Transforming Today's World Magazine - JAN 2014 Special Edition Vol 5 Issue 3 | Page 26

I came out of the 2012 production so encouraged and opti-mistic- it
was my best production ever! But I kept getting trashed from last
year’s ceremony because L.A. bands felt so left out- they could have
participated, but did not! We are not a “taker” organization. I have
been a giver my whole life. The L.A. Music Awards were not inspired
by money or capitalism: It was created pertinent to the wishes of
a dying old man- Bill Gazzarri, The God Father of rock and roll.
He passed away at age 66 in 1991. That poor man died of a broken
heart, because the movie about The Doors (made by Oliver Stone)
left Bill completely out of The Door’s history- it broke his heart- he
never got his due- he felt betrayed. I mean, come ON! Gazzarri’s
on the strip was open for 32 years and presented over 10,000 bands,
many of whom became famous because of him! Hollywood can be
a heartless town. The “Pay to Play” system was born back in the late
70’s. People try and put that process down but I always say: Where
is your audience?! You need an audience to HAVE a career! I’m
sorry to tell you this, but this industry is an audience driven business.
If you don’t have anyone coming to see you, you have nothing.
You could have all the talent in the world but if you have no fans or
people coming to see you, you have no value to this industry. This
is the entertainment business: I get amazingly talented people every
year and WE help build their audience. We give them the publicity
and try to BE the vehicle that builds their fan base. We give them
the media publicity through the audience that WE built- FOR them.
Look at your cover-girl Tehrah from last year. She won Artist of
The year in The Christian Contemporary category. She has great
talent…awesome voice, and is an amazing song-writer. You guys get
an award this year…what you both did with that magical slide show
with Tehrah’s music behind it? God! It made
me cry- I watched it at

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least 50 times. There is something special about Tehrah’s music that
makes me connect on an emotional level that no artist has ever done
with me before- ever! First the slideshow then the short film- really
high end- extremely well put together- it’s totally award winning
stuff. Come and pick up a plaque from us this year…I will open
the show with those pieces- both of them. My God; look what you
did with the marketing tools you created. THAT is what this is all
about! You two DID something with the tools you were given.
Just because we produce this award show does not mean we are in
the record business. We don’t get people record deals. We are not
lawyers, we are not agents. We are just two people- me and Susanna
Griffie, that produce this huge award show each year. It is a labor of love
but the constant stress trashed our personal life- it ruined our personal
relationship- it just tore us apart. But this is a labor of love for both of
us: That’s the sacrifice you make in show business. Sometimes we
find that one artist like Tehrah out there- that star act. We try and
bring their talent to the forefront of the national media and mix them in
with our celebrity recipients. We take a hybrid of what has achieved
greatness and put them together with the people who are capable
of achieving greatness. That is what our mission has always been
about. We have been duplicated by competitors…and cheap ones
at that. An award show is the most difficult and most challenging
production there is. Just ask Don Mischner who produces the
Oscars each year- he’ll tell you! Just think: You have fragile egos,
personal feelings and agendas, a live show, musical numbers,
sound checks, videos- it’s crazy! An Oscar can launch careers and
ruin careers. It’s a crazy business! There is no guarantee after an
Oscar you’ll even HAVE a career. You get that moment where
everybody loves you, then they get to hate you- some artists
never work again after receiving an Oscar- once again, it can
be the kiss of death! I am so dedicated to this I don’t think
I could stop even if I wanted to. I feel I have a relationship
with my artists: The L.A. Music Awards present artists to the
world with major publicity. This awards show is a marketing
tool. In today’s music business you are responsible for your
own marketing. To become a celebrity today is an expensive
venture…it costs a LOT of money. You have to hire major
public relations firms on two coasts. They will lobby for
you over time to get you appearances on red carpets, TV
shows like Good Morning America, get you the right
hair, make-up, a print article, an image consultation- AND
you have to pay for advertising. It costs a lot of money to