Alumnus travels twisted path to success

All stress and no sleep is how the founder of the Philadelphia Music Conference characterizes his life after graduating from the University. Brian Felson graduated in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in communications from the College and a marketing degree from Wharton -- credentials giving most University graduates access to the business world. But Felson could not find his niche. He said his Bob Dylan T-shirts did not seem to mix well with the idea of a marketing-type desk job. "[I'm] not into the typical marketing stuff," he said. "Penn is a very pre-professional school," he added. "All of my old friends and girlfriends went to law school. I didn't want to work for someone. I wanted to start something and run it myself." And this is exactly what he did. Felson, who lives in Philadelphia, will returns to his alma mater today as the executive director of the second annual Philadelphia Music Conference at the Penn Tower Hotel. But the alumnus's road to his current position had a few twists and turns. After living in West Philadelphia for some time after graduation, Felson decided it was time for a change of scenery. "I had always wanted to go somewhere that started with a 'V.' I kinda ruled out Vatican City, so Venezuela it was," Felson said. After a three week excursion, Felson returned to West Philly to lead a quiet life, he joked. Felson played with some local bands for a few months. Felson said he also toured Europe for some time, and upon his return he played the keyboard with the band the Spin Doctors. While playing with numerous bands and traveling to different countries, Felson began to envision a music conference that would bring together rock, hip-hop and acoustic music. "I wanted to have people from different styles and cultures come together and learn from each other," Felson said. Felson then organized the conference. He found sponsors, booked hotels, recruited speakers, printed literature and coordinated 11 full-time workers and 285 volunteers. Felson said the purpose of this international conference is for "people interested or involved in the [music] industry to learn more about the business, while also being able to network, schmooze and have fun." "It's like Lollapalooza for the intellectually twisted," he said. Felson said he wanted the Philadelphia Music Conference to be fun and affordable. The University graduate said he "pulled all-nighters, drank lots of coffee and lived through an emotional roller coaster," and then he finally created the Philadelphia Music Conference. "I was tired of academia," he said. "This was my dream and my life to lead. "I learned that everything you've ever learned is totally meaningless and irrelevant," he added. "Sure, it all sounds good, but applying things to the real world is almost impossible. Then, you realize how vicious doing business really is." The first taste of real world business hit Felson after the first annual Philadelphia Music Conference when he realized he was having financial trouble. "You don't know about anything until you've run through it once," he said. "I spent too much money on advertising the first year, but I needed the conference to be well known. "In retrospect, I'm glad I spent the more money," he added. "The Philadelphia Music Conference is the largest ever second-year conference."