POP MUSIC INDUSTRY CONFERENCE
PRESENTED BY
Associated Students Pop Music
At Western Washington University
Saturday, February 22nd 2014
Connecting, Networking, and Learning with music industry professionals.
The conference committee is extremely excited to bring the following music industry professionals to this years conference. These panelists will grace us with their presence and with the wealth of knowledge they have developed through their experience in the industry. Here they are in obviously no particular order!
Barrett Jones has worked in many area's of the music business over the past 30 years. He is best know for producing, engineering and mixing music for Nirvana, Foo Fighters, The Presidents of the United States of America, Pearl Jam, The Melvins, Pussy Galore, Bush, and more. In 1991 he moved to Seattle to join his close friend Dave Grohl who had just joined Nirvana. Barrett is a musician himself, playing in bands since he was a teenager. Initially he set up tours, booked and promoted his own shows, often driving the van and sleeping on floors after shows. From those humble beginnings Barrett toured extensively all over the world; first as drum tech for Nirvana, and later as tour manager and sound engineer for Stone Gossard's band "Brad", and Daniel Lanois' "Black Dub." As a producer he has owned and operated Laundry Room studio since the age of 18. The studio is currently located in Seattle, where Barrett continues to produce and record up-and-coming new artists.
RA Scion emerged onto the Seattle scene almost a decade ago, as half of the hip-hop duo, Common Market. With more than 10 albums under his belt-as Common Market, his alias Victor Shade, and his most recent release The Sickle & the Sword, as RA Scion. As Seattle’s own KEXP states, “Search through the lyrics of RA Scion...you’ll find honest discussion of the daily struggles of getting by, dealing with our disastrous economy, raising families, and being selfless enough to try and be a role model to the next generation."
Panelists
Christine Geronimo is the manager of independent record label, Fin Records, where she is in charge of marketing, events, and artist relations. She is also Product Manager for Seattle hip-hop artists Blue Scholars, The Physics, and Sam Lachow. Christine has previous experience in special events working on events such as the South by South West conference and the annual Northwest Folklife Festival. Christine started gaining experience in the Seattle music scene in 2010 interning at companies such as Sub Pop Records, Pearl Jam's Ten Club, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Cat Sieh co-founded the DIY art and music nonprofit Make.Shift in 2008. At its downtown headquarters, Make.Shift Art Space, the organization provides key services to emerging artists and musicians, including: affordable art studios and band practice studios; an award-winning art gallery featuring local and regional artists; and an all-ages, drug- and alcohol-free live music venue. 2014 is an exciting time for Make.Shift, after spending the better part of 2013 raising funds and doing construction to get their building up to fire code. Sieh is eager to lead the organization toward a sustainable future, making Make.Shift a Bellingham staple for all-ages music and volunteer participation.
Christian Fulghum is the founder and managing partner of two Seattle based music companies: Fin Records and Jupiter Studios. Inspired by Black Sparrow Press, Fin Records curates a highly diverse catalog of emerging music on vinyl, CD, and digital media, valuing creative control and respect for the artist above commercial considerations. Fin Records has over fifty releases since its founding late in 2010. Jupiter Studios is a recording studio built in partnership with producer/engineer extraordinaire Martin Feveyear, with over 300 releases since 1994. Christian is also a guitarist, bassist, and has recorded albums and toured with a number of Northwest bands. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of KEXP.
Kelli Faryar is a musician, arts advocate, and lead programmer for the annual Northwest Folklife Festival, the largest community powered music and arts festival in the nation. Kelli works with over 100 communities from around the Northwest to program the 850 performance spots during the 4 days of the Festival. During her time at Folklife, Kelli has focused on connecting a new generation of musicians to find their roots at the Festival with new programs such as All Ages|All Day and the Indie Roots Stage that showcases some of the best Northwest independent artists who are actively growing a new indie sound from traditional folk elements.
Western alum, Kris Orlowski, is a touring songwriter, and the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Seattle based folk/pop band, Kris Orlowski. He has spent over eight years traveling and performing his music all over the world, from intimate settings like a Polish club, to grand locations such as world class theater backed by a seventeen piece orchestra. After releasing three well-received EPs and having songs featured on primetime television series, such as Grey’s Anatomy, his band is preparing to release their first full-length album, Believer. Kris is also a marketing consultant for the Seattle company ,Projectline, and when he is not touring for his career, he is playing music around the world to support friends, strangers, and has mentored kids at the 2013 Prodigy Summer Film & Music camp.
Shenandoah Davis is an artist based out of Seattle, WA. Shenandoah grew up studying classical piano, and her music has been branded by everything from parlor music to new folk to orchestral pop. Shenandoah has taken her music all over the country, as well as to Japan, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Portugal, and Italy. She has shared stages with Dark Dark Dark, Shearwater, The Lumineers and many more. As a musician in Seattle, she has collaborated with the Portland Cello Project, the Seattle Rock Orchestra, Grand Hallway, and The Seattle International Dance Festival. She is currently writing a follow-up record to her 2011 album ‘The Company We Keep’ and is currently on a bi-continental tour with New Zealand artist Anthonie Tonnon which spanned over the US, New Zealand, and Australia.
Levi Fuller makes and compiles music in Seattle. He has released three solo albums and over thirty volumes of the compilation series Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly and written several songs about different books as a member of the Bushwick Book Club Seattle. His band Levi Fuller & the Library (with Jonathan Wooster on bass and Christopher Williams on drums) released Social Music, an EP of covers, this fall and is now preparing a full-length album of original music. He DJs every other week at Hollow Earth Radio and by day works for Jack Straw Productions, an audio arts non-profit in Seattle.
Trent Moorman is a music columnist and blogger for The Stranger. His work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Tape Op, The Portland Mercury, The Jung Society Quarterly, and Thresholds Quarterly. He also plays drums in Fresh Espresso, Don’t Talk to the Cops, Katie Kate, OCnotes, and Vox Mod. Additionally, he composed the bumper music for CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
Carey Ross is the music and film editor for Cascadia Weekly. She is a graduate of Western Washington University’s Journalism department, and, like many Bellingham residents interested in writing about music, cut her teeth writing for What’s Up! Magazine.
Kelton Sears is a music writer and nightlife reporter for Seattle Weekly. He has also contributed to The Stranger and the Capitol Hill Blog. Kelton graduated from Seattle University in 2013 and plays in the rock group Kithkin.
Sharlese Metcalf is host of Audioasis, long-running Northwest music show, on Seattle’s KEXP-fm. She began covering local music on-air at Green River Community College as host of Local Motion on KGRG-fm. Sharlese has been producing Audioasis since 2007 and took over as host in July 2012.
Craig Jewell is an owner and talent buyer at the at Bellingham's one and only Wild Buffalo House of Music. He and co-owner, Roger Mills, have turned The Buff into the place for local, national, and international touring acts in Bellingham. Also, he is a talent buyer for Summer Meltdown Festival, one of the largest locally-produced independent music festivals in the Pacific Northwest.
Austin Santiago is currently a talent buyer and Marketing Manager at the local Wild Buffalo House of Music. He is also the Marketing Director and Brand Manager for one of the largest locally-produced independent music festivals in the Pacific Northwest, the Summer Meltdown Festival. Additionally, over eight years ago Austin founded a local Bellingham company, BuildStrong Productions, which has orchestrated over 300 independent concerts. BuildStrong’s mission aims to help artists share their music through live events and by also providing the necessary tools to help musicians reach a larger audience. Austin has managed three full-scale West Coast tours for hip-hop duo, Zion I, whom he is currently touring with on the Masters of Ceremony Winter Tour along with Seattle hip-hop artist, Sol.
Domenica Clark is a DJ with extensive experience and a strong passion for community radio. Clark has been a radio DJ since 2003 and event coordinator of various events such as Lady Fest, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival, and Hollow Earth/The Vera Project’s DIY Holiday Fest. Inspired by the history and influence of early hip-hop DJs and radio legends such as John Peel and Larry Levan, Clark values the impact of bringing communities together through music. Since 2010, she has been involved with Hollow Earth Radio, an online, community radio station dedicated to underrepresented music and perspectives.
Art is born from tension. And this tension is something that Seattle folk singer and songwriter Naomi Wachira feels every day as an African living in America. It’s the tension of any artist torn between two worlds, and the only way to overcome this is to create something that overcomes the divide. That’s why Naomi’s songs are so hopeful; they point toward a better future for all of us.” Named the Best Folk Singer in Seattle by alt publication Seattle Weekly and featured on their cover, Naomi became the toast of the town, which in turn led to a friendship with the much-loved indie songwriter Damien Jurado, who came onboard to produce this album. Naomi’s songs are plucked from her own life, powered by her Northwest musical community, and imbued with her own sense of hopefulness.
Armed only with a Sharpie and a sharp wit, Barbara Mitchell has survived more than 23 years (and even more job titles) in the ever-shifting sands of the music business. It’s a journey that started in the publicity department of venerable indie labels in LA and quickly led to a career-expanding move to Seattle that incorporated independent PR for clients like Death Cab for Cutie and Rickie Lee Jones, the resuscitation and management of The Posies, and the creation of a short-lived label/launching pad for Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner’s incarnation as a skate-folk troubadour. A brief foray into Portland provided four years’ worth of experience as a music writer, the opportunity to live part-time in Melbourne, and a renewed love affair with the Emerald City. She currently oversees public relations and special opportunities for One Reel/Bumbershoot.
Eddie is the owner of a regional event production company - Groove Merchant Northwest. He has been involved in the music industry for the past 30 years and makes Bellingham, WA. his home. He has worked with some great talent such as Maceo Parker, Allen Stone, Trombone Shorty, Gretchen Wilson, and Charles Bradley. Whether Eddie is working as an Audio Engineer, Lighting Designer or Production Director, he is always learning everything he can about the music Industry by getting involved in every event possible from Oregon to Montana & beyond. He also enjoys working with the local community providing event production for local venues & events. "Music inspires me and one thing that I have learned is that Groove Merchants come in all styles and all genres"
