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Tango Blues Puts A New Spin on Club Promotion

Written by Steve Weinstein

“There’s been a major change in nightlife. The reason the Circuit developed was so that there could be places where people could go and dance, where they could have big events and feel safe and not worry about being gay. With the world in general more accepting—especially the younger generation—they don’t need that. They don’t need to go to a gay bar to be gay. Nightclubs aren’t for 21- to 30-year olds going out to meet people. And if they do go out, they don’t care if it’s a gay bar. It’s really changed the industry. It’s changing the way we do business and our business model.”

That’s how Andrew Briskin describes the state of gay clublife in 2009. But following the venerable Chinese proverb, out of crisis comes opportunity, that’s exactly what Briskin has done. Using his stable of talent, which includes luminaries like singer Ultra Naté, J.P. Calderon, Candice Cayne, Scotty K and Drew G, he’s been able to persuade marketers that the best way to get consumers to respond positively is where they play. So he’s been assembling packages for corporate clients to go to Clubland, where they sponsor special nights. It’s a win-win: clubs get talent and a night to promote; the client gets his message out; and the rest of us get to dance and be entertained.

“We are managers, but what we do mostly is promotions, marketing and branding,” Briskin explains. To cite an example written about in these very pages two issues ago, Briskin was the mastermind behind the well-received Music to Wear 2008 Tour, which paired Andrew Christian’s sexy men’s underwear with Kimberly S.’ driving beats. “We packaged that,” Briskin says. “We put his underwear on every gay boy. Clubs that are lighter venues than Kimberly would normally play could book her.”

Similarly, Tango Blues successfully rebranded AtomicMen.com for a rollout as a gay social networking site. In this case, Briskin and his staff worked as a more traditional marketing consultant. They redid the site “to look like Facebook more than Adam4Adam.” Then they began holding Atomic Mixers in bars and clubs around the country to introduce AtomicMen to its target audience—plugged-in gay consumers, the early adaptors who would respond to AtomicMen’s features like a mobile app.

Just looking at its roster of talent, it’s easy to see that Tango Blues is focused on the gay market. But not entirely; Briskin has had corporate clients across the board. Tango Blues is poised to work on any product launch, such as a sports-related DVD release in sports bars. Branching out is part of Briskin’s survival strategy—not only with the lousy economy, but also in the new world of gay venues.

“We had to branch out,” he explains. “There aren’t as many gar bars anymore.” Briskin maintains an active database of strictly gay clubs in North America that his staff meticulously updates every six months. “As of January, 40 percent went out of business or went straight,” he says.

That also means that club owners and promoters can’t afford to bring in the superstar name DJs the way they did only a year ago. So they’re more receptive to corporate-sponsored tours such as the ones Tango Blues assembles. “With the economy, they can’t book the plane and the hotel and the big fees,” Briskin notes. “Local promoters can’t bring in talent anymore. We tie in with a sponsor to reach out to the community. It’s a great way to brand the product; and for the clubs, it’s something special to promote.”

Animal Training to People Managing

Andrew Briskin came to his field of expertise in a roundabout way. Or maybe not. Although his family was in “the Industry,” (that’s Left Coastese for showbiz) he stayed in Miami after graduating from the University of Miami and took a job as director of exhibits at the Miami Seaquarium. He then moved into animal brokering for zoos. During that time, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective came to town to film, and he did some work with the on-set animal trainers.

He found he had a gift for working with four-legged talent, and started working with animals locally. Eventually, he hooked up with Bruce Weber, the legendary fashion photographer and connoisseur of male pulchritude (praise—or blame—him for the hegemony of the A&F boys). He worked for Weber on very fine two-legged specimens for nearly a half-decade as a freelance producer until someone hired him away to work on a Levi’s jeans commercial.

Upon moving back to his hometown in 1998, he opened a production studio in Hollywood and went “from there to production to talent management. Tigers,” he sighs, “are a lot easier and less stressful to deal with than people.” This is a sentiment that would be readily seconded by anyone who has balanced the demands of a DJ, dance-song diva, lighting designer and bartenders to produce a night of magic.

Don’t get him wrong: Briskin loves his work. Unlike some behind-the-scenes guys, he likes to go out and have fun. “Nightlife may not be what it was ten years ago, but you can still you have a good experience,” he says.

For now, Briskin is concentrating on working with the bars, clubs and megaclubs around the country to help them survive these lean years by bringing in acts that will attract crowds but not the repo man. “Our big draw in the past year-and-a-half has been coming up with ways to increase traffic through their doors while promoting what we’re promoting,” he says. “We’re giving the clubs something to promote that won’t cost them anything.”

Tango Blues’ Red-Hot Talent Roster

This is only a sample of the people handled by Andrew Briskin and his staff:

Debby Holiday: She’s been shaking the dance floor since 2004’s “Dive.”

Billie Myers: Best known for “Kiss the Rain,” her “Am I Here Yet” became a dance-floor staple through Junior Vasquez’s remix. She’s toured with no less than Savage Garden and Bob Dylan.

Ultra Naté: This ultimate House diva needs no introduction to the readers of this magazine. The Baltimore-based singer, songwriter, party promoter, label owner and House DJ is taking it on the road with a 12-city tour and a double album.

Scotty K: The headliner for Global Groove’s tour last fall has played major venues from the Pavilion on Fire Island to Fresh in San Francisco.

Drew G: Tango Blues doesn’t ignore Gotham, with one of the city’s best-known DJs who’s spun all over town.

Marco: He’s done Saint-at-Large parties, the Eagle, Limelight, Crobar and Splash. With his life partner, the actress Candis Cayne (also a Tango Blues artist), he now lives in Hollywood.

J.D. Ordonez: Best known for MTV’s The Real World: Brooklyn, he’s actually a dedicated marine mammal trainer. While in New York, he worked at the LGBT Center in the public policy department.

J.P. Calderon: Even if you don’t recognize the name, you know the face and bod from the cover of Instinct Magazine. This pro volleyball player was featured on The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and in a national 2(x)ist campaign.

Flava: This noiZe feature subject has been livening up dance floors with his unique performance art for years.

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