I’ve been booking acts for nearly 15 years now. in 2019 my booking led to a brand new oppurtunity. In early 201- I booked the Grammy nominated punk rock comedy act Green Jelly. In late 2019 I found myself on stage in front of a thousand people playing guitar in said band opening for Insane Clown Posse. Along w/ working with Bill Manspeaker in booking some east coast shows I landed the roll of Guitarist in the band. Throughout the tenure of the Green Jelly machine those in the band have alter egos for the stage. I adopted the name The phantom of The Caution. Born from my half mask that i glued caution tape all over. It started small by a small stage presence. Its blossomed to TV Shirts, a Facebook page, a Lego character and even Trading Cards. A full website is currently in the works.
The origin of the character formed pretty simply. I was given the oppurtuniy to play guitar in Green jelly up in New York opening for the most famous clowns on earth the Insane Clown Posse. I realized I didn’t want to go w/out some sort of costume so I went to the only place i could think of that would possibly birth my alter ego; Spirit Halloween. After searching for 30 minutes and seeing nothing even remotely buzz worthy i found a phantom of the caution mask and happened to have Caution tape in my trunk. This is where my creative side shined. Tape some caution tape on the mask and call it a day. What would follow would just continue to build.
I would later add the bloody jacket after the ICP shows and before the quick headline run in early 2020. Now i had a full fledged alter ego. Being new and over the 800th member of the band i had to stand out. That’s still a work in progress however, I did come up w/ a logo and create shirts to sell. Just recently I ordered a short run of Topps trading cards. The set features the classic 1987 design featuring a live shot as well as a 2020 Topps Now design featuring the Phantom Mask. By the way, the name was simply a combination of the half mask Phantom of the Opera and the Caution tape, hence Phantom of The Caution. Its not the simplicity of difficulty of a name that counts, its the staying power and the catchy nature of it.
There is a Facebook page and I’m currently working on a full fledged web page connected to this 717 Entertainment page. Eventually I’d like to create a full web page dedicated to The Phantom of the Caution, its own brand and more. I’ve already began writing songs under a band name that will end up being an extension of the Phantom of the Caution. I have Over 20 songs written. One full album called “Side A: The Black Book Collection” and a few songs written to be featured on the second record already. This will be an entirely different extension of the 717 Entertainment Empire.
I always knew the 717 Entertainment brand would eventually spawn other creative outlets for me. After 11 years of booking over 200 acts in 20 different venues w/ thousands of satisfied patrons the light finally came on for the extension. I’ve rubbed shoulders with acts like Halestorm, From Ashes to New, Crash Test Dummies, Crazy Town, Stabbing Westward and other iconic acts and legends in the business. I can put together an incredible playlist of hit songs from bands I’ve booked and now its been parlayed into playing guitar which is something i started doing at 14 and dreamed of playing in front of a few people let alone over 1,000
In high School I was in a pop punk band w/ generic green day type music and my grunge pop songs. The singer went on to become a vocalist of bands who toured abound the states. The bassist plays in a blues type band around my home and still having fun. The drummer gave up drums and lives in New York. Ironically when i went to NY to play w/ Green Jelly he came to see me, which was the first time id seen him in many years. Now i can say I play in Green Jelly. Its not like playing at the Grammy’s or session musician for Post Malone but its way more than i ever truly felt I would do. I had dreams and my former singer always talked about being on Lunch Boxes which I have not concured yet but I think Lego’s and trading Cards are a damn good Start.
