In a Meinert Key

David Meinert has shaped Seattle’s music scene.

Behind the kicked-back exterior lurks the closest thing Seattle has to a ubiquitous, always-on-the-go, finger-on-the-pulse and fingers-in-every-pie entertainment impresario. Meinert is widely lauded as the activist who stood up to a nightlife-adverse city hall and made Seattle safe for live music, and as the rock promoter who got this rock-and-roll-loving town to embrace hip-hop. His company manages the Presidents of the United States of America, Blue Scholars and Common Market. Meinert consults on Bumbershoot and co-owns the annual Capitol Hill Block Party. His boutique agency Fuzed Travel arranges tours and trips for such clients as Band of Horses and Lou Reed.

Meinert has also become a potent political operator. He first dipped into politics in the 1980s as a student at Western Washington University, protesting Reagan’s wars in Central America. Early in this decade, he became president of the local chapter of the Recording Academy, which produces the Grammys, and turned it into an effective political lobby.

Full Article by Michael Hood from Seattle Weekly Here