Best Local Promoter

Over the last few years, Atlanta has witnessed a dramatic spike in the quantity and quality of music being booked across the board. From corporate behemoths to DIY guys booking smaller rooms, competition among promoters is thick. When the management and promotions teams behind Terminal West (led by Scott Orvold and Alan Sher) and Agon Entertainment announced they’d partnered to launch ZERO MILE, the new organization took over booking for Athens’ Georgia Theatre, and Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse and Terminal West, while working with other venues, as well. Working together, Zero Mile put into place a network that allowed for all three venues to flourish together as a viable independent operation. Since May, Zero Mile has booked everyone from Waka Flocka Flame to Gillian Welch, tackling a broad range of musical terrain. Zero Mile will also oversee booking and promotion for the music venue being built as part of the upcoming Atlanta Dairies development on Memorial Drive. As Atlanta continues its dominance as one of the most vibrant cities in the Southeast, Zero Mile’s ingenuity and dedication to building from the ground up has positioned the organization as a major player, primed for expansion and growth as a leader of Georgia music. www.zeromile.com. less...

When bands talk about ARI FOURIEZOS of Sorry, Mom! Productions, it’s hard to tell whether they’re talking about their favorite promoter or one of their best friends. Fouriezos’ ability to constantly hustle over email, book shows in Atlanta and tours for Atlanta bands, work the door at venues, give away boatloads of free advice, and always take the time to give a big smile and an even bigger hug when passing you in the street all made Fouriezos critical to Atlanta’s musical community in 2016. She supports bands across genres (Chelsea Shag and Man Up, Yancey) and Sorry, Mom! has booked stand-out shows all over the city. Crafting bills at traditional venues like the Earl, untraditional pop-up shows at places like American Sushi Recording, outdoor neighborhood festivals, and magic DIY shows at the Sewing Room takes patience, creativity, and lots of stamina, which Fouriezos never seems to run out of. www.sorrymomproductions.com. less...

Since booking his first show in January 2009, Brannon Boyle of Speakeasy Promotions has been adding flair to the local music scene by corralling a stylish, seemingly disparate array of acts. Boyle regularly merges hip-hop, jazz, dub, funk, punk and indie rock with gigs such as the seasonal Free Acid nights at 529. The underlying aural connection isn’t obvious until it unfolds, when acts as varied as Clan Destined, A. Grimes, and the Ruination share the stage with ease. Boyle’s range is just a side effect of his MO. By booking what he likes first and foremost, he nurtures a healthy cross-pollination underground, culminating in new collaborations such as the menacing Afro-Kraut beats of a Difference Machine. If his rising profile and the ever-growing attendance at his shows illustrate anything, it’s that his taste is badass. speakeasypromo.net. less...

We expected big things when the respective architects behind Art, Beats + Lyrics (Jabari Graham) and Broke $ Boujee (Fadia Kader) linked up with Atlanta music marketer Bem Joiner (Rebelutions) and mega-church marketer Jerald McBride to form a concert promotions team. But the onstage reunion of Goodie Mob? Certainly, no one saw that coming — not even the members of Goodie Mob. Turns out SHAMELESS PLUG approached them, feeling that the time was ripe after rumors persisted for two years that the godfathers of Atlanta hip-hop had finally bonded behind the scenes. Coming on the heels of Vibe magazine’s investigative piece documenting the rise and struggles of Southern rap’s first family (the Dungeon Family, of which the Mob were founding members), the concert reflected the lifeblood of a subgenre. With so many promoters in the A — from run-of-the-mill to grade A — only a handful recognize their role as cultural curators. Count Shameless Plug among them. less...

The official talent purchaser for the Drunken Unicorn, RANDY CASTELLO AND TIGHT BROS. NETWORK isn’t the hard-nosed businessman that many promoters fancy themselves. He’s usually found watching the door at the shows he books. And afterward he’s the first one to get the party started with the out-of-town bands. Castello is the winner in this category for the second year in a row because he has a knack for booking cutting-edge underground punk, hip-hop and indie-rock acts to Atlanta — the ones that many Atlanta clubs would pass over — and he’s not afraid to invite newcomers to open his shows. Of Montreal, Prefuse 73, Deerhunter and the Black Lips were all part of the Tight Bros. canon long before anybody else ever heard of them. For that, Atlanta benefits greatly from his presence.

www.tightbros.net

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The glow sticks and UFOs may have matured into iPods and Diesels, but the party still rocks whenever Liquid Groove — ahem, LIQUIFIED, in its middle age — is throwing it. For 12 years now, powerhouse promoter Devin Walkley and his team have brought everyone from progressive king Sasha to drum and bass triumvirate Dieselboy, Dara and AK 1200 to venues all over town — though Liquified now calls Eleven50 home base for most of its events. While other promoters have slowed down or faded away, Walkley’s crew not only has survived but has improved with time.
www.liquified.com.

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