 Welcome back to Geeks are sexy. I'm Jason Laduke your host on the fourth Friday of every month when Michelle Davis is off Doing other things and we're talking about business and success here in Las Vegas Our next guest is Dwayne Davidson from entertainment capital group Another born and raised Las Vegas two in a row on the show this week Dwayne started out in a career in finance and ended up shifting gears to a number of entrepreneurial ventures You've always got something going on. Yes, sir known you for a couple years now You've always got something fun going on but his passion is the entertainment business. So welcome to show Dwayne Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me and tell us about growing up here in Las Vegas And what kind of role entertainment played in your life growing up here in Las Vegas? Well, as you know, we're in an entertainment capital of the world, you know so even at an early age you're used to seeing and hearing about all the concerts and different events coming in town and I can't remember being five years old going to my first concert. I think it was MC Hammer boys to men and Jodicy that is a great lineup and that is that is not a lineup you get to see very often anymore together Not right now. No, that's a that'd be a good lineup though. You should think about that already So started there and then just on and on my father in the 90s He owned the entertainment company that gave me a little inspiration He also owned a few service businesses in town. So that gave me a little motivation showing me They can't be done. Yeah So so not just a not just a passion for entertainment, but but a family history of entrepreneurship Yes, sir and having a couple different ventures going on at the same time and and really pursuing those different passions and trying to get Them to work together. That's great. So grew up here in Las Vegas. Yes UNLV UNLV grad just like just like myself and so and You studied and went into a career in finance Yes, I studied management economics at UNLV Prior to that I actually studied finance at high in high school at Clark High School Okay, cool, you know, so that kind of got me used to the different elements of putting the business together marketing accounting You know employees Entertainment was never discussed there, but it was still definitely part of the passion. So from there graduated from UNLV Luckily was working at Wells Fargo in a banking job and management. Mm-hmm. And just by the grace I Landed in entertainment business. I met an artist who was looking for management. I figured hey I just graduated with a management degree. I love entertainment. Let's give it a shot And eight years later, you know, we're still here doing live events. No more artist management because I guess very expensive Yeah, yeah artist management is a not only is expensive. It's a it's time-consuming And it takes a lot of energy and a lot of energy and devotion I think is it's probably a the right way to put it is you really got to be completely devoted to the artists You're managing and and they have to be devoted as well. Oh really? Yeah, talk about that. Well as an artist much like an athlete You have to believe in yourself more than anyone else if you don't believe you're gonna be successful like an entrepreneur as well Then you're not gonna be successful. And so if you're an aspiring artist manager Make sure you manage artists who believe in themselves and invest in themselves as well. Okay, great great sure so I Know you've got a vision because we've talked before we've known each other for a few years now You've got a vision for the kind of entertainment you'd like to see happening in Las Vegas You've got a vision for how to bring that about tell us about your vision for entertainment in Las Vegas and your role In bringing that vision to life Well a vision that I came over years ago is once in a lifetime entertainment You know we can go to a Cirque show any Thursday night in Vegas or any Friday night any night any night You can go to any country concert, but you're really looking for shows that you can't see Ever again, you know, we're doing once in a lifetime events that and that kind of creates a buzz it creates a demand for your client to say hey, I can't go see the same show and Phoenix next weekend, you know or right the way will concerts now you can do you do a show every day and in the same market So if there's a huge fan, you can follow your artists all around the area and catch the same show So my idea is to make you come out and see a show you've never seen before you may never see it again For example my first show I did I did a show with two rappers from Houston who hadn't performed together in 10 years Oh wow and they were friends and they had a following out because of business And I got them on stage for the first time in 10 years and actually made up at that event So no one there has ever seen them perform before so so and if you can't talk about this, that's okay But how how did you get those two to come together? What what? I mean that that's a significant task to get you to Two people both strong personalities I assume you know You just talked about the devotion having to feel having to believe that you are better than anyone else Yes, an artist. How did you get those to the two of them to come together? Well, I paid them first Okay, always helpful You pay them and just took a whole bunch of negotiation and I let them know that this is for the fans And the fans were okay requesting this type of event in Las Vegas. These are guys who hadn't performed in Vegas In years, you know very old Houston rappers It's a great success and they actually they had a chance to talk about their grievances And I haven't seen them on a show since I'm not saying it hasn't happened But I haven't seen the show in two years since that show so so this is the vision is providing these unique Entertainment events these once-in-a-lifetime events. Yes, sir in a once-in-a-lifetime location Las Vegas What are the venues you like to use here in Las Vegas? What what what make what what kind of venue is great here for those once-in-a-lifetime events? Well, you really want a nice intimate venue, you know the large events that they're great for the huge megastars But you can catch them anywhere So I prefer to work with venues are a thousand people up to three thousand people Okay, so we're speaking of the Fremont Country Club, okay, Brooklyn Bowl House of Blues Even Cox Pavilion at UNOV is a perfect venue for intimate show. Yeah, Cox Pavilion is actually a great a great venue And it feels a lot more intimate than it really is I think it's a it's a big space, but it feels small I do have plans to work over at the Chelsea in Park Theater as well. I love the Chelsea Yeah, it's a great venue as well. All right, so we talked a little about the acts We talked a little about the venue what makes a great event What are the things you need to pull together to make a great event for your fans for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences? Well takes the fan, you know first of all, you know, we have to have demand in any business We have to have to generate that demand then it's the artists and you have to have artists that people actually care about That's a good person. You know when it comes to business ethics and morals all about doing great business with people That you actually support for sure So the fan the artist the great venue in the production and the production is everything you see and you don't see So you will see the production can include marketing and include going to get a certain type of bottle water Yeah, everything in between that's the stuff that I think is most interesting right because we've all been to a show Yeah, we know it makes a great show on the front end and we know what but what are what are some of those things in the Back end that we don't see that make those events great. You don't see the negotiation to bring guys together. Yeah You know, you don't see the the airport runs. You don't see the coordination with security You don't see the payments to the police department for their protection Okay, you know, you don't see the taxes that you have to pay after your show You know, you don't see the worry of the risk as well I imagine there's a lot of a lot of dealing with the the artists people and their entourage and that kind of thing as well Yeah, and luckily I have a team as well And so when we have events I have a team that steps in they helped me deal with those different personalities because we Can't do it all And and that's so important we talk about of this show Scott can vouch for this I think we talk about this on this show every month when we do it is nobody does these things alone. You have to have a great team Behind you and in front of you supporting you and you need to support them To pull off any any big goal that you want to pull off in life So in the in the couple of minutes we've got left tell us the kind of people you're looking for to be on your team local promoters And you have a great act reach out outreach to The fans the court client from every demographic We're looking for the fan, you know, local meet entertainment lovers from country music lovers to comedy to hip-hop and r&b And then we're also looking for The network you know use your network use my network, you know, and it helps grow all around network You know, so i'm just looking to work with local entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business as well and reach a demographic They haven't reached before All right, sounds great. So what's your favorite kind of show to put on? Uh favorite We'll say hip-hop and r&b. Yeah, I was raised on hip-hop and r&b, but I love a good life Okay, I love good comedy show I know you're always looking for how to put together a great comedy show That was one of the first things you and I talked about a couple years ago We met is you were looking to do more more of those comedy shows And I think that was the very first show that you were since I met you That was the next thing you had coming up with a good comedy show And so we're working right now We're gonna merge it to we're gonna merge comedy and and music Okay, you know working on having it. Love it. Maybe I'll tell you more about the offline Yeah, absolutely. Well, we've only got we've only got a minute left, but I want you to Tell our audience how they can get a hold of you whether they are an act and entertainer Who they might want to connect with you or someone who could fit into your team really well Or it's somebody with a venue or just an idea of you know those fan ideas that we'd love to see this kind of show How can our how can our audience get a hold of you? Well, you can find me on facebook under entertainment capital group And you can find me on linkedin under duane davison And then if you need my phone number just reach out to jason. He'll give it to you. I got it I'll get it to you. So we will we will get you the information and Nothing on the calendar right yet. I know you're working on a couple of things But if everyone comes back checks back in with entertainment capital group in Three to four months give us a month or two give us a month or two. So come back come back right before fourth of july Check out entertainment capital group and you should see a a whole slew of events that are coming up some comedy stuff Some music stuff and hopefully some comedy and music stuff together. Yes, sir. I'd love that. That's a show I want to go to so dwayne. Thank you so much for being here today We're gonna have you back in a few minutes for our panel discussion get everybody talking back together I'm jason leduc. This is geeks are sexy. We'll be right back with kitty wattford