Oklahoma Rock Newsblog

World’s Fair has folded, president and CEO Kevin Wortis confirmed to Billboard today.

The demise of the organization comes as something of a surprise; just yesterday, World’s Fair sent an email promoting the premiere of the new Lyrics Born video to writers.

World’s Fair was founded in 2004 by Wortis, Scott Booker and Amaechi Uzoigwe. Booker sold his stake in late 2008 or early 2009 in order to concentrate on his new position as chief executive officer of ACM@UCO. Uzoigwe left the group in June 2008.

The label group worked with U.S. and international labels such as Rough Trade, Daptone, Play It Again Sam and Definitive Jux. World’s Fair also worked with The Flaming Lips, Morcheeba, The Dandy Warhols, Midlake, Aesop Rock, Snow Patrol, The Secret Machines, British Sea Power, J Dilla, Spindrift and more.

Booker has stated in previous interviews that he will still manage The Flaming Lips, Stardeath & White Dwarfs and Colourmusic.

Yesterday morning, I was invited to attend a press conference for the announcement of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO).

ACM@UCO will offer seven programs: music performance (guitar, bass, drums, and vocals), music production, music business, and sound engineering and recording. ACM@UCO will feature world-class facilities and will employ faculty (as well as guest instructors) who are active industry professionals and specialists in their field. Classes will begin in the fall of 2009.

“This is one of the most exciting and creative ventures I’ve been involved with in my many years in higher education. Through this unique partnership with our wonderfully creative and innovative friends at the Academy of Contemporary Music, UCO will provide not only an opportunity for students to receive hands-on learning about everything they need to know to succeed in the music industry, but we will also provide a fantastic outlet for the burgeoning creative movement here in Oklahoma.” - UCO President Roger Webb

Scott Booker, co-founder of World’s Fair, owner of Hellfire Enterprises Ltd. and manager of The Flaming Lips, will serve as executive director of the ACM@UCO.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Oklahoma and the region. UCO has found a way to reach out to people interested in music and the music business that has not existed before. I am excited and honored to be involved in this truly innovative program.” - Scott Booker

The original ACM was founded in Guildford, England in 1996 and has a full-time enrollment of 1200 students. Their school has produced Amelle Berrabah of The Sugababes, Jon Harper of CSS, Ross Candy of Avenue, Ben King of The Yardbirds, Luke Higgins and Sam Odiwe of Bryn Christopher, Lauren Dyson of Basshunter and singer-songwriters Newton Faulkner, Rokhsan Heydari and Nick Harrison.

“We are delighted and honored to be working with UCO, to bring ACM’s unique brand of music industry education to America. The people involved with UCO are some of the most creative and forward thinking individuals we have had the pleasure of meeting. Everyone at ACM is looking forward to a great partnership and future with UCO, training tomorrow’s musicians, producers and music business leaders.” - ACM Founder and Director Phil Brookes

ACM@UCO will be the first school of its kind in the United States. ACM has previously partnered with universities in Johannesburg, South Africa, Bologna, Italy and Tokyo, Japan. The academy will be housed in the Oklahoma Hardware building in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoman ran a good article on Scott Booker and his company World’s Fair today.

It’s great to see someone not only employ a unique business model, but also use it to reinvest and promote Oklahoma music as well. Kudos to you, Scott.

World’s fair game for Lips manager

Scott Booker was working the counter at Rainbow Records one day when in walked a skinny guy wearing a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet with the tinted visor pulled down over his face.

“He grabbed a copy of ‘The Song Remains the Same,’ came to the counter,” Booker recalls. “And you know, that corner of 23rd and Classen could be rough at moments, and there was that briefest of moments where I was like, ‘OK, is this guy gonna buy the record, or is he gonna rob us?’ And he never really said anything, and he never lifted his visor.”

It was only after the mysterious masked customer had paid and left that Booker found out he was Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. Turned out the freaky musician worked a day job just down the street at Long John Silver’s.

That was more than 20 years ago, and what followed is well-documented. Record store customers knew Booker as a square dealer who always paid fair prices for used vinyl, particularly when the seller was broke, and that endeared him to members of the wild, ragtag, psychedelic noise-pop band from Oklahoma City that was starting to make waves in the indie-label underground. They eventually signed to Warner Bros. Records and made their friend from Midwest City their manager.

Seven albums, three Grammys and the building of an international cult following later, nothing much has changed, except that Booker, 42, is branching out.

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From World’s Fair:

Flaming Lips’ manager and World’s Fair co-founder Scott Booker has been blogging over at SXSW’s Idiots Unite panel blog. It’s a blog, it’s a SXSW Music panel. How to survive, thrive, and be happy working with the universally loved art form called music. Please feel free to comment to add to this discussion. Off-topic commentary will be moderated accordingly.

The SXSW 2007 Music panel Idiots Unite! takes place Thursday, March 15th at 2:45 PM in the Austin Convention Center. For now, the debate rages on with post titles like “The Fan as Catalyst and the Value of Property” and “Empowerment, Entitlement and Partnership” make for thoughtful musings on the road to SXSW.

World’s Fair’s latest signing to their management roster is Stillwater’s Colourmusic.

Other bands World’s Fair manages include Bean, British Sea Power, El P, Flaming Lips, The Gray Kid, Mike Ladd, Pela, Read Yellow & Vic Thrill.

DOWNLOADS:
Colourmusic - “Circles”
Colourmusic - “You Can Call Me By My Name”

Kudos to Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post for a fantastic article on Oklahoma music!

Oklahoma’s indie gusher
Flaming Lips top surprising roster of talent
By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic

Wayne Coyne has a hard time imagining that his Oklahoma upbringing was that much different from any other lower-middle-class kid in the Midwest.

“My brothers were into drugs and stealing motorcycles and going to jail and living a wonderful rebellion, outlaw sort of life,” Coyne, the fearless singer of The Flaming Lips, said in a telephone interview last week.

“If you could have watched me from outer space, it wouldn’t surprise you, ‘That guy’s gonna play in a freak-out, anti-religious, spaced-out band.’ It wouldn’t be surprising one bit.”

Watching from outer space or even Colorado, it might have surprised you a little. Coyne was not in Austin, Texas; Athens, Ga.; or any other music hub. He was in Oklahoma, the pan-shaped buckle of the Bible Belt.

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