Today we’d like to introduce you to Teddy Eisenberg.
Hi Teddy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My animating passion for music began in childhood, rooted in a deep love fostered by my family. My grandfather, Rabbi Frederick Eisenberg, developed a reputation as one of premiere concert bootleggers in the United States Air Force while serving as a chaplain. His hundreds of single microphone recordings of Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others attracted the admiration of many—including Columbia Records, who featured his recording of the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Out of Nowhere” on 1954’s ‘Jazz Goes To College’—and ire of jazz clubs from Biloxi to Chicago. Himself hosting a radio show entitled ‘Think In,’ his expansive record collection and stereo setup provided an indispensable early education for me that continues to serve as continued inspiration in my work. This education was then furthered by my father, Rabbi Matthew Eisenberg, who introduced me to innumerable classic rock and soul albums, ranging from the work of James Brown to Spirit’s ‘Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus,’ which kickstarted an abiding love for psychedelic music that persists to this day.
While attending Case Western Reserve University, I immediately began to work at WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland as a DJ, seduced by the station’s freeform format and vinyl collection. I’ve been a DJ there ever since, serving on the station’s executive board as recruitment director, public relations director, and business manager over the course of my undergraduate career and booking its annual Studio-A-Rama concert festival. While at Case, I also began writing for the university’s student newspaper, The Observer, assembling diverse weekly playlists and reviewing albums in what would serve to lay the groundwork for my current blog and radio show The Eisenberg Review.
In 2016, inspired by my work at The City Club of Cleveland, I co-founded the nonprofit Sixth City Sounds with my now-wife, pop artist Chayla Hope, and Jeanette Sangston. Dedicated to amplifying Cleveland’s music community as a regional economic asset, the organization fostered B2B opportunities with its CLE Music Shelf retail program, hosted monthly networking events, and put together pop-up concerts with Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority over its three years of operation. During this time, I also began managing Chayla’s band at the time, Seafair, raising the group’s regional profile with bookings at festivals Brite Winter and InCuya.
While managing Seafair, I met the team of engineers behind the restoration of Suma Recording Studio, which I managed from 2019 to 2021 following the band’s dissolution. Operational again in 2021 after extensive renovation, Suma’s legacy dates back to the storied days of Cleveland Recording Company, which included hit records from Grand Funk Railroad and Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.” Since 1977, the studio has hosted artists ranging from The Black Keys, James Gang, Michael Stanley Band, Pere Ubu, and most recently, Chayla Hope, whose solo debut, ‘Damn, Feelings,’ was recorded there and released in 2022.
Since leaving Suma, I have worked with entertainment and media company Jestertainment to build its label infrastructure, manage its musician roster, and produce the web series Happy Hour Sessions. In 2023, I started my own production company, Eisenberg Productions, to continue to help great music find its audience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Anything real takes time and requires relentless pursuit. Creative work is particularly difficult because measures of progress aren’t always tangible and differ for everyone. In every collaboration, creative visions have to mesh and work in service of the best ideas without letting individual egos dominate, which is oftentimes a difficult balance to strike. When it works, that’s when the real magic happens.
Over the years, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that you’re not always in control of the speed of things. All that you can do is work with passion and integrity in a way that doesn’t burn you out, and you meet the universe where it comes to you. You always lose when you are consistently trying to force everything into a shape that makes sense to you.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Eisenberg Productions?
Eisenberg Productions is a company that provides artist management, music curation, and promotional services to a diverse roster of clients that currently include Americana folk outfit American Darling, pop artist Chayla Hope, music sync company Other Animal, mix engineer Jim Stewart and alternative rock band The Sublets.
The most gratifying aspect of working as a studio manager was scouting exciting new projects to bring in and record. Once the project was finished, however, I found myself continuing to think of how to best market it and reach a receptive audience. I feel that my purpose in life it to help connect people with music that they’ll love. This is core to my services as a vinyl DJ and the work that I do to promote a better elevated and informed listening audience on my blog and radio show The Eisenberg Review. Life is always better with the right soundtrack, and it is a tremendous honor to help steward the creative visions of the artists that I work with and connect fans with new music.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Cleveland is a city full of gumption and creative individuals who will stop at nothing to carve out a lane for themselves. That, coupled with our relatively central geography, competitive cost of living, and tremendous cultural amenities, make Cleveland a beautiful and inspiring place to live.
Like much of the Midwest, however, Cleveland has experienced a profound demographic and economic loss that has seeped into our cultural identity and bred an internal cynicism and fear that often prevent us from envisioning a different future for ourselves. We feel unsafe and insecure, acting as if we first have to secure our slice of the pie instead of focusing on how we can bake a bigger pie together. That feeling of threat and “it’s us against the world” mentality makes us less open to embracing the wisdom of the new and different, and, ultimately, I think it prevents us from fully embracing those trying and truly flourishing in our city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.teddyeisenberg.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teddyeisenberg/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eisenbergproductions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teddyeisenberg/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/teddyeisenberg
Image Credits
Lindsey Poyar
Chayla Hope
