Concert Industry History Test

Other notables who went that route include Michael Ovitz, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ben Silverman, Ron Meyer, Bryan Lourd and Bernie Brillstein.

No, apparently we can’t all just get along.

Arden was manager of Black Sabbath and other major English acts. When Ozzy left the group, Arden’s daughter, a wallflower then named Sharon Levy, took it upon herself to manage the wayward soul before marrying him.

And we, to say nothing of Irving, have never looked back.

It’s speculated, but Parker, who was born in the Netherlands, was a potential person of interest in a murder there, and he feared deportation if U.S. Customs asked questions.

There was once a time when you weren’t a successful rock promoter unless “Frank” handpicked you and gave you a market to call your own.

Remember those Van Halen tours with 1,000 lights up in the truss because each one could only do one color and focus on one place? The Texas-based company, with financing from the band Genesis, changed all of that.

Anyone who knows Neil is aware that he has had a very long association with one of the greatest bands of our time.

Halsey’s roster included Roy Clark, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba, James Brown, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and many more before he sold his company to William Morris in 1990.

As an assistant to Terry Rhodes, Rob Light was sent on the road and told not to come back until he persuaded the band that it would have a brighter future if it stopped burying promoters on its current tour.

False. A German Jewish immigrant, William Morris went into business as a vaudeville agent in New York in 1898.

Landau can be found in the very first issue of Rolling Stone and, in a 1974 article in The Real Paper, he wrote, “I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”

When the current version of MSG opened in 1968, the adjoining theatre was named after president Irving Felt where it was frequently used for boxing matches.

The Apple Computer co-founder funded the two huge US festivals in a barren park in Devore, Calif., in 1982 and ’83. The talent lineups put together by Bill Graham one year, and Barry Fey the next, were legendary as was the overhead.

The trio had so much success with building the music department that staid old William Morris bought the company to get its savvy agents and hot roster.

The troupe, by the way, was fronted by a young actor named Peter Coyote.

After years of watching U.S. agencies open London offices, Neil Warnock hired Steve Martin to open a counteroffensive in Gotham.

Azoff began by promoting REO Speedwagon, a popular local act in central Illinois. He then discovered Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student Fogelberg (Azoff was an alumnus) playing at coffeehouses and became his manager.

Wolodia "Wolfgang" Grajonca, after emigrating from Berlin, changed his name to Bill Graham, a similar-sounding surname found in the New York phonebook.

The Belkins worked for their father's clothing business. Mike ran a store in Ashtabula, Ohio, and the owner began using big-band shows in a nearby ballroom to promote the stores. Mike was asked to take over booking.

Before he merged with Paradigm, Diamond’s Little Big Man agency was named after the 1970 Dustin Hoffman / Faye Dunaway movie, one of Marty’s favorites.

Pearlman, the boy band mogul who allegedly swindled some $300 million from investors, is in the hoosegow for up to 25 years. Utsick, head of Worldwide Entertainment, was a major promoter until his trail of debts resulted in a move to Brazil, which has no extradition treaty.

Larry Magid and Bill Graham produced the show in Philadelphia while Harvey Goldsmith did the honors at Wembley.

The merger of International Famous Agency and Creative Management Associates took place in 1975.

Scher began his career with a steady stream of shows at what was once a must-play rock venue in New Jersey.

Few people ever turned over the back of the AFM contract form to read all the boilerplate fine print, one of which specified the buyer had to supply the piano.

Anyone who has the balls to wag his finger at concert execs and call them pricks will get a lot of curtain calls. In this case four of them, not counting his surprise appearance when Kathleen Madigan hosted.

Stone City Attractions' Jack Orbin promoted Osbourne’s show in San Antonio, where Ozzy made the mistake of bragging about the incident onstage.

Smitty is still available for tour consulting, if you have a lot of time to hear the stories about his days with the Scottish band.

Before Harvey Weinstein was a movie mogul, he was “Harvey” of Harvey & Corky Productions, where he promoted concerts with his brother Bob and partner Corky Burger.

Wall Street impresario Robert F.X. Sillerman started the concert roll-up on his home turf by making a deal for NYC’s biggest promoter.

Huie signed Amy Grant in 1984 and had his own NYC agency before joining CAA’s Nashville office in 1992.

Boyle bought a part of Old Mac’s Bar in Georgetown with $1,100 he won in a poker game. From there he went on to buy and sell several Washington, D.C., properties on his way to building the Cellar Door empire.

Lots of people have worked at Radio City over the years but the president of AEG got his start in the Midwest back in 1981 by managing the Kansas City Comets.

Funny, you’d think the followers of Insane Clown Posse would be more accepting of popular trends.

TM began in the ’70s with grad student Albert Leffler and computer exec Gordon Gunn, but it was Rosen and his venue-friendly model that came along later and changed the ticketing landscape.

Far from investing services, Eavis spends most of the year as a dairy farmer although he might tend the hedge rows around the farm.

We don’t know whether he can sing or not, or would even be allowed into Austria, but Carl has never behaved like a choir boy. (PS: Promoters On-Line Listings WAS digital in 1985. Tour managers could access it, through the Dialcom network, on their Tandy TRS-80 computers with 40-character screens.)

It was push the desks against the walls and lock up the phones as the FBI offices became sardine city for NMS delegates. Ian must have loved the smell of stale beer on the Monday morning after.

Boy, did that experiment fail. We’ve never done anything like that again.

He was the head of ATI when ICM bought the company to try and revitalize itself after Tom Ross had left with many acts and agents to start the CAA music department.

Gudinski formed Mushroom Records in 1972 and built a roster that included Kylie Minogue and Split Enz. He sold it in the '90s but still has interests in Mushroom Music Publishing and Pictures.

In 1969, Control Data bought 51 percent of Ticket Reservations Systems, changed the name to Ticketron and emphasized its computer capabilities.

The tour was promoted by Chuck Sullivan, son of New England Patriots owner Bill Sullivan. He guaranteed to pay the act for every ticket, sold or not, and failed to cap tour expenses in what was probably the worst deal in history.

Tales of Heller’s transition from Mickey Rooney’s agent to a West Coast rap impresario with NWA can be found in his book “Ruthless.”

Pace and MCA Concerts knew the importance of owning their own buildings but Nederlander first championed the outdoor stage circuit in the ’70s, booking Pine Knob, Poplar Creek, Merriweather Post and the Greek Theatre.

It has since closed, but HoB launched in 1992 in Harvard Square with the financing of Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Aerosmith, Paul Shaffer and Harvard University, among others.

Dave Lucas’ and Steve Sybesma’s Indianapolis-based company was expected to issue a million shares of common stock and $23 million in secured notes in 1994 but the deal never materialized.

Both got their starts in Tupelo. Unbelievably for such a small market, the other six all began their careers in Monroe.

Known in the music world as Jimmy Buffett, a young Jim, after graduating from Univ. of Southern Mississippi with a history degree, went on to be a Billboard correspondent, breaking the story of the separation of Flatt & Scruggs.