by Mark E. Waterbury

At the age of thirteen, Steven Hartwick was able to slip into a night club who's owner he knew in his hometown of Ogden, Kansas. That visit set in motion what he wanted to do with his life. "I saw how people reacted to live music when this country band was playing there," Steven recalls. "So I asked them if I could deejay between the sets. They let me do it and everyone was complimenting me on my choices during the set breaks. It was a real adventure, and from that day on, I knew I wanted to get involved with the music business." Steven continued to deejay at that club, and when he attended college at Kansas State University, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station. "I was told by a number of people that my voice was a natural, and being in front of a microphone, I was charismatic. I also listened to all the music that came in and had a knack for finding what music was hot and what was not. I started gaining a little notoriety at that time." While he was obtaining his degree in business, radio and TV marketing, Steve tried to glean as much information as he could about the music business from the courses he took and from his experiences at the radio station.

Not long after graduating from KSU, Steven moved to Huntington Beach, California where he attended the Huntington Beach School of Broadcasting. He found work at some smaller stations in the market, and also worked with a mobile deejay service, traveling from San Diego to San Francisco working for numerous events which included an event for the mayor of Anaheim at the Anaheim stadium. Although he was making almost as much per day as an average performing band was, due to personal reasons, he left California. Steven moved to Breckenridge, Colorado where he worked for another radio station. He also delved into an aspect of the music industry far different from deejaying that he had dabbled in a bit in L.A., as he took a job booking a local nightclub. "I realized that as much as I wanted to be in the limelight of show business myself, I really did not have what it took to be on top of the world like those who have made it that far. So the next best thing for me was to work within the business associated with those stars, and I figured that would be fulfilling; working with the people I wish I could have been. And since I had the experience of working in a tough market like L.A. and was now in a much smaller market, I was able to work in further areas of the business." But the work in Breckenridge ended up being seasonal since at that time the town closed down when the ski season was over. So Steven moved closer to home, once again as a traveling deejay, based out of Kansas City. He called his company Audiostars, and ironically one of his bigger deejay events was opening for Jimmy Buffet in Breckenridge, Colorado. He also began working more in bookings and talent buying, and at one point proposed an idea to the company that put on the annual Kansas City Spirit Festival. "I convinced them to take me on at a commission basis even though they had no actual job opening at the time," Steven recalls. "I told them all I needed was a telephone and a computer and I would show them what I could do. And six years later I ended up as the marketing director for the festival."

In the late 90's, it was through a friend that Steven met Billy Royce, member of the Lynyrd Skynyrd spin-off Van Zant Band. Billy and Steven became friends, and in 1999 when Billy left the Van Zant band and formed a Stevie Ray Vaughan/Jimi Hendrix tribute band called Billy and the VooDoo Kitchen, Steven left Kansas City Spirit Festival and became their manager. He went on tour with the band for three years as their booking agent, tour, stage and personal manager; pretty much handling all aspects of the band's career and tour. Even though he did not have much experience in some of the areas he delved into at the time, he worked hard and admittedly went through a bit of trial and error to further gain invaluable knowledge of the music industry's workings. In the time frame that Steven has been the manager of Voodoo Kitchen, the band has grown to become one of the more popular and respected tribute acts touring the country. And Audiostars was booking some of the nation's top deejays. "In all the various aspects I have worked with I have learned as much as I can about the business through on-hands training. There are things you have to learn the hard way that all of the classes at K-State could not teach you. And I did make mistakes, but I learned from them and took everything I learned to avoid making the same mistake twice. If you want to work in this business and you have it in your heart to do it, then get out and do it. If it's just a pipe dream get out of the biz because the business will just eat you up. But if you have the talent and you know it in your heart and soul, don't let anybody step on what you want to do."

In January 2003, Steven decided to do something a bit different with his career. One of the top booking agencies in Kansas City, United Entertainment made an offer to him to come aboard as their talent broker and talent agent. In spite of the fact that he would have to put Audiostars on the back burner, Steven figured it would be another step up the ladder for him to accept the offer. "It was a prospect that I could not turn down and since I joined the company, my career, Billy's career and United Entertainment as well have certainly been going forward. It has been a greater experience then I could have imagined. It is a step up from what I have been doing and it has allowed me to grow and become more experienced." United Entertainment works several avenues of talent bookings. They have a roster of both exclusive and semi-exclusive bands and musicians they book nationwide. They also work exclusively with several venues in Kansas City and the surrounding region, providing agency brokerage for touring acts.

Looking ahead, Steven feels that United Entertainment is reclaiming its position as the top dog in the music business in Kansas City and, for that matter, in the Midwest, a title that was tough to keep over the years considering the lean times in the industry and the encroachment of a particularly large entertainment conglomerate. And beyond his work with United Entertainment, Steven is still Billy and the VooDoo Kitchen's manager and is busy planning another U.S. tour for the group. He still thinks about some of his previous work and one-time goals, and has also thought about becoming an entertainment photographer, but is happy with the current course of his career and looking towards a bright future. "I still get told all of the time that my voice is great for radio and I should still be in it, and sometimes I think that I would like to still be in it. But as far as United Entertainment is concerned as well as myself, I am very excited to be here and they are happy I am here as well. We all get along like a family and communicate every day, thus making a more profitable and enjoyable environment to work for."

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Steven Hartwick's advice for musicians: "Before you even go out of the house or the studio to do your first gig, make sure all of your ducks are in a row. Make sure your representation when you go out on tour is what you are seeking and wanting to be represented by as your band. Find an agent and/or manager that has the best interests of the band at heart. You cannot and will not be able to do it on your own as a band in this day and age."