May 30th, 2008 admin
“If we can’t book it – it’s immortal”
After 30 years of booking and producing hundreds of major concert touring stars, Broadway touring musicals and every type of performing arts troupe one can imagine, we still find ourselves thrilled with the next challenge.
We have been honored to have been chosen to produce Jay Leno and Foreigner for a large California corporate concern in Los Angeles in the late Fall of 2008 for 3400 attendees.
Yes, a California corporation hired an Austin producer to handle all elements of this impressive event for a venue in Los Angeles. It ain’t where the producer lives that counts – it’s who he knows and his experience that matters. We’ve produced major events throughout the U.S. and abroad in every venue on the planet.
I’ve worked with Jay Leno twice before he got the Tonight Show gig. By the way, Jay is as nice a guy as you would ever meet beyond being a brilliant comic.
So, one night backstage at the Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas at Austin before a show for a packed house, I noticed Jay’s suit. It had that 1950’s silver sheen to it. I said, “Jay, that’s a great suit”. Jay said, “John, how much do you think I paid for this suit”. Now, I got jittery. If I went low, he might be insulted. If I went high, he might think that I thought he was a rich boy. I tried to pick a middle ground. “$500”, I said. Jay came closer to me and said “I paid $40 for this suit at St. Vincent de Paul”. He wasn’t kidding. He then said, “John, I still can’t believe I have more than 10 cents in my pocket”. He was making a ton of money even before the Tonight Show as he did over 200 concerts a year in those days. But, the memory of the lean years never left him.
It’s moments like this where the humanity of a star comes in to play like a shining beacon of normalcy. The great stars are as human as the next person, even more so. Their on stage persona is one thing and their personal life is another. I have found them to be incredibly genuine as well as consummate professionals and I’ve produced a ton of them.
We did have a sphincter check on this upcoming date. Jay’s contract with the Tonight Show was slated to have ended about two weeks before our event. No one knew what he might do. He could have decided to take a vacation or take some time off with his family and “poof”, no deal. As it turned out, he extended his departure date to some time early in 2009 and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
John Bernardoni
Executive Producer
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May 30th, 2008 admin
“The Maya painted their music and played their paintings”
I didn’t make that up. After three decades of travelling to the Yucatan Peninsula, Chiapas and Honduras to study the ancient Mayan culture, a friend of mine muttered these words. Helario is an American who was married to a Mayan girl and lived in their village for 13 years. Consequently, he is fluent in Yucatec Maya. He is also expert on Mayan sensibilities not found in the history books. He said this as we were driving to the Cross to the Center of the Earth also called the Cross of the Milky Way. It gave me a chill up my spine as the essence of what he said started to sink in. That’s a subject for another day.
Having been an entertainment producer for most of my professional life, those words really struck home. I just happened to have been producing four major shows for a Fortune 100 firm in Cancun over a three week span. Producing big name acts in Mexico is a challenge. It’s not the first time we have done it. We’ve produced several events in Cancun and Cabo San Lucas for large corporate events.
First, you have the logistics to consider when you are moving 15 musicians and crew from all over the U.S. to Cancun. Not all of them come and go at the same time. Further, they are carrying some of the band gear for the show that we cannot pick up in Cancun like guitars, bass, effects pedals and so on. Then, we’ve got to have all our ducks in a row to get the band gear and the musicians through immigration including the procurement of work permits for the band which in this case was the World Classic Rockers. www.wcr.com. WCR is the #1 all star band in the U.S. featuring past founders, key musicians and former lead singers from Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Toto, Steppenwolf, Journey and Boston. Now, remember we have 4 entries and exits from Cancun – all of which require special documentation.
Let’s move on to the production elements. Our firm is responsible for every element it takes to produce a show of this size and complexity from hiring subs to cover concert quality lighting, sound, more band gear, stage crews, stage, power, rigging, special effects, IMAG and so on. A prominent producer once told a younger me, “John, the details will kill you”. Well, they didn’t kill me but people have no idea of what it takes to realize a show of this size much less 4 of them in three weeks.
I can say with candor that these were the most successful series of events we have ever produced for the private, corporate sector. The band blitzed the audience with stunning musicianship, charisma with hit after hit for two solid hours, non stop. The show played like a public arena rock concert rather than a corporate event. The audience roared from the moment the act took the stage till they did their final encore. It was the finest example of matching the right artist to the audience which is, in and of itself, an art.
Now you see the tie between the Mayan story and these concerts. Art of the ancients meets art of the present, both forever intertwined for the joy of all.
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May 22nd, 2008 admin
“He’s an overnight sensation after 20 years on the road”
How many times have we heard that sentiment? A musician who’s been slugging it out playing smoke filled bars, as a side man for someone else’s band, maybe an opening act for the “real” band, studio sessions to pay the bills and a million miles of worn tires from the road and then, “BANG” – A Star is Born on the strength of one hit or a milestone album that has a sound that seems to have been lurking in the back of the public’s mind only to be released as a brand new groove.
“American Idol” is unique in many ways, beyond being a television phenomenon of epic proportions in its 7th season. David Archuleta and David Cook went head to head in a battle of young, musical titans looking for that big push in to American entertainment lore. We do not know how long they’ve been honing their vocal skills and in what venues.
What is fascinating about “American Idol” is that it is a microcosm of the live entertainment industry compressing the chance to make it big in weeks rather than years due to the national frenzy of audiences enthralled with the landmark show.
Here’s what I mean. Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Hicks and Carrie Underwood – past winners of “American Idol” are making as much money or more than legendary stars with a 30 year history of selling millions of albums and thousands of concert dates. And even though Jennifer Hudson did not win, she got her shot in the smash motion picture “Dream Girls” and won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for Best Supporting Actress alongside Beyonce, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy. Now that’s what I call getting shot out of a canon in to big time show business in record time.
The good news is that these American Idol winners and finalists including Ruben Studdard, Jasmine Trias Jordin Sparks are available for corporate events throughout the U.S. and abroad. The John Bernardoni Production Group, an international entertainment booking and production company, is able to deliver stars from American Idol in addition to the greatest names in show business touring the world today. Just go to www.bernardoni.com for a full listing of the top stars in pop, jazz, classic rock, R&B, reggae, Nashville country, Broadway, Las Vegas, comedy, variety and more.
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