Approaching the 100-day mark

The check list is being developed.

We're about 100 days out from Real. Texas. Festival. 2011 and although I knew it was going to happen, I just couldn't stop it.

In August, I told people that I was going to ramp up my planning efforts for the festival. They scoffed. "Good Lord! That's in April. You have eight or nine months for gosh sakes," they said.

I told them that as sure as I'm sitting here (I was sitting down at the time I said this ... or I might have been standing ... it doesn't matter), I would look up at the calendar in what seemed like a couple of days and it would be mid January or first of February.

And, here we are. It seems like a few days since August and here it is mid January and we are watching the rope that holds the mine car getting frayed and close to breaking.

Pretty soon, the RTF mine car will become run-away in nature and if we're not careful, it will overwhelm everyone and in an other couple of days from now, it will be April 1.

So, we are making the list and checking things off as we get them accomplished -- looking to have no stone go unturned.

One of the things we are happy we don't have to worry about is the entertainment line up. It's set and locked in.

I read recently about a winter music festival that was being planned for Aspen, Colo. The organizers decided to delay the festival one year ... setting its sites on 2012. They gave some interesting reasons.

One of the reasons was that the city council didn't approve the special event permit. Well, that should wrap it up right there.

But the organizers went on.

Aspen Skiing Company spokesperson Jeff Hanle said, "as organizers tried to assemble a lineup, it found that the performers it wanted to book were no longer available, and those who were available weren't big enough to draw the kinds of crowds it wanted."

Translation: We got started too late. Also, the performers that WERE big enough to draw the kinds of crowds the event wanted were probably too expensive. The event simply couldn't afford them.

I believe the Aspen folks learned a valuable lesson regarding the entertainment industry. With record sales limping along, artists are touring more. And, there seem to be more venues cropping up everywhere.

We've certainly experienced that. The two casinos have spiced things up in Dallas-Fort Worth for sure. The two locations are within 100 miles of the Metroplex so Metroplex venues often fall in the 90-day booking radius clause in most contracts.

It states that the artist won't book a show within a certain radius within 90 days. In our case, an artist booked at Winstar in Thackerville, Okla., in February might be off limits to us.

That's why the RTF tries to have its entertainers booked by October and November ... and tries to have the headliners booked much earlier than that. We can reverse the whip on Winstar. Of course, we contend Winstar and Choctaw are overpaying for entertainers because they can ... but that's another story altogether.

So, the check list continues to get marked up as we get closer to the festival.

Headliners booked? Check.

Entertainment line up completed? Check

Vendor recruitment underway? Check

Sponsorships locked in and resigned? Not so much ... still working on it.

Oh ... and by the way ... did we mention this year's headliners are Stoney Larue on Friday and Eli Young Band on Saturday? Good times.