Dean Budnick
Encyclopedia
Dean Budnick is an American
writer
, filmmaker, college professor and radio host who focuses on music, film and popular culture
.
published Budnick’s latest book, Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped. Ticket Masters, which Budnick co-authored with Josh Baron, explores the emergence of computerized ticketing and the rise of the modern concert industry. It is the first book to chronicle the origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketron
, Ticketmaster
, Live Nation
and StubHub
and the efforts of numerous independent competitors. Wall Street Journal reviewer Ken Kurson
wrote, “A clear, comprehensive look at a murky business, the book is also an encyclopedia of information about the rise, decline and rebirth of the live music industry.”. Similar assessments appeared in Rolling Stone
, Maclean’s and other outlets.
’s History of American Civilization program, when he explored reports of ticket scalping on Charles Dickens’ final American speaking tour. Budnick happened upon such accounts (as well as those related to the “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind
), while writing his doctor dissertation on Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. In Direct Verdict: The Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle Trial Discourse, Budnick who also earned a J.D. at Columbia Law School
, worked from the original trial transcripts, dozens of newspaper reports and other primary sources to explore the silent film comic’s life before and after his manslaughter trials that followed the death of actress Virginia Rappe
on September 9, 1921. “Directed Verdict” examines not only on prevailing attitudes towards Hollywood and a new culture of celebrity but also tabloid journalism, the onset of Prohibition and the emerging, oft-contradictory roles of women in the 1920’s. Budnick received his Ph.D. in 2000 and his dissertation committee consisted of Henry Louis Gates, Werner Sollors and Ellen Fitzpatrick.
After serving as a teaching fellow and tutor at Harvard Budnick has gone on to teach at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Roger Williams University
and the University of Rhode Island
.
, Bob Weir
, Questlove and Warren Haynes
as well as members of Phish
, moe.
, Agnostic Front
, 311
, the Disco Biscuits and many others. Wetlands Preserved, played at such festivals as SXSW, Woodstock and Asheville (where it won top documentary honors), was released to theatres by First Run Features
on March 14, 2008. The New York Times wrote, “Wetlands Preserved is a fond account of the rising, thriving and eventual closing of the TriBeCa club known as the Wetlands Preserve.” Other positive reviews appeared in the New York Daily News, Newsday and other outlets. Wetlands Preserved was later acquired for television by the Sundance Channel
but in 2003, with the publication of an expanded edition of Jambands (Backbeat Books, 2003) he indicated it that he only popularized it, although he is responsible for recasting it as a single word.
In 2000 Budnick created the Jammy Awards along with Wetlands owner Peter Shapiro. The inaugural edition of this awards show took place at Irving Plaza on June 22, 2000 where Budnick co-hosted with the musician Peter Prince while wearing a tuxedo, a tradition Budnick would repeat at every Jammys. Over successive years the Jammys would move to Roseland Ballroom and then to the Theater at Madison Square Garden, where in its final installment in 2008, Phish
received the Lifetime Achievement Award on the eve of the band’s announcement that it would return to the stage after a 4 year hiatus.
In 2001 Budnick also began an association with Relix Magazine, which acquired Jambands.com, where he now serves as Executive Editor. Along with writing numerous feature stories, his other projects include the creation of the official Bonnaroo Music Festival
daily newspaper, the Bonnaroo Beacon and event newspapers for the band Phish
..
, Keller Williams
and Umphrey’s McGee (for whom Waful would eventual become lighting director). Jam Nation was soon syndicated on the fledging XM Satellite network where it aired until 2009, ending its run following XM’s merger with SIRIUS
..
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, filmmaker, college professor and radio host who focuses on music, film and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Ticket Masters
In June 2011, ECW PressECW Press
ECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...
published Budnick’s latest book, Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped. Ticket Masters, which Budnick co-authored with Josh Baron, explores the emergence of computerized ticketing and the rise of the modern concert industry. It is the first book to chronicle the origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketron
Ticketron
Ticketron was a computerized event ticketing technology that was in operation from the 1960s until it was purchased by Ticketmaster in 1991.Ticketron was the name of a service created by Ticket Reservations Systems, Inc. The company changed its name to Ticketron in July, 1969...
, Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an independent American ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to become Live Nation Entertainment...
, Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
and StubHub
Stubhub
StubHub is an online marketplace owned by eBay, which provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater and other live entertainment events....
and the efforts of numerous independent competitors. Wall Street Journal reviewer Ken Kurson
Ken Kurson
Ken Kurson is the Executive Vice President of Jamestown Associates, a political consulting firm based in Princeton, New Jersey and Washington, DC...
wrote, “A clear, comprehensive look at a murky business, the book is also an encyclopedia of information about the rise, decline and rebirth of the live music industry.”. Similar assessments appeared in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Maclean’s and other outlets.
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle
Budnick has explained that the idea for the book first came to him in the mid-1990s, while a graduate student at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
’s History of American Civilization program, when he explored reports of ticket scalping on Charles Dickens’ final American speaking tour. Budnick happened upon such accounts (as well as those related to the “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
), while writing his doctor dissertation on Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. In Direct Verdict: The Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle Trial Discourse, Budnick who also earned a J.D. at Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
, worked from the original trial transcripts, dozens of newspaper reports and other primary sources to explore the silent film comic’s life before and after his manslaughter trials that followed the death of actress Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe was an American model and silent film actress.-Early life and career:Rappe was born to unwed mother Mabel Rapp in New York City. Mabel died when Virginia was 11, and Virginia was then raised by her grandmother in Chicago. At age 14 she began working as a commercial and art model in...
on September 9, 1921. “Directed Verdict” examines not only on prevailing attitudes towards Hollywood and a new culture of celebrity but also tabloid journalism, the onset of Prohibition and the emerging, oft-contradictory roles of women in the 1920’s. Budnick received his Ph.D. in 2000 and his dissertation committee consisted of Henry Louis Gates, Werner Sollors and Ellen Fitzpatrick.
After serving as a teaching fellow and tutor at Harvard Budnick has gone on to teach at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University, commonly abbreviated as RWU, is a private, coeducational American liberal arts university located on in Bristol, Rhode Island, above Mt. Hope Bay. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams...
and the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
.
Wetlands Preserved
In 2004 his interest in film as well as an ongoing focus on live music led Budnick to begin work on the feature-length documentary Wetlands Preserved: The Story of An Activist Rock Club. Budnick directed the film, which utilized archival footage, soundboard recordings and the efforts of a dozen digital animators to relate the story of Tribeca nightclub Wetlands Preserve. The documentary also includes music and interviews with members of Dave MatthewsDave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, Bob Weir
Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
, Questlove and Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes is an American rock and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. Haynes is best known for his work as long time guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey...
as well as members of Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
, moe.
Moe.
moe. is an American jam band, formed at the University at Buffalo in 1989. The band members are: Rob Derhak , Al Schnier , Chuck Garvey , Vinnie Amico , and Jim Loughlin ....
, Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front is an American hardcore band. The band began playing hardcore similar to their contemporaries, and were thrust to the forefront of the burgeoning New York hardcore scene in the mid-1980s with their widely regarded 1984 classic Victim in Pain before evolving to incorporate thrash...
, 311
311
Year 311 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Maximinus...
, the Disco Biscuits and many others. Wetlands Preserved, played at such festivals as SXSW, Woodstock and Asheville (where it won top documentary honors), was released to theatres by First Run Features
First Run Features
First Run Features is an independent film distribution company based in New York City. First Run was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers in order to advance the distribution of independent film...
on March 14, 2008. The New York Times wrote, “Wetlands Preserved is a fond account of the rising, thriving and eventual closing of the TriBeCa club known as the Wetlands Preserve.” Other positive reviews appeared in the New York Daily News, Newsday and other outlets. Wetlands Preserved was later acquired for television by the Sundance Channel
Jambands, the Jammy Awards and Relix
While still a graduate student, Budnick wrote two books, The Phishing Manual (Hyperion, 1996) and Jam Bands (ECW Press, 1998). In the summer of 1998, shortly before the publication of the second book, Budnick created Jambands.com along with webmaster Andy Gadiel (who would go on to create the JamBase website). Budnick is often said to have coined the term jam bandJam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
but in 2003, with the publication of an expanded edition of Jambands (Backbeat Books, 2003) he indicated it that he only popularized it, although he is responsible for recasting it as a single word.
In 2000 Budnick created the Jammy Awards along with Wetlands owner Peter Shapiro. The inaugural edition of this awards show took place at Irving Plaza on June 22, 2000 where Budnick co-hosted with the musician Peter Prince while wearing a tuxedo, a tradition Budnick would repeat at every Jammys. Over successive years the Jammys would move to Roseland Ballroom and then to the Theater at Madison Square Garden, where in its final installment in 2008, Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
received the Lifetime Achievement Award on the eve of the band’s announcement that it would return to the stage after a 4 year hiatus.
In 2001 Budnick also began an association with Relix Magazine, which acquired Jambands.com, where he now serves as Executive Editor. Along with writing numerous feature stories, his other projects include the creation of the official Bonnaroo Music Festival
Bonnaroo Music Festival
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It hosted its tenth annual event June 9–12, 2011...
daily newspaper, the Bonnaroo Beacon and event newspapers for the band Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
..
Jam Nation Radio
In the fall of 2000 Budnick and Jefferson Waful began co-hosting the Jam Nation radio show. Jam Nation originated from WMRQ in Hartford, CT where it aired Sunday nights from 8-10PM.. Twice a month the show hosted a one hour electric performance from musical acts, with appearances by such groups as Derek Trucks Band, STS9, GalacticGalactic
Galactic is a funk and jazz jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-Origins and background:Originally formed in 1994 as an octet and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a sextet of: guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio,...
, Keller Williams
Keller Williams
Keller Williams is an American musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who began performing in the early 1990s. He is also known by the names K-Dub or just Keller, when performing. Williams' music combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, and...
and Umphrey’s McGee (for whom Waful would eventual become lighting director). Jam Nation was soon syndicated on the fledging XM Satellite network where it aired until 2009, ending its run following XM’s merger with SIRIUS
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...
..