Tuesday, August 31, 2010

VINTAGE ROOM: Wine, Art & Culture

Remember the culture blog? Well, we decided to actually try and do something about it. We love wine, we love music, we love art. So we put all three together. September 14th. Im hoping I was wrong, and that the South Bay will be into this. We'll be having a live artist filmed as he paints his thoughts on what the wine we're tasting looks like on canvas. We'll also have live jazz going, and Bryon Holley will be hanging out, teaching us about the wines that are being tasted. For $30 you'll get three wine tastings, a glass of the one you like, dinner, good conversation, live art, and live music. From there, we'll take comments & feedback for the next one, which we'll have monthly. Want to be a part of this? let me know...anything artistic will be considered, as long as its outside the normal box of what's done all the time around here.  So what do you say...share a glass of wine with me?

He says it perfectly....

I read this article. this morning. this is a talent buyer at a large venue. He nailed it...

What are your thoughts about ticket prices?
I love an agent, when I say “How much?” and the agent says, “All-in, with fees, we want a top of $38.”
That’s an agent who’s looking out for the fan base of his artist and is therefore looking out for his artist.
To say, “I need a hundred grand” is the wrong way to approach “the triangle.”
I learned early in my career there is a triangle in the concert industry. There are three stakeholders that have to have a good financial and experiential success in order for the event to be successful.
The first is the artist, the second is the patron and the third is the infrastructure, which includes the venues, the promoters, agents and managers.
All three of those points on that triangle have to be successful to have a good experience financially and experientially. If any of the three points is slighted, it becomes a house of cards.
And the venues, agents, promoters and managers have all got to stay in business for the concert industry to stay successful. I think that’s part of the turmoil right now, that people have forgotten that.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Reality Show : Rocke Star

So, finally. Pre Production has commenced. We shopped our story to Sony a year ago, and they wanted Kid Rock to be our frontman. F that. Instead, we decided to do it ourselves, and so have just started pre production on our show - what it's like to work at a live music venue...the video incantation of this blog. So when you cruise in and see the cameras, thats whats going on. So much cool stuff is happening right now - especially on the Sundays for the next few weeks with the beach concerts, which if you didnt catch, this weekend is going to be all time. But I digress.

Part of our show is creating characters out of people that come to Saint Rocke. So should you think that you are one of them, and have something to say, do, or convey - hit us up! Coming soon...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

For the Love of....

I book a band. I negotiate with the agent on a price. Then I negotiate with their management on specifics on the contract. Then I spend money marketing them & pushing their product (band). Then, day of, I argue with the tour manager on things like dinner menus. Then, I pay them. If the night is a success, the venue makes some money. Then I pay licensing fees to big companies that never even pay the artist back. Throughout the whole process, the venue/promoter (me, and by the way, i hate the word, promoter) is looked upon as the opponent, not as part of the equation in making an artist successful. End of the day, question: what is the motivation for the venue?

MOTIVATION. MOTIVES. Always been an interesting word. Whats behind the action of an individual or group? What drives or motivates the words coming out of someone's mouth. You hear the "chess" analogy alot, especially in the business sphere, but also in relationships, group settings, even foreign relations. I've got to thinking: Do people even know they are playing?

Let me give you some examples. You dont want to date someone anymore, so you become distant. You are negotiating a contract, so you become quiet and let the other person talk first. You are worried about how you look in a dress so you call up your bigger friend to go out that night (girls only). Nuclear war tit-for-tat. Congressman hating on gay marriage & hookers and then getting caught, literally, with their pants down. Get it? My point is this - why has the world become so coy? what happened to just asking for what you want, or would like to get, being open to compromise, and cultivating a society where nobody had to question motives? Where everyone was themselves (be yourself, everyone else is taken (Oscar Wilde).  Is that too utopian?


Lately things have happened in my life where my motivations have changed. my motivation for waking up in the morning. I found myself wrapped up in progress, money, success. But in that equation, I thought that those equaled being content, and I've found that I had it completely backwards. Contentment first, the others after. Because as I was interacting with people, my motivations (PMS-progress,money,success) we're driving my actions - were my motivation - and I wasn't always being the type of person I wanted to be: someone that does things because they are fun, because they provide inherent value.

It's like drug addiction. Chess mentality addiction. You become good at it, and manipulation starts rearing its head as well. And then you're doing your thing, and you get an email about a possible Blues Traveler play. And you forget all the progress, money, etc. and you just say, holy shit, i drank my first beer to Blues Traveler music back in 91. And you do everything you can to get the show, just because its going to be awesome. no other reason.

And its like surfing. In a split second, you return to what you were meant to be. Human.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

BEER PONG???? Management Meeting Vote

So how do we come up with what we do at Saint Rocke? How do we come up with a promotion, figure it all out, and finally, AGREE on it? Well instead of trying to explain it, I thought we'd show you the final vote process at our management meeting and introduce some of the team.  This is what happens every Wednesday in our office - and this week it was the discussion and vote on the BEER PONG promotion.
Check out the vote, and meet some characters!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Does the South Bay have a cultural side?

As I was at the 6man tournament in Manhattan last weekend, surrounded by volleyball, booze in gatorade bottles, cunning costumes, and an oversupply of teens trying to fit into an adult world, I asked myself if that event, being the most crowded, was really the apex of life in the South Bay. I mean, where are the art shows? the true wine tastings (not the fake restaurant ones)? the poetry or political banter, the film night, or even a Ginsburg coffeeshop reading of Howl?

Now, I know for a fact there are people in the South Bay that have culture. That's not the question. Those people know art, wine, poetry, history, and all the rest; but usually they go outside the bubble to find it. Why? Does beach life consume so much of the beach culture that there is no room past surfing, vball, or boozing on a saturday? And don't get me wrong, I'm not harping here - I'm just wondering. Where do you go for art? for a wine tasting, or listen to somebody rant over why the government is corrupt? I can't find anywhere.

Case in point : Saint Rocke. Monday night Kinky Friedman played. This dude ran for governor of Texas, rubs elbows with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, and a ton of other famous people, had a huge writeup in the LA Weekly, and yet the South Bay crowd didn't get it. Or did they? Next week we have a group of musicians from a refugee camp in Sierra Leone, a truly amazing story, and truly life-altering music & hope. I love it - I get to meet & talk to these guys, learn about their past, learn about how the world has brought them to where they are. If you are into these things, you HAVE to see this show. And well, if you're hungover from the rager on Sunday, I understand. Be well South Bay.

http://refugeeallstars-audience.fm/ to check out Sierra Leone Allstarts