Guerilla Union and House of Blues Entertainment Announce Premiere North American Live Hip Hop Partnership

LOS ANGELES, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Guerilla Union and House of Blues Entertainment today announced a strategic alliance that will bring festival brands and unique properties to the club and theater circuit and in doing so create North America's premiere live hip hop partnership.  The pairing will roll out a massive distribution channel via 150 shows in 44 venues in over 30 markets with dozens of club and theater tours annually, including Rock The Bells, Paid Dues, Spring Gathering and Smokeout.

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The alliance will create an unparalleled platform for artists to leverage venues, marketing, digital assets and booking expertise.  

"Guerilla Union is a pioneer in live hip hop and their festival brands are respected around the world," said Ben Weeden, House of Blues Entertainment Chief Operating Officer.  "We're excited to work with them to develop a similar platform at the club and theater level to introduce legendary and upcoming artists to thousands of fans."

Guerilla Union CEO and Founder, Chang Weisberg said, "This partnership with House of Blues Entertainment is one of the most significant investments ever in live hip hop.  Not only will we be able to produce dozens of tours annually, from our current roster of festival projects, but we will have the ability to provide year-round 360-degree support, services, and platforms to help develop artists and their communities."

This strategic alliance will provide artists with unique, turn-key solutions to distribute content leveraging state-of-the-art technologies, develop online and retail resources for artist merchandise and connect corporate sponsors to world-class projects with traditional and non-traditional marketing opportunities. Weisberg said, "This is not just about selling tickets.  Guerilla Union's unique programming and marketing suits the national and international distributions channel of House of Blues venues and ticketing resources. It's potentially a game changing combination."

The landmark partnership has launched its first North American tours with the ROCK THE BELLS PRESENTS Club and Theater Series.  This series will feature seminal artists performing their iconic albums in their entirety.  

Weisberg said, "I'm ecstatic that we will begin this partnership by launching two Rock The Bells tours that will help create awareness of our brand in several new cities providing a once-in-a-lifetime, intimate live experience of some very special records in their entirety."  

The first tour will kick off with Wu-Tang Clan members, Raekwon and Ghostface performing Only Built for Cuban Linx as well as fellow east-coast artists, Mobb Deep performing their 1995 classic, The Infamous.  Tickets are on-sale now.  The reunited Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) will also hit the road performing their critically acclaimed album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star.  Tickets go on-sale Friday, July 22 at 10am local time via LiveNation.com.   "I could not imagine having better initial partners than Black Star, Cuban Linx and Mobb Deep.  We are all working together to create special moments that connect us all," said Weisberg.

Provided below are the current tour dates:

ROCK THE BELLS PRESENTS:

Raekwon and Ghostface performing Only Built for Cuban Linx

Mobb Deep performing The Infamous

ROCK THE BELLS PRESENTS:

Black Star performing Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star

About Guerilla Union

Established in 2000, Guerilla Union has developed into one of the premiere core urban lifestyle brands in the U.S., manifesting itself in many forms including music, events, media and fashion. Guerilla Union's mission is to create experiential platforms, unique content and provide services that develop artists and their communities. Guerilla Union is a creative engineering corps dedicated to supporting artists and shaping urban culture.

About House of Blues Entertainment

With over 50 owned/operated and affiliated clubs and theaters, The House of Blues Entertainment portfolio is wide-ranging including the legendary Fillmores on both coasts and the intimate House of Blues clubs throughout the United States. House of Blues Entertainment is the country's pre-eminent live music venue collection featuring state-of-the-art sound and lighting technology in one-of-a-kind custom designed environments aimed to bring fans and artists together in unparalleled musical environments.

Media Contact:
Carla Schalman
breakwhitelight public relations
818-907-8950
[email protected]

SOURCE House of Blues Entertainment