campus activities magazine - april 2010

APRIL 2010JUSTIN KREDIBLE 32

Justin makes Campus Activities historyby becoming the first artist ever

to win Entertainer of the Yearfor FOUR Consecutive Years.

READER’S CHOICE AWARDS 12With the largest turn-out in historycheck out the winners in 14categories.

NATALIE STOVALL 16Natalie strikes gold taking the topspot as Best Music Artist andBest Female Artist.

COLEMAN PRODUCTIONS 28A developing agency with strongleadership and an enthusiastic roster takes the top agency spot.

WINE TO WATER 38A NC Bartender takes on a project to provide clean water to 1.1 billion needy people worldwide.

D E P A R T M E N T S

Z-MAGS® ONLINE VIDEO INTERACTIVE EDITION: campusactivitiesmagazine.com

From the Publisher 4 Laff Guru 8Reader’s Choice Intro 12Reader’s Choice Awards 14

Rock ‘n Road Show 36Wine To Water 38Entertainment Warehouse 42

Reader’s ChoiceAwards Draw Record

NumbersFor the second consecutive year now,Campus Activities Magazine readershave been guided to our website to vote.While we still allowed traditional paper bal-lots to be mailed or faxed to us, 94% of allvotes came through our website. Thenumbers were impressive because nomi-nees used social networking sites to solic-it votes for their bids for the top spots. Thisgarnered 27% more individual votes than

in 2009. Despite the huge numbers, manycategories were unusually tight with asfew and 20 votes separating first and sec-ond place winners.

While the total response was exciting, itput a lot of work on the staff. Mail and faxballots had to be hand counted. Totalsfrom the web were even a bigger task.While the program would actually countthe ballots for us, it did not tell us if thevotes were genuine. So the result was wehad to check every email address to besure that the voting was actually comingfrom a school and a legitimate school.This delayed the process, especially

when you had to consider over 20,000votes.

So, simplifying this process was the firstthing on our agenda with our new web sitedevelopment team. By mid-summer, thenew campusactivitiesmagazine.comwebsite should have been beta-testedand functional. This new site will allow forCampus Activities Magazine to developthe first world-wide campus activities com-munity consisting of all campuses regard-less of their membership in any associa-tion. The site will be completely free and itwill only require that you sign up as a stu-dent, advisor or professional personnel

RANDOM THOUGHTS & OTHER MINDLESS DRIBBLE

4, CAMPUS ACTIVITIES MAGAZINE, April 2010 www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

from a college or university to become partof the community. Agents and artists willalso be allowed to join for free creating ahuge artist and agency database for cam-puses to find information, videos andaccess to the entertainment population.The site will have a Facebook interface aswell as the same look and feel. This will bea secure site and information retrievedfrom members will not be sold, bartered ortraded to outside sources.

It will be through this campus communi-ty site that next year’s nominations andawards will be decided. When you signup for the community, you will give usbasic information that will allow us toaccredit you as an active participant.When the nominations and the votingoccurs, you must be a registered stu-dent, director, artist or agent to beallowed to nominate or vote. The systemwill automatically check your nominatingor voting information against the com-munity membership and if you are notsigned up, your nomination or vote willbe rejected. At that point, if you are qual-

ified to nominate or vote, you may regis-ter for the community and re-submit yournomination or vote.

While it may sound like somewhat of aprocess, it really is pretty simple. It allowsus to qualify the nominations and theawards vote. These awards have a historyof delivering the very best in the campusmarket. As technology has changed, a fewunscrupulous individuals have a foundways to circumvent the traditional systemthat was in place. As the number of voteshave increased substantially, we decidedwe needed a better way to be sure that fic-titious nominations and ballots don’t cor-rupt the final results. Agencies will still beallowed to use Facebook, Twitter and othersocial networking sites to request votesfrom students and directors, but now theaccess to the nominations and voting willrequire validation through our website.

On another note, campuses, artists andagencies currently using our databaseonline will need to sign up again later thissummer when the new website testing is

complete. If you gave us your email whenyou signed up, you will be notified as weapproach that date. If you are an agencywith a rather large roster and need assis-tance, we will be happy to help you in thistransition. For campuses, it should be asimple, easy process that will take you onlya few minutes to complete.

As for this year, thank you for the tremen-dous support. While it took us a little longer,98% of the votes were qualified and I thinkcampuses, artists and agencies did a greatjob of identifying excellence in program-ming. The entire roster of nominees repre-sented the cream of the industry and eachof you should be proud of your achieve-ments.

Please note that available video on all thewinners and runner-ups should be on ouronline z-mags edition at campusactivities-magazine.com to give you a better idea oftheir talents.


Call Brooke to Book!(866) 328-3762

[email protected] www.ColemanProductions.com

Call Jacqui V. from CEG!(866) 297-9671

[email protected] www.ColemanProductions.com

FUNNY MONEY: The Comic StrugglesWith Wealth

“You have to pretend that your life is a financial pleasure even when your autographs are bouncing. Youbegin to believe that all dentists and married couples are happier than you are. Many’s the night you feellonely, empty, homesick for Heaven. Everybody you know thinks you’ve really got it made and suddenly

you find you’re a jet-set gypsy cryin’ on the shoulder of the highway…”

Kinky Friedman

Just read about a place, Hillsbor-ough, California, that is reported tobe the wealthiest town in the UnitedStates. The median price for a homethere is a whopping $2,606,764, withthe average annual income of eachhousehold a comfy $263,456. Thewell-to-do of Hillsborough must enjoyhaving rich neighbors because theypassed city ordinances that ensurethere is no other kind; building codesprohibit construction of any homeless than 2,500 square feet or build-ing on any lot less than half an acre,and totally forbids apartments, con-dos and townhouses altogether. (Ofcourse the title wealthiest town is rel-ative; consider Baker, Missouri, withan average household income of$455,000, but only two households.)

The reason these statistics caughtmy eye is because the town I wasborn in, Wichita Falls, was, at thetime, considered the wealthiest townper capita in the country. This titlewas the result of the Texas oil boom,a windfall my parents failed to partic-ipate in, much to their regret and mychagrin. Due to the relatively smallpopulation there were no expensiveprivate schools for the rich children toattend, so they were forced to rub el-bows in public schools with people onthe lower end of the economic ladder;people like me.

The only other city I am aware of thatdoes not separate the rich and poor(with gated communities and such) isManhattan, NY, where it is not un-common to see a billionaire

sitting outside at a sidewalk café din-ing on a meal that costs as much asa car payment while a homeless per-son is laying hungry on that samesidewalk mere inches away. Formuch of my childhood I felt like thathomeless person. Not to say my par-ents lived below the poverty level; wewere just middle class surrounded bymillionaires. I never went without de-cent clothes or enough to eat, well,not until I left home at the tender ageof fifteen with the legal title of “eman-cipated minor.” While my wealthyclassmates were getting new cars fortheir sixteenth birthdays I was gettingfood stamps. However, this was coolwith me; I believe if given the choicebetween a new car and their ownapartment, most sixteen-year-oldswould opt for independence.


As a teen I learned to use humor tocope with the financial inequalities Iwas frequently exposed to. For exam-ple, when I discovered that the WichitaFalls Country Club refused to allow mi-norities to join, I was so enraged Isnuck on their golf course at night andscattered several bags of jumbomarshmallows, just so the followingday, my friends of color and I could sitoutside the fence laughing at richracists trying to find their golf balls.

To this day (even though my per-sonal financial situation has im-proved considerably) I sometimesfind myself irritated with the über-wealthy. To be painfully honest, Isuppose I get annoyed with billion-aires for the same reason I some-times get annoyed with teenagers:because I’m not one. But despitebeing plagued with an occasionaltinge of envy, I can honestly saythat money has never been thehighest priority on my list. If it had,I certainly never would have pur-sued a career in the performingarts. For me, and I suspect mostartists, the burning desire is just toperform, to get the art out there;any monetary reward is just gravy.

Where money is concerned I’ve alwaysbeen somewhat apathetic, and assuch, I have never really fit in any so-cial class, rich or poor. To the poor,anyone who doesn’t care about moneymust be rich; to the rich, anyone whodoesn’t care about money must bepoor. The gypsies have a proverb: amillionaire is not a man with a milliondollars, but a man who’s spent a milliondollars. By this standard I am a multi-millionaire! One of the benefits of notbeing obsessed with making money isI am also not overly stressed about los-ing it. I have seen my fortunes rise andfall like a rollercoaster many times andexpect this pattern to continue. Re-gardless of my current bank balance Ifeel I remain the same person at my

core, however, the way I am perceiveddoes vary; when I am flush, people sayI am eclectic, when I am poor, peoplesay I am crazy.

I’ll admit my spending habits are easilyviewed as nutty as a squirrel turd. I havealways been repulsed by status sym-bols and the people who flaunt them.I’m sure Rolex makes a fine watch, butI’m also sure it tells the same time asmy Timex, my Maxima gets from pointA to point B as quick as your Hummer,and although I have a weakness for fineclothing, I insist the logo be tucked in-side the garment. However, this doesnot mean I am thrifty; I will spend mylast dime on a creative endeavor, orsomething that might bring me a fewlaughs, or a friend in need.

Because I frequently appear on televi-sion (just taped my 51st appearance– yippee!) there is a common miscon-ception this must translate into mebeing wealthy. Even with minor star-dom (I can barely describe how minor)people expect my life to be all limosand Learjets. I am often approachedby people that have seen me on TVasking why I am still riding the sub-way. There is probably a student ateach of the 800+ schools I’ve per-formed at, who handed me a sizablepaycheck, wondering the same thing.People do not realize that my checkgets severely divided: the governmenttakes a third, travel expense takes aforth, the agent takes a fifth, and themanager takes a tenth, leaving me (in-deed most performers) with a prettydamn small slice of the pie.

My attitude is: if it is enough to get bythen it is enough. I’m thrilled just to beable to do what I love and love what Ido. Have I ever craved a bigger pie?Sure, but as I learned from the Tao TeChing: “To know you have enough isto be rich.” I consider myself lucky tohave avoided the trap of trying to liveup to people’s expectations of a glam-orous show biz lifestyle. Many majorcelebrities are less fortunate, which iswhy I wasn’t surprised to learn super-stars like Larry King, Burt Reynolds,Mickey Rooney, Jerry Lewis, DebbieReynolds, Kim Basinger, RandyQuaid, Don Johnson, Zsa Zsa Gabor,

and Francis Ford Coppola have allfiled for bankruptcy.

With money-matters dominating themedia these days I’m sure it must be aterrifying time for a college studentabout to embark on a career. Pleasedo not despair, you will survive thiseconomic downturn and emerge with adeeper appreciation of the good timesonce they return. The best advice I canoffer is for you to find something youlove to do, then find someone to payyou for doing it, and don’t worry howbig the paycheck is. Having been onboth sides of the economic fence manytimes I have learned that the rich andpoor both suffer, albeit in differentways; but perhaps the poor have aslight advantage—they live with thehope their lives would be painless ifonly they had money—the rich, sadly,know better. I can attest there is greattruth in the old adage, “Happiness isnot getting what you want but wantingwhat you have.”

I’ll close with a story from my show lastnight. I told the following joke: “Beauti-ful day today, huh? I don’t think it getsmuch more pleasant than springtime inNew York. There was that summer Ispent in Paris…Hilton. That wasn’t sopleasant; it’s always so crowded thattime of year. Paris Hilton is living proofthe only thing worse than poor whitetrash is rich white trash.”

This gag apparently offended a richguy in the audience; he stood andyelled, “Hey, I can buy and sell you!”I reminded him that he indeed couldbuy me, but he was going to havesome trouble selling me. (Lordknows I’ve tried.)

“The Laff Guru” has taken hismessage of LAUGHTER=NIRVANAto all 50 states and 23 countries. Tofind out more about his award-win-ning comedy act please visit: my-space.com/laffguru


GET YOUR ARTIST REPORTS IN BEFORE MAY 31 TO BE INCLUDED

IN THE 2010 DRAWING FOR CAMPUS ACTIVITIES MAGAZINE’S

ROCK ‘n ROAD SHOW

2010 Agency of the Year!2010 Agency of the Year!Call Brooke to Book!

(866) [email protected] • www.DatingDoctor.com

No one ever imagined that when all the voting wascompleted there would be such tight races inmany of the categories and some surprises in oth-ers. With the second year of on-line voting, artistsused contacts at social networking sites like Face-book to bolster their popularity in the marketplace.

Justin Kredible made it four for four, winning En-tertainer of the Year for the FOURTH consecutiveyear, a feat never before accomplished in theaward’s history.

Jason LeVasseur took the Best Small VenueArtist, a category he has consistently won fornearly a decade. He more than doubled the votesof the second place contender, Jared Campbell.

Matt Glowacki also took a commanding lead in theDiversity category. He topped Black Jew Dia-logues, the runners-up by some 150 votes.

Natalie Stovall took the honors in two categoriesthis year beating out Impulse for Best Music Artistby only 44 votes. She won Best Female Artist overDana Alexandra by 20 votes. Both categories hadextremely tight vote counts among the participat-ing artists.

David Coleman blistered the competition for theTop Speaker slot with 1048 votes. CL Lindsaytook second place honors with 380.

Best Male Artist was a battle among Bass /Schuleracts, but Frederick Winters mounted a crushingcampaign out-distancing Daniel Martin 667 to 511.

Fastest Rising Star was a battle to the end withthe vote distributed pretty evenly. At the final bellit was Ryan Clausen with 520 votes against Proj-ect Dynamite with 514.


www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com April 2010, CAMPUS ACTIVITIES MAGAZINE, 13

Best Major Artist was a run-away for Jason Mraz.In his second year at the head of the class, hewon with 961 votes, more than double that of JeffDunham in second place.

But Dunham would have his place at the head ofthe table. Jeff Dunham won Best Comedy Artistfor 2010 with 1008 votes over Mission Improvablewith 445.

Bass /Schuler’s Project Dynamite ruled in the BestNovelty/ Live category with 31.74% of the voteover Daniel Martin (66another Bass/Schuler act)with 19.39%. Norman NG had 18.7%.

The top spot in the Novelty/Games category goesto the legendary ThinkFast from TJohnE. Think-Fast took 31.65% of the total vote with GameShows To Go garnering 26.9% for the secondspot.

The University of Akron won Campus Program ofThe Year with 802 ballots. Western Michigan Uni-versity followed in second place with 560.

The Agency of the Year was a blow-out this yearfor Coleman Productions with 766 votes. But therest of the field ran pretty tight with 470 for GP En-tertainment and 455 for Bass/Schuler.

And while Justin Kredible won top honors as En-tertainer of the Year for an unprecedented fourthtime (996 votes), David Coleman was right on hisheels with 906 and Frederick Winters followedwith 741.

It was an interesting year for the awards. Check outthe profiles of the winners on the pages which follow.For the acts with video, you will be able to see themshowcased at campusactivitiesmagazine. com

Jason LeVasseur is undoubtedly one of the most popular “small venue” artistsin campus market history. In this case, the term “small” covers the perfect inti-macy and rapport inherent in each of Jason’s shows, but don’t think that meanshe is “small time” or confined only to the coffeehouse venues . Jason is a highlyexperienced performer who has occupied every type of stage at some point,from major performances like a recent one with artists Ludacris and LMFAO tovenues from small to large across our nation’s campuses.

If there is one aspect of this artist that makes him more overwhelminglypopular than any other, it has to be his humble and personable nature.

When asked about the fact that he is one of just afew “Reader’s Choice Awards Staples,” hemerely compliments the competition. “Thething is,” he says. “I see the guys who winawards year after year and I’m like ‘Thoseguys are awesome.’ I look up to the awardwinners and to put myself in the same cate-gory as someone like David Coleman is

like... wow. When I am hanging around him, Iam looking for advice. When it comes to the sea-

soned veterans, I am wise enough to look to them forguidance. It’s funny because now I have young(er) artists (laughs)

come up to me for advice. I still haven’t made the leap that I am an‘expert’ in something.”

“This year I was invited to speak at a college about success. I wasasked to talk about finding one’s passion and pursuing a successful

career doing what you love.”

As always, Jason is deeply grateful to his fans and thanks the campuseswho continue to bring him in and continue to vote.

BOOK IT! For more information contact Bass/Schuler Entertainment at(773) 481-2600 or for virtual links: www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

Jared Campbell has been traveling the country selling over 18,000CD’s independently and making his mark on the indie scene. He washand picked by the editors of Billboard to perform in the Disc MakersIndependent Music World Series and his music has appeared onMTV’s “Real World” and “Road Rules” as well as College radio fromstate to state and his newest release “Beyond the Gray” is said to behis best work ever.


Matt is an artist we consider to have a truly inspiring story, not just because he is a handi-capped person who won a diversity award, but because Matt Glowacki is out there teachingpeople that judging each other is the wrong way to go.

Matt was born with no legs, but that certainly didn’t stop him from taking steps most peoplewould never dream of. In addition to spreading a message of tolerance and diversity, Matt isan entrepreneur. He started playing wheelchair basketball as a young man and quickly realizedthat the standard wheelchair model used in the sport wasn’t right for him. “These chairs hadleg rests which were quite cumbersome,” he says. “This struck me as a little funny, sinceI didn’t have anything to put in them and they were just in the way.” Matt went into theworkshop, hacked off the unnecessary parts of the device and tested things out. “Thisled me to the idea to start my own company and produce these custom sport-modelwheelchairs.” Matt now supplies eight International Paralympic teams.

“Diversity According to Family Guy and South Park” is an interestinglook into pop culture and satire that brings to light not only significantsocial issues buried just beneath the layer of slapstick, but also ourperception of these people. The fact that every situation is grossly ex-aggerated and mocked doesn’t make them any less real to peopledealing with these issues. For example, nearly every episode of SouthPark ever made is a disgusting, shocking and a political romp on realworld issues that many of us choose to ignore until we see them pop upfrom homelessness, HIV/AIDS, women’s issues, endangered species, globalwarming etc. Family Guy practices much the same method and nearly every jokein these shows has a superficial offensiveness to it, but under the surface revealsreal and important social issues which need to be explored, not ignored.

The media image is something Matt tackles head-on and is the pivotal point in hislecture. The ridiculous standards we hold ourselves to because of what we see inthe media goes part and parcel with the incredible amounts of self-image issueswe have in this country today. Matt’s presentation is insightful, funny, inspiringand has a message everyone should hear.

BOOK IT!For more information on bringing Matt Glowacki to your campus, con-tact Brooke Sims at Coleman Productions at (866) 328-3762.

The fast-paced 90-minute program was written by and starsEmmy award-winning veteran Boston performer Ron Jonesand award-winning actor Larry Jay Tish, “The Black Jew Dia-logues” combines sketch comedy, improv, interactive video,and audience participation to take you on a hysterical andpoignant journey through many of our closest held beliefs (andmisbeliefs). Performers play a myriad of characters with nu-merous costume changes.


If experience counts for anything, Natalie Stovall has it inspades musically, gaining professional experience and beingexposed to playing music at home at a very young age. “I

started playing the violin when I was four,” she says. “When I was10, I auditioned for a show called ‘The Opryland Kids Club.’ Opry-land was a theme park in Nashville and I got up and played myfiddle for them. The judges reactions weren’t exactly encouraging(laughs). They said ‘Oh, that’s really sweet honey, but you haveto sing for this show.’ I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and got the job! Thatwas really what started my singing professionally.”

A snowball effect is really the only way to describe Natalie’s rocketingcareer since that fateful childhood day. “I did the Opryland show forabout four years and then began doing conventions, conferencesand anywhere else that would hire me at the time,” she laughs.

She continued her part-time endeavor throughout high school andthen, upon graduation, decided to use her higher education opportu-nities to kick her passion for music into high gear. “I ended up attend-ing Berklee College of Music in Boston which is when I really gotserious about music. I was always intensely devoted to it and knewit was something I was going to do for the rest of my life, but at BerkleeI formed my first band and began songwriting in earnest.”

Natalie says songwriting has been a pastime for her since she wasa kid, but the skills she developed under the tutelage of Berkleeopened up a new world for her artistically. “I have been writing sinceI was about 11, but I never really showed anyone my music orarranged it to play for people. At Berklee, I put a band together andwe started playing shows with some of my original material.”

The band would travel around Boston during the school year toNatalie’s native Nashville area during summers for gigs. “We didthat two summers in a row and once I graduated we moved backdown to the Nashville area. I was looking for band members inNashville and that took awhile. Believe it or not, we are on our

30th band member at this point, it was hard to find the right groupof musicians with the right chemistry.”

Once they had settled on a lineup, Natalie and her cohorts begangigging around Nashville with a vengeance. “While we were playingaround Nashville, we discovered the college market and found anagent with Ari Nisman at Degy Entertainment. Everything just startedsnowballing from there. It was amazing the way all that worked outonce we got in and started playing for colleges and military bases.Everything took on a life of its own and now we are on the road con-stantly. It’s awesome.”

Bringing us into the present day, Natalie and the band’s scheduleis now dominated by college and military dates. “It is a huge partof what we do now,” she says. “I play many other gigs becausewe try to fill in as many dates as possible while we’re on the road.We’ll play clubs, festivals and many performing arts centers aswell. Colleges are really the biggest part of keeping us on theroad though. There are so many colleges across the country,when we get confirmed dates in a certain area through a singleor block of college dates, it gives us an opportunity to explorenew venues by filling the slots in between. Colleges provide theanchors for where we’ll go. That is the wonderful thing about per-forming on campus, they really want me to come do my thing. Idon’t go in and play a bunch of covers, I play my music.”

Natalie has obviously found her niche, because she and her bandhave kept themselves very busy playing right where they want to.“We have been very fortunate with our schedule, it has been sopacked. Last year we did almost 200 dates. We were home verylittle, but that is what I always wanted.”

BOOK IT: For more information contact Ari Nisman at Degy Entertainment at (732) 818-9600. For virtual links, head on overto our website at www.campusactivitiesmagzine.com

INPULSE creates a powerful sound thatfeatures stunning solos, exceptional har-monic blends000000000, and drivingrhythms. Their performances showcasethe beauty and versatility of the humanvoice, drawing from virtually every genreof music - from Pop to Rock, Country toHip-Hop, and Jazz to R&B. INPULSEhas sold over 25,000 copies of theirrecordings.

With a distinctly delicate voice that couldrelax even the most uneasy mind, Danashows she is not only a beautiful voice butan accomplished songwriter as well. Danahas appeared nationwide on Fox’s Fear-less Music Television and has lent hervoice to national commercials. At a timewhen the music industry is looking forsomeone to lead the way, Dana Alexandramay just do that as you stop to enjoy herdown-home sweet and soulful sound.


Story by Ian Kirby

This is David’s 10th win for CAM’s Speaker Of The Year honorand he has clearly cemented himself as one of the top speakersin the Campus Activities market. No other presenter has evencome close to this many awards in this category.

Along with this, David was runner-up for Entertainer of theYear. “To be named runner-up to Justin for Entertainer of TheYear was a real surprise. He is obviously tops in our profes-sion at this time, so to be mentioned in the same breath withhim is rewarding. ”

“When I first started out in campus entertainment, I had several‘heroes and role models’ that I hoped to emulate and even re-motely approximate their success.... Barry Drake, Tom DeLuca,Craig Karges, Buzz Sutherland... To have won 10 awards nowand to be even casually considered among these incredible per-formers who have sustained magical careers is a wonderfulhonor. I really have to offer a sincere and deep thanks to all thestudents, directors and other folks who have supported me alongthe way. I began in this field as an activities director years ago,so I understand the needs and perspectives of the people on thatside of the fence.”

This race was so close this year that even insiders at CAM hadno idea who would win until the final tally on February 15. Thefinal result saw David as Runner-up by a mere six percentagepoints. Folks, that’s only 90 votes. What an impressive run forhim and a possible omen for the future.

Another point of pride for David in the Awards this year was theexcellent performance of the roster of his blossoming agencyColeman Productions/Coleman Entertainment Group, not tomention the agency itself. Winning their first Agency of The Yeartitle, the ladies of the Coleman camp will certainly have a brightfuture in the market and are proud to represent 2010 CAM win-ners like America’s Fastest Rising Star, Mr. Attraction Ryan Clau-son and Diversity Artist of The Year Matt Glowacki.

In the past year or two, the newest and most rewarding elementin David’s career has been his work with military service mem-bers. He estimates these dates to now cover nearly 25% of hisoverall schedule of over 200 dates a year. As we sit and talk justoutside metro Atlanta, military transport choppers and planes arerunning a training operation. Every time the buzz or rumble of anaircraft goes by, it’s clearly evident David is thinking about themen on board as he glances over his shoulder and up. “I havespoken on military bases and installations across America, aswell as in Italy and Germany to our troops and their families.

“They are hard working, driven and tremendous role models forall of us. They allow us to live a life with freedoms that other coun-tries can only dream of. I have been so thankful to be able tospeak with them and do my best to help them form, mend andsustain healthy relationships and bring hope, humor and happi-ness to their lives. My dream...goal...desire is to speak to everysingle one of our military personnel on the planet and help themfeel connected to home.”

On a personal note, I had the chance to spend a couple of dayswith David and the gorgeous and talented ladies of the South-eastern Panhellenic Conference. I was able to witness two of hislive presentations, “Why Be Ordinary When You Can Be Remark-able,” a session on unleashing potential and being the best andmost ethical “you” and “The Dating Doctor ‘Unplugged’” a Q&Asession with the audience of about 300 ladies and 4 gentlemen,myself included.

The sheer level of experience David has in his field is immediatelyevident in the way he handles questions and personally respondsto each person. He stayed after the show for over an hour helpingthe ladies with their personal issues and it was obvious he careddeeply. It’s not hard to see why he keeps taking down this award.

BOOK IT! For more information, contact Brooke Sims at Coleman Productions at (866) 328-3762.

C. L. Lindsay III is a recognized expert in the field of student rights and edu-cational law. He is the founder and executive director of the Coalition for Stu-dent & Academic Rights (CO-STAR), which works with a national network ofvolunteer attorneys to offer free advice and advocacy to college students andprofessors. C.L. is the author of the nationally syndicated column “Ask CO-Star” and is regularly quoted in both national media and regional publications.

rederick Winters has had a conspicuous absencein our awards since his Entertainer of The YearAward in 2006, but he is one of the most nominatedacts in the RCA’s history.

When booking an act like Fred’s, one thing you can be sure ofis that you are getting a veteran professional’s level of experi-ence. With 20 years and well over 2,000 shows in the campusmarket, there aren’t any problems Frederick can’t handle.Frederick’s utter competence is especially important in a hyp-nosis show, where volunteer reactions can be unpredictableand the crowds want to know they are in good hands.

“There are a lot of things that can happen which you mightnot want to. It’s all in how you handle it, and very quickly.”

Frederick can be considered a master of re-booking, withmany schools repeating his show for 15 consecutive years,with his record at 18 straight years! “I am so grateful that somany of my schools are this loyal. I probably push that 200show limit every year and 80-90% have booked me for 10-15years in a row.”

The fact is, you’ll never meet a nicer, more humble or gener-ous guy. Every show of Fred’s is packed full of action andcan easily run two hours. “I have three shows that are com-pletely different from start to finish, each running about 2hours long, unless I am needed for a 60 minute noon show.”

Probably the most infectious aspect is how much fun Fred hastoo and the crowd knows it. “ I think that is what possibly setsme apart from other hypnotists, – there is no tight, scripted 60minute show where every word and footstep is in place. Myshow just flows. I have a lot of fun and there is a lot of strength

to the show and I think it comes from an entertainer who reallyloves being at the school and on stage making students laugh.”

BOOK IT! Contact Bass/Schuler Entertainment at (773) 481-2600.

Daniel Martin has quickly become one of the country’s top, in-demandcollege entertainers. His unique blend of insane magic, exhilaratingescapes, and sarcastic improv are continually leading to record break-ing crowds nationwide. His magic has been featured on NBC, CBS,WGN, and VH1, and he is continually hailed by his peers as one ofthe most original acts in the college market! He has been nominatedfor the 2nd year.


RRyan is not only a bright, good-looking and engaging,but he is also proof positive that you don’t have to beborn the “life of the party” to become that person later

if you really want to be. “Well, I guess I should start at the be-ginning and say that my major mission statement and coremessage is this: Attraction is a learnable skill. You can learnhow to get better at attraction and dating; they are skills thatcan be honed like any others. Most people however, don’tthink this is true. It is my opinion that all over America, youngmen and women are in a way, suffering in silence. They feel alot of tension about dating and are very uncomfortable withhow to ask someone out, what to do on a date, etc. No onehas ever told them or given them advice on these topics andI think there is practical resolution for this internal sort ofstruggle they feel.”

A HUGE portion in the part attractiveness our society overlooksis the role our own personal health maintains in how fetchingwe may seem to that comely lass (or lad) you’ve had your eyeon. Ryan is a huge proponent of a healthy lifestyle includingproper diet and exercise and covers the basics in his programon attraction (he also has a program dedicated completely tohealth and wellness for interested parties).

Ryan himself is a health nut, but he explains moderation is agreat rule of thumb and he understands not everyone will goout and purchase a $500 blender. Ryan is a Type 1 diabeticand has to be more cautious than most. “Stick to the 80/20principle when it comes to your health. Meaning, commit toeating healthy foods 80% of the time, and 20% of the time relaxand do what you want.”Ryan is fresh, affordable and eager to share his message ofrelationship self-empowerment to college students.

BOOK IT! Contact Coleman Productions at (866) 328-3762.

Project Dynamite's edgy humor and charismatic high-energywill blow you away, literally. Their grande finale brings dangerto an all new level, David and Alex climb 20 feet into the airand balance atop six folding chairs to perform their most per-ilous stunt. This signature trick, matched by their non-stophumor, has led them to international venues. They're funnierthan Dane Cook and sexier than Barbara Streisand. You'lllaugh, you'll cry, you'll pee your pants.


For Jason Mraz, his life-altering journey began with asingle word: No. No touring, no recording, no work fora year: “I said, I want to go to the grocery store again.I want to do my own laundry. I want to tend to a garden.I want to raise a cat.”

When he took a well-earned break, something unexpectedhappened: He rediscovered himself. After a few months, “Isuddenly woke up and real songs started coming out ofme,” Mraz recalls. “Songs that I didn’t plan on writing. Butthat just became a reflection of how I felt and the mood thatI was in and these awakenings that I was having,” he says.

The result is We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.his mostself-assured effort to date. In true Mraz style, the 12 tunesare wrapped in clever, observant lyrics and strong, engagingpop melodies, but this time they are inspired “by these mo-ments of self realization, self empowerment and self im-provement. “I was happy to be able to write an album at thesame time I was coming back to earth.”

We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.comes six years afterJason Mraz saw his major label debut, Waiting for My Rocketto Comeexplode off the success of such hits as “Remedy (IWon’t Worry),” “You & I Both” and “Curbside Prophet.”Shortly thereafter, he returned with his Grammy-nominated,critically acclaimed Mr. A-Z,which continued his chart suc-cess with “Wordplay.” Throughout, his reputation as atremendous live act soared.

We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. has earned threeGrammy nominations in 2009, including Song of the Year,Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “I’m Yours” and twonominations in 2010, including Best Male Pop Vocal Perform-ance for “Make It Mine” and Best Pop Collaboration for“Lucky.” The album, Mraz’s most self-assured effort to date,is characterized by songs wrapped in clever, observant lyricsand strong, engaging pop melodies, all inspired by “gratitude.”

BOOK IT!Contact Paradigm Entertainment at (212) 897-6400.

With humor that transcends any and all demographic boundaries, JeffDunham is consistently setting and breaking records and conqueringevery realm he enters. Over the last decade, he and his hilarious troupeof comedic sidekicks have risen from the standup comedy clubs to charmthe world and become an unprecedented entertainment phenomenon withan astounding international 360-degree reach.


ThinkFast is the brainchild of Tim John andfamily, including daughter Marin, son Jaisenand wife Linda. Tim is justifiably proud ofhis accomplishments and views ThinkFastas the preeminent interactive game in thecollege market, with the configurations ofthe show being booked at almost 1000 per-formances a year. For folks who aren’t sureexactly what ThinkFast is or how it works,we get the scoop straight from the horsesmouth. “ThinkFast is an interactive showthat has intellectual property, music, variousstupid human tricks and really anything thata booker wants,” Tim says.

The show is completely customizable andprogrammable. Basically, there is an audi-ence response system in which every mem-ber has a remote control to answerquestions as they pop up on a large projec-tion screen. The people (or teams) who“ThinkFast” and buzz-in first get the chanceat cool prizes, often cash. It is an over-whelmingly popular show. “It is funny, be-cause when you think of the fact that we areup to almost 1000 shows a year now, it’s obvious people like com-ing back and doing the things we make them do to play the game.Essentially, the people who win are the best singers, dancers andmost knowledgeable people in the room. It allows for many dif-ferent types of people to enjoy the event and makes it completelyinteractive. The students are the stars of the show.”

One fascinating aspect of this show is its utter chameleon-likeability to fit into any program. If a college or University audience

wants all the questions to relate to their campus, community orschool, that’s fine. The show can be used to educate on topicssuch as alcohol, or it can even be used as a training aid. TJohnEhas begun working with state and federal government agenciesto use the system for workers. In addition, ThinkFast couldn’t bea better tool for corporate and association audiences who wantto impart a message to their crowds. Many campuses use theshow multiple times each year.

BOOK IT! Contact TJohnE at (877) 295-5559.

High production game shows include Survey Says - a feud styleshow, Brian Cell - a game show that everyone plays using theircell phone and BONK - a comedy game show where contestantshit themselves in the head with a mallet to "Bonk In". All showsare high energy, audience involved and have all of the bells andwhistles of a TV game show. All shows are available in full pro-duction or budget versions and most are customizable for themes.


n

Breaking onto the market is a brand new act that is fresh andapparently taking things by storm. Project Dynamite is a fast-paced, edgy and action-filled comedy show, which is high-lighted by juggling, whip cracking, throwing things, yelling andgenerally a good time for all. Alex Clark and Dave Caplan make

up the team and have impressed people in the college marketenough to be picked up by Bass/Schuler right out of the gate.

The two met and first did a show at an amusement park,quickly realizing they weren’t fulfilling their potential. “We re-alized it wasn’t for us because we could do bigger and betterthings,” Alex says. “We started street performing at a ton offairs and festivals and then found the college market. We werehooked immediately.”

“We sent out a media package to all the best college agentswe knew of,” Dave says. “When Bass/Schuler responded, itwas really a match made in heaven. We were performing atsome schools before we hooked up but it wasn’t until we gotwith Chris and Scott that things picked up and became fun andrewarding for us.”

The duo has only been on the roster since last January. Obvi-ously they really jumped on the ball, winning enough support(thanks in no small part to their agency) to garner this awardand a nod for Runner-up for “Fastest Rising Star”. “It is awe-some,” Dave says. “It proves that hard work and dedicationreally pay off. We have a fan base now.”

Their success is based on personal interaction. “We get in-volved with the people that like our show, because withoutthem, we know we won’t get very far.”

Alex adds, “We get email addresses at the end of our showsand then we stay in touch. We always read and respond toemails and if you call and leave a voicemail, we’ll even play itand address it for you in one of our webisodes.”

BOOK IT! For more information, contact Bass/Schuler Enter-tainment at (773) 481-2600.

Daniel Martin has quickly become one of the country’s top, in-demandcollege entertainers. His unique blend of insane magic, exhilaratingescapes, and sarcastic improv are continually leading to record break-ing crowds nationwide. His magic has been featured on NBC, CBS,WGN, and VH1, and he is continually hailed by his peers as one ofthe most original acts in the college market! He has been nominatedfor the 2nd year.


There aren’t many markets out there that appreciate com-edy more than the college market and Jeff is probably aswell-known among that group as any. With his saturationon Comedy Central and now more and more appearanceson network shows to promote it, Jeff is able to reach a verywide audience. This isn’t something that just magically hap-pened one day though, Jeff has been working at buildinghis fan base for a long time now. “I started with ventrilo-quism when I was in the second grade and started doingshows from there. I kept it up all the way through elementaryschool, through high school and college. I have been doingit pretty much my entire life now.

“I did it the way most do – you learn the skill of ventrilo-quism and then you think you’re in show business (laughs).Unfortunately, there are many ventriloquists that aren’tfunny and I realized quickly that to be entertaining the funnyis far more important than having good ventriloquist’s skills.So, I strike a balance and try to do both. I try to be as funnyas possible while still being as technically proficient as pos-sible. But for me I’d rather see a horrible ventriloquist thatis funny than an excellent ventriloquist who is not.”

And funny he is. His amazing talent as a ventriloquist mayonly be trumped by the fact that he is an excellent writer andhis talent for delivery of the comedy material is spot-on. Noone in the industry has ever come close to the comedy in-teraction Jeff has with his cast of “dummies.” And of thecelebrity entertainers, he delivers more bang for the buck.

BOOK IT! Contact Matt Blake at CAA (Creative Artists Agency) at (424) 288-2000.

This Chicago & LA based troupe has been touring the college cir-cuit heavily over past years. Mission IMPROVable is one of thetop ranked comedy companies in the country. You're guaranteedto laugh out loud when these guys are around. They have alsobeen shooting multiple TV and web pilots. With various regionaland national showcases under its belt, this group of improv mas-ters has perfected the art of making its audience laugh.


Tim Moyer & Rich Nikodem formed GP Entertainment in early 2004.Their roots are embedded in working the college marketplace wherethey have established long term relationships with clients. Their diversi-fied lineup of programming includes Justin Kredible, John Zaffis, JoshuaSeth, and Jason & Grant from “Ghost Hunters” along with cutting edgegame shows. They go out of their way to make sure you have the mostpleasureable programming.

If one agency has blossomed into new life over the past year,it’s Coleman Productions and its baby sister Coleman Enter-tainment Group.

The agency was founded by The Dating Doctor, David Cole-man, but he will be first to tell you it’s the “Coleman Ladies”that make everything happen. Brooke Sims is a familiar facein the college market and is the agent in charge of the speakerdivision Coleman Productions (CP). Coleman EntertainmentGroup (CEG) falls under newly anointed entertainment pro-fessional Jacqui Volkman, a 2008 graduate of Western Michi-gan University (our Campus of The Year Runner-up!) and thenewest addition to the Coleman staff. The veteran staffer andperhaps the real backbone of the operation is Jerene Lee, whoworks in the shadows behind the everyday happenings (asthe most instrumental people often do) to make sure all of thenuts and bolts business aspects are taken care of.

Jerene has been with David the longest at around 8 years,seeing just the beginnings of the transformation his speak-ing career into a larger scope. “When I started with David,things were fairly small. The people that were initially withhim grew in popularity and moved on to their own thing andwe began taking on new speakers little by little. I believe agood portion of it is the fact that David is so good at whathe does and is able to take guys that have a basic knowl-edge of their own topic and turn them into real pros throughguidance to allow them to really find themselves. I stronglyfeel under David, Brooke and now Jacqui, they have donean outstanding job on the outside of taking David’s idealsand moving them forward as up-and-coming young speak-ers. For me it is wonderful to see David finally get rewardedfor all the efforts that he has made.”

Brooke is the most recognizable face in the company to mostof us in the campus activities market and has been aroundlong enough to be considered one of the top campus agentsin the country. “I am at around six years with the agency now,starting in 2004. I met David at one of the conferences backwhen I was working for another agency booking novelties andit was a great new direction for me working so closely with alive artist. Things just grew and grew as David trained and be-came a mentor to more speakers who shared the same goalsand dreams as we did for where the company should go. Wereally have just continued to expand the roster and client baseone day at a time.” Such persistent and notable success wasfollowing CP that their own clients started requesting to workwith them outside of the speaking world. “As people got to

know more and more names on our roster, some of the clientsstarted saying ‘You really should get into the entertainmentside of things because you guys handle these shows so welland have great communication.’ I met Jacqui at some of theconferences and she came with awesome references fromher previous activities director.”

Jacqui came on board first working as an intern and quicklyfell in line with the company’s common goals. “She has reallytaken the bull by the horns and has formed the entertainmentdivision into what it is now.”

Through a combination of incredible hard work, skill and luck,Jacqui was able to land her dream job right out of the gate andis now personally working with name campus acts like BuzzSutherland and Wayne Hoffman. “It is very exciting, it reallywas right place/right time,” she says. “It is funny how it all fellinto place. Brooke and I were both originally from the GrandRapids area and coincidentally met. I was ready to go to gradschool at the time but once Brooke and I got together andstarted talking I realized it was an opportunity that I definitelycouldn’t pass up. I was very eager to work with the Colemangroup because we worked with them on the board at WMU.They were already a great company and definitely a team thatI wanted to be a part of. That changed my life plan a little bit.”

Brooke thinks there are a couple of factors contributing totheir win, including their intense campaigning through per-sonal contact and Facebook. “I think it all has to do with notonly our clients being happy, but also the quality of artists onour roster. Jerene really does a great job of handling themand a lot of the business management aspects and financesof the company. When it comes to the clients, Jacqui and I areboth always very eager to assist the schools with promotionalor marketing materials, co-sponsorship ideas, messaging, au-dience demographics, etc. We really try to work hand in handwith them and figure out what the best way to make their eventa success is.”

Well, this Reader’s Choice Award for Agency of The Yearleaves little doubt that the “Coleman Ladies”are doing some-thing right.

BOOK IT! For more information Coleman Productions’speakers, contact Brooke at (866) 328-3762.

To talk to Jacqui about comedy, music, live novelty or culturaldiversity, call her at (866) 297-9671.


WMU has about 25,000 students and is the fourth largest campus inthe state. The programming board at WMU consists of an executiveboard of 12 members and anywhere from 50 to 75 members in thegeneral assembly. At WMU the movie night was in fact the genesis forall other activities on campus. With a 3,500 seat theater and an aver-age student attendance of 2,500, it was around before WMU bookedeven live entertainment.

The University of Akron is undoubtedly one of the most active collegecampuses in the nation when it comes to programming activities.Director Tom Faessel and his cohorts are well-known faces aroundthe national conference scenes and in Campus Activities Magazine,they have been one of the most reliable sources for submitting ArtistReport Cards we have seen.

This campus employs a unique structure in the buying and bookingof their activities, really incorporating two different programmingboards into one. The ZIPS Programming Network covers all the ac-tion that goes on in the bustling student union while the ResidenceHall Programming Board books much of the entertainment withinresidence halls and around campus.

To tell us about the structure and system at AU are Melanie Schnei-der, President of RHPB, Anne Bruno, Director of the Student Unionand Advisor for ZPN, Steve Pagios, Residence Life Coordinator forCO-Curricular Programs & Activities and Tom Faessel, Associate Di-rector of Residence Life and Housing. “The institution has about27,000 students,” Anne says. “Some of the things we are known in-ternationally for are the polymer sciences and polymer engineering.We have an outstanding college of education, nursing, engineeringand a wonderful honors program on campus. We have recentlyadded a brand new on-campus football stadium that seats about30,000 and has three floors of classroom space in the press roomtower. We are also going to be building a new college of educationand a new polymer engineering research building on campus aswell.” Amazingly the construction on this stadium was only 21months long. Apparently, the community was motivated.

The pride is evident in Anne’s voice and apparently it’s infectious asSteve takes over. “Right next to the stadium is a brand new residencehall which was just finished in July,” he says. “There are about 400beds there and it will be primarily a living/learning center. On the 5floors, the students living there will be a part of a living/learning com-munity. It is an opportunity for students to integrate what they arelearning inside the classroom with life outside the classroom. Theyare among a community of people attending some of the sameclasses and studying the same social programs, so right away theyare building bonds and networks of shared experience. We are veryexcited about that; it is a top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art hall completewith a new theater, classroom space and computer labs.

Now that we’ve dispensed with the descriptions of Akron’s excitingand shiny new toys, some definition of just how they operate is ap-propriate. Melanie elaborates, “RHBP does programs primarily forresidence hall students, generally every Tuesday. We are muchsmaller than ZPN is with only 9 board members, although we do havesome freshmen who work as part of our committees to help with big-ger events, like Welcome Weekend.”

ZPN is the more active organization when it comes to campus-wideactivities and entertainment. “ZPN is also a recognized student or-

ganization on campus and they are structured with a president andchairs for the specific areas they program within,” says Anne.“Those categories vary from adult and family programs to Greek lifeprogramming, diversity programming and of course traditionalevents. We have seven different chairs that focus on their own typesof programming, along with associate members who join the organ-ization and stay connected through weekly associate meetings. Thatpopulation now is roughly 50 students and where we draw all thechairpersons for specific events.”

Because of their fields of expertise, the student population is very di-verse. “For starters, since anyone who is older than 24 is classifiedas nontraditional, that population comes in at over 30%.” This makesa significant impact when it comes to programming activities for allto enjoy. “We do program events directly targeted at our older andfamily populations, many on weekends and later in the evening.Some students will go home, pick up the family and come back formovies, bowling, swimming or other events.”

“One of the neat things we have done between ZPN and RHPB inthe past couple of years is a collaboration with the E.J. ThomasPerforming Arts Hall,” Steve says. “They started a ‘Rock the Roo’(AU’s mascot is a kangaroo) series in the fall semester. During thefirst six weeks of school, every Wednesday from 11:30 to 1 o’clock,they hold an event with live music outdoors and give away foodand T-shirts. They have an equally successful ‘Rock the Roo AfterDark’ series on Thursday nights which features music for the mostpart, but is now also branching into some variety shows. Also, wehave ‘Roo Talk’ which are the lecture programs. Both boards havebeen involved with this project and have been great with beinghungry for student feedback.”

Steve wraps up with a concise little victory statement which reflectsthe ultimate goal of most campus activities boards out there, “It’shard for students here to say ‘there’s nothing to do on campus’(laughs). Between all the organizations and different areas of pro-gramming, we give them many opportunities to get involved withinthe community and go out there and meet some new people.”

We mentioned Akron’s outstanding Artist Report Card submissionrate and want to again commend and thank them for providing valu-able feedback to not only us, but EVERY READER of this magazine.As such, we’d also like to congratulate them on winning the 2010Rock N’ Road Show sponsored by Quantum Talent and look forwardto seeing them in person to cover the FREE live weekend of enter-tainment they won in an editorial this fall. If you want YOUR SCHOOLto be eligible for the 2011 Rock N’ Road Show sponsored by theAuburn Moon Agency, submit us a report card on EVERY EVENTyou have next year. The 10 most active school will be entered into adrawing for the free event.

For more information on Akron University, contact Tom Faessel at(330) 972-7800.



Obviously as one of the most meteoric presences in thecampus market for the past 5 years, Justin Kredible hasbecome one of the elite performers in the college market.

Playing hundreds of dates a year for colleges across thecountry, Justin has been able to secure himself as a namein the market. He credits this as a combined effect of theother significant development in his career, a budding tele-vision hosting personality. For the past few years, he hasdone segments with magic and without on “Rachael Ray”with the hopes of transitioning from magic to a full time ca-reer on the screen, just as his idols Johnny Carson andSteve Martin did before him.

“It is kind of a weird thing to step out of the identity of ‘JustinKredible’ I have been known for now for so long and go backto using my real name for TV (laughs).”

His latest and most exciting television news is “CupcakeWars” a show he is hosting on Food Network under hisgiven name of Justin Willman. As a pure host with nomagic, he has to let the personality and charisma that hasmade him so popular on the stage entertain a televisionaudience. Be sure to check it out. “I shot a pilot lastfall, which is a baking competition show. It’s like highdrama meets tongue-in-cheek humor. I am nowthe Ryan Seacrest of cupcakes,” he quips. “I ama host and not doing any magic, so they haveme going by the name on my driver’s license.It is interesting because I am on set every-day working here and people in L.A. knowme as a TV host first, they don’t even

know I am a magician. It is a brand new identity crisis forme and I am okay with it. It has been fun getting used tonot having magic as my secret weapon.”

When it comes to his qualifications as a host, there reallycould be no better training than the rapport-building skillsgained as a working magician. “If you want to be a TV host,there is no ‘host school’ to attend. So, what is it that makessomeone able to host? I feel like for me, it is the fact that Ihave been a magician for all these years, doing all thesecollege shows in front of a new crowd every night. If youhave seen my show (especially more than once), you knowI don’t go by a script, it is all loose and improvisational. Ihave fun with the volunteers from the audience and we justmake up really funny stuff every night.

“In retrospect, I realize that every time I do my magic showI am training myself as a host. I am essentially hosting myown TV show every night on campus, it just happens to befocused on magic. I am learning these skills and have got-ten honed at being able to interact with people and keep ashow moving.”

The most gratifying thing for his fans to see in all of this how-ever, despite his great success, is how humble Justin re-mains (and cognizant of his roots). He knows who got himwhere he is and continues to devote much of his time to thecollege market and entertaining students. He credits his ca-reer in the campus market, the FOUR consecutive Enter-tainer Of The Year Awards and the readers of CampusActivities Magazine as the reason he was able to get his footin the TV door.

Justin always keeps himself ultra-busy, but no one man cando it all, so we want to ease the concerns of all those fans outthere with a white-knuckle grip on this magazine and the imageof Justin going to TV exclusively, lost to the college market for-ever. One thing Justin plans on making his utmost priority isto retain a balance. “I am never going to abandon the live per-forming. I see the TV stuff as a way to open up my show innot only what I do and where I go but also the increased audi-ences I can reach. I will use whatever publicity I get from TVto book more shows, play bigger venues and continue to builda following. I think the TV exposure will just enhance the otherside, not detract from it. Live performing is my first love andwhere my passion is and always will be.” Thatbrings to mind the word “synergy.”

In the future, Justin hopes to perhaps make amore meaningful impact with his skills, beyondthat of just entertainment value. With a strongpresence and dynamic ability to relate to an au-dience, is there perhaps a message-orientedshow in the cards? “I have always thoughtabout taking what I have and making it mean alittle more. I love being able to provide entertain-ment and give an audience an escape for awhile, but to have them walk away with a mes-sage or something that could positively impacttheir lives sounds really awesome. I want to dosomething deeper and I don’t know exactly where or when

that will be, but it’s definitely floating around in my brain for thetime being.”

It’s crazy to think, but students reading this article who are sen-iors now, were freshman when Justin won his first of these fourconsecutive Entertainer of The Year Awards. They have neverknown Campus Activities Magazine to have another EOTY!“(Laughs) ...that is interesting, I have never thought about that.The intriguing thing is, the first time I won this award I could havebeen considered a freshman as well. I was really just comingout of the gates and that was my first year with a strong presencein the market. I was doing a ton of shows, but still just figuring it

all out. Maybe now I have graduated as well.Maybe I am headed to the ‘grad school’ of collegeentertainment (laughs). I feel like I have myschtick together and as an entertainer haveevolved so much. The thing that hasn’t changedis the fact that I understand everything is aboutrapport. The people I see year after year andwho continue to bring me back and spread theword mean everything. If I had to start fromscratch every year, I would be nowhere and I willcontinue to go out and have crowds challenge meto become a better performer.”

One thing Justin has never done, no matter howmany times he’s won this award, is to under-

value the level of his competition. “Every year the people I am


“I feel like I have my schticktogether and asan entertainerhave evolved so much.”

nominated with I always have such massive respectfor. It is strange, because sometimes I don’t evenget to see these people, we just kind of float aroundin the market. While they are out there doing theirthing, I am doing mine, but I see their posters uparound campuses and I hear amazing things aboutthem. Just to be able to share that spotlight withthem is great, but who knows what’s next? I feellike it might be time to pass that torch, you know?”Sometimes the gracious champ retires his belt?

What is ironic and what Justin doesn’t at first realize,is that he is now the model for many aspiring enter-tainers who want to climb the ladder and, this is agood thing. Entertainers like Justin set a positive ex-ample for the next draft; he is humble, talented, tena-ciously detailed, energetic and takes great care ofhis people. It would be hard to find a better modelto follow for success. “That is so weird to hear man,I even get emails like that. People that are in collegeand do magic want to get into it full time and they sayI made them want to do it. It is very gratifying be-cause I remember it wasn’t so long ago when I wasthe one writing magicians asking for their auto-graphed head shots. It catches me off guard some-times that I am ‘that’ guy for someone else and I cansometimes feel not worthy of that high praise. I amthrilled to inspire people.”

This year almost all of our awards were tight, but thisparticular category was a real squeaker. At the endof the tally, only 90 votes separated Justin from ourrunner-up David Coleman, who would have in factbeen, the first ever speaker to win the award (and wasthe first to be nominated). “I had a quick hang withhim in Boston recently and he is just the nicest guy(laughs). He is such a cool guy and so sweet andhumble. He swept up his other categories in theAwards and has a great company going so kudos tohim. I’d love to collaborate with him in the future, per-haps there’s a mentor role there,” he says, only half-jokingly. “Maybe he can help me take what I do andtranscend it into speaking and take it to a new level.If there were someone I was honored to be in such atight race with, it’s him.”

Most races with Justin aren’t tight because when itcomes to what makes an entertainer all-around great,Justin is the total package. He can entertain any au-dience in any venue from the big screen to your cam-pus stage. He will continue to work actively in thecampus market, so put your call in today and get himon the schedule for your next great event!

BOOK IT! For more information contact Rich at GPEntertainment at (866) 812-8248. For virtual links andvideo, head on over to our website at www.campus-activitiesmagzine.com for our Z-Mags edition.


A COMPLETE FREE ENTERTAINMENT WEEKEND. ANY CAMPUS CAN QUALIFY!

A COMPLETE FREE ENTERTAINMENT WEEKEND. ANY CAMPUS CAN QUALIFY!

GREAT COLLEGEDRIVE-IN MOVIE

The 4 time novelty event of the yearand finalist every year for the last 9years running, The Great CollegeDrive-In Movie has The biggest, bestgiant inflatable screens touringcolleges nationwide with the bestprofessional crews, 12,000+ watt 5.1Surround Sound System, Stereo FMBroadcast to your car for a real drive-in experience, state of the art projec-tion systems in any format, and manymore one of a kind features.

FLOREZThe #1 music act of the college circuitnationwide last year, Florez was alsothe most booked act of NACA nation-als and was runner-up music artist ofthe year.While your audience will recognizebass player Erik Huffman as a Survivor:China reality TV star, the band has along list of accomplishments on theiro w n :Their music was featured on NBC'sScrubs and shared stages with GavinDeGraw, Will Hoge, Talib Kweli, AmosLee, Robert Randolph, Josh Kelley,Sister Hazel, Better than Ezra, Martin

RONNIE JORDANRonnie Jordan broke college tour-ing records last Spring with 102colleges in 112 days all in 2 regions.He broke booking records in 3regions his first year with AuburnMoon on the college circuit.Ronnie has shared concert dateswith stand-up heavyweightsRickey Smiley, Bruce Bruce,Earthquake, Mike Epps, Arnez J.and headlined the RJE ComedyCabaret Tour; the longest runningand highest grossing comedy tourtargeting colleges and universities.

MIEKA PAULEYCosmo Star Launch's 1st EverFun Fearless Female - her stylehas been compared to BenHarper, Cat Power, Neko Case &others. Defining her own per-sonal sound and style, she'sshared the bill with ErricClapton, Jason Mraz, CitizenCope, Wyclef Jean, Black EyedPeas, John Hiatt, Edwin McCain,Mindy Smith, John Legend andmany others.

Open to any campus in the United States that subscribes to Campus Activities Magazine®. To beconsidered, simply submit Artist Report Cards on any and all the shows performed on yourcampus. The top twenty (20) campuses submitting the most reports will be included in adrawing for the winner. Winning campus must be willing to schedule a weekend within one yearfrom the date of notification at a suitable performance facility. All artists will perform for FREE.School will be responsible for general show production as well as reasonable travel and accomo-dations. Campus Activities Magazine® will cover the event LIVE! with a full feature in the campusprogram, the artist involved and the shows.

SPONSORED BY

The story we present here is one we at Campus Activities Magazine® are truly excitedand honored to feature. All too often there are those folks who wander through life, feelingthey should be a part of something greater or should do something greater than theyhave, but just don’t know where to direct that energy.

Doc Hendley is truly an ordinary guy struck with extraordinary inspiration and found themotivation, heart and luck he needed to create something greater than himself and ofundeniable significance to people all over the world.

We now want to open your eyes to a shocking fact –we reveal this information not onlybecause we want to hook you into reading the rest of Doc’s story, but because of theutter level of grave importance which it supports. It is truly something EVERY person inour country and across the globe should know: The lack of clean drinking water is THE

leading cause of death in children the world over. That’s right, more than hunger itself,HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. It is estimated that 1.1 billion people onour earth do not have access to clean water, and Doc Hendley is out to change that, byturning Wine To Water.


As your average small town, southern, easy-going guy, Doc fits in well with the bar crowd.As well he should, for not only is he a bar-tender, but a musician gigging the same barscenes he works with his friends in the serviceindustry. He spends his time with the peoplehe enjoys, serving drinks and playing music,but a few years ago found himself wanting todo something more. Suddenly the idea ofcombining his two talents led him to organizeevents under the “Wine To Water“ moniker anduse his skills of pouring and playing to attractpeople to charity events. As charity wine tast-ings turned into donations for his cause, thepower and scope of “Wine To Water” startedto become very clear.

For Doc though, the down-to-earth tattooed,guitar-playing bartender, things really camedown to igniting his passions. “I started the or-ganization in early 2004 but the roots for theidea came about in late 2003. I was a bar-tender in Raleigh, North Carolina because Ihad decided to go back to school to finish mydegree at NC State University. I worked in the

service industry before that, in some biker barsand similar places because I was a gear-headand a motorcycle guy.”

Once Doc was back in school he knew bartending could be a perfect way to pay his waythrough school. “That was my life man,” hesays, not without some measure of wistful-ness in his delivery. “I was in class during theday, but I was around the bar crowd all theother times. I truly fell in love with the serviceindustry. I fell in love with the regulars, thestaff, the environment, the entire scene.”

The description and emotion in Doc’s voice con-jure up a scene in one’s mind of the ideal placeyou sometimes want to go, where everybodyknows your name, and shouts of ‘Norm!’ go upas George Wendt meanders over for a drink. “Itwas crazy, it was almost like ... family. With thetypical scene of the bars where I worked, youwould have the regular crowd that would comein that really cared about each other. If some-thing great was happening like a marriage or apromotion, everyone celebrated and had a good

time. If someone came in with bad news – theloss of a loved one or divorce, the patrons wouldcome in and grieve.

By late 2003, Doc was getting close to his lastsemester in school and was ready to graduate,already being quite a bit older than his peers be-cause of a long break. “I had a degree in com-munications, but I knew that I didn’t want to bein the corporate world. I never had a desire to sitat a desk, talk on the phone or fill out paperwork.”

Considering Doc’s lifestyle on his initial hiatusfrom college included nomad-like cross countrytrips on motorcycle, one might see where hewouldn’t exactly be the perfect fit for the nine-to-five mold. “When I took my long break from col-lege I was riding my motorcycle all over thecountry, working from place to place as I went.”

During this period of discovering our great,wide, open continent (and himself), Doccame to a realization. “I knew that I wantedto do something that was completely differ-ent and out of the box, but at the same timeI knew I wanted what I pursued to some-how integrate that crowd I had fallen in lovewith. At the end of 2003, I was really rack-ing my brain. I wanted not to just be ableto travel, or work an unconventional job, oreven be able to just hang out with the peo-ple I loved; I also knew I really had the de-sire to help people.”

His character comes out in the absoluteearnestness he displays in his voice and inhis escape from the prototypical definitionof a nomad. Instead of the Hell’s Angel,think the Good Samaritan. “During my trav-els, one of my favorite things to do waslend a hand where I could. I really had aheart for helping others.”

We all know the paradoxical frustration of try-ing too hard to generate a creative idea orcome up with a solution to the average per-plexing problem. It seems the harder you try,the further out of reach it becomes. Some-times, we have to let our conscious minds go,realizing that we just aren’t as smart or cleverwhen we try to force it upon our awareness.No, like the great Thomas Edison before us,trust the subconscious. He would take shortnaps upright in a rocking chair holding steelball bearings over pots and pans with the ideathat as soon as he fell asleep his subconsciousmind would take over and deliver the answerhe sought. As he’d drift off, the ball bearingswould clatter down startling him awake and,more often than not, he would have his solu-tion. Doc may not have specifically sought outthis technique to derive his answer, but the netresult was essentially the same.


“It was crazy, one night in December of2003, it was like a ton of bricks fell on me.I couldn’t sleep and was lying in bed andall of a sudden ‘Wine To Water’ just poppedin my head, I don’t know where it camefrom. I wrote below that, ‘Why water?’ Tothis day I don’t know whether I came upwith it subconsciously or it came fromsomewhere else. I jumped on it then andthere and sat down to put into words theentire concept on the spot.”

This is where some of us have to believe incoincidence and some will take a leap of faith,either way the end result is undeniable.Somehow Doc tripped over this incredibleidea like a starving blind man locked in anempty warehouse with one hunk of foodsomewhere inside. Either he found it, or itfound him. Maybe he just got lucky, maybehe was somehow guided that way, but oncehe latched onto the concept, he knew he’dfound a winner. “It was weird, because whenthe phrase ‘Wine To Water’ popped into myhead, I had no cognizant idea of the dire situ-ation the worldwide water crisis posed to ourentire undeveloped population. I started doinghard core research on the water crisis andwhat I found out was shocking and appalling.”

What he discovered is that water is the un-deniably biggest need in the world, handsdown. “I learned that water was killingmore children that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosisand malaria, combined, which are the re-maining top diseases killing kids through-out the world.”

It may sound strange to think these diseaseswould be overshadowed by something as basicas water, but that is the sad reality. “As I learnedmore, I was really floored with all of this new in-formation, but what really blew me away was thefact that nobody knew about it. Everyone knewabout HIV/AIDS, malaria, lack of education,hunger, etc., but no one knew about the watercrisis and I wanted to change that.”

This fact, while perhaps surprising at first, re-ally isn’t all that unusual if one takes into ac-count the philanthropic paradigm of ourcountry. Almost anyone, who does anythingfor any charitable cause in the U.S. does sobecause they have been personally affectedby the cause they are trying to support. Par-ent’s of kids with Leukemia donate to St.Jude’s, folks who have lost loved ones to sui-cide work toward prevention, people whohave gone hungry or been homeless often re-turn to work the food kitchen or soup line. “Iusually have to explain to people that most ofus only help out on the things we can em-pathize with. The fact is that anyone in thiscountry, even the homeless, can walk into apublic restroom somewhere and get a cup of

clean water that’s not going to kill them,” hesays with fervor.

So, here’s the conundrum; there really isn’t any-one in our entire country who doesn’t have ac-cess to clean water in one form or another, sohow could a problem like this be in our collectiveconsciousness, when it is an issue we are com-pletely ignorant about?

Enter Doc Hendley stage left. “I decided Iwanted to start something that integrated thebar crowd and gave them a chance to giveback and be a part of solving the biggest prob-lem in the world. Once the title ‘Wine To Water’hit me, it all came together and we startedhosting events to drive in donations. We gotwine and beer companies on board, had winetastings and invited people to come and havea good time for free. However, at some pointthroughout the night, we are going to bringlight to this topic and let them know there is awater crisis going on and we need their help.”

Within a little over a month (February 2004),Wine To Water hosted its very first event,which was quite successful. “A few hundredpeople showed up; it was very simple to puttogether and easy to do. We raised over$6,000 in our first night and I was encouragedto do yet another event. I was still working andplaying live music at some of the local bars soI could coordinate these events.”

The second go around had the same outcomeand Doc was able to spring into action. “That re-ally continued to perpetuate my wheels turning.I knew this could work, because I had found thatthe service industry and bar crowd really didn’thave anything like this coming directly to them –a way for them to actively get involved. Peoplewere involved with churches and ministry work,but often those groups frown upon the barcrowd. This was open to one and all and I knewthe great hearts these people had.”

Once the initial funds were collected, Wine ToWater jumped into action. Doc immediately tookthe show on the road. By late summer 2004,Doc himself was living in Darfur, Sudan installingwater systems for victims of the governmentsupported genocide. By the time he had re-turned a year later, the haunting memories ofwhat he had seen in Darfur drove him to con-tinue building the organization with renewedvigor. By 2007, after working two jobs and vol-unteering his time for over three years, Wine ToWater became an official 501 (c) (3) and Doc'sdream finally became a reality. The project hassince drilled wells or provided hospital-grade fil-tration systems for people in Uganda, India,Cambodia, Peru and Haiti.

Perhaps the most important thing Doc does,even more so than the in-the-trenches work

he loves so much, is the role of figureheadand spokesperson he champions for the or-ganization. He speaks to groups everywhereabout the importance of the water crisis topic.This including fund raisers and corporate andassociation events where motivational as-pects of Doc’s message can be utilized by au-diences and catered to specific groups. “I domany speaking engagements now, and evenbefore working with Christa at See Agency Iwould speak to anyone, any chance I got. Iwould speak to rotary clubs, elementary, mid-dle and high schools, colleges, whatever. Ididn’t even know there was a speaking worldout there, I was just doing it because I felt likeit was my job to tell the world about this.”

In the process, Doc was struck by somethingprofound. “I found out this really importantthing,” he says contemplatively. “If I startedoff talking about all of these huge figures (likethe 1.1 billion people who don’t have accessto clean water), people’s eyes glaze over. Theydon’t even pay attention, because it is just toobig of a thing for them to wrap their headsaround. So, what I do is personalize it. I tell sto-ries of real people who are affected by thistragedy. I tell a little of my story and why I gotinto it. I explain that I am just a regular guy – abartender, washed-up musician, who is tryingto do something bigger than myself.

“I tell people about real stories, like two children Isaw about a month ago when I was on theground in Haiti. It was just after the earthquake; Iwas trying to figure out just what my personal re-sponse would be to this crisis – how it would af-fect me. As I was walking along, I looked overand saw those two children bending down anddrinking water out of a ruptured vein in the groundin the city. Water was pouring down the side ofthis street and I looked up just a few feet fromthem to see this smoldering pile of trash, ahuman head and body parts in it, just upstreamfrom where they were drinking. This water wasrunning through human waste, it was the filthiestwater you could imagine and that was all theyhad to drink, that was it.”

These types of anecdotal stories from Doc’s timeon the ground make his presentation not onlyprofound, but also entertaining. He is animatedand passionate and will surely rouse a fire inyour audience they didn’t even know they had.Consider bringing him in to speak at your nextevent today, or host your own Wine To Waterevent and not only can you please your audi-ence, but you and they can do some sociallyand globally constructive good.

BOOK IT! For more info on Doc Hendleycontact Christa Haberstock at See Agency at(310) 903-1971. For virtual links including a sam-ple video, log on to our website at campusac-tivitiesmagazine.com


CALL (800) 728-2950 OR (843) 278-4978 • INDEPENDENT ARTISTS/ SMALL AGENCIES

ADS IN THIS SECTION START AT ONLY $199 PER ISSUE (BASED ON 8x)

Cameo Publishing Group CA Apr. 2010PO Box 509Prosperity SC 29127

Change Service Requested

PRST STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDCOLUMBIA SCPERMIT #706

campus activities magazine - april 2010

Documents

campus activities historyby

new site

readers choice awards

forcampus activities

campus communi

readers choice intro

artist everto

ahuge artist