SWANSON GETS VP STRIPES AT GOLDENVOICE

AEG subsidiary Goldenvoice has promoted longtime buyer Lea Swanson to VP of Talent, which will keep her in her longtime base of San Diego. She will report to Goldenvoice COO Melissa Ormond.

Swanson will be the sole talent buyer for Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California, while also helping book such Los Angeles venues as the Peacock Theater and Shrine Auditorium and shows in neighboring markets like Irvine, Ontario, Bakersfield and Fresno.

She began her career in 1999 at San Diego's Viejas Casino, where she helped develop the Concerts in the Park venue. Swanson then bought talent for the city's Balboa Theatre, the Rady Shell and Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, also serving as lead buyer for Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada.

"A year after accepting the lead booking role at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, having the chance to grow and promote shows in one of the primary music markets in North America was an opportunity I had to take," said Swanson.

Added Ormond, "Lea's breadth of experience, combined with her innate ability to know what will resonate with audiences across a variety of different venues and genres, makes her uniquely qualified for this position."

Reports that AEG President of Global Touring Rich Schaefer sent Swanson a congratulatory cardboard box of Grateful Dead cassette bootlegs could not be confirmed at press time.