Call-Back with Geoffrey Short: May 2013

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Fountains of Youth for Aging Bands

This is my latest blog post for Chauvet DJ with a few product tips that help give any band a face lift.

Everything Old is New Again
by Geoff Short, Assistant Marketing Manager/Customer Engagement & Education, Chauvet Lighting

The Chubby Muscles are a band out of Long Island, New York; in the 90's they were hot, with gigs throughout New York and most of New England playing a cool mix of 80's and 90's pop covers. Fun, bar music for the Friday night drankin' crowd. But over the last couple of years, something changed. The band is relegated to playing a couple times a month in a local joint called Bloodshot's Tavern, where a delectable bouquet of cigarettes, stale beer and desperation permeates the air and souls of its patronage. Charming place.

I've known the guys in the band for a while, a friend of a cousin of a friend type of thing, through the music agency I used to work for. I was talking with the Lead Guitarist recently, and he was bemoaning the fate of the band and whether they wanted to keep performing. I wondered what they looked like these days? With bands, image is everything and while I know they sounded good, hey always had, an aging band can do a lot of things to make themselves look. Like it or not we still live in a society where image is attached to looks. I asked him to send me a photo of the band in action. The marketing flyer was depressing and hilarious all at the same time.

Click here for the full article on the Chauvet DJ Blog

The Making of the Gig Lab

I've been loving working at Chauvet DJ. It's such a creative place that encourages all of us there to think out of the box to create programs and projects to engage our customers. This is one example of that. My Youtube playlist on the Chauvet Channel is called The Gig Lab. I'll be producing videos aimed at bands and DJs and anyone else who does gigs make those gigs better and more more lucrative! Of course I couldn't produce a series called The Gig Lab and not have a "monster" opening. This video is a behind the scenes look at how we produced our very own Chauvet Laboratory. Stay tuned to the end of the video to see the full-length opening of the Gig Lab series!

To check out the full-length Gig Lab video series opening click here: http://youtu.be/1EgCXs4Ulv4

ABOUT GEOFF

Geoff produces and hosts the video series "CALL-BACK", focused on local community theatre.

Geoff is also the producer of STAGES: Stories from the BW Music Theatre Program. "STAGES"is a documentary series that follows the stories of the students and teachers of the acclaimed Baldwin-Wallace College Music Theatre Program led by Victoria Bussert. STAGES gives viewers unprecedented access to this exclusive program that draws the very best talent from around the country to this small private college in Berea, Ohio (just southwest of Cleveland). Graduates of this program often go on to careers on Broadway. Learn more about Baldwin-Wallace College at www.bw.edu. See other theater video documentary series from Geoff Short at www.youtube.com/CallBackCleveland.

STAGES: Stories from the BW Music Theater Program

Geoff has spent his career in television, radio, print and online advertising, sales and marketing. He has been responsible for the local advertising, branding and promotions for some of the biggest companies in the country including Wal-Mart, The Cleveland Clinic and McDonald's.

Geoff has also spent a lifetime in the performing arts. He is a singer, actor, director and songwriter who has performed in musical theater, pop groups and other performing groups since he was 10 years old. He has written music for radio and television as well as the stage and his jingles and parodies have been heard frequently on Cleveland airwaves.

In 2013, Geoff Directed Jesus Christ Superstar at Brecksville Theatre on the Square. In 2010 Geoff directed Gypsy at Brecksville Theater on the Square. In the 2009 season Geoff Directed the musical City of Angels at Brecksville Theater on the Square and Oklahoma! at Huntington Playhouse. In 2008 Geoff directed the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical revue Some Enchanted Evening at Huntington Playhouse in Bay Village, Ohio and Assassins with the Berea Grindstone Players at the Cassidy Theatre in Parma Heights, Ohio. Geoff also directed the musicals Violet and Dreamgirls both in 2007 and at the Cassidy Theatre. He has appeared in many area musical theater productions most recently in the musical revue The World Goes Round at Brecksville Theater on the Square. Other productions include Five Guys Named Moe (Big Moe, Beck Center) and Cassidy Theatre productions including Godspell, Carousel (Billy Bigelow), Ain't Misbehavin' ("Ken), Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker, Jr.), Cats (Old Deuteronomy) and as The Voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. Geoff also appeared in the 2007 Cleveland Playhouse Club cabaret Motown! and in 2006 developed his own musical cabaret act for Playhouse Square’s Cleveland Cabaret Project.

Geoff is proud to have served for two years as the Board President of Cassidy Theatre, Inc. and also served on the board of the Cooperative Alliance of Medina Entertainment Organizations.

Geoff has been the co-host of the weekly on-air television segment Cheap Date at seen on WKYC TV3’s Good Company program and is also currently one of the lead singers for the band The Avenue.