December 2009 in Review

December began on Tuesday the second day of the IAFE trade show in Las Vegas. Gordon had several meetings set in Las Vegas but Tuesday night was spent at the Spice Market Buffet with "Rattlesnake Dave" Richardson of the West Texas Rattlesnake show. Dave is a one man show in himself even without his "kids" (snakes). Having the opportunity to sit down and enjoy Dave's stories and his company is not to be missed. Dave's life story could be made into a movie and if it were I think only the Coen Brothers could do it justice. Dave has been a hot air balloon pilot, a tree trimmer, an electrocution survivor, the butt of a joke on the Jay Leno Show, taken hostage by terrorists in the Philippines, and now a rattlesnake handler, showman and educator, not necessarily in that order.

Wednesday was the final day of the trade show and when most of the action took place, naturally. Gordon took the red eye back to Boston to get ready for a busy weekend with Eddie Money who asked us to help out with a charity show, Rock4Xmas, that he has performed with the last three years.

On Friday morning the 4th Gordon headed out early to pick-up Eddie Money in Long Island for an afternoon special appearance at Justin's elementary school to give the kids a little treat but also to promote the spirit of giving at Christmas time and to promote Rock4Xmas to the local media. At the Assawompset Elementary School, Eddie performed to 600 children, staff, volunteers and members of the media. He sang "I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus", "Two Tickets to Paradise", "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" and when the kids screamed "encore" he added "Baby Hold on to Me".

Friday night Eddie performed at Rock4Xmas at the Seaport Inn in Fairhaven Massachusetts to a capacity crowd. Also performing that night was an all star line up with Butch Patrick of Eddie Munster Fame hosting the night.

Saturday morning newspapers throughout both the South Shore and South Coast area of Massachusetts had front page photos and headlines of Eddie Money's appearance at the elementary school on Friday afternoon. Newspapers covering the event included the Standard Times, Brockton Enterprise, Taunton Gazette, the Call, and the Patriot Ledger. The readership of those combined newspapers was well over 100,000 definitely good publicity for all involved, the school, the charity and Eddie. Assisting with the media efforts on this event was the publicity for Rock4Xmas, Natalie Popovich who is probably better known for her television show where she hosts horror flicks, she goes by the name Ivana Cadaver.

Saturday we also had Pam Rosaire and her show Chimpfabulous at Christmasville in Rock Hill. A beautiful event in downtown Rock Hill, South Carolina. Pam was able to put in this one day stop on her way home from the Shrine Circus in Evansville, IN. Pam's chimps delighted crowds and gained publicity in the local newspapers. For what ever reason Pam's appearance their caught the attention of PETA which is a first, most likely due to the success of the independent film "The Wild Rosaire's" that has been winning awards and getting rave reviews at film festivals. PETA tried to gain attention for themselves and their "motivation" to stop chimps in the entertainment and other uses in society. Nothing directly at Pam but just another attempt at PETA to ride the coat tails of someone else's success and drain money away from a legitimate non profit animal sanctuary. This is the first time I have ever seen a 21 million dollar a year organization directly try to hurt the "little people", I guess they must be getting even more desperate.

Saturday night, the weather here in New England was less than desirable but Rock4Xmas powered on with a show at Cape Cod Community College, fortunately it was all rain on the Cape, saving the snow for the mainland. Joining the show this night was George Gritzach, a blues favorite.

Sunday night the 6th Rock4Xmas had one final show featuring Eddie Money at the Newport Blues Cafe in Rhode Island. The weather was much better this night, but in the spirit of the season it seems that many who performed that night all came down with a nasty cold that to date we are still trying to get over.

On Monday morning another media hit for Eddie Money and the Assawompset Elementary school as FOX in Providence who came to the school aired the footage they took on the Rhode Show, the Providence morning show.

Events in December began to slow way down for the Holidays leaving us time to get packages out for the 2010 season, review some new acts looking for representation and speak to many of our clients.

We have pick-up up some new and exciting acts that we are now booking for 2010!

The first new show is "Mutts Gone Nuts!" A wonderful comedy dog show featuring dogs who were adopted from varies shelters. Dogs of all shapes and sizes lovingly trained for a new career entertaining and promoting animal adoption. Animals show continue to be one of our most popular attractions and dog shows in particular are well loved by the public, many people find them selves identify with one or more of the dogs in the show, perhaps a dog they currently own or had as a child. This is sure to be one of the hot shows in 2010!

Ernie and the Automatics joined the ranks of MacKay Entertainment in December. This is one of the hottest bands currently in the Northeast. It includes two original members of the band Boston (Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian) as well as Ernie Boch well known for owning many of the car dealerships on Route 1 in Norwood Massachusetts. Ernie was also a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and now is the lead singer of this Boston super group. This band has been drawing well all over New England and puts on a heck of a show. Close your eyes and you will swear you are back at Boston concert 20 years ago.

Also joining us for the 2010 season is the "Monsters of Classic Rock" the latest and greatest super group with Terry Ilous, lead singer of XYZ. Chris Slade, drummer of AC/DC, Asia and the Firm; guitarist and song writer for Steve Miller, Greg Douglass; Mario Cippolina from Huey Lewis and the News; Sam McCaslin of the Michael Schenker Group and Carmine Appice. The playlist for Monsters of Classic Rock includes hits such as "Hot Legs", "You Shook Me", "Jungle Love", "Fly Like an Eagle", "The Heart of Rock N Roll" and many more!

Every year our roster gets stronger but the 2010 roster is particularly exciting. Looking forward to working with you in the New Year!

October 2009 in Review

We've just breezed through yet another month, October came and went in a blur. We began with Johnny Gunn with special guest, Eddie Money "Unplugged" at Tommy T's in Pleasanton, CA on the first of October. Johnny and Eddie had great attendance and put on a fantastic show, as usual.

On the 2nd we paid a final visit to the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Many congratulations to Wayne McCary and his entire staff at the Big E for an all time record attendance, 1,260,487 guests in 17 days. We even ran into Dave and Ann Whigham of the Spencer Fair volunteering in the Massachusetts State Building.

Next came Columbus Day weekend. On Saturday the 10th it was nice waking up to "Good Morning America's" story on the one and only Carson and Barnes Circus. Barbara Byrd the shows owner was looking great! Carson and Barnes Circus is one of the last true traditional tented circuses touring America or what is affectionately known in the circus business as a "mud show". It is a definitely must see for the whole family, regardless of age if its coming within a 100 miles of you.

Also that weekend the Flying Wallenda's returned to the Topsfield Fair. I'm afraid Topsfield as well as many other events in October was plagued by rain. We have had very unusual October weather we have had days here in the Northeast that have been in the 70's and other in the 40's, we've even had a little snow and when it rains it doesn't just shower it pours. I'm sure events that took advantage of weather insurance really made out and I'm sure we are probably going to see a rise in rates for next year.

On Tuesday we traveled down to Long Island, NY for a reception to celebrate the release of the book the "Network Interviews" by Steve Fallon, our own Gordon MacKay and his brother Frank. The book is currently available online http://amzn.com/B002OJU96A at Amazon.com. It is a celebration of the 20 years that have passed since the publishing of their magazine Metal Network with a reprinting of photographs taken by the magazine along with some of its best interviews. The receptions was held at Oheka Castle and was attended by 800+ guests. Among those was Senator Alphonse D'Amato, Biker Dad's Fingers, Jim Faith of the Great South Bay Music Festival and John Blenn, director of "Two Tickets to Paradise".

On the 17th and 18th we had Jeanette Rix and her Great Little Bear Show at the annual Apple Festival at Mount Wachusett. We got up to Mount Wachusett on Saturday to pay a visit. Jeanette's show has an opening act of German Shepards to warm up for the stars of the show, her black bears. Jeanette's family has a history of working for the folks of Mount Wachusett, who also own Polar Beverages and their logo is a Polar Bear. The Rix family had Polar Bears years back that did an advertising campaign for Polar Beverages.

On Monday the 19th the Spines played at Fat Baby's (New York City) during the CMJ Music Marathon. The Spines are becoming very popular on the college music scene.

On the 25th we had Chuckles the Kids Komic performing at the West Warwick Flea Market. The West Warwick Flea Market opened in July and this month we did some advertising consulting for them with our MacKay Marketing business (http://www.mackaymarketing.com/) The 25th was the official relaunch of the flea market, they went from doing 250 people a day to 2500 people on the 25th with the revamped ad campaign. They are also planning on making the market a family experience by having a guest children's performer every Sunday as well as a food court. The West Warwick Flea market is open Sunday's only at the West Warwick Civic Center in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

We have been extremely busy this month preparing proposals for the coming 2010 season, which is promising to be very big. Many 2009 events did very well this year with many family's opting for "stay-cations" or day trips close to home foregoing the trips to Disney or taking a cruise and many are predicting that trend to continue in 2010. Its looking to be a very good year for theme parks, fairs, festivals and any event within a days drive. This is the great time for these events and venues to put their best foot forward and show off what a great value they have always been and continue to be! There is no time like the present to make sure you have plenty of entertainment, a variety of food vendors, good maintenance (empty those trash barrels and sweep those walkways!) great customer service, an attention getting ad campaign, and outstanding public relations.

Be sure to check back here often for monthly updates, performer of the month and more! If you like what you see please sign up to "follow" our blog.

July 2009 Recap

July started out with a bang as it usually does with all the fantastic July 4th events! Best yet the July 4th weekend was the first weekend of the summer season that was without rain! Subfest at the Groton Naval Submarine base was well attended and as always the animal acts were a huge hit. This year the Rosaire's Bears were the hit of the event and crowds were pleased to see that the Bwana Jim Wildlife Show returned for the third year in a row. Bwana Jim and his wife Linda always do a great job making sure they have something new each year for the many events that have them as an annual part of their event. This year they added birds of prey to their show with an owl, a Red Tail Hawk and a Turkey Vulture. I have to admit I have never been a fan of vultures but this one totally changed my opinion of vultures, he sat so calmly and preened his feathers just as nicely as my own pet parrot. Also new to Subfest this year was the Anastasini Family Circus with their fabulous aerial rocket fantasy act as well as Magically Medieval who as been one of my most popular acts this year.

We had a brand new Fourth of July event this year in Stoughton which we were able to bring in rides from North American Amusements on July 3rd for the fireworks portion of the event which was generously sponsored by IKEA. On Saturday the Fourth the event had a Children's Day event in which we brought in Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix as well as Chuckles the Kids Comic. Johnny went over extremely well and was invited back to perform again in 2010. Chuckles had huge lines for his balloon twisting, he also road his Velociped as Uncle Sam, face painted and did some magic tricks, he is truly a one man festival just by himself.

The Whaling City Festival in New Bedford was the second weekend in July were we had dozens of bands on two stages over the weekend. The festival was surprised by two of the best drawing bands were styles of music that they had never before featured, True Witness a Christian Rock family act as well as Buck T. Edwards which was Country. All the artists were very talented and probably the best line up the festival has had. Also appearing at the Whaling City Festival was Magically Medieval which continued to draw a nice family audience. The biggest struggle for the Whaling City Festival this year was the economy, the festival has no admission charge and depends on sponsors to pay for a large portion of the event. The event typically draws between 130,000 to 175,000 people which is just want sponsors are looking for, however sponsorship has really dried up for most events this year. Such a shame for a great event whose goal is to raise money for scholarships for students in New Bedford which is an inner city area.

My brother Jeffrey decided to get married in the height of our busy season (July 12th) which caused us to miss the final day of the Whaling City Festival as well as the Great South Bay Music Festival on Long Island in New York. We booked Eddie Money to play July 12th at the festival, we hated to miss the event but Gordon, myself and our son Justin were all in the wedding party so it couldn't be helped. Gordon also attended Kieran Ridge's wedding prior to Jeffrey's. The Great South Bay Music Festival is in Patchogue, New York and this year was their third year. We heard Eddie was well received and drew great crowds (as always).

July 17th saw two more events open, Barnstable County Fair who booked in Lucky Bob for the run of the fair as well as Eddie Money on July18th. The South County Balloon Festival sponsored by the Wakefield Rotary Club was also this third weekend of July, returning to this hot air balloon event was the Flying Wallenda's and new to the event was Magically Medieval! Magically Medieval's popularity is probably due to the fact that it is brand new, priced right and includes its own stage, sound and lights, big pluses for any type of event. Believe it or not they have never played a Renaissance Faire although it is certainly appropriate for one. Magically Medieval just seems to go over well at any event.

July 24 to the 26th was the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning where we had the Flying Wallenda's perform their famous high wire routine. Aerial acts really seam to go over really well at balloon festivals, they really fit the "up in the air" theme.

Close Encounters of the Exotic Kind (Tigers and Lions) opened up this week for a return engagement at the Bushkill Volunteer Fire Department's Carnival fundraiser. Vince and Pom Pom are really wonderful at what they do, their show is part education and part entertainment and always well received. Big cat acts are a major part of our business, Close Encounters is typically booked solid a testament to the wonderful job they do!

And finally, last but not least the Northern Maine Fair opened today with the Rosaire Zoppe Chimps as the headline animal act of the fair. Best of luck on your opening day up in Presque Isle!

Wow, what a month!

Pop Star Eddie Money Creates New Label for the Old Friends/Chrisman Mill “Artist Signature” Wine Series ~ EquestrianMag.com

Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets Two Paradise” the Musical

For immediate release –


Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets Two Paradise” the Musical
Set for Debut Opening

Eddie Money continues to be a popular live concert event playing over a hundred shows annually. Throughout his career Money has sold 37 million records and has had 26 singles enter Billboard’s Top 100. Now Eddie takes his popularity one step further by debuting the musical “Two Tickets to Paradise” at the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center on Long Island, NY.

This show has been a labor of love by Eddie Money for nearly ten years. He has been honing and polishing his work getting it just right and working on finding the right venue on Long Island where he was born and raised.

In addition to the hits that Eddie Money is known and loved for, “Two Tickets to Paradise” includes eleven new songs that have never been released or performed anywhere. When casting the role of himself, fate stepped in when Eddie cast a newcomer who attends the same high school (Island Trees High School) that Eddie himself attended.

It is Eddie’s intention to bring “Two Tickets to Paradise” on the road within the next two years. For now though the World Premiere of “Two Tickets to Paradise” can be seen only in one place, the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center. Thursday June 4 – Saturday June 6 @ 7:30PM Sunday June 7 @ 2PM & Thursday June 11 – Saturday June 13 @ 7:30PM Sunday June 14 @ 2PM Tickets are available by calling 631-656-2148.

The show was written by Eddie Money, directed by John Blenn and co-produced by Eddie Money and Gordon MacKay.


***For media information or interviews please contact
Marybeth MacKay, MacKay Marketing at 508-947-8595***