From Joke to Legit: The Rise of San Diego Promotion Companies.

The ’60s can thank Bill Graham for putting on shows with fresh talent featuring Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, among notable others.

Alongside Graham, Rick Griffin and the Joint Show Five painted, inked, penciled and screen-printed countless psychedelic posters that coaxed people to these events. The events and the art, because of their historical impact, are now displayed in museums or coveted in collectors’ homes. Many people may know Graham and the people who worked effortlessly by his side to put on shows and events; others may not, but the bands, the art and the experience Graham and his crew created left their imprint upon a generation.

The millennium may not have Graham, but the 21st century has not been left barren of nightlife and entertainment. Promotions companies, alongside San Diego’s ever-growing populace and demand for stimulation, are currently brainstorming for the next big party or sold-out event. Like Graham, many of these efforts may have gone unnoticed, but if you’ve ever stepped foot outside of your house, you’ve probably stumbled into their territory.

Producing a “party” or a serious event, it’s safe to say, is no longer a job attributed exclusively to college kids. Sometime in the past 10 years, the term “promoter” transformed from a joke to a legitimate profession. “There is an entrepreneurial spirit taking place in [San Diego] right now,” says Fortune Industries’ Jason Herrick of the emerging promotions industry. “The more clubs and hotels that open up, the more need there is for promoters to fill them with people.”

Fortune Industries, or Fortune 421, is best known for its fashion and music events. The launch of its clothing line, along with its already developing promotion company, began in September 2005. “I started with a lot of event marketing to promote my clothing line, Fortune 421 Clothing,” says Herrick of the collaboration. “Our parties became a fun place to check out our fashion and high-energy music.”

What started with an idea turned into a company, as Herrick and his crew—made up of friends in the entertainment industry from nightclub owners and their employees to musicians and designers—began to expand by constructing larger events like the one Fortune put on poolside for New Year’s Eve 2008 at the Del Mar Marriott that ran from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

This year, Herrick explains, Fortune will go national. “[People] will see Fortune in more new markets this year, including San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York and, of course, our other homes of Vegas and Miami.”

Of the change from partying for pleasure to partying as an entrepreneurial enterprise, Herrick says “[a person] has to make the decision if they are in this business to party or if they are here to be successful and be a part of something bigger. In the last few years promoters have been choosing the business side of things.”

However, Fortune is not the only company that emerged from this cocoon of inspiration. Creativity to advance products and a place to promote ideas other than simply “partying” may have been the spark that ignited promotions companies such as Fieldtrip Entertainment into realistic business ventures.

A relatively new entertainment company, Fieldtrip brings live art and music together at top venues such as the Hard Rock Hotel, House of Blues and 4th & B. It’s an idea, as founder Brett Fischer explains, that separates a Fieldtrip event from a San Diegan’s average night out.

“Live” art, as defined by a Fieldtrip event, almost always includes a gigantic art mural formed throughout the night by several artists from varying backgrounds. Live art at a Fieldtrip show has revealed itself in other visually invigorating ways, such as a screen-printing booth where patrons can watch shirts or posters being made right before their eyes. Yet producing all the original elements that make a Fieldtrip show is never easy.

Organizing people and musical and artistic acts, particularly the ones already making a name for themselves, can be difficult, and when contracts are involved demands can become hectic. Fischer says one group “wanted all this healthy stuff, like Coke Zero. What’s next, all the blue M&Ms?” Meanwhile, Chris English of DJhere Productions recalls when the talent insisted on Jack Daniels and fruit with the skin cut off—as English noted, “not a very healthy diet.”

No doubt the life of a promoter is a nonstop, on-the-phone, on-the-go ballet that hardly ever permits one to live through what most people would consider a “normal” day. English would agree, as DJhere, a company that has survived a number of years, is a multitasking corporation of people who put on outrageous events and parties all over San Diego. A recent example of such noted demonstrations is the massive New Year’s Eve party DJhere hosted at the Prado, an event that has sold out for the last several years.

When enduring typically wild party scenarios night after night is all part of the job, it’s easy to see how any promotion company could turn to the dark side. Many companies have been known to rise and fall quickly from excessive drinking and partying on account of the people in charge of these “companies.” As English explains, “some think by just putting their name on an event it will be a success and they don’t truly care about what they are doing. Some [people] just like to party too much.”

Nevertheless, developing and changing with the evolution of the promotion industry—as well as fashioning innovative events—may be two of the factors that have allowed Fortune, Fieldtrip and DJhere to continue to stay at the top.

Or possibly, their success can be attributed to following some simple rules that any promoter must follow, such as consistently paying people on time, and, according to English, “never sacrificing your brain for money and caring about the music.” Easier said than done, perhaps.

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