The Music Man (cont.)
In a real-life version of Meredith Wilson's The Music Man, the Olmstead's eventually recruited so many students to join the school band and sold so many Conn instruments that the company offered the Olmsteads the exclusive franchise in the booming farm town of San Jose. Well that must have seemed a more exciting life than teaching school, so in 1926 the family moved to San Jose and opened the Olmstead Studio to produce the "World's Largest Band of Smallest Children."

Leader of the Band
In San Jose, the Olmstead Studio flourished as they taught children the joys of music and dance. At the same time, Robert continued to practice twirling the baton. In those days, baton twirling was not the domain of little girls in tight, sequin outfits, in fact, most of the twirlers were boys or men who served as drum majors for the marching bands and bugle corps of the day. In college, Olmstead served as the drum major for both the San Jose State and the University of Santa Clara bands–at the same time! He became so well known for his on-field antics that when World War II broke out, the Army flew the Olmstead family to Fort Benning, Georgia so that Olmstead could lead the Combined Infantry Army Band. This elite group was made up almost entirely of players from the most famous big bands of the era.

When the war was over, Olmstead came home to raise his family of three sons, build houses, and work for various political campaigns.

In 1948, a new football team in San Francisco called the Forty Niners asked the well-known band leader and twirler to produce half-time shows for their games. Olmstead formed the 49ers Majorettes, the first NFL female performing group that incorporated dance and props like pompons.

The following year, Olmstead's youngest son, Michael, was born, and the senior Olmstead began to devote full-time to teaching and show production. Michael performed in his first 49ers halftime show when he was five years old, and only missed one game between then and the time he left for college. He literally grew up on the field with his father and the game entertainment performers.

United Sprit Association is Born
In 1950, Robert Olmstead and his wife, Edith, decided to hold a training camp in the Santa Cruz mountains to train the 49ers Majorettes for the up coming football season. Over the next forty years, Robert and Edith Olmstead created California Specialty Camps which in 1976 became the United Spirit Association (USA).

During this period, the Olmsteads' camps trained over one million young people. Expressing a philosophy that was ahead of its time, he USA camp curriculums were based on the idea that every student should feel a sense of accomplishment and success, and that student activities were an important vehicle for teaching leadership skills and enhancing self-esteem.

A Family Tradition
Starting in 1976, California Specialty Camps became the United Spirit Association, and Michael took the lead in developing the new USA cheerleading program, and in 1983 he became the President of the company. In May of 1996, the United Spirit Association summer camp business was sold to the Varsity Spirit Corporation, and the sports entertainment and special events production company continued to operate as a independent company under the name Olmstead Productions, Inc.

Michael Olmstead Productions (MOP)
In 1971, Olmstead produced his first Forty Niners halftime show, a "History of San Francisco," complete with a miner town barroom brawl, cancan dancers, and earthquake, hippies, and a finale performance by Bing Crosby. While continuing with his responsibilities with the 49ers, Olmstead also served as the first Promotion Director for the Earthquakes, the local NASL professional soccer team.

Olmstead's association with the 49ers continues to this day. Over this span he has produced and directed over 320 halftime shows involving thousands of performers and introducing many innovations in halftime show production.

USA Productions
In 1983, the United Spirit Association and MOP merged, forming USA Productions. The next year, the USA Productions team produced the opening ceremonies for the Olympic soccer matches, using skydivers jumping into Olympic rings. Later that year, they produced the first non-marching band pregame show for a Super Bowl, introducing a concept that is now an NFL tradition. The show featured a new NFL theme song, written by Peter Dergee and the first large-scale representation of the Lombardi Trophy.

The Super Bowl show began a relationship with the NFL that continues to this day. In 1986, the NFL asked USA Productions to produce the entertainment for the American Bowl game in London. Since then, the Olmstead-lead team has produced the entertainment for twenty-seven American Bowl games in eight countries. The company has also produced the entertainment for the past ten Pro Bowl games in Hawaii, as well as, numerous NFL cheerleader promotional tours.

In 1994, USA Productions produced the first Superfest program of special events in conjunction with the Pro Bowl. Today, the Pro Bowl Week has evolved into a major post-season happening with fourteen events in four days, four television shows, and a tailgate party for 3,000 fans and sponsors. This year e2k Sports will, once again, play a major role in producing the Pro Bowl Week events, the media and promotion program, as well as the game entertainment.

In addition to their work with almost every NFL team at various American Bowls, USA/Olmstead Productions has produced entertainment for over thirty play-off games and has served as an entertainment consultant for eight NFL teams. Michael Olmstead developed the first NFL Game Enhancement training program and game music packages for NFL teams.

In recent years, the scope of e2k Sports shows has continually grown. In 1999 alone, the company produced over forty shows in five countries, including productions with the Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, and N'Sync. In consecutive years, OP has produced major televised retirement ceremonies for John Elway in Denver and Dan Marino in Miami--both shows were seen by over 20 million people.

For the past two years, the company has produced the United Way Thanksgiving Day show in Detroit. This year's show featured a new theme song, written and produced by Peter Dergee and a performance by Enrique Inglesias. Previous shows featured performances by Third Eye Blind and Boyz II Men.

In addition to work on the football field, e2k has produced many of the largest soccer shows in the country. The company's credits include the Olympic Soccer Opening Ceremonies in 1984, the Opening Ceremonies at Stanford Stadium for the 1994 World Cup, starring Carlos Santana; the premiere opening game for the MLS professional league, two MLS Championship Games, and the entertainment for the 1999 Women's World Cup finals in front of 90,000 fans in the Rose Bowl.

Dance, Dance, Dance!
Beginning in 1983, USA Productions also became actively involved in developing professional dance teams. Laurie Ryan, the USA Songleading Program Director at the time, and the founding member of the Laker Girls, directed the first-ever dance teams for the 49ers and the Golden State Warriors. USA Productions also established dance teams for the Sacramento Kings, the San Diego Chargers, and the Los Angeles Clippers. At various times, USA Productions also produced the teams for the Denver Nuggets, the Seattle Supersonics, and the Frankfurt Galaxy. Olmstead created the first Pro Bowl Cheerleading team and the company still produces and directs this all-star group.

The list of former USA/OP dance team directors includes many long-time associates and some of the most talented people in sports entertainment including: Heidi Hopper, Jay Howarth, John Peters, Andy Vaca, Dana Giordano, Angela King, Kari Cuartero-O'Leary, Wendy Stout-Fresques, Tammy McPhee, and Jessie Sziebl. The USA/OP legacy in this field is further demonstrated by the fact that present or former employees now direct nine NFL or NBA dance teams.

Former USA/OP employees have also gone on to great success in music, video and stage, including, Paula Abdul, Teri Hatcher, Ron Kellum, Diane Alexander, Eva LaRue, and Tina Landon.

Beyond the Playing Field
Over the years, Michael Olmstead and the USA Productions team have applied their production skills and creativity to a broad range of non-sports events. In 1986, they produced over 100 performing groups on six large performance areas for the 50th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. Starting in 1988, the company began producing the Midnight Surprise for San Francisco's most prestigious gala, the Black and White Ball. These spectacular happenings have showcased twenty-four grand pianos pulled down Van Ness St. by body builders, the "Black and White Rap" with 30 hip hop dancers, Elvis sightings on the top of buildings and bungee dancers performing with Martha Reeves singing "Dancin' In the Streets."

In 1996, 70,000 San Franciscans took to the streets for the OP-produced Herb Caen Day parade and civic celebration, featuring Joel Grey, Robin Williams among others. That same year, Michael was asked to direct the gala for the Republican National Convention in San Diego. Two years later, Olmstead Productions produced all of the entertainment for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, including a Gala stage show, featuring Mayor Willie Brown, Tracy Chapman, Don Johnson, and the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon.

The success of the 49ers in the 80's provided many opportunities for the USA Productions team to develop their special event production talents. Super Bowl Ring parties featured performances by Huey Lewis and the News and Boyz II Men. The 49th Anniversary party, featured a cabaret setting with a performance by Tony Bennett. As luck would have it, USA Productions produced more Super Bowl parties and Super Bowl parades that any company in the world.

At the same time, the production team has worked with an impressive list of corporate clients. The e2k team has created major trade show productions for Nintendo, Umax, AGRI (in Switzerland) and Sega. The company has also produced parties, auctions, and historic events for Sony Computer Entertainment, U.C.S.F., Stanford University, Microsoft, the City of Palo Alto, Umax, Angel Investors, and the National Football League among others.

In 2001 e2k produced the annual conference for RealNetworks in Seattle. The event demonstrated the latest advancements in streaming media and involved a full conference web cast, teleconferenced participants from seven cities, and a two-way, live satellite bridge with another conference. Later in the year, e2k also produced the New York media launch event for the new RealOne platform.

Humanity Events
Since 1995, Olmstead Productions has served as the Executive Producer of the State of the World Forum. Originally convened by Mikhail Gorbachev to address the problems and opportunities coming out of the end of the Cold War, this conference has annually brought together over 700 world leaders from a broad range of subject areas. Notable participants have included, President George Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Walter Cronkite, Ted Turner, Sonya Gandhi, and newly elected Mexican President, Vincente Fox to mention just a few.

The 2000 Conference, held in New York City in conjunction with the U.N. Millennial Summit, attracted over 2,000 participants and such speakers as Gorbachev, Colin Powell, Christopher Reeves, Queen Noor and over 20 Heads of State. As part of the conference, Olmstead Productions produced two BBC World television specials that reached 179 countries and a 24-hour a day webcast.

In their role as Executive Producer, Olmstead Productions, working with several close associates, was responsible for all hotel coordination, registration, travel, technical production, security, heads of state protocol, entertainment and communications.

From the State of the World Forum, e2k World has also produced events for such cause related organizations as the Pachamama Alliance, dedicated to preserving the Rain Forest and its indigenous caretakers; the One Song Many Voices Foundation, addressing issues of race and hate crime; the Global Security Institute, working to eliminate nuclear weapons; the Friends of the United Nations and others.

e2k: Events and Entertainment for the New Millennium
And now, we begin a new phase in our evolution–one that takes advantage of our rich tradition, our long-term relationships, and our experience in a broad range of events and entertainment venues.

Our vision is: "to create innovative events, powerful experiences, and magical moments that entertain people, inspire a sense of community and celebrate humanity."

We are realizing this dream through the development of two operating divisions: e2k sports and e2k world, with the latter focused on new expansion in the areas of conferences, corporate events, and media production. In this effort, we are committed to expanding our use of technology to work more effectively, enhance creative collaboration, and extend the reach of our live events. We are approaching each event as an opportunity to make a difference in the world.

As always, the success of the company emanates from many talented and creative people who are share a vision and a commitment to excellence.

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