Richard 'Rosy' Rosenblatt
Founder/President
I started out as a harmonica player in the great Boston blues scene of the 1970's, toured the East Coast as a member of the Allston Allstars, the Billy Colwell Band, T. Blade and the Esquires, and the 11th Hour Band. I was also lucky enough to record with Sunnyland Slim and back up Hubert Sumlin, John Lee Hooker, Luther 'Georgia Boy Shakey Snake' Johnson, Otis Rush and others during that wild time.
I set up a basement recording studio, and started Tone-Cool Records in 1985. I spent the next 20 years as Prez and/or CEO of Tone-Cool, released more than 50 records, and got to sign and work with some amazing artists, including Susan Tedeschi, North Mississippi Allstars, Double Trouble, Sean Costello, Hubert Sumlin, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, Bernard Allison, Monster Mike Welch, David Maxwell, the Love Dogs, Toni Lynn Washington, Rick Holmstrom, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and lots more.
I was honored to work as a team to launch and advance the careers of such great artists, and to help earn a certified Gold Record, multiple Grammy nominations and countless W.C. Handy (Blues Music) Awards. During that time I also served 6 years on the Board of Directors of the Blues Foundation, made some great friends and ate a lot of Memphis BBQ. (I also completed a degree in French at Harvard University, but that's a whole other story...) In 2004, due to the changing realities of the independent record biz, Tone-Cool became a division of V2-Artemis Records, and I stayed on as Prez until Spring of 2006.
I was proud to launch the VizzTone label group in 2007, along with my pals blues musician Bob Margolin and publishing magnate Chip Eagle, and to soon add the multifaceted digital marketing genius Amy Brat as a partner. We're working with Redeye Distribution to establish a 'non-traditional' structure for releasing records and marketing music, and we are proud to be working with some amazing artists — seasoned veterans, rising stars, and badass debuts. At last count, VizzTone has released more than 150 albums.
I'm still playing harmonica — you can hear me on lots of Tone-Cool and VizzTone records, as well as a few Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson CDs, relatively obscure recordings by Sunnyland Slim and country star Dick Curless, and the occasional album track, commercial or soundtrack. Most recently I have appeared on a number of Erin Harpe recordings, and VizzTone has released the album Small Blues and Grooves, as well as some singles and very bizarre videos from my longtime band, the 11 Guys Quartet. Over the years I've done some very cool gigs with Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, Dave Gross, Gina Sicilia, Alizon Lissance, Amanda Fish and others, as well as about a decade with Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers— who won the Boston Blues Challenge in October 2010 and went to Memphis to compete in the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge in February 2011. (Seems to me there's some symmetry at work here...) for the past ten years or more I've been playing with erstwhile J Geils Band bassist DK's band, Danny Klein's Full House, which is a total blast. Other than that.... I've been working with a few artists, producing, recording, writing strange songs, and plotting some brand new empire-building.
I still live in the Boston area with my wife Mary and one small but mighty terrier.
Bob Margolin
Founder/Chief of A & R
I am a Blues guitar player and vocalist, carrying on the deep Chicago Blues style and creating original music today. From 1973-1980, I played guitar in the band of Chicago Blues legend Muddy Waters, touring worldwide and recording, and learning to play Muddy's powerful music directly from him.In 1980, I started my own band. My newest album is "In North Carolina." Before that, I have recorded two albums for Powerhouse Records, three for Alligator, one for Blind Pig, and The Bob Margolin All-Star Blues Jam on Telarc Records. I have also appeared as a guest or sideman on dozens of Blues albums. In 2008 and 2005, I won the Blues Music Award for "Best Instrumentalist, Guitar."Touring full-time today, I work with various gangs of fine Blues musicians, including The Bob Margolin Blues Band and The Bob Margolin All-Star Blues Jam The Legends of Chicago Blues, and The Muddy Waters Reunion Band.I am also a columnist for Blues Revue magazine and a regular contributor to BluesWax online magazine My Myspace songs are from new album, "In North Carolina." It features just me playing at home, rather than live or in the studio. The album is on my Steady Rollin' Records label, part of the VizzTone Label Group, in which I am also a partner. More detailed information is available on my bobmargolin.com website.
Amy Brat
VizzTone Partner - General Manager
Amy Brat is well known in the Blues world and beyond as Founding Director of BratGirlmedia, an elite communications company that has boosted the public profile of artists including George Thorogood, North Mississippi Allstars, the Spin Doctors, Samantha Fish, Royal Southern Brotherhood and many more. Amy has been working with VizzTone since our inception. As General Manager at VizzTone, Amy Brat works with all elements of the music industry and media, keeps us on top of the latest communication technology, and handles all the elements of label management.
Chip Eagle
Founder/Chairman - In Loving Memory
The tribal chief grooves to the riff of his own blues. Chip Eagle never has fallen victim to conventional thinking. The 1983 Kogod graduate helped found the electronic publishing company Visionation in 1997, but he easily could have acquired the unfortunate title 'former publisher' when the company stumbled after the tech bubble burst in 2000. Weathering the economic punches, Eagle refashioned the company and managed to steer it back into the black. Today, from its Des Moines, Iowa, headquarters, Visionation publishes the country’s largest blues music magazine as well as blues and folk music e-zines on the Web.
'I really believe that we have a tribe of people working together to do something,' says Eagle, who’s known as the 'tribal chief' around the office. 'They’re willing to work bad hours for little money, and we feel like we're doing good work. In my role as the publisher of the two largest blues publications, I'm one of the elders in the genre. It's a little whimsical.' Eagle took a circuitous path to AU, spending time at four or five other universities and a stint in Vienna, Austria, working for the United Nations, before landing at AU where he studied international business and helped start the rugby club team. After leaving Washington, he returned to Iowa where he earned a law degree from Drake University.
In the late '90s Eagle became convinced of the vast economic and informational potential of the Web. 'I really saw that the Internet was a great way to deliver the magazine-type message while avoiding the major costs of printing and postage,' he says.
Visionation began sending free e-zines on specialized topics to subscribers all over the world. Business was booming.
'We worked up to a time when we had 42 e-zines, everything from sports and music to cats, football, reptiles, comic books,' Eagle says. 'All with the idea that we could deliver information and entertainment and they would give us information about themselves. We could target advertisements to that niche of people.'Just three years later, however, the bottom fell out. During a period when many upstart, Internet-related companies went belly up, Visionation scaled back dramatically, continuing to publish only profitable e-zines on music and comic books. 'We all took other jobs and came in here at night,' Eagle recalls. 'I went and sold banking supplies. But we really believed that they were great publications and that [subscribers] enjoyed getting them and that they enjoyed the Internet format. There was one great day when I had to tell everybody that there's no more paychecks, and everyone came to work on Monday anyway. Along the way our blues publication kept growing.