helped to run and market the shows. Tipitinas was sold in 1995 and along with Goodstone, Black, Farman, and Mayers decided to start their own concert promotion company. It was initially a part-time pursuit; Mayers was working in production at Jazz Fest, Black and Farman were in college, and Goodstone lived in New York, where he worked in advertising. They focused on new and established jam bands at first; fans of the genre, they recognized that the jam band phenomenon was beginning to develop nationally. Mayers suggested they call the company Superfly Presents, inspired by the Curtis Mayfield soundtrack for the 1976 film Superfly. Superfly planned to stage shows in clubs and theaters and on riverboats during major city events such as Mardi Gras to capitalize on the influx of visitors to New Orleans. New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in particular offered a significant opportunity; performances ran until only 7 p.m. over two weekends, and an expanded audience of music fans were in New Orleans. To launch the company, they borrowed $20,000, mainly from family, and in March 1997 they promoted their first show, Take Funk to Heaven: Mardi Gras '97. Held at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, then essentially a warehouse space, both nights of the two-night event sold out. Relying on grassroots marketing, they had similar success with a series of shows at venues which included clubs, theaters, warehouses, and riverboats. In 1999, Black and Farman graduated, Mayers quit Jazz Fest, Goodstone moved to New Orleans, and Superfly Presents became a full-time endeavor. In 2002, during Jazz Fest alone, Superfly staged 28 concerts over eight nights at eight New Orleans venues. To compete with promoters including Clear Channel and the House of Blues, who promoted genre-specific shows, Superfly Presents booked artists who would not generally appear on the same bill, such as rock bands with jazz musicians and New Orleans bands with hip hop artists. They maintained a focus on jam bands, at that point a genre largely overlooked in New Orleans, and put individual musicians from different groups together as all-star bands. Described as "gritty, spontaneous, and wholly authentic," Superfly shows would frequently begin at 2 a.m. and end at sunrise. They promoted the events through word of mouth, print ads in alternative weeklies and college papers, and the internet, which was actively used by jam bands, and had 50 people doing grassroots marketing in