THE NEWS from EventWorks, Inc.

We had one of those "Ohhhhh" moments recently during an event set up. The audio crew was finalizing the stage set up and running sound checks. The loudspeakers came to life - and we pricked up our ears! Event Producer Kristen Rensch: "At first, everyone just went on with their work but after the first verse was over, there was this shared moment of surprise. We stopped and looked up, really all at once. What was this classic Doo Wop music? Somehow it sounded so familiar. And yet again so different. And finally the "wow, that is a current pop hit! But done so differently and so well that everyone wanted to know "who is that?". The sound crew was playing  Postmodern Jukebox's album "Twist is The New Twerk". Huge success! We all loved it and  several people logged on to buy the album on the spot. I guess we are all ready for something fresh and different - and Postmodern Jukebox really is." Check out what Postmodern Jukebox did with Igg...

Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Radio, Google Music - the musical cloud is getting more crowded every day. But how does this affect our industry? Can we just put together our Spotify list and pump it into the loudspeakers? We checked in with DJ Lee Dyson. Lee Dyson: "There is certainly no shortage of options these days for finding new music. Pandora first created the Music Genome Project but like all great inventions some other companies have expanded and even enhanced the idea. Call me a romantic but I do think we are so flooded with options now that something gets a bit lost. As someone who grew up on cassettes and records (and eventually CDs) I remember the feeling of walking out of a store after hours of browsing with a bag full of goodies that I own. I’d spend time reading the liner notes and listening to the album or CD from start to finish in correct song order as the artist intended for me to hear it. As a DJ I’d spend hours and hours in dingy record st...

A big part of our job: business travel. Long hours on site but our team makes the very best of it! We love ancillary benefits! Like fabulous locations! We spent the first week of the month in Boston to produce a series of events and we very much enjoyed the surroundings! Here a shot of Brynne Price, Carolyn Vasi and Melissa Cowley on closing night at a site they loved: the Liberty Hotel. Two nights prior, the setting was even more grandiose: The Museum of Fine Arts! We took care not to disturb Chihuly's Lime Green Icicle Tower! To work in such exquisite surroundings is a pleasure! The next ancillary benefit: restaurants! Event Producer Brynne Price is a self-confessed foodie and she loves to explore the new, trendy, most delectable and special places wherever she goes. Her biggest weakness: coffee drinks! We think she should write a travel guide just for coffee houses! Until she does, you can follow her on Instagram: #hipsterfoodie! Not just Brynne's ...

This was surely the most entertaining business meeting we had in recent months! Danny Bergold, President and Managing Partner of About Entertainment, had scheduled a meeting to introduce us to some of his latest entertainment offerings and surprised us with a live performance by ARIA, his pop opera quartet. We expected Danny with an iPad and his sizzle reel. In came Danny - with the four Australian born singers that form ARIA! Imagine our surprise! Nothing beats the real thing. We got an impromptu show  -  they sang the roof right off the building, unplugged with just a guitar for accompaniment! Janet: "Their voices are just incredible, individually and in harmony! Once Scott Fields, Craig Hendry, Liam McLachlan and Jason Short started to sing, work all around EventWorks stopped. Everyone came out to watch the show. ARIA got a standing ovation from our seasoned event pros. These guys have exemplary talent and they clearly love what they do. The show was so much fun! ...

The client: an international hotel chain. The location: a large hotel in the Phoenix, AZ, area The guests: 500 food and beverage executives The purpose: to show them unusual ways to use every space of their properties. Our task: creating an amazing fete in a never before used "event" space. We were fortunate to have a visionary client who came to us with a concept and details in mind. Creating the event together became a very rewarding collaborative endeavor. Event Designer Kate Brack: "The event was a secret. Guests were only told that they were going to an "evening event" and to meet in the hotel lobby. We surreptitiously took over little used level 2 of the hotel parking garage and went to work. This is where we started." Since our guests were food and beverage executives the client came up with a theme matching the current jazz age food craze: the Speakeasy! The concept kept the surprises coming. We created a familiar entrance: ...