A Tour Manager's Decision!

Insight By: B. Brown - BREG


In any field of business, management is key! But in reference to the music industry, management is absolutely important to the career & sometimes the life of a solo artist, group or band.

The article below highlights a great decision made by Sugarland's Tour Manager. It was a great instinctive decision that actually saved the band members lives!

I've dealt with a lot of artists and groups that don't necessarily believe what their management tells them even when it's in their best interest to listen and at least try to understand what is being said to them. Now, I'm not saying that management is going to always be correct, because no one is right all the time, but I am saying that all parties involved in a situation should listen to each other and make the best decision possible.

Communication is the key and having contingency plans in place when artists are on the road is critical. Airline Tickets, Bus Set-up & Maintenance, Security, Props, Venue Access, Dressing Room(s), Radio/Publicity Schedule, Charity Work, Stage Props & Set-up, Sound Check, etc.

You see, it really never stops and the Road Manager is the point person, and has a lot of responsibility to make sure the show takes place a close to perfect as perfect can get.

Sugarland's road manager made a decision to keep them off the stage for a minute or two after surveying the clouds in the sky and seeing a storm approaching. That decision saved the band members lives because major wind came through a minute later and destroyed the stage killing several people in the audience. My Prayers go out to them and their families.

Checkout the article below .......

"Sugarland likely saved by tour manager's decision"

CAITLIN R. KING - Associated Press | AP

Tour manager Hellen Rollens looked at the sky and decided to hold the band backstage a minute before 60 to 70 mph wind gusts toppled the roof and the metal scaffolding holding lights and other equipment at the Indiana State Fair where five people died Saturday night in Indianapolis.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — It came down to seconds and one instinctive decision that may have saved the lives of country duo Sugarland and others at the Indiana State Fair where five people died when a stage collapsed.

Tour manager Hellen Rollens looked at the sky and decided to hold the band backstage. A minute later, 60 to 70 mph wind gusts toppled the roof and the metal scaffolding holding lights and other equipment on Saturday night in Indianapolis. It crashed into the audience, killing four instantly and fifth later at a hospital. Dozens were injured, some critically.

When they heard the deafening boom of the stage crashing, Sugarland and crew hit the ground and took cover against a wall, thinking it was going to collapse on top of them. At some point, they made it out of the dust and debris and converged on their tour bus.

"There was no running out anywhere," Sugarland manager Gail Gellman told The Associated Press on Monday. "No one knew what happened. It was just the moment when your eyes get big."

Gellman said others felt it was safe to go on stage, but Rollens ultimately acted on her intuition.

"As a tour manager, it's super important to understand what the weather conditions are when you play outside. We've always talked about not putting the band on during wind, lightning or heavy rain," said Gellman, who was in Las Vegas with another client that night.

"Everybody was standing in a prayer circle getting ready to go onstage, and Hellen, as she was walking down the ramp, the stage fell. So her decision to hold them for literally a minute saved every band member and crew's life."

The calamity has deeply touched Sugarland members Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush.

Nettles said in a statement that she watched video of the collapse on the news "in horror" and was "moved by the grief of those families who lost loved ones." She said she was also "moved by the great heroism" of fans who ran toward the stage to help rescue the injured.

Gellman met up with Nettles on Sunday and has watched her struggle to cope since then.

"There are moments I can see great clarity in her eyes, and there are moments I can see her tears well up so much that I just don't know what to do," Gellman said. "She's just processing and wants to encourage people to be together, to support each other."

Bush went home to be with his children in Georgia.

Gellman strongly believes it was the weather and not a staging problem that brought down the Indiana State Fair structure. She said it will not dictate how she guides her acts in the future.

"I would pose the same question to every band that goes out there, Keith Urban, Kenny (Chesney). We all tour during the summer. We all play outside. We're all cognizant and very aware of what we hang and what we do," she said. "We have restrictions and requirements (from each venue), and we stand by every single one of them."

Sugarland's elaborate set for their "Incredible Machine" tour was destroyed in the collapse. They canceled their Sunday show at the Iowa State Fair, but are "hoping and preparing" to perform as scheduled in Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday.

The Journey of Songwriters & Music Producers

Thoughts By: B. Brown (BREG)

When I'm speaking to up & coming songwriters, producers, artists or independent production/record label owners, they usually believe doing one thing will skyrocket their careers and that is very rare indeed. Women have even a tougher time breaking through to stardom and financial success in the music industry.

I spoke with DJ Hollywood of DirtySouthradioonline.com a few weeks ago and we discussed the fact that it takes several different campaigns going on at the same time or several different contacts connecting the dots for a spark to occur in someone's career and that takes time! In a lot of cases, a lot of time, like in many years!

The article below is about Angela Hunte-Wisner and Jane't Sewell-Uepic and their songwriting/producing journey.


The Duo Behind The NYC Anthem (Ebony Magazine; June 2011; pg. 70)
By: Margena A. Christian

It's a man's world behind the scenes in the music industry. But women are doing it for themselves. No two people know this better than the Grammy-winning songwriting/production duo of Angela Hunte-Wisner and Jane't Sewell-Ulepic.

"A lot of people said, 'You won't make it,'" recalls Sewell-Ulepic, a graduate of William Paterson University of New Jersey. "They said, 'You will never win a Grammy.' We had to band together as sisters --- hold on, go into this thing and look out for each other. We let our music speak for itself. We don't have gimmicks."

The New York natives, signed to EMI as song-writers and producers, proved the naysayers wrong last February. As the masterminds behind the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys tune, "Empire State of Mind," they won two Grammys for BEst Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It's also rare for songwriters --- especially women --- to also have co-produced their hits.

"We're the last people who anyone knows about, but we're the mental force of the song," says Hunte-Wisner, a former video casting director and industry stylist. "Being a songwriter is like being a ghost. You give the artists a piece of your soul."

With a combined total of 30 years' experience in show business (Sewell-Ulepic was an engineer for many years), the ladies have been songwriters for the lasst seven. They partnered nearly five years ago after meeting at an EMI writer's conference.

"This is all business and 2 percent music," says Hunte-Wisner. "We deal with publishing issues, approving licenses, bankers and business attorneys. We do our own contracts. It takes a lot to be able to write comfortably. You must be very focused. It's like going up the mountain."

They give back through their work with Grammy U's New York chapter, where the duo prepares college students for careers in music. "They are the future," says Sewell-Ulepic, who earned Grammy nods in 2007 for Fantasia's When I See U. "No one is telling kids how this thing is really structured. We saw the real era of music. We want to find the new Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye."