University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 5, No. 4/1996 The Blue Hen label The Blue Hen label? That's right. Fans of West Coast music looking for the initial compact disc offering by Jim Campilongo and the 10-Gallon Cats will find it on the small but growing Blue Hen label. The San Francisco-based Blue Hen Records is the brainchild of Mark Crafts, Delaware '85. The company was formed in August 1995, after a series of serendipitous events. "I had been working in the computer publication industry for the last eight or nine years when I had a revelation that it was time to leave one company and move on to the next," Crafts says. "As I was going through the transition, I thought, 'I'm 30 years old. What is there that I want to do that I haven't done?' It came up, playing guitar." Several of Crafts' friends were talking lessons with Campilongo, whom he found to be "a heck of an instructor in addition to a playing artist." Crafts became aware that Campilongo was interested in gaining a recording contract with a major label, but needed a place to start. Blue Hen Records was born as Crafts decided to take a "total risk," going from guitar student to business manager with nothing in his background that prepared him for such a move. Since then, it has been "kind of a magical ride," he says. The CD, which Campilongo dedicated to Crafts' late brother, John, who died of a heart attack last summer, was completed in January and quickly gained a West Coast distributor, with stores from Chicago to Hawaii. Campilongo earned rave reviews in the April issue of Guitar Player, as well as in Audio magazine, Vintage Guitar and San Francisco's Bay Guardian. The CD began getting air play in the Bay area and throughout the Northwest. In early May, Crafts learned that the CD would be made available on the East Coast in Tower and Virgin record stores. "What started out as a fun project with Jim and the guys is becoming a national act," Crafts says. "It's been amazing. I never would have projected anything like this." He calls the recent events "a hobby gone wild, a moonlighting job that turned into a freight train." Once Crafts decided to start a record label, he said naming it came easy. "I told Jim that with a name like the 10-Gallon Cats, you've got to know about Delaware and the Fightin' Blue Hens." "I've always been proud of my time in Delaware, and I miss it," Crafts says. "Plus, I knew that if I called it Blue Hen Records, I could get East Coast distribution, and it happened." Crafts says that occasionally he will meet someone who can pinpoint the origin of the name, "but those people are few and far between." Delaware connections have been important in providing Crafts assistance in company start-up. The "accounting brains" behind Blue Hen Records is Don Ratledge, Delaware '85, a UD classmate and friend who is a senior partner with Sanderson, Thompson, Ratledge & Zimny certified public accountants in New Castle, Del. Another UD alumnus, Crafts' college roommate, Mike Santori, Delaware '85, who owns the Quality Concepts printing business in Pensauken, N.J., has assisted with Blue Hen Records promotional items. "Little Blue Hen Records is really a cross-country operation," Crafts says. Becoming an entrepreneur "has been a real catalyst for me," says Crafts, who majored in business with a focus on marketing and finance. "I realized how much fun it is to run your own business." As a result, he found a partner and is preparing to launch Think Twice, a computer graphics service bureau for large corporations. Crafts anticipates that Think Twice will be his primary source of income. "Of course," he adds, "Blue Hen Records might continue to exceed my expectations in fine fashion." The Campilongo CD is available through World's Records, 1-800-742-6663, or on-line through CD Now @cdnow.com. -Neil Thomas, Delaware '76