When a well-known figure in the financial services world chose to get married in picturesque Sundance, Utah, Empire Entertainment was called to plan, design, manage and execute the concerts and production for a spectacular three day extravaganza with approximately 200 guests. The Salt Lake City Tribune dubbed the affair "Wedding of the Year".

On the first evening, Empire delivered and produced contemporary rock act Maroon 5 (winner of the 2005 Grammy for Best New Artist), who performed an upbeat set that included all of their hits just hours before they flew to Philadelphia to perform at the global Rockfest Live 8. Maroon 5's set was customized for the bride & groom to include a romantic cover of the Beatles song, "If I Fell". Maroon 5's performance took place at sunset in an open meadow surrounded by soaring mountains and 40 foot pine trees. Empire's lighting designers added drama to the surroundings by adding smartly placed lighting instruments with colored gels to, and beneath, the Pine Trees and meadow circumference, and the managing power connections and distribution for the accompanying barbeque, dinner band and mechanical bull ride.

Following the outdoor wedding ceremony on the next day, Rockin' Dopsie, the New Orleans Zydeco band, performed while the guests sipped cocktails outside the Screening Room at Sundance Resort. The party continued as guests moved to the reception hall and boogied between courses to a 15-piece dance orchestra, flown in from New York. The band performed on a custom deck builtover a flowing stream, outfitted with a dance floor including western style décor, such as leather sofas, native American tapestries and coffee tables.Following dinner the guests were again treated to special concert, this time by Hootie and the Blowfish, who performed on a custom stage built over a flowing waterfall. Empire's lighting designers again transformed the environment by adding strategically placed colored gels and up-lightingsurrounding the waterfall, as the guests danced and sang while enjoying wine, champagne and spirits.Following Hootie's performance, the guests went into a dance frenzy into the wee hours of the morning, as DJ David Chang mixed together a masterful play list, ideally suited for the the audience demographic.

On the following morning Empire helped wrap the weekends' festivities by producing the Soul Rebels at a Cajun Brunch, as guests filled their bellies with Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee and Bread Pudding.For this unique wedding celebration, Empire's Private Client Services division provided entertainment booking & contracting, logistics management, power distribution, lighting design, staging, sound, labor, generators and power distribution. Empire met and overcame all unforseeable challenges to ensure that this event ran smoothly and came off without a hitch.

Empire's Private Client Services division is a leading producer of high-end events for the most discerning of clients. Whether it be a wedding, anniversary, special birthday, bar mitzvah or a personal celebration of any kind, Empire can transform a mere party into a legendary production thatwill be remembered for a lifetime.

This Summer, at one of the largest annual corporate events held in America, Empire had the privilege to book, contract & manage several elements of entertainment & content for one of the world's largest global corporations. These included a spectacular opening meeting sequence staged by director Andy Bew and featuring aerialist/acrobatic troupe Antigravity with Classical Crossover superstars, Bond, Olympic gold medalist and the fastest human alive, Michael Johnson, DJ / Model Sky Nellor, House Band The Rupert's Orchestra and host / emcee Rodney Sherwood among others.But the entertainment highlight of the multi-day conference was an outdoor concert by Australian hard rock group, Jet. This band, led by brothers Nic & Chris Cester, are best known for their U. S. breakout hit "Are you Gonna Be My Girl" which was featured in the original Apple iPod commercials and was the first season theme song for HBO's series, "Entourage."

Empire was able to negotiate a deal with Jet that allowed them to fly from Los Angeles, where they were in the studio recording at the time, to Atlanta to perform for a young business audience, thousands strong, from around the globe.The band performed in an outdoor amphitheater at the Six Flags amusement Park. Although it was a hot Atlanta night where the temperature reached into the 90's, the heat didn't begin until the band tore into their high energy set which was a combination of AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and the Ramones.The band delivered a powerful performance that included their hits "Are you Gonna Be My Girl," "Get What You Need" and "Cold Heart Bitch" and also a first time-ever live performance of a new song from their forthcoming album. At one point during the show, One of the band members climbed atop the speaker stacks Johnny Ramones-style to play a blistering guitar solo. The audience went wild.The band blew away the audience who responded with cheers long after the band had left the stage for their ovenight flight on a chartered Jet, back to the studio on LA for the following day.

Empire is the leader in securing contemporary musical talent for business meetings and events.

For the 2nd consecutive year , Empire Entertainment Japan was chosen to book and produce all entertainment for a major financial services company's corporate awards conference for it's top Japanese distributors. The company sponsored this trip to reward 300 of the company's top selling agents and their families, bringing them together from various locations in Japan to Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas for 5 days and 4 nights of sightseeing and entertainment.For this conference, Empire booked and produced the entertainment over 3 evenings for the Welcome Party, the Awards Ceremony and the Farewell party. In addition, during both the planning and execution phases, Empire provided Japanese/English bilingual logistical support between the Japanese client and their other Japanese vendors, and the many local vendors responsible for various aspects of the conference events.

Although the Japanese guests were coming to an unfamiliar land and feeling the effects of jet lag from the 14+ hour international flight, they were very quickly made to feel at ease, because of the well-planned and relevant program that was produced especially for them by Empire Entertainment and it's partners.During the Welcome Party, the guests were entertained by familiar Dixie Land and Bluegrass songs performed by the Steve Dwiggins Band and a Country Line Dance performance by a local dance troop. For the Awards Ceremony, the highlight of the week's activities, Empire Entertainment answered the client's request to create a very memorable show for their guests. Using the restored Civil War era Columbus Iron Works facility, now the Columbus Convention Center, Empire created a very southern facade - working with a local production company to construct a stage resembling an old Southern Plantation House, outfitting the ceremony's Japanese MC's in full Rhett Butler and Scarlett Ohara costumes, and providing escorts dressed in Southern Belle attire. And to make memorable first and last impressions, Empire arranged for a Ray Charles look-a-like to open the ceremony with a rendition of "Georgia on My Mind", and arranged for Rupert's Orchestra to finish off the crowd with a rousing set of classic R&B dance tunes.

For the Farewell Party on the final evening, the entertainment started with guests being treated to a traditional southern dinner at the renowned Pitty Pat's Porch Restaurant in downtown Atlanta, followed by musical entertainment provided by ….. And finally for those who still weren't ready to call it quits, Empire decorated a conference room in the guest's hotel for all to congregrate, view a video diary of the week's activities, reminisce and say good bye to the new friends that they made over the past few days.

Empire Entertainment's Asia-Pacific office, located in Tokyo Japan, enables Empire to better serve the needs of it's clients in Japan and Asia. Empire Entertainment Japan adds to Empire's international reach by providing a high level of local expertise and on the ground support for it's clients in the Asia Pacific region. Whether you are a Japanese or Asian client planning an event locally within the region, whether you are a Japanese or Asian client planning an event somewhere else in the world, or whether you are an international organization from another region planning an event in Asia-Pacific, Empire Entertainment Japan is your best source for booking local or international talent, and producing events in the Asia-Pacific region or anywhere else in the world.

When an automotive company wanted to entertain their dealers at a key announcement show in glamorous Cannes, France, they turned to Empire Entertainment to secure a headline concert act that would suit the upscale audience and the fashionable surroundings.Leveraging its music connections, Empire was able to reunite three of the original lead singers of the five time Grammy Award nominated group En Vogue, to play the party.En Vogue, who are an internationally-known, female-led R&B act, performed a high energy headline concert for this exiting vehicle unveiling which took place at the same time of the annual Cannes Film Festival.Onstage, En Vogue performed all of their hits including "Hold On", "You're Never Gonna Get It", "Whatta Man" and "Free Your Mind" while the audience became a sea of backup singers & dancers. En Vogue's performance was a home run for the audience and the group are performing a follow up engagement for the same client.

From Cannes to Tokyo, from Buenos Aires to Sydney, Empire Entertainment delivers superstar talent for every setting.

Called "the Academy Awards of the Internet", The Webby Awards recently chose Empire Entertainment to produce their most important program to date, The 9th Annual Webby Awards. This unique awards program recognizes excellence and innovation in the growing area of web design creativity and functionality. With a reputation of presenting state-of-the-art creativity to an audience representing some of the greatest living creative minds, Empire's challenge was a great one.Empire created an extraordinary evening program that featured a networking cocktail hour, a three-course gala dinner, an exceptionally complex and dynamic awards ceremony featuring over 80 award winners, and a buzzing after party.

The Webby Awards were held at Gotham Hall and featured a diverse and amusing program. Founders Tiffany Shlain and Maya Draisin opened the show with inspiring words of the spread of thought across the globe with each website that is developed. Rob Corddry, correspondent on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," matched the program's animated design with his wit and charm.In keeping with Webby tradition, winners kept their acceptance speeches to five words which highlighted and distilled the ingenuity and humor of the winners. Even The Honorable Al Gore, who received the Webby's Lifetime Achievement Award, initially honored the tradition, bringing down the house by saying "please don't recount this vote". The Former Vice President then added some more serious commentary, noting that the Webby Awards had "reached a critical mass" and stepped past a "tipping point" with the 9th Annual event.Other special honorees included Person of the Year, Craig Newmark of craigslist.com, Artist of the Year, The Kleptones at kleptones.com, Breakout of the Year, and Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield of flickr.com.

The after-party, held at The Cellar Bar of Bryant Park Hotel, was sponsoredby 2Advanced Studios, creators of the graphics for the program. Their president also supplied the sounds of the affair by spinning music as the afterparty's DJ while guests socialized and networked with other creative minds. Empire provided turnkey design and production of the Webby Awards including site selection and acquisition, catering and bar service, an elegant yet bold décor scheme in red & yellow, efficient registration of almost 600 guests and members of the media, signage, staff, set design, script writing, all video, sound, and lighting, as well as stage management.The hugely successful event was covered extensively in the media including extended features on CNN, Good Morning America, FOX News, the BBC, CNBC, Inside Edition, and the New York Times among dozens of others.Empire is a leading producer of innovative award programs and media events worldwide.

For more information about The Webby Awards, including how to register as a nominee for the 10th Annual event, visit http://www.webbyawards.com.

Empire Entertainment's expertise in production, logistics, and securing sponsorships paired with epop International's event conception and management combined to create a memorable evening of tribute on the occasion of Anne Frank's 75th Birthday. The event, a gala dinner held at New York's Chelsea Piers, was attended by approximately 300 guests and benefited The Anne Frank Center USA.The event celebrated Anne's legacy by honoring individuals who emulate her courage and desire for an inclusive, non-discriminatory society. Buddy Elias, the last remaining relative of Anne Frank, presented the Inaugural Anne Frank Human Writes Award to Arthur Miller's son whom accepted it on his behalf of his father. The event also featured a series of special readings and performances by literary figures and artists from all walks of life. Readings from Anne Frank's and Arthur Miller's works were done by Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Gere, Natalie Portman, Lou Reed, Laura Linney, and Amy Irving. The audience was soothed by the incredibly touching performance by Cyndi Lauper of Edith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose" and "Time After Time," and by Michael Feinstein's adaptation of "Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen" and "Somewhere," and lastly Lili Haydn's "The Last Serenade." The event was supported by the Simon Wiesenthal Center / New York Tolerance Center, Le Parker Meridien New York and by Coca-Cola.Empire is an effective production partner to innovative fundraising and cause-related organizers like

When Oprah Winfrey decides to throw a party, she turns to World-leading event designer Colin Cowie to pull off something magnificent. When Colin Cowie needs entertainment for his amazing fetes, he turns to Empire Entertainment as his preferred entertainment partner.So it was certainly no wonder when Ms. Winfrey decided to throw her most brilliant and spectacular party to date, that Empire received the call to produce the talent, handle all of the logistics, and stage manage the events for this three-day extravaganza.

The event was Legends, a weekend designed to honor African-American Women who are legendary in what they do and are not only inspirational in Miss Winfrey's own life, but to millions of people around the world. Some of the Legends were Coretta Scott King, Tina Turner, Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks. And to not only did Oprah want to honor legends but opted to honor the next generation of women to reach Legendary status with all of their achievements, who Oprah affectionately referred to as the Young'ens. Young'ens included Oprah, Halle Barry, Alicia Keys, Angela Bassett and many others.The festivities kicked off on Friday afternoon (after several days of advanced preparation) with a brunch in a magnificent gazebo on the grounds of Oprah's Montecito, California home called the Promised Land. The women dined on a delicious five star meal. Just after lunch and before dessert, the ladies needed to be entertained. Who better to entertain some of the most amazing minds and wonderful women, than the very cute and extremely talented, John Legend. John flew in that day from overseas to perform his hit songs "Live It Up" and "Ordinary People" solo at the piano.The brunch was amazing, but the event on Saturday was designed to top it. The event was held at the beautiful Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara. The main ballroom and surrounding areas were transformed into an elegant, modern and stunning space for The Legends White Tie Ball. Empire was on hand to stage manage the entire evening, working together with sound, video, projection, lighting and talent to ensure a seamless and smooth running evening. Empire's Production Manager, Jim Corrieri, called the show. The evening featured speaking by Oprah Winfrey and Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama.

The Young'ens headed to the stage together to read the Legends a beautiful poem. In the background, a 25-piece orchestra led by conductor Gil Goldstein played throughout the event. Guests and honorees were treated to additional entertainment by jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, Bebe Winans who performed a special song that he wrote especially for the occasion called "A Legend" not long after Bebe's performance Michael McDonald and his band hit the stage, and once they finished getting everyone off of their feet and some guests up on the stage, everyone remained on the dance floor for DJ Frankie Knuckles who spun tunes until the wee hours of the morning!The event closed with a Gospel Brunch on the grounds of Oprah's home. Guests were treated to beautiful Gospel Music led by Bebe Winans and a custom band that he put together with Musical Director, Tony Coleman. Such Gospel greats as Wintley Phipps, DeNetria Champ, and The Hawkins all performed and had guests singing in what was a glorious revival of music. The gust list for this weekend was star-studed and included attendees ranging from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, John Travolta and Barbara Streisand to Usher, Diana Ross and Tina Turner.

Empire is a leading producer in securing and managing talent logistics for events around the world, and we are honored to be a part of such a memorable event and experience.

For the first time ever, all the children who lost a parent on September 11th, as well as children from schools neighboring the former World Trade Center and emergency service personnel families, were united for an afternoon of laughter, music and magic in a unique 90-minute interactive show called "FundaySunday," produced by Empire Entertainment.The show was created by cancer survivor and ComedyCures Foundation founder, Saranne Rothberg, and was sponsored by Rotary International. The matinee performance took place on a Sunday afternoon at the historic Town Hall in New York City.

Leading entertainers such as New York City's percussion and hip hop dance troupe the Rhythmics, Antigravity's renowned hula hoop artist Anna Jack, basketball tricksters the Harlem Wizards, Velcro percussionists the Bang Group and international circus comedy sensation Karl Saliter were among the many artists who agreed to perform at this unprecedented gathering.Other featured acts included the ComedyCures Humor Ambassadors Slideshow Comics, vocal celebrity impersonator Rick Younger, blues harmonicist David Harp and crowd motivator MC Darrell and dancers who maintained high-energy throughout the show.Saranne Rothberg hosted the program with her ComedyCures signature remarks. Thirteen year old Star Search winner and Sony recording artist, Tiffany Evans brought the crowd to their feet with a soulful rendition of the song, "Tomorrow," and the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir sang a powerful and uplifting "Higher and Higher," as a finale leading the dancing crowd down the aisles.

For this unique event, Empire booked, contracted, coordinated all talent and handled all production and logistics.Empire understood Rothberg's vision to create a fun and exciting environment for the children, as this was their special day. Empire secured all the décor, a custom colored "yellow carpet," for the kids to walk down along with guest celebrities, and a step and repeat area for press coverage of the event. Empire booked and helped coordinate various talent, magicians, costumed performers and stilt walkers who welcomed the families to their fun- filled afternoon. Surprise guests, Johnny Davis of the 49ers and Bill Willoughby of the Denver Rockets came to support ComedyCures and to share in this wonderful experience to unite the 9/11 children.Rothberg founded ComedyCures while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer recognizing that comedy and laughter served as a great coping strategy. Since then, Rothberg and the ComedyCures Foundation has brought joy, laughter and therapeutic humor programs to kids living with illness and life threatening illnesses for thousands of people. Rotary International District 7230 NYC/WTX Relief Fund recognized the ComedyCures mission and gave a generous grant to fund this live event program, dedicating the day to therapeutic humor in celebration of their centennial year. Thanks to Rotary, Rothberg was able to give families directly impacted by 9/11 an afternoon of laughter.

Empire is a leading producer of creative programs for unique charitable events.

When a leading Fortune 500 firm wanted to treat its employees and strategic partners to an unforgettable arena concert, it called on Empire to secure the notoriously hard-to-deliver, Platinum-selling act - Bon Jovi.After a lengthy meet-and-greet that saw company VIPs chatting casually with Hair Band royalty, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and the band hit the stage of Boston's Agganis Arena and launched into a solid 90 minutes of hits that included "Living on a Prayer," "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Bad Medicine," "You Give Love Bad Name," "I'll be There For You" and many others.The band's high energy onstage antics had row upon row of esteemed executives behaving like frantic teenagers.

After the show, VIPs trickled backstage for a post-show "hang" with the 100-million album selling superstars.As if that wasn't enough star power, Bill Belichick, the two time Superbowl winning coach ofthe New England Patriots, also joined the backstage party. Truly a night to remember.

Empire Entertainment is the world's leading producer of top name headline concert acts for corporate meetings & events.

When a global corporation sought to hold a high level client event on the eve of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, KY, they turned to Empire Entertainment to help them secure the right talent for this very special event.Empire worked with the client to help guide the selection of talent based on a variety of criteria and ultimately helped the client decide upon a fabulous Motown show featuring two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, the Temptations and the Four Tops.The show took place in a tent and followed a sumptuous barbecue dinner.

First up were the Four Tops who performed a 60 minute set that included many of their greatest hits such as "Baby, I Need Your Loving," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugarpie, Honeybunch)," "It's the Same Old Song," "Reach Out (I'll Be There)," "Bernadette," "Walk Away, Rene," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Shake Me, Wake Me," and "Still Waters Run Deep."Then, after a set-change of just 4 minutes, the Temptations took the stage and got the crowd dancing again with a high energy, 60 minute set that included "The Way You Do The Things You Do," "My Girl," "You're My Everything," "Get Ready," "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," "(I Know) I'm Losing You," "Cloud Nine," "Runaway Child, Running Wild," "Ball Of Confusion," "I Can't Get Next To You," "Masterpiece" and "Just My Imagination."Both acts displayed their distinctive Motown stage choreography and both bands performed with the backing of a powerful 10 piece horn section provided by the Tuscaloosa horns.For this engagement, Empire provided all talent contracting and coordination, air, room & ground transportation logistics, production coordination, backstage wrangling and onsite stage management.

Whether a classic oldies act or today's newest musical superstars, more companies turn to Empire Entertainment than any other company to help them secure the right talent for their events.

For the 5th consecutive year, Empire produced the annual client conference for one of the world's largest financial company's retirement group. For this 4 day / 3 evening long event, Empire booked and produced all entertainment and provided keynote and topical speakers including: actor, business owner & entrepreneur Robert Redford, PBS financial advisor Cassie Seifert, anchor and managing editor of CNN's Moneyline Lou Dobbs and America's best-known financial expert Jane Bryant-Quinn.The opening evening featured world-renowned flamenco artists Fuego Flamenco, who thrilled the audience with their amazing Spanish Gypsy form of music, song and dance.Empire again designed, built and installed the conference's Resource Center in which twenty client participants / partners were provided custom-designed spaces to showcase their latest materials to the conferences 350 attendees. This space also served as a place where attendees could relax, network and check email between general sessions.

Empire completely transformed a 100' X 50' ballroom space into a hacienda themed / Spanish colonial design, that featured custom-built stations around the rooms perimeter, complimented with colorful and bright Mexican furnishings and floor rugs. These elements were used to house computer monitors, laptops, print materials as well as wireless internet connections for participants. The set was so impressive that the hotel purchased the entire build from the client to use for their future hotel clients.Empire also booked, contracted, coordinated and provided onsite management for various Southwestern themed entertainment elements for the attendees to enjoy while relaxing in the resource center. At a cocktail reception on the opening day of the conference, a Spanish classical guitarist set the ambience as three festively costumed senorita greeters passed out brightly colored paper flowers and cascarones, which are hollowed out egg shells with confetti inside, to incoming guests.

The next day, a pinata artisan skillfully demonstrated how to craft and complete a piñata, customized as the Merrill Lynch bull. Then, a woman demonstrated the art of Papel Picado, which means "punched paper" in Spanish, a traditional folk art used in Mexico to decorate altars, tables, ceilings and plaza during festivals. This artform was also used to decorate the resource center. Lastly, Empire booked a skillful, sly card trick handler to demonstrate slight of hand tricks to the attendees.In the evenings, Empire once again booked, contracted and coordinated all logistics for after dinner entertainment for the attendees returning from their offsite dinner festivities. The second night at the conference, Empire booked a traditionally costumed mariachi trio to perform and sing in the hotel bar.

On the eve of the last day of the conference, Empire booked the Nick Hernandez Band, a rockin' country western cover band, playing well-known favorites to perform from the clients return from the rodeo. The attendees danced the night away until the early hours of the morning in the hotel bar, Charlie's Longbar.As a tradition, Merrill Lynch's CFO likes to open each morning session with a satire of the last evening festivities. Every year, Empire provides the costumes and different components for him to do so. One morning, while dressed as a Mexican peasant, Empire hired a well-trained show donkey named Aesop, to accompany him onto stage. The next day, he dressed in a full-blown mariachi costume, pretending to skillfully play the classical guitar, while classical Spanish music played in the background. On the last day, Empire booked an authentic country western singer to sing customized karaoke to the CFO's own rendition of "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

Empire enjoys providing these various costume elements as they provide an enjoyable experience for the attendees during their business conference.

When a certain a Fortune 500 firm with global presence wanted to wow its European division's diverse audience with a precedent-setting concert, it called on Empire to help them source a contemporary, affordable concert act with undeniable Euro-appeal. Empire put its research and relationship skills to work and found a perfect, routed opportunity for international chart-topper SealWhen Seal hit the stage, the multinational crowd went mad. Almost 5,000 attendees wandered to the show along the misty cobblestone streets of Copenhagen, arriving at the Forum — one of the city's premier venues — for cocktails and dinner before Seal took the stage.

The audience stood shoulder to shoulder throughout a high energy show of almost 90 minutes, dancing and singing along with the pop-star as he performed all of his hits along with a couple of cover tunes. Following the show, Seal graciously gabbed with VIPs for almost 30 minutes before gathering his lovely wife, Heidi Klum, and heading back to the hotel. Empire's client, indecisive before the concert about whether to have a follow-up concert the following year, has vowed to make it an annual event.

At a recent multi-day technology conference for high level customers in Seattle, Empire presented former Doobie Brother and five time Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter Michael McDonald. For this intimate event which took place at the Triple Door Club in Seattle, Michael performed a greatest hits concert with a band consisting of keyboards, bass, drums, guitar, a hirn section and backing vocals.Michael performed a career retrospective concert including Doobie Brothers hits as well as his more recent Motown work. The 90 minute set included such hits as "It Keeps You Runnin,'" "I Keep Forgetting," "Reach Out," Grapevine," "I Second That Emotion," "You Belong to Me," "Minute by Minute", "What a Fool Believes," "On My Own" and "Takin' it to the Streets" among many others. Michael's distinctive voice was in perfect form as he thrilled the audience and ultimately got them up dancing before the encore. For this event, Empire booked and contracted Michael McDonald, provided all air, room and ground transportation logisitics, coordinatied production and stage managed the show Onsite.

Empire is a leading producer of headline entertainment for corporate meetings and events.

Each year one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer products holds a supplier recognition awards gala to honor and recognize achievement in partnership among their largest suppliers. In 2005, this multinational corporation turned to Empire Entertainment to help them produce their event and raise the quality of every aspect of the production. Working with a new client, in a new venue, on a new program and in a city in which Empire was relatively unfamiliar, Empire was quickly able to grasp the client's needs and design and execute a flawless, high quality event that exceeded the client's expectations.

Empire worked to coordinate all aspects of this program including catering, design and decor, logistics such as check-in, valet parking, security, tenting & guest flow, cocktail and dinner entertainment, stage design, lighting design, audio, graphics production, audio visual and stage management of the evening. In addition to a cocktail hour at which the Tommy Whitten Trio performed and a dinner at which the University of Richmond vocal harmony group the Octaves performed, Empire also arranged for a surprise appearance of the popular "Three Waiters" opera singers whose performance was a smash success. The awards program recognized achievements of 8 major suppliers to the client company and ran smoothly, in perfect sync with meal course service and ahead of schedule. In the end, the glorious event was a success on every level and the clients were thrilled with the success of the evening and Empire's contributions to the event.

Whether in Richmond, VA or Cairo, Egypt, whether a black tie awards gala or a street festival, Empire Entertainment is a partner that can be relied upon to deliver beyond a client's expectations.

For the third straight year, the Syndicated National Television Association turned to Empire Entertainment to help them close their day of presentations to the New York advertising community with an amazing, star-studded party. The Syndicated Network Television Association, whose members include Buena Vista Television, King World, NBC Universal, Paramount, Tribune Entertainment, TwentiethTelevision, Warner Brothers, MGM and Entertainment Studios, again chose Empire Entertainment to produce their main event, a dinner and cocktail event that followed their day of presenting their 2005 programming offerings.

The event, which took place in the ballrooms & foyer of the New York Grand Hyatt, was designed to fulfill the client's vision of a winter wonderland. Empire worked with designer Michael Kowalski to create a cool winter vision that heated up into the hot party of the Upfront season. Upon arrival, guests walked into the ballroom, which had been mostly re-carpeted in white. The first vision was a colonnade of tall, silver birch trees lit in blue and white that led to a giant towering ice sculpture. A giant white curtain served as a wintry backdrop. Throughout the space large, white bars, white table settings and chair covers, white stages and furnishings decorated with white floral arrangements lit with winter blue completed the winter vision.

On one stage pianist Bill Graves performed on a white piano, and on another DJ David Chang laid down a dance track for the evening behind a white DJ console. A vodka bar staffed by female vodka specialists served a selection of dozens of vodkas by pouring them through a giant, ice vodka luge track. Empire also provided a 4-screen video projection system that ran changing slideshows of the various programs being promoted by the partner companies and also served to put guests on the big screens while they mingled with the various television stars attending. The 600 - 800 attendees ate, drank, danced and mingled with some of the hottest stars of syndicated television including Ellen Degeneres, Tyra Banks, Regis Philbin, Chris Matthews, Tony Danza and many others.

When the National Geographic Channel sought to bring their channel to life and to express their message of "The Difference Revealed" to their target audience of advertisers and media buyers, they turned to Empire Entertainment to make it all happen. Working to the client's brief to secure a location that had plenty to reveal, Empire was able to secure Charlie Palmer's Metrazur space, located on the East Balcony of the historic Grand Central Terminal. The event space was designed with a beautiful lighting plan that up-lit the Terminal's 100-foot walls in the Channel's colors of red & yellow. Red & yellow floral displays, votive candles and fabrics complemented a giant 18' wide X 7' high lighted logo billboard that overlooked the main concourse of the terminal from atop the venue's marble stairs which were modeled after those at the Paris Opera House. Inside the cocktail area, Empire designed and created a series of "Video Tables" consisting of 51" flat-screen monitors built to display face up inside cocktail tables made of material that matched the marble of the terminal's grand staircases. These six bar-height Video Tables were capped with a non-scratch Lucite surface and surrounded with bar stools. Empire created a series of yellow and red animations for these tables to tie-in with the lighting and decor in the venue. The tables were also used to display the presentation, and to loop 'video wallpaper,' an animated logo and a slide show of National Geographic Channel images throughout the event.

To complement the amazing food and specialty cocktails provided by Metrazur, Empire arranged to have two large ice sculptures created for the bars: one of a tornado and one of a volcano that emitted dry-ice steam from its caldera. To promote the channel's programming, there were a series of interactive activities, each themed to a different series or special. For Relentless Enemies, an animal station featured a red kangaroo, a black leopard cub, two Syrian black bear cubs, and a 5' green iguana. Handlers fed and cradled the animals and answered questions from guests. A large-scale version of the Operation game with a life-size Bigfoot called "Yeti Operation," was a fun a tie-in to the channel's "Is It Real?" series.

The channel promoted its Spartacus special with a photo booth, where guests donned gladiator, Athenian citizen, and other costumes and posed for digital snapshots printed on-site. A sculptor created small-scale versions of famous buildings and ships featured in the "Mega Structures" series out of white clay. Also on hand was a space-themed ride to promote "The Space Race."As an extra special treat, Empire arranged for guests to have special VIP tours led by Grand Central chief historian, Dan Brucker, which included Grand Central's top secret underground power station, Manhattan's deepest point, which will be featured in the channel's Inside Grand Central special. Following a presentation of channel programming by senior executives, guests were beckoned to the balconies, where Empire had arranged for a choreographed stunt featuring 36 people to suddenly unfurl yellow strips of fabric on the floor of the terminal to create the shape of National Geographic's yellow border logo. The perfectly timed stunt generated spontaneous applause. In the words of the client, the well-attended event "Was truly a unique experience for our guests. It even caught the attention of local and national media."

Empire is a leading producer of event marketing programs and is an essential partner to businesses seeking to create experiential, tangible and interactive representations of their brands.

When a multinational corporation hired a leading production company, DEVLINHAIR Productions, Inc., to plan and produce one of their largest annual sales incentive meetings, they then turned to Empire Entertainment for help in securing the evening headline entertainment. The client wanted an upbeat, headline performer who could deliver a fun, dance-oriented show that would include many hits familiar to an international audience. Through Empire's longstanding relationships with talent, Empire was able to deliver the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, to perform four outstanding dance concerts for audiences of approximately 900 guests each. And what spectacular concerts they were. Singing a 75 minute show including such hits as "Last Dance," "MacArthur Park," "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and "On the Radio," Donna Summer had the crowd up from their dinner tables and dancing within minutes. The guests were so thrilled with Donna Summer's performance, that she was rated one of the best performers they have ever had for this annual program.

Empire is the leading source of headline entertainment for corporate meetings and events and often works in partnership with production companies from around the world to assist them with identifying, booking, contracting and producing headline talent of every type.

When the CEO of one of the world's oldest and most respected insurance companies sought a speaker for an extremely high level management group meeting, his company turned to Empire Entertainment to identify and secure the right speaker. Empire was able to deliver George Tenet, the recently retired Director of the U. S. central Intelligence Agency, to deliver a fascinating look at the geopolitical situation as it stands today in a riveting 45 minute speech. This was one of the very first bookings that George Tenet took upon leaving office. Tenet provided the management team with real insights from his unique perspective as the man at the center of U. S. intelligence for many years.

After the speech, Tenet made himself available for a lively question & answer session in which guests could receive their own briefing on the current state of world affairs from the U.S.'s foremost spymaster. In the words of the client, George Tenet was: "A smash success. Everyone enjoyed his candor , openness and intelligence. He fielded questions for at least 30 minutes after his speech. My CEO wasecstatic with his performance."

Many corporate clients around the world turn to Empire to provide the world's leading expert voices from all walks of life to inform, educate and entertain their management audiences.

When NTDTV sought to produce their second annual Chinese New Year Gala event, they again turned to Empire who served as Consulting Executive Producer for the live event and global broadcast into over 200 million Mandarin-speaking homes around the world. Empire oversaw a production team of dozens of individuals and over 400 performers to present a smooth running, sold-out gala event at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Attended by more than 5000 guests, the Gala (conducted in both English and Mandarin) included dozens of acts such as famed Chinese tenor Guimin Guan, The Empire Brass Quintet, the National Taiwan University of Art Dance Ensemble, soprano Min Jiang and the Ying Tang Lions and Dragon Troupe among many others.

The gala program took place on an enormous stage decorated with lanterns, columns and featured an enormous rear wall projection screen with animated graphics and video that set the scene for each artist perfectly. Empire's high level production guidance on this program included venue selection and contract negotiations, the development of a staffing, logistics and communications plan to coordinate the efforts of hundreds of workers and vendors on a demanding schedule, providing direction and oversight in the areas of production management and stage management and providing legal, financial and sponsorship advice throughout the course of the project. The resulting gala was a hugely successful event and the program began worldwide broadcasts and webcasts three days following the live event. NTDTV is a unique, independent broadcast network that provides Mandarin language programming around the globe. NTDTV's programming is available in tens of millions of homes in the People's Republic of China via satellite.

Empire acts as a consultant to and production partner for a variety of major televised entertainment projects each year worldwide.

Since 1997, event designer Colin Cowie has called upon Empire Entertainment to stage and produce A-list talent and superior audio/visual for many of the events he designs worldwide. This time, Empire was asked to provide even more support, executing not only technical production and talent handling but also implementing details of Colin Cowie's exceptional creative vision. Each year, Cosmopolitan honors a select group of women in the entertainment industry at their Fun Fearless Females luncheon and awards show. For Cosmo's 40th anniversary year, they decided instead to honor their favorite men including Josh Duhamel (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton), Kevin Bacon (Footloose), Simon Cowell (American Idol), Ben McKenzie (star of FOX's hit series "The O. C.") and David Spade (Saturday Night Live).

Colin Cowie turned what is traditionally a conventional awards luncheon for 400 into a fabulously classy and exciting spectacle. Upon arrival, guests were lead past 20' high black velour drapes which completely shrouded the dining area. During cocktails, guests enjoyed Cipriani's signature white peach Bellini's and passed hors d'oeuvres while ogling celebrity honorees as they were interviewed by Access Hollywood and other media behind a one-way black scrim, which created a voyeuristic thrill and conversation piece for star-struck guests who could see in, while the celebrities working the red carpet could not see out. Dramatic music signaled the grand reveal of the dining room as the drapes opened for guests to take their seats. The greatest set piece and stunner was a 70' long, raised, white catwalk emblazoned with "COSMOPOLITAN" in thick red letters, slicing down the center of a dining floor filled with elegant, long black tables laid out with sculptural red floral orbs on top of Pucci silk runners in vivid swirls of red, black and white.

The awards show itself was equally as compelling as the event's design. After welcoming remarks from Cosmo's Editor, Kate White, and Publisher, Donna Lagani, sexy rapper Traci Swain and songstress Kelly Levesque took to the stage to perform a specially written duet for the honorees. Appearing at the start of his custom serenade, each Fun Fearless male strut his stuff atop the white catwalk through a room full of gasping young female clients. Specially produced video segments and music kept the show's energy level high until the end.

Empire was responsible for coordinating production of décor, rentals, staging, lighting, video, sound and logistics. Empire also produced and stage-managed the awards show portion of the event by writing and calling all cues throughout the show as well as hiring the rapper and singer and commissioning the custom music and lyrics through live performance solutions group, LIVELAB. Whether producing a turnkey event or realize a client's vision to their exact specifications, Empire's flexible range of services can be applied to almost every event project.

When ConcentricCommunications, an industry leader in corporate event marketing, trade shows and business meetings sought talent to perform for the Eastman Kodak exhibit space at the 2005 Consumer Electronics show, they tapped one-of-a-kind technology magician Marco Tempest to design a custom illusions performance that showcased a variety of Eastman Kodak products. Working closely with ConcentricCommunications, Marco designed a show that effectively drew in the crowds and captured the audience for his headline, 10-minute stage performance that combined narration, product demonstrations, visuals and amazing illusion mastery.

The show began with a 15-minute countdown of warm up sleight-of-hand magic with three magicians working the trade show floor with close-up magic that teased the stage show that was about to start. ConcentricCommunications designed a clever multi-monitor countdown that ran throughout the exhibit space that built excitement leading up to the show. Marco Tempest then took the stage and commenced a performance set to music in which he narrated messages about the Kodak products and also performed several feats of magic that left the audience awestruck. In one illusion, he passed out a series of Rubics cubes and invited the audience to scramble them however they liked and to return them to Marco on the stage. Marco then proceeded to return all of the cubes to order in just seconds before the very eyes of the audience. If that wasn't enough, Marco then took another scrambled cube and immediately adjusted another to perfectly match the scrambled cube.

In another illusion, Marco invited an audience member to select a card from an imaginary deck and to hold the card in their mind. He then took a photo using a Kodak digital, wireless camera of the audience member holding up the imaginary card and then, moment later, was able to wirelessly transmit the photo of the guest to a plasma monitor onstage, however this image showed the person with the selected card in their hands! For his finalé illusion, Marco took a photo of one of the guests and then invited audience members to select a single puzzle piece from a large box of jumbled puzzle pieces. The audience burst into applause as, time after time, Marco revealed a Kodak digital puzzle image of that audience member with one puzzle piece missing. That piece was, of course, the one that the audience member had selected. When it comes to combining technology with Magic, Marco Tempest is the world's leading technology magician.

Amidst the swaying palms and stylish cafés of trendy South Beach, Florida Empire Entertainment partnered with one of its regular corporate clients to produce their 2005 Field Kickoff Meeting. After a long day of business programming and motivational messaging, Empire helped spice up the evening's dinner awards ceremony by seamlessly integrating the comic genius Richard Jeni – currently enjoying the success of his latest HBO Comedy special – as hosting of the evening's festivities. Jeni had the audience in stitches by satirizing everything from the South Beach experience to current events, and lampooning the client's chief competitors.

The following evening, Empire further helped its client reward their employees for a banner year in 2004 by presenting 90s hit-makers, The Gin Blossoms (whose hits include "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You"), who quickly had the 1500-strong crowd shaking all three floors of Miami's hot, hot Club 1501. Numerous members of the traditionally reserved audience joined the band on stage, dived into the crowd, and offered their cell phones up for Blossoms' lead singer, Robin Wilson, to croon into. When the Blossoms finished their set, DJ David Chang kept the house rocking into the wee hours.

Empire is a leading provider of high-energy entertainment to fire up sales forces and management groups alike during the traditional January kick-off meetings held by every industry.

Musicians on Call is a charitable organization that brings entertainers to the bedsides of patients. This organization, which was founded by music manager Michael Solomon, has strong music industry support and delivers music's power to heal to sick patients.When Musicians on Call sought to produce their first ever benefit event, they called Candace Sands, head of Empire's Not-for-Profit division to help organize their benefit. The event was built around a guitar auction at the world famous Sotheby's Auction house and featured a live auction of guitars and a 40-minute long performance by Grammy Award Winner John Mayer. Candace Sands delivered both cash and in-kind sponsors for the event including HBO, Red Bull, SeaDream Yacht Club, Outback, The Benjamin Hotel, BlackBook Magazine, and Pout Cosmetics among others. She also assisted with the décor, the invitations and evening's program as well as with event logistics and was responsible for all sponsor relations, and coordinated a sponsor meet and greet with John Mayer.

Candace was also able to deliver live auction and raffle items including:- A 7-day all inclusive SeaDream Cruise to St. Thomas with American Airlines- An HBO Heavyweight Fight Package in Las Vegas plus the after-party, with air and a 2-day hotel stay at the hard Rock Hotel - An NFL Jets package including a signed Curtis Martin jersey and a Wayne Chrebet signed football ball plus 2 tickets to a 2005/2006 game- An Apple iPod loaded with musicCandace also delivered items for both VIP and general goody bags including Dewars samples, Godiva chocolates, BlackBook magazines, and more. During the live auction a Bruce Springsteen-signed guitar got top billing and raised $17,000. Details of the guitar auction are online at www.stubhubb.com and guitars are still available. Candace worked closely with Paula Witt of Shore Fire Media to manage press for the event. Toni Senecal of the WB 11 covered the event along with Channel 7 who did a piece on Musicians on Call that included a live bedside program. Musicians On Call is one of the many extraordinary charitable organizations that Empire is currently working with. Check out their website and work at www.musiciansoncall.org

Each year the consumer technology industry comes together in early January in Las Vegas for one of the largest trade events in the world, the Consumer Electronics show. At CES, hundreds of companies come to exhibit and announce the latest in new consumer electronics technology. These include every major electronics manufacturer from around the world. Just prior to the opening of the trade exhibit, certain key companies are invited to deliver keynote addresses to attendees, industry colleagues and the press. This year one of the most closely watched players in the industry was again invited to deliver a keynote address to preview their newest products and talk about their future vision for the consumer electronics industry. For this year's keynote, Empire was asked by the presenting company to help secure and manage the appearance of Conan O'Brien, the host of NBC's Late Night, to the company's CEO onstage for the presentation.

This was an especially unusual booking because Conan O'Brien rarely makes personal appearances. For the keynote presentation, held before an audience of 1200 members of the press and dignitaries including Michael Powell, Chairman of the FCC, Conan and the executive delivered an upbeat, funny and informative presentation that included an opening monologue, an interview with the executive and demonstrations of many new products and technologies.Conan O'Brien's custom-scripted monologue was hilarious and served to loosen up the crowd. The structured interview covered all of the company's business messages and content yet still managed to remain fun for the audience who enjoyed the onstage chemistry and spontaneous moments of humor and interaction. The product demonstrations provided the audience with a fun look at the products in use, especially when Conan and the executive raced each other on a new electronic game. For this program Empire handled all negotiations, contracting and logistics including flights, accommodations, ground transportation, scheduling and liaison with Conan O'Brien and his writers and producers.

Empire is the leading provider of comedy entertainment for corporate events and are constantly delivering fresh talent for business communications projects of every kind. Conan O'Brien is a uniquely talented host and comedian who will become host of NBC's Tonight Show in 2009.

One of the world's best-known acrobatic and aerial performance troupe's, Antigravity, created wildly successful original aerial and acrobatic performances for Central America's largest commercial real estate development firm for the opening of two giant shopping malls in Panama City, Panama and San Salvador, El Salvador in December 2004. The directors and acrobats of AntiGravity worked closely with the client to develop magical routines that would generate the proper excitement and buzz for the opening of these enormous new facilities and overcame many obstacles to present excellent performances within this challenging environment.

Audience members for these prestigious shows included virtually every noteworthy person in Panama and El Salvador and included the nation's President, government officials, dignitaries, industry leaders, and national media as well as local celebrities and trend setters throughout Central America. In San Salvador, the national press heralded AntiGravity's first performance throughout the country, generating a "rock-concert" turn out for the second performance, complete with over 4,000 in attendance and many lining up out the street outside hours beforehand to secure seating. The concept and design of the performances achieved the client's desired goals as both shopping centers recorded tremendous sales over the course of the opening days.Antigravity's high energy, contemporary routines combined with their ability to provide entertainment that is non-verbal and yet universally appealing have made them one of the world's most sought-after performance groups. They are ideal for large-scale public and private events and appeal to both men and women, young and old from every nation.

On World AIDS Day (December 1st) Empire Entertainment produced an incredible, star-studded event to raise funds for Keep a Child Alive, a relatively new charitable organization that directly provides life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.The cocktail party and once-in-a-lifetime concert event was named the "Pusher's Ball" based on the foundation's efforts to get people to 'push' these life saving drugs to children in Africa. The event was the brainchild of Keep a Child Alive Founder and longtime AIDS activist Leigh Blake. It served to raise funds and honor some remarkable people doing work in the AIDS community. Among those honored were John Demsey, the President of M.A.C. Cosmetics and Chairman of the M.A.C. AIDS Fund; Anneliese Estrada, Creative Director of The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) the oldest and one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS service and education programs in the US; Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; and Dr. Shaffiq Essajee, the Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at NYU School of Medicine, for their courageous work in providing treatment and AIDS research.

The event featured an unprecedented lineup of extraordinary performances. Among them were Keep a Child Alive spokesperson and J Records recording artist Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz who performed "Let Love Rule" and "Higher Ground," Anthony Hamilton who performed "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," Lou Reed who dueted with Alicia in a rare performance of "Satellite of Love," Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds who dueted with Alicia Keys on John Lennon's "Imagine," Angélique Kidjo who performed "Afrique," and a jamming version of "Africa is the Center of the World" with rapper Common and legendary vibraphone player Roy Ayers. The event also featured a solo performance by rapidly rising star and 13-year-old musical prodigy Karina Pasian. Other celebrity guests and presenters included Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, Iman, Run DMC, Tyson Beckford, Mos Def, Gloria Rubin, Alan Cumming, Don Cheadle, Lil Kim, and Clive Davis among others.

For this challenging project Empire served as event producer and was responsible for all elements including site selection and contracting, talent coordination in collaboration with J Records, all production including extensive staging, sound, lighting, video projection, multi-camera video production and multi-track audio recording, catering (with Great Performances), decor and design of unique, African-themed lounge seating areas that were sold in sponsorship packages, security, event logistics and stage management of the complicated program. The event, which was generously sponsored by AOL Music and M.A.C. Cosmetics, garnered heavy press coverage in the red carpet area and was widely reported in both local and national media. Press was managed by Dan Klores and Associates and the entire event was backed up by an innovative "Be a Drug Pusher" ad and celebrity T-shirt campaign designed by advertising agency Fallon New York.

Empire is a leading producer of music and other forms of entertainment for unique, innovative charitable events.

As entertainment producers and marketers alike know, the use of celebrities is one of the most effective tools to ensure wide press coverage for a product launch or publicity initiative. And one of the best ways to provide press access to celebrity superstars in a controlled setting is a carefully presented, well-managed "Red Carpet" on which celebrities can deliver interviews and pose for photos before large gatherings of press crews and paparazzi. Over the last 2 years Empire has become one of the leading companies in the field of designing, executing and managing red carpet environments. These typically are set up outside or adjacent to venues where talent are drawn to attend an event and frequently necessitate the closing of streets and sidewalks, the creation of a 'Step & Repeat' media wall which can provide brand identity behind talent, barriers and rope & stanchions to control sometimes over-zealous press and paparazzi, and an attention getting street presence including large swaths of carpet, bright lighting and sometimes set pieces and props.

In two separate recent events, Empire provided red carpet treatments to promote the Richard Branson FOX series "Rebel Billionaire" and the Paris Hilton & Nicole Ritchie series "The Simple Life." For Rebel Billionaire, Empire worked to create a simple red carpet appearance in the trendy New York Meat-packing district at the very tony SoHo House. This served as an ideal location for Richard Branson, the British billionaire founder of the Virgin brand of companies, to promote his new show. For The Simple Life, Empire created an expansive red carpet treatment at the equally happening Bungalow 8 in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. This environment perfectly suited the stunning and often controversial Paris Hilton and her sidekick Nicole Ritchie as she promoted The Simple Life. Empire provided a pink carpet to better match Paris Hilton's dress.Both events provided an ideal stage from which to provide access to the talents.

Empire is a leading production partner to PR firms and marketers looking to provide the ideal atmosphere for presenting celebrity talent to members of the press.

When a major automobile manufacturer wanted to make a big splash at a key automobile exhibition in China, the world's fastest growing auto market, they turned to Empire's new Asia office to help them secure and present the right talent. Working through the client's advertising agency in Japan, Empire was able to identify the group Barrage as the ideal talent for this program - mixing a sophisticated presentation and attention-getting music with a highly visual and non-verbal performance. Barrage are a high-energy Canadian performance ensemble that consist of multiple fiddlers backed up with the power of percussion and bass whose performances also combine dancing, head turning stage action and an infectious energy. Working with the advertising agency and Barrage, Empire was able to create the right combination of creative for this program that would draw the attention to the exhibit space and never take away attention from the vehicles being showcased to the throngs of prospective Chinese buyers.

Based on our experience in Asia and close working relationships with the talent, agency and production vendors, Empire was able to overcome challenges ranging from visas and translation issues to technical issues arising from the combination of western digital electronics and media equipment with Chinese electrical power.

Empire Entertainment's Asia division based in Tokyo, Japan has been an immense success since its founding earlier this year and has served clients from a variety of industries throughout Asia with talent, production and event services.

For the second year in a row, the Executive Council of New York, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering innovation and commerce in New York City, chose Empire to produce their Ten Awards program in New York City. This important business event was sponsored by a variety of companies including Microsoft, AT&T, Orrick, NASDAQ & Philips and was staged to recognize and reward innovation and business achievement in the New York business community.

The theme of the event was "Leadership & Innovation: Achieving Your Potential..." The Awards program was hosted by the host of CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo and Tyler Mathisen", Tyler Mathisen and featured a keynote address by David Neeleman, CEO of jetBlue Airways. This year's award winners were: Robert Catell, CEO, Keyspan Energy Richard Korhammer, CEO, Lava Trading Corp. Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief, New York Magazine Barry S. Sternlicht, CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Stephen Messer, CEO, LinkShareBarbara Chang, Executive Director, Npower New York (2004 Civic Award Winner)Bruce Mosler, President, Cushman & Wakefield David Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways L. Gordon Crovitz, CEO, Dow Jones, Inc. Tim and Nina Zagat, Co-founders, Zagat Survey.

For this upscale event for more than 400 attendees, Empire provided virtually all services including venue selection (Gotham Hall), staging and set design, sound, lighting, the production of 10 video roll-in packages, graphic design and all program graphic production, catering, stage management, decor, florals, logistics management, security, and signage.

Empire is a cost-effective, efficient and creative producer of business events, meetings and awards shows worldwide.

When a global corporation needed a captivating news personality to host and moderate a crucial product launch for 1,200 of their sales representatives, they came to Empire Entertainment for a fresh alternative to the humdrum newscaster.Empire's suggestion, Lisa Ling, the host of National Geographic Explorer was the ideal answer. Ling provided the respectability of a legitimate reporter - she has reported from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Algeria, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, India and Iran, and produced eight documentaries for PBS, several of which won awards. But along with her informative, substance, Ling also exudes an appealing youthfulness that compels her audience to take notice - as she has shown on ABC Daytime's popular morning talk and entertainment program, The View, and now The National Geographic Channel.With little time to spare, Empire was able to pinpoint the perfect talent and fulfill the special requirements of this unique product launch.

Empire Entertainment is the go-to, one-stop company to negotiate, secure and coordinate the right talent for the right job.

For the fourth year in a row, Empire provided entertainment for a prominent restaurant industry annual gathering. In previous years, Empire secured Tim Russert, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Penn & Teller and comedian Jeff Ross for the event. This year, the program was held in Los Angeles and our client wanted to take advantage of the local celebrity talent pool to maximize their investment and to reach for the most recognizable name they could deliver. Empire met and exceeded these requirements, delivering ‘Tonight Show' Host Jay Leno. Leno took the stage at 8:00AM, delighting the coffee-drinking attendees with his massive celebrity status and an hour of early morning laughter. Empire leveraged its' long-standing, active relationship with Mr. Leno to manage the client's scheduling constraints. The end result? A thrilled and loyal client.

Whether it be Los Angeles, New York, Monte Carlo or Dubai, Empire is consistently able to deliver the best local talent to maximize our clients' budgets.

When the Dysautonomia Foundation sought to produce their first-ever concert benefit for Familial Dysautonomia, they turned to Empire Entertainment's Not-For-Profit division to help them put on a world class show and effective fundraising event. The event began with a buffet-style reception at the Upper-West Side Asian restaurant, Ruby Foos, where the audience of 700 gathered to enjoy specialty cocktails and appetizers. The audience then moved smoothly around the corner to the historic Beacon Theatre for a video on Familial Dysautonomia featuring some of the individuals living with and affected by the disease. Upon completion of the video, guests were treated to the main attraction - a 75-minute concert performed by Grammy Award-winning singer Seal.

The Nigerian/Brazilian superstar performed a set of his greatest hits including "Crazy," "A Prayer for the Dying" and "Kiss From a Rose" which was a Billboard #1 hit from the motion picture "Batman Forever." When he played "Waiting for You" a giant heart-shaped balloon drop fell on the dancing audience. The audience included several notable attendees including Heidi Klum. After the show Seal participated in a VIP Meet and greet with sponsors and guests.

As guests left the theatre, they were presented with goody bags organized by Empire featuring products like Men's Life Magazine, HBO Yo Yo's, Bazooka Gum, Seal CD's and Familial Dysautonomia baseball hats.The event raised more than $1.1 million for this worthy cause and was an immensely positive experience for the audience, the sponsors, Seal and his band.

Empire's Not-For-Profit division focuses on serving charitable organizations with a host of event-oriented services. In addition to helping clients design & develop successful fundraising event programs, Empire also secures headline entertainers, emcees, celebrity attendees and auctioneers, provides all production, staging and A/V services, provides decor and event management and also secures sponsorships, in-kind services such as flights & hotel accommodations, live & silent auction prizes and gift bag items. Empire's Not-For-Profit division is designed to offer charitable organizations a full range of professional services to help them raise essential funds for their respective causes.

When a leading home loans institution needed a headline comedian to act as the finalé for their "Platinum Producers Circle" conference, they called Empire Entertainment. As the final event was on a Saturday evening, Empire recommended and secured former 'Saturday Night Live' cast member, Dana Carvey. Dana performed a number of dead-on impressions including both former and current Presidents George Bush, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Ross Perot, The Croc Hunter, and Michael Jackson. He also brought some of his best-known characters from SNL to life, such as "The Church Lady" and Hanz (of "Hanz and Franz" fame). Dana also played guitar and piano with some absolutely hilarious bits, and his material about being a parent and raising children had the crowd in stitches.But most importantly, Dana performed a great deal of customized material specific to the client. He referenced their company name and their industry in a number of routines, and sang ad-libbed songs about the highest-ranking executive at the conference as well as about a VIP couple who was seated front and center. The audience's standing ovation and sustained applause after the 60-minute long performance was so tremendous, that Dana came back for an impromptu encore.

Empire Entertainment is a leading producer of customized headline comedy entertainment. Aside from Dana Carvey, we have produced other former SNL cast members Kevin Nealon performing customized "Weekend Update" and "Subliminal Man" segments for numerous clients, and recently had Darrell Hammond, perform a set of customized comedy in full makeup as former President Bill Clinton.

Empire Entertainment had a strong presence at the 2004 International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington DC, providing entertainment and production for several of our financial services clients at this annual meeting of global finance executives. For these upscale events, attended by well educated audiences from around the globe, Empire was asked to provide sophisticated, yet cost-effective entertainment for intimate groups of high powered bankers and government finance ministers.To accomplish this, Empire secured both the Harvard Krokodiloes and the Yale Whiffenpoofs to perform at separate events.

The Harvard Krokodiloes are the the Ivy League university's legendary all male a cappella singing group, founded in 1946 at the hasty Pudding Club. Providing both musical and comedic entertainment, The Kroks were a great hit, opening the show with a comedic bit that included an invitation to "sit back and enjoy the next three and a half hours" as they performed an a cappella version of a classical opera, before launching into a set of 4 contemporary songs including a jazzy version of "When You're Smiling". In the first set, at the client's request, they brought up a specific female attendee and serenaded her with "What's Your Name", much to the delight of the rest of the audience. The Kroks were welcomed back with much applause to finish the evening with excellent performances of "Runaway" and "Run Around Sue".

On the following evening, Empire had the privilege of presenting Yale University's own a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs, for a private corporate dinner at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The Whiffenpoof's performed a haunting set of songs including "Down by the Sally Garden" and an intricate and lyrical version of "On Broadway" before finishing the evening with their traditional "Whiffenpoof Song" which delighted the audience with it's tongue in cheek lyrics and puns. Empire also provided sound and a classical duo consisting of a flutist and a harpist who played classical back ground music during cocktails for this event. The Harvard Krokodilies and the Yale Whiffenpoofs are inexpensive, high quality, performing ensembles with name recognition and a reputation earned over decades of performances around the world.

Empire Entertainment is known for delivering high quality entertainment for every kind of audience.

For the sixth year running, Empire secured talent for the new model reveal show for one for of the world's largest and most successful car-manufacturers, and it was a resounding success.This year's program was held at The Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where Empire-partner Kaleidoscope Productions once again designed a stage and produced a show to rival the Academy Awards. Empire Entertainment outdid its efforts in past years and delivered a program of headline talent the caliber of which are rarely seen at corporate meetings.The relaxed and hilarious Ellen DeGeneres hosted the event and delighted the audience with material tailored specifically to the show. She delivered laughter consistently, whether on- or off-script. The general session featured a stunning performance by top-of-the-charts hip-hoppers, the Black Eyed Peas, which included their smash hits, "Hey Momma" and "Let's Get It Started". The Peas were backed up by the wicked moves of urban dance legends, The Rock Steady Crew.

The show also featured breath-taking, audience-interactive illusions performed by the world famous magician, David Copperfield. The piece de resistance in Mr. Copperfield's performance was a custom-designed illusion in which one of the client's soon-to-be-released vehicles vanished.The show culminated with a roof-raising concert by rock legend Rod Stewart. After taking the audience on an electrifying tour of his greatest hits – Tonight's the Night, Forever Young, Hot Legs, The First Cut is the Deepest, Some Guys Have All the Luck, the list goes on -- Stewart closed the show with a raucous version of "Maggie May", during which he kicked dozens of signed soccer balls out to the adoring audience.The day-long event also showcased a short film starring Danny Glover and actor/comedian Larry Miller, and featuring Saturday Night live stars Seth Meyers and Chris Parnell – all secured by Empire Entertainment.

When it comes to the world's largest corporate entertainment projects, world-class companies turn to Empire Entertainment.

When celebrity event designer Colin Cowie was asked by Jennifer Lopez' to help produce a surprise birthday party for her husband, Latin music superstar Marc Anthony, Colin turned to Empire Entertainment to help with the entertainment for the evening. Working with very short notice and under precautions to keep the surprise concealed, Empire was challenged with the task of providing Latin music that would impress Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, dance music that would rise to their standards, and production support that would impress the most A-list musicians and top music industry personnel.

Working through its extensive network of contacts in the Latin music community, Empire was able to secure the Jimmy Bosch Band / Oscar Hernandez Orchestra, who have recorded with many of Latin music's biggest stars, along with up-and-coming turntable artist DJ Cassidy, who has spun for Sean "Puffy" Coombs, Ben Affleck and Naomi Campbell among many others.

For the exclusive event, held in a private home on Long Island, Empire provided production management, concert sound system, backline as well as stage management and travel logistics. The Jimmy Bosch Band / Oscar Hernadez Orchestra got people on their feet after the surprise was revealed and DJ Cassidy kept them dancing until early the next morning when the police were called in to shut down the party. Throughout the evening other guests such as Latin Legends Johnny Pacheco & Luis Miguel, hip hop guest artist Fat Joe & The Terror Squad and Little Louie Vega also performed and Empire easily handled their needs in a seamless fashion. The live performance session ended with Mark Anthony & his Orchestra.Empire is a leading producer of high end private events around the world.

From East Hampton and St. Barts, to Gstadt and St. Tropez, Empire is the company to call.

At the 2004 National Business Travel Association convention, Empire Entertainment was again asked for the 7th year in a row by co-sponsors American Express and American Airlines to secure and manage headline entertainment and provide all of their production requirements. This year the event took place at Orlando's Epcot Center at the World Showplace Pavilion with a special, rare corporate performance by Cyndi Lauper.

From the moment she took the stage, Cyndi Lauper was electric. Her first number, a standard American ballad, featured Cyndi alone in the spotlight with just piano accompaniment. She then exploded into the audience with her own song, "Shine", exuberantly moving above the amazed concert goers from chair to chair. The crowd remained standing for the entire night while she performed her most memorable hits as well as rock standards "Walk On By" and "Stay", performed as a salsa number with her trademark bravado. She held the crowd her hand with a slow acoustic waltz version of her hit "She Bop" and brought the room to complete silence with her moving #1 hit "True Colors." True to form, her inter-song banter was charming and funny, giving the history of each song and what it meant to her. By the end of the evening it appeared Cyndi was enjoying the show as much as the audience, as they rushed the stage for her encore, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."Empire Entertainment was asked to not only provide and manage the talent, but to supply all aspects of the production, including sound, backline, staging, lighting and labor.

The challenge this year was not only to accomplish this at the same budget as year's past, but to deliver production at an equal level to one of the world's most prestigious entertainment venues, Walt Disney World. Empire Entertainment brought in its own trusted vendors from the sunshine state and delivered under budget, more than satisfying the needs of client and talent alike.

As corporate event audiences grow ever younger and more internationally diverse, Empire is constantly delivering contemporary and internationally known entertainment to meet the needs of these audiences. Such was the case when Empire was called upon to deliver an internationally-recognized, high energy concert act that would appeal to an audience in their 30's and 40's, representing countries from around the world. Using its extensive relationships in the contemporary music field, Empire was able to quickly deliver Smash Mouth who perfectly fit the bill for this major event in the massive Georgia Dome for an audience of over 13,000 people. Smash Mouth absolutely rocked the crowd with a 90 minute set that included their hits like "All Star" and their cover of the Monkees "I'm a Believer" from the motion picture Shrek. They also performed high-energy covers like "Why Can't We Be Friends?" and also material by Van Halen and others. The audience crowded the stage before the concert began, danced incessantly once they took the stage and brought the band back for a thundering three song encore once they finished their set. In addition to having 13,000 people jumping up and down in sync on one song, Smash Mouth's set had this world class company's employees 'body surfing', possibly a first for a corporate event.

Production for this event consisted of a massive stage that had been converted from a meeting set used earlier in the program. Five massive video screens were used to provide image magnification and the lighting was provided by a rig of several hundred intelligent lighting fixtures. A world-class concert sound system made the band sound perfect. For this engagement Empire provided all artist contracting, management of air, room, ground transportation and hospitality logistics, coordination of all production with the client company's technical supplier, and stage management of the concert portions. Empire also provided a custom soundtrack of pre- and post-show music to get the audience into the right mood before the show and to keep them dancing once Smash Mouth left the stage.

Empire is the leading provider of contemporary musical artists for corporate events.

When British event company Fait Accompli sought to produce a major, private event in rural Canada for one of their top clients, they partnered with Empire Entertainment to secure entertainment & production services. For this event, a North American party for a couple to be married the following week in France, Fait Accompli created an enormous series of tented spaces on a farm in Rural Canada, about 3 hours outside of Toronto. The tented areas included an arrival area, a cocktail lounge, a main dining room a performance space for local talent and family performances, and an after-party nightclub space where a performance by Pat Benatar and DJ dancing took place.

Empire worked with Fait Accompli to secure a headline entertainer that would play the hits from their generation - the 80's - Empire was able to secure Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo to perform a concert of their greatest hits including "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Heart Breaker," "We Belong," "Love is a Battlefield" and "Shadows of the Night." The audience loved the performance and danced throughout. At one point, the lead guitarist and Pat Benatar's husband, Neil Giraldo, walked through the tents playing a guitar solo. Immediately after the performance, guests stepped outside the tent for a spectacular fireworks show in the farm fields and a meet & greet with Pat Benatar. For this event, Empire contracted and handled all logistics for Pat Benatar and her band and crew, provided staging, all concert & other area sound systems, all decor and stage lighting, all band gear and onsite stage management of the many performances and components of the evening. Empire also provided a video installation to loop a custom DVD of the bride & groom throughout the event. Empire also handled all cross-border equipment shipping, work permits and taxation issues relating to the performance in Canada.

Empire is a major producer of events throughout North America and the world and is a leading producer of high-end events for private individuals around the world.

When a global technology company sought an internationally known, humorous performer for an awards show, Empire turned to Saturday Night Live veteran Darrell Hammond to reprise his role as President Bill Clinton to fit the bill. Dressed in a Presidential blue suit, with makeup and hair styling provided by the SNL expert who developed the Clinton look, Hammond appeared at a podium with a Presidential seal and delivered a hilarious state-of-the-planet address that drew several references to the host company's business and industry. Shamelessly promoting his book and offering his hotel room number to the women at the convention, Hammond managed to delight the audience of approximately 2,000 technology partners from around the world.

Speaking in his well rehearsed Clinton drawl, Hammond delivered tasteful and appropriate humor that covered the Iraq war, the administration of President Bush, Al Gore, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and his wife, Hillary, dropping famous Clinton-isms like "I feel your Pain" and alluding to his love of women and fast food. The audience howled with laughter as Clinton shamelessly flirted with the women in the audience and gave him thunderous applause as he left the dais with his presidential seal. Hammond returned to the stage for two more segments in the awards show as himself, delivering solid standup material that also included some of his other well-known impressions of Jay leno, Ted Koppel, Jesse Jackson and Sean Connery.

Empire is a leading provider of comedic talent for meetings and events. Contact Empire to book 'Bill Clinton' to appear at your next meeting.

This July, The City of Rochester celebrated it's annual music festival's 10th Anniversary, "Celebrating the Spirit of Rhythm & Blues."Each year, the city has presented the Rochester MusicFest for its community and has grown its promotion into surrounding regions including Buffalo, Syracuse, Toronto and slowly into the national market. Originally conceived and still promoted by Mayor Johnson, who is a great lover and supporter of music and the arts, this festival has financially sustained itself over its history by presenting, along with some very supportive sponsors, such as Eastman Kodak, Excellus and local R&B radio station WDKX, to name a few, a world-class line-up of musical entertainment. The Rochester MusicFest draws interest for local tourism and enriches community spirit & tradition, and while doing so has grown to be the largest R&B festival in the northeast.

In recent years, artists such as Mary J. Blige, The Isley Brothers, The O'Jays, Floetry, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Ashanti have played this R&B festival. Prior to specializing in R&B, this annual event has been a world-class presentation of some of the best music compiled from many musical styles and genres. Artists such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, BR5-49, Tito Puente, The Derek Trucks Band, Chaka Khan, Little Feat, Taj Mahal, George Clinton, Ziggy Marley and Al Green among dozens of others have appeared at The Rochester MusicFest. This year, the City of Rochester issued its tri-ennial request for proposals for production services for the MusicFest. In response, NYC event marketing company Lead Dog Marketing along with Empire Entertainment and PR firm Eric Mower & Associates won the bid for this position.

Empire's role was to book all of the talent and do all related coordination, logistics, advance and oversee stage production and management, as well as manage all talent on site.The process of booking was a close relationship with the City's Commissioner of Parks & Recreation, Loretta Scott (who has headed up the festival for the Mayor since its inception) for whom Empire presented all talent ideas and availability. This collaboration really helped to bring Empire in as a strong booking partner and served to positively enhance our understanding of the audience, the intent and the mission. In many ways, booking this festival was very similar to booking a corporate event. There were some of the same parameters such as no promiscuity or profanity, a positive message etc., as this festival is a family-oriented event.

A couple of challenges that Empire had to overcome, was trying not to repeat artists, (after 10 years of presenting so many of R&B's top artists) and finding suitable new and older school R&B artists that appealed to the mature and the younger generations of R&B. Artists must also perform with live bands as no track artists, hip-hop or rap is permitted at this community event.Empire secured 14 bands for this years Rochester MusicFest including several local artists. Beginning with Friday nights 'Latin Night', regional local, merengue band La Linea opened the evening, and were followed by Puerto Rico's own local salsa legends, Puerto Rican Power Orchestra. Opening Saturday's line-up at 1PM, was local artist, 15 year-old Damaris Rivera, who performed a short but wonderful set of original songs, that included her current regional radio hit and also a beautuful tribute to Aaliyah. She set a great mood for the rest of the days line-up with a lot of local support and a soulful beginning to a weekend of R&B.Following Damaris, another local group PrimeTime Funk, kicked it up a notch with a full 45-minute set of covers of some of the best funk in the business. They also were very excited to open for one of the legends of funk The Brothers Johnson, who recently came out of the woodwork after 18 years of absenture.

Commerce Bank is one of the New York Region's fastest growing banking Empires and Empire has worked with Commerce Bank for several years to produce high quality entertainment & events for their customers and event marketing initiatives. So it was natural that Commerce Bank would turn to Empire to help them throw a major outdoor event in conjunction with their sponsorship of the Long Island Classic golf tournament. For this special event, Commerce Bank wanted to draw 10,000 or more people to their branches in Long Island and create an all-American program of entertainment to highlight the weekend tournament for which the signature event would be held on July 3, the night before Independence Day.

Empire quickly identified The New York Pops featuring Skitch Henderson as the perfect American family entertainment for this event. The concert was held outdoors in the beautiful Lakeside amphitheater on a perfect July night. As the sun set, the audience enjoyed the powerful sounds of Carnegie Hall's 77 piece house orchestra under the baton of the charismatic and dynamic Skitch Henderson as they played selections from great Hollywood soundtracks in front of a giant American Flag backdrop and Commerce Bank branding. The show concluded with a rousing version of Tchaikovsky's Overture of 1812 that led right into an amazing fireworks display by the world famous Grucci Fireworks family. For this event, Empire contracted the New York Pops, handled all production logistics with the orchestra and the theater, handled transportation in busy holiday traffic to ensure an on-time performance, created an all-American soundtrack to warm up the audience and were onsite to stage manage the magical event. In the end as many as 30,000 people attended the beautiful concert event and the client was ecstatic.

Empire is a major producer of both private and public events.

When the Brazilian financial services firm, CAIXA Internacional wanted to launch their United States presence with a splash, Empire was called in by Latin American producer contacts to help stage and produce an important press event & reception that would feature both high stature presence and fun entertainment. The event was held at the Bildner Center in the City University of New York building on Fifth Avenue in the shadow of the Empire State Building.The event featured an address by Brazil's President, Lula da Silva, a multi-media presentation by executives of CAIXA Internacional, and a performance by Brazilian Bossa Nova legend, Paulinho da Viola.For this event, Empire provided all production management, audio and backline, as well as stage management of the show and printing of banners.

The event was planned with only a few days of advance notice and almost all of the arrangements and coordination had to be conducted in Portuguese through translators. The event was a rousing success and was attended by more than 500 guests and members of the press. Empire is a leading producer of international events, both overseas and for international companies seeking to establish and maintain presence in New York City and the United States.

Empire is a leading producer of presentations featuring heads of State from around the world.

A major telecommunications company recently called Empire looking for a headline performer to act as the finalé to their conference in South Beach. The client wanted a concert act who could play songs that their entire audience would know, and who would get them out of their seats and on to their feet. She hoped to have someone like Billy Joel or Elton John perform, but those artists were beyond the reach of for the event budget.Fortunately, Empire knew the perfect alternative at a more reasonable cost: Michael Cavanaugh. Michael is the star of "Movin' Out", Twyla Tharp's Tony-Award winning Broadway smash-hit based on the songs of Billy Joel. Michael was hand-picked by Billy Joel to star in the show in which he performs all of the vocals and piano. When he performs for corporate events, Michael performs with "The Movin' Out Band" which frequently includes some well-known musicians who also play with Billy Joel. And at private shows, Michael is not limited to the Billy Joel songbook.

At our client's event, he performed a healthy dose of Billy's hits (opening the set with "Only The Good Die Young" and getting the crowd immediately onto the dance floor) while also mixing in a good number of other classic songs by artists including The Beatles, Elton John, Jerry Lee lewis, and others. Michael kept the attendees dancing for his entire 90-minute set and even accommodated the CEO who asked to come onstage and play bass with the band for a song.Michael is like a human jukebox and knows thousands of popular songs. He can perform hits from many genres of popular music, and would even be able to do a country music set if requested. He can also play solo at the piano or work his band into nearly any configuration for event spaces that will not allow for large-scale production set-ups.

Empire Entertainment, Inc. is a leading provider of upscale entertainment for corporate conferences and special events. We know that budgets are a primary concern and we are always able to suggest the best possible performer in any specified price range.

When LucasFilm and 20th Century FOX, the producer and distributor, respectively, of the Star Wars series of motion pictures, sought to create an innovative press event, they turned to Empire for the execution. The event was held to help cultivate long lead press (i.e. press who are creating stories which will run several months later) for the release of the Star Wars DVD Trilogy, a special package of the first 3 Star Wars films. For this event, LucasFilm sought to create a high quality live presentation which would feature both footage of the new DVDs as well as presentations by Mark Hammell who played Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars movie, Irvin Kirzner who directed The Empire Strikes Back and several of the special effects wizards who worked on the movies including Frank Oz, Jim Ward, Rick Dean and John Lowry.

This presentation took place in the Grand Theater of the TriBeCa Grand Hotel and was preceded by a luncheon in the Café area where guests viewed humorous compilations of media featuring Star Wars references. As a centerpiece for the program, Empire created a living room set that was a pure time warp from May 1977, when the original Star Wars motion picture was released. The living room featured an 'Infinity' mirror table, thick shag carpeting, beanbag chairs, modular plexi-glass lamps, side tables and shelving and a wide variety of authentic props including an Atari game player, Peter Frampton & Barry Manilow album covers, paperback books, 'Smiley face' cushions, Farah Fawcett posters, etc. Naturally, both the theater and the DVD demo room had to feature the highest quality of visual projection and audio installation and Empire worked with LuCasFilm, JBL and THX to install a state-of-the-art THX sound system in the event space.

For this project, Empire played a variety of roles including site selection and acquisition, coordination of guest room logistics, management of all A/V systems, decor, set-design, oversight of food & beverage and onsite management.

When FOX Broadcasting needed to make headlines with the launch of their new summer series, North Shore, they turned to Empire Entertainment to create and execute a stunning press stunt in the heart of Times Square. Given that the show is based in Hawaii, FOX sought to transform the busiest intersection in America into a Hawaiian atmosphere that featured all the best of what Hawaii has to offer. Working through various New York City agencies, Empire was able to secure Fence Island, a small traffic island between 45th & 46th Street, Broadway and Seventh Avenue, in the heart of Times Square and arguably America's busiest intersection.

Working with a small army of designers, carpenters, florists, laborers and technicians, Empire realized the client's vision of a Hawaiian paradise, creating a main stage finished and backed with bamboo, a real beach with clean play sand, towering palm trees and lush tropical floral arrangements, greenery and various props including surf boards, beach chairs, Polynesian totem polls and Tiki huts. The centerpiece of the entire production was a towering volcano prop, 15' high X 9' wide that stood high above the stage. The volcano itself was designed by Empire, and included smoke and flame special effects. Branding for the event was also provided by Empire and included custom printed show posters on vinyl that fit over standard police barricades, a full size surf board and boogie boards that were printed with the North Shore, FOX logo and tune-in information, thousands of real flower Lei's that had been made in Hawaii and flown in for the event as well as branded post cards and Pineapple cups as giveaways to pedestrians.

Added to this were teams of performers, all cast, contracted, costumed, trained and supervised by Empire. This cast included male and female surf instructors, a team of catering servers who passed out original Hawaiian punch concoctions in branded FOX cups, a street team of 8 surfer dudes & girls in branded beach attire who worked the busy sidewalks of Broadway giving out premium items and building traffic on the island, and a running crew, all attired in Hawaiian shirts. On stage, an awesome Hawaiian music & dance ensemble, The Tiny Bubble Band, consisting of guitar, ukulele, congas and bass performed while a cast of 4 hula dancers in grass skirts performed traditional dances of Hawaii. In front of the stage, actress Brooke Burns and other stars of the show appeared live on FOX's Good Day Live and gave interviews for Access Hollywood, Extra, WNYW and other media. Brooke also posed for photos with fans, gave autographs and even participated in some of the surf lessons and hula activities.

The two hour long event was free and open to the public, served more than 2,000 guests and created quite a stir in Times Square. WPLJ was the radio promotion partner and provided additional promotional support onsite as well as on air personalities who helped emcee the event and participated in the prize giveaway of a trip to Oahu, Hawaii.

Empire provided all services for this promotional event including site selection and acquisition, security, staging, sound, lighting, electrical power & distribution, stage and set design and fabrication / installation, creation of the sand beach, staffing, music and other talent, onsite coordination, stage management and liaison with all parties.The clients at FOX Broadcasting were thrilled with the event and the President of the Times Square Alliance, an organization that helps to develop and promote Times Square, called the event "One of the most creative visual commercial promotions to happen in Times Square for a long time."

Empire is a leading producer of press stunts and events designed to generate national publicity.

When FOX Broadcasting chose to premiere their new Summer Series, "The Jury," for Executive Producers Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, James Yoshimura and Jim Finnerty in New York City, they turned to Empire to help them put on a first class event. Empire helped to create an upscale cocktail event at the 21 Club that included a red carpet area and step & repeat wall outside the Museum of Television & Radio (where the show was screened), and a themed reception in the main dining room of the 21 Club which included celebrity guests, branded items, live music, fine food & drinks and gift bags.

The 200 person event had just the right energy & buzz and attracted stars ranging from Blue Man Group (who recorded the show's theme song), Bill O'Reilly from FOX's "O'Reilly factor," Shalom Harlow, and Patrice O'Neal. Guests arrived immediately after the conclusion of the screening next door and stayed until after the bars were shut down. For this upscale event, Empire worked with FOX to provide a variety of integrated services including site selection, creative development, design & printing, menu selection (including a specialty bar with themed cocktails like "the Jury-Tini", the "Subpoena Colada" and "the Deliberation") the facilitation of bar displays and presence for liquor sponsor Belvedere Vodka, the management of security and check-in logistics, decor including branded table tops & custom linens and serving trays with miniature gavel garnishes and onsite management of the event flow. Empire also created a custom sound track for the event to fill in breaks between performances by the Todd Londagin combo. Empire worked closely with FOX Broadcasting, Vanity Fair, The 21 Club, Belvedere Vodka and other parties to ensure a smooth running event that reflected the high standards of this world class broadcaster.

Empire is a leading producer of press and product launch events for the media and other industries.

Each year, one of the world's top food & beverage companies flies its highest sales achievers and their spouses from around the world to its New York headquarters to celebrate their achievement and recognize their accomplishments. The trip includes sightseeing, business programs, a marching band salute and an evening at Ellis Island. The highlight of the annual trip is the awards dinner, typically held inside a massive tent built on the grounds of the corporate headquarters. And for the past several years, this company has consistently turned to Empire Entertainment to deliver a program of interstitial performances that reflect the company's values and break up sections of the awards presentations.

This year, Empire was charged with creating a program of entertainment that represented excellence in four of the major regions of the globe and one that could segue naturally into a night of dancing and celebration. Empire was able to utilize its vast network of contacts in the worlds of international music and dance to deliver extraordinary, colorful and impactful performances from China, Ireland, India and Africa. The first performance of a traditional Chinese Dragon dance was performed by the Ying-Tang Dance Ensemble and featured colorfully costumed dragon dancers, drummers and waving flags to kick off the evening with a traditional dragon dance. The second performance was by the remarkable World Champion Trinity Irish Dancers from Chicago who amazed the audience with their high energy, and incredible timing and precision.The Natya Dance Thrater dancers of India then performed a number that was beautiful, graceful and entertaining, attired in richly colored costumes, jewelry and body paint & makeup. The last performance by the Universal African Dance & Drum ensemble featured wild energy, acrobatic stunts, explosive energy and served as a perfect ending to this international series of performances. Their segment ended with a reprise number on stage in which they were joined by the Trinity Irish Dancers and the Natya dancers who served to get the clapping audience up and on their feet. The Eturnity Band, New York City's best R&B, Funk & Motown dance band, then laid down the drum beat that kept the audience dancing until the end of the night.

Empire Entertainment is the leading producer of international talent & performers for corporate events. We have presented acts from every region of the world.

For the 4th year in a row, Empire produced the annual client conference for one of the world's largest financial company's retirement group. For this 4 day / 3 evening long event, Empire booked and produced all entertainment and provided keynote and topical speakers including: President George H. W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush, actor, comedian and political writer Ben Stein as well as 11 industry speakers and panelists.The opening evening featured world-renowned comedian / juggler and the senior Bush's favorite entertainer, Michael Davis, who thrilled the audience with his amazing juggling and hilarious humor. Michael received a standing-ovation for his performance

This year, Empire's responsibilities expanded to include all florals for the conference. Empire partnered with Tomik Productions who set up an in-house flower shop that provided all flower arrangements and linens throughout the conference for every function including two outdoor breakfasts, and lunches, the opening night cocktail reception and dinner function, the closing night cocktail reception, and an intimate breakfast with a small group of client guests and President and Mrs. Bush. Incredible custom floral arrangements were also provided for the Bush's suite, other VIP's and attendees as requested.The first morning, was a fresh and colorful citrus themed breakfast, set on the beautiful Da Vinci lawn within the hotel gardens, which featured festive citrus linens and floral displays.For that afternoon's lunch, the garden was reset with another fresh and bright theme, beautifully complimented with fresh florals and linens. These breakfast and lunch themed events were repeated the following day with the final in-house event being a cocktail reception held the last night of the conference in the conference resource center.

Empire again designed, built and installed the conference's Resource Center in which twenty one client participants / partners were provided custom-designed spaces to showcase their latest materials to the conferences 300 attendees. This space also served as a place where attendees could relax, network and check email between general sessions. Empire completely transformed a 100' X 50' ballroom space into an indoor garden, that featured Italian, English and Florida tropical themes, complete with a beautiful white email gazebo in the center of the room and an indoor fountain that enhanced the rooms ambience. These elements were complimented with a combination of various styles of outdoor garden furniture, beautiful garden-themed props, baker's racks for participants materials, computer monitors were provided as well as wireless internet connections for participants. Finally, Empire designed the General Session stage to compliment the Resource Center garden theme. The staging was then built by the client and dressed by Empire on site. The client and participants constantly complimented Empire on a job well done again this year. Many of the participants and attendees have attended this conference every year and are constantly surprised at how we conceptualize and implement a business function in a unique environment, not generally seen in the conference world.

Empire Entertainment was once again called upon to produce a music industry party for valued clients, J Records / RCA / The BMG Music Group. This time, their client was Velvet Revolver, a new band consisting of several former members of Guns 'n' Roses: including Slash and Duff and Scott Weiland The Stone Temple Pilots former front man.Called in a week prior to the event, Empire worked to create a "Moroccan-roll" themed event on the rooftop of the hot new 'meat packing district' hotel, The Hotel Gansevoort. With extremely limited electrical power onsite and challenging 'new hotel' logistical and practical problems to contend with, Empire managed to create and execute a first class event for a crowd of music celebrities and industry personnel including Clive Davis.

The event featured original decor in a Moroccan theme reminiscent of the decor at the band's studio where their debut album was recorded. Empire and it's team designed & provided decor in both interior and exterior spaces on the hotel rooftop and floating flowers and votive candles around one of Manhattan's few rooftop swimming pools. The party went late into the evening with great rock music from DJ Frank Inglesi, and celebrities and guests lounging on Moroccan furniture arrangements beneath lanterns and among flowers and planters. Empire was complimented throughout the night by the client, hotel personnel, and attendees, for doing a great job.

Empire is a leading producer of events for the entertainment industry.

When one of the world's largest and best-known software firms wants to dazzle its customers and business partners with a hot night in the Big Easy, it picks up the phone and calls Empire Entertainment. The client's goal was lofty: to put on a precedent-setting corporate concert, with multiple performers and a Grammy-like feel. Empire met the challenge head-on. Working closely with the client's marketing department, they arrived at a novel solution: to recreate, in concert form, last year's hit documentary, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". The film celebrates the career of the Funk Brothers, the band that played on all of the classic Motown tracks from the early 1960s right through until the 1980s, backing the likes of Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Temptations. Few people are aware that the Funk Brothers tallied more number one hits than Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys combined. Empire partnered the Funk Brothers with Chaka Khan, Joan Osborne (both of whom were featured in the film), Aaron Neville and Ruben Studdard.

Two days before the show, Aaron Neville was hospitalized with bronchial asthma and forced to cancel. Empire worked quickly to replace him with none other than the legendary Isley Brothers' lead singer, Ron Isley. The end result was a high-energy, all-star event that ignited the 5,000 person strong crowd. The hits kept on coming: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"; "What's Going On"; "Signed, Sealed, Delivered"; "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"; "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"; "What Becomes of the Broken Heart?"; "My Girl" and others. After the show, an out-of-breath member of the client's top brass exclaimed, "It is not possible to put together a better corporate show!" Earlier in the week, for this same client, Empire put on yet another all-star event: a panel discussion featuring James Carville, Ben Stein, and Todd Buccholz, and moderated by Stuart Varney. The lively debate focused on the upcoming presidential election and its economic impact of the U.S. and the world.

Now in its 3rd year, the TriBeCa Film Festival once again turned to Empire Entertainment to produce the festival's largest single event, the TriBeCa Family Festival. The multi-faceted street festival pulled in an estimated 300,000 visitors throughout the day and served as a focal point for the growing celebration of the revival of Lower Manhattan. Larger than previous years, this year's Family Festival offered more than 70 tents of entertainment, activities, and food and stretched across 17 city blocks. Five outdoor stages presented a diverse collection of New York-based performers and community talent.

Highlights of this year's Family Festival included an arts and crafts pavilion sponsored by American Express, a children's library and storytelling with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg in the Scholastic pavilion, a baby giraffe, zebra, and leopard cub on display with South African Tourism, Club TriBeCa which featured live cabaret-style performances throughout the day, a tennis activity area created by USTA, a basketball shooting court sponsored by the Nationball Basketball Association, a life-size chess board, hundreds of street performers, face painters, kite-making, sidewalk chalk art, a public art mural, a KidzTown dedicated to children's activities and entertainment and numerous other arts and crafts tents and areas.The event also included the participation of dozens of restaurants and merchants in lower Manhattan and the spontaneous participation of schools, community groups and all manner of special interests and institutions in TriBeCa.

Empire Entertainment served as Executive Producers and managed all production and logistics elements of the entire event and coordinated all services including tenting, permitting and street closure, integration with city agencies, security, electrical power distribution, decor, staging, sound, lighting, labor, decor, bathrooms, street cleanup, video and A/V, event design and layout, stage management, etc.

Empire is a major producer of public events and is proud to be a partner of TriBeCa Productions in the TriBeCa Film Festival since it's start in 2002.

For the sixth consecutive year, Empire Entertainment produced The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Kids For Kids charity carnival event at New York's Industria SuperStudios in Manhattan's West Village. This year's event was underwritten by The Bandai Foundation and sponsored by The Toys R' Us Children's Fund, MTV, VH-1, Country Music Television, InStyle Magazine, JetBlue, Symrise and Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealers among others. The event took place in all of the photography studios of the Industria complex as well as the Diane von Furstenberg Studio and 9 large tents set up on Washington Street and West 12th Street.

More than 1,500 people attended Kids for Kids which featured a kids dance club created by MTV/VH-1/CMT, delicious foods from dozens of participating New York City restaurants brought together by Jonathan Morr, an Art Room in which artists including Chuck Close, Francesco Clemente and Jeff Koons worked with children to create original paintings and sculptures, a street carnival where children played games with celebrities like Julianne Moore, James Gandolfini and Brooke Shields, a JetBlue flight simulator activity, video karaoke, a toy redemption area donated by Toys R' Us, a fragrance laboratory created by Symrise, a storytelling room sponsored by TARGET and a kids yoga room designed by Béyul and staffed by yoga instructors from Karma Kids. The afternoon event also featured several performances on a main stage including Kid Pop, Big Truck Music, The Power Rangers and a headline concert by Maverick recording artist Ben Jelen.

Empire Entertainment managed and coordinated most aspects of the four hour long event including the tenting, security, staging, labor, cleaning crews, emergency medical service standby, and signage. Decor for the event was provided by Robert Isabell.Kids for Kids 2004 was a tremendous success for all involved and helped to raise $1.3 million in funds to support critical pediatric AIDS programs.

Empire is a key producer of high-end, not-for-profit events and a strategic partner to businesses looking to create event-marketing opportunities in collaboration with charitable causes.

When Velocity Communications recently consulted Empire Entertainment regarding a headline performer for an event in Germany, there was one act that was perfect for the audience. Velocity had explained that the attendees of the engagement were going to be 1,200 key clients, premier partners, special guests, and staff of a world-renowned technology corporation. Most of these guests were to be non-English speaking, men in their 30's - 50's. The entertainment needed to be elegant without being boring; glamorous but still exciting enough to keep the attendees' attention. And of course, the performance needed to be essentially non-verbal to suit the international audience. Empire immediately suggested the female string quartet "BOND".

Initially hailed "the Spice Girls of classical music", the four attractive women who make up the group have demonstrated that they are not all style-over-substance by composing a vibrant worldbeat sound all their own. Their debut album, "Born" (2001) showcased the band's mix of salsa, house, and European folk stylings. Combined with the performers' supermodel looks, the music helped the album sell over two and a half million copies worldwide, and led to the group performing at high-profile events like the "Pavarotti with Friends" concert in Italy, the MTV Awards in the United States and Singapore, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and high profile endorsements & commercial campaigns for multiple brands including Raymond Weil watches. Empire knew that the band's unique blend of sex appeal and elegant high-energy classical music made them the ideal show for the crowd.After seeing the troupe's video, Velocity Communications and the end-client agreed they were perfect. While BOND was touring Asia at the time of the event in Germany, Empire was able to secure them for the project. As can be seen in the accompanying photo, Velocity Communications transformed The Kraftzentrale in Duisburg, Germany (a former steel foundry) into a lively, dynamic banquet and concert venue. Dramatic use of lighting on flying "Hexawing" scrim and vibrant staging set the tone for a magical evening. And BOND outdid themselves as well.

As one of the clients from Velocity wrote to us after the show, "in short, the experience was the best we have ever had. BOND was fantastic. [The end client VIP's] lined up to meet them afterwards including the CEO. And yes, the male audience lined up during the entire show to take photos. They are hot, sexy and talented. Thank you so much for taking care of us and our client." Empire Entertainment is a leading presenter and producer of headline performers at special events worldwide. We have our fingers on the pulse of the best new entertainment on every continent and excel at recommending and securing the best possible entertainers for any specific audience, regardless of their nationality.

When one of the world's largest restaurant companies sought to present a very special, yet informal and fun party on the eve of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, KY, they called Empire Entertainment to deliver the right entertainment. Working with this client, Empire was able to secure The Blues Brothers, featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi along with the Sacred Hearts Band to perform a no-holds-barred concert of Blues Brothers hits including "Kady," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Going Back to Miami," "Rubber Biscuit" and "Soul Man." Dan and Jim wore their full Blues Brothers costumes of black suits & ties, Ray Ban sunglasses and black hats and performed with all of the stage choreography seen in the original motion picture featuring Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi.

The event took place in a large, tented site on the grounds of a magnificent private home in Louisville. The band performed on a stage set based on a "House of Blues" theme and delighted the audience members, who came from around the world, and began dancing almost immediately after the music began. Dan and Jim agreed to pose for meet & greets with 160 guests and customized many of their between song comments to the audience and the host, even inviting the host's daughter and her friends onstage to dance with the band. Following the Blues Brothers' performance, a surprise country & western superstar took the stage and performed several songs before Nashville-based dance band The Kadillacs played dance music for the remainder of the evening.

For this project Empire was responsible for negotiating for and contracting the Blues Brothers, handling all logistics including travel, hotels, ground transportation and hospitality and coordinating production with a top Louisville staging & production vendor. Empire also stage-managed the entire evening's activities.

Empire is a leading producer of major concert events and is regularly called upon to create unique events surrounding major sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby, The Superbowl, Indianapolis 500, World Cup Soccer, and The Olympic Games.

When one of Empire's magazine clients sought to present a special value-added event for one of their top advertisers, they turned to Empire Entertainment to help them present one of today's hottest musical stars at the historic Paramount Theatre. Empire worked with the client to secure the rapidly rising and extraordinarily talented Warner Brothers Recording artist, Jewel, to perform a solo headline concert that included her hit songs "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant For Me" as well as a variety of songs in styles ranging from blues and country to folk and ballads. Her performance to a nearly packed house revealed not just her great musical talent but also her knack for humorous story telling and interactive rapport with her audiences. Her 90-minute-long performance included a guitar and harmonica duo with her brother Atz, who lives in Seattle, and won a standing ovation and encore from the audience, all of which were the retailer's shoppers.

For this performance Empire negotiated all contract terms including promotional rights for both parties, handled all logistics and production arrangements, managed all aspects of the live performance, and helped to get Jewel styled for the performance with some exceptional clothing from the retailer. Empire was successful in negotiating an excellent deal for Jewel to perform by combining incentives that included a national advertising page to offset hard dollar costs.The show was an incredible success that thrilled Jewel's fans, increased customer loyalty for the retailer and provided a unique and fitting way for the magazine to thank it's advertiser as well as reinforce its presence in the Seattle Market.

Empire is a major producer of event marketing programs and the leading producer of contemporary music for corporate marketing events.

Live Lab is a "Creative Solutions Provider" joint venture created by Choreographer Tee Scatuorchio, Musical Director Mike Levesque and Empire Entertainment. Live Lab designs original productions for trade shows, business meetings and other forms of event marketing initiatives. Live Lab productions are exclusively represented by Industrial Artist Management. Live Lab's most recent show for Panasonic at the CeBit International Trade show in Germany, demonstrated once again it's range and versatility. Working with the vibrant message of Panasonic's sponsorship of the 2004 Olympic games, Live Lab assembled an all-star cast of marching drummers, trumpet players and Ribbon Gymnast dancers from such Broadway hits as, "Movin' Out" and "Cabaret" to create an original stage show that served as a framework for presenting Panasonic's business messages. The show drew some of the biggest crowds at this year's CeBit electronics trade show and was wildly successful. Live Lab's show for Panasonic at the IFA show in Berlin, Germany in September 2003 featured Beat Box and Hip - Hop worked into a Formula One Racing Pit theme. Live Lab is expert is crafting shows that not only provide great entertainment but entertainment that delivers content in a smart and seamless production. Whether it's a show lasting only 3 minutes or a half hour, Live Lab conceptualizes, directs, choreographs, composes music, casts, costumes, and above all, produces quality shows based on years on extensive experience. Live labs recent and upcoming shows include productions for Choice Hotels, Carlson Worldwide, Nick At Nite's Upfront Show, Gerber Foods, Panasonic IFA, Panasonic CES, Merck's Zocor & Singular Launches, Arthur Ashes Kids Day/CBS TV and others. When You Want shows that Include: Beat Poets, Beat Box, Ribbon Gymnasts, Tap, Hip Hop, Acrobatics, Percussion, Vocalists, Broadway Style Song and Dance and other emerging forms of performance, call Live Lab!

Each Spring most of the major broadcast and cable networks come to New York City, the advertising capital of the world, to present the coming year's programming to a community of advertisers, media buyers and planners in an effort to promote advance advertising sales. Because these presentations take place prior to the production of programming which will air later in the year, these presentations are called Upfronts. Upfront season is a time when the world's most sophisticated marketers and media organizations compete with one another to out-wow the been-there, done-that advertising community. When National Geographic Channel, the nation's fastest-growing cable network decided to hold their first Upfront event, they knew they would have to do something bold, daring, innovative and reflective of their programming in order to stand out from the crowd. Naturally, they hired Empire Entertainment to help them achieve their goal.

Working directly with the National Geographic Channel's marketing and advertising sales teams, Empire worked to develop a highly interactive, participatory and stylish event that brought to life their 2004 positioning and slogan "Dare to Explore," and utilized the careful selection of yellow & red colors that derive recognition from the venerable National geographic Magazine yellow border. Empire created an astounding event at Gotham Hall in Midtown, NYC. The event featured a giant central yellow "Border Bar" built with surfaces that matched the logo colors, which were adorned with garnet red glasses in which were served 'Venom shots' and other unique cocktails created for the evening. Surrounding the bar were comfortable seating areas of ottomans and cocktail rounds, and around the perimeter of the room were a series of immersive activities, each one themed to a different National Geographic Channel series or special.

The shows / activities included Tycoon Toys in which guests enjoyed flights on jet fighter simulator, Techno Structures in which a team of master Lego builders had created towering buildings and replicas of the Rome Coliseum and the Pyramids of Giza and guests could make their own creations, Totally Wild in which guests interacted with animals ranging from a bear cub to albino python and falcons, Expeditions to the Edge in which guests played life & death trivial pursuit against the clock hosted by real paramedics, Seconds from Disaster at which guests experienced a virtual simulation of a helicopter crash, Pharaoh's Curse where guests took their photos in front of a digital backdrop of the Great Pyramids with a mummy and Pharaoh in costume, Inside the Secret service where guests honed their shooting skills on a laser targeting range and their hand to hand combat techniques with a real combat trainer to the Navy Seals, a Paratrooper station at which guests got to meet a real life Army paratrooper and try on parachutes and other gear, and Interpol Investigates at which guests got to try the latest spy gear, had their fingerprints taken by FBI experts and took a real time polygraph test with a specialist.Also mixing and mingling with the guests was a staff of real experts including medics, a race car driver, mountaineers, explorers, animal experts, NYPD and emergency workers and an assortment of other characters.

In addition to these activities, Empire provided outstanding catering in four large themed food stations representing the major regions of the world, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Asia and the Americas. Each station had an assortment of foods reflecting that region of the world and was decorated accordingly. A giant projection screen with a giant yellow border around it towered 24' above the event and served as a focal point for a presentation of NGC's amazing new programming and footage. And of course there was extraordinary lighting reminiscent of moving targeting lasers and an amazing, eclectic soundtrack that ranged from tribal drumming to techno beats.

When a consortium of major entertainment companies that produce syndicated television programming wanted to make a splash for the New York advertising community during Spring Upfront season, they turned once again to Empire Entertainment to produce their star-studded, signature event.The Syndicated Network Television Association, whose members include Buena Vista Television, Twentieth Century Television, Universal, Paramount and others, again chose Empire Entertainment to produce their main event, following a day of presentations of their 2004 programming including shows like That 70's Show, Family Feud and Ellen.

The event, which took place in the ballrooms & foyer of the New York Grand Hyatt, was designed as a hyper-modern lounge party with décor inspired by Philippe Stark and the Delano Hotel of South Beach. The 600 or so attendees came to drink, eat, dance, and mix & mingle with some of the hottest stars of syndicated television including Ellen Degeneres, Regis Philbin, Chris Matthews, Keifer Sutherland, Tony Danza and many others. Empire created an incredible visual feast in this space that was based on colors of chocolate, cream, caramel, flaming red & rich gold. Upon arrival, guests walked through a foyer that was set with lounge furniture and dessert and coffee stations. Once they stepped through the ballroom doors, an enormous wall of white curtain that served as a faux entrance, separated the room and created a backdrop for the large central island bar on the opposite side. Into this curtain were mounted a series of plasma monitors displaying the images of the featured television programs. Turning the corner into the room guests saw a seated area of custom square tables in draped gold organza linens topped with red & cream bunches of roses before an expansive buffet of sumptuous foods.

Behind this buffet, Empire created custom screen surrounds for three large vertical projection screens that fit the contours of the ballroom's columns. Onto these screens were projected the nine sponsor logos and the 27 promoted syndicated television programs. Empire designed a matrix projection that changed throughout the night and offered each of the nine syndicated networks and 27 shows equal time on the main screens. At the center of the room stood a huge, u-shaped white bar with a white frosted plexiglass surface that was lit in flaming red from underneath. This bar was adorned with modern white, angular stools and the rear of the bar was adorned with a towering floral display designed by Michael Kowalski which stood in front of a curtain of white onto which was projected an undulating flame lighting effect. The room also featured several comfortable seating areas of funky velvet and leather couches, club chairs, ottomans and coffee tables. The other end of the room featured two custom-designed stages positioned on either side of a large dance floor. On one stage Todd Londagin (of the Flying Neutrinos) and his all star jazz combo performed upbeat and sophisticated swing jazz, while on the other stage, stunning vocalist Toby Williams (of the band Cocktail Angst) sang duets with Todd from across the room. Each stage was surrounded by comfortable club style seating arrangements and a drink shelf that was built around the bar to allow guests to sit up close and drink while watching the band. For the final portion of the evening, DJ David Chang spun a groovy mix of disco, R&B, hip hop and dance music while dancers and guests flocked the dancefloor and mixed with the guests. All of the hosting companies were thrilled with the success of the event and most people, including many of the celebrities stayed until after the house lights were turned back on.

Empire is a leading producer of trade events and event marketing programs for the television, film, music and video gaming industries among many others.

At a two-day long global summit for a multinational technology company's top business partners, Empire was engaged to identify, contract and produce a headline musical artist who would appeal to the demographics of the audience, and provide an intimate concert experience in the 530 seat recital hall at Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.Empire recommended and subsequently contracted the acclaimed headliner Lyle Lovett and his band of extraordinary musicians. Lyle was selected because of the intimate and quiet nature of his music which suited the acoustically live recital hall perfectly, the vast intelligence behind his music which would appeal to a very upscale and intelligent audience, and his dry humor which we knew would endear him to the audience and create a memorable and meaningful experience that would reflect well on our client, the host company of the conference. Lyle Lovett's performance achieved this and more as he won a standing ovation for playing music ranging in style from country and blues to gospel and bluegrass, and interspersing his songs with wry commentary that had the audience laughing throughout the show. Lyle's extraordinary musicianship and the amazing talent of his band which included drums, percussion, fiddle, steel guitar, electric guitar, upright bass, cello and piano, was not lost on the audience, members of which came from more than 20 countries. Since the show took place on St. Patrick's Day, Lyle wore a bright green suit for the occasion. After the show Lyle was gracious and warm at a meet & greet in the Founders Room, taking photos with each and every VIP attendee, telling more stories and signing more than 50 CDs as gifts to the clients.

For this project Empire handled the talent selection, contracting, logistics, and all staging, sound, lighting and electrical power, coordinating our efforts with the client's events logistics company and Benaroya Hall. The evening was a resounding success and everyone from Lyle Lovett and his band, to the clients, their partners and the staff at Benaroya Hall, were delighted to have been part of such an extraordinary evening.

When the top figures in the Entertainment Industries want to throw a blowout party, they turn to unrivaled event designer Colin Cowie to design an unforgettable room and wonderfully conceived party. But when Colin Cowie needs to realize his fanciful visions, he relies upon Empire Entertainment to provide the backbone of his entertainment, technical production and talent wrangling team. Such was the case last week when television superstar Oprah Winfrey decided to throw a surprise 71st birthday party for music industry legend Quincy Jones. For this ultra exclusive event for 250 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Colin Cowie transformed the Rodeo Ballroom into a multi-leveled vision of brown, black and purple floral arrangements. In front of a reflective black dance floor was a 40' X 28' stage upon which some of the top names in music would perform. The foyer and outside patio were similarly designed and featured an assortment of dessert stations, bars, cigar lounge areas and everywhere were vertically hung plasma monitors running a montage of a special Q71 logo that Empire created for the evening which was also reflected on custom match boxes, and napkins.

Quincy Jones was completely surprised when he arrived to find 250 of his closest friends crouching in the darkness. As soon as they yelled surprise! the DJ kicked in the music and the party started swinging. The guest list was a who's who of Hollywood and music royalty. Everyone from Barbra Streisand, Eddie Murphy, Jon Travolta and Elton John to George Lucas, Billy Crystal and Stevie Wonder crowded the dance floor. Oprah Winfrey hosted the evening and played several touching video tributes to Quincy as well as presenting an enormous chocolate piano that had been flown in earlier in the day.Guests listened to the enchanting Diana Krall perform a mellow set of music during a buffet dinner that included Joe's Stone Crab flown in from Miami and barbecued ribs fresh from Texas. After dinner Earth, Wind & Fire took the stage and brought the entire audience onto the dance floor for hits that included "Boogie Wonderland," "Sing a Song," "Let's Groove," and "Shining Star." After Earth, Wind & Fire's set ended Verdine White and others joined the rest of the guests on the dance floor as DJ Tom Finn kept people dancing until late into the night. Later in the evening, Stevie Wonder took the stage with keyboardist Greg Phillinganes for a couple of impromptu songs and sung to a beaming Quincy Jones.

For this demanding project, Empire consulted on all talent negotiations, integrated the competing needs of the various acts to work within a very small space and brought in world class sound, labor, video projection and other technical services, handled all logistical and dressing room arrangements and managed the flow of the evening with Empire co-President, J. B. Miller, personally calling the cues from the dance floor.

Empire is the leading provider of talent booking and technical services for diamond class events worldwide.

In 1998, Empire Entertainment was called upon by buy-in-bulk supermarket chain BJ's Wholesale Club to secure entertainment for their General Managers Meeting. Upon learning that Empire is a full-service event production company, BJ's asked for a comprehensive production proposal for the next year's event. Finding Empire's bid to be more creative and cost-effective than the incumbent vendor, BJ's elected to have Empire produce the 1999 conference and every meeting since.

In March 2004, BJ's celebrated their 20th year in business at the Ft. Lauderdale Marriott Marina where Empire produced the company's biggest and best General Manager's Meeting yet. For the arrival night, Empire provided a Casino evening at the hotel to kick off the conference in a way that would permit the GM's to mingle and network with each other after having not seen each other since the previous year. As the meeting theme ("Celebrating 20 Years: Here's Looking at You BJ's") was based around the film Casablanca, Empire provided décor for the Casino, including an entrance to the room with ornate hardwood doors flanked by gorgeous teak wood panels. Decorative arched signage overhead read "Rick's Café American" in script lettering. Magnificent oversized gold frames (5.5' x 7') hosting authentic Casablanca movie posters created stunning vignettes behind the craps tables and roulette wheels around the room. Vintage black wrought iron street lamps and groupings of live Areca palms uplit with colored theatrical lighting completed the setting. And to top it off, the Casablanca DVD was played on the two enormous video screens that flanked the stage for the next day's general session.

Along with the video screens, Empire provided the sound, stage, lighting, and teleprompting for the session that included multimedia presentations by top executives of the company. Using decorative pipe and drape and uplighting, Empire masked the rear two-thirds of the stage so as to create a more dramatic effect when the headline entertainment for the conference performed later in the week. For the attendees' final night, Empire presented and produced singer/impressionist Gordie Brown as the evening's entertainment. Empire had requested that Gordie customize the performance for BJ's 20th Anniversary, and he obliged, doing an incredible impression of Humphrey Bogart stating the meeting theme "Here's Looking at You, BJ's". He also had the crowd in stitches, telling them "Congratulations on 20 great years BJ's. I understand that the competition is celebrating tonight, too. But they're in a hotel down the street with a balloon artist". Gordie received a standing ovation and the attendees were still talking about him when they came back to the ballroom the following afternoon for a surprise finalé performance by Kool & The Gang. After fantastic renditions of hits including "Ladies Night", "Jungle Boogie", "Get Down on It", and others, the band asked the GM's if they were ready to celebrate 20 great years of being in business. Receiving an enthusiastic response from the crowd, the band kicked into their classic party hit "Celebration". The crowd jumped to their feet, and many actually jumped to the stage to dance with the band. It was a perfect ending to a perfect celebration of 20 years in business.

Empire is a premier producer of corporate conferences and entertainment for special events. We seek to provide the kind of value to our clients that creates long term client loyalty and encourages them to look exclusively to Empire for any and all of their meeting & event needs. BJ's Wholesale Club is one of many public companies that has turned exclusively to Empire for their production and entertainment needs for five or more consecutive years.

Every year one of the world's largest software companies holds a major conference and event in Las Vegas to bring together managers & developers. One of the highlights of this conference is the final night event for which Empire provides the entertainment. In 2003 Empire delivered The Blues Brothers featuring Dan Aykroyd & Jim Belushi to play for this group at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. This year's event was held outside on the Brooklyn Bridge setting and inside the ESPN Zone at the New York, NY Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The event fell on a perfect moonless night on the Las Vegas strip and Empire delivered legendary, Grammy nominee Los Lobos to bring their high-energy fusion of Mexican and East Los Angeles-flavored rock and roll to this audience.

Empire constructed a large stage at one end of the Brooklyn Bridge with self climbing truss, supporting both front and rear lighting with moving light package and state-of-the-art DV-dosc line-array speaker system, providing clear audio coverage for the entire bridge without the need for cumbersome delay speakers.These state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems created an ideal concert experience for the audience of 1800 as well as the hundreds of onlookers on the Las Vegas strip itself. Los Lobos gave the audience a screaming set of their hits including "Don't Worry Baby," and their cover of Richie Valens "La Bamba," but also included other covers such as The Who's "My Generation," and Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl." The band's screaming guitars and hard-rocking beats and Spanish & English vocals had the international audience on their feet and they brought them back for three encores.

The combination of the music, the setting and the night was the perfect, high-energy highlight of an evening in Las Vegas. For this production Empire recommended and contracted Los Lobos and provided all production including outdoor staging, sound, lighting, backline, power distribution and logistics and onsite event management.

Empire is a leading provider of headline concert entertainment for corporate meetings & events. We are very skilled and experienced at matching the right talent to each audience and setting.

When one of the world's largest and best-known software firms wants to reward its highest achievers, it flies them to Kauai for an Empire Entertainment-produced event. Once again, Empire secured disco fave KC and the Sunshine Band – top pick of the firm's CEO – and KC delivered: 300 sales representatives danced the night away. Empire's production team had an equally strong delivery. The site's ballroom was small, and not outfitted for an act of KCSB's proportions. But Empire sent a landing party months ahead of time to inspect the site, then had it specially equipped to handle a major touring act – full light show, speaker stacks, stage large enough to accommodate 15 players and 4 dancers up front, etc. The room was miraculously transformed: Somehow, the excitement of Madison Square Garden fit gracefully into a room just 60' by 120'. KC performed a high-energy 75 minute set rife with hits including "That's the Way I like It", "Shake, Shake, Shake", "Get Down Tonight", "Give it Up", and "Boogie Shoes". The afternoon before the show, Empire leveraged its warm relationship with KCSB to persuade the reclusive Harry "KC" Casey to "drop by" and enjoy beverages at a cocktail party called by the firm's CEO. KC mingled much to the attendee's delight, setting the tone for the concert and celebration that evening.

Since 1999 Empire has been recommending and securing entertainment for Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s annual DealerFest conference. The conference draws more than 1,000 Sears Dealer Store owners and spouses each year. In past years, venues ranging from Reno and Nashville to New Orleans, Empire has presented performers including Legends In Concert, Neil Goldberg's Cirque, comedy-juggling duo the Raspyni Brothers, country music legends Roy Clark and Juice Newton, comedian Brian Regan, and even a seven foot tall walking and talking robot to welcome guests to the event. This year, Empire presented one of the most successful nights of entertainment yet, with up-and-coming comedian Jim Gaffigan opening the show, followed by a headline concert by classic headline rock act - America. Jim Gaffigan, who has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman an unprecedented eight times, and is now appearing as "Roy" on Fox's hit "That 70's Show", had the crowd in stitches with his jokes about Cinnabons being so big that he doesn't know whether to eat them or sit on them (his conclusion "hey....I can sit on it, AND eat it!").

With the crowd warmed up and in a good mood, America took the stage, exciting the crowd with timeless hits including "Sister Golden Hair", "Ventura Boulevard", and "Horse With No Name". The band cleverly dedicated "Lonely People" to the notoriously lonely Maytag repairman (Maytag was Sears' sponsor for the evening), and then, at the client's request, made a more serious dedication of their hit "I Need You" to a couple in the audience who were celebrating their 38th Wedding Anniversary. The couple slow-danced in front of the stage as the band played the song in their honor.When the band's set was over, the crowd jumped to its feet for a standing ovation and called the band back out for an encore. The band was as personable as could be at the meet and greet, taking photos with Sears VIP's and signing CD's and photos for them.

Empire is a leading resource to companies looking to program appropriate entertainment for a variety of different audiences.

One of the most eagerly anticipated annual media events in New York is the exclusive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue party, which is held each year in connection with the release of the best-selling Swimsuit issue. In 2004, Sports Illustrated turned to Empire to help them produce the party at the New York club Deep. The event featured appearances by all of the current issue models including international athlete Anna Kournikova, as well as many former models and cover girls including Vendela, Marissa Miller, Roshamba, Molly Sims, Daniela Pestova, Bridget Hall, and Cheryl Teigs. This incredible high-profile event was sponsored by Pontiac and Captain Morgan's Rum and was webcast live and taped for broadcast on the Spike TV network.

For this complex live event, Empire was engaged to handle most of the major elements including: catering (by Great Performances), decor, which included managing a hydraulic, mounted Pontiac GTO to food stations, step & repeat sponsor banners, model dressing rooms, staging, lighting, management of the complex audio issues and integration with club and broadcast systems, video projection, a network of plasma monitors placed throughout the club, and an elaborate red carpet installation.

Empire worked closely with Sports Illustrated creative, the club and other vendors to deliver a seamless event. Empire is a leading producer of press and media events as well as client events for media and communications industries looking to entertain a demanding audience of media buyers and planners.

When a major pharmaceutical company wants to inspire its sales team to surpass the previous year's record-breaking numbers, it calls on Empire Entertainment to provide the right entertainment to inspire and energize. For the main entertainment event at a multi-day sales conference for one of the world's largest drug makers, Empire delivered not one but two legendary disco acts to perform in the packed Grand Ballroom of the San Francisco Hilton: The Gap Band and KC & the Sunshine Band. The identity of the two acts was a surprise, and the attendees' astonishment at their good fortune fuelled a long night of exuberant dancing and a trip back to disco's finest era. As the bands played hits ranging from KC & The Sunshine Band's "That's The Way (I Like It)," "Shake Your Booty," "Get Down Tonight," and "Keep It Coming Love," to The Gap Band's "Get Up and Dance," and "You Dropped a Bomb on Me." By the end of the night, there wasn't a dry shirt in the house.

Empire also provided a motivational keynote speaker to rouse the audience during one of the daytime general sessions. 2,300 people sat in rapt attention as Irish Tenor, Ronan Tynan, movingly recounted his triumph over a childhood disability to become a medal-winning athlete, a physician, and a world-renowned singer. Empire worked with Dr. Tynan to ensure that he would include aspects of the conference's theme into his presentation. Following Dr. Tynan's speech, the audience swooned to his a cappella version of "God Bless America" before clamoring to their feet in a standing ovation. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Empire arranged private meet & greets, where guests were able to chat and take photographs, with both acts, as well as Ronan Tynan.

Empire is a full-service talent & speaker booking and production organization, capable of fulfilling all of our client's diverse needs for meetings and events.

On Saturday, January 10, 2004, one of the coldest days of the year, Empire Entertainment again teamed up with National Geographic Channel and the Wildlife Conservation Society to present enrichment toys made from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree to enrich the lives of zoo animals in a national press event for National Geographic Channel.This year the event was held at the Bronx Zoo, and despite the bitter cold, the press and public came out to watch as Dr. Mike Heithaus, host of National Geographic Channel's new show Crittercam, and Dr. Pat Thomas, curator of mammals at the Bronx Zoo, explained how the toys were prepared for the Siberian Tigers. Zoo-keepers baited a four inch disk cut from the trunk of the Christmas Tree with meat, deer hide and a spritz of Obsession (a scent tigers cannot resist). To the delight of the crowd, the Zoo's two female Siberian Tigers were drawn to their enrichment toy right away, and began stripping it of all the goodies the keepers had provided to the delight of the gathered audience.

Presentations continued throughout the day. The Bronx Zoo's Grizzly bears got the top twenty feet of the tree baited with bright red apples and drizzled with honey and molasses. The Asian Small Clawed Otters came out of the hollow logs where they were napping to play in the water with tree limbs filled with treats. One of the Zoo's newer residents, Biscuit, a Snow Leopard born in June of 2003, was a little leery of his enrichment toy, a disk just like the tigers'. But Dr. Mike and Dr. Thomas got the crowd to wait quietly while they whispered facts and anecdotes about Snow Leopards in the wild, and after a few minutes, Biscuit and his mother did come out to take a look.The Zoo's Polar Bears were presented with the final enrichment toy, a disk and branches baited with fish and meat, which they dug right into. Then the press and public were invited to the Zoo's cafeteria for cookies, hot cocoa and coffee, all compliments of National Geographic Channel.Empire worked with The National Geographic Channel, their PR firm, the Wildlife Conservation Societyt (operators of the Bronx and Central Park Zoos in New York City) and a variety of vendors and partners to deliver a smooth event. Empire provided event design and overall logistical management, supervised the mill process to get the world's most famous tree cut into toys that were safe for the animals, delivered staging, sound, lighting, video projection and placement of signage and branding as well as providing all staff to manage the day long event and the distribution of National Geographic Channel gift bags.

Empire is a leading producer of creative and innovative event marketing campaigns for corporations around the world.

Empire was engaged recently by the Starlight Children's Foundation, to produce headline singer / songwriter and Grammy Award-winner John Mayer to perform at a fundraising event for 400 people at Downtown New York's chic Capitale space. Working with the Starlight Foundation and CS Events, Empire consulted on the booking and contracting of John Mayer, and provided all production and stage management including staging, sound, lighting, electrical power & distribution, lighting design to include sponsor gobos, video projection and coordination with John Mayer, Capitale, the Foundation and other parties. John Mayer performed a 45-minute acoustic set, seated with his guitar, in which he performed all of his current hits including "Your Body is a Wonderland" along with a couple of new songs.

The enthusiastic audience gave John a standing ovation and he even brought them to their feet to dance at the end of his set. The evening also featured a silent auction, a live auction, a presentation by the event co-Chairs and a standup set by comedian Robert Schimmell, a cancer survivor and parent who lost a son to cancer. All told the smooth-running evening raised over $900,000 to support the work of the Starlight Children's Foundation and John Mayer's performance was a highlight of the evening.

Empire Entertainment is a leading source for headline talent and professional production services for fund raising events.

In one of the most challenging international projects ever undertaken by our company, Empire was responsible for producing a Chinese New Year's Gala Celebration at The Manhattan center for the emerging, independent Mandarin language global television network, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV). For this massive undertaking, Empire served as the overall executive producer of the program, managing every aspect of the production and working in collaboration with an enormous group of international volunteers who had never before been involved with a show of this nature or scale. The Global Gala was held in the historic Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom, built in 1912 by Oscar Hammerstein. The two-night program, for which tickets were marketed and sold to both the English-speaking and Mandarin speaking public, was completely sold out.

The program included an extraordinary cast of more than 400 performers in 20 different performing groups that came from as far away as Taiwan, Australia and Germany to participate in the show. Performers included The Ying Tang Dance Company (32 members), The NTD-TV Global Gala Chinese Instrument Ensemble (35 members), The National Taiwan University of Fine Arts Dance Company (16 members), The Juilliard String Quartet, The Peking Acrobats of China, Australia's Returning Group, pianist Oliver Folger Jia, American Ballet Theater performers Gennadi Saveliev and Irina Dvorovenko who performed the Grand Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker, Soprano singer Bai Xue, The New York Repertory Orchestra (56 members), Dancer Wei Yu, the European "I Have Come Here for You" Chorus (90 members), bass vocalist Christian Bischoff, soprano Min Jiang, Erhu master performer Xiaochun Qi accompanied by Changzi Ma, famous tenor Guimin Guan with 21 supporting dancers and the Lotus Arts Dance Ensemble (30 members). The evening was hosted by Mei Zhou and Adam Montanaro and featured many surprises including onstage remarks by New York United States Senator Charles Schumer.

Presenting a live program with over 400 performers presents many challenges in addition to the communications and cultural impediments of working with an English-speaking crew and a Mandarin speaking cast and client. Empire was able to seamlessly surmount these challenges to present a smooth running program that delighted both Chinese and American guests of all ages. Empire managed all production for the program, working with the world class Manhattan Center production team and many outside vendors & sponsors to deliver elements including a 56' wide X 48' deep stage with custom risers & sets, a series of 4 sets of legs & borders, proscenium opening, main curtain and projection/cyc surfaces that needed to be flown on old-fashioned line sets, flying set pieces and scenery, Pani image projections, elaborate sound and lighting installations to fulfill the varied needs of all of the acts, special effects including fog and hazing machines, confetti cannons and electrified scenery, in addition to a 7 camera video crew using jib crane and dolly tracks to cover the live performance for broadcast into millions of homes around the world. The resulting performances were a unprecedented spectacles of color, movement, action and entertainment of every kind. The audience responded with standing ovations and this important program helped to put NTD-TV on the map as a global alternative in the world of Chinese Broadcasting.

Empire is a leading producer of internationally oriented programming for clients from around the world. With longstanding experience and productive relationships with Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian businesses & communities, Empire is the natural fit for international entertainment & media projects of this nature. Empire is a skilled manager of even the most complex and challenging international entertainment projects.

Empire produced The Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown, at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, for a global software firm. The client needed tremendous bang for its buck as well as an electrifying act that would charge up the 1,200 company sales representatives as well as the company's executive team and CEO. Empire worked hard to deliver a living legend that was a perfect fit for the legendary House of Blues setting. The James Brown Revue exploded onto the stage and performed a high-energy 80 minute set with a band that featured two drummers, percussion, rhythm section, horns, dancers, backing vocalists and the one and only Godfather of Soul, James brown. James performed many of his time-tested funk & soul hits including "Sex Machine," "I Feel Good," and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." The capacity audience danced throughout the show. Empire toiled behind the scenes to arrange an exceptionally large meet and greet with Mr. Brown and approximately 50 VIPs and worked with the House of Blues to ensure a smooth production and an exceptional experience for the attendees.

This show was the second time that Empire had produced James Brown for a corporate event so our familiarity with his operation and set-up benefited our client greatly. Empire is a leading producer of headline musical entertainment for classic corporate events and have produced a wide variety of living legends and master musicians from Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin to Al Green and James Brown.

Empire produced the Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealers Holiday Party at the world-famous ABC Studios located at Time Square Studios, in New York City. For this high-end holiday event for Mercedes-Benz Tri-State dealers and spouses, Empire created & brought to life four different themes for the various areas and segments of the evening from arrival to departure. Empire transformed the studio entrance (which is essentially a loading dock), into a classy, warm red & white holiday celebration complete with white drapes, red carpet with gobos projections of the client logo, holiday messages and snowflakes. The flowers were done in varying shades of deep red, accented with multiple arrangements of white calla lillies. These arrangements were placed strategically to mask building features such as the security window and also to adorn the beautifully draped red velvet reception table accented with white votives.

Empire greeting staff, dressed in elegant evening gowns and matching red pashminas greeted guests and directed them to the coat check and into the party. The cocktail reception was based on an "Oraganic Seasonal" theme. All décor and lighting elements worked in harmony to present a winterberry red, forest green and natural wood environment. A band stage was flanked with evergreen Christmas trees that sparkled with green & red twinkle lights and the backdrop was a fiber optic curtain that shimmered with tiny lights that faded slowly from red to green and back. Empire also created a white dance floor that lit in theme colors and featured a bold projection of the Mercedes-Benz logo. Cocktail tables draped in cherry shimmer linens with forest green organza overlays were placed around the dance floor and the room. On top of each of these tables was specialty red & green votive lamps surrounded with floral wreath arrangements. Two bars were created that were draped in these linens, and each held beautiful, impressive seasonal arrangements. Also, arranged on top of the bars was carefully selected glassware in the theme colors. Groupings of furniture consisting of green & red ottomans, side tables with colored votives and area rugs were placed underneath hanging arrangements of Mistletoe and Holly. All catering staff wore green and red bow ties and cumber buns. Live entertainment was provided by Soul Solution who played a wonderful jazzy and holiday themed set, slowly building the music and increasing in size of the band throughout the cocktail party. The dinner portion of the evening was a themed "Winter Wonderland". Empire designed and hand picked all tabletop items including linens, chairs, cushions, chargers, plates, flatware, and crystal stemware, votives and serving trays. Impressive, towering centerpiece were also designed by Empire and featured white branches that held hanging crystal ornaments which reflected light on to the tabletop along with specialty lighting design that put a striking azure blue wash over each place setting.

Mercedes provided one of their newest vehicles, which Empire placed in a winter vignette, in which dozens of Christmas presents were displayed. Utilizing the studios' in house camera and screens, Mercedes-Benz Tri-State branding was displayed throughout the space. All service staff wore silver and blue bow ties and cumber buns. Live entertainment was comprised of a: piano, guitar and saxophone trio who played continuous background music. While guests enjoyed a spectacular meal & wines, selected by Empire and the client and served by Great Performances, Empire completely transformed the cocktail room into the evening's final theme - "Starry, Starry, Night." In this area the color scheme was black, dark blue and gold. All linens, stemware, flower arrangements and lighting elements were completely replaced to create a fresh environment for the final segment of the evening. New furnishings were added including a chaise lounge, couches, club chairs, ottomans, a new floor rug and side tables.

When the Los Angeles based event and catering company, Along Came Mary, was asked to produce the premiere party for the movie "Big Fish" in New York, they turned to Empire Entertainment to secure and manage the talent for the party. "Big Fish" is an allegorical motion picture directed by Tim Burton and starring Ewan McGregor, Danny DeVito and Albert Finney about the amazing life stories of one the characters. A central component of the motion picture is a series of scenes that take place in the mythical 'Calloway Circus' and involve a variety of sideshow performers associated with that circus. Empire was tasked by Along Came Mary to deliver performers that would complete a remarkable decorated environment and serve as ambient entertainment to entertain and amuse the guests.

Working from a series of production stills and background on the movie, and accessing Empire's extraordinary network of talent contacts, Empire was able to make this vision a reality by finding, booking and stage-managing a cast of 11 acts for the event. The talent included a barker to welcome the guests to the event, a hanging trapeze act, the Wau Wau Sisters (who closely resembled the Siamese twins depicted in the film), Flambeau, the Fire Eater, Ula the Rubber Girl (contortionist), Clark the Magnificent fire juggler, a strong man and his assistant, a stilt walker, a tarot card reader, a palm reader, a graphologist, and a crystal ball reader. All of these artists wore costumes that resembled those of the period depicted in the film and performed on satellite stages in front of painstakingly recreated sideshow backdrops. In front of the big top ring, Empire produced acoustic bluegrass band, Trail Mix, to perform upbeat music that tied together all of the circus elements and established the festive and eccentric mood for the event.

Along Came Mary transformed the cavernous Hammerstein Ballroom into a series of carefully crafted environments including a forest, the picture-perfect town of Spectre and, of course, the Calloway Circus.The event was attended by all of the film's stars including Ewan McGregor, Danny DeVito and Albert Finney, as well as Tim Burton and the other talent & studio executives. The event was an unforgettable evening for SONY Pictures, it's clients and stars.

Empire is a leading resource for booking even the most obscure forms of entertainment.

To launch 20th Century FOX's DVD for the blockbuster motion picture XMen2, FOX turned to Empire Entertainment to create a highly-themed, celebrity-driven press event in New York City just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. For this event, Empire provided all services from original conception and event design, to site and menu selection, talent booking, activities, video projection, silver carpet staging, step & repeat signage production, decor, lighting, sound, labor, security, sidewalk and lane closure, event staffing, celebrity and sponsorship solicitation and transportation logistics for all celebrity talent. The site chosen for the event was Club 40/40, a hot new event space and club in New York City owned by several partners including hip hop superstar Jay-Z. In addition to the main event space, the club features two private rooms that were used for VIP party areas and one-on-one interviews, as well as a well-appointed cigar room for which Cohiba provided free cigars.

The Studio directed that the main thrust of the press coverage should be based on celebrity attendance by the stars of the XMen films including Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos, Anna Paquin and James Marsden as well as the film's producers and creatives. To supplement the attendance of these stars, Empire performed extensive outreach to the celebrity community through our own celebrity solicitation specialist, as well as leveraging relationships with Club 40/40, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (a beneficiary of the event, arranged through Empire's relationships), and celebrity DJ Marc Ronson.

Empire also created decor for the event that mirrored the film's sleek stainless steel logo and imagery. Instead of a traditional red carpet, Empire proposed and provided a shimmering silver carpet. Silver tables, chairs, rope & stantions and a massive 50' long X 9' high silver 'step & repeat' to serve as a branded backdrop for celebrity photos were also provided. The step & repeat faced a press corps and paparazzi contingent that included more than 50 camera crews and photographers. The step & repeat and silver carpet were lit by a series of five 12' tall aluminum truss sections built on the sidewalk which also provided skytracker blue lights, animated logo projection and up-lighting of surrounding buildings and the Steel X2 logo which was mounted over the club entrance Inside the club, Empire provided a series of internally-lit blue cube tables, blue-lit floral arrangements, silver fabric accents and a dramatic lighting scheme created by blue gelling each of the club's hundreds of existing lighting instruments and accenting surfaces with blue votive candle holders. The event was DJ'd by celebrity DJ Marc Ronson and featured an oxygen bar, plexiglass chess sets featured in the film, and footage from the new XMen2 DVD playing on more than 20 monitors, plasma screens and projection screens throughout the club spaces.

Empire also managed the highly demanding ground transportation logistics, coordinating movements of the many stars and executives in a fleet of silver sedans, graciously donated for the event by Mercedes-Benz as a result of solicitation by Empire Entertainment. The resulting event was a carefully themed, smoothly run, heavily-attended and well-covered press event that generated a great deal of press coverage for a major entertainment property, just prior to the busy holiday shopping period.

Empire is a major producer of creative event marketing programs.

When The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation sought to produce two time Grammy Award-winning, headline concert act The Wallflowers (featuring Jakob Dylan, son of legend Bob Dylan) at their sixth annual dinner & auction, their event producer, Candace Sands of CS Events, turned to Empire Entertainment to provide all production and technical support in mounting the show. The event was held in the historic event space, Le Capitale, which is the former East River Savings Bank building located in New York's Chinatown at Bowery and Grand. The marble interiors and soaring ceilings are both magnificent and a major challenge acoustically. Empire solved these challenges by selecting the right audio system and calibrating it carefully to meet the acoustical properties of the room.

There were also other challenges that Empire faced including the need to fit the Wallflowers' large stage plot onto a small stage that needed to fit between existing columns of the building and not block any of the fire exits. Empire was able to solve this issue by working closely with the venue and the Wallflowers' production manager to create a solution that worked for everyone. The Wallflowers performed for over an hour and brought the audience to their feet with a set that included all of their hits as well as closing with a cover of the David Bowie song "Heroes." The event drew nearly 1,000 people and raised over $1.6 million for this worthy cause.

Empire is a leading producer of talent for not-for-profits and fundraising events.

To announce the release of Alicia Keys highly-anticipated new album, "The Diary of Alicia Keys," J Records again turned to Empire Entertainment to help create and produce their very important release events in both New York City and Los Angeles. The New York event was held at the fashionable West Village Photography center, Industria Superstudios, and was catered by Washington Park Caterers. The event included a listening and video room in which guests could view Alicia's new music video and a documentary of Alicia around the world, as well as listen to tracks from the new album. The event also featured a main performance room where Alicia performed at a grand piano in front of a photographic cyclorama with backing vocalists, bass and guitar.

For this event Alicia Keys wanted a very specific look & feel to match the vibe of the album. She wanted a loft-like setting with a relaxed and casual environment with visual elements like votive candles, oriental carpets, ottomans, pillows, burning incense and wood furniture. Empire was able to realize this vision and provided all services including site selection and contracting, design & decor, oversight of catering and bar operations, private and NYPD security, sidewalk permitting and street closure, tenting for the registration and oriental 'red carpet' arrival area for press, staging, extremely high quality concert sound, stage & decor lighting (including original lighting design and production based on album artwork), video projection (including live video & audio feed into a spillover room), video coverage of red carpet arrivals and the live performance, stage management and onsite event management.

The event drew a capacity crowd of 400 including celebrities ranging from Quincy Jones, Pink, Tommy Lee, Grandmaster Flash, Chris Judd and Starr Jones among others. J Records Chairman Clive Davis and President Charles Goldstuck introduced Alicia Keys before she wowed the audience with a 30-minute performance of her best-known songs and future hits from "The Diary of Alicia Keys."The following week Empire produced a similar event in Los Angeles at the Highlands Hollywood.

To celebrate the release of Avril Lavigne's highly anticipated FOX DVD, "My World," Fox Consumer Products turned to Empire Entertainment to stage and produce a red carpet press appearance to facilitate maximum press coverage. MY WORLD, is the first live concert movie by multi-platinum selling Arista recording artist Avril Lavigne. Filmed in Buffalo, NY on May 18, 2003 - the final night of her headlining five-week North American "Try To Shut Me Up Tour," "My World" Celebrates a mega-successful debut year and reprises all of Avril's hits and favorite album tracks from her six-times platinum album "LET GO. "MY WORLD offers Lavigne fans the only opportunity to own all four of Avril's MTV "TRL" #1 hit music videos - "Complicated," "Sk8er Boi," "I'm With You" and "Losing Grip," as well as an added video bonus of "Knocking On Heaven's Door."

For this collaborative promotional event held by FOX and Arista records, Empire handled all of the production and the on-site management, working with AMC Theatres and several other vendors to provide red carpet, crowd control, sidewalk permitting and lighting to facilitate press coverage. As predicted, the teen superstar and pop sensation drew a large turnout on the part of the press as well as swarms of screaming fans.Empire is a leading producer of press events.

When clients need to ensure a smooth running press conference, red carpet appearance or stunt, they turn to Empire Entertainment to manage the details.

When a global financial services & travel company sought to entertain its' top customers at a multi-day client symposium's offsite event, they turned to Empire Entertainment to secure the right talent for the performance. The dinner and concert event took place in the outdoor courtyard at the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano. The entertainment needed to suit this environment in both character and form and provide an intimate concert experience for the 325 seated dinner guests.

Empire Entertainment was able to procure platinum-selling recording artist, Bruce Hornsby, to perform solo at a grand piano. Hornsby is best known as the leader of Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Hornsby is also an accomplished pianist and songwriter. He recorded many hits that reached the top of the Billboard charts. Hornsby has also recorded with Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, and even co-wrote and performed the hit "The End of The Innocence" with Don Henley. He has toured with the Grateful Dead and just a few nights prior to this engagement was in the United Kingdom recording with Eric Clapton and Sting. Bruce Hornsby performed all of his greatest hits, including "The Way It Is," "Mandolin Rain," "Look Out Any Window," "The End of the Innocence," and several other cover songs.The audience responded enthusiastically and the client felt Hornsby was the perfect fit for this engagement.

Empire Entertainment is uniquely qualified to selecting, book and produce the best-suited talent for any audience or event.

To celebrate their 185th anniversary, Brooks Brothers teamed up with Time Inc. business publication Fortune Magazine to throw a big bash at the Brooks Brothers store on Newbury Street in Boston, MA. Fortune Magazine turned to Empire Entertainment to help make the night a huge success. More than one hundred invited guests gathered at the store for a fabulous evening of drinks, passed hors d'oeuvres and shopping. The high point of the evening was the in-store concert given by jazz great and multiple Grammy nominee, Kenny Garrett and his amazing band. After performing an hour's worth of standards and hits from his eight albums, Kenny and his band were lauded with a standing ovation and, to cries of "One more, one more!" returned to the stage and played a three song encore that nearly blew the lid off of the joint.

Fortune and Brooks Brothers asked Empire to deliver and install first class production services that would compliment the sophisticated charm of the store's décor and not interfere with the store's regular retail operations. Working with the limited space, Empire provided and built a form-fitting stage that fitted around the wood paneled columns on the first floor, and washed the stage with warm amber light using ground supported instruments. Per Kenny Garrett's exacting standards, Empire provided the band's backline, grand piano and drums as well as all other instruments and sound without interrupting a single sale on the floor. The result was a successful show that celebrated Brooks Brothers history, created good will for their customers and strengthened the longstanding advertising relationship between Fortune Magazine and Brooks Brothers.

Empire has many years of experience working within the genre of "Value-added" programs within the magazine publishing industry and is expert at delivering our services in working retail environments without impeding on store operations.

Since leaving office as Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani has published a management book, built a world-class consultancy and become one of the top speakers in the world for corporate meetings and special events. Empire has been fortunate to have many opportunities to present him to various corporate clients ranging from Wall Street banks to global computer companies.

On this particular occasion, Empire secured Rudy Giuliani to speak for the Chairman and top producers from one of America's oldest and most respected insurance firms. For this intimate dinner gathering at the St. Regis Hotel, Empire secured Mayor Giuliani to attend cocktails, to take photos with each couple in attendance and then to join the host and guests at dinner to deliver his inspirational remarks. This was the second time that Empire has presented Rudy Giuliani for this client. Mayor Giuliani is a candid, plain-talking and often entertaining speaker whose lectures typically include many colorful stories of his experiences as Mayor of New York and his career as a crime fighter and the man who turned New York into the safest large city in America. He also talks at length about his personal experiences of 9/11 and it's aftermath and how New York City was able to manage the crisis and return to greatness.

His inspirational speeches contain powerful messages of motivation and how to overcome adversity. He also enjoys participating in open Q&A sessions, which often ranges from his Presidential aspirations and thoughts on the War on Terror to his personal challenges (he is in remission following diagnosis with prostate cancer) and his beloved New York Yankees. Mayor Rudy Giuliani wowed the rapt audience with his remarks and free wheeling Q&A and left them as he usually does, on their feet applauding one of great leaders of our age.

Empire is a leading resource in the identification and acquisition of appropriate speakers for corporate meetings and events.

For the fourth year in a row, Empire Entertainment was hired by celebrity designer Colin Cowie Lifestyle and the Whitney Museum to contract and manage all talent and sound production in connection with the high profile Whitney Benefit Gala at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Each year this gala dinner draws New York City's elite art patrons as well as artists, celebrities and sponsors for a unique evening of entertainment. For this year's dinner Colin Cowie transformed the fourth floor gallery into an exquisite dining room based on the artwork of Ellsworth Kelly. Colin Cowie's unique design provided for square dining tables, dressed with gray linens and smoke colored glass, arranged symetrically on gray carpet at either side of the room. The center of the room was divided by an angular stripe of bold red carpet on which were placed unusually shaped tables, adorned in vivid matching red.

As with every Colin Cowie event, visual aesthetics are of the highest importance and Empire Entertainment's challenge was to seamlessly blend elements of audio production to the color scheme and design, keeping all such elements, including speakers, consoles, cables and gear out of site of the guests. To accomplish this Empire often runs cables days in advance under carpets and set installations and paints speaker cabinets and other equipment in matching colors to blend function with form. The results of this collaboration are visually astoundinging as well as fully functional.

For this year's gala dinner, Empire Entertainment secured legendary R&B singer Dionne Warwick to perform with piano accompaniment. Ms. Warwick performed favorites including "Alfi," "What The World Needs Now Is Love" (a duet with with Burt Bacharach) and "That's What Friends Are For." She also performed a special audience rendition of "Happy Birthday" to artist Ellsworth Kelly who came the the stage to be honored by the singalong. Guests including American Express Chairman Ken Chennault, Dan Aykroyd and Edgar Bronfman Jr. joined Dionne in serenading Kelly and the performance ended with a standing ovation. After the dinner, the after-party began on the lower level of the Museum for younger supporters of the museum. Mirroring the theme upstairs, the cafeteria was transformed into a night club with an energy that lasted early into the following morning.

Once again, Empire Entertainment provided invisible, high end sound coverage throughout all the rooms of the club. Yet, when one of the sponsor's talent cancelled due to illness, Empire moved swiftly to provide cutting edge entertainment with only two day's notice! Empire rose to the challenge and delivered Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, a youthful 11 piece band, and arguably the hottest new funk and soul act in New York City. If the evening's pulse was already heightened by Paris' DJ Kemedji, it was the Dap-Kings who moved the party to a frenzy. Even Colin Cowie himself couldn't resist the dance floor before jetting off the following morning to appear on Oprah Winfrey's show.

Empire is a major producer of not-for-profit events and is a loyal production and talent partner to world class event design firms such as Colin Cowie Lifestyle.

Whether you are the founder and CEO of a global technology giant or you would just like to party like one, Empire will help you and a couple hundred of your closest friends celebrate in style. From a tent, on a bluff overlooking the ocean, in Bermuda, guests took in the endless views and dined on gourmet food, following days filled with golf and yachting throughout a pleasure-filled weekend on the island. On Saturday night the guests were treated to the brilliant rants and references of Dennis Miller, who not only incorporated his usual panoply of cultural and political absurdities, but also worked with Empire to develop some custom material geared toward our client and his business. Following Dennis' performance the chairs were cleared and a dance floor created, for an inspired 90-minute performance by Hootie and the Blowfish.

Empire arranged for our client, a guitarist, to join the band onstage for the final 2 songs, including a special rendition of Johnny B. Goode. A special meet & greet followed in which guests were treated to photographs and private moments with the artists.The following night the tent was transformed into a beach party, outfitted with palms, surfboards, grills & parrots, for none other than the Beach Boys, who performed a high energy 90-minute set of non stop hits as guests danced the night away. Again, Empire arranged for our client to join the band onstage for the final 3 songs, and for a private meet & greet where guests were able to chat and take photographs with the Beach Boys.

When Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealers became a founding sponsor for Radio City's production of "Sinatra: His Voice. His World. His Way", they were given the opportunity to present a special preview night for 5,300 of their existing customers as a loyalty and retention initiative for customers coming off lease. This preview performance was a final dress rehearsal to take place two days before opening night.Empire conceived and designed a Sinatra themed event for it's 5,300 attendees which was divided into three periods of Frank Sinatra's extraordinary life that were to be setup in Radio City's main lobby, lower lobby, mezzanine and other "front-of-house" areas.

The Grand Foyer was to be setup as Sinatra's Twin Palms Estate, located in Palm Springs, California. Positioned in the center of the room were to be two 16' Palm Trees, a giant cabana in which staff in cabana shirts served sparkling water and fresh fruit juices.The Grand Lounge was to be set up as the Copa Room of The Sands Casino, Las Vegas circa 1960s complete with Vegas Showgirls and staging, a lounge singer and pianist and casino gaming tables.The Mezzanine level was to be setup as a Sinatra photographic retrospective with images ranging from Sinatra circa 1930's through to 1980's.In addition to the main reception, Empire created a VVIP reception to take place in the Radio City Suite, for the celebrities and Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealership owners.

For this exclusive gathering in the stunning Art Deco era backstage room at Radio City Music Hall, Empire hired caterers Fancy Girl Catering to put together a 30's style hors 'douerves menu to be served by staff costumed in 1930s attire. American Song Book Standards were to be played by one of NYC's premier jazz pianists, Matt Ray.Empire was also tasked with desiging and implementing the communications, invitation, RSVP and ticket distribution plan using Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealership customer databases. Empire set up an RSVP line to receive calls from attendees, updated the existing database with contact information and allocated 1,800 pairs of tickets to recipients. Empire continued to answer inquires and take down information from callers even after the show sold out, to send out gifts compliments of Mercedes-Benz Tri-State Dealers.

Empire also produced a custom "Sinatra: His Voice. His World. His Way" show compilation CD in association with Sinatra Enterprises. Empire designed the CD artwork and Mercedes printed 5,000 CD's to be given away to attendees and customers that did not make the RSVP in time.Empire also solicited celebrity attendance for the preview night and had confirmed celebrities including Spike Lee, Moby, Joan Osborne & Wyclef Jean to name a few to add sizzle to the big preview night.Empire was also responsible for several other areas of this far-reaching program including parking, logistics, vehicle placement, staffing and onsite management. Then, just a few days prior to the event, disaster struck. On Saturday night, prior to the Monday load-in for the event on Tuesday, Radio City Music Hall notified Mercedes-Benz that due to technical delays, the preview night would have to be canceled. All elements were in place and 5300 Mercedes customers throughout the Tri-State area were poised to come into attend the much anticipated event. Empire's immediate job was to notify guests who were coming from all over New York, New Jersey & Connecticut and to do so in a way that would limit their inconvenience and ensure that their experience would not reflect poorly on Mercedes-Benz. Within minutes of this notification Empire was working with Mercedes-Benz to avert a major marketing and public relations crisis, and together mobilized a force that sent out thousands of Emails, Fedexes and phone calls notifying the guests of the cancellation with a well-written and thoughtful letter of regret from Radio City Music Hall with an additional incentive for leasing new Mercedes

When the world's largest companies take to the stage to launch their newest products, before the watchful eyes of the global technology press, they turn to Empire Entertainment to deliver the right talent.For this particular product launch which was held in New York, Empire assisted our client in identifying and securing the Belgium-based, multi ethnic a cappella group, Zap Mama, to perform their inspiring and powerful world music as a component of the opening sequence. Zap Mama are an ensemble of 5 female vocalists, hailing from Jamaica, Senegal, Zaire, Burundi who are based in Belgium and who perform a blend of Euro-African music in brightly colored costumes. Empire worked directly with the client and their creative agency to integrate Zap Mama's performance into a multi-media extravaganza of video, graphics, lighting effects and stage direction. Empire negotiated for and facilitated the provision of a specially remixed backing track, to which all of the media was timed, while Zap Mama sang powerfully in colorful costumes to underscore the product messages. The collaboration between the client and artist resulted in a colorful, beautiful, memorable and newsworthy introduction of the next version of the world's leading business software products.

Empire is an invaluable partner to businesses looking to match their products and messages to the global talent pool. Our connections to global talent and experience in integrating the art of performances with the science of commerce are the foundations of our business.

When the Executive Council of New York, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering innovation and commerce in New York City, sought to launch their Ten Awards program in New York City, they turned to Empire Entertainment to produce the awards gala. This singular business event was sponsored by a variety of companies including Microsoft, Accenture, AT&T & EDS and was staged to recognize and reward innovation and business achievement in the New York business community.

The theme of the event was "From Inspiration to Innovation..." The Awards program was hosted by the host of CNBC's Wakeup Call, Liz Claman and featured an, inspiring keynote speech by Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel. This year's award winners were: Shelby Bonnie, CEO, CNET Networks, Inc. Jason Devitt, CEO, Vindigo Hossein Eslambolchi, CTO, AT&T and President, AT&T Labs Donna Iucolano, President, e-Scholastic Sallie Krawcheck, CEO, Smith Barney Kumar Mahadeva, CEO, Cognizant Jim McCann, CEO, 1-800 Flowers Martin Nisenholtz, CEO, New York Times Digital Alan Patricof, Vice Chairman, Apax Partners Kevin Ryan, CEO, DoubleClick Lindsay Nohr, Founder and Executive Director, Fertile Hope (Civic Award). For this upscale event for more than 400 attendees, Empire provided virtually all services including venue selection (Gotham Hall), staging and set design, sound, lighting, the production of 11 video roll-in packages, graphic design and all program graphic production, catering, stage management, decor, florals, logistics management, security, signage, etc.

Empire is a cost-effective, efficient and creative producer of business events, meetings and awards shows worldwide.

When corporations look to entertain their customers, partners and employees with something extraordinary, they turn to Empire Entertainment to provide experiences that are new, unique and have never been done before for a corporate event. Such was the case when Empire delivered super group Duran Duran for their first ever-corporate event. Challenged by a global software company to deliver a unique concert experience for an international audience of 5,000 of their most important partners and customers, Empire negotiated for and secured Duran Duran just prior to the commencement of their U. S. tour.

Duran Duran featured all five original members, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, Roger Taylor and John Taylor. The well-rehearsed and dynamic band performed many of their classic hits including "Rio," "The Reflex," "Hungry Like The Wolf," "Wild Boys," "Ordinary World" and "Notorious" among others. Their high-energy show was held on an outdoor stage on the banks of the Mississippi River and featured video projections, laser light show and plenty of onstage action for the audience. The international audience danced and sang throughout the set and brought the band back for encores. They closed the evening with a dynamic version of "Girls on Film."

Empire is the industry leader in delivering new talent to corporate stages worldwide.

Working in conjunction with meeting planning & logistics company, Above The Rim, Empire Entertainment procured noted tennis celebrity Bud Collins to appear nightly at Morgan Stanley's hospitality suite at the 2003 U.S. Open. Empire arranged for Bud Collins, who is also an NBC sports commentator and author of several books on Tennis, to interact with important clients of Morgan Stanley's, providing observations and insights into the respective matches and the U.S. Open in general for three consecutive nights of play.

Empire Entertainment is a leading supplier of sports personalities for hospitality, motivational speaking, and exhibition play. Other sports figures Empire Entertainment has booked for corporate clients include Tom Seaver, Tommy Lasorda, Magic Johnson, Peggy Fleming, Carl Lewis and many others.

For the fifth consecutive year, Empire Entertainment produced The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Kids For Kids charity event which was underwritten by Nickelodeon and the Bandai Foundation and sponsored by People Magazine, InStyle Magazine, Toys R' Us and Mercedes-Benz among others. As event producers of this mammoth, not-for-profit undertaking, Empire Entertainment managed and coordinated all aspects of the four hour event including the construction of eleven major tents on busy New York City streets, the permitting and street closures of five blocks of West Greenwich Village for almost 2 days, staging, sound, lighting, labor, electrical power distribution, labor, cleaning crews, main stage activities and talent, emergency medical service standby, signage, A/V and many other elements. Decor for the event was provided by Robert Isabell who transformed the tented spaces into a Fall carnival with trees and autumn leaves.

More than 1,500 people attended the event which featured a designer Sponge Bob Square Pants fashion show emceed by Whoopi Goldberg, A Nickelodeon Bikini Bottom space in which children went Jelly fishing for prizes in a real pond, a kids dance club created by MTV/VH-1/CMT, delicious foods from dozens of participating New York City restaurants brought together by Jonathan Morr, an Art Room in which artists like Chuck Close worked with children to create original paintings and sculptures, a street carnival where children played games with celebrities like Diane Sawyer, Natalie Portman, Chloe Sevigny, Gilbert Gottfried, Donna Karan and Al Franken, and a toy redemption area donated by Toys R' Us. The afternoon event also featured several performances on a main stage including Kid Pop, Big Truck Music, Jack Ryan, Strawberry Shortcake, The Power Rangers and Antigravity (featuring the first live performance on Segways personal transporters).

Empire faced the challenges of Hurricane Isabell which threatened to delay or even make impossible the building of tents right up until the day before the event. In the end the the event was a tremendous success for all involved and helped to raise funds for a very worthy cause.

Empire is a key producer of high-end, not-for-profit events and a strategic partner to businesses looking to create event marketing opportunities in collaboration with charitable causes.

To celebrate the release of Wylclef Jean's highly anticipated new album, "The Preacher's Son," J Records turned to Empire Entertainment to stage and produce a multimedia 'listening party' presentation by music industry legend and RCA Music Chairman, Clive Davis, and live performances by Wyclef Jean and Patti LaBelle.The event was held at the Hudson Theater, an 800 seat former Broadway house adjoined to the Millenium Hotel. The maximum capacity audience for this 'high buzz' event included celebrities ranging from Donald Trump, Kevin Bacon and Tyra Banks, to Julius Irving and Don King.

Empire handled all production & onsite event management, working with the Hudson Theater and Wyclef's production team as well as a host of outside vendors and specialists to put together a state-of-the-art sound, lighting and multimedia projection system capable of supporting the demands of all parties. The presentation by Clive Davis included playback of tracks from the new album as well as his behind-the-scenes observations and projections for the future success of the album and the artist. The presentation also included playback of Wylclef's new music video to support the album. At the end of the presentation, the screen flew out, the curtains parted and Wyclef and his band rocked the dancing audience with a 30 minute set of material from "Preacher's Son" which included a duet performance with Patti LaBelle. In addition to all production and stage management for this event, Empire also provided the video crew & producer to shoot red carpet arrivals, the presentation, the concert, and the celebrity reactions which were compiled as B-roll to help J Records promote the album to the music press. The following week, Empire produced the same event and concert in California at the Conga Room in Los Angeles, CA.

Empire is a leading producer of contemporary music for all manner of corporate and private events.

For the past five years, Empire Entertainment has been an integral part of Kaleidoscope Productions' team in creating the automobile industry's premiere dealer meetings & reveal shows. For this year's meeting, held at Philadelphia's Wachovia Arena, Kaleidoscope Productions designed a stage that made the Academy Awards' stage look simplistic. Empire Entertainment filled the arena with premium talent. The day began with a speech by former President George H. W. Bush who surprised the audience with both his worldly insights as well as his robust sense of humor. The meeting was capably hosted by Jon Stewart, the hilarious host of Comedy Central's Daily Show. The meeting also featured live performances by American Idol's top winners, Clay Aiken and Reuben Studdard. The finale of the show was Elton John's first concert with a full band in almost three years. When Elton John performed timeless hits like "Rocket Man", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Daniel," "I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues," and "I'm Still Standing," the audience went wild. The centerpiece of Elton's performance was the song "Philadelphia Freedom," a salute not only to the meeting location, but to the overall meeting theme of ‘Freedom.'

There were also other parts of the meeting in which Empire was engaged. As various new car models were revealed over the course of the afternoon, the Wachovia Center throbbed to the driving beats and freak-adelic sounds of The Crystal Method, a DJ team and America's answer to the UK's Chemical Brothers. During The Crystal Method's set, members of the FreeRunners -- French "urban ninjas" featured in recent television commercials for Nike – spilled into the venue like spider-men, leaping from rafters and falling from impossible heights, unhurt. The meeting reveals also featured Kaleidoscope-produced industrial videos starring basketball great David Robinson and Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry, who were also booked by Empire. Empire also worked with The George P. Johnson Company to provide Dick Bright's SRO, an 18 piece dance/show band, for an elegant car salon after-party at which dealers and their spouses danced, ate, drank and viewed the exciting new car models. As with any show of this scale, challenges arose. Elton John was, at first, reluctant to perform with a full band. But the client desired this configuration and Empire was able to persuade him to accommodate their desire through patient and capable negotiation. Said one attendee of the star-studded event, "I thought I was dreaming."

In 2003 Empire Entertainment joined with Director/Choreographer Tee Scatuorchio and Musical Director, Mike Levesque (Co-creators of the performance ensemble The Rhythmics) to create LIVE LAB. LIVE LAB is an integrated creative & production team that delivers live performances from every genre for a wide variety of commercial applications. LIVE LAB exists to identify emerging trends & genres in live performances, and to stay in front of the curve to continually deliver fresh creative and the 'Next Big Thing' season after season. LIVE LAB provides an experienced and skilled creative team who not only identify new performers and performing arts genres, but also provide the essential development and packaging of this talent with professional support in script development, choreography & direction, music composition, recording and editing, casting, rehearsal management, costuming, makeup, prop design & fabrication, supporting multimedia production and production design.

LIVE LAB's expertise and organization enable it to secure performers from dance, sports, comedy, music, acting, mime, stunts, and other areas and fine tune their performances to international standards of excellence for specific applications such as trade shows, general session performances, industrial videos, event marketing programs, etc. In one of it's first major projects, LIVE LAB recently completed production of the main stage presentation for PANASONIC at the 2003 IFA exhibition at the Messe Berlin in Berlin, Germany. LIVE LAB was given the challenge to create a 10-minute, high energy entertainment piece integrating content about PANASONIC'S product lines. As PANASONIC is a major sponsor of Formula 1 racing, LIVE LAB was asked to utilize a racing theme for the presentation.LIVE LAB delivered an exciting, percussion & dance-based show based upon a day at the race track. Dressed in official Panasonic F1 Pit Crew suits, the LIVE LAB cast took the audience through the whole race sequence from setting up the car, time trials, & the race including pit stops.The focal point of the performance was the use of an actual Formula1 race car on stage during the performance. The cast used props such as Racing Tires, wrenches, Fast Fill Gas Cans and Large 30 gallon drums wired with electronic triggers. The performance was choreographed to an original music track and included high energy dancing and percussion on a two story high stage. The seamless integration of PANAONIC Flat Panel Displays, DIGITAL CAMERAS such as the D-Snap & AV-100 video camera, the PANASONIC E-100 DVD Recorder and the introduction future vision ideas were all woven into the performance using the racing theme. Playing off the PANASONIC advertising theme "IDEAS FOR LIFE", LIVE LAB, worked closely with PANAONIC'S Tokyo-based Ad Agency, Dentsu, to develop the script, cast performers from Germany, the UK and the United States, and stage the performances in Berlin. LIVE LAB, a U. S. creative team, working for a Japanese client to deliver a performance in Germany, in German to a mainly German audience was a total success.

At the 2003 National Business Travel Association convention, Empire Entertainment was again asked for the 6th year in a row by co-sponsors American Express and American Airlines to secure headline entertainment that would meet a variety of criteria. The chosen talent would have to reflect the values of the sponsoring companies, work in the acoustically 'live' Union Station hall and be appropriate for the Dallas, TX setting for the event.

Empire worked with both clients to manage a selection process that ultimately yeilded all-American artist Wynonna Judd who agreed to perform in an acoustic configuration with the backing of bass, 2 guitars and 3 vocalists. Wynonna's performance was a thrilling highlight to the evening as she alternately seranaded and belted songs that spanned her celebrated career. From country & blues to all-American anthems and spiritual songs, Wynonna managed to bring the audience to their feet several times for standing ovations, sing-alongs and a roaring good time. Wynonna also agreed to a meet and greet with up to 30 of the sponsor's VIP guests and she was exceedlingly gracious and poised, taking time to speak with each guest before posing for individual photos. The timing of the booking coincided perfectly with the release of her newest album, and her performance at this event occured on the night before her new album debuted at #1 on the country charts.

Empire met many challenges in bringing this show about including budget constraints of the challenged corporate travel industry, the need to maximize audience capacity in a finite room space to cope with the overwhelming response to the Wynonna invitation, and the need to maintain the highest quality sound in a tall, stone room that reflected even the smallest sounds. Empire was able to overcome all of these challenges to present a truly spectactular evening that won our clients rave reviews from their customers and was, in a word. 'Awesome!'

When one the world's largest internet brands needed to entertain and meet with their key advertising clients in the middle of summer, Empire helped them plan and execute a flawless weekend in the desirable east end of Long Island. Working closely with the client, Empire helped to develop an agenda to met the client's objectives to combine meeting and networking along with family time and socializing. Meeting in the Hamptons on Shelter Island, known for it's the quiet and remote feel, while being just minutes away from the social happenings in Sag Harbor, Empire was able to create an atmosphere of relaxation on the island and excitement in Sag Harbor. Accommodations and meeting events were at the posh Sunset Beach Hotel and Restaurant.

Activities included a luncheon cruise around the island, family time at the beach and early morning yoga on the sand. The weekend was capped off with a sophisticated dinner at B. Smith's in Sag Harbor and an evening at a famous Hamptons club. All elements of the weekend were planned and executed with the clients needs coming first. Empire managed all the housing, meeting needs, food and beverage, hospitality, staffing, transportation and negotiations easily. Empire provided the onsite staff to help make all arrangements flow smoothly. The event exceeded the expectations of the client and their guests.

Empire is an effective, full service and creative production company whose services include traditional meeting planning services such as site selection & contracting, agenda development, air, room & ground transportation arrangements, destinatin management, theme parties, ticket acquisition, activities, amenities and gift items and onsite hospitality management.

When Seattle-based Maverick Productions contacted Empire Entertainment for secure a well-known television figure to appear in an industrial video for a major technology firm, Empire worked swiftly to deliver "Frasier" co-Star John Mahoney. The purpose of the video was to introduce one of the presenting executives. The talent needed to be widely recognized by the audience, had to work within the context of the creative script developed by Maverick, and had to be an experienced actor capable of some degree of improvisation and flexibility in accomplishing the creative vision. Actor John Mahoney, who plays Mr. Crane on "Frasier", performed an originally scripted role in the very humorous video and was able to schedule the one day shoot within 72 hours of confirmation of the engagement. Empire worked to ensure compliance with Mahoney's existing agreements with the producers of "Frasier" as well as proper contracting of replay rights and payment of union dues and benefits with the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA unions.

Empire is a leading provider of talent for industrial videos, infomercials and commercial projects.

When a global pharmaceutical company sought to match a contemporary headline rock act with their young sales force, they turned to Empire Entertainment who delivered one of today's biggest Canadian Rock acts, the Barenaked Ladies. With less than a month between initial direction and the show date, Empire worked switfly to identify entertainment options that targeted the specific demographic needs of the client's audience. Empire's unrivaled talent database enables us to quickly identify all appropriate candidates for any set of demographic parameters.Once the selection of top choice was made, Empire leveraged it's high level contacts in the ever changing world of contemporary music and managed to quickly secure the Barneked Ladies to perform a 90 minute, greatest hits concert. On show day, the Barneked Ladies rocked the audience with over 100 minutes of high energy pop rock including their biggest hit, "If I Had a Million Dollars." The band also participated in a meet & greet with client VIPs and even agreed to sign 100 CDs as gifts for attendees. Other talent that was booked by Empire and featured at this meeting included comedian Greg Giraldo, speaker Lizzy Simon, Bluegrass band The Suggins Brothers, and members of the DeKalb Marching Band who were featured in the motion picture "Drum Line."

Empire continues to be the industry leader in booking and presenting contemporary talent for corporate meetings and events.

For the all night party of a global technology company, Empire booked and coordinated a performance by rockabilly legend and Stray Cats leader, Brian Setzer and his Orchestra. For this performance at the Louisiana Super Dome for almost 14,000 attendees, Empire provided a high-energy headline concert that perfectly suited the audience, the setting and the House of Blues-style rock and roll party atmosphere that the client wished to achieve. Brian Setzer and his Orchestra performed Stray Cats hits like "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rock This Town" as well as rock and swing covers like "Mack the Knife" and "Brand New Cadillac." Dressed in leopard print jackets, the orchestra featured two female backing vocalists and moved in tightly choreographed routines that kept the action going. Brian Setzer's rocking guitar work and vocals won over the multinational audience. Empire works regularly on large, complex programs in close collaboration with travel management companies, production and staging companies, decor vendors and venues to ensure smoothly run events. Empire is expert at tailoring it's approach in each of these situations to create the most efficient and positive experience for our clients.

For the 2003 MacWorld convention at the Jacob Javits Center, Empire was contacted by West Coast events company Milligan Events to provide suitable actors to play the role of MSN Butterflies to assist Microsoft in their event marketing efforts for this online service. Empire was able to quickly cast, costume, brief and direct three terrific, New York-based actors experienced in playing 'Brand Ambassador' roles. The client was thrilled with their enthusiasm, professionalism and can-do attitude.

Empire is a leading resource to communications firms in the casting, costuming, directing and deployment of brand ambassadors for street marketing campaigns.

For a private client in the Hamptons, Empire worked in collaboration with designer Colin Cowie to create an extraordinary evening's entertainment. Empire provided vocalist Patti Austin with her trio to perform at a dinner in a beautiful tented site in the Hamptons for approximately 250 guests. Following the dinner, Empire produced an intimate, greatest hits concert with rock and roll legend Rod Stewart who customized his show and included interstitial song introductions that related to the birthday host. One challenge that Empire was able to overcome was to arrange for rehearsal space at the last minute for Rod and his band that had not performed together for some time. Empire was able to accomplish this on very short notice.

Empire has many years of experience producing extremely high-end events in the Hamptons.

Working with travel management firm, Crossing Boundaries, Empire Entertainment designed and executed a complete entertainment program and provided all production in connection with three evenings of entertainment for a Midwestern insurance company's top incentive award program. The Diamond Club program was held for approximately 150 independent insurance brokers and their spouses. On the first night of the program, Empire provided production support for Michigan dance music ensemble, The Persuasion Band. On second night of the program, guests traveled to the Bay Harbor Yacht Club via ferryboat where they were treated to a dinner in a beautiful tented setting and a sunset concert by one of the Irish Tenors, Ronan Tynan, backed by a 41 piece local orchestra. For this performance, Empire secured Ronan Tynan, the 41 piece Interlochen Orchestra and provided all production including staging, sound, lighting and logistical management.

One of the challenges of this event was how to provide generator power to the tented setting in a way that the noise of the generator would not interfere with the peaceful lakefront setting or the incredible vocals of this world-class tenor. Empire's solution was to build a separate tent around the generator and treat the insides with sound absorbing materials. The result was a perfect performance with several standing ovations. On the final night of this program, Empire put together a surprise disco show featuring DJ / Emcee D Brown, four dancers in hot pants & afro wigs and headline performances by disco diva Gloria Gaynor ("I Will Survive"), Sister Sledge ("We Are Family") featuring all 4 original sister singers Kathi, Debbie, Joni and Kim, and The Village People ("YMCA," "Macho Man," and "In The Navy"). The performance kept the guests dancing and was the pinnacle of this incentive program. One of the challenges of this performance was how to mount a show on an island where all staging, sound and lighting had to be shipped by ferry and then carried up to the hotel by horse cart. Empire managed these challenges and produced a show the likes of which the 216-year old Grand Hotel has never seen.

For the 2003 worldwide incentive program awards dinner of a top global beverage company, Empire again worked to provide this longtime client with compelling interstitial entertainment with global appeal to break up sections of the awards presentations. In an enormous tent on the grounds of the company's worldwide corporate headquarters, Empire presented the modern circus ensemble Cirque to perform a series of dynamic segments that inspired and entertained the audience and perfectly suited the global themes. Performances included 3 female contortionists, a tandem balancing act called Rolla Bolla and the Tower Strength trio, a stunning hand balancing/strength performance. Extraordinary set & lighting design by Kaleidoscope Productions and decor by Bardin & Palomo combined with the performances to create an atmosphere of pure fantasy. Following the awards program, Empire again delivered top funk & R&B dance band Eturnity to rock the audience and keep them dancing until the end of the night.