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Living a double life
(by Jeff Fister - September 30, 2009)
When Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, Neil Young and John Mellencamp take the stage this weekend for the 24th annual Farm Aid concert — for the first time in St. Louis — watching closely backstage will be one of the organizers, Dennis Gorg.
And he won’t be serving coffee.
Gorg is the CWE native and businessman who owns Coffee Cartel, located at one of the city’s most visible street corners, Euclid and Maryland avenues. He also owns the Premium Lounge on Manchester Boulevard in the Grove neighborhood and recently bought the West End Tan salon on McPherson.
But what many people don’t know is that Gorg leads a double professional life, helping to run large concert events like Farm Aid and taking part in national political campaigns.
Gorg grew up in the CWE and attended Crossroads School. As a student, he worked at Garavelli’s restaurant, then on Lindell and at the Cookies & More shop on Maryland. While at Crossroads, he started working at Majic 108 radio station, which was located on the campus on DeBaliviere. It was there that he learned about marketing, promotion and special events. Still in high school, he helped organize a street party for Kingsbury Place, arranging entertainment and lining up sponsors.
“I was a sophomore in high school and went to see Kim Tucci, owner of the Pasta House, about being a sponsor, and he gave us $500,” Gorg said. “I started to realize how important it was to have a sponsor to underwrite an event to help make it successful.”
In 1986, Gorg got a job working at the United Farmer Rancher Congress, which was held at the old Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. The three-day event was put on by Farm Aid, which had formed a year earlier to raise money to help save family farms through grants and education. Gorg was working in security and as a “gofer” but it was there that he met two key individuals: Willie Nelson and Jesse Jackson.
Nelson and the Farm Aid people hired Gorg to work at future concerts, and he’s done so ever since, handling sponsorships, logistics and security.
Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson, gearing up to run for president in 1988, hired Gorg to work on his national campaign and Gorg spent two years traveling with Jackson, taking care of logistics and security. Through his association with Jackson, Gorg got to know leaders of the national Democratic Party, and he has since worked at every Democratic national convention.
One of his jobs at the convention was to screen phone calls for the president when he was a Democrat. “I was the guy who would call the president and tell him who was calling,” Gorg said. “Although he won’t remember me, I talked to President Clinton many times, if just for a few words at a time.”
But Farm Aid has been Gorg’s major annual activity and he has been working the event for 22 years. “I started at Farm Aid 3, in Lincoln, Neb., and it’s amazing how long it has lasted and how it’s grown.”
Over the years, Farm Aid has raised more than $35 million in support of family farms. The movement has evolved from aiding families to keep their farms through grants and legislation to being part of the “good food movement.” This encourages people to buy from local farmers and for stores to stock locally grown, organic foods.
Gorg has worked to raise the profile of the annual concerts by attracting large corporate sponsors to the event. This year, sponsors include Silk soymilk, Direct TV and “green” companies like EternaGreen and Organic Valley foods.
“Sponsorships are the key. It’s the same principle as the $500 I got from Kim Tucci, but on a much larger scale. We now ask for $200,000 for Farm Aid sponsors,” he said.
Gorg isn’t involved directly in the music side of the show, although he knows them all and enjoys it. While Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp represent the “baby boomer” artists of the show, adding Dave Matthews in 2001 greatly expanded the audience, and each concert features a daylong list of well-known and up-and-coming artists. “We had Garth Brooks before he was big,” Gorg said.
This year, other artists include Wilco, Jason Mraz, Gretchen Wilson, Billy Joe Shaver and The Blackwood Quartet. “You start with four main guys and already it’s a pretty good show,” Gorg said. It will be held this Oct. 4 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. and music runs until 10 p.m. Visit www.livenation.com for more information.
Meanwhile, back in the CWE, Gorg has owned Coffee Cartel since 2005. Even with the proliferation of chain-style coffee shops and bakeries nearby, the business has been an anchor for that corner.
“Obviously we have a good location, but we also strive to have a variety of products, maintain good prices and always be open.”
Gorg has also been involved in neighborhood events, running the CWE Halloween party and the CWE Art Fair and Taste off and on for years.
But will there be coffee at Farm Aid?
“You bet,” Gorg said. “And it will be fair trade and organic.”
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