1. HOW THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES ARE AFFECTING THE WEDDING INDUSTRY: The wildfires ravaging parts of California are also having a major effect on the state’s wedding industry. With the fires destroying popular venues that couples booked, local planners are collaborating to help find last-minute solutions. The New York Times: “Among the 57,000 structures in the line of the Woolsey Fire, many were set to host wedding celebrations in the coming weeks, including the Lodge at Malibou Lake in Agoura Hills, California. “'By 7 a.m. on Friday morning, my phone was blowing up,' said Cordelia Culver, the Lodge managing director and caterer. ‘There was a huge amount of tension, not knowing whether our venue was being burned to the ground or not.’ Ultimately the structure was spared, but an evacuation forced Ms. Culver to cancel the next day’s event. ‘At first you’re like, "Well, maybe we’ll be able to have a wedding,’’' she said. ‘Then you just have to make the call that clearly that’s not going to happen.’ Ms. Culver, 44, took to social media in the hope of finding a replacement venue for the Lodge’s November 10 client, which is when she teamed with Jessica Carrillo, the owner of Art & Soul Events in West Los Angeles and an administrator in the wedding-theme Facebook group ‘Something Borrowed, Something New.’ Together they along with others in the event community became a de facto crisis response team, acting fast to compile a living document of bookable venues and vendors and make it available to the group’s nearly 8,000 members. ‘There were so many things being retweeted that weren’t true about which venues are standing and which ones aren’t,’ Ms. Carrillo, 36, said. ‘I don’t know if there are any sort of emergency help vendors, but if you’re one of those couples who didn’t hire a wedding planner, you’re at a complete loss. So I thought, let me just get some names and dates and contact information for anyone that’s scrambling.’ Thanks to their quick thinking, Ms. Culver was able to move the November 10 wedding to a space called the Holding Company in the Los Angeles suburb of Westlake. ‘The bride and groom were so thankful,’ Ms. Culver said. ‘I’ve been catering weddings for over a decade, and this is what you do. You produce. You make it happen. Our Sunday bride we refunded, though, because she couldn’t let go of the dream of a Lodge wedding.’” https://nyti.ms/2FmevMI
2. PLAYSTATION WILL SKIP E3 FOR THE FIRST TIME: For the first time in E3's 24-year history, Sony's PlayStation won't have a presence at the video game exhibition in 2019. The news was quietly revealed at the Entertainment Software Association’s 2019 show announcement, which quoted Sony competitors Nintendo and Microsoft. Variety: "Sony confirmed their absence in a statement to Variety. 'As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community,' according to the statement. 'PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently, and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.' This will be the first time in E3’s 24-year history that PlayStation will not be attending the event, it is also the second major PlayStation event canceled by the company in recent months. In September, Shawn Layden, chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, said the company wouldn’t be hosting this year’s PlayStation Experience citing a lack of games to show. ... PlayStation Experience started four years ago as a celebration for PlayStation’s 20th anniversary as a way to 'bring fans together' for a consumer event, according to Layden. The event expanded over the next few years as a place to give news updates. This year, though Layden expressed that 'we have a lot of progress that we’re making in our games' but also that there’s not much to share at this point for upcoming titles. The same could be true for E3 2019, though that does raise concerns about the PlayStation 4 itself and a potential lack of upcoming titles. The timing also comes just a month after Sony C.E.O. Kenichiro Yoshida confirmed that a successor to the PlayStation 4 is going to happen." https://bit.ly/2Q2z2K6
3. NIELSEN REPORTS 52 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ATTEND LIVE MUSIC EVENTS: On Thursday, Nielsen Music released its 2018 Music 360 Report on the live music business, revealing that 52 percent of Americans attend at least one live music event each year. Billboard: "The report, the result of a survey of some 3,100 Americans, was also discussed with more detail by Nielsen Music’s VP/head of brand partnerships Matthew Yazge at this week’s Billboard Live Music Summit, who was bullish on the live industry in his remarks. 'It’s definitely growing,' he said about that 52 percent figure. 'Artists rely heavily on touring. We’ve seen, specifically, festivals continuing to increase… I don’t think we’ve hit the peak [of festival attendance] yet, so I would anticipate that to continue growing in the future as well.' Within the category of those who attend live events, 68 percent attended a concert, 66 percent a free outdoor community event involving music, 51 percent a small live sessions at a bar or café, 44 percent a music festival, and 43 percent a club night featuring a live DJ. Those attendees tended to skew younger—26 percent more likely to be millennials—and Hispanic, at 32 percent more likely than the general population. Attendees were also 35 percent more likely to come from households bringing in more than $80,000 a year, and spend an average of $247 per year on tickets to live music events, compared to $147 per year for the general population. 'These people are not shy in buying tickets. It’s all about the experience,' Yazge said, noting that attendees spend an average of 33.5 hours a week listening to music. 'They’re listening to more than a full day of music in their average week.' In terms of the overall population, 35 percent of people have attended a concert in the past 12 months, up from 33 percent last year, while the percentage of those who attended a festival, 23 percent, saw the greatest year over year growth, up from 18 percent. And while the average number of teens attending a live music event dropped from 44 percent to 40 percent, millennials (66 percent, from 60 percent) and Hispanics (69 percent, from 62 percent), both increased." https://bit.ly/2DHFssx
* LOCAL NEWS *
CHICAGO: The annual Fifth Third Bank Winder WonderFest will take place November 30-January 6, 2019, at Navy Pier. The holiday festival will have 170,000 square feet of attractions, including indoor ice skating and rides.
LAS VEGAS: Global Winter Wonderland, a lantern festival and multicultural theme park, will run December 14-January 20, 2019 in the north lot of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The event will showcase massive lantern designs of landmarks from all seven continents.
LOS ANGELES: Union Station Homeless Services' Dinner in the Park will take place on Thursday at Pasadena Central Park. The Pasadena Convention Center’s Centerplate team will prepare up to 300 turkeys to feed over 1,000 people.
For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles
NEW YORK: Diana Ross, John Legend, Tony Bennett and Diana Krall, and Pentatonix will perform at NBC’s 86th annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree lighting on November 28.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will celebrate 15 years of its Thanks and Giving campaign with a holiday pop-up December 7-8 at 168 Bowery. The pop-up will have hot cocoa, a D.I.Y. ornament and holiday card station, and a holiday photo booth.
The public relations firm Karla Otto announced it is representing the new Equinox Hotels brand. The first location from the brand—known for its health clubs—is set to open in 2019 in the New York's Hudson Yards development.
For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork
TORONTO: The third annual Holiday Fair in the Square, which benefits Epilepsy Toronto, will take place December 1-23 at Nathan Phillips Square. From December 4-23, a 40-foot-by-12-foot mural created entirely with Legos will be on display. The mural will be built with approximately 663,552 bricks.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has appointed Marc Bamuthi Joseph vice president and artistic director of social impact, effective January 1, 2019
RedPeg, an independent brand engagement agency, has appointed Harry Poole vice president of client services. Poole was formerly regional head of sponsorship for Etihad Airways.
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With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, and Ian Zelaya in New York.
BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.
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