least that was the case until theysaw Craig Karges. To put it simply, Craig astounded,delighted and entertained our group with his uniqueperformance. I would highly recommend Craig Karges to theevent planner that is looking to find someone who is trulydifferent. Craig engages the audience and enthralls them.The real magic involved is how good you will look forbringing Craig to your group.”– Frank Daley, Vice President, AmeriQuest

www.craigkarges.com [email protected]

We are now in the thick of the 2011 spring sea-son, the glimmer of normalcy seems to be re-turning. And businesses are bookingentertainment again! With cancellations, hesita-tions and apologies behind us, the meetings in-dustry is at last showing modest signs of growth.

Emerging from the past couples years of nerv-ous decision makers and moving targetscalled objectives, meeting professionals aresearching for entertaining performers andshows that can deliver a targeted message—in a practical price range.

Planners have the advantage as an increas-ing number of performers are available to de-liver your meeting message while entertainingyour attendees. With countless choices, aplanner’s challenge is wading through them ifyou are working without a talent representa-tive. A speaker bureau or talent agency cancut down on your research time and will pro-vide a better product.

Large companies and corporations continue tocontract high dollar motivational speakers. Butthe majority of meeting budgets can’t support thislevel of talent. Nor do all companies requirepurely motivational content.

And what about the audiences themselves?With learning techniques as varied as theirages, how do you convey a message, espe-cially these days when: (1) Attendee profilesmight consist of three or more generations,and (2) A large percentage of your audience,regardless of age, is dividing their attentionbetween the stage and their pda’s?

The memory of a live performance can help bycreating a image that an attendee can recall foryears to come. This is a quantifiable measure-ment a planner can use in their ROI report that isoften overlooked.

A few case studies with basic details are listedbelow.

Challenge:

A public relations company needed us to createa performance concept that would introducetheir three-step industrial floor cleaning product

to their sales partners. This performance wouldtake place during an intimate cocktail receptionin a hotel ballroom. It needed to include a vi-sual introduction followed by a narrateddemonstration of the products. The goal wasto show good results when each of the prod-ucts was used individually, but great resultswhen used in combination.

Solution:

Conceptualize and produce a custom three-per-son routine with precision drummers fromRhythm Extreme! Here’s how it worked…

Reception guests were given ample time tonetwork while enjoying cocktails and horsd'oeuvres, then the VIPs began their presen-tation of their “Step 1” product. A male modeldressed in corporate branded coveralls carry-ing the Step 1 product displayed in a five gallonbucket. Our model, looking like a factoryworker, examined the bucket, turned it over andunexpectedly began drumming on the bucket.This excitement set the tone for the introductionof the Step 2 and Step 3 products, each with a

different model performing a different drumsolo, showing great singularly.

While each step was demonstrated, drumstickswere handed out in anticipation of a VIP/attendeedrumming jam session. The audience participa-tion jam session built to a crescendo with a fea-ture segment for the VIPs followed by a precisiondrum finale. Good individually, great when com-bined! The message was threaded through theentire presentation.

The sales force left with the memory of being partof the interactive drum jam session with theirVIPs. They also were treated to a private cocktailreception with food, received personalized,hands-on training on the new cleaning productand took home a pair of branded drum sticks.They even received a commemorative photo-graph of themselves alongside the VIPs and castof drummers.

Challenge:

The producer meeting wanted a performancetroupe for a general session opener. The con-

Great General SessionsBy Connie Riley, T. Skorman Productions, Inc.

THE PASSING ZONE


tent for the session was written and presentedby the company leaders. Their theme, “ThePower of One”, was created to unify all de-partments in providing one coordinated expe-rience for their customers.

Solution:

Our experience began with several mediascreens, meditative music and multiple scenic el-ements. Then twenty dancers materialized be-hind a scrim. This led to a synchronized tai chiroutine timed with dialogue and reinforced by“The Power of One” media images. The dia-logue ended and the cast posed on center stage.

Just when everyone thought it was over, a scenicbackdrop peeled away revealing four rock mu-sicians performing a custom song. The rocksong juxtaposed against the serenity of tai chi in-trigued and energized the attendees incredibly!They were still standing and applauding as theirfirst presenter was introduced!

The imagery of the unified team of tai chi per-formers against the rock lyrics established thecentral message the general session wouldhinge on—the corporation was building a unitedfront to deliver the best customer service, and thebest client satisfaction.

Challenge:

A restaurant corporation held a two day meetingfor three diverse divisions of their company. Theplanner wanted a passionate performer whocould incorporate art and a personal inspirationalmessage into the session. This segment wouldbe presented between two educational sessionswith restaurant operations content.

Solution:

A trick speed painter with an inspirational mes-sage! You need to remember, the trick with aspeed artist is the audience can’t identify the per-son in the portrait until seconds before the paint-ing is finished. So you get suspense andinspiration.

Four people were chosen to become the artist’ssubjects. A message was identified and the artistwas coached by the client on speaking points.

During the session, the four portraits werepainted. As each was completed, the artistspoke about his passions, his mentor, and hisapproach to life through his art. His message:“Find your inner passion and use it to improveyour life.”

That message, plus the enjoyment of seeing fa-miliar faces materialize in the portraits, kept theaudience amazed and entertained.

The guests were engaged by the incredible tal-ent of the artist. They shared in the guessinggame while he painted and only when completedwere the identities of each portrait confirmed. For

all concerned, the experience brought to light theimportance of knowing yourself well enough toharness your inner passion.

Challenge:

Two companies were merging their products andemployees. Both sets of employees were ap-prehensive. The planner’s and producer’s as-signment was to present a performance groupthat could incorporate the buzzwords of team-work, trust and consideration in a less than seri-ous environment.

Solution:

Two men dressed in ballet tutus juggling twochain saws – and yes, the chain saws are run-ning and fully functional…get the picture? Evenif you aren’t familiar with entertainers, The Pass-ing Zone, you can guess the rest of the story.

This act customizes their routine to include yourmessage. They incorporate serious points intotheir comedic juggling routine to create memoriesfor your attendees.

Outcome:

Through comedy, The Passing Zone allowed at-tendees to share common anxieties while laugh-ing together. The imagery is a vision that youhope your attendees will never forget – the place,the date, the company and the event.

Countless meeting planners have movedon or retired over the past few years. As a

result, the average planner is younger. Andwhile these professionals require the sameservice standards as your establishedclients, you may find their preferences andstyles to be substantially different from whatyou might be used to supplying.

That’s because their selections will be deter-mined by the technological advances in mediaand entertainment. They’ll look to those with ex-perience and products that appeal to them. Pro-ducers who take the time to understand, connectand mentor these young professionals will findopportunities for business as the health of the in-dustry continues to gain strength and corpora-tions invest once again in face to face meetings.

Connie Riley, CSEP, CMP

T. Skorman Productions, Inc.

407-895-3000 x213

[email protected]

www.tskorman.com

Connie is an honored recipient of the 2009 ISESOrlando Hall of Fame Award and currentlyserves on the BizBash Orlando and Event Solu-tions Advisory Boards.


By Dick WilsonPeople in the events & entertainmentindustry spend jillions of hours thinkingand talking about themes. Unfortu-nately, most people approach themesfrom the totally wrong direction. Soallow me to present two basic truths Ihave learned about event themes.

Truth #1: Your theme is not for the

audience.In my 20+ years of meeting production,I’ve never heard a comment, positiveor negative, from an attendee concern-ing an event’s theme. A theme is likeso many other things at an event—food, rooms, services-- it’s only likely tobe noticed or remembered if it’s ab-sent, weird or not working. In short,audiences don’t care about themes.

Truth #2: Your theme is

for you.Regardless of your role in planningevents, a good theme is your bestfriend. It will help you choose & cus-tomize your entertainment, decorateyour room, design your logo, write yourscripts and more. So choose yourthemes thoughtfully. Here are a fewpointers to keep in mind:

1. Less is more. The theme is the officialname for your conference, so keep itshort. For years it seemed as though“verb the noun” themes (Seize the Day,Leading the Way, etc.) would never goaway. Fortunately these days one andtwo-word themes are more common andmore workable.

2. Think of a theme as the bookendsfor the event. Picture the CEO deliver-ing his/her opening remarks. How doesthe theme help set the stage for theevent about to happen? Then consider

what that same CEO’s parting wordswill be, and how he/she might wrap thetheme around those remarks. If thewords come naturally and quickly, youhave a good theme.

3. What kind of starting & ending pointswithin the event does the theme presentfor other program elements? A themeshould be versatile enough to let eventproducers, writers, entertainers & MC’sgo places with it, lots of places. But unfortunately, too many times anevent theme is lost, forgotten or ignored,especially when it comes to entertain-ment. That’s a shame, because it reallyis easy to tie in a theme, and doing soadds so much to the cohesiveness of aprogram.

Let’s take a common event theme like“Imagine.” It opens up all sorts of possi-bilities… creativity in business, the future,famous artists and their works, the listcould go on and on. Here are just a fewways to make that “imagine” theme workfor the entertainment:

• Show Band introductory remarks:“Let’s imagine we’re all back in highschool. How many of you think of the60’s? The 70’s? The 80’s? The 90’s orlater? Well guess what? You don’thave to imagine yourself back in time,because our show band is going to dothat for you right now….”

• Celebrity Impersonator’s show: Askhim/her to work the word “imagine” intotheir show, either as a transition betweentheir impersonators, or within the imper-sonations themselves. If nothing else,ask him/her to begin and end their routinewith the word “imagine.”

• Motivational Speaker acknowledge-ment: “So let’s think about where(speaker) has taken us this morning.Or better yet, let’s imagine wherehis/her insights could lead us in the nottoo distant future. For instance, imag-ine your business….”

It’s simple to keep a theme alive through-out a program, and entertainers can be akey way to accomplish that goal. Whenentertainers embrace their clients’themes, they become more than enter-tainment. They become valued partnersin helping their clients meet their goals.And that can only lead to more successfor everyone!

About The Author:

Writer & Events Producer Dick Wilson

began his career in radio, and then

moved on to corporate event production

at Tupperware, where he was Director of

Presentations & Events. He now leads

his own company, The MessageWorks,

which offers businesses an eclectic

menu of creative, production and orga-

nizational services. Learn more at www.

TheMessageWorks.com.

Event Themes & Entertainment: A Natural Partnership!


I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. I findmyself in one of those rare positions; I ab-solutely love what I do. Perhaps this is morecommon in our industry than most. As editorof both Campus Activities Magazine, thenumber one publication for booking enter-tainment on campuses, military bases andinstitutions and American EntertainmentMagazine, which serves so many intercon-nected markets like corporate, performingarts and casinos, I have the honor of beingbusiness associates and friends with thepeople who book and perform a vast majorityof all the live dates done in our great country.

The funny thing is, the people I know aren’tas cleanly segmented as we sometimesmight think are campus and corporate, per-forming arts and casino, or even theme parkand military dates.

Air Out Those Dirty Genres

If we want to find the absolute best artist forour audience or venue, we have to learn toadjust the way we think of entertainment. It isnatural for us to box vast variations of enter-tainers within a single genre such as comedyor music, but understanding the varieties andblending of those genres is key. There are

many comics who could work any audiencefrom a family at the fair to a corporate groupbut, there are just as many who will neverstep foot outside of a comedy club.

The same goes for music. As splintered andsegmented as the Internet age has mademusic, there are many subgroups of musicthat will only work for certain demographics.Edgier hip hop works well at colleges, per-haps not so much at a formal engagement.Party bands are all the rage for weddings, so-cial and private events, but most likely would-n’t draw a performing arts crowd. Countrymusic is a great example of a genre that cancross any demographic lines. While it’s truenot everyone likes country music, the fact isthat a good country act will be a draw atnearly any venue or for any buyer be it mili-tary, corporate, festival, performing arts, the-ater, club, casino, college or private event.

Expand Your Arsenal

Sometimes we have to think about a showlike a battle. You, the buyer are the soldierand the talent at your disposal are yourweapons. The audience is the target. Whilemortar rounds and missiles and I.E.D.s all ex-plode, they have decidedly different purposes,

and your choice in entertainment needs to bethe right one to do the most “damage” to youraudience. Most of the time you aren’t lookingfor a sniper (thought they do exist, think close-up or walk-around magic), you want a widedispersal to catch as many of your “targets”out there at once as possible. So, here are afew suggestions for acts that are A-bombs.They have the ability to “annihilate” any audi-ence, no matter the venue, location, demo-graphic or special circumstances. In addition,they are all within a reasonable price point forall of our various buyers.

The Extraordinist

Craig Karges is absolutely one of the finestentertainers I have ever come across. I amnot just saying this because he is also proba-bly the nicest, most graceful and genuineartists I have met, but also because Craig’sact will melt your brain. What really makesCraig a great example to illustrate my point ishis incredible adaptability and insight into justwhat the person booking him is looking for.

Craig talks to each and every one of hisclients to find out what their goals are andwho their audience is, which has made hima continued and resounding success for


campuses, casinos, corporate, performingarts, military and any other demographic ofbuyer lucky enough to stumble across him.Check out his story elsewhere in this issue.

Craig represents the upper echelon of whatwe refer to as “live novelty” entertainment,which really just represents any performerswhose talents fall outside of the normal main-stream genres of comedy, music or evenspeakers. Generally live novelty performers’talents display feats of skill not commonlyseen in the everyday world. This include jug-gling, hypnosis, magic, mentalism and othermysterious, dangerous or otherwise physi-cally impressive challenges of daring-do.

Outside THe Box, Into The Cubs

This brings me to my next point about freeingup our thinking. One should never sit downto plan the entertainment for an event andsay, “I think I want a comic,” or “I need amusic act.” What we should ask ourselvesis the most vital question in entertainment,“What kind of experience do I want to providefor my audience?” If we break the experien-tial part of an entertainment event down to itsmost basic element, this is essentially whatwe are seeking. Instead of “I want a comic,”think, “I want my audience to have a lastinghumorous experience.” Instead of “I wantmusic.” What sort of musical experience areyou seeking? To inspire, excite, emote?

Now, we have just done a wonderful thing.For the experience of comedy, we have takenourselves out of the box of standup andopened up to an entire world of theatrical va-riety. Some of the funniest acts I have seenare not “comics” per se (which of course havetheir place as well), but are hypnosis, magic orjuggling acts where the situations presentedto the audience bring out inherent humor notavailable to a standup, like the tension of hav-ing a flaming torch launched in front of a CEOsface (or, having his watch stolen).

When we understand that the experience isthe most important thing, we can truly honein on the right performers. What are yourgoals? To motivate, amuse, amaze, inspire?I would invite you to look very closely at thisquestion before you book another show. Ifyou don’t feel you are qualified to safely stepoutside of your comfort zone (no one wantsto take a chance and bomb an event), thereare a few suggestions I can offer.

Continually Refer Back To My First Point

First, continue to read our publication. Whilethis shameless self-plug leads the list, it is notnecessarily the most important single thingyou can do, but we strive to make AmericanEntertainment Magazine a fair balance of alltypes of entertainment. If you are only re-sponsible for booking a few events a year,you could easily find the ideas you need in afew issues of AEM, no matter the theme ordemographic. That is a guarantee from theeditor. Also, if you are aware of hot acts wearen’t featuring and should, contact methrough our website.

Second and probably more importantly, findthe people who know what they are doing.Qualified event planners and producers canbe worth their weight in gold, not only be-cause they can take many of the steps out ofthe process for you, but also because theyhave access to talent pools most casual buy-ers would have never thought possible. Theright producer cannot only find you what youdidn’t know was out there, but they might justbe able to save you money in the long runeven if you know exactly the act you seek.

Steve Thomas of East Coast Entertainmenthas been rather famously quoted (loosely)as saying “As a producer, a client can oftensave money even after my fee. Experiencedproducers buy talent all the time and canoften get a better deal, and in addition nego-tiate A/V equipment more often and haveready access to suppliers across the country.This can save a huge amount of the over-head production costs.”

A New Horizon

The third and final tip for finding unique andcutting edge entertainment ties the first twotogether. American Entertainment Maga-zine, in partnership with Plaugh Enterprises,has just founded the Association of Entertain-ment Professionals Worldwide. This is an or-ganization with the aim of using the special

expertise we have generated with our expe-rience in all entertainment trade marketsthrough both American Entertainment Mag-azine and Campus Activities Magazine andcombining it with the experience of the mem-bers we hope to attract from all facets of thetrade entertainment markets.

AEP’s membership will include buyer mem-bers from corporate, performing arts, fair &festivals, clubs, casinos, campuses, cruiselines, theaters, PR & media companies, andmilitary buyers together with agencies andartists from these same various trade mar-kets. Never before have these buyers andvendors had access to each other in oneplace, and with the annual conference start-ing this year in Las Vegas, there will be anunprecedented forum by which all of thesebuyers can communicate to share best prac-tices and have access to new talent, whilevendors will meet buyers never before ontheir radar.

The conference will include live showcasingfor both established and emerging talent witha trade show exhibit hall set up for gettingdates booked.

Money Where My Mouth Is

Since we’ve run over a few principles, I’d liketo list several more acts that I feel really per-sonify The Power Of Crossover. All of theseacts are not only reasonable in price but alsohave the credits and name recognition to beappealing to performing arts or casino buy-ers, who often have to depend on an artist’sdraw for ticketed sales. You can take the fol-lowing acts to the bank.

The Passing Zone

The Passing Zone is not “just another jug-


gling act.” When I think of the absolute creamof the crop in the genre of juggling, two duosstand out. The Raspyni Brothers are a greatstraight-man/funny-man act and have aunique brand of dry wit.

The Passing Zone, made up of Jon Wee andOwen Morse, absolutely blow audiencesaway, enough to have impressed the judgesof “America’s Got Talent” (including PiersMorgan) going as far as Runner-up (just tonote, Jon and Owen harbor no resentmentthat the winner of that particular season wasa very cute little 11 year old girl with the pipesof Aretha, whom also to note has never beenheard from again).

The Passing Zone seem to perfectly under-stand the concept of experiential entertain-ment. The way you know you have a greatact like this is when the primary “schtick” ofthe show fades into the background and allyou really remember is how great the timespent (or earned?) was.

Jon and Owen perform incredible jugglingand balancing maneuvers, but what they re-ally do is leave their audiences in stitches.They are so funny one can barely seestraight, and the great thing is every show isspecifically catered to the audience, so theyare also different every time. This makes itmore exciting for the entertainers and theirexcitement and passion is evident.

Sketch comedy probably doesn’t come im-mediately to mind for most buyers outside ofthe campus or club market, but some improvacts like Mission Improvable, iO and evenSecond City might change your mind.

A Pair Of Nuts

On the vanguard, A Pair of Nuts is situationaland sketch comedy for the next generation.Emmy-nominated Yamil Piedra and JohnnyTrabanco have extensive credits on “Last

Call WIth Carson Daily,” Comedy Central,MTV, BET, Discovery Channel and othercutting edge forums, but anyone whospeaks with them will be immediately im-pressed with their bearing and rapport. Ifyou hit YouTube, these guys might seem likecomplete goofballs, but what makes themunique is that again they are an act that un-derstands markets and demographics. Be-cause they have extensive experience inboth improv and sketch writing, they cancraft their entire set to appeal to your audi-ence, whether they are a certain age, pro-fession or even cultural segment. Forcorporations they can humorously convey acertain message or motivate. They have adraw for the younger demographics per-forming arts seem to want to capture and thetelevision credits (like “Tosh.0”) make theman automatic sell for any younger audiencefound at campuses or festivals.

Don’t Sit Down

Since I commented on thinking outside thebox of straight standup, let me make clearthat I love standup comedy ever since mydad took me to a campus market conferenceat age 11. Comics are the ultimatechameleons. Many rise through the clubswhere audiences are jaded and hard to im-press and those that can reasonably censorthemselves and appeal to a broader demo-graphic can usually play anywhere. They aretypically the best emcees money can buyand are used to being personable.

Last Comic Not Under A Rock

Josh Blue won season 4 of NBC’s “LastComic Standing” and has since been suc-cessful in nearly every venue he approaches.He is a shoe-in for campus and performingarts, casino and military buyers. For corpo-rate and special events, he can set the ap-propriate tone for his content and eveninfuses messages or goals into his set for the

client. He can be edgier for those who re-quest it or clean for those who don’t. He is avery cool guy to hang out with, is completelyprofessional and, oh yeah, he was born inWest Africa and has cerebral palsy. It’ssomething that opens him up as a diversityperformer and gives him a unique insight,though its less than noticeable once you getto know him as “the dude.” From there he isjust a cool guy that’s really funny.

Who Hit The Lottery?

Terry Fator is a distinct blend of many differentgenres and is probably the best example ofwhy you should think experientially instead ofusing the typical genres to segment entertain-ers. To just call Terry “a ventriloquist” is a grossinjustice and is a typical example of boxingmany quality performers into fewer bookingsthan they get. Who sits down to plan an eventand says “I want a Ventriloquist,” outside ofkids’ birthday parties? So, you have thesequality performers not working as much asthey should be. Now, no one should cry forTerry, because he actually won “America’s GotTalent” and subsequently got a VERY lucrativecontract from The Mirage for five years.

Terry’s show includes some of the most amaz-ing vocal mimicry I’ve ever seen (Louis Arm-strong, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, Kermit TheFrog) along with some pretty good comedyand premier level ventriloquism.

Terry is the exception to the rule and is asupremely talented performer. This guy is re-ally one of a kind and probably not affordablefor most reading this, but is a pertinent exam-ple because six months before winning the“AGT” title, Terry was showcasing at an eventfor less than the price a used Kia just like we’llhave this fall at AEP. While he certainly isn’tgoing to be in that range now there are manyperformers still serving the market who haven’thad the fortune of winning a nationally tele-vised talent show.


True Natural Talent

Mike Rayburn started off as a college-marketsensation and is still one of only three men toever win Campus Activities Magazine’s®En-tertainer of The Year more than twice (one ofthe other people holding this distinction isCraig Karges). Mike is again a trueCrossover. He sings, tells jokes and playsthe guitar, but this is such an utter simplifica-tion of his talents. He falls in that uncomfort-able limbo between comedy and music andneither aspect of his show is predominantenough to figure out how to bill and markethim. Is he a music act that’s funny or a com-edy act featuring music? The fact is, he’sperfect for events in every one of the marketsnamed in this story and has proven that fact,using a perfect tagline as “The World’s Fun-niest Guitar Virtuoso,” ending the conundrumof just how to quantify him.

He’s Justin Kredible

When you think about comedy, you thinkabout one man and a mic, but Justin Kredibleis so much more. In the inner circles of thecollege market, he is whispered about as thenew Craig Karges. Justin is a magician, buthis wit, audience rapport and genuinecharisma far overshadow the actual tricks hedoes. While the magic amazes, it’s his com-

pletely honest and straightforward approachthat engage Justin’s audiences. At just 28,he’s got the look, personality and ability to goa long way in this game, has already rackedup an impressive list of accomplishmentsand been noticed by the television world. Herecently finished filming the second seasonof “Cupcake Wars,” on during primetime onFood Network and has recently become thehost of “Hubworld” on The Hub network (for-merly Discovery Kids).

The third member is the 3X+ club, Justin wonCampus Activities Magazine’s® prestigiousReader’s Choice Award Entertainer Of Thean unprecedented four times in a row andcontinues to be a premier act in the campusmarket. He could easily be available formore work in the world of corporate and spe-cial events, performing arts, casinos and oth-ers. He is a steal of a value right now andthis is one of those acts you will look back onin ten years and brag about how little youpaid for such a big star.

In Conclusion...

The Power of Crossover is about opening upyour mind to an experience your audienceremembers. Perhaps a flagship act in the

performing arts market is perfect for yourcasino audience, maybe that corporate mo-tivational emcee could rally your campustroops. The military has a wide variety of ap-plications they wish to fulfill with entertainmenton many levels and, fairs & festivals are agreat way to keep performers’ summer busy.

I encourage you to continue to explore theways you can broaden your talent horizons.Knowledge is power and there is no betterway to do this than to join AEP. Check outthe organization at www.aepworldwide.organd you’ll see it’s an exciting new conceptbringing all the entertainment markets to-gether and at a reasonable cost. It’ll be wellworth your investment.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me aboutany details in this story, or ideas you’d like tosee explored for future editorial development.

For information on The Power of Crossover,contact Ian Kirby at (803) 712-1429 [email protected]

For information on the Association of Enter-tainment Professionals Worldwide (AEP)contact Leona Plaugh at (803) 782-1947.


The country music market is leg-

endary. It consists of the music in-

dustry’s most loyal fans and while

it has changed from the days of

the original grand Ole Opry, the

numbers have grown substan-

tially, attracting more and more

younger followers.

While many of the legends like Merle

Haggard, Hank Williams, Jr., george

Strait, Reba, Dolly and Willie Nelson

still can fill a room, the industry

moved from good guys in white hats

to younger guys in black ones.

With the days of garth Brooks came

hundreds of new faces into the in-

dustry which included Brooks &

Dunn, Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt and

later Rascal Flatts. But the age of

social networking and reality televi-

sion along with iTunes made the

market more accessible to a multi-

tude of emerging artists as well as a

few rockers who saw the new coun-

try as trendy and the chance to de-

velop new fans. Dierks Bentley,

Miranda Lambert, Carrie Under-

wood, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean,

Sugarland, Lady Antebellum and

our featured group, The Band Perry,

come to mind. Add to these Jimmy

Buffet, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and

Darius Rucker just to name a few.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s

go to some legitimate resources like

Kevin Neal, President of Buddy Lee

Attractions (BLA), Tony Conway of

Conway Entertainment group and

Randy Beckham with William Morris

Endeavor.

WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR:

Rob Beckham is with William Mor-

ris/Endeavor in their Nashville office

and is the official contact for our

lead story on The Band Perry.

“At this agency, we have been ex-

tremely fortunate because we have

any number of artists breaking into

DIERKS BENTLEY


the marketplace. Not only are they

great artists but they have great

songs. The songs have some sing-

along ability to them and they talk

about real life. Taylor Swift is a

prime example of an artist who has

done everything right. She is a great

artist and she writes great songs.

Certainly she has reached that

super-star status. I hate to compare

artists with other artists because

every one of them is unique and

does their own thing, but The Band

Perry is simply so dynamic and so

unique in what they do. The blood

harmony is so hard to replicate.

They blend so smoothly together.

Kimberly just has a super-star per-

sona about her. Not only is she

amazing, but the band members are

all great entertainers. They know

how to get up on stage and put the

audience in their hands. They are

very talented players and musicians

and the fact that she wrote ‘If I Die

Young” all by herself is a testament

to her abilities. I have to give them

credit, they are probably the hardest

working young people I have ever

met. They have actually not had

lives beyond their music for the last

18 months. There is probably not

been a radio station, Denny’s or air-

port they haven’t seen in North

America. But they simply love it.

Their first big gig after playing fairs

and festivals throughout most of the

summer was to go on the road with

Alan Jackson. He was on their

‘bucket list’ of performers they ad-

mired and really wanted to perform

with. Their next tour will be with Tim

Mcgraw.” Mark one more off that

bucket list.

“Next will come touring with Keith

Urban in Canada. TBP knows how to

do it the right way. They really just

love getting up and playing before

an audience. They are already

booked for 150 dates through the

end of 2011.”

According to Robert, the real plus

RASCAL FLATTS

TAYLOR SWIFT


for the Perrys is they were raised right.“They were taught respect and areglowing examples of what a band,country, rock or any other genre,should be.”

For all of you college entertainmentboards out there, Rob use to be on theActivities Board at the University ofMontana and was actually involved ina coordinator position with NACANorthwest for a couple of years.

“The Band Perry is one of the fewmajor country acts that has tran-scended to colleges very well. Wehave had a tremendous amount of col-lege activity. We are having offerscome in for 500 seat gyms to perform-ing arts theaters. They are still prettyaffordable for college dates becausetheir expenses are fairly fixed and theirpopularity is growing by leaps andbounds. Pricing is all over the placebased on what is required but they aredoing college shows.”

Rob says the band could probably per-form for anywhere between $15,000and $30,000 today but six monthsdown the road, it could be an entirelydifferent story.

BUDDY LEE ATTRACTIONS:

Probably no one agency has a broaderbackground in country music than BuddyLee Attractions. Kevin Neal is presidentof the Nashville based operation.

“The direction of country music over thelast five years has been sort of shifting.In the last two to three years there hasbeen a changing of the guard. For awhile there were no new headlinerscoming along. When you look at artistslike Brooks & Dunn and Toby Keith,Kenny Chesney - even Braid Paisley,Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and GarthBrooks (who is now coming back), dur-ing their reigns you didn’t see muchnew competition. Now we are startingto see some new headliners, big ticket-sellers, if you will. One that we repre-sent, Jason Aldean, has gone fromclubs to selling out arenas. Lady Ante-bellum has blown up just in the last yearand a half. Others like Sugarland, theZac Brown Band and Taylor Swift, who

is a true phenomenon, are all major tal-ents we are seeing after a stalled pe-riod for the industry. Miranda Lambertand Carrie Underwood are starting toheadline after a period where we didn’tsee many new women coming into thespotlight. Even though Rascal Flattsand Toby Keith are still doing well, nowwe have some excellent choices fornew and emerging talent.”

If you look at country music without thetraditional blinders on, you have toview country music as a genre thatnow, more than ever before, crossesover traditional lines. More pop artistsare on the country charts and morecountry music artists are finding them-selves on the pop charts.

MIRANDA LAMBERT

CARRIE UNDERWOOD


“I think that some of the artists aremore of a cross-over, especially TaylorSwift who plays internationally and isplayed on all formats. Rascal Flatts inpast years has received contemporaryairplay. I think these artists are filling aspace that wasn’t being filled or at leasthasn’t been filled adequately in recentyears. Taylor started out being a coun-try artist for the tweeners... the Disney,Miley Cyrus fanbase.

“Then you have Jason Aldean, whofilled a niche that hadn’t existed be-fore...that being a true, southernrocker. How long ago do we have tolook back and find one of those in thebusiness? Here is a guy who has astyle, a brand, an image all his own. Hewears two earrings, he wears a strawcowboy hat – he’s not your GeorgeStrait wearing a starched Wranglershirt, he’s a rocker. He will be gettingcontemporary airplay because his nextsingle is a duet with Kelly Clarkson.

“The Zac Brown Band does not fit thetraditional country mold. It’s excellentwriting. They have the look and thesound that is going to attract fans.

Their show was built from years ofroadwork. They are a country ‘DaveMatthews Band.’

“Take Miranda Lambert – she’s therockin’ rebel female. Many of her earlysongs had themes like burning her ex-boyfriend’s house down or things likethat. Her song, ‘House That Built Me’has taken her to a place where she hasgarnered all these nominations andawards and that is a soft ballad.”

Kevin has been an agent since 1981and he has seen it all in his 30 years.“Some artists, you’d worry about com-peting shows in markets with ticketsales but I would never worry about thecompetition between Taylor Swift andJason Aldean. (1) Because Taylor isgoing to sell out very quickly, and (2)She is going to attract a very young au-dience. Jason’s market is going to besomewhat older and looking for a morerockin’ sound... a 15-30 year-old rocktype audience.”

Kevin honestly feels that countrymusic has a longer shelf life. “If youlook at what is popular on the pop

charts now and compare it to fiveyears ago, how much of it is retainedin airplay and record sales.” And he isright, A lot of that music is about whatis popular at the moment and whenthat moment is gone, it’s gone. Of thethousands of songs that made it tothe top ten over the last 10 years, onlya handful still get consistent airplayon pop stations. Most stations will goback to the anthem years of EricClapton, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits oreven the Eagles and the Beatles to fillin to give listeners a different sound.“Country music will cross-over to giveaudiences a break from the funk, hip-hop or even electronic music beingplayed on these stations and surpris-ingly it will gain some converts.

“Country music has staying power. Wehave artists retiring because they can’tget any higher or better and then we haveartists who still sell out year after year,even after 25 years. Look at Brooks &Dunn and Alabama who recently retired.They had done everything during theircareers. And you have George Strait whocontinues to sell out and still puts songson the top of the charts.”

LADY ANTEBELLUM


What does the old guard think aboutthe new guard in the field?

“I’m sure there is some jealousy. WhenTaylor Swift became an instant sensa-tion, there were complaints about herstyle. But look at this tribute video toLoretta Lynn. Miranda Lambert and Sh-eryl Crow are a part of that. The newguard is paying tribute to one of the in-dustry’s legends.

“My dad managed Johnny Cash. Veryfew of the rebel rouser artists todaycould hold a candle to what JohnnyCash did back in the 50s. Countryevolved into a kind of ‘pop-country’ inthe 80s with Eddie Rabbit and CrystalGayle, Barbara Mandrel and LeeGreenwood. As it moved back towardmore traditional roots, you had Garthcome in and resurrect the business. Alot of great artists came from this erabut there was not the ‘staying power’ ofa Garth Brooks. Then the (Dixie)Chicks came out. At that point it wassporadic to find artists who could sellout venues 7,000 up. But now there isa whole group of artists who can easilyfit that expectation. Zac Brown went

out and killed them this year. JasonAldean killed. Sugarland killed. LadyAntebellum headlined their first na-tional tour this fall with huge cross-oversuccess. Taylor (Swift) has been doingit. Carrie (Underwood) has been doingit. Kenny (Chesney) has been doingstadium dates and Paisley doingwell...Country is Healthy!”

But the real question is “what is the for-mula for longevity is this market?”Kevin hesitates before he answers. “Ireally never liked this term but it is theone that works...you have to become abrand. You have to become unique. Alot of pop artists like the writing theysee in country music. The RollingStones loved Johnny Cash. It is relat-able music. If you go into most kids’iPods these days, you’ll have JasonAldean, and TI, then Kid Rock and aHinder. Country has crossed more intothe mainstream with the advent of dig-ital downloads and the ease of acces-sibility to music. iTunes has donewonders for country music. Jason’s“Big Green Tractor” had over 1 1/2 mil-lion downloads. Last year when youhad concert cancelled with many pop

artists, country was flourishing. Whereevery other form of music is complain-ing about record sales and tours beingcancelled, country music looks prettygood. And pop artists are discoveringcountry music.

“Darius Rucker is a prime example.You could have put a steel guitar be-hind any of the Hootie and the Blowfishsongs and it would have fit the countrymold. Darius is a genuine southern guywho loves the music. It is not a put-on.

“Jimmy Buffet is a folksy guy whowrites about an adventurous life...aneasy adaption to country. The Eagles,if they were released today, would bea country group.”

And what about Elvis? Even though hewas hailed as the King of Rock ‘n Roll, itwas claimed he came from southern roots.

“Another little story here. My father wasElvis’ first manager. My dad was a DJin Memphis at a radio station. He wasthe big morning guy. He (Bob Neal)promoted and booked shows, handledticketing, had a record store and then


he got into managing Elvis and hemanaged Johnny Cash. To me, Elvishad his country leaning but he was def-initely Rock ‘n Roll.

“I grew up listening to Marshall Tucker,Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels and southernrock and that is what much of today’smodern country includes these days.Artists who stay true to what they areand consistent won’t have any troublegrowing an audience. You know whatyou’re going to get when you buy aBrad Paisley album or Rascal Flattsand Keith Urban. They have a formuladown which includes songs that arefast and others that are ballads.

“We also represent Colt Ford and toput it very loosely, he is a country hip-hop artist. He is a 300-lb guy fromAthens, GA and his shows have hit anote with people. He gets very little air-play but he has sold over 400,000 al-bums. and over a million downloads.He played in Charlotte the same nightas Gary Allen and Gary is a pretty bigname. Gary sold 1200 tickets and Coltsold 2700 and they had to turn peopleaway. He’s as country as you can get

but he is not a singer. He grew up inthe hip-hop business and then was aprofessional golfer for eight years andcame back. Now he does a lot of col-laborations with artists like Mont-gomery Gentry, Eric Church andJamey Johnson. It has hit a note withnot only the country crowd but the hip-hop crowd as well.”

Kevin explains that he got into countrymusic at the end of the Urban Cowboydays. “Country had reached whatsome radio stations had claimed wasthe ‘Countrypolitan” era. It was a morepop country blended with the traditionalartists like George Strait, Vern Gosden,Gene Watson ranging to Garth Brooks,Mark Chestnut and Doug Stone. Thiswent on through the 80s to the mid90s. Then you move pretty much intowhat we have now.”

Perhaps one of the most important ques-tions this magazine could ask Kevin is,“What is on your scorecard when you arelooking to add an act to your roster?”“It is almost like looking into a crystalball. A lot of it has to do with the teamaround the act from record label to man-

agement to publicist to digital media per-son (using social networking). Socialnetworking is massive in advertisingshows. We try to also judge quality,music, personality and how they are de-veloping their brand. We try to find artistswe can be passionate about.”

CONWAY ENTERTAINMENT

GROUP:

Interestingly enough, Tony Conwaywas co-owner of Buddy Lee Attractionsand had been with the company for 33years when he decided to go out on hisown. The venture into his own com-pany was a well-thought out conceptand allowed Tony to do some thingsthat he would not have been able to doin a traditional agency setting.

“Buddy Lee was great for me and I thinkI did a good job for them. I sold my inter-est back to the Lee family and openedmy own company about a year ago.”

The new company is actually a combi-nation of three different entities. It is amanagement company, a live event pro-duction company and talent agency.

SUGARLAND


“We may manage some artists and not rep-resent them for touring and we may repre-sent some artists and not manage them. Weare not purely a country agency but are opento all genres of entertainment. I have beenin Nashville for 36 years and country musicis dear to me but we represent all types ofartists. I have some pop acts we are workingwith, a comedian and several songwriters. Ihave country artists, country/rock and somealternative artists. We are all across theboard and it is exciting.”

We talk with Tony about how country musicis expanding its audience and he uses KidRock as an example.

“I have done some shows with him recently.He admits that he grew up listening to alltypes of music and he enjoyed country asmuch as he did hip-hop or rock and roll.When a contemporary artist comes into thecountry field, it is all about the choice of thesong, the lyrics, the way it is presented, andthe relationship with the audience.

“When I first came into the business in1974, there were only a few touringartists associated with country musicand most of them were part of the GrandOle Opry. Today, my guess is that num-ber will exceed 400.

“For years, country music was a niche mar-ket and during the early days it was ex-tremely traditional. There was a certain style,reputation and image that country music andits fans had. It was considered a hillbilly/red-neck and sometimes a hick audience backin the 50s and 60s. But then as more andmore radio stations started programmingcountry music and more artists started com-ing on the scene, we went thru the “Outlaw”era and then the “Country Rock” era. But ac-cording to the Country Music Association asfew as two years ago, only about 12% of theworld population was listening to, watchingand buying country music. That leaves uswith a lot of future growth.

“I was just this morning doing some re-search and just this past year alone, therehave been 51 new emerging artists in thecountry music segment. How many will beone-hit wonders? More than half. But thereis a tremendous amount of new talent outthere as well as traditional artists.

“Look at the Willie Nelsons and the RebaMcEntires and the George Straits, andGarth Brooks and you say who are the newsuperstar artists and you have to look atTaylor Swift, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellumand Zac Brown. When we are looking for anew artist, we have to take into considera-

tion a lot of things. Some of these fit someartists better than others and some are sim-ply not negotiable. You have to look at thetotal package.The way you sing, the wayyou write, the way you perform, the way theaudience receives you and how you relateto your fans and the way you interact withthe industry. Talent is a significant part of thatbut your approach can been even as impor-tant. There are a lot of variables that go intothe total picture. Are you willing to work ashard as you possibly can? Are you just look-ing to be a star and fly around in a Leer jet?We are really looking for the artist that candeliver in a lot of areas and not just one area.Record labels, radio stations, fan and mediameet & greets...it is a lot of work and it takesa special dedication. Over the last few years,social media has become a crucial part of anartist’s career and managing that relationshipwith fans through MySpace and Facebook.

“When I first got into the business therewas no real production on the road.Now some acts have up to 20 truckswith production. I have seen productionrun as much as $80,000-100,000 aday. This is a good reason to use a pro-ducer to produce your show for you be-cause he/she can obtain the talent andhelp you manage your costs.” In somecases production can cost you up totwice the talent.”

GARTH BROOKS


If Tony had to choose the hottest newemerging acts from all the talent currently inthe market who would be his choices?

“The Band Perry, Randy Houser and a fewothers come to mind if you are looking foracts that can blow the doors off. There is anact we have been working with for a while,Low Cash Cowboys, that is a duo that hastremendous potential. They have a singlethat is 45 with a bullet.

“I think Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, MirandaLambert and Sugarland are some of thebest breakout artists of recent years. I thinkthat Lady Antebellum has a brilliant futureahead of them. They kind of happened atthe right time. There are not a lot of trios incountry music and especially not male/fe-male trios. They appeal to a very wide rangeaudience and especially the younger audi-ences discovering country music, just likeGarth did. They appeal to hard-core countryfans and the older demographic as well. Ifyou can appeal to 12 years old to 80 yearsold, then you have hit upon something.”

Most artists dream of appealing to both thecountry and pop audience. It means morerecognition and more sales. “If you can getfour, five or even six different genres to likeyour music, it can blow the top off of salesfor you. It is something that many artistsdream of. You going to be exposed to morepeople all over the world.”

But even in the era of electronic media, Tonybelieves the record label is still important.“You really need them in most cases to playthe radio game, Record labels have thatconnection that most emerging artists findhard to penetrate. If you can devise a wayto get your image before the people in a waythat creates instant recognition, the modelfor the record company is broken.”

Many execs will say that iTunes killedthe record business. “I don’t think thatis correct. Napster killed the recordbusiness or put a significant dent in it.iTunes, while it allows many artists tosell their product at a reasonable price,has been more of a partner with the la-bels, selling digital downloads at a rea-sonable price. A $10 price for an albumdownload is certainly attractive and Ireally don’t know how long brick & mor-tar record stores are going to remain vi-able or CDs for that matter. You

probably will find stores like Walmartand Target continuing to handle thosefor a while.”

Similarly to Buddy Lee Attractions, thecompany Tony managed previously, hehas very specific goals relating to how hesees the growth of Conway EntertainmentGroup. “When I started this new company,our first project was a large festival insouthern Alabama. That took about sixmonths of my time to put together. At thesame time we were developing the man-agement side of our business, and I wantto keep that limited to four or five artists.On the agency side, because I know thatso well, my guess is that we will initiallylimit ourselves to ten clients. I am in theprocess right now of negotiating with twoexperienced agents to join me who knowthe business from the club level to the sta-dium level. One of our employees passedaway unexpectedly this past year, whichwas a blow to us. Once we have thoseagents in place, then we plan to go afterwhat we would consider some “A” leveland “B” level artists. I’ve talked to a lot ofartists, the record labels and managers intown and I think we have some legitimateinterest. I want to take a unique group oftalented artists and not have to worryabout coming in day after day with theschedules of 60-70 artists. We want todedicate our experience, knowledge andrelationships with booking the tours for ourspecialized group of artists.

“As far as promoting goes, we are promot-ing concerts only for events that would hireour live event crew. Then we would do whatwe needed to do to promote the event. For-tunately over the years I have made awealth of connections and established rela-tionships and we have access to any num-ber of sources we could contract specificservices to without hesitation. We have thetalent and the expertise to produce anyevent for any major sponsor and we have aseparate staff dedicated to that process.While I respect all the major agencies andcertainly have a good relationship withthem, they are not set up, nor do they havethe staff to provide a client with this kind ofcomplete package. Our company can pro-duce any kind of event but we are going tobe very selective in what type of event andwho we do it for. We are not going to pro-duce 20-30 shows a year because we arefocused on doing select events and doing

them right. When you do an event like this,it takes weeks if not months to do the properplanning to give your client the type of ex-perience they should be expecting and yourartists the type of experience they need.Both sides of the equation are important.When I was with Buddy Lee, for a numberof years we had Mainstage Productions andwe did some pretty significant events fromthe first Farm Aid to Garth Brooks’ WorldTour. We had a division which producedstate fairs across the country and at onetime this division produced the Indiana StateFair, the Michigan State Fair, the WisconsinState Fair, the Illinois State Fair and others.”

So what’s next on Tony’s list? Well, his com-pany is stretching its wings to take advan-tage of all the different markets we coverwith this magazine. As we spoke he wasmaking plans to attend the Arts PresentersConference in New York (APAP). “Mostpops series want a major country artist toperform with their symphony at least onceduring the year.”

As far as the campus market goes, “Most ofthose kids do have an advisor, but most ofthe time you end up talking to the students.This kid yesterday told me he had readwhere I was involved with Garth when hestarted and was there a possibility that theycould get him for a date? And I simply toldhim that he wasn’t touring right now and thatI didn’t know that there was a price theycould offer that could secure a date. It’s re-ally just the inexperience, but sometimes thestarting place that breeds future execs in theindustry.

“Our agency will be attending the NACAconference in St Louis and we will be pre-senting our roster including Brennin, a popact. And we have a group called the Clev-erlys who can do bluegrass Lady Gagastyle and currently have one of the top ratedvideos on YouTube.”

A Special thanks to Randy Beckham,

Kevin Neal and Tony Conway for taking

time from their busy schedules to con-

tribute to this feature. You will not only

find their contact information but a se-

lect few of the artists they are currently

asking you to consider as you plan your

upcoming schedule of events.


JASON ALDEAN Since his 2005 debut with the scorching “Hicktown,”the singer has set himself apart from the pack as atruly unique artist. He addresses his Georgia-bornbrand of country music with a singular vision, and heintends to keep it that way. His next album My Kinda

Party is stocked with inviting melodies and intriguingstorylines, many of them tugging on the small-townthemes that have become the backbone of his per-sona. Aldean’s ultra-Southern voicings give him animmediately identifiable sound. The band helps sethim even further apart from other country stars. “Idon’t want to use who everybody else uses,” he in-sists. “And I don’t want my records to sound likeeverybody else’s records. The only way to do that isto cut it like we do. I cut the album with my band, Iuse an engineer that nobody else really uses in thistown to cut major-label records.

BUDDY LEE ATTRACTIONS

615-244-4336

THE CLEVERLY TRIO The Cleverly Trio is a family band. It was founded by the dad and his three brothers, Turk, Tink and Bunyon.The whole family at one time or another has played in the band. Since 2005 brother Digger has taken overthe band. The current members of the trio are Digger, brothers Miles and Vernon Dean, son Harvey D andcousin Otto. Some recent highlights have included a stop at the Lower End VFW and then onto the popularMidget Festival in Oztown, West Virginia.CONWAY ENTERTAINMENT: (615) 724-1818

HERE COME THE MUMMIESProfessor Dumblucke learned of the powerful curse that doomed the mummies to wander the earth throughouteternity, seeking the ultimate riff, the one that would allow these souls to finally rest after 5000 years of bangingout solid fly grooves. To quote the Professor: "In their desperate quest for immortal peace, they rocked all theancient empires of Earth on down to the grizound. They rocked Atlantis so hard, y'all, it ain't never beenfound." And now they can come to rock your town with a funk so strong, it's gonna make all the cats explode.Strap in. BUDDY LEE ATTRACTIONS: (615) 244-4336


MARGARET DURANTE Just 22, Margaret Durante displays a depth andmaturity beyond her years as both a singer anda songwriter, and her artistry has already drawnthe praise and support of some of the music in-dustry's true legends. Margaret was 16 when afamily friend hired her to sing with a band shejoined on the road for several years, often flyingto gigs or studio work from Clemson University,where she was majoring in music. When she at-tracted the attention and encouragement of leg-endary music executive Tommy Mottola, sheknew it was time to commit wholeheartedly. Onstage and now on record, Margaret is sharing herown magic with a rapidly growing group of fansas she proves herself to be one of country mu-sicʼs most talented and compelling young artists.

CONWAY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

(615) 724-1818

MATT GARY Matt established a working relationship and friendship withGrammy award-nominated producer Kent Wells (Dolly Par-ton/Neal McCoy/Michael Peterson); he worked with Wells hon-ing his vocals and vocal style. Twelve months later, Mattrecorded songs for his own project and made his country musicdebut with his single, aptly titled, “The Days You Live For”. Matthas since captured the attention of music critics and countrymusic lovers alike. In the months that followed his 2009 singlerelease, he was showcased in Country Weekly, CMA Close-Up and the Nashville Lifestyles’ feature, “Single in the City.” CONWAY ENTERTAINMENT: (615) 724-1818

LoCash COWBOYS LoCash Cowboys have attracted their share of support fromthose in the industry who recognized just how much of the totalpackage they had—great vocals, world-class dance moves, aunique look and charisma to burn, as well as a wealth of expe-rience and a work ethic that impressed everyone who dealtwith them. The Cowboys' signing by Stroudavarious Recordsbrought together two of the most important elements of the Lo-Cash story—their ability to capture fans with their live perform-ances, and their heart for humanitarian work, especially withyoung people.CONWAY ENTERTAINMENT: (615) 724-1818

COLT FORDColt Ford embodies the seemingly unusual pairingof Southern country and hip-hop musical influ-ences that he heard growing up in small townAmerica just outside Athens, GA. His newly styledcountry music is truly a blend of many musicalstyles, including country rock, hip-hop and R&B.Although the stories may differ for rural and urbanlisteners, Colt delivers a common message andemotion with an uncommon sound. According toKevin Neal of Buddy Lee Attractions, “The (live)show should be called the ‘Colt Ford Experi-ence’...high energy, amazing audience interaction,true fans that know the songs and sing to everyone...Colt is a phenomenon.” He performs regu-larly over 200 dates a year and many with JasonAldean. He’smixing all the right ingrediaents in arecipe for success with new country music.

BUDDY LEE ATTRACTIONS

(615) 244-4336


STORY BY W.C. KIRBY


I have to admit, I have not been so im-pressed with an emerging group sinceI did the interview with Rascal Flattsright after “Prayin’ For Daylight” peakedat #3 on the Billboard Country Musicchart in 2000.

The Band Perry is comprised of sib-lings Reid, Kimberly and Neil Perry,three talented, youthful, polite and well-spoken artists who are full of energy.But more than anything else, they areappreciative of the successful hand lifehas dealt them.

“We are fortunate enough to haveparents who were supportive of ourcareers and embellished every mo-ment,” Kimberly relates. “They havenot only encouraged us but gave usthe financial and emotional supportwe needed.”

The Perrys were born outside MobileAlabama, Kimberly in 1984, Reid in1989 and Neil in 1991. The kids’ dadwas a physician in Grand Bay, so mostof their time and early experienceswere attached to Grand Bay. “It was agreat place to grow up and we stillhave dear friends and family who livethere.” Kimberly started with a band atthe tender age of fifteen. “I had alwaysdone talent shows and sung in church,so when they needed a lead singer,they came to me. I was so excited thatthe night before the first day of practiceI couldn’t even sleep.”

For Kimberly, that was it. She caughtthe fever. “My parents fostered theband. They would have us set up in theliving room to practice. Reid and Neilwere only ten and eight years old andwhen we took a break, Neil would jumpon the drums and Reid on the bass gui-tar.” The other guys in the bandseemed to be a little nervous that Reidand Neil were taking such an interestin performing.”

“Mom and dad encouraged the two ofus as well,” Neil recounts. “Theybegan booking us to open for Kim-berly’s band and even at eight andten, we got to travel the southeast. “Iwas their musical director,” Kimberlyadmits, “But we always knew we weregoing to play together.”

The sibs first formally played togethersome six years ago in the Carolinasafter which they were invited to performas part of the New Faces of CountryTour (2005) sponsored by Coca-Colaand WalMart. Kimberly discloses,“Sugarland and Daryl Worley did a fewof those dates. This was the first timewe all three played together for a majortour even though it was in the lingeriedepartment at WalMarts.” On the plusside, the Perrys got to do countrymusic radio and hang out with countrymusic friends. According to Neil, “It wasan amazing experience.”

So there’s the roots of The Band Perry(TBP). Neil now plays mandolin andaccordion while Reid still mans thebass. Kimberly sings lead vocals, playsrhythm guitar and piano with bothbrothers on background vocals.

We just did a show in Mobile a fewweeks ago,” Neil reveals. “It was greatbecause many of our friends and oldband mates came to the show. It waslike a re-union of all our old band.”

One question that might come to mindwhen you consider a band and a familywith such strong roots in a local envi-ronment – “Was it a strain moving fromrural Alabama to the Nashville environ-ment?” But the Perrys took it in stride.

“We always took family trips to Ver-mont in the summer and we wouldtravel through Tennessee,” Reid adds.But I think we always knew we wantedto make Tennessee our home- eventhen. You just kinda fall in love with theSmokies. A few years ago dad got a joboffer in eastern Tennessee, so wemoved to the mountains and haveloved it ever since.”

For a group with rural southernroots, the transition came easy. “Wedon’t live in Nashville,” Kimberly ad-mits, “but we are close enough thatwe can be there in a few hours. Welive in Greenville, a neat southerntown nestled in the mountains ofeastern Tennessee.” Neil adds, “Wehave one foot inside the city andone foot in the mountains becausethat is where the music all gotstarted. It’s a great getaway and

mom always has to remind us thatwe are not on vacation.”

Since October 2009, The Band Perryhas only been home 19 days, a rig-orous schedule to say the least butwhen at home, the Perrys spendtheir time in Greenville (or as theyrefer to it, their little mountain town).“We love being home,” Kimberly em-pathically states, “but we are onlyfour hours to Nashville and when wewrite, we often do it there. It is greatto have the best of both worlds. Mo-bile was a great place to grow up butwe really love being planted in theSmoky Mountains.

“We actually wrote ‘If I Die Young’here in Greenville. It such a peaceful,alluring environment. Other artistshave told us, wherever you find anoutlet for your songs, continue to goback there. Greenville is just a placethat seems to foster our creativity.”

The impressive thing about the Perrysis the forethought each of them putinto their craft and the planning oftheir futures. A lot of new young artistsout there don’t take the time to reflectbut only want to go full-steam aheadas fast as they possibly can. Kimberly,Reid and Neil plan with a purpose.

Kimberly explains their paths have beenpart fortune but most of all hard work -not just by the band but the people whohave surrounded them. “There have al-ways been significant people in our livesfrom our parents who were (and are) ex-tremely supportive, to Bob Doyle (long-time Garth Brooks manager) who tookon our management duties and has in-credible experience. He has been afriend and counselor as well.”

The connection with Bob Doyle actu-ally came from the band’s attorney.“Dave is our consigliere,” Neil jokes.“He is Italian and a huge ‘Godfather’fan. He brought us to Bob Doyle.”

“One thing we love about Bob,” Reidadds, “is that he loves to take youngsongwriters on as musicians. Heteaches them how the music busi-ness works.”


“We really fell in love with him,” ex-presses Neil.

According to Kimberly, “He is simply ahard worker. He works as hard with ustoday as he did on day one with Garth.He’s the kind of guy that not only helpsyou make excellent, purposeful cre-ative decisions but wise careerchoices. He has been a great mentorfor the three of us.

“We have been with Bob for about twoyears now and he helped pair us upwith a producer for our album andacted as ears on our songs vetting thebest ones for the album”

It was through Bob Doyle that the bandwas introduced to the newly estab-lished Republic Nashville label. TheBand Perry signed to RepublicNashville in August 2009 and releasedtheir debut single “Hip To My Heart”.The song written by the three Perrysalong with Brett Beavers peaked at#20 on the country charts - not bad atall for a freshman effort.

The instant success of the Band Perryfollowed the next year with a song titled“If I Die Young”.

“If I Die Young” written by Kimberly wasinstantly one of the most requestedsongs on country radio stations acrossthe country. The song bolted to #1 andwas included on the band’s self-titled

debut album released on October 12,2010. Produced by Paul Worley andNathan Chapman, the song was notonly a chart-topper in the country mar-ket but reach #19 on Billboard’s Top100, showing that the band couldcross-over into many different genres.Add to all this, the video, directed byDavid McClister became one of themost popular on the video charts.

According to Kimberly, the inspirationfor “If I Die Young” was a cloudy day inGreenville. “It was simply a moment intime when the three of us were headedinto the studio to record demos. Wehad no idea if any ears would ever fallon these songs but it was a moment

when we were living our dreams andour lives together. If everything shouldcome to a screeching halt, we havelived pretty completely in our 27, 22and 20 years. For us it was a statementon contentment and that we had justenough time. Because at that moment,we had made the most of our minutes.The message is a barometer: Are wemaking the most of our lives? Are weembracing the time that we have had?Are we loving each other and thefriends and family we hold dear? Forus it is a happy song... a celebratorysong... a song of contemplation.”

Neil adds, “When we sing ‘If I DieYoung’ live, the people in the audiencewho sing it with us are all smiling. Theydefinitely have found the focus of the

song and the way it was written. Theyare singing it back to us as an anthemrather than a ballad. It is really cool.And people from our 80-year-oldgrandmother to three-year-old kidslove the melody. It has a lot of differentfaces for a lot of different situations.”

Where the songs come from is ashared duty among the three bandmembers. “We usually work in a writingcircle,” Kimberly explains. “Reid as thebass player, usually mans the chordstructuring. Neil is a really avid reader,so he contributes a lot to the lyrics. Andas the singer, I bring melodies to thetable. We pile everything in the middleand work through them.”

Reid adds, “Our writing sessions usu-ally materialize out of practices. Whenwe are off the road, we will have prac-tice sessions and a lot of our materialwill come from those...moving from therehearsals to the creative process.”

With such a great song as “If I DieYoung” receiving such enormous suc-cess and reception by the Americanpublic, will that be hard to top with fu-ture efforts?

All three band members agree that thesong was pivotal in the success of TheBand Perry, especially in the country mar-ket, but Kimberly relates that there aresongs they like just as much that carry adifferent meaning and will probably bewell received but in a different way.

REID NEILKIMBERLY


“We have to develop songs that aregreat for the subject matter they repre-sent and we have to be true and hon-est in our writing. We have to writeabout what we know and allow our au-diences to soak into our hearts and ourspirits. That’s the great thing aboutcountry music, most of it is about reallife stories that people can relate to.The songs we do on stage are thesongs that people in our audience areliving every day as well.”

“We had the pleasure of going on tourwith Alan Jackson this past October,”relates Neil. “One of the things he toldus about the importance of songwrit-ing is making sure the songs are rel-evant for the times you are in. Hewrote a career song and then he hadto continue to write songs that wererelevant to the people and the timesaround them. I think this is a messagethat soaked in for us.”

Because all three Perrys were veryyoung when they initiated their ca-reers, as they grew older decisionshad to be made regarding their futureeducation. Because Kimberly wasthe oldest she was faced with thecollege decision first.

“Because I was home schooled the lasttwo years of high school due to my ca-reer choice, I was faced with the deci-sion of when and where to go tocollege. I had applied and receivedseveral scholarship opportunities fromAlabama. I sort of went through a littlebit of a role reversal with my parents.My reasoning was that should themusic business not work out for me, Iwould have something to fall back on.But my parents had just the oppositefeeling. They told me ‘If you havesomething to fall back on, you’re goingto fall back on it at some point. Youcan’t do that! We are here to supportyou in whatever way you need.’

“It was funny because I was taking thetraditional parental viewpoint, yet myparents were telling me that they be-lieved in me and my abilities. It was areal ‘drawing the line in the sand’ mo-ment and it was their faith in me thatdrove me forward. The boys’ collegedecisions followed that same path.

Our parents supported us every stepof the way - emotionally, spirituallyand financially. What I love about ourparents is they are the first ones tosupport us but they are also the firstones to give us constructive criticism.When it came to our careers, their rolewas to foster our mind-set and ourheart-set and being sure we had theright atmosphere to be our best.”

If you look at many successful bands,whether it be country, rock or any othermusical style, most difficulties comefrom being on the road. No matter howclose you are, touring can drive awedge into your personal relationshipsand create havoc. Thus the shelf life ofa band compared to an individual artistis dramatically reduced. But, this does-n’t seem to be a factor for The BandPerry. Touring from a young age andwith immense family and professionalsupport, their lack of longevity doesn’tappear to be a factor.

“Being in close quarters 24/7 with yourbrothers and sister, we’re really goodabout giving each other their space,”Neil relates. “It is something we grewup with. This is not a new thing for us.Even with the crew that travels withus – all of us respect each other.”

Kimberly adds, “We are in our 20’s nowso we have adjusted to the phrase ‘ToMeet The Beat.’ Rather than havingdisagreements, we have discussions.”

“Plus,” laughs Reid, “We know eachother like the back of our hand sosometimes we have to use the back ofour hand.”

The current history for The Band Perry(TBP) seems to be set. With a debutalbum headed toward platinum statusand a single already certified gold, theband is constantly touring.

They have been nominated VocalGroup Of The Year 2010 for the Coun-try Music Association Awards (CMA)and both Breakthrough Artist of theYear and Duo/Group of 2010 for theAmerican Country Awards (ACA) pluspending nominations at the 2011Grammys and Academy of CountryMusic Awards (ACM).

Exactly where does TBP envisiontheir future?

From Kimberly’s viewpoint, “We are will-ing to walk as far as our songs can walkand country music fans are willing to walkwith us. Our goal for tomorrow and fiveyears from now is to be better musicians,


be better at this craft of music that we do,to be better human beings and to loveeach other and other people. It is tooeasy to get caught up in things that reallyjust don’t matter and our goal is to try toavoid those things. The three of us justwant to be a really hard working andheartfelt band. Five years from now, if wecan still be singing country music songs

for country music lovers everywhere, thatwill be a pretty good life for us.”

As far as “If I Die Young” goes, theband is incredibly grateful that the songhas walked the walk onto the pop andeven urban charts but they have de-cided not to change the mix. If it can beaccepted for what it is, it is a light that

shines for TBP and country musiceverywhere.

BOOK IT: For more information onbooking TBP contact Rob Beckham atWilliam Morris Endeavor Entertainmentin Nashville at (615) 963-3337. To seethe video, go to our website at ameri-canentertainmentmagazine.com


Thirty years, 4,684 presentations in 17 countrieson four continents and in all 50 states. Self-de-scribed "extraordinist" Craig Karges has traveledover four and a half million miles by planes, trainsand automobiles to bring his special brand of en-tertainment and motivation to literally millions ofpeople.

2010 marked Karges’ 30th anniversary as a pro-fessional entertainer and speaker. During thepast 30 years, Karges has made 42 national tel-evision appearances (ranging from The TonightShow with Jay Leno to Larry King Live) andstarred in two television specials as well as mak-ing countless major market TV appearances.

Karges offers corporate and association audi-ences three options. His Experience the Extraor-dinary motivational entertainment presentation isbusiness theatre at its best. Karges combines theart of magic with the science of psychology andthe power of intuition to create the impression thatnothing is impossible. Tables float, minds areread, metal bends and the audience's imagina-tion is challenged because they won't believe theireyes. Using total audience participation, Kargesdazzles the mind as he challenges his audienceto question what is real and what is unreal. Theaudience doesn't passively watch the presenta-tion, they experience it! Karges baffles, mystifiesand thoroughly entertains and then, at the end ofthe performance, when he has them in the palm

of his hand, he delivers a powerful message con-cerning the potential of the human mind cus-tomized for the client.

In a shift of focus from entertainment to empow-erment, Karges created Ignite Your Intuition,based on his best-selling book of the same name.This one-of-a-kind presentation does more thansimply amaze and entertain. Participants learnmemory techniques; their intuition is tested; andthey are taught how to tap into their subconsciousminds to enhance creativity and decision making.Ignite Your Intuition is a hands-on, interactive ses-sion that awakens participants to the possibility ofreaching their full potential while experiencinggreater personal power and achieving successmore easily.

The third option is becoming increasingly popularwith corporate and association meeting profes-sionals. You can combine the best of Experiencethe Extraordinary and Ignite Your Intuition for atruly amazing keynote general session.

Karges is often used by meeting professionalsas after-dinner entertainment with Experiencethe Extraordinary and the next morning he pres-ents Ignite Your Intuition as the opening generalsession or even as a breakout session. The ex-citement generated by Experience the Extraor-dinary ensures the attendees' interest in Karges'additional session and the client gets two pow-

erful presentations with only one set of travel ex-penses to pay.

"During Experience the Extraordinary, amazingand impossible looking things happen on stageand I make the point that nothing is impossible—anything is possible! We are truly extraordinaryand we have the ability to create the futurethrough our decisions, actions and beliefs. Oursuccess is limited only by our imaginations. I en-gage the audience and make a connection withthe entertainment, then provide them with a spe-cific message tailored to the group. The audi-ence is getting the core message of the meetingagain but in a fun, exciting and mind expandingenvironment—not from a talking head or a powerpoint slide. During the presentation, I reinforcethe client's key theme. The real value comes inwhen I tie the client's specific goals, themesand challenges to my core message andthe entertainment," Karges explains.

"With Ignite Your Intuition, within 15minutes, the participants are ableto do something that looked ex-tremely difficult, if not impossi-ble, to them only momentsbefore just by learning afew simple tricks of themind. They learn anddirectly experiencethat they know


www.americanentertainmentmagazine.com January 2011, AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT MAgAzINE,33

things that they didn't think they could possiblyknow. The challenge to them is—what else doyou know that you don't know that you know!What else can you accomplish that you don't feelyou can accomplish? Of course these conceptsare tied directly into the challenges and goals ofthe organization," Karges adds.

This blend of entertainment and motivationcaused David Thomas, an associate producerat the Fox News Channel, to proclaim thatKarges is "Tony Robbins meets David Copper-field!"

Karges' corporate client list ranges from McDon-alds to AT&T and from NASA to the Mayo Clinicwith many of his clients calling on his servicesagain and again.

“You were a hit as usual! You did it again, a third

time no less… another outstanding and unfor-

gettable performance that amazed the top AT&T

performers. I enjoyed every moment of the show

as well as the standing O you received. The au-

dience was blown away and the subsequent

buzz has not yet ceased. I desired entertain-

ment, motivation and a business message. You

went beyond the call and exceeded everyone’s

expectations. You are, hands down, one of the

best I’ve had the pleasure to work with. I can’t

thank you enough because you made me look

like a hero.”

Diane Quido, Senior Events Manager, AT&T Services, Inc.

“Thank you for the superb job you did speaking

to the NASA Reusable Solid Rocket Booster

Project meeting. Your presentation was awe-

some. The audience was completely en-

chanted. Your talents, combined with your

professionalism completely captivated a room full

of NASA engineers and business types.”

Kathy Carleton, Manager, United Space Alliance,Systems Integration and Project Engineering

“Thank you AGAIN for yet another amazing per-

formance! For more than 10 years, the partici-

pants at our conference have marveled at your

engaging style and flawless execution. All those

in attendance, from the interns to the most senior

executives, had an ‘extraordinary’ time, and the

feedback we received has been 100% positive.

From a planning team standpoint, I can’t tell you

how refreshing it is to work with someone who

not only entertains, but also reinforces the key

messages of the firm and the conference. We’re

looking forward to having you back for future

events, and we would be happy to recommend

you to any organization that is looking to take

their conference or meeting to the next level;

you’ve certainly done that for us.”

Dan Black, Director, Americas Recruiting, Ernst & Young LLP

Karges' popularity on the corporate circuit speaksfor itself but even his peers find his work fasci-

nating. In 1989, the international Psychic Enter-tainers Association presented Karges with theDunninger Memorial Award for DistinguishedProfessionalism in the Performance of Mental-ism. The award is named after Joseph Dun-ninger, the 20th century’s most famous mentalistwho starred with network radio series in the 40sas well as network television series in the 50sand 60s. The extraordinist was 31 when he re-ceived “The Dunninger” and he is the youngestrecipient of this prestigious award, the highestperformance-based honor given by the associ-ation. 1989 was also the year that the NationalSpeakers Association (the world's leading organ-ization for professional speakers) recognizedKarges as a Certified Speaking Professional orCSP. The CSP designation is the only earneddesignation given by NSA. It is earned througha combination of professional association, edu-cation, performance and business management.Earning his CSP at the age of 31 made him oneof the youngest members of NSA to achieveCSP status. Less than 20% of NSA’s 3,150members have earned the CSP designation.

In 2006, Karges was invited to be the featured pre-senter at the Opening General Session of NSA'sNational Convention. He received a standing ova-tion from 1,700 peers. Three days later, on theclosing night of the convention, Karges was oneof five recipients of the CPAE Speaker Hall ofFame Award during a black-tie gala.

The CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame recognitionwas established in 1977 by NSA as the Councilof Peers Award for Excellence designed to honorspeakers who have reached the top echelon ofplatform excellence. Admission into the CPAESpeaker Hall of Fame is a lifetime award for

speaking excellence and professionalism. In-ductees are evaluated by their peers through arigorous and demanding process. Each candi-date must excel in seven categories: material,style, experience, delivery, image, professional-ism and communication.

To date, 203 men and women have been in-ducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame.Members of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame arean eclectic group and include President RonaldReagan, television personality Art Linkletter, for-mer secretary of state General Colin Powell,businessman Harvey Mackay, Olympic athletePeter Vidmar and motivational speakers and au-thors Zig Ziglar, Jack Canfield, Ken Blanchard,Norman Vincent Peale and Les Brown. Thereare currently 159 living members of the CPAESpeaker Hall of Fame and only 107 of these in-dividuals have both the CPAE and CSP.

Karges began his performing career (and award-winning ways) on the college circuit. The extra-ordinist is perhaps the most honored campusentertainer of all time. The National Associationfor Campus Activities (the nation’s largest colle-giate organization for student activities) namedKarges Campus Entertainer of the Year an un-precedented six times. NACA member schoolsalso voted the extraordinist as their favorite vari-ety entertainer for 12 consecutive years, givingKarges a total of 18 NACA Campus Entertain-ment Awards, far more than any other winner.

This magazine's sister publication, Campus Activ-

ities Magazine, is recognized as America's num-ber one publication for campus programming witha circulation of nearly 4,500 colleges. Each yearCampus Activities Magazine conducts its Read-


ers' Choice Awards and over the years Kargeshas been named Entertainer of the Year on fouroccasions and has won multiple times in other cat-egories including wins as Best Live Novelty Per-former, Best Male Performer and Best PerformingArts Attraction bringing his total Readers' ChoiceAwards to 15, another record. In 2003, Kargeswas voted into the National Campus Entertain-ment Hall of Fame as its fifth inductee.

Of course, Karges is also a perennial nomineefor American Entertainment Magazine's Read-ers' Choice Awards in multiple categories includ-ing Entertainer of the Year.

Performance magazine, the international touringtalent weekly, singled out Karges' theatrical tour-ing version of Experience the Extraordinary asone of the top five variety/family shows in NorthAmerica. The extraordinist was in good com-pany as the list also included illusionist DavidCopperfield and Walt Disney's World on Ice.Performance dubbed the Karges production,"The next era in mystery entertainment."

The accolades keep coming. In 2010, Kargeswas awarded the prestigious “Top5 Speaker” des-ignation by the San Francisco based SpeakersPlatform, one of the United States most prominentspeakers bureaus. According to Speakers Plat-form, "Out of hundreds of nominees, Craig Kargeshas risen to become one of the world's most re-spected and compelling speakers in the entertain-ment category." Each year, Speakers Platformrecognizes five speakers, within fifteen populartopic areas, based on: expertise, professionalism,innovation within the topic area, client testimonialsand references, presentation skills, original contri-bution to the field and public votes cast at the

Speaking.com website. Over 13,000 votes werecast from business leaders, educators, associa-tion members and others from around the worldfor the 2010 nominees.

Karges is also an author. His first book, IgniteYour Intuition, a self-development guide to unlock-ing the hidden powers of your mind, was pub-lished by Health Communications, Inc. (bestknown for Chicken Soup for the Soul) in 1999 andstill enjoys brisk sales after eleven years and mul-tiple print runs. The book is even used on somecollege campuses as a text. His second book,The Wizard's Legacy, is a novel of inspirationalfiction that reveals the secrets to magically trans-forming your life and is based on the life of Karges'mentor, his great-uncle, Alain "Doc" DeLyle andthe relationship the two had as teacher and stu-dent. His third book, Extraordinary Tales, waspublished just in time to celebrate Karges' 30thyear as a speaker and entertainer. The book is acollection of 24 short stories of Karges' travelingadventures and comprises a world tour of theparanormal and the extraordinary (see sidebar).

Even after 30 extraordinary years and a roomfulof awards, Karges isn’t resting on his laurels. Hestill maintains a schedule of over 100 engage-ments per year. The extraordinist will kick off his31st year as a speaker and entertainer in earlyJanuary 2011 with a world tour for the UnitedStates Navy and the Department of Defense.Stops will include Spain, Italy, Greece, Bahrainand Japan with ten performances in 14 days.

BOOK IT:

[email protected] • 304.233.4366

Extraordinary Tales:

Stories from the Road

Craig Karges, speaker, author and enter-tainer takes you on a tour around the worldvisiting extraordinary places and encounter-ing extraordinary people in the process. Ex-traordinary Tales is one part travel memoirand one part encyclopedia of the paranor-mal and the extraordinary. Travel the worldwith Craig as you:

Solve the mystery of Atlantis in Greece.

Search for King Solomon's Mines inSaudi Arabia and the Ark of theCovenant in Jordan.

Discover the Father of Modern Magic inFrance.

Take a walk with Jack the Ripper in England.

Learn the secrets of the pyramids in Egypt.

Come face-to-face with Bigfoot in thePacific Northwest.

Meet the White Witch of Jamaica andexplore the Bermuda Triangle in theCaribbean.

From Singapore to Sardinia, ExtraordinaryTales is a collection of stories gathered fromaround the world. You'll visit London, Paris,Cairo, Tokyo, San Francisco and Las Vegasas well as the tiny town of Point Pleasant,West Virginia home of the Mothman! It's afun-filled world tour filled with ghost stories,

vampires and crystal skulls!

Available through the author's web-

site www.craigkarges.com or

through www.amazon.com


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American Entertainment Magazine

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