Jul 10, 2009 7:39 am US/Mountain
Music Legend Morris Gets Ready To Rock Mile High
Written by Brooke Wagner
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Chuck Morris in his office in June 2009
CBS
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Chuck Morris wears one pair of glasses, while spinning another between his fingers.
"Great. You rock, you rock," he says, hanging up after another successful phone conversation.
The legendary concert promoter with the signature funky eyeglasses knows everyone who's anyone in the music business. Pictures of Morris hanging out with everyone from Willie Nelson to Miley Cyrus wallpaper his office in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver. But for this father of five, it's still just about the music -- and the stories.
"I still love it. The day that I walk into this office and I'm not happy to be at work, I'll retire. I'll walk away," Morris said in our interview.
Morris was about to earn a PhD in constitutional law from the University of Colorado in Boulder when he heard the call of music.
"I loved music more," Morris said.
From club owner to manager to concert promoter, Morris has been working with musicians for 39 years. In 2007, he was named President and Chief Operating Officer of AEG Live, Rocky Mountain Region. One of his first orders of business; to start a festival.
"It's a great economic growth for areas, and a great musical experience," Morris said. "Festivals are multi-millions to put together and many, many obstacles."
Last year, Morris' dream came to fruition with the first Mile High Music Festival, at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. Last year's headliners included Tom Petty and the Dave Matthews Band. More than 90,000 fans rocked out at the festival that's been called the most successful first-run event of its kind. Still, Morris took careful note of any tweaks to be made for this year's event. Morris said those who buy tickets for the event this July 18 and 19 will find improved traffic, shuttle service and signage. One thing that won't change; the location. Morris loves the park's proximity.
"It's 15 minutes from downtown Denver and 10 minutes from I-70 and Quebec," he said.
Morris has been working on this year's Mile High Music Festival, featuring live favorite Widespread Panic, local band The Fray, and hard rock band Tool, for a year.
"We started working on this year the day after last year. We got glowing emails, but we want to make it better. You have got to make it better," said Morris.
Morris gives much of the credit for lining up the right bands to his partners. He hired two sets of "younger ears" to help book acts for 2009.
"When you have multiple stages going at the same time, you don't want to compete. So, it is a real puzzle and you want to get different artists that appeal to different people, so we get a broad base of the community coming," said Morris. "You see bands you've never heard of and, hopefully, our taste is good enough that you're going to like them ... and I think it is. So, people say 'I just saw four bands I'd never heard of. They were incredible."
Morris is especially proud of the local band presence at Mile High Music Festival.
"More and more, this is becoming the place for young bands to happen," Morris said.
He likens the Colorado music scene to Seattle in the 1990s.
"One of the things I really wanted to do was book a lot of local bands. There's been a huge resurgence of local music becoming big," Morris said.
Morris also sees Mile High as one of the best deals in music, and a great way for fans to beat the recession.
"Especially with the economy, any time you can see 50 bands in two days with five stages and all sorts of amenities and one day for 90 dollars, two days for $160 you spend that for one band and an opening you've never heard of, so we felt it was more bang for the buck," said Morris.
A career working with bands like the Rolling Stones and U2 has taught Morris what works -- and what doesn't. He's been lining up acts for almost 40 years. As a club manager and owner, he brought bands like the Eagles and ZZ Top to Boulder, then opened Ebbets Field in Denver. As a manager, he represented acts such as Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Lyle Lovett.
As for those signature spectacles, Morris owns at least 50 pairs, which he keeps in a giant glass bowl. He calls glasses his hobby. Like Morris' role in the music industry, his interests have evolved.
"I used to have a lot worse vices 30 years ago than glasses, which I don't have anymore," said Morris.
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