Dec. 10, 2010 I The Clarion
News
Page 3
Student Profile: Ashley Fortune
By Park Baker
Staff Writer
Busy doesn't begin to describe Ashley
Fortune. The Brevard senior juggles being a full
time student, works at a home for the mentally
challenged, and most recently started her own
production company, RavenRageProductions.
Her company promotes and showcases artists
who liken themselves to the genre “EDM” or for
those not familiar. Electronic Dance Music.
Fortune's love for the scene and culture grew
while serving in the army in Baumholder,
Germany. While stationed there, she and her
fellow enlisted soldiers would escape to the
intoxicating beats and mesmerized lights of
Europe’s thriving night-life. When she came
home to the states in 1998 she enrolled at
Western Kentucky University while living in
Nashville. After her first DJ show almost 12
years ago, she got a job for the production
company FourScore.
Almost ten years later, the Integrated Studies
major was in need of another job. Last summer
Fortune was out at one her haunts. Scandal's,
an Asheville bar and venue that features
local artists and is host to many heady nights
of dancing. Willovseraphim, an Asheville
production company had recently lost its
booking agent, and as one thing led to another,
the owner offered Fortune the job. She grabbed
the opportunity to book artists from the drum n'
bass, house, and dub step variety, and promote
regional acts.
After working with that production company
and hosting some successful shows, the owner
of Ashevillian Entertainment, another company
of the same flavor, noticed her panache and
approached her and to see if she was interested
in working with him. The company mostly
promotes drum n' bass artists from the UK.
Her snowballing success and her propensity
for attracting popular artists led her to venture
out on her own. Since starting her company.
Fortune has concentrated mainly on artist
management. She currently has 115 DJ's, VJ's
and Producers under her wing and personally
manages ten artists. She attributes a lot of
her success to Facebook and many electronic
music artists use websites like Soundcloud and
Mediafire to upload their own music, hoping to
attract the attention of people like Fortune.
A lot of time and effort has gone into being
an entrepreneur and it seems it has paid off
On Dec. 11 Fortune is proud to present the
internationally renowned artist Kimball Collins,
one of the first American DJ's to play at the
infamous nightclub Ministry of Sound in the
United Kingdom. The show is being held at
The Garage at Biltmore and will also feature
six other DJ's playing that night, five of which
Fortune personally manages. Tickets are $15 in
advance or $ 18 at the door and can be purchased
online at thegarageatbiltmore.com
If anyone has ever doubted or hated on
Facebook, for any reason, here’s a pretty
good reason to validate the social networking
site: the owner of Sky's the Limit production
company, with operations in NYC and Miami,
contacted Fortune through Facebook and
asked her if she wanted to come on board. The
company has a spot at the 2011 Winter Music
Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, which is an
enormous opportunity for Fortune to showcase
her artists.
Winter Music Conference, in its 26 consecutive
year, is one of the most publicized annual music
gatherings in the world. A pivotal platform for
the advancement of the industry, WMC 2010
attracted 1,909 artists and DJs, 3,763 industry
delegates from 70 countries and over 100,000
event attendees for a concentrated schedule of
more than 414 events, parties, seminars and
workshops presented over five days. Over two
million visitors from 183 countries log on to the
WMC website each year.
New 'whipahols' popular with students
By David Brazy
U. Wisconsin via UWIRE
A new fad in alcoholic consumption could
replace the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko.
And it also goes great with pie.
Some are calling “whipahols” such as
CREAM and Whipped Lightning the next big
craze for college student drinkers. The product
combines whip cream and a strong dose of
alcohol, 15 percent by volume in Cream, into
an aerosol can dispenser
The Madison liquor store Riley’s Wines of the
World has been selling CREAM for more than a
month, according to employee Matt Bents.
Bents added the whipahols have been pretty
popular and they have sold quite a few of them
so far
Julia Sherman, coordinator of the U. Wisconsin
Law School’s Wisconsin Alcohol Policy
Project, said the major difference between the
alcoholic whip cream and Four Loko is the price
difference. Sherman said products like CREAM
normally sell for $12.99 while a can of Four
Loko can still be found for $2 or $3.
“You are going to have very different
groups of customers,”
Sherman added.
Sherman said the
real danger with
the whipahols is the
drinker might be
consuming more than
they realize.
“You might have
three Jell-O shots with
the whip cream on top
... you’re going to be a
lot more impaired than
you realize,” Sherman
said.
©
^rilNEti
iShTMiN*
wHIPftD
LiGHirifr?!.
‘Whipped Lightning’ offers several flavors of the alcohol infused whipped
Sherman said she believed there were around
26 1-ounce shots in a can, so if you have a one
ounce shot of vodka in a Jell-O shot and then if
a person adds a puff of whipped cream on top,
they will actually be consuming two shots.
U. Wisconsin senior Zach Zyduck said he
would like to try the whipahols, but probably
would not have a lot of it because the consistency
may be too weird.
Zyduck said the products had a lot of different
possibilities.
“Incorporating food into your love life just got
a lot more interesting,” Zyduck said.
He added it is good to know there are people
out there dedicating their time to getting people
drunk in unique and disgusting ways.
However, Sherman said there could be some
complications if a person consumes the whip
cream without knowing there is alcohol in it.
She said it could be dangerous if someone who
is on medication that is not supposed to mix with
alcohol uses some on food unknowingly.