MARCH 12, 2009 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
Randy Kelly—The Music Man Behind the Curtain
Appalachian Popular Programming Society Program Coordinator and Dream Scene Productions Owner/Operator Randy Kelly has spent the last 30 years fostering the High Country music scene, first at the legendary P.B. Scott’s Music Hall and currently at ASU. When not making music deals or advising students, Kelly hangs out with his Golden Retriever, Dylan. Photo by Sam Calhoun
The High Country is known for many things, one of which is that the region has long been a hotbed for music. The area’s foundation of old-time and bluegrass music enabled the region to embrace the new age of rock-and-roll touring bands, and today there are more live music shows per capita in Boone than in any other town in the state.
Nestled in the middle of this music town stereotype is ASU’s Legends—to this day, the only student-run nightclub at a university in the country. In its 24-year history, Legends has hosted the best of the best of regional and national touring bands, comedy and theater. One of the people behind the curtain at Legends, as well as many other venues across the region, is Appalachian Popular Programming Society Program Coordinator Randy Kelly.
The Appalachian Popular Programming Society (APPS) is responsible for the majority of entertainment brought to ASU and is comprised of seven different councils, each of which provides a specific form of entertainment. APPS programs events in Legends, I.G. Greer Theater, Plemmons Student Union, Farthing Auditorium, Crossroads Coffeehouse, Holmes Convocation Center, Greenbriar Theater and Varsity Gym. The seven APPS councils include Club Shows, Council for Cultural Awareness, Appalachian Heritage, Concerts, Stage Shows, Films and Special Events.
“We have the most prolific programming board of all 16 UNC-member institutions,” said Kelly, who acts as the program coordinator for the Concerts, Stage Shows and Club Shows councils.
ASU was wise to hire Kelly to fulfill his current position, a position he has held for the past 23 years.
Kelly came to Boone in the early 1970s as part of a University Without Walls program. He moved to the area in hopes of finishing writing a book for the Ford Foundation but ended up bartending instead. His days behind the bar positioned Kelly to become a co-owner and general manager of P.B. Scott’s Music Hall, a legendary venue where the likes of B.B. King, The SpongeTones and Gregg Allman regularly played.
P.B. Scott’s was the forefather to Legends. The venue’s staff was comprised of students, as was the majority of the clientele. The lineup of bands at P.B. Scott’s reflected the musical taste of the nearby university, so Kelly learned how to keep his finger on the pulse of the younger generation in the area.
After five years of success, P.B. Scott’s closed in 1983, and East Coast Entertainment picked up Kelly as a booking agent. Kelly knew what it was like to be a buyer for a nightclub, so he jumped at the chance to work with East Coast to see the business from the other side.
While Kelly was away from the High Country, Dave Robertson and other ASU administrators devised a plan for a university nightclub and the formation of APPS to allow students to have a voice in the programming schedule. The idea came after a survey of ASU students found that little to no entertainment options existed after P.B. Scott’s was gone, and that the majority of ASU students were interested in continuing the types of concerts that came to P.B. Scott’s.
Located in a remodeled Winn Dixie Supermarket, Legends—then called Happy’s—filled the void left open by the closing of P.B. Scott’s, and as fate would have it, East Coast Entertainment assigned Kelly to be Legends’ first booking agent.
“It was a natural client. The success of Legends was based on the roster of acts from P.B. Scott’s,” said Kelly. “So, after a year, they offered me a job running Legends and advising students on programming. It seemed like a great fit. I had always envisioned working on a college campus, and now I was offered a chance and I didn’t even have to grade papers. It was a natural symbiosis; most employees of Legends were students—just like at P.B. Scott’s.”
Kelly joined the ASU staff in 1986. His first order of business was sponsoring a contest to come up with a new name for the nightclub, which turned out to be Legends.
Today, Kelly helps program six summer shows at Crossroads Coffeehouse and more than 40 club shows, concerts and stage shows annually. In addition to his work at ASU, Kelly is also the owner/operator of Dream Scene Productions, a music booking and management company that mainly handles shows for private clubs, weddings and country clubs. Kelly said he spends 80 percent of his time on ASU work and 20 percent on Dream Scene Productions work. Through Dream Scene Productions, Kelly annually runs the four-day North Carolina Fourth of July Festival and stage manages all four days of MerleFest. Kelly is also stage managing the Beach Boys concert in Myrtle Beach, S.C. this June.
Throughout his tenure, Kelly and APPS have brought a host of notable acts to ASU, including Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Outkast, John Mayer, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, and the future looks the same, with Victor Wooten, Corey Smith, North Mississippi All-Stars, Eric Church and The Annuals all scheduled to play at ASU in the coming months.
“The best part of all of those shows is that students put them on,” said Kelly. “And the majority is paid by a student activity fee.”
Approximately 150 ASU students currently are members of APPS, with 15 to 50 on each council. The students work with Kelly to pick the shows they think students and the community will want to see, while conducting cost-benefit analysis of each event.
“Part of my job, as well as the other advisors, is to make sure students learn how to budget wisely. I teach them that, yes, this is fun, but you are also growing up and need to learn how to watch your budgets,” said Kelly.
Although student activity fees feed money into APPS, Kelly and the students are still held responsible for making a profit. If one show loses money, the remaining shows on the roster are expected to pull in enough money to split the difference.
“In 22 years, we’ve almost always had a small excess at the end of the year,” added Kelly.
Once shows are scheduled, students design posters, design flyers, design newspaper advertisements, purchase banners, tape radio spots, handle giveaways and devise new marketing techniques.
“Basically, the students handle all promotional angles that any promoter would have to deal with in dealing with a show,” said Kelly. “We try and give them a new appreciation and understanding of the business. The goal is to have student leadership and have them running things.”
Kelly is a forefather of the local music scene and now he has worked for more than two decades attempting to pass down his knowledge to younger generations.
“It’s great—I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up,” said Kelly. “I mean, where else can you find a town as great as Boone? We have a diverse community and a university with intelligent leadership, the foresight to [plan top-notch student programming], allow it to happen, supports it and then expects the programming to be successful. It’s great.”
The office of A.P.P.S Program Coordinator Randy Kelly is located in the Student Programs Office on the second floor of the ASU Plemmons Student Union. For more information, call 828-262-3032.
The Appalachian Popular Programming Society is located in Room 233 on the second floor of the ASU Plemmons Student Union. For more information, call 828-262-2855 or click to www.apps.appstate.edu or www.legends.appstate.edu.
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