Concerts producer busy
Is there anybody in Canyon Lake as energetic and extraverted as Concerts at the Lodge Producer Doug Schultz? The man knows how to promote and does so with genuine excitement in his voice.
Doug represents the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association as he recruits and signs up the quality bands and artists to play at the Canyon Lake Lodge several times a year. He’s proud of the great talent he is able to contract to play at the tiny
Canyon Lake.
“Where else can you drive a couple of minutes by car or golf cart, park for free, have dinner in the same venue and take in a concert,” Doug said. “Here in Canyon Lake, this is all possible and takes place in a great venue with an amazing sound system and lights.”
As the producer of the Concerts at the Lodge Series, Doug is the talent buyer, contract arbitrator, stage manager, showrunner and even the emcee for the live shows at the Lodge’s Holiday Bay Room.
Doug has been in the concert business since 1995. He was the production manager for Fan Fest at the Pomona Fairplex, a three-day country music festival with 60,000 attendees. The following year, Doug did the same job for the three-day event, which is now called Country Music Television Star Fest.
Over 60 artists performed on the main stage of the festival including Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence, Toby Keight, Billy Ray Cyrus and Faith Hill.
Over his career, Doug has worked over 2,000 concerts with nearly 4,000 national acts.
In 1995, Doug began working at 4th & B, the legendary 2,000-capacity concert venue in downtown San Diego, with his very first act there being Crosby, Still and Nash. Over the next 10 years, he lined up nearly 200 shows per year at 4th & B.
Doug continued working at 4th & B as the night manager where big name artists such as Billy Idol, The Pretenders, Snoop Dog, BB King, Ringo Starr, Blake Shelton and Deep Purple performed until it was sold in 2006.
During Doug’s career as night manager of 4th & B he managed 85 staff members. This required him to work long and late nights.
In 2003, Doug went on to become the in-house concert producer for a radio conglomerate in San Diego. From 2003 until 2012, Doug also produced the Jazz at the Beach and Independence Jam Concert Series at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater with 3,000 to 4,000 attendees. During that time he also produced the Country Fest Concert Series that took place at various locations including the Lakeside Rodeo Ground, Qualcomm Stadium and Del Mar Fairgrounds where 10,000 to 15,000 concert goers attended each concert.
In 2015, Doug met Canyon Lake POA General Manager Chris Mitchell. Chris reached out to Doug to find out if it would be possible to produce national recording artists in Canyon Lake. Doug jumped at the opportunity.
The first show of the Concerts at the Lodge Series kicked off with Doug and his wife Anneda’s friend Johnny Lee. The country music artist is known for several hit songs, including Lookin’ for Love.
Eric Kazakof later took over as the Canyon Lake POA general manager and continued with the Concerts at the Lodge Series. Eric had an all new high tech sound and lighting systems installed with the help of the Canyon Lake Fine Arts Guild, thus making the concert series “top notch,” Doug said.
“The Concerts at the Lodge Series has become high quality and is embraced by Canyon Lake residents,” Doug said. “Eric is a strong supporter of the series and buys tickets for not only himself, but for friends.”
Doug also produced two Rock the Boat events at the Canyon Lake Amphitheater. These COVID-19-friendly events were free shows that featured great local bands who performed facing the lake where concert goers safely sat on their boats.
Doug spent about four months to book the five shows currently in the 2023 Concert at the Lodge Series.
“Unlike a normal concert hall, Canyon Lake has a venue with limited dates,” Doug said. “Because the Holiday Bay Room is a multipurpose venue and is also used for club events, meetings, weddings and other events, my available dates are limited.”
Scheduling bands can be quite the juggling act.
“I have specific dates to book the bands,” Doug said. “I have to work with the artists’ schedules and availability. Some acts won’t play on our small stage and others simply don’t want to play here because of the limited venue capacity. Others pass because of certain clauses. This makes booking bands not only a long process, but challenging.”
There are some bands that Doug has been working on for years. It can take up to 15 offers to get five artists for the annual series, he said.
“It doesn’t end there,” Doug said. “Once the acts are booked, I have to review and amend contract and rider agreements to best serve the POA and work with staff to provide promotional material to advertise the shows and develop a marketing plan.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly difficult because Doug had already scheduled a full slate of bands.
“Several shows had to be postponed,” Doug said. “When an artist cancels because of COVID-19, or because band members don’t feel safe performing, it’s hard to rebook them since dates become an issue. I may have had a date available, but it didn’t fit the band’s tour schedule.”
Doug is responsible for negotiating with the various band reps on each concert in order to produce a quality show.
“Some requests we simply can’t do or afford,” Doug said. “I want to ensure we have a good show. I also want to make sure the bands are happy and the shows are financially successful.”
Doug enjoys working with the Canyon Lake Fine Arts Guild as the group puts on its own tribute concerts at the same Lodge venue.
“One thing I really appreciate is my close working relationship with the Canyon Lake Fine Arts Guild,” Doug said. “The Guild members are such a pleasure to work with and they’ve always been so gracious. I bring them up on stage at the Concerts at the Lodge Series so they can promote their upcoming tribute concerts and they always invite me on stage to promote ours.”
Doug said he loves producing the concerts and it isn’t about the money.
“I do get paid, but it’s a fraction of what I’m used to making,” he said. “I call it a labor of love.”
On show days, Doug is generally the first to arrive at the Holiday Bay Room and the last to leave.
“I get there around 11:00 a.m to load-in and do sound checks,” he said. “The doors open at 6:30 p.m. If I’m lucky, I’m home by midnight. The most hectic time on show day is from when the doors open until the headliner is on stage. Band reps make last-minute requests and Canyon Lake members have questions. It’s all part of the business.”
Being part of the Canyon Lake community makes putting on the concerts worth all the effort.
“When my wonderful wife Anneda and I are out in the community, walking, riding our E-Bikes, or even when we’re at the store, members of the community thank me for bringing these concerts to their little bit of paradise,” he said. “Those compliments bring me so much gratification and joy and it makes it worth it, knowing people here in Canyon Lake are as passionate about the concerts and shows as I am.”
There are times, as well, where the artists have spent the night at Anneda and his Canyon Lake home.
“Anneda and I love it when some of the bands have stayed at our home,” Doug said. “Hal Ketchum even did a music video from our waterfront deck. We’ve hosted after parties and enjoyed drinking too much.”
Although Doug is retired from full-time employment, he does some consulting along with producing some hand-picked events that are offered to him.
“I still enjoy doing a couple of my signature events outside the Concerts at the Lodge Series,” Doug said. “Being the talent buyer, stage manager and emcee of Armed Forces Day Operation Appreciation on the beach of Oceanside with thousands of US Marines is one thing I thoroughly enjoy. It’s my way of saying thank you to our troops.”
Doug also keeps busy officiating weddings, funeral celebrants and other special emcee events and says he’s very comfortable in those roles.
“Friends ask me to marry them, bury them and introduce them,” he said.
Doug has been married for 43 years and is grateful for his wife’s support during such a frenzied career.
“I credit my beautiful wife, Anneda, for her patience and understanding,” Doug said. “Being married to someone in the concert business isn’t easy. During the crazy hours, occasional stressful phone calls and last-minute changes Anneda has always been there for me. I don’t think I tell her enough just how much she means to me. I appreciate her and I adore her.”