John Harig always knew he wanted to be in the music business, but he didn’t know there were so many career options outside the artist’s entourage. He did know it’s a relationship business. He started out managing a showcase club, Bogart’s in Cincinnati, way back in 1981. “I hadn’t really settled,” he remembers. “I quickly […]
When Becca Watters waited up all night to give Toby Keith a ride to the airport, she had no idea how significant that sacrifice would be. Sometimes, the worst of jobs in the arena industry is the best of lessons and leverage for the future. It was July 2008 and Becca was a 21-year-old intern […]
Wherever Tom Powell was, he was having fun and everyone around him was having fun. That’s the universal memory of Tom Powell, editor of Amusement Business magazine for 34 years, chronicling the live entertainment industry with his unique, personal touch. Newbies in the industry gravitated to him to learn about venues, parks, fairs and carnivals. […]
Venue managers get very creative when seeking top talent to play a secondary market. Which is why Matt Gibson decided on a major and unique promotion to welcome Bon Jovi to town more than a decade ago. “All of the lessons I learned were from being dumb, including this one in particular,” he told Based […]
Since December 1988, Feld Entertainment’s Bill Powell had been traveling to Buenos Aires every two weeks to put together a self-promoted production of Disney on Ice at a not-yet-built venue. He had built the show promotion from scratch, but he couldn’t build the building. He was counting on the company that showed him a girder […]
Once Bill Powell and the Feld organization had contracted to play a non-existent building in Buenos Aires just seven months out, it was time to think beyond the building to the marketing, ticket selling and promotion of the event. Powell had booked Walt Disney’s World on Ice (as it was known at the time) in […]
When everything points to “it should not be” and it ends up being, there’s probably a Feld Entertainment veteran steering the ship. That was the case in Buenos Aires in 1989, the second year Feld Entertainment was planning Walt Disney’s World on Ice dates in that grand city as part of the Latin American expansion […]
Filling an arena bowl with water to create a pool suitable for racing jet skis is a challenge and a spectacle most venue managers just read about. Scott Mullen has done it — twice. While neither event was successful financially, the PR factor and the public’s awed reaction made both experiences a treasured memory for […]
As Tammy Koolbeck prepared to go on stage with the sponsor to do a curtain speech before the show, the radio erupted with the news the water fountains were exploding and water was running everywhere. Water was shooting out like a rendition of Old Faithful. The show was ready to go on. It was Easter […]
Known for his dapper looks and intense settlements, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Art Ricker was a sight to behold one day at Hampton Coliseum. Frank Roach, assistant general manager of the Virginia venue, will never forget (and spent many a later evening laughing about) the day Art Ricker got drenched. It was a […]