A celeb who treats a nobody as a nobody is himself a nobody. On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 10:45 AM Kaleb Striplin via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
> Yep > > Sent from my iPhone > > > On Jul 5, 2020, at 10:26 AM, Greg Fiorentino via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > IMO it says a lot about the character of celebs to see how they treat > us "nobodies" they meet in everyday life. > > > > Greg > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of Dan > Penoff via Mercedes > > Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2020 5:08 PM > > To: Okie Benz > > Cc: Dan Penoff > > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Barry Manilow > > > > While it has been many years, in the summer in junior/senior years of > high school and later before I was in tech school I used to drive a semi > with a Landoll trailer carrying a 350kW generator set and cables to be used > by the various tours as they went around the Midwest. A lot of the venues > back in that time didn’t have adequate house power to run their whole show, > so they would run the sound off house power and used our generator for > lighting. > > > > I would often follow a given show for a week at a time, sometimes more, > as they toured around the Midwest. We also had a standing gig with Market > Square Area and the Clay Courts in Indianapolis for the same thing, so in > some cases I would be doing it during the rest of the year locally, too. > > > > I was first in, last out. For a typical 8:00 pm show I had to be there > no later than 8:00 am, sound check was usually around 2:00-3:00, then cool > my heels until the show started. A lot of times we wouldn’t have everything > struck at the prior venue until 2:00 - 3:00 am, which meant I might have to > high tail it a couple hundred miles to the next venue, like maybe > Louisville to Columbus or St. Louis, for example. Longer distances usually > meant a travel day in between. Lots of sleeping in the truck. > > > > Some of the artists I toured with: > > > > Rush > > Fleetwood Mac > > Don Henley > > Stevie Nicks > > Kiss > > Foreigner > > Phil Collins > > Def Leppard > > Dire Straits > > AC/DC > > Journey > > REO Speedwagon > > Pat Benatar > > ZZ Top > > Heart > > Toto > > Kenny Loggins > > Steve Winwood > > > > I’m sure there were others, but these are the ones I recall. All I can > say is that while it was fun, sort of, it made me realize what a crappy way > to make a living it was. I had to carry a firearm because I always got paid > in cash by the road manager before the end of the show, so I always had > large sums of cash on me until the morning when I could deposit it if I > could find the right bank where we were. I was not union, so at the union > (IATSE) halls I had to have a union member “assigned” to me that made all > the final connections and I pretty much just flipped the switch and made > sure all was well. Once that was done I was free to hit the buffet if there > was one for the crew. > > > > My recollections about artists are as such: > > > > Rush was the absolute best band to work for. They had a dedicated crew > that toured exclusively with them, some of them having been with the band > for some time. Food was excellent and they (Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson) > were always very nice and came by before the show to thank everyone. Molson > and cold shrimp were some of the regular things on the after show buffet, > and they always had a “to-go” kit of food and goodies for everyone on the > crew after things were broken down/struck. A good breakfast was out on the > morning of the show, too, with lots of fresh fruit and good things to eat. > > > > Don Henley’s entourage was the worst. That was one of those “avert your > eyes when the “artist” is moving through the wings and backstage.” A real > douche. No buffet or food, a pile of order-out pizza and cooler full of > generic soda was all they would put out, and it was rarely enough to feed > everyone. > > > > Keep in mind that food is always provided by the venue/promoter and > costs the act a minimal amount of money, if any, as it’s factored into the > cost of the show and spelled out in the rider in advance. That’s the > contract that says “no brown M&M’s.” So if a tour does a crappy job on food > for the crew, it’s on the tour, not the venue. > > > > Understand that as a crew member you rarely see the talent. If you do, > they’re moving through backstage from point A to point B with their > entourage around them, so you often can’t even see them if you tried. The > only ones I recall circulating backstage were Rush, ZZ Top and I think > Kenny Loggins. They would often hang around and chat a little bit after the > sound check. As I mentioned before, Rush would come around and thank > everyone before the show. > > > > I really don’t recall a lot of details, as it was 40 years ago, but > those are the ones that stand out. The rest were pretty decent because they > recognized the value of keeping the help happy. It was still a crappy gig, > but I got paid pretty well for the time, I think $200/day in cash. > > > > -D “Yeah, I’m with the band, baby” > > > >> On Jul 4, 2020, at 6:07 PM, Kaleb Striplin via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > >> > >> I just heard a Barry Manilow song and it reminded me of a story. A > friend of mine's wife has this part time gig where when shows come to town > they do the back stage stuff with costumes. Anyway she was working a Barry > Manilow concert and apparently if they saw him coming none of them were > allowed to look at him. They had to look down or a different direction. > What a jerk. > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________ > >> http://www.okiebenz.com > >> > >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >> > >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
