LAS VEGAS — The Parnelli Board of Advisors has announced that George Travis, longtime production/tour manager for Bruce Springsteen, will receive the live event industry’s highest honor, the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award, at the annual gala ceremony in Las Vegas this November. Travis has also worked with Rod Stewart, Kiss, Boston, Elton John, Madonna, Shania Twain and Ringo Starr, among others.
“George Travis started out a rigger and climbed to great heights, figuratively and literally,” said Parnelli executive director Patrick Stansfield. “He knew Rick ‘Parnelli’ O’Brien, worked under the great Gerry Stickells on Queen shows, and has been the backbone of the Bruce Springsteen organization for more than 30 years. He is deserving of this honor for his stellar nearly half century life and counting in entertainment, serving artists and concert patrons alike worldwide!”
“From Elvis to the famous Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial to Bruce Springsteen, George Travis has pretty much done it all in our business,” says lighting designer and longtime collaborator Jeff Ravitz. “He’s been a stagehand, a truck driver, a rigger, a production manager and even a lighting operator…so when he puts together a tour, he has a deep level of understanding of what it takes.”
During his career, Travis has also worked with Rod Stewart, Kiss, Boston, Elton John, Madonna, Shania Twain and Ringo Starr, among others. He’s been a leader for some of the most audacious events in music, including the two US Festivals in 1982 and 1983, the groundbreaking series of benefit concerts for Amnesty International in 1988 and the recent 12. 12. 12 concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden for Hurricane Sandy relief. He’s been the production manager on special events like Harley-Davidson’s 100th Anniversary in 2003. Perhaps most important, and least known, is the passion and energy he devotes for his charity and philanthropic work, where he’s been just as efficacious at as his day job.
Jon Landau, a music critic and record producer who agreed to serve as Bruce Springsteen’s manager in 1978, recalled meeting Travis shortly thereafter. “So now I’m suddenly Bruce Springsteen’s manager — I had never been anyone’s manager before — and I flew out to wherever his tour was at the moment,” Landau said. Once there, he walked around, talking to crewmembers, trying to get a sense of it all. He approached Travis, then a rigger, and struck up a conversation. Travis asked Landau if he was going to be Bruce’s manager. When Landau answered in the affirmative, Travis said, “Well I have a few suggestions if you want to hear them…” The two have worked as a team ever since.
“So glad to hear George is being recognized because it’s long past due,” says 2003 Parnelli Lifetime award recipient Mike Brown, who is now retired from the grandstand and staging business. “There aren’t enough superlatives in the world to describe his energy and work ethic. He might just be the best professional I’ve ever worked with.”
When notified of his Parnelli honor, Travis insisted that “there’s a long list of people who should be getting this way before me. “ But many disagree. As Landau asked, “with all due respect to those honored before, what took you guys so long? Well, you got the right guy now.”
Yet while Travis flies high in the esteem of his colleagues, his own preference is to hover below the radar. So it’ll be a rare sight indeed when, on Nov. 23, at the Mirage in Las Vegas, at a gathering of live event industry professionals, he steps on stage to receive the 13th Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award.
For more information on past winners and future sponsorship opportunities, visit www.parnelliawards.com.
