As I had mentioned, a close friend of mine was the promoter of a huge heavy metal event in 2004, and when I had asked him if he needed any help, he said I could help in hospitality and catering if I wanted to. It was not even a proper offer, and my question was in fact just out of courtesy, anyway.
Just a simple conversation while drinking with friends at a bar changed the direction of my life, a 21 year-old collage girl who just loved music. How amazing is that?
Now fast forward 7 years, to 2011.
I was working as the
She had many characteristics. Being one of the most well-known "successful" managers in the local music industry, having exceptional skills and a refined taste in stage production design, talking too much and too loudly and mostly about herself, and being absolutely, utterly inaccessible whenever she wanted were some of those things that made her who she was.
Everyone in the crew had a bitter story with her, and the one with the most stories was the Queen.
She wanted to stop working with her, but she was that experienced, popular, familiar manager, and wasn't easy to replace. Just as this issue was on the hold, but everyone was already talking about how she had to go, and we would just do that one last concert with Jenny, and then things would change.. a horrible thing happened.
The Queen's mother suddenly died.
We all learnt about it during the soundcheck of that particular concert. I was the one standing in front of her door at the hotel, with a room card in my hand to open the door and hug her the moment I got the cue that she had found out.
It was horrible. For my Queen, "first the heartbeat stopped, then the time".
For us, beside sharing her pain and trying to be there for her, it meant cancellation of many shows, and another 3 months of ambiguity about the Jenny situation.
But the life went on.
That friend of mine, the promoter who was my first boss, was now the promoter of another very big rock concert. He had booked a world-famous band of 30 years, whose songs we all know and love. He wanted the Queen as the only opening act for this concert. That would be convenient as the bass player of that band was a close friend of hers. They had met in Los Angeles, on one of those summers she moved to LA to relax, write new songs, go to big concerts and explore the local scene and the night life. And they kept in touch since.
So the promoter called Jenny, but again, she was impossible to reach. So after too many ignored phone calls, texts, and emails, he asked me, if she would do it. He was dreaming of getting them to perform a song together on stage, and bringing her together with the band in a studio for rehearsals. And he was talking on and on about those spectacular, world-wide PR opportunities it would create. (Ok I admit, we were at a bar again :))
Oh I was so excited! It would be perfect. This collaboration would mean so much..
I called Jenny, she didn't reply as usual, so I wrote directly to Queen, informing her about the offer.
She said she would love to, and that she would call me about the details.
This collaboration never happened.
But Queen's call the next day was the toppler of the first domino stone. Then, the others kept falling one by one, paving the way, and leading me to where I am now.
The last stone fell a few hours ago. And I left the Queen today.
Next: Back to the story
