San Diego Promotion Companies: From Joke to Legit

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The Sixties can thank Bill Graham for putting on shows with fresh talent like Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin, among notable others.

Alongside Graham, Rick Griffin and the Joint Show Five painted, inked, penciled and screen printed countless psychedelic posters that coaxed people into these events. The events and the art, because of their historical impact, are now displayed in museums or coveted greedily in collector's homes. Many people may know Graham and the people that worked effortlessly by his side to put on shows and events, others may not, but the bands, the art and the experience that Graham and his crew created have left their imprint upon a generation.

The millennium may not have Graham, but the 21st century has not been left barren of entertainment. Promotions companies, alongside San Diego's ever-growing populace and demand for stimulation, are currently toiling away brainstorming for the next big party or sold-out event. Like Graham, many of these guys' efforts may have gone unnoticed, but if you have ever stepped foot outside of your house, you have probably stumbled once or twice into their territory.

Producing a "party" or a serious event, it is safe to say, is no longer a job title attributed exclusively to college kids. Sometime in past ten years, the term "promoter" transformed from a joke to a legit profession.

"There is an entrepreneurial spirit that is taking place in [San Diego] right now" Jason Herrick, of Fortune Industries, said of the emerging promotions industry, "the more clubs and hotels that open up the more need there is for promoters to be filling them with people."

Fortune Industries, or Fortune 421, is best known for their fashion and music events. The launch of their clothing line, along with their already developing promotion company, began in September of 2005. "I started with a lot of event marketing to promote my clothing line, Fortune 421 Clothing" said Herrick of the collaboration, "Our parties became a fun place to check out some of our fashion and high-energy music."

What may have started with an idea, turned into a company, as Herrick and his crew, made up of friends in the entertainment industry from nightclub owners and employees, to musicians and designers, began to expand by constructing larger events like the one Fortune put on poolside for New Years Eve at the Del Mar Marriott that ran from 8pm 2007 to 8pm 2008.

This year, Herrick explains, Fortune will go national, "[People] will see Fortune in more new markets this year including San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York and, of course, our other homes of Vegas and Miami."

To the change from partying for pleasure to partying as an entrepreneurial enterprise, Herrick responded that, "[a person] has to make the decision if they are in this business to party and get laid or if they are here to be successful and be a part of something bigger. In the last few years promoters have been choosing the business side of things."

Fortune, however, is not the only company that emerged from this cocoon of inspiration. Creativity to advance products and a place to promote ideas other than simply "partying" may have been the spark that ignited alternative San Diego promotions companies, like Fieldtrip Entertainment, into realistic business ventures.

A fairly new entertainment company, Fieldtrip brings live art and music together, an idea, as Brett Fischer, a founder of Fieldtrip Entertainment has explained, that separates a Fieldtrip event from a San Diegan's average night out.

"Live" art almost always includes a gigantic mural that is formed throughout the night by several artists from varying backgrounds. Live art, at a Fieldtrip show, has revealed itself in other visually invigorating ways like a screen printing booth where patrons can watch shirts or posters being made right before their eyes. Yet, producing these original elements that make a Fieldtrip show are never easy.

Organizing crowds, musical and artistic acts, considerably ones already making a name for themselves can be difficult, and when contracts are involved demands can become hectic. Brett Fischer, of Fieldtrip Entertainment, said that one group "wanted all this healthy stuff, like Coke Zero. What's next, all the blue M&Ms?"

Or in Chris English's case, of DJhere Productions, where the talent insisted upon Jack Daniels and fruit with the skin cut off, as English noted, "not a very healthy diet."

No doubt the life of a promoter is a non-stop, on-the-phone, on-the-go, ballet that hardly ever permits one to live through what most people would consider a "normal" day. English could agree, as DJhere, a promotion company that has survived throughout a number of years, is a multi-tasking corporation of people that have been known to put on outrageous and desire-to-be-seen-at events all over San Diego.

A recent example of such noted demonstrations would be the massive New Year's Eve party DJhere hosted at the Prado - hosted this year in conjunction with Fieldtrip; an event which they have sold-out consecutively now for the last several years.

Though to endure typical scenarios that tag along with any good party, for example; guys snorting shots of Tequila and running around naked with a fairly large group of people present during after-hours parties, it is hard to see how any promotion company could keep from turning to the Dark Side.

Many promotion companies have been known to rise and fall quickly from excessive drinking and partying on account of the people in charge of these "companies." As English explains, "some think by just putting their name on an event it will be a success and they don't truly care about what they are doing… some [people] just like to party too much."

Nevertheless, developing and changing with the evolution of the promotions industry (as well as fashioning amazing and innovative events) may have been a few of the factors that have allowed Fortune, Fieldtrip, and DJhere to continue to stay at the top.

Or possibly, some simple rules that any promoter must follow, like consistently paying people on time, and according to English, "never sacrificing your brand for money and caring about the music." Easier said than done, perhaps; but this is coming from a guy that, when asked what he would be doing if he was not running a promotion company, he replied: "Taking over the world."

Upcoming San Diego events

Fieldtrip Entertainment presents MSTRKRFT at the Hard Rock Hotel, February 28. For event information, read the details here; myspace.com/fieldtripentertainment

DJhere President's Day Weekend, February 17 at Envy and Fridays at Ivy; djhere.com

Fortune pool parties at Del Mar Arterra Lounge; fortune421.com