EAT'M conference, Las Vegas Sun, May 12, 1998

Meet ‘em and greet ‘em at EAT’M Lisa Ferguson Tuesday, May 12, 1998 | 9 a.m. Good thing for local musicians that Lisa Tenner calls Las Vegas home. Otherwise, the former Los Angeles-based business manager for rock bands Soundgarden, Toto and Jane's Addiction might have founded the first Emerging Artists and Talent in Music (EAT'M) conference this year in another locale. "If I lived in Dubuque, Iowa, I might have done it in Dubuque, Iowa, but I happen to live here," the frenetic Tenner says from her east Las Vegas office. She's been working on overdrive since last spring, when she first conceived the idea for EAT'M. The three-day event opens Thursday at several venues throughout the valley. It is designed to showcase virtually every aspect of the music industry -- from songwriting and performing to recording and related legal issues. Approximately 700 industry professionals and more than 170 bands of varying genres from throughout the state, the country and Europe are expected to converge on the city for the conference, which is also open to the public. Attendants will be allowed to sit in on panel discussions led by music business bigwigs, hear legendary record producer and keynote speaker Sir George Martin's address, watch up-and-coming musical talent perform and party at opening and closing night soirees. Similar music conferences are held annually in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Austin, Texas. Tenner has attended such events for the past 18 years and explains that most target specific areas of the business. "You either go to a recording conference or a songwriting conference or a touring conference." EAT'M's concept was born when she decided to leave the band managing business behind. "But I knew I wanted to do something of an entrepreneurial spirit. I thought that a music conference that really addressed the music industry as a whole would make a lot of sense." Tenner insisted that it have the word "emerging" in its title (most of the bands on EAT'M's performance roster are not signed to record contracts). "This is an emerging city and when you think of emerging artists, you think of artists breaking out," she says. Which, in the past, hasn't been easy for Las Vegas-based musicians to do. "I think a lot of artists, in order to get a job, have to leave this city and that's unfortunate. I think the local talent has had a very difficult time being considered seriously and that could be for several reasons," she says, citing the city's reputation as a transient town with numerous vices. "The perception of Vegas has not been healthy." But times are changing, she says, with additional performance venues under construction -- most notably, The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay resort and Billboard Live at The Venetian hotel-casino -- and the birth of EAT'M, which Tenner assures will be "put on the calendars and agendas of (concert) promoters, (talent) agents, music label representatives, publishers, the whole gamut." Drumming up support Tenner relied on her music industry pull to get such industry executives as Al Cafaro, chairman and CEO of A&M Records, and Motown Records President George Jackson to sit on panels. "You've got 150 of the people who run the (music) business coming here," she says. "Can you tell me the last time a label president came here to speak?" Kevin Lyman, producer of the festival-like Vans Warped Tour, agreed to kick off the tour's fifth summer outing (which officially begins in Phoenix next month) at the conference by bringing two dozen bands from its lineup, including rock acts Aquabats, Voo Doo Glow Skulls and The Vandals, to perform on Saturday. (A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales to the separate Warped performance will benefit a handful of charities.) What impressed Lyman most was Tenner's dedication to spotlighting unknown talent, which was the original format of Austin's annual South by Southwest Music and Media conference. "I used to go to South by Southwest and be so excited just to walk around the streets and wander into a bar and see a great band play," he says. "When (Tenner) told me that would be her focus, I thought that would tie in well with what I do with the Warped Tour." When the tour was in its infancy, Lyman says, "no one gave me much credibility or a chance with it because I wasn't focusing on the bigger-name bands. Now that we've grown into what we are, if we can step back and support something new, I thought it would be fun." So long as it's moral and legal. Martin Silfen, a New York entertainment attorney and professor, will moderate the "Ethical Issues Confronting Entertainment Attorneys" panel on Thursday as something of a favor for Tenner, who has been on a similar panel of a program by the Practicing Law Institute that he has overseen for the past 26 years. "I want her to succeed and I want the (conference) to succeed," Silfen says. Also being honored at EAT'M is singer and Las Vegas resident Gladys Knight, who will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her 50th year working in the entertainment industry. Tenner says she and EAT'M director Sue Shifrin-Cassidy (a songwriter and wife of singer and "EFX" star David Cassidy), wanted to give the award "to an artist that has worked very diligently in the business, in both the recording arts and performing arts." Because, as Tenner reminds, there's more to being a musical contender than crooning a catchy tune before an audience. Shot at stardom? Therein rested the challenge of selecting bands to perform at EAT'M from the 700 submissions she and her associates received. "We weren't looking for any particular type of music," she says. Besides rock, they wanted to include everything from jazz and country to ska and the blues. Again she rallied a few of her music industry cohorts, who spent three weeks listening to each CD and cassette that was submitted. "Unless everyone voted on it, it didn't get in," Tenner says. Local band Home Cookin' made the cut. The nine-member group, which has performed at the Hard Rock and Riviera hotels-casinos, will take EAT'M's rock stage at the Desert Inn on Thursday. Jordon Robins, a Home Cookin' vocalist, says the conference is a big event for the Las Vegas musicians. "There's never really been anybody getting behind the music scene," he says. While the conference will provide much-needed exposure of bands to industry pros who could sign them to recording contracts, Tenner stresses that it is not EAT'M's ultimate goal. "Being on stage is a wonderful experience, but that's not where the deals are made; the deals are made in the conference room," she says. "If one (band) gets signed, we were a huge success." One that recently signed a deal with RCA records is 12 Volt Sex, a pop quartet comprised of Las Vegas natives, which performs Friday at the Huntridge Performing Arts Theatre on EAT'M's punk-ska-alternative stage. The band is fronted by Chaparral High School graduate Matt Chernoff. "I think the goal of everyone involved" in the conference, he says, "is to network and get your name out there and meet a lot of people and build relationships." Robins and his bandmates aren't in any hurry to sign on the dotted line. "All I want to do is get a decent booking agent and maybe meet someone who is a good enough manager to facilitate the connection to put us on the road" touring, he says. Las Vegas band Trip is already packing its bags. The "funky, poppy rock" band, as described by lead singer and guitarist Michael Shapiro, will play a handful of dates opening for rock old-timers Cheap Trick this summer. They'll perform for the conference at Tommy Rocker's Cantina and Grill on Friday night. "I think that bands that don't get in on (EAT'M) are missing out on something," Shapiro says. "You're aiming high to get a record deal out of something like this, but what you can do during the conference is establish contacts. Just go prepared ... have your feelers out, and when you see somebody that's important, don't be shy, go up and approach them." Plans for next year's EAT'M conference are already underway. Tenner says she wants to expand the performance lineup to 180 bands and the mediums to include film, media and Internet issues. Requests for an exposition site, where instruments, supplies and the wares of music product companies can be displayed, are also under consideration. archive