Behind the Scenes
Rocking and rolling is included in most students' lifestyles. The music industry thrives in Lawrence, which receives airwaves from several alternative radio stations and plays host to a thriving music scene at area clubs.
A lot of work goes into putting on shows that students attend, and the behind-the-scenes toiling is often overlooked. But for the right person, a career in the music industry could sound downright groovy. All it takes to schedule and produce a show is a sense of perfection, attention to every detail, love of the music industry motivation to succeed.
jamie Plesser, Prairie Village graduate, was the chair of the Student Union Activities live music committee two
of the Student Union Activities live music committee two years ago. Currently SUA's box office supervisor, Pleaser hopes to get a job at a recording company. He plans to move to Los Angeles this summer.
In his job interviews, Plesser said he has been told that post-graduate work is not necessary to work in the music industry, but an undergraduate degree in marketing or business communications is beneficial.
"I think that (having) just a liberal arts degree would be hard, unless you had a lot of experience." he said.
Plesser also said motivation made a difference when interviewing for a job. The music industry can be intensely competitive, and candidates for employment must be $ \alpha^{\prime} $ themselves and their skills in a creative manner.
"It's extremely difficult to succeed in the Plesser said. "Because it's the entertainment indust-
try, everybody wants to do it, and you just have to work harder."
With experience in concert promotion, radio and record retail. Pleaser said he was confident he would find a job somewhere to start out, though he expects it might be at the bottom of a company.
"You have to be willing to pay your duos." he said
Scheduling relies on the fine tuning of a good booking agent. Agents must take every possible factor into account when arranging a performer's schedule: weather, travel time, hotel accommodations, venue, food quality and the performers' well being.
Mitch Oakmin books shows for five bands, including No Doubt and Dread Zeppelin. He founded the MOB agency (Mitch Oakmin Booking). But getting to where he is today has not been easy. Oakmin started his career in the music industry, like hands for the live music com
many others, booking bands for the live music concerts at Illinois State University. After he graduated, Oak
mittee at Illinois State University. After he graduated, he started a min worked with Trad Artists in Los Angeles. He started at the bottom of the corporate ladder—in the mailroom—but said it was a great educational experience and taught him a lot about the field.
about the field. "You do most of the learning at an entry-level job in an agency," Oakmin said.
"You do most of the learning at an entry-lever job in an agency. But the mailroom atmosphere is uniquely cathroth, he said, because all the employees are expected to work together to deliver the mail, but when a position becomes available, the workers—all college-educated—must fight with each other to move up in the company.
Workers—all college-educated—must fight with each other. He spent one year in the mailroom, earning an abysmal $12,000, before he was promoted to an agent's assistant. Oakmin said that as an agent's assistant, he was primarily the agent's secretary. Although the work was mostly typing and answering phones, it was important, he said.
"When you're climbing up that ladder, there's a rung that says secretary," he said. "You'll climb it on that rung, you'll never become an agent."
aid. "And if you can't climb up that rung, you'll never become an agent. Oakmin then left Triad and became an agent with Frontier Booking International, where he worked with well-known artists such as Sting, R.E.M. and Morrissey. But he left Frontier early in 1995 to form his own agency, which he said was common among agents. He said 18 bands had left Frontier to be with him, but
College was important for Oakmin, who majored in psychology. But he said classroom learning wasn't as important as the skills he learned at an agency, such as working with people and basic business skills.
the eventual success of No Doubt forced him to whittle down his roster.
"You need to know algebra—you need to know how to break even at a show," he said.
know how to break even at a show, he said. And though Oakmin chose to major in psychology because he had thought it was an easy major, he said he used psychology every day when working with producers, venue owners and even band members.
"This whole business is about personal relationships with the bands and with the promoters, and it all depends on trust," he said.
Mistakes by the agent or even acts of God can be very costly. Oakmin said when Gwen Stefani, lead singer for No Doubt, lost her voice, several shows had to be canceled, which meant lost revenue for everyone involved
If the weather turns nasty or the touring bus breaks down, the agent is the person who is called in the middle of the night and is expected to solve the problem, he said.
But the perks are great. Agents receive free tickets to shows and are constantly faced with club owners who lobby to host big shows. But the long hours—all day in the office and shows at night—can be tiring.
"Everyone's giving you free beer all the time," Oakmin said. "But sometimes I just want to go home."
Producers have to make sure each show comes off without a hitch.
They can help arrange the sound, lighting and security of achieving a successful show—but most importantly, producers help with marketing to ensure large attendance at the shows.
dance at the shows. Production companies tend to be smaller and more localized.
Production companies tend to be smaller and more located Jacki Becker, promotions and productions director for Pipeline Production. 123 W.Eighth St., studied creative writing and political science at the University of Kansas. But music was always a part of her education. She worked at KJHK which helped her get her foot in the door.
much helped her get her foot in the mud.
Becker said anyone with the desire and motivation to work in the music industry is likely to find a job somewhere.
(We are going to start at the bottom." she said.
"You just have to start at the bottom," she said.
But, Becker also said many of the local groups often hire part-time interns.
One intern currently at Pipeline is Jon Tosterud, Vermillion, S.D., senior. Tosterud works at Pipeline two days a week, and his duties are typical of an intern. He makes press releases and posters, mails contracts, makes copies and
an iPhone,
mails contracts, makes copies and
responds to the phone.
answers the phone.
answeres de phone
Eventually, Tosterud hopes to
become a booking agent or a client scout with a record label.
become a booking agent or a tal-
ent scout, with a record label.
He credits his success to the experience he gained working at KJHK and on the Student
Union Activities live music committee. He also said that coming from Lawrence he put industry-hopefuls a step ahead of other competitors from the Midwest.
"I think Lawrence is an amazing town for music, and I think a lot of people in the music industry know what Lawrence is and what it's about," Tosterud said. "It's definitely better than Des Moines or Topeka."
Jaime Plesser agreed that Lawrence was a good place to get a start in the music business, but there definitely are negative aspects to the work, he said.
"I think that probably the biggest things that are the negatives are the attitudes, the greed, the rock-and-roll persona," he said. "Some people get in there, and they really like to play up the attitude that I'm cooler than you."
Music Professions
Booking Agent
Booking Agent
Pros: Free concert tickets, getting schmoozed by producers and venue owners
Cons: Unpredictable and long hours, dealing with a lot of different people
Salary: $25,000-35,000 in a small firm, increases with firm size and experience
Producer
Producer
Pros: Free tickets to events, knowing about events before they occur
Cons: Long hours, pressure to achieve goals on a deadline
Salary: Often paid a commission per show; upwards of $20,000 full-time depending
Cons: Long hours, pressure to achieve goals on a deadline
Salary: Often paid a commission per show; upwards of $20,000 full-time depending on area and scope
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Japanese researchers at Tokyo University and Tsukuba University said that in February they would begin testing a project to surgically implant microprocessors, electrode sets and eventually micro cameras into American cockroaches for a variety of possible missions. These missions may include espionage surveil-
LEAD STORIES
The New York Times reported in January that the Taliban movement in Afghanistan is presiding over such a bankrupt economy
what it potentially can carry.
In the December, the Idaho High School Activities Association rejected a proposal by the superintendent of public instruction for extracurricular firearms competition in junior high schools.
But in January, a House committee in neighboring Wyoming approved a bill that would lower the minimum age for big-game hunters to 12.
SEEDS OF OUR DESTRUCTION
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In September, dozens of school teachers from the state of Bihar stripped in front of the Indian parliament to protest low wages.
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enemy and brings good luck.
In a July soccer game in Tripoli, Libya, a team sponsored by the eldest son of Moammar Gadhafi suffered a questionable referee's call and began beating the official and the other team. After spectators jeered, Gadhafi and his bodyguards opened fire on them, and some spectators shot back. The death toll was somewhere between eight and 50, including the referee. Moammar Gadhafi declared a period of mourning, the hallmark of which was that Libyan TV was to be in black and white only.
enemy and brings good luck.
In Meaux, France, a high school philosophy teacher Bernard Defrance was suspended in January for his pedagogical game in which he removes an article of clothing each time a student stumps him with a riddle (sometimes losing everything).
In October, Marcia Fann, 37, won the prestigious Bass'n Gal Classic Star XX bass-fishing tournament in Athens, Texas. Fann cheerfully disclosed that she was formerly a man and had been surgically changed sometime in the 1980s.
In December, the entire 300 man paramilitary police force of the 83-island, South Pacific nation of Vanuatu was arrested for kidnapping a visiting Australian official in order to increase its leverage in an overtime pay dispute with the government. The force had been suspended in November for kidnapping Vanuatu's deputy prime minister for the same purpose. In October, several members of the force kidnapped Vanuautu's president and held him for almost a day before releasing him because their government seemed indifferent.
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