Moodswing 360’s Ricky Greenstein

[cpnews]

Mixing apples and oranges

I’m into rock and less so everything else. Back in the traditional rock and roll clubs, disco which evolved into house, was the enemy. We looked at that crowd as mainstream and there were posters and t-shirts made to proclaim our superiority. One of the things Ricky Greenstein is doing is supporting a mash or is it a mosh of open format DJs with serious rock stars. His talent, Tommy Lee Jones and Dave Navarro, are performing live with his other talent superstar DJs like Scribble with very interesting results. I mentioned once before the set I saw DJ AM play with Jazzy Jeff and how impressed I was with the dynamic, and not just because of the novelty. It was real fun and I wondered how long before we saw DJ pairings commonly. Clubs looking for post bottle era answers might find value in what it used to be about, the music. Most clubs are happy to hire trendy or scene DJs with inconsistent talent as it is perceived that the models and boys and men that chase them are musically ignorant. The pretty set is effectively used as bait to lure in the big fish spending big bucks. As this spender starts to show up less frequently and charge less to the black card, the value of these skinny sirens and the promoters that harvest them may severely diminish. It may be far more effective to spend beaucoup bucks on entertainment.

When I was booking clubs like the Palladium, I was on the phone with agents on a daily basis. I was always putting someone on the big stage to entertain the masses as it was perceived at that time that it was the masses that paid the bills. Now the masses, or filler as we call it, pay some of the bills but it’s the tables that keep owners in their summer homes and black cars. If talent again becomes important then the current batch of operators will need a crash course in booking, or the agents will chew them up and spit them out faster than you can say per diem, force majeure, or backline.

Steve Lewis: I’m sitting with Ricky Greenstein. Ricky is one of the partners in Mood swing 360. What does that mean Moodswing 360?

Ricky Greenstein: Coming up with the company name took some time. Myself and a partner have had this company for nine years called CEG talent; Central Entertainment Group. Six years into it I met my current partner Johnny Maroney, and coming up with a name for our new venture took us about three months. Johnny said something about how we were so up and down with everything throughout our days between the club owners, artist themselves – it can be a nightmare.

SL: So Moodswing is cause you guys both go through mood swings?

RG: Throughout a day, yeah.

SL: And 360 is just a record swinging around?

RG: One of the reasons for leaving CEG Talent was that it became a booking agency. It was all about booking, and what we really wanted to do was start developing artists from beginning to end and not solely book their shows and venues. It was also really important to us not to just take on DJs as that was the concept of CEG.

SL: Sort of like that guy who takes on rock bands when they’re small and puts them in the little venues that he’s involved with, and then he takes them up all the way to playing stadiums.

RG: Yeah, and of course that would be the ultimate dream, to be on that level. Not just to be taking an artist and promoting the concert, which of course we love to do, but bringing them up through the entire process. When I start I was working solely with DJs and now it’s become the type of situation where we are putting together major touring acts. For example, right now we have Cisco Adler and Shwayze with this kid Tyga, and we’ve placed them with DJ Skeet Skeet. These venues are not twenty thousand seat arenas or anything, they’re two to three thousand person clubs and venues that we’re selling out. While we do specialize in booking the act in the club we also taking care of the marketing end of it; laying out ad-mats and coming up with graphics and markets of distribution. We are also taking care of managing the artists’ websites, Myspaces, and doing everything that has to do with the event itself.

SL: Are you selling mix tapes of these DJs?

RG: That’s a big part of it too. We put together the DJs mix tapes and do the whole production; graphics on the CD and the insert.

Sarah Cunningham (Publicist): One of the things that really impressed me was when we were working with DJ Chachi. Moodswing360 had helped him to take one of his great sets that he had done at Murmur and get it to where it was like a recorded track that can be played over the radio. Now they have the capability to say, “Hey I have Chachi in an open format CD, spinning to sold out crowd at Murmur, one of the larger clubs on the east coast.

SL: Murmur is in Atlantic City, at the Borgata.

Sarah: Yes. And in all fairness, and this is involving disclaimers… its one of my…

SL: You’re talking about fairness… disclaimer on a blog…

Sarah: Yeah I know right!

SL: Fuck that shit. So now you’re booking DJs, you’re routing DJs. You’re hitting multiple circuits. I hear a lot of the work you’re doing is in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Foxwoods did you say?

RG: Yeah. I opened up at the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Vegas is one of those spots where they have concerts every night, and out there they are not willing to spend the money that a stand alone club will. In New York or LA there are so many DJs to be had that most venues go with the cheap DJs. Atlantic City clubs usually only book Thursday through Saturday, and they are willing spend more as they have more money to spend.

SL: I went down to visit Eric Millstein; he told me he was a friend of yours. As we were driving down the highway into AC to visit Eric, we were seeing these names like Sky Nellor and Cassidy on the billboards. We realized then that DJs are blowing up. They have faces now that everyone recognizes. Their names are very much recognized and it’s like they’re becoming rock stars. There was nothing like when I was with Tiesto at Webster Hall a couple months ago, and it became apparent that the DJ is this generations’ rock star. It’s crazy.

RG: I know. It has become that way with all these DJs like

who have gone from a house DJ to an open format.

SL: Explain that term - open format.

RG: It’s the sound that you hear coming from Skribble, who I’ve managed for nine years. He’s always played a mix of hip hop with house, 80’s and rock.

SL: It’s many genres. It’s like a mash up.

RG: Exactly. Open format is another term for mash up. And I don’t ant to say that Skribble is the creator of it but he has been doing it for quite some time. Also Riz, another client of mine has been playing open format for a long time

SL: Riz is a great guy and an amazing DJ. He’s been a friend of mine for awhile. He’s known by most of the DJ community as one of the best there is but he’s not getting the credit or the name that many of these DJs have.

RG: I’m glad you said it because he is probably one of the best DJs in the world. All of his colleagues say the same, everyone respects him. He started from underground hip-hop and went to the mash up thing. He doesn’t declare himself this but he’s the king of the mash up.

SL: Now, do you consider yourself a booking agent, is that the title?

RG: I’d say I manage. You know why, because a booking agent has almost become a negative connotation.

SL: Yeah – it’s mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, then agents…

RG: And that is how people think of it, and it’s kind of annoying.

SL: Manager is a better word.

RG: Manager is a better word. That’s part of the reason I left what I was doing. I didn’t leave just to do the same thing that I was doing although yes, ninety percent of any artist’s money is from touring.

SL: And that wasn’t true back in the day.

RG: No, of course I know. It has changed dramatically.

SL: It’s gone 360…

RG: 180.

SL: I’m not good at math.

RG: The truth is that it’s not that I don’t want to be labeled, because I don’t care what anybody labels me as, but I know what I’m doing. The majority of the money for these artists whether it’s a new artist in a development kind of thing or DJs that have been around forever, most of the money is coming from touring. So I do book all of their shows, but I also am controlling all of the other aspects of that.

SL: Yeah, let’s get into that. When I walked into your office there was that kid behind the desk. He is someone that’s familiar to me; he’s a street wise, hip kinda guy. You can get a hip young guy, a hungry kid who will make some phone calls to clubs and book their talent. Most club owners in the industry might know who he is. What’s the difference between having a guy like that kid, as opposed to having a guy like you? Why would I want to pay commission to someone like you? What do you offer that’s more than I could do myself?

RG: That’s a good question. I’ve had this conversation a thousand times over the years. The answer is that we are not simply booking the talent. We’re booking their travel, we’re taking care of all the Myspace, Facebook, and other various websites, we take care of their hotel arrangements, their car pickup, and everything having to do with contracts and the collecting of money; amongst other things.

SL: Are you a lawyer?

RG: No. If I was a lawyer I would’ve been a sports agent.

SL: So the answer is that you’re a manager.

RG: The answer is I’m definitely a manager. I’m managing people’s lives, their projects and their money. I have a nice team around me that helps to take care of all the duties mentioned. And again, I’ve been doing this for twelve years now so my connections with the clubs and guys like yourself are strong. They know me, they know my name, they know what my company is capable of.

SL: Did you ever DJ?

RG: No.

Sarah: I’d just like to interject and bring up the partnerships that you were able to do. For example, when we put Skribble and Tommy Lee together. An artist is a lover of music and understands how to use Serato and how vinyl works. They can go on tour with their band or host their TV show or whatever, and in between we can be taking them to clubs to spin. They sort of have built a name for themselves other than as being a member of whatever band they are a part of. Listening to Pete Wentz DJ was kind of impressive because he is actually a really strong DJ; you hear all of the different influences that he’s into.

SL: Is Tommy Lee playing house music?

RG: Not everybody appreciates me saying this, but the truth is a lot of people make fun of the whole rock celebrity DJ thing. While there are many who maybe are not that great, there are those who really can DJ very well. When I met Tommy Lee through Skribble about four years ago, he expressed an interest in wanting to DJ. He liked it and partnered up with a guy named DJ Aero, and they played all electro-house.

SL: He’s a rock star he’s know as a rock artist , Pam Anderson, That’s what he’s known for. Now he’s doing house music which is a completely different genre. I wanted to book Tommy Lee for the opening of something…

RG: And he wouldn’t do it.

SL: No, he wouldn’t do it. I mean he’s a nice guy. I wanted to give him a plug because I’m a PETA member so when I designed home. I took a lot less of my fee upfront because the club was willing to ban fur which is really important to me I took a lot less money to design it and Tommy stepped up to promote for PETA. We did some photo-ops, there was a poster … he’s a great guy.

RG: Honestly he is one of the greatest guys we’ve met.

Good Night,

Mr. Lewis

Interview conducted and written by Steve Lewis.

Interview has been edited and condensed by Jessica Tocko.

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