Industry Insider: Chuck Morris, AEG & Live Nation

A behind-the-scene account leading up to the live interview event with Chuck Morris, a driving force behind the Colorado live music scene.

Whenever people think of Colorado, people think about the mountains, breweries, and live music. As I was putting together the lineup for Industry Insider back in early 2021, I wanted to hit all these three things about Colorado. We had Ratio lined up for the brewery theme. What about the live music scene? What type of people did I even want to target? Live music…Fillmore, Fidler’s Green…Red Rocks, who promote and run all these venues? AEG and Live Nation. Let’s hunt for the top guys there. Without digging too deep into it, Chuck’s name came up frequently.

Chuck’s names show up in many articles on Google. He used to run Live Nation Rocky Mountains and most recently the chairman and CEO of AEG Rocky Mountains. He was just inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. He is obviously a big deal. How do I get to someone like that? Between helplessness and procrastination, I did not do anything until after the event with Jason of Ratio Beerworks. Because I told Jason that I was going to get Chuck.

I have a weird habit or a weird way of motivating myself rather. If I keep telling people what I am going to do, the more likely I would do it. By that point, I had told all the committee members, Jason and Pete from Illegal Pete’s that I was going to get Chuck. I better make it happen.

The big break came when I found out that Chuck was going to start a Music Business Program at Colorado State University (CSU). One of the committee members Anselma had worked there for a long time and she knew everyone, except Chuck though. But she got me Chuck’s email address. A big step. I drafted an email, drawing on some information that I learned from the internet and selling it as an opportunity to market his new program. It worked! He said, “Love to do it. Let me know when and make sure I’m available for that date.”. Bingo! My excitement could not be higher.

I was nervous as I walked into Chuck’s office in a building next to the Mission Ballroom. His office was full of memorabilia with different big acts - the Eagles, Jimmy Buffets, Hickenlooper, etc. We chatted for more than an hour. We talked about different venue options, from Red Rocks, Mission Ballroom to Fillmore. At that time, I had the dream of hosting it in a large venue such as Red Rocks… if I were to dream, might as well dream big. That was October 2021.

Things did not pick back up until January 2022. I knew that we needed to set a date for things to start to move. We picked April as it was far enough for us to procrastinate a little bit more but close enough to see it approaching. Chuck got us the Larimer Lounge owned by Scott and Gwen Campbell. We even had a logistics meeting with the stage crew and sound engineer, which sounded like a big deal for me!

As the D-Day approached, I started to feel the pressure. We had a game plan but we were behind. We did not really start releasing the promotional materials until 3-4 weeks before the event. We only reached out to 303 Magazine, Westword and COMBO two weeks before the event. But all of them were kind enough to still promote us. We did not get a good handle of the beer and food sponsorship and logistics until a couple of days before the event.

In fact,the week before the event, we only had 20 registrations. I walked into Chuck’s office and hinted the low registration number and even suggested moving it from the Larimer Lounge to his AEG office. He said he would help us out by asking Westword to promote us. We decided to stick with the Larimer Lounge. But my anxiety level was high in the two weeks leading up to the event.

I had the dream of making this event a gathering of people in the music industry in Colorado. Though at a much smaller scale, I thought we accomplished it. We also accomplished a lot of “firsts” here. We hosted it at a live venue for the first time. Westword, Colorado Music Business Association, and 303 Magazine promoted us for the first time. Close to half of the audience was not related to MHYP, and some of them were from the music industry. Ratio Beerworks sponsored a keg of beer and Illegal Pete’s gave us 25% off on our order.

How was the event? As someone that was on the stage with Chuck, I had no idea. Many friends said that it went very well. I was able to bring Chuck to dig deeper into certain points of his life. The Q&A was very engaging. Many people stayed after the event to socialize. I was exhausted but felt good after the event. And I had a 5 am flight to Charleston for a bachelor’s party that weekend.

Looking back, I am so glad that we powered through and made this event happen. It was a boost of confidence and there were many lessons learned. I met and connected with many interesting people. It was an important milestone for Industry Insider and for myself.

Last but not least, a big thank you to Thomas, Haley, Makenna, Sarah, Carter, Ira, and Ulku. These people were an integral part of this event.