The Board of Directors consists of individuals who are dedicated to the mission and goals of The MAMAs. Coming from a wide variety of backgrounds each member is as passionate in their support of our organization as they are in independent local music.
Curt Davies, Executive Director
Curt is the owner of Backstage Vibe, a music promotions and digital distribution company headquartered in Wisconsin. With over 18 years experience in strategic communications and marketing, he is able to transfer his mad skills into proven tools for indie artists to further their careers and gain more exposure.
Throughout his career, Curt has worked for and consulted with a number of national and international heavy-hitters. Not only is he a marketing guru, but he is also a master at networking and business relationship building. He is personally responsible for many of the awesome partners that currently work with Backstage Vibe.
Roy Elkins, President
Roy Elkins is a well-known music technology entrepreneur who has been leading industry innovations for over twenty years. Elkins is the Founder and CEO of Broadjam Inc., serving independent musicians and industry giants such as the Academy of Country Music, Warner/Chappell, Peavey and others. Broadjam.com, the company’s popular independent website now hosts over 100,000 artists with over 450,000 songs uploaded to its massive online searchable database. The site is known for its musician-friendly services, including music licensing opportunities to film, tv, radio and advertisers, website hosting, artist profiles, reviews, contests, transmit mechanism, charts, download sales and more.
Before founding Broadjam, Elkins was the Vice President-Sales & Marketing for Sonic Foundry and held several Director-level positions with Ensoniq Corporation. He maintains a database of over 5,000 music industry contacts including executives at virtually every company in the music industry and past and/or present clients such as Les Paul, D.J. Jazzy Jeff, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers, BoyzIIMen, Joe Walsh, ELP, Yes, Journey, Skid Row, Randy Jackson, Will Smith and many others. He is a musician and songwriter who thoroughly understands the musician’s world.
Rick Tvedt, Treasurer
Rick Tvedt has been a performing musician since the age of eight, playing guitar, bass and singing in various rock bands. In the 1980’s he had regional success with the pop/new wave band The And. In 1991 he cut his first solo album, Demos from the Heart. After that he joined forces with some old chums and formed the Sled Dogs, a five-piece progressive rock band that has one album to its credit, Salute.
At the age of forty-four, Rick began to look at how he could contribute more to the Madison music community. After a year of research and hard decisions he launched the monthly local music newspaper Rick’s Café in January of 2003, growing the newspaper to over 10,000 copies and a freelance staff of nearly thirty contributors. Rick’s Café could now be found from Wausau to Janesville and from Platteville to Oconomowoc before its demise in January of 2007.
In 2003 Rick also conceptualized a local music awards show to stimulate the music economy and to inform the public by recognizing the efforts of local artists. The new organization was termed the Madison Area Music Awards, affectionately known as the MAMAs. The MAMAs were set up as a charitable organization to raise money to fund music programs for kids. With the looming budget problems in the schools the organization has focused its efforts on providing instruments and other essentials for the Madison Metropolitan School District. The MAMAs also work with community centers, other organizations and needy individuals.
Rick served as the board president for two years and is now the de-facto executive director and Treasurer for the MAMAs. He is also the executive producer of the awards show itself, which is held every May. In June of 2009, Rick’s Café was resurrected online as Local Sounds Magazine, part of the Local Sounds network.
Committee Members
Beth Kille
Beth Kille is an award-winning performing songwriter, audio engineer/producer, songwriting instructor, Executive Producer of the Madison Area Music Association Awards, host of Madison’s Chick Singer Night, co-founder of Flannel Fest, Music Director for Girls & Ladies Rock Camp Madison and a mom. She joined the Board of Directors in 2009.
Valerie Wulf
Valerie Wulf is a Principal of Hilltop Entertainment. She is an attorney and has invested and mentored private venture businesses for 21 years. Valerie previously practiced as an attorney with national law firms in San Diego and Chicago. She is also the President and Co-Manager of Midwest Venture Capital Managers, LLC, a General Partner of the Phenomenelle Angels Fund I, LP, and an independent Director of an international women’s business organization. In addition to being a Board Member of the Madison Area Music Association, she is also on the Board of Directors of the Greater Bucky Open, a charitable foundation benefitting the University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital. Valerie earned her BBA with Honors in Business and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She received her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Ty Christian
Also known as “Fang VonWrathenstein”, lead singer of the most metal band on earth, the Lords of the Trident. Ty is an award-winning singer and performer, as well as one of the leading voices in the band DIY community through his monthly “Words of Fang” syndicated columns. While not dressed as a barbarian on stage, Ty spends his days as a systems administrator for the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the Waisman Brain Imaging Laboratory on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. He also teaches Tae Kwon Do and actively practices parkour. Ty maintains the MAMA website and IT infrastructure, produces graphics and video for the organization, directs communication & outreach, and is really, really good at producing consistent eye-roll-worthy jokes.
Mary Sweeney
After sharing a few snap shots from an AFI concert on MySpace she began getting calls from bands (local and national) about shooting their shows and promo photos. Her work has been published in magazines (AP online, Madison Magazine, The Isthmus), websites, catalogs, music blogs and CDs. She was a finalist for an Independent Music Award – Live Concert Photography and recently voted Best Photographer in Madison by Madison Magazine. Mary has also spent several years in the photo pits at Summerfest – photographing artists such as Imagine Dragons, Common, Rise Against, Maroon 5, Paramore, Shiny Toy Guns, Bush, Public Enemy and more. Recently she has independently been in the photo pit at Warped Tour in Milwaukee. She has been a panelist/speaker at several music conferences around the Midwest addressing the issues of band image and live performance. In 2015 she will be included in Martin Atkins’ new book –
Band:Smart sharing her insight on live performance. Mary was a member of the Board of Directors for the Madison Area Music Association – creating the first ever Emerging Artist contest in 2014. She has also been nominated for a Madison Area Music Award for Best Photographer in 2014.
Staff
The MAMAs staff consists of individuals who are dedicated to the mission and goals of The MAMAs. Coming from a wide variety of backgrounds each member is as passionate in their support of our organization as they are in independent local music.
| Dawn Kleinfeldt Volunteer Coordinator volunteer@themamas.org |
Photos by Sweeney Photography