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THE GUY BEHIND THE GUY BEHIND THE GUY: Evan Michaels, left, poses for a shot with Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose

Ed. note: This piece, by Abby Weingarten, will appear in next week’s issue of Creative Loafing.

At 13, Evan Michaels hopped the PATH train from New Jersey to Manhattan, had his older buddies sneak him into shows at CBGB, and watched the glam rock scene evolve into grunge. The West Orange, N.J., native saw a pre-fame Nirvana showcase Bleach tracks at a Houston Street club, and an early Pearl Jam play as Green River. When Alice in Chains opened for Van Halen on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour at Madison Square Garden, Michaels was stargazing from the stands.

“New York City was a great music scene to be a part of back then,” Michaels says. “It was like a dream for a teenager.”

Now 32, Michaels is living that dream. A thriving Sarasota businessman, he owns In Demand Talent, a full-service global booking agency, as well as its sister production company, Gulf Coast Concerts. In the last 10 years, from his college days in New England to his present career, Michaels has produced and promoted more than 300 shows worldwide.

He’s been known to fraternize with high-profile acts and keep celebrity contacts in his cell phone, and he’s built a priceless stockpile of autographs, posters, drumsticks and pictures. It’s like having an all-access backstage pass with no expiration date.

“Inside, there’s still that kid that’s really excited to be around music,” Michaels says. And these days, it actually makes him money.

As the self-proclaimed roadie for his 20-something musician friends, Michaels would tag along to the Ritz, the Roseland and other NYC hotspots on school nights from 1991 to 1994. He was the go-between, lugging equipment and running errands — a thankless job only a teenager would covet.

In the midst of the manual labor, Michaels got a panoramic view behind the curtain that shaped his current perspective.

“I’m a huge fan of music,” Michaels says. “I always knew I wanted to do something with that as a career.”

Piano and guitar initially intrigued him, and Michaels tested his flair in rock bands. But musicianship, he came to learn, just wasn’t his calling. Backstage life, Michaels believed, beat out onstage fame.

So one college summer at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, Michaels took a security guard position at the Meadows Music Theatre, and employed a strategy to ascend the concert ranks. He wandered back to the loading docks one night while the production managers and crewmembers were sipping after-show beers.

“I’m a pretty friendly person in general, so I got to know everybody, and I said to them, ‘I really want to be a part of all this but I don’t want to work security,’” Michaels says. “I just asked, ‘What can I do backstage?’”

First, the higher-ups put him on the payroll as a runner, responsible for catering to a band’s every need, and soon promoted him to assistant production manager for Clear Channel, now Live Nation, the largest concert producer in the world. His first major assignment: Aerosmith in 2000, a 30,000-person gig.

“I remember going in through the back doors at that show and walking onstage while they were playing,” Michaels said. “I will never forget the feeling I had of all that energy coming straight at me. It was so surreal and thrilling, and I thought, ‘I have to be a part of this for the rest of my life.’”

Michaels eventually found a lucrative way to make that happen.

He moved to Sarasota in 2005 to start an eBay enterprise, which he franchised and sold two years later for a substantial profit. He then funneled that cash into In Demand, which launched in October 2007. The company provides top-notch entertainment and management services and puts on events across the globe.

The format: Clients scour the company’s website, locate the act they need from a database of 3,000-plus names, and hire Michaels as a liaison to track down headliners. Michaels then secures slots for, say Linkin Park, Usher, Godsmack, Papa Roach or Fatboy Slim, at concert halls, nightclubs, hotels, casinos, outdoor festivals and exclusive parties.

He’s already earned a solid rep in the business, and his fat profit margin proves it.

A recent outgrowth of In Demand Talent is Gulf Coast Concerts, an East Coast-based production company co-owned by Michaels’ longtime friend, Ben Reinhardt, of Tampa. Reinhardt and Michaels were responsible for pioneering the First Annual Winter Acoustic Benefit on Dec. 29 at the State Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Six groups, including Sarasota’s Boyce Avenue, Tampa’s Soulidium and members of national bands Evan’s Blue, Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd and Sevendust performed unplugged sets to help generate $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Michaels and Reinhardt intend to make the revue a yearly, charitable ritual.

Using his industry ties, Michaels also hopes to turn Sarasota into a legitimate destination for tours. “There was a high demand to put better shows on in this area,” Michaels says. “Unfortunately, I realize that Sarasota is a dead market right now, which is a shame.”

Sarasota residents are still shipping over the Skyway for entertainment, since nearly every Suncoast bar and club with a stage is closing its doors on live, original bands. When a welcoming venue opens, Michaels will gladly bring the talent. He’s just waiting for the in.

It may never rival the musical stomping grounds he relished in New York City, but with Michaels at the helm, Sarasota may be a scene in the making.

 

Scope our more information on In Demand by visiting indemandtalent.com, gulfcoastconcerts.com or myspace.com/indemandtalent. To comment on this story, log on to sarasota.creativeloafing.com.

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