The climb of a event planning professional : Sequoia Slentz

Get to know Sequoia Slentz and some of his creative marketing thoughts? His career path, Slentz said, has unfolded through connections he’s made at each stop along the way. “I really owe thanks to Chip and Chuck at the Sandpiper for giving me the opportunity to get this all started,” he said. “If it weren’t for them giving me a shot at booking shows, I probably wouldn’t be here.” Cleanbox got its start by booking gigs like Harry Palmdale and Saint Ann’s for the Piper’s Monday night shows. The owner of Gypsy Lounge, who frequented the Piper and was blown away to see that Cleanbox pulled in a crowd on Mondays, asked Slentz to do Wednesday night bookings at Gypsy.

Sequoia Slentz

Sequoia Slentz profile in 944 Magazine : Although the world CleanBox inhabits is a far cry from the glossy photo spreads of beautiful people getting their rocks off that fill the mag’s pages, the recognition is still appreciated. Even though we despise the types of people who are into the magazine: the Armani and cologne wearing set, the bitchy, fake-titted chicks who won’t give us the time of day, we are ready and willing to accept all publicity. Plus, Sequoia and I got some free tequila at the photo shoot. Nothing beats a semi-solid excuse to drink hard liquor at noon.

About Sequoia Slentz: Owned and operated CleanBox Entertainment since 2001. Over the past 4 years we have produced major live events nationwide. My company created a television show which was licensed to Howard TV in 2009. We are interested in all ideas. Specialties: Designing, Manufacturing, Merchandise, Producing Live Shows, Creative Marketing on a budget, Event Planning.

Sequoia Slentz event planning advices: It goes without saying that there’s no “I” in team, and the best way to achieve your results is to be surrounded by people you trust, people who are professionals and experts in the field, and people you can rely onto do their jobs. With so many moving parts of your live event, you can’t micro-manage, or keep track of every detail within each department. So that’s where your team comes in to help you be those extra eyes and ears to catch any issues and ultimately get the job done right. It’s easy to go over budget when you start adding extra wireless microphones, Internet and power drops, cameras, and probably one of the biggest cost over-runs is not correctly estimating the amount of time it actually takes to produce your event. In most cases, labor can be your biggest cost, and if you don’t account for overtime, and even double time, you run the risk of being way over budget. Having the proper staffing ratio is crucial to staying on time and budget. You need to have the right amount of labor to get the job done, and not either under or over staff. If you’re producing a video webcast with a live audience, you’ll have core costs that will cover equipment and labor.

Sequoia Slentz on Covid-19 times and the entertainment industry : What is the future of the music industry over the next few years? The music industry is constantly changing, though the pandemic definitely threw a curveball for live music. What I believe is that artists need to stay focused on their principles. Of course, no one knows what the future will be like, besides more streaming and technology innovations. Still, we can focus on sound principles such as creating great songs, great video content, staying engaged with one’s community, and focusing on mental and physical health. When things start to open again, artists that spent their time wisely will get a jump on their careers because they focused on their music and marketing their brand when they couldn’t do much else. I believe that people will be more excited than ever before about live music since we’ve been starved of it for the past couple of months.

Killers of Comedy & Sequoia Slentz : We travel around the country with the Killers, meeting super fans everywhere we go. When you hang out with Beetlejuice before a Killers show, you feel like you’re hanging with freak show royalty. Everyone recognizes him and everyone loves him. After the train wreck, Levy and Yucko made a beeline for the exit. Shuli and Beetle risked the angry mob to nab some free food.