Casper Alexander — the Peoria-raised rapper, stage manager and promoter behind CHISongwriter — says 400,000 TikTok followers don't mean much at the door. He's spent 15 years booking, performing and building shows, and he's seen the gap between online clout and real ticket sales firsthand.

Casper stage-managed the Mosquitoes' set at this summer's Lincolnwood fest, and now he's on the other side of the mic. We get into the 319/309 Tour across central Iowa and Illinois, why booking in Peoria is harder than Chicago, what 10 years of 309Fest taught him about selling sponsors, why he went from AI skeptic to using it as a blueprint, how COVID pushed him into full-time freelance, Drake vs. Kendrick vs. the '90s — and a lightning round that settles toasted vs. untoasted Pop-Tarts.

🎯 KEY MOMENTS

0:00 Cold open — 400K followers vs. the door

1:57 CHISongwriter performance

7:17 Stage-managing Chicago's summer fest season

9:05 Riot Fest storms & the mud problem

11:40 Bongo's rain-boot rule

12:43 The 319/309 Tour

13:44 Iowa City vs. Peoria — Gabe's & hometown venues

16:38 Chicago vs. Peoria — town politics & cancel culture

18:36 400K followers vs. ticket sales

19:30 Rapper vs. band — who pays the players?

21:40 AI in songwriting — from skeptic to blueprint

24:11 Data centers, water & the power grid

26:38 309Fest — 10 years, 8 editions

28:28 Selling sponsors — pride & mental health

30:08 The three sponsorship tiers

32:43 Booking politics & security

33:29 "Why should you be on this show?"

35:24 COVID → full-time freelance

36:39 Cubby Bear story — East Coast vs. West Coast

37:30 Drake vs. Kendrick today

40:01 What's next — "What's for me will be for me"

41:53 Acting & modeling — Smashburger, All Steel

44:56 CHISongwriter.com & artist consulting

45:57 One song won't sell out the Garden

46:32 Lightning round — first concert, favorite movie, Pop-Tarts

50:14 Wrap

📍 Chicago - Peoria - Iowa City - 309Fest - CHISongwriter - Hip-Hop - Independent Artists - Stage Management - Festival Production - Riot Fest - Live Music

🎤 Guest Links — Casper Alexander

Website: https://www.chisongwriter.com/

X: https://x.com/CHISongwriter

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CHISongwriter

❤️ Support Hogpod — https://www.patreon.com/hogpod

🎙️ Hosted by Pete Jansons and Mike "Bongo" Orfanos (Bongo Mike).

📞 Booking — booking@hogpod.org

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