Coran capshaw biography sample
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The Band
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This article first appeared in The New York Times on May 31, 1998.
This article reprint was made possible by Northern Light.
A Band That Built a Career From the Ground Up
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
EACH member of the Dave Matthews Band tends to recall a moment in the early 1990's when he realized that the group's offbeat blend of jazz-style improvisations over high-revving world-beat rhythms had a good chance of making it big.
At the time, the band was a long way from stardom -- lacking even a home-recorded CD, driving an overstuffed red van and trailer to 200 shows a year at fraternity parties, beer bars and beach clubs around its home base in Charlottesville, Va., down through Georgia, and, occasionally, up to Manhattan.
For Dave Matthews, the puckish 31-year-old vocalist and leader of the quintet, the pivotal moment came in December 1993, after the group had driven snow-blind over a mountain road in the Berkshires, arriving two hours late for a show at Williams College.
''As we played, we realized that all the kids in this college were singing the words to our songs,'' he said. ''I asked, 'How in the world do you know the words?' They said, 'We've got tapes.' ''
The band, in the style of th
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A prevailing trait of successful entrepreneurs is to play the hands they’re dealt with creativity and vision, and this has truly been the case with Red Light Management founder Coran Capshaw. As the pandemic unfolded and live music, the driving force of Capshaw’s expansive empire, came to a halt, Capshaw adroitly navigated a complex landscape, expanding when opportunity arose and sitting tight when hunkering down was the savvy move. Throughout, Capshaw has continued to make smart, effective plays in the worlds of philanthropy and sustainable energy.
Red Light is the world’s largest independent management company, with more than 400 acts in the hands of more than 70 managers and hundreds of support staff. Most of these acts rely on live as a primary revenue source, as do Capshaw’s myriad and complex associations and ownership stakes in venues, festivals, branding and sponsorship firms, real estate ventures, labels, merchandising and other entities, most directly or indirectly entrenched in the live business.
With offices in Nashville, London, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Capshaw’s home base of Charlottesville, Va., a look at the RLM roster is a showcase of Pollstar performers, including Phish (selling more than 6 million tickets since Capshaw began managing them 1