Please come to Central Iowa!

[AdamTReineke]

Hi! I live in Ankeny, IA. The nearest concert to me is in St. Louis, and that is an 8 hour drive. The next closest is in Indiana, also roughly an 8 hour drive.

Please come to central Iowa, either Wells Fargo Arena (http://www.iowaeventscenter.com/arena_info_wells_fargo.aspx) in Des Moines (seats 17,000) or Hilton Coliseum (http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/maps/building.asp?id=53) on the Iowa State University campus in Ames (seats 14,000).

Why? In central Iowa, we have Drake and Iowa State universities, both with large student bodies -- most likely perfectly fitting the demographic that VGL appeals to. ISU alone has over 25,000 students! DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) is also a very large college, with students from across the state attending its campuses across the Des Moines Metro. University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa are within a few hours drive, and the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolis is within a 5-hour drive.

We love video games down here! In Ankeny (pop. 25,000), over 300 people were waiting at Gamestop alone to buy Halo 3 when it came out. That isn't including the big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart, and the Best Buy in Des Moines that held a huge launch party that night.

We look forward to a visit from Video Games Live!!! :D

[briguy]

I have attended Drake for 1.5 years from 2003-2004 and I now attend DMACC and I agree that there are lots of people here in Iowa just in the Des Moines area that love to play video games. Every year at Drake my friends host a Halo tournament and they get about 100 people to show up just on short notice of as little as a few days. I have also heard of a few other game tournaments that have had over 300 people attend. These were meant to be small but they soon grew to large number.
As Adam mentioned Minneapolis/St. Paul is less then 5 hours away. Other then that we have several local schools here including Iowa State, Iowa, DMACC, Drake, Grandview, Luther, Granell, Upper Iowa, Northern Iowa, Kirkwood, and Des Moines University. It shouldn't be to hard to get large numbers out to this event.
I also remember when the Xbox 360 came out and driving around town I saw about 500 people at only 4 or 5 different locations standing in line. I also remember when Star Wars episode 3 came out. I waited in line for the movie and someone brought a tv that they hooked up to there car and played video games on in all day and they had a group of about 100 people at any given time during the day watching, wanting to play, and/or playing.

[Chris Tripoli]

WOW Great posts and info there. BUT there is even more you can do to help get us there and I'll tell you how.

For each of the venues you listed, see if you can find their website and get some contact info. For each of the schools and clubs you listed, see if you can get contact info for them as well.

The goal would be to get the fans like yourself to contact the venues and say "Hey, bring VGL to IA, and this is why ..." Enough fans get the attention of the Director of the Wells Fargo or Collesium and they get interested enough to call us about booking the show and VIOLA! I can help get you going. This HAS WORKED in other cities so don't be shy. One thing I've learned is that one person can make a difference!

Let me know what you think ---- Chris

[AdamTReineke]

Hey Chris,

I did some quick searching, and I found the following contact information for the venues. I can work on finding general contact information for the schools Brian and I listed.

Which is more important? Making VGL aware that we want a concert, or making the venue aware we want a VGL concert?

~ Adam

----------------

Wells Fargo Arena
Request for Proposal - Iowa Events Center - Link (http://www.iowaeventscenter.com/cc_rfp.aspx)
Contact Info - Iowa Events Center - Link (http://www.iowaeventscenter.com/contact.aspx)

Hilton Coliseum
Contact Info - Iowa State Center Link (http://www.center.iastate.edu/newsite/about/contact.asp)
Contact Info, Programming - Iowa State Center Link (http://www.center.iastate.edu/newsite/about/Directory/program.asp)

[punknprncss]

Not as ideal as a show in your town, but the Milwaukee, WI is under a 6 hour drive for you.

[musicalGforce]

This thread needed to be bumped because VGL still needs to come to Iowa, USA! And we Iowans need to band together and do whatever it takes to bring them here before the world ends in 2012! (jk I don't believe in that :D)

I think one of the best places to hold it is the Gallagher Bluedorn in Cedar Falls! Many very talented performing artists, singers, and actors from all over come here and the building is very large with two balconies, plenty of seats, and a humongous stage. (Not long ago my grandma and I saw one of Riverdance's final performances and it blew me away) It would be the perfect location! You can't say you've been everywhere yet until you come to Iowa. Please come!!! I know that tons of people would love it and probably sell out.

It would be a dream come true for me to be able to see the show for the first time and hopefully bring some friends or family with me. Pleeeeeeeeeeeease! I love video game music and have downloaded many songs from overclocked remix and played some vgm at piano recitals. I even bought a VGL pen for Pete's sake! :D

P.S. Thank you so much for listening to your fans and caring about what we have to say, it's so cool. To actually hear our suggestions of music to play and cities to visit? It's unbelievable! I wish more entertainers were like that. If I ever become some kind of entertainer I will definitely want to hear my fans' opinions.

[Terraguy]

I even bought a VGL pen for Pete's sake! :D

I don't think VGL has an official pen.....

Anyway, good luck getting VGL in Iowa! Definitely would suggest that you recruit a couple of people to also come on and state how they would like VGL to come to Iowa, and you should also write to the venue/local orchestra asking them to take a look at hosting VGL there.

[Brainiac]

I don't think VGL has an official pen.....

I think I've seen VGL-branded pens for sale at the merch booths at the concerts, but other than that, I'm not aware of anything official. There are none listed for purchase in the online store, either (though there are pins (https://www.videogameslive.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=101)).

[Songbird]

I think I've seen VGL-branded pens for sale at the merch booths at the concerts, but other than that, I'm not aware of anything official. There are none listed for purchase in the online store, either (though there are pins (https://www.videogameslive.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=101)).

Ha ha ha. Very funny Brainiac.

But yes there is an official VGL pen Terraguy, but I guess they don't sell it online here.

This isn't related, but when I saw VGL for the first time I found a pen on the floor under my seat and I took it as a memento; although it has nothing to do with the concert itself. :p

[Terraguy]

Ha ha ha. Very funny Brainiac.

Brainiac's post was supposed to be funny?

[Brainiac]

Brainiac's post was supposed to be funny?

<shrug> Never look a gift laugh in the mouth.

[musicalGforce]

lol I love nonsensical humor.

Ha ha ha. Very funny Brainiac.

But yes there is an official VGL pen Terraguy, but I guess they don't sell it online here.

This isn't related, but when I saw VGL for the first time I found a pen on the floor under my seat and I took it as a memento; although it has nothing to do with the concert itself. :p

Actually, they used to sell the green VGL pens here but now I see they have a lot of new merchandise. (Maybe I should buy some more cheap VGL stuff for Christmas!) Just ask Tommy, because he probably remembers. I got two pens for $5 and was crazy enough to pay that much. Sadly they didn't work very well for me but they still look sweet.

And come to Iowa please!!

[Stranth]

I vote for VGL to sell some really nice pens online. anyone wanna second the motion?

[musicalGforce]

I'm having a noob problem here. I tried to contact Gallagher Bluedorn by emails to ask about hosting VGL, clearly explaining the great success and awesomeness that it is, and they never replied. Next I tried calling them when they were open but of course I couldn't talk to a real person and had to leave a message which they will likely ignore too. How the heck am I supposed to ask someone to host them when I can't even talk to anyone?! :( There must be someone who can help me, or at least explain why they can't do it. I'll find a way, even if I have to get a hundred owls to drop letters into the building!

Yarly.

[Terraguy]

I'm having a noob problem here. I tried to contact Gallagher Bluedorn by emails to ask about hosting VGL, clearly explaining the great success and awesomeness that it is, and they never replied. Next I tried calling them when they were open but of course I couldn't talk to a real person and had to leave a message which they will likely ignore too. How the heck am I supposed to ask someone to host them when I can't even talk to anyone?! :( There must be someone who can help me, or at least explain why they can't do it. I'll find a way, even if I have to get a hundred owls to drop letters into the building!

Yarly.

I don't think you're supposed to talk to someone there...are you?

I was under the impression that sending in a letter is fine (just, if there are a lot of letters from different people, it'll definitely help).

[musicalGforce]

Hey, maybe that would work, Terraguy. But would they consider that as unsolicited mail? I wouldn't want to waste my time and effort if that's the case. And would a letter be better than email if they ignored my two emails? :confused:

The only problem I have with this situation is... I don't know anything. lol

[Terraguy]

I don't really know myself. I'm sure they have a customer service department that can help you (or at least where you send your letters/emails).

What I was trying to get at, though, was that they don't have to respond to you, but that your email most likely was received. After all, it is possible they don't have the time to respond to every single email they received. But I'm conjecturing.

[musicalGforce]

Conjecturing... now there's a word I'll have to remember and use again. lol I'm not quite sure if I'm getting to the right people. The Gallagher Bluedorn website provided an email and phone number, but they didn't say anything about suggesting shows to sponspor. Maybe there's some higher up authority I need to contact? Blah! This is too confusing. But I won't give up. (I just take breaks)

[Home5licE]

I would love to see the show hit central Iowa. I live about two hours away from the area but I would gladly make the trip for a show.

[Terraguy]

Conjecturing... now there's a word I'll have to remember and use again. lol I'm not quite sure if I'm getting to the right people. The Gallagher Bluedorn website provided an email and phone number, but they didn't say anything about suggesting shows to sponspor. Maybe there's some higher up authority I need to contact? Blah! This is too confusing. But I won't give up. (I just take breaks)

That's the spirit! (About not giving up, that is.)

Also, have you tried talking to local orchestras? It may also help if you can get an orchestra interested in hosting VGL (since they usually hold more sway over venue booking).

[Home5licE]

musicalGforce, if you are still interested in trying to get the show at Hilton, you might want to shoot this guy an e-mail.

http://www.music.iastate.edu/faculty/stuart

He teaches a couple classes that I took while I was going there and he seems like a pretty cool guy who might dig the sort of thing that VGL does. Also, he's the principal trombonist on the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, so you might be able to tell what kind of reception you would get from the local musicians.

[musicalGforce]

Thanks Home5licE. I'll definitely look into that.

I checked out the schedule for upcoming shows and just by guessing it looks like VGL won't have a time for new locations until like 2015! Or is it possible for a town to sneak in between two performances? Are the tour dates set in stone or somewhat flexible?

[Terraguy]

They're quite flexible. Besides, many of those dates aren't set in stone yet.

[Home5licE]

Thanks Home5licE. I'll definitely look into that.

Good luck.

Also, if you do contact him, make sure to give him a link to some videos so he can see what the show is like...he's really big into using media to teach, so I'm guessing would enjoy it.

[musicalGforce]

Looks like I got back just in time before the topic went under. :)

I was finally able to contact Gallagher Bluedorn last month and talk to them about VGL. Here's what they said:

25 Feb 2010

Hello Jacob,

Thank you for your programming suggestion. We love receiving these types of requests and have actually looked into Video Games Live in the past. We will definitely keep it on our wish list. Although we do have our 10-11 season booked, we'll take a look at it again for 11-12 and beyond.

Best,
Molly Hackenmiller
Asst Director of Event Booking
GBPAC - Cedar Falls, IA

Soooooo... I guess I just won't worry about it for now. It's not like I can't go to Minnesota or some other nearby state if it works out. Maybe I could do that for my birthday in May! I'll just give it a rest for now.

[Myrph]

Congrats on actually getting a response! Hopefully you'll actually get a booking secured for the 2011-12 period ;p

[Terraguy]

Now that is cool. Although it sucks that there's no room this year, at least they said they're looking into it.

[Home5licE]

Well, it's not Central Iowa, but August 6 (Friday) in Sioux City was just added to the tour schedule...

...I'd be all over this, but I've already got plans to go to the Indy show the next night.

Hopefully you guys get a good turnout.

[musicalGforce]

YES! I don't believe it! I don't know if I'll be able to make it but I'm happy that other people will. At least it will have aired on PBS by then (unless there's a last minute change of schedule). I guess I can change my signature now! :D

[Songbird]

YES! I don't believe it! I don't know if I'll be able to make it but I'm happy that other people will. At least it will have aired on PBS by then (unless there's a last minute change of schedule). I guess I can change my signature now! :D

Congrats musicalGforce, I hope you can make it; however, I wouldn't be to sure about completely changing your signature if you know what I mean.

[musicalGforce]

Yeah, I do know what you mean. I meant to say "maybe" I can change it now.