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FOMO? Hell No
March 31, 2017
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As if coping with a severe case of FOMO wasn’t already enough after deciding to sit out this year’s ACM activities in Las Vegas, my Thursday (3/30) evening Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter newsfeeds were flooded with posts from everybody I know in this business gushing about how awesome the Chris Stapleton/Maren Morris show was Thursday night (3/30) in Sin City.
Well, crap. Maybe I should have gone after all.
Or, not. I’ll see Maren at her club show in Nashville next week, and got an invite to hear the new Stapleton project here, too, so I’m good.
Over the years, I’ve attended the actual ACMs many times, but I’d characterize my relationship with the show itself as on-again, off-again. My first-ever ACM experience dates back to the mid-80s, which, compared to what the event has become since the 2002 move to Vegas, would be considered ancient history. The awards took place at Knotts Berry Farm’s Good Time Theater for most of that decade, after bouncing around from the Beverly Hilton, Century Plaza Hotel, and Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. From 1990-2001, the Universal Amphitheatre was home to the awards; that stay preceded the move to Las Vegas in 2002.
What I remember most about the Knotts Berry Farm experience was renting a tux and being amid everybody else who was equally decked out. The women wore gowns and looked quite fabulous. What could possibly go wrong? Barbeque, that’s what. Incredibly, right after the show, we were ushered to what I remember as being right outside the theater, where we were served BBQ spare ribs. Formal wear and finger food. Good times.
I had great seats for my first-ever ACMs in 1986, probably within the first 10 rows, and I have no idea why. Clearly, I wasn’t nominated for any award, but there I was, situated like a true VIP. I sat down and struck up a conversation with a lovely, sweet, elderly woman seated next to me who seemed awfully proud that her son was in the music business and successful. His name was Hoyt Axton, she told me. She was Mae Boren Axton. Days later I shared this story with a record guy I regularly spoke to, who then educated me on Ms. Axton, explaining that she had co-written “Heartbreak Hotel” for Elvis – his first-ever #1 record – and was largely responsible for Presley being signed by RCA. It’s probably better I didn’t know that when I met her. I didn’t know her back story, but I for sure knew about Elvis, and that song. Had I been able to connect those dots, I can almost guarantee I’d have become awestruck and probably only been able to utter something stupid in a nervous, high-pitched voice that would have gone like this: “Man … you’re … great.”
The following year – again at the Good Time theater at Knotts – I remember feeling as though I’d been eyewitness to a seismic shift in the format. Randy Travis’ “On the Other Hand” won Single and Song Of The Year; his album, “Storms of Life,” won the Album Of The Year prize, and Travis was named Male Vocalist. Additionally, I had seen Travis just days earlier, at a massive, free outdoor show in LA that KZLA helped book and promote – thanks to now Valory Music Co. GM George Briner, who then served as KZLA Dir./Promotions. The awards Travis won at the ACMs that year were an industry coronation, but you knew he had been crowned a superstar at the concert with at least 50,000 fans treating him like the Beatles.
The ’87 ACMs were also monumental for me, personally, as that night I ran into Larry Daniels and Michael Owens, OM and GM respectively, of KNIX/Phoenix as KNIX won ACM Station Of The Year honors that night. We struck up a lengthy conversation about Travis, music in general, Country radio specifically, and what we all perceived to be a pivotal moment for the format. That conversation took place on April 6, 1987. Three months later, Larry and Michael hired me away from KZLA to come and program KNIX. I have no idea if our ACM conversation had anything to do with that incredible, life-changing decision for me, but – just like meeting Mae Boren Axton the year before – it taught me that you really never know who you will meet at an event like the ACMs and what it might mean.
When the ACMs found a home at Universal Amphitheatre in 1990, it became a bigger media event that extended longer than just the day of the Awards. The Sheraton Universal Hotel became the hub of all ACM activity, with radio remotes taking place in the backstage area – and later, the foyer – of the venue. I was an ACM board member for some of these years, and, inexplicably, was asked by then-ACM Executive Director Fran Boyd to shadow Dick Clark and feed him artist information before some of his live TV shots that served as bumpers into spots. As if Dick Clark – legendary TV and radio personality – not to mention cultural icon, creator, host and owner of God only knows how many TV shows, and, oh-by-the-way Executive Producer of the ACMs then – needed any assist whatsoever from me. To call this an awkward moment would be a ginormous understatement. About all I could mutter when meeting Clark was, “Man … you’re … great.”
The 2002 move to Las Vegas has, of course, proven to be the biggest game-changer for the ACMs, as it is now a week-long, epic event and bigger than ever. I was back at KZLA for my third tour of duty with the station by then, and of course, we sent the morning show for radio remotes along with groups of listeners. During our first year there, our morning show co-host, Buzz Brainard – now handling afternoons on SiriusXM’s “The Highway” – and I were walking through the lobby of the Mandalay Bay Resort and suddenly found ourselves face-to-face with the (ahem) face of Las Vegas, Mr. Las Vegas, Mr. Entertainment – none other than Wayne Newton. Without missing a beat, Buzz enthusiastically introduced himself, and with great finesse, added, “Wayne, You look great!” Newton, in perfect rhythm – and not to be outdone when it came to false exhilaration – quickly shot back, “No! YOU look great!” Surreal.
In 2008, I attended the ACM awards, and sat with the Eli Young Band, in a section that aspired to be called the rafters. I had become a fan of the band while still in radio, and when they released “Level” in 2005. Absolutely great guys. So, it was especially cool watching the awards the next two years when Eli Young Band was nominated for Top New Vocal Group and eventually won Song Of The Year honors for “Crazy Girl” in 2012. But when I watched the Awards with them in ’08, we were all there as fans of the music and artists performing and presenting that night.
I prefer to watch the ACMs on TV at home anymore, because I like to experience the show just as millions of other fans do. You can easily get swept up into the energy of the venue – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but the two experiences are vastly different.
I don’t know what will happen Sunday night – who will be the big winner, what performances will shine, and what, if any, moments will define what comes next for this format. And I guess I shouldn’t suffer FOMO – I can watch it all in real time, and you can be damned sure I will.
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