Calliope Presents first began as Calliope Festival in 2015 when Joe Rovner pitched a multi-day neo-vintage event to a long time associate and friend Pete Augusta. Both come from a long history of nightclub entertainment work, and they wanted to take things to the next level. Joe was a seasoned stage performer and touring DJ, while Augusta was a professional marketing guru, and also a club DJ. The dream was a weekend of vaudeville, burlesque, carnival acts, live music, DJs, and more mixed with vendors and ambient themes.

After months of planning, Augusta started to become wary of their limited capitol, resources, and experience in such a large event. He realizes the two of them might be in deeper waters than they were accustomed to. Rovner eventually agreed as well, and they decided to cancel it until a time when they felt more capable to pull it off. From this, they learned that they enjoyed working together, and agreed to try some smaller ventures before attempting a full-on multi-day festival. They also decided to bring on longtime friend Bill Holland, who had been working with Rovner already on a monthly electro-swing dance party called Rouge. Bill brought his record label into the mix- D2M (Dead 2 Me), since he wanted to focus on more electro-swing bands. The trifecta was formed.

Since the festival was on hold, Augusta pitched re-branding the production side of the company to Calliope Presents and focusing on talent acquisition & event management. It stuck, and the three hacked away at forming an infrastructure that vaguely resembled a company.

The first big show was put on in the spring of 2016 at Reggie’s Rock Club (Chicago), called Carnivale Delirium. It was a mini version of the festival, and for one night they brought out 16 acts from all over the country, and the Swingrowers (electro-swing band) from Italy. It was a big hit and launched the company in a more official manner.

Throughout 2016, Calliope Presents managed to pick up leads from associates and started managing talent troupes for corporate clients including Eataly, Lucky Strike, FTW Arcade, Renaissance Hotel, and more. With these seeds in place, they finally solidified their place in the Chicago scene as the go-to for neo-vintage event flair.

D2M records was also busy with Bill Holland signing Marcela Puppini of the Puppini Sisters and heading the US release of Everything Is Beautiful. Another notable thing in 2016 was the signing of L.A. band, Marquis & The Rhythm Howlers, and the release of their new record- Post – Apocalyptic Jukebox in October. All three Calliope partners released remixes of tracks from that album the following year, getting back to a love they all share- which is writing and remixing music.

2017 kicked off with the success of Carnivale Delirium for its second year in a row with a standing ovation for a booming electro-swing band from Portland- Sepiatonic. From there Calliope was invited to be part of the Hanger Stage at Electric Forest festival- and finally got a taste for the big leagues. In addition, they helped run a multi-city destination pop up event for Bombay Sapphire. The year ended with a sold-out event working in conjunction with Chicago entertainment and advertising mainstay Do312 for repeal day at the Stan Mansion. The final event of 2017 was the grand New Years celebration at Lucky Strike Lanes & FTW Arcade, a multi-venue experience to ring in the new year that saw over 1000 people throughout the night.

We think all of our friends and the people we book should get the most credit. They have all been super supportive and eager to watch us grow. They need a scene for their art, and we provide a stage for them to perform & have fun. We organize an event, the performers get a gig, and the fans all dress up & chip in at the door to make it viable. It’s a very symbiotic subculture.