Our main goal is to have fun exploring and communicating about our favorites in entertainment.

Our next goal is to create The Consumers’ Excellence in Entertainment Hall of Fame. The audience and customers of the entertainment industry will make the selection of those who will be inducted to this hall of fame

Our third goal is to help support national and local entertainment and performing arts projects with emphasis being bringing the audience closer to the entertainers and entertainment industry leaders.

Our fourth goal is to help fans, the audience, the consumers support their enjoyment of the entertainment and performing arts by being advocates in voicing our likes and what needs improving so that we can all enjoy excellence in consumers entertainment.

Since moving to Vegas over five years ago I have been enjoying the entertainment community in this great entertainment city. I really enjoy many of the entertainers who also call Vegas home. Entertainers like, the Checkmates, The Dennis Bono Show and all of its cast members. Like so many of my fellow Vegas fans I also enjoy Mark Giovi, Las Vegas Tenors, Carmine Mandia and the Shades of Sinatra.

I think it is a shame that many entertainment honchos ignore the most talented performers in Vegas. That is also the case when it comes to entertaining older adults. My other entertainment interests are independent films and under-discovered musicians.

LINDA HUNG, VICE-PRESIDENT:Linda is one of the original founders of ECE and lives in the Chicago area with her husband and twin daughters Currently She owns a marketing consulting firm that is now nationwide.

She often describes herself, “lost in the 50’s” when it come to entertainment.Maddie is a life-long Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson and longtime Everly Brother fan.

Chris Isaac, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Martina McBride are some of today’s entertainers she likes.

NANCY SCHNAIR; TREASURER: Nancy Schnair moved to Vegas from the Chicago area several years ago. However she has visited Vegas numerous times during her adult lifetime and remembers all of the great entertainment. She is a life long Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme fan. Her entertainment interests also include the entertainers and music of the Great American Songbook.
Now that she has moved to Vegas she is thrilled to be able enjoy all of the great entertainment her health will allow. She has also enjoyed meeting many of the legends of entertainment including Tony Orlando, Buddy Greco, the late great Sonny King and her new friend Don Hill of the Treniers.

Bob Bandyk with Corrie SachsI was born in Detroit in 1943 and lived in the area until 2003. My wife Jacquie, and I have been married for 41+ years. We have 2 children. I retired from Ford Motor Company in 2002 after 38 yrs. of service. In 2003 we moved to Henderson, NV.

We had been visiting Las Vegas for15 years before our move out here and we knew this is where we wanted to retire. We enjoy the lifestyle here in Vegas and especially the amount of entertainment available at reasonable prices.My preferences in entertainment lean toward live shows and concerts. Some shows and entertainers we have enjoyed are: Clint Holmes, Corrie Sachs, and The Dennis Bono Show.

Mary KrovitzI was born and raised in New England, married and had two children. My husband’s Employment took us to California in 1970. We traveled often from there to Las Vegas. We visited here when showrooms had main stars as their attractions, and the lounges had groups we enjoyed.

In 1987 we moved here and for several years, thoroughly enjoyed every show we saw. Gradually as corporations took over the Entertainment changed, and they seemed to cater to the younger people.We went to the Dennis Bono show when it first started, because of a mutual friend, entertainer Bob Anderson. Bob eventually left Las Vegas since The venue for his show was being phased out of the lounges. The Entertainment at the Dennis Bono show is fantastic. It’s where we can see untapped talent that is plentiful in town, Yet you never can see unless you go see the Dennis Bono show.

Everyone commented about the great time they had. Carrot Top, Sonny King with his wife Peggy accepting, and the Smothers Brothers were also presented awards by ECE in 2005. The second half of the year was very busy but productive. In August twenty of us attended a show at the Sterling Club in Turnberry Place to see Mark Giovi. ECE then lead the way to help fans save their music heard on radio station KJUL by holding the first protest rally. We held the rally in front of Beasley Vegas Headquarters with the hopes of either having them change their minds and returning to the music we love or getting enough attention that another station would pick up the music enjoy by older adults in the community. Another Rally two weeks later sponsored by Friends of Good Music at Sunset Park helped with keeping the attention focused on how outraged fans of KJUL were about the change. Their rally called the attention of how the fans also enjoyed the radio personalities who were fired because of the change. We had about a dozen of our members at the rally to give them support. The Gentry Brothers heard our noise and in about a month received the KJUL call letters and gave back the fans their music.Our year ended with a very successful Fund Raising Show held at Sun City Mac Donald Ranch. The show stared Mark Giovi with special guests, Susan Segal, Gino Monopoli and with Frankie Dee as emcee. Those who attended it from Sun City MacDonald Ranch said it was the best show they had in two years.

Once again another radio station, this time Vegas “Oldies” station changed format. Their excuse is the older viewers who listened were just not a profitable audience. This is the same excuse given by other entertainment business entities. But the real truth is that excuse does not match the economics of the bottom line.

In basic marketing 101 you learn a rule of thumb concept, that 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers. The next 60% of your customers pays the cost of doing business. This leaves 20% for an additional 20% profit.How does that breakdown in the entertainment industry? In general entertainment, the 25 to 49 age demographics makes up the 60% that pays for the cost of doing business. Then 80% profit that comes from the first 20% are customers who are under 25. Those 50 and older is the market segment that makes up the additional 20% profit.

Older adults have the potential of adding 20% profit to entertainment’s economic bottom line. Therefore it would make good business sense for businesses in the entertainment industry to give older adults 20% of entertainment, aimed at them. But, older adults are not getting entertainment that they can enjoy.

Smart business people in the entertainment industry should target at least 20% of shows and productions to older adults. The Dennis Bono Show in Las Vegas gets 1000 older adults in their audience every Thursday afternoon. This show features entertainers from Las Vegas who often come on to promote their own shows. Bono often states that the older adult population is the most ignored when it comes to entertainment. He also says it doesn’t make sense because they have the most time and money to spend on entertainment.

Toxicology reports would find that a steroid (testosterone,) a prescription pain medication, and the antidepressant Xanax were found in his system, but as of yet no official determination what exactly contributed to the murder-suicide of the Benoit family has been made. A media frenzy would ensue, blaming "roid rage" as the sole cause of the tragedy.

The much more physical aspects lead to injuries (even for the best trained wrestlers). Wrestlers are much like touring bands, in that their life is lived from place to place, which doesn't always lend well to a family life. And as much as we don't condone drug or alcohol use, dependencies can and do happen. Added all together, tragedies can happen. When all was said done, fans simply agreed that the weekend of June 22-25 was a sad weekend for wrestling. Fans, as human beings, grieve the loss and found a way to move on.

They primarily discussed how they came to town and the era’s of the 1950’s—1970’s. Babe came to town, in the mid-50’s;
with “The Vagabonds” to play the main room at the Sahara. Tommy accompanied Pearl Bailey to Vegas in 1957and has worked with Bobbie Gentry at the Desert Inn among his many other gigs in Vegas. He also has played opposite Harry James in Reno.

Cork has been in Las Vegas the longest, moving here with his family in 1941. He attended Las Vegas High School and was drafted into the Navy in 1953. He worked as a musician after he was discharged in 1955 in Lake Tahoe opposite Louie Prima and Keely Smith.

Mike Weatherford pointed out that all 3 panelists were appearing in lounges on the Strip in 1975. Mike also stated that listening to the stories of those eras has increased his interest in “Classic Vegas”.

Some of the discussion was about how Louie Prima made the lounge a place for the “Vegas Sound” and how The Mary Kaye Trio had very complex music for that period in time.

The consensus was that when Howard Hughes came to town, it was the beginning of the end for “Old Vegas” and the beginning of the corporate era. In the old days admittance to the lounges was free and the casino paid the bands. Today, they have a “D.J.” and the customers have to pay to enter the lounge.

There was also discussion on some of the famous performers who played the strip. They included Harry James “100% Class Act”, Pearl Bailey “A Real Sweetheart” and The Mystique of Frank Sinatra. Some of the comments made about Sinatra were; “He was the first ‘Bad Boy’ who did what he wanted”, “He was a true gentleman, if he liked you, but could really hurt you if he wasn’t happy with you” and “Sinatra never had a gold record but he had charisma”.

Colorado Springs and vicinity has many opportunities to see live music of all genres, many times for free. The merchants here seem to have learned that live music will draw people to their location, where they may shop and spend money. Although there are varying levels of promotion of the music at the different venues, with a little bit of looking a Springs resident can find all kinds of live music fun, without either spending a lot of money or being required to visit a large-scale venue, and without having to travel as far as Denver.

One of my favorite local bands is the Martini Shot Band(http://www.martinishotband.net). I’ve had the opportunity to see them for free or inexpensively several times this summer, as well as having the opportunity to “discover” other local bands.

I also got to see the Martini Shot Band at the first concert of the First and Main Summer Concert Series. Taking place in the parking lot of a local shopping area, with the help of a mobile stage, this is a free concert, with the mall merchants providing food. The free concert happens every Friday night during the summer, from 5 pm to 7 pm. It is well attended and the hardest part is finding a place to park! The First and Main series features a different local band each week. Everything from the pop rock of the Martini Shot Band, to the funky zydeco blues of John Wise and Tribe, to the Motown sound of Phat Daddy and the Phat Horn Doctors.

The Martini Shot Band have also been at Soda Springs Park in Manitou Springs. Every Wednesday afternoon in the summer there is a farmer’s market there, and a local band plays in the band shell there for free, from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Every Wednesday in the summer there is also a farmer’s market and live music at America the Beautiful Park downtown. Again, the bands that play here represent a variety of different types of music. I haven’t yet attended this concert series, but I’ll get there some Wednesday when one of the local bands I like is performing.

A few miles south of the Springs, downtown Pueblo, on summer Fridays hosts the B Street Bash. Held in the historic district, B Street is closed off and becomes a gathering place, open-air restaurant featuring many cuisines, and dance floor. Again, a variety of bands and musical genres are featured. I’ve seen the Martini Shot Band and other local bands at this venue and it’s always festive and spirited. And the entry fee is only $5.

FOR THOSE THAT DON’T KNOW ABOUT US WE ARE:
Entertainment Consumers Exchange, Inc is a 501c7 nonprofit association for fans and their favorites in entertainment. We advocate for the fans and the entertainment they support

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We currently support the following needs in entertainment
(1) Entertainment for Older Adults
(2) Entertainment that bridge the generations
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(4) Live Music
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