Musical acts enlist for US military service

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) – Regardless of their political
convictions, few in the music business would deny U.S. troops
“over there” the right to rock.

Marine Corps Capt. Jesse Davidson is circuit manager for
Southwest Asia, one of six different circuits through which
Armed Forces Entertainment routes tours by entertainers from
every genre.

AFE is an Air Force command operation and the lead agency
providing transportation and logistical support for the United
Services Organization in bringing entertainers to troops. In
2005, AFE conducted 136 tours that totaled 1,268 shows at some
270 military installations worldwide.

Special consideration is given to dangerous, remote and
isolated locations. “Our priorities for the program are Iraq,
Afghanistan and Djbouti,” Davidson says. “But just to get to
those areas we have to pass through all these other countries
we have bases in, so we make sure the shows hit as many of
those places as they can.”

Davidson says it is surprisingly easy to recruit acts to
play these regions. “There are a lot of acts that, mostly for
patriotic reasons, want to go play for the troops,” he says.
“Sometimes they’re a little wary. Some groups are not so big on
going into Iraq and Afghanistan because of the security
situation.”

But the tours are enough in demand that AFE can be
selective. Artists apply to the AFE program by submitting
promotional materials including CDs and DVDs. The circuit
managers review the acts to determine which, if any, circuit
would be appropriate for them.

“Basically, we’re looking for talent; that’s the primary
thing,” Davidson says. “And, as best we can, we try to gauge
how we think they will do out on tour in terms of organization.
These tours last for up to a month, going around the world,
traveling the whole time.”

The program focuses on up-and-coming, recently signed and
unsigned acts. “We prefer to have groups that have released CDs
and have regional and maybe a little bit of national
attention,” Davidson says. “Most of the celebrity stuff is
handled by the USO, and we coordinate the military side of it.”

AFE covers expenses, and artists volunteer their time and
talent. “Commercial airline travel, which is how we get them
into the area where they’re going to be touring, is probably
the biggest expense we have,” Davidson says. Once they are in
the region, the groups generally travel by military aircraft.

“In the last year in (my) circuit we had 24 tours, about
300 shows total,” Davidson says. Artists play for audiences as
few as 250 people to more than 1,000 at the larger bases.

Davidson says the audience in his circuit is generally in
the 18- to 25-year-old range. “Some of the other circuits,
specifically in Europe, have families they’re dealing with they
may want to entertain; sometimes it’s an older crowd,” he says.
“Each of the circuits is different.”

Acts that have recently toured via AFE include Las Tres
Divas, Niki Barr, Carly Goodwin, Inobe, Plunge, SR-71 and
Waking Norman. 2005 USO tours coordinated with AFE included
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Toby Keith and Tito Puente Jr.

Davidson says he does not have any aspirations to work in
the concert business as a civilian. “I fell into this job kind
of randomly,” he says. “I don’t know if this is something I’m
going to pursue after my military career, but I’m definitely
gaining a lot of experience in marketing and just putting tours
together. It dovetails with my military specialty, which is
logistics, transportation.”

Reuters/Billboard