Link to the livestream: 11:55am
4-5-2022
Scott Marsh-Moderator
Scott Marsh is a Partner and Director of Operations for the Jones Assembly. Marsh oversees the daily operations at Jones, including menu development, operations systems and the curation of the concert series. In addition to the Jones, he is a founding partner and Chief Operations Officer of In Luck Banquet LLC, which produces Willie Nelson’s events at his historic Luck Texas ranch and a partner in Hellfire Entertainment managing Domino Records recording artist Night Moves among other artists. Prior to joining Jones Assembly, Marsh was the Operations Director for Levelland Productions, which owned and operated several venues and festivals across Oklahoma. He was integral in the creation and conceptualization of The Criterion in Oklahoma City. A graduate of Oklahoma State University, Marsh has been a lifelong Oklahoman and member of the Oklahoma City community since 2010. Marsh, his wife Hannah, and daughter Olive thoroughly enjoy arts and entertainment in Oklahoma City and you will routinely catch them at one of the many arts and entertainment festivals around Oklahoma.
Scott Booker began his career in the music industry as a clerk at Sound Warehouse in Midwest City, Oklahoma.
From there he moved on to manage the Rainbow Records record store chain in Oklahoma City while attending college at Central State University, now known as the University of Central Oklahoma. Shortly after graduating with a degree in education, he met local band the Flaming Lips and began managing the group in 1990, creating Hellfire Enterprises Ltd., an artist management company.
Booker continues to work with three-time Grammy Award-winning band, the Flaming Lips. Additionally, he has helped to guide dozens of artists including Academy Award-nominee Elliott Smith, and other acts, most notably Wheat and Mercury Prize-nominees British Sea Power.
In 2003, Booker co-founded World’s Fair Label Group – a service company that runs record labels for artists, so that artists can self-release their own music. World’s Fair worked with record labels such as Rough Trade, Bella Union and Def Jux, among others.
In 2009, Booker sold his ownership in World’s Fair to focus more on helping build the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO), a university program, which teaches students about Music Business, Production and Performance. In the last thirteen years the ACM@UCO has attracted thousands of students as well as notable artists such as Roger Daltrey, Nile Rodgers, and Jackson Browne to give master classes for the student body. At the ACM@UCO Scott guided the creation of much of the music business and music history classes ensuring that students learn about artists ranging from the Velvet Underground and Frank Sinatra to Marvin Gaye and Loretta Lynn. Part of his love for music is the continuation of creating a vast library of music he owns. His collection numbers over 40,000 LPs and CDs.
Scott lives in Lake Aluma, Oklahoma with his wife Jennifer, his son Harrison is a student at Purdue University.
Chris Semrau is the General Manager of Paycom Center, home of the NBA’s OKC Thunder, and Prairie Surf Studios in Oklahoma City.
Since Semrau’s arrival, Paycom Center has experienced a significant increase in touring events along with record-breaking shows by attracting some of the biggest artists in the world to OKC.
Semrau is one of the youngest General Managers of a major professional sports facility in North America and was a finalist for Venue Executive of the Year by the International Entertainment Buyers Association and Venue’s Today Magazine also selected Semrau four-times as a finalist for Booking Achievement.
Prior to relocating to OKC, Semrau was part of the construction and opening of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, SD. During his tenure, the PREMIER Center was a finalist for an Academy of Country Music Awards for Venue of the Year three times and a finalist for Pollstar’s Best New Concert Venue.
Semrau received his degree from the University of North Dakota and is married (Roslynn) with two Children (Nora 13, Gordon 11). They relocated to Oklahoma in August of 2018.
After a chart-topping major label career, numerous TV appearances, and hundreds of sync placements Graham Colton continues to expand on the label “singer-songwriter.” He has logged thousands of miles on the road and shared stages with some of music’s biggest artists including Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, The Wallflowers, Counting Crows, John Mellencamp, Maroon 5, and many many more.
It wasn’t until he returned home to Oklahoma City however that he truly found his footing. Aside from operating Lunar Manor studios, and regular collaboration with Chad Copelin at Blackwatch Studios, he co-owns and operates Oklahoma City’s most talked about music venue, The Jones Assembly.
“I’ve learned to find the perfect balance in my life between family, and music and I honestly feel like I’ve finally found my voice.”
Graham continues to release new material almost as quickly as he records it and has enjoyed writing songs for new projects including, Upstate, King Rose, and Viv + Co.
Chair of the Day
Dave Rhea is the Marketing Director for the law Firm of Phillips Murrah here in Oklahoma City, and with offices in Dallas. Dave has helped promote and develop business for Phillips Murrah for almost 8 years, and he claims it’s his most satisfying work to date. That may seem hard to believe, because Dave also spent the first half of his career as a signed rock musician and songwriter.
“Around the turn of the Century,” as he likes to say, Dave signed the first of two record deals – this time with Wind-Up Records, which was famous for their most popular band, Creed. After about year with that band – called Dust For Life – he scored a second major-label record deal with Elektra Records, this time with the band he and his brother started developing a decade earlier – called Vonray. With that band, Dave said one of his most memorable moments was hearing Kasey Kasim say his name on the show, American Top 40.
During his music career, Dave spent a particularly memorable summer in a studio on Sunset Strip in Hollywood making the Elektra record, where he was able to meet some of his heroes – like Tom Petty, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, the guys from Stone Temple Pilots and super-producer Rick Rubin. He says it was like taking a field trip inside of his radio. Dave also appeared on the TV show, Smallville, because one of his songs was the first release on the show’s soundtrack. He’s toured with major bands such as Creed, 3 Doors Down, and, yes, even Nickelback.
Unfortunately, around that time, the record industry was being disrupted by the Internet. With file-sharing platforms like Napster killing the traditional business model of the record industry, his music career was cut short while his band still working to break through. By about 2005, Dave called it quits and reoriented his career into more profitable directions.
Now, Dave is a proud Rotary member, a doting father of two teenaged, up-and-coming musicians, and he loves working every day with a lot of talented attorneys, who he calls “the real rock stars.”