The bugaboo of booking (written to the Continental bookers-at Cam's request)
by Wes Turner (2007)

I feel qualified now, as I look back at my career in entertainment, having been both a beneficiary of booking and a booker, to speak on this subject. This little tale will concentrate on the performing of dates for a Continental Singers group from the early Contemporary Christian Music era called New Hope. BUT…having been on the road professionally many years following New Hope and then having moved into a production office and gathered dates (booked), to the tune of 3000 assemblies for another company, I also have a booker’s perspective. On the professional level I have taught promoting workshops for the Fellowship of Contemporary Christian Ministries in which I spoke on determining the right group for your audience, block booking, publicity, corporate sponsors for Christian events, and avoiding the cardinal promoters sin…bringing in your own favorite group in spite of the lack of audience demand.
Anyway…I digress.
I believe successful booking is built upon past history, timing, good credentials, a bit of luck, and much faith and prayer. Taken into consideration is: the history of the group in that particular church, school, area; the track record of that particular group i.e. personnel changes, changes in music presented from year to year or gossip flowing thru the “Christian underground”; how much is happening during that season, not just with that church but in the community.
Having said all of the above I say…solid booking is the lifeblood of a company. (I think I heard Cam say amen, all the way from Hawaii). Even more important than personnel? Yes…because somehow the recruiters will always bring together some group of performers (scholarship or paying) but there must be somewhere to send them. Every day.
So…let’s see…how bout putting a big map of the U.S. on the wall and using the method that I was sure was used in the days of old…throwing darts. If our goal is to get to, say…New York City, by a certain day then if we draw a straight line from L.A. and find the nearest towns we should find ourselves in…Butte, Montana on the fourth day! Talk about feeling like the children of Israel. I have been on many tours that seemed to wander and eventually be fed on manna.
The New Hope tours were to run from September thru late May so that the participants could also go on a summer Continental tour. Two of the three I went on ended early because of booking debacles.
In the spring of 1972 we, the New Hopers, embarked on a crazy schedule that we were willing to endure because a 4-6 week stay in Florida was dangled in front of us like a carrot to a mule. We had just finished an exhausting week in Pittsburgh working with Young Life during the day and churches at night. In 1971 our bookers had turned us over to Young Life and said, ‘here is our group for two weeks. Burn them out.” And we had done 41 concerts in 13 days! Figure that out per day and you will see it was non-stop. So the deal for 1972 was for them to go easy on us. So they only took booking responsibility for one week. And…you guessed it…21 shows in 7 days.
From there we moseyed down south a bit and had in Texas had an extremely spiritual experience. We had prayed on Monday during our devo time that God would intervene and give us some rest. What a sense of humor he has. On Tuesday morning we were scheduled to play at San Marcos Military School, a Christian high school with military leanings. I walked into the principal’s office and presented myself to the general or whatever and he said, “Hi, nice to see you again. Are you playing in the area?” We had arrived exactly one year later than when we had been there before. The office had sent us LAST YEARS CONTRACT!
I announced thus when I climbed back aboard the bus and the shout of HALLELUJAH’S rang throughout the valley. We proceeded to go to a grocery store, get us some grindage, and head out to a park to have a well deserved day of picnic and rest.
Then came THE WEEKEND FROM HECK. New Hope had in our repertoire three shows that we scrambled or played separately depending on the need. A vocal oriented please-the –saints church program…a pop/rock assembly program…and a college show with pop/rock/, original tunes, Jesus rock, and assorted solos. As we headed back north I get the call from the home office that we have been booked for a Friday night date at Mankato State University in Minnesota. We were pretty excited until we learned that it was a dance. Dance? New Hope playing a dance? We obviously were a group more accustomed to being watched/listened to than danced to. So…on the way we worked up some jams and a couple new songs we thought would fit better in a dance. I especially remember California Dreamin’. To compound this equation we were to then, fairly late in the evening, drive overnight to St. Louis to headline the next night with two local rock bands at a rock n roll show in a major auditorium (Kiel Opera House). AND then head to Fort Sill Oklahoma to play another dance a couple days later. I really almost had a riot on my hands delivering that news.
We did the Mankato State gig without too much problem…traveled overnight and sat in the parking lot of this arena on Saturday for a few hours sleeping and then I talked the promoter into letting us go first so we could get our equipment off the stage and get out of there before the real rockin’ and rollin’ started. Once he saw our sound check and M.O. (girls, horns, pop songs, etc) he agreed it was the best idea. The trip to Oklahoma was somber for we were indeed burnt out. The booker was called and swore she didn’t know this one was a dance. The God-Of-All-Of-Us New Hope was broken. Only that glimmer of Florida sunshine could keep this thing together now. Then…disaster. The booker called and said that she had turned the 4-6 weeks of dates in Florida over to another person and that person had dropped the ball. We only had three or four dates total and we would have to cancel that leg of the trip. We were home by Easter. The bus slowly made it’s way across the country with people slipping out the doors and grabbing luggage and instruments along the way. An ignominious ending (big word meaning …bummer) for a group that started as the New Hope Singers a short four years earlier.
Did I say that booking was the lifeblood? Well it’s really everything. The flesh, the skin, the teeth…everything. Without the dates you have no reason to put a traveling aggregation together. The problem the booker faces is every church wants a Sunday night and every principal wants a Friday afternoon. EVERY other program has to be sold. No administrator wants to start Monday a.m. with an assembly that will fire up the kids and leave them bouncing off the walls for the next 7 hours…but someone has to take the early time. To successfully book that date takes salesmanship, and that’s what a booker is. A salesman. Wednesday night is not a bad alternative to Sunday for a church concert but Friday night in the middle of football season in a small football-crazy town in Texas isn’t.
I could write a book…but we’ve all been on those tours that seem to stagger across the country, crossing state lines faster than flames in a Malibu canyon firestorm. The bottom line is that an empty date book means no tour…so bookers - fill the dates, with God’s help, to the best of your ability.


HAVING SENT THIS STORY TO THE CAM FLORIA WHO FORWARDED IT TO THE BOOKERS OF CONTINENTAL SINGERS, JERIMIAH PEOPLE, ETC
I RECEIVED FURTHER INQUIRY TO EXPOUND…SO I WROTE THIS:


I know you don’t know me from Adam (that would be the other oldest Continental) but I wanted to write and encourage you. Cam wrote back and said he had passed my booking article on to each of you and I was sore afraid (biblical reference) that it would impact you negatively instead of it being the tongue-in-check epistle it was meant to be.
Every word of it is true…and the biggest truth is that I didn’t realize how difficult booking was until I got my own phone and date book. I spent eight years fulltime and six summers on a bus complaining about the booking…grousing that those people had no idea how difficult the schedule was. But when I sat down for my first “desk” job it was to fill a schedule of three road groups. Now…for me a knowledge of touring, set up, need for rest, food, etc was a real plus. Except that in the heat of the battle all that goes out the window…fill the dates, man. That’s the bottom line for the budget.
I guess no matter how long you have been doing it there are some basic truths I’d like to pass on:
You MUST really believe in your product. Don’t do this and treat it like you are selling windows over the phone. Your livelihood and the daily welfare of a whole group depends on your attitude.
You never face the booking day without first acknowledging that this is something you can’t do in your own strength. It’s one thing to have enthusiasm, phone charisma, knowledge, optimism and a mission…but in the forefront of your mind should be the words …”I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me.” And I think I can hear the old Oral Robert Singers theme song playing in the background…”Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world”. I’ve prayed my way into and out of many bookings (nothing worse than having to re-schedule what seemed like a perfect set of dates).
Whether it makes a difference in the dates you book or not it’s nice for the tour director to have personal contact, phone, e-mail, a visit when they are in the area…something human that will show them you care. Let’s face it, sometimes you have no control over a set of dates…it begins to take on a life of its own. That’s usually good. Then…there are times when it either falls in place or you hit it with your shoe and make it fall in place.
Has there been a recent mass mailing of information to the area you are booking? Finances don’t always allow for that but with the reputation of Jeremiah People and Continentals sometime just jogging the memory can get you some dates.
It may or may not make a difference but I know many heads of companies that started by booking their own dates. Cam, Roger Brelin of Truth, Thurlow Spurr of the Spurlows, Justin Smith of Evangelism Tickets, Lowell Lytle of Young American Showcase, Gary Henley of American Entertainment Productions, etc who have had groups out there for years and did their own booking to get things started. Now don’t go getting entrepreneurial ideas just yet…just rest in that fact. Cam…on the phone to churches across the US and Europe!
I don’t know your system, exchanging information with the others may already be happening, but remember “no man is an island (sorry ladies)”. Encourage each other as best you can. You may not even be in an office together but a trade of information can be helpful.

Well…I hope you accept this e-mail with a spoonful of sugar. If the shoe fits, etc. If I can further encourage any of you just write and I’ll give it a try. There are not that many tricks of the trade. Open date book, phone or e-mail in hand…nose to the grindstone…GO.

Wes Turner
(thankful I am not doing your job)