It’s not everyday that a high school sophomore starts her own concert business. It’s rare to find someone who has planned schedules of big name artists, such as Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Blink 182, or has juggled a managing position for MTV at night while earning a teaching degree during the day.
With smooth, light blond hair, a sweet and cheerful tone of voice and a youthful glow, social studies teacher Melissa Faron may not seem like she was once involved in the Chicago Punk Rock music scene at first glance. But in fact, during her high school and college years, Faron learned the logistics, organization skills and secrets behind planning events in the entertainment business.
The start of her unique music experience began sophomore year at Prospect High School when Faron had the idea to invite local bands to perform at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall (VFW) to showcase their talents.
“Basically it was a startup business,” Faron said. “I totally took a risk putting out my own money.”
Faron quickly learned the essentials of how to put on a show.
Whether Faron was renting a public address (PA) system, copying fliers to promote the bands or collecting the five dollar entry fee, she carried out each job with help from a few friends.
“This was back before social media,” Faron said. “I’d have friends over make fliers, and I’d take it over to my mom’s office to copy it. I just never knew [if the show would be successful].”
Faron even allowed some bands to stay at her house the night before a big show.
“It’s proper etiquette if you are hosting the show to house the people over for the night,” Faron said, chuckling at the remembrance of fond memories. “My parents weren’t very keen on having people stay over, but it was still really fun.”
Once Faron began to attend Illinois State University (ISU), she realized the school had no access to the live music genres she liked. Faron decided to start the Benchmark Music Board (BMU) to recruit different bands to play at a rented campus bowling alley.
After proposing a business plan and even recruiting high school students from University High School in Normal, Ill., Faron petitioned at ISU and implemented the club.
The successful growth inBMU swayed her college to increase the club’s budget to $3 million in order to showcase famous musicians.
“What I did with my team was to figure out the budgets and how we could bring in the big name bands or artists like Michael Bublé with the budget we had,” Faron said. “So there were many negotiations and contracts with deals almost costing $300,000.”
Faron’s prosperous entrepreneurial skills were soon noticed by famous corporations. ISU promoted Faron as the head of the entire school’s programming board, so she juggled the stress of being the president of BMU, head of the programming board and a regular college student.
As if her life wasn’t busy enough, during the late 1990s, then 19-year-old Faron was contacted by MTV Jams. They wanted her to oversee operations of concerts every night and tour with numerous bands during her breaks from school. The previously teen-aged girl from Arlington Heights who hosted minor gigs for fellow classmates was employed by MTV to plan shows for internationally famous artists.
“Bands were coming to me and wanting me to be their manager,” Faron said. “They would send a demo, ask us to listen to it and invite us to their show. Then the bands would ask us represent them.”
Faron was either managing every aspect of a band’s tour or just one concert. From reading over daily itineraries, confirming travel plans, to compiling contracts for various bands, Faron quickly delved into the demanding life of a professional in the music industry.
“My network grew so big that I could go to other venues at Rosemont or United Center,” Faron said. “I would negotiate with the mangers there and ask them if my band could play there or just be an opening act.”
She recalls her funniest memories as instances where bands had requested strange riders, requests that performers demanded to have before a show.
“I remember a performer needing green M&Ms and seedless raspberry jam,” Faron said. “Since our university was in Normal, Ill., one time there was one band who had me send out my assistants to buy Normal postcards.”
Faron’s abundant managerial positions were squeezed into any available time slot she had on top of her daily college classes to earn her teaching degree. Her struggles with time management and pursuing exactly whom she wanted to be caused Faron to break off her job as a production manager and focus on her teaching degree. She no longer wanted to be involved with any negative aspects that came with a job in the music industry.
“Music has always been a passion and still is, but I saw how the teenagers were responding to musicians as role models,” Faron said. “It broke my heart because what I saw on stage and what happened behind closed doors were two different things. I had a moment in my life when I said, ‘I want to be a role model,’ and what teenagers need are good people to interact with every day.”
Although Faron indulged herself in the music world during her young adult years, she wanted to be a teacher since her sophomore year at ISU.
“I sold everything senior year of college,” Faron said. “It hit me all at once, and I decided to sell the Benchmark company.”
Faron passed on all her contracts with the music industry to a college student from the University of Illinois. She hopes that people will one day identify the music industry with the good sides instead of the bad, like drugs and alcohol.
“We don’t get the good side,” Faron said. “That’s the sad thing about it. I would say live your life as a person of integrity and do things for the right reasons.”
Once graduated, Faron moved to Nyack, Ill. and worked at a community high school. She has only recently began her teaching job at Central.
After all these years, Faron can say she is pleased with where she is now.
“I left the big cities and big lights and traded it for the back country,” Faron said. “That was the best decision for me.”
