That's the spirit!

Do you remember that scene from Almost Famous, when William comes home after a tour, puts the Do Not Disturb sign -from who knows which hotel- on his door, walks towards his bed, his arms wide open like he just wants to hug his bed so much, struggling to take these final couple of steps to his bed, and finally crashes onto it, then falls asleep instantly?

That's exactly how I was after that last tour I told you about. You don't comprehend how tired and exhausted you actually are until you arrive home. And believe me, tour fatigue is like nothing else. You want to just sleep for days, and sometimes you really do.

So after sleeping for God knows how long, I went to Jenny's to learn about what happened. The production manager had written her a long mail about how he didn't want to be a part of this crew anymore, how dysfunctional the whole system was, how the tour turned into a nightmare as the Queen did not direct her questions or concerns about the whole production to one single person (himself), but instead, she held "meetings" aftershow, and crushed the whole team, one crew member at a time. When Jenny forwarded this email to the Queen (later I found out that this was never the plan, that he had sent this mail as a report to Jenny, and the Queen was not supposed to read it), she got even more angry and told Jenny all these were happening because she couldn't do her job and manage everything better. That's when Jenny decided to leave. But before she could take a step, the Queen went to LA as usual, so everything was put on hold once again.

In the middle of all this drama, I got a job offer from the promotion company that I had worked earlier as the venue backstage manager. They were promoting a national tour of a great popstar, who was Justin Timberlake of here (but 12 years older than JT).  They asked me to work as the tour coordinator. I would be in charge of all the transportation, accommodation, itineraries and backstage.
The artist crew consisted of 38 people!
They had assistants of assistants, stylists, hair dressers, and even one person in charge of printing the setlist! 5 people were doing the job that I did by myself at the Queens' gigs.
Everyone except the technical crew stayed at single rooms, they had crazy last-minute flight requests, their backstage rider included 1 bottle of Jack Daniel's per musician for each show, and they also requested the latest PS and also games in all the tour busses and in some of the hotel rooms.

I was also in charge of all the travel arrangements of the sponsor company team. This proved to be a lucrative task as I got to meet many people from upper management of this huge company. One of them was a very charismatic woman who left her job in the corporate world a few months after this tour, went backpacking through South America for 6 months, came back and became the manager of one of the biggest rock bands, and offered me a job just because she had seen how I worked at this tour. But I will tell about this later.

I designed a great backstage area for this tour. I had all the trailers perfectly prepared as per the rider, and created a large open-air area for all the teams to connect and have a good time before, during and after the show. The backstage looked like this:

As always, I kept comparing this Popstar to my Queen. Especially following our horrible tour, I was fascinated by the attitudes of every single person in this Popstar's crew. Starting with the artist himself, everyone was constantly having fun, and spreading joy. Yes, they had exaggerated requests, and the promotion company was not happy with my budget breakdowns at the end of each show, but I felt that they deserved absolutely the best, and I wanted to keep them happy. Despite having such a crowded crew, they had many problems about the planning and schedules, so I stepped in and actually worked as their tour manager, got closer to the crew, and started getting invited to their after parties in the hotel rooms. I joined them a few times, but most of the time I was busy doing the accounting in my hotel room while they were holding drunk dance contests.

In the middle of the tour, we had a problem with one of the hotels. The king suite the artist always stayed was not available, and they offered a different suite. I had notified the artist party about that, and they said they would try to fix this directly with the hotel. Then I found out that they couldn't.

When the artist arrived, I reminded his assistant that a different suite was prepared for him. It was clearly the first time the artist heard about it.

He was not happy with this, but he said "It's OK, I'm absolutely sure that if this could have been fixed, my manager would fix it. If he couldn't, no one could." I had never witnessed this kind of gratitude and trust by an artist towards his manager. 

I remember thinking "That's the spirit! That's how it should be!"

It was a wonderful tour, and another valuable experience for me. 

And when it was over, I was like this, one more time:

That intense, difficult, unforgettable, amazing tour

It was the summer of 2010, and there we were, on the first day of yet another long, intense tour, which we knew would be rewarding and consuming at the same time.

I was preparing the trailer that we used as the Queen's dressing room all through the tour when she arrived hours before the show. She showed me in great detail how to set up her make-up case, told me to place a small trash bin on her right hand side, and a clock on the left. 2 glasses in front of the mirror, one half filled with water, the other reserved for eye shadow brushes. Next to them, I had to get her ice-cold diet coke and ashtray ready. Q-tips, Vicks and Vocalzone would be on the other side of the table. She showed me how each brush, blusher, palette and foundation needed to be placed on a paper towel, told me to check that all the light bulbs were working before she came to the venue, and I had to have both the air conditioner and two small fans ready at all times. Although she normally leaves her hotel room just 45 minutes before the stage time, ready from tip to toe, in this tour she wanted to come to the venue earlier, drink coffee and chat with crew members, other artists, and guests, if any, and get ready in her trailer, while listening to the opening bands singing to a huge crowd, front lines kept by the Queen's fans as soon as the doors open every day.
She had a few sets of stage clothes, and she would let me know which one she was going to wear the night before, so that I could arrange the dry cleaning, or iron her clothes in the trailer myself.

She was amazing, charming and beautiful no matter how she looked, but it was that time of her life when she was the chubbiest, and she didn't feel great on the inside, as well. That's the only logical explanation of how she looked on the first night. She wore a wig which looked ingloriously fake and obvious, and a denim vest and short, baggy denim trousers. She came out of her room just 5 minutes before the show, looked me in the eye, and asked how she looked. I couldn't get myself to say that she wasn't looking great, and instead I just remained silent and made this:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I could see that she regretted her choice that moment,  but there was absolutely no time for a change. So she went on stage, feeling uncomfortable in her own skin. All the pictures taken on that show have been used hundreds of times on the press, and I'm sure she hated every time she saw them. Later she explained how she loved that I just couldn't lie, and decided to trust me even more.

During that tour, she was really not herself, and she was full of rage and anger with everyone. She came down from stage stairs frustrated every time, sat on that beautifully prepared table with candles, after show snacks, lots of drinks and champagne, and everyone would get a scold in that table, in front of everyone. Everyone, including the other artists and crews right in the next table heard about the incapabilities of our crew, and it happened almost every night. This issue became one of the industry's favorite gossips at the time.
She especially gave Jenny a hard time after every show whenever she joined us, asking about every little detail that went wrong, and requesting explanations for momentary mistakes like opening the spotlight a few seconds late during her speech, or inevitable bad jokes of nature, like the wind changing its direction right before the show, and generator smoke going directly to stage.
Needless to say, she was always so hard on her band as well. Sometimes she even didn't wait until the show was over, and gave that infamous furious looks to the band members whenever they played a wrong note on stage. Visual artists were already struggling to avoid showing her belly, jowl, or side arms on the giant screens, and now they also had to cut these angry looks to the band.

Working under such stress was not easy, believe me. That intense, electric air on stage and in general reflected on every other aspect, and every one of us started doing mistakes we wouldn't normally do. After I forgot to check the bulbs, and of course, one of them failed, she picked on me for hours, and kept talking about it even after the show. And what's more, I was also yelled at because I was upset and and it showed on my face.
I wasn't making all these a big deal, because I was also the one witnessing how she regretted everything she said at the end of the night, and burst into tears while trying to pack her suitcase just before we would leave for the hotel. She talked to me about how she couldn't focus on stage, thinking that she knew Jenny would be crying somewhere at that time because of something she said to her, calling her on stage in between the songs. She was upset that her latest album wasn't a big success, she thought her shows weren't as good as they used to be, the crowd wasn't huge enough for her, and she was blaming everyone else but herself for this, while knowing the absolute truth deep inside. In fact, she was worrying for nothing. The shows were great, the audience was fantastic, and she was, just like she has been for years, the biggest female singer of this country. She just needed to enjoy what she'd been living in.
Being that tight-lipped, discreet girl that I was, who was also terribly scared of saying something wrong, I couldn't say all these when she cried in the trailer when everyone else had left. I just said things like "Don't think like that, the show was amazing, I noticed the part you sang differently tonight, and it was magical, you gave me chills!" I guess that helped, too.

The worst part of that tour was not all those stressed after-show moments. The nightmare began when we started traveling to the southern part of the country, where the temperatures were crazy and we weren't used to the local food. Everyone in the crew started getting sick with heavy diarrhea, vomiting, and fainting due to fatigue. First a few stage hands had it. Then the managers, the band members, sponsors, promoter, and finally, the artists. At some point, even the paramedics touring with us were applying IV to themselves, and then we had to cancel a couple of shows. I tried to endure as long as I could, as I was usually the one arranging the ambulance, or IV sessions in the hotel rooms, which turned into infirmaries, but after a point, I was down with it as well.

After having a much-needed rest for a few days, the tour continued and we finally reached the final part, which was in beautiful, sunny cities with great beaches and a lot of partying.
Getting ready backstage, in her trailer had become the Queen's second favorite part of the day. She would arrive when the first opening band would sing that ballad we both loved a lot, which had a beautiful story, and she would be ready to start her make up when the rapper greeted the audience saying "I know most of you are here for the Queen, but I salut you, my rocker friends, let's have some fun!" I liked watching her giggle on the mirror, every time he did different versions of this sentence on stage.

By the end of this tour, I and the Queen had grown much, much closer together, and I had learnt hell of a lot. Jenny, on the other hand, had had enough, and after submitting the production manager's resignation letter to the Queen, she decided to leave, too.

Next: That's the spirit!

The Checklist

Festivals are huge here. There is particularly one touring festival sponsored by Coca Cola, which brings the top artists together every year, and tours the whole country. It is always perfectly planned. Hundreds of crew members of these artists/bands stay at the best hotels, fly with the best airways, there are two stages, one of which is being dismantled while the other is being built in the next city, and there's always top-notch production in every one of the 20 shows in 30 days.
The Queen was one of these top 3 artists in the summer of 2010, along with a great rapper (I have memorized all of his songs in this tour), and a young band, which was the Coldplay of here.

Jenny was pregnant with her second child, and she didn't join us in this tour in every leg. She appointed another colleague, who was originally a production manager, and unlike the annoying couple she had authorized on her behalf at another tour, this guy didn't bother me at all. Because this time, I had no doubts about my position, and he respected my experience and hard work.

We, as the Queen crew, had to be at our best for this tour. She had zero tolerance for any mistakes whatsoever. So I prepared the following checklist for this tour:

1. Inform the crew about the dates [ ]
2. Explore transportation options [ ]
3. Prepare the rooming list and send to promoter [ ]
4. Prepare the flight list and send to promoter [ ]
5. Prepare the tourbook including general info and daily itineraries, and email to the band & crew [ ]
7. Prepare a less detailed version, and send it to the artist [ ]
8. Buy necessary medications (first-aid kit, painkillers, Alka Seltzer!!, etc.) sufficient for the whole tour [ ]
9. Call the hotel and double-check the booking for all, and special requests for the Artist's room [ ]
10. List local transportation times, and send to the promoter [ ]
11. Do the online check-in for flights exactly 24 hours before the flight, get the front seats for economy [ ]
12. Register frequent flyer miles for everyone after completing the check-in [ ]
13. Get print-outs of backstage rider, rooming list, and local transportations [ ]
14. Give wake-up calls to the everyone in case of early flights [ ]
15. Print boarding passes, or go to the airport and get them from the kiosk [ ]
16. Distribute passcards, tourbooks and boarding passes at the airport [ ]
17. Get the driver info for airport-hotel transportation, call before boarding to double-check [ ]
18. Call the hotel 15 minutes before the arrival, and complete the check-in for everyone while they wait in the lobby or at breakfast [ ]
19. Remind transportation times to the first technical crew, let the second crew know in case of any delays [ ]
20. Give transportation print-outs to the drivers [ ]
21. Do the online check-in for the next morning's flight [ ]
22. Go to the venue with the second crew, and make sure the dressing rooms are being prepared[ ]
23. Make sure the band leaves the hotel on time for the soundcheck, and use the backstage rider to check if the dressing rooms are ready [ ]
24. Go to the entrance during soundcheck to meet the fans who came early, receive their gifts if any [ ]
25. Collect that night's invitees from everyone, and send to the promoter [ ]
26. Hold a security meeting, inform them about the meet&greet and general requirements [ ]
27. Have setlist print-outs [ ]
28. Be ready at the dressing rooms 30 minutes before the band&artist arrives, do the final checks [ ]
29. During the concert, always be in the eye-sight of the roadies, help them if they need or ask anything [ ]
30. Oversee the pyro operators (this later turned into "Do the pyros -laser, fire, CO2, confetti, comet- in 10 songs") [ ]
31. Call the hotel to inform them about the after-show soup arrangement, make sure they prepare a huge table for the whole crew [ ]
32. Check the backstage during the last song to make sure the dressing rooms are clean and ready, prepare the artist's after-show coffee and Alka Seltzer [ ]
33. Arrange meet&greet, pick the ones to come backstage [ ]
34. Inform everyone if there will be a soup service at the hotel [ ]
35. Arrange wake-up calls for all the rooms for the next morning [ ]
36. Inform the driver about next morning's airport departure times [ ]
37. Help the Artist pack all her suitcases before she goes to bed [ ]
38. Arrange the Artist's VIP car to pick her up at the airport [ ]
39. Oversee the hotel check-out (make sure everyone pays their extras) [ ]
40. Get and distribute the boarding passes at the airport [ ]
41. Call the Artist's VIP car on arrival [ ]

Oh I loved this checklist. I madly enjoyed doing everything written here.
There was a reason why each and every item was there. Most of them were things that were forgotten or ignored in the course of the day in the past, and caused serious problems.
After 3 years of experience, lots of fucking-up and learning from mistakes, I was now ready to work with all my heart, and enjoy every moment of that tour.
But things didn't turn out that way. I was fine, and did everything right, but it turned out to be a horrible tour for everyone.

Next: That intense, difficult, unforgettable, amazing tour 

Letting him go

So, the decision was made. We would let the vocalist go, as he wouldn't be able to handle that lifestyle soon - he wasn't really doing good anyway - and he had to focus on his health.

I try to find even a tiny sparkle of any compassion at all during that period, but unfortunately I can't find any. I now ask to myself, why didn't anyone talk about how that was exactly the time we had to support him, instead of giving up on him just because he was sick? Why didn't I tell anything? Did I even look at what was going on in this perspective? No.. Inexplicably, I thought I was just there to do what I was told, and tried to keep low profile. In the end, it was absolutely the band's choice, and I didn't really have a say in this. I trusted them more than myself, and didn't really question their decision.

I received an email from Jenny telling me to put the press release on our website. It read something like "We are very sorry to inform everyone that our dear vocalist is parting ways with us due to his newly diagnosed MS illness. Our upcoming festival show will be our last with him. We thank him and wish him a speedy recovery blah blah.."

Years later, I learnt that this was how the vocalist found out he was no longer with the band.
He was already confused, scared, and basically a mess after finding out that he had an incurable disease that may cause him lose all his physical abilities, including singing. He had just talked to the bass player on the phone about how this would affect the band, and they had to talk and make some decisions. A few days later, he saw this. Can you imagine what a crushing moment that must have been?

On the other hand, we, the cold-hearted metal band entourage, were thinking of who the new vocalist might be. Jenny was dreaming of holding auditions, and turning this into a great event, maybe kind of a series we could broadcast online?! (The band would never accept turning it into a TV show, otherwise that would be Jenny's ultimate best scenario, but YouTube was also good enough)
The news also took the local music media by storm, and everyone was suggesting names as the new vocalist. Music critics were writing about how the former vocalist was in fact one of a kind and almost irreplaceable. In heavy metal bars, singers of cover bands were telling their friends how much they would love to sing in that band, how they had been a fan for years. There were rumors that the band also liked one of those cover band singers a lot and they were thinking of him.
That was not true, the band had already found someone.

There was this great band in the scene almost a decade ago. They released 2 albums and all their songs were in English. They sounded so good that everyone thought it was an international band at first. They had a very loyal, very enthusiastic fanbase, and I was one of them. I went to almost all their concerts. I used to enjoy watching the singer singing Would? in the encore at the end of their shows,  the lights would be dimmed, and he would be lost in the song, smoking, his eyes closed... He also had a trip-hop side project, and whatever he sang, he turned it into something wonderful and magical.
That successful band had tried hard, recorded their second album in LA and shot a video there, they did everything they could, but they just couldn't make it, and the band split up. They became one of these cult bands, at the top of all "The most underrated bands..." lists.

In another meeting at the guitarist's video production company's office, the band told us who the new singer would be. Jenny's first reaction was "Who the hell is that?!" Mine was a silent, huge smile first, and then an excited "Oh my god, that's wonderful!!" But what mattered would be the fans' reaction.
Then we decided that upcoming huge festival show would be the former vocalist's last show, and the new one's first. The festival stage they would play was dedicated to Ronnie James Dio who was supposed to be the headliner of the festival, but we had lost him a few weeks earlier. And the band decided to cover some of his songs as a tribute in the second part of their set, and the new vocalist would sing.

The festival day was very emotional. The band had prepared a great video to be shown on huge led screens on stage with the visuals of former vocalist. He was on stage on his final show, singing flawlessly as always, but his illness had progressed already and he was having a hard time standing up. It was a sad performance, and a perfect way to say him good-bye, with 50 thousand people singing along with him, cheering "we-love-you!"  When the first half of the set was over, he announced the new vocalist, and came backstage trying to hold his tears.

The new vocalist gave rolls and rolls of huge papers to the roadie just before he was about to go on stage. He had written the lyrics of Heaven and Hell and Holy Diver. But even they didn't help, he went on stage, 50 thousand people cheered for him for the first time in his life, and he lost it. He could not sing, tried to hold the mic towards the crowd and all, he even pretended the mic was not working, but he just couldn't sing! The former vocalist was sitting next to me, we just looked at each other in despair.

The first reaction of the fans to the new vocalist was "Who the fuck is he?!" And that didn't change for years. Things were never the same for the band.

The former vocalist did just fine. He tried alternative medicine, meditation, and going to healers for this MS, and it worked. It has been more than 5 years now since his diagnose, and he didn't lose any of his abilities. He released his solo album, and played acoustic sets in small venues, packed with the band's former fans.
The band, on the other hand, had to say goodbye to big stages and huge festivals along with his former singer. They had to use a prompter in all of their concerts because this new singer had a good voice, but not a good memory. They lost most of their fans, and all the remaining ones asked was when the former vocalist would return.

Next: The Checklist

Back to the story

My last two posts were kind of a sneak-peak to what happens next, but I need to continue telling the story, picking up where I had left.

So, after the Alka Seltzer incident, which was in early 2010, we were busy working with the metal band for a while.

It had been 2 years since they released their live DVD, which became the second best selling concert DVD of all time in the country's music history (the first one was Queen's), and the logical next step would be releasing a new album after this successful come back, celebrating the band's 20th anniversary.
But things were not going great within the band. They were far from creating new stuff, let alone releasing a new record.
This wonderful, amazingly talented vocalist of the band, whose voice was always compared to that of Bruce Dickinson, who had a very friendly, warm, and beautiful soul had lately become the laziest person on earth. He did not show up to rehearsals, frequently fell off while walking, or needed to sit down behind amplifiers between songs on stage, drinking a lot, and he was just not really "there", both physically and mentally.

In this mindset, we were having a terrible summer season concert-wise. Like the problems within the band weren't enough, we frequently had to face with non-paying promoters that summer, which made everything worse.
Due to the recent success of open air festivals, all the promoters decided it would be a good idea to arrange 2-3 day long festivals with camping, big stages, 20 emerging bands with 2 headliners, hoping that it would be like winning the lottery for them. Some did pretty well and gathered around 15k people, but most were either cancelled or had to face a big loss, causing the promoter's bankruptcy. The local scene is full of such failure stories, in which the promoter sells his parent's house to pay his debts, and takes a 9 to 5 job at the end, or runs away and no one hears from him ever again.

Jenny booked the metal band for one of such festivals. She was somehow convinced that this one would be different. She had also started working with one of the up-and-coming young bands, and they were enjoying that next milestone in their career (-Work with a famous and professional manager when your 2nd album is as successful as the 1st one, - Check!), unaware of what a mess they had got into.
So I arranged everything related to these two bands for the festival, checked in them to their hotels, and went to the festival site with Jenny. It was a mess!
There were literally only 15-20 tents in the camping site, this huge festival area was 90% empty, and everyone backstage was arguing.
Backline company was complaining about the security not doing their job, stagehands were frustrated as there was no catering, or anyone in charge of the backstage, and food&drink stands were in a complete chaos as well. Jenny calmly looked at the situation, talked to everyone from the sound and lighting company, security, production team etc. to understand what the problem was, and announced she was holding a meeting in 30 minutes at the hotel. Someone from each of these teams, other artist managers, and the promoter attended.
It felt nice for everyone to get out of that crazy-tense backstage, gather around a table, have a coffee and calmly talk about what the problem was, and how they could solve it.
In fact, Jenny set all the mood, and didn't really give chance to anyone to speak. She already knew almost everyone in the room, and she started giving a great speech explaining how this festival in fact had to be cancelled long ago, but now it was too late and although not many, there were already fans who paid to listen to their favorite artist or band. She explained how everyone had to be more emphatetic to one another, how we all had the same goal of creating a good show, and a good festival. She also talked on the promoter's behalf, who was a mess, not because everything about the festival was falling apart, but because he had lost his dog a few hours ago because he had forgot him inside the car while trying to manage this crisis. But he was still there, telling everyone to please continue doing their job, that he would pay all he could, and promised to pay the remaining amount later. He was not crying after everything he was going through, he was numb.
It was Jenny who cried. She closed the meeting by crying about how her father had cancer, that anything could happen to any of us, and that we had to support each other. Everyone left the room telling Jenny and the promoter not to get upset, that they would put all their teams back into work, and that they would make this festival happen. After everyone left, Jenny wiped her eyes, burst out a laughter, winking me and asking how she did. I had goosebumps in that meeting, despite everything, I had witnessed her amazing problem-solving talent again, and it was very impressive.
That festival happened, the bands played to approximately 250 people, but no one (including the artists) got paid that day, or any other day for all that hard work.
The metal band had one of their worst concerts that day. The vocalist was obviously in pain, but it didn't stop him from drinking a bottle of gin on stage.

When his backaches became unbearable after we returned home, we went to hospital together for MRI, thinking that he had hernia, joking that they were now officially old. Things turned out to be much different than that.
It turns out, all those things were happening because he had MS (Multiple Sclerosis).
This disease has multiple forms and stages, but it basically gradually damages the nervous system's communication to the whole body, and causes those with MS to lose their ability to move or use their body parts. Thankfully, the vocalist's case was in early stages and controllable, but it still restricted him in many ways. Standing up on stage was one of the things he wouldn't be able to do soon.

As he didn't join the band meetings lately, in one of the meetings in Jenny's house, the band started talking about what to do seriously for the first time. They were at their prime, they didn't want to stop. The right thing to do was obvious. He had to go. We have this conversation on tape, but of course, I have never seen it. I don't need to, I have that evening as clearly as it was yesterday in my mind. While everyone was telling how they felt it was impossible to continue with him, and they had to find a new vocalist, the bass player turned to me and asked me what I thought they should do. I was shocked, I wasn't really expecting that question and now, everyone was looking at me. I was busy with observing and enjoying the moment, and I didn't think my opinion mattered. They said it did.
I said it was a no brainer. That everything was so clear, and that he had to go.
I regret it to this day.

Next: Letting him go

The domino effect

You remember the very beginning, how I first started working at concerts, right?

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 tour backstage manager of the Queen, the biggest female rock star of the country. Her new album was just released, we were touring extensively, the band and crew were at their best, bonding even closer as the years passed by. Everything was just perfect. Except her manager, Jenny.

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

Those were the days

It's been so long since I wrote my last post. Today, a very dear friend of mine reminded me of this blog.
As you know, I'm trying to keep my blog a secret, and I write anonymously. This friend is one of those very few people I trusted with opening up how my true self went through all of the things I tell here. So I shared this link with him.

I remember telling him about this blog the very first time. We had met through the Queen, and all the stories I tell here were very relevant to him, as he was the bass player of a very popular band.
We were out with friends one night, and after we talked about this blog and I sent him the link, he said he had so much to do and had to go home. He texted me his first reactions to every single post all night, telling how he couldn't stop reading.
People who are not shy about appreciating others are always those you'd want to be around, trust me.

We had met  two years ago at the annual party of a music magazine. All the music business people, and most of the artists were there.
My dear Queen was also invited, and we went there together in one of those nights were were out, partying. She was at a strange phase in her life. She had lost her mother 6 months ago, and following a deep grief, -all five stages of it- she had decided all that mattered in life was having a good time with your loved ones. She went through a complete transformation: she cut her hair very short, changed her mood significantly, and started going out almost every night, having fun and making people have hell of a good time. She always asked me to come, and I accepted gladly.
So started the days I partied the most in my life.
We had a deal which was never spoken: I was always having so much fun, but I avoided being very drunk on those nights. She always knew she could count on me.

He was on stage with his band that night, rocking out to some of their hits on their debut album. 24 years old, he was enjoying being the bass player and composer of all the songs of the band, which were right at the top of the charts, and this pop-rock band were the biggest sensation in the local scene at that time.
They had been on the cover of that music magazine several times that year. It was a typical, yet very inspiring success story:
They were from a relatively small town, released an EP and tried out breaking through the scene in the city, but it was a failure and they had decided to go back to their hometown; broke, defeated, and disappointed. On the day they were supposed to leave, a manager called them and said he believed in them, and he could arrange a major record label deal. He really did. My friend composed and wrote the lyrics to all the songs for the album, they worked with one of the best producers of the country, and their debut album was a massive success.
They started out playing at small clubs all around the country, couldn't believe the first time people sang along to their songs.
And now, they were the favorite band of so many fans, and also top sponsors, playing 25 big-production shows a month.

They came right to our table after they went off stage. They were long time fans of the queen, and they wanted to meet her. She was one of his main inspirations, and the sweet female singer of the band was no different. I can even tell she got excited the first time she met the Queen. We immediately clicked, and if someone saw us 1 hour later, they wouldn't believe that we had met just that night.
We had so much fun that night, and continued partying at the Queen's great house. We laughed, sang songs, and drank champagne until the sunrise. The Queen was making a toast, shouting: "Cheers to the band that made us excited again for the first time in a long, long time!". The singer was holding the queens' guitar right at that moment, and she started playing and singing one of the queen's classics.
The band had to go to another country in the morning, so the plan was to arrange their transportation right to the airport. I was on the phone with their tour manager, telling him not to worry, that they were drunk but I was there to make sure they left for the airport on time.
When I went back to the room after I hung up the phone, the plan had changed: The Queen also wanted to go to that show with the band.
So we did.
Following a typical evening I had left home to go to an event with the Queen, I had partied all night, not slept for 30 hours, was still drinking champagne in the plane, and going to another country to party more.

Oh I loved my life! :)

A lot happened since then.
We became very, very close friends with this band. Started going out together all the time. Most of those nights ended up at the Queen's house. We laughed and danced and drank a lot together. I witnessed countless amazing jam sessions during these spontaneously crowded parties, usually a rocker businessman would yell "let's go live!", and suddenly, all those wonderful people around me would start playing guitars or the piano, and singing all those songs that were soundtracks to my memories. I was always in awe of these valuable moments.
And sometimes, very profound conversations took place.
They had so much to talk about. Enjoying that newly earned success was one thing, but they had to face the shitty side of the industry. They were trying to figure out how to cope with all the negativity, and the Queen had gracefully overcome all those things 10 years ago, building a strong fan base, never giving in to industry impositions.
I watched how they listened to every valuable advice she gave, with sparks in their eyes.

All those days are in the past now. The Queen is in another phase in her life, and just like I am not a part of that phase, nor are the band.
I'm still close with them though, and we try to meet as often as we can. Every time, we remember those times, telling how much fun we had and what a strong figure she was in our lives, with a deep sigh.

A lot happened, and I need to tell every one of them. I just don't know where to start.

Next: The domino effect