Hi everyone. Hope this blog finds you well. I haven’t blogged in a long time. I’ve been working hard and finishing up summer semester at American River College. I have two more classes to go in the fall and then graduate with my AA in Business. I have led a fantastic life, but there is only one thing in my lifetime I regretted not doing, and that was to get some sort of college degree. I’ve spent the last 3 years working on this degree, while also working full time. It isn’t easy going to school and working and raising a family, but it can be done.
As you all know, we had some issues with our streaming last week that left me very stressed out. We tried a new bandwidth company, and the guy really sold me a bill of goods. He fabricated a bogus company and guaranteed me good bandwidth, and I paid for 6 months worth of advance bandwidth. But after five days of horrible streaming (I know all you experienced how choppy it was.), I asked for a refund, which he refused. I am now out a lot of much needed cash, and will have to sue him to get my money back. I don’t understand people these days. There seems to be less and less integrity in business. I hope this is not a glimpse of the business world to come. We need to get back to a “my word is my bond” mentality and conduct business with grace and integrity.
I thought I’d start off this week with the beginning of my music industry story. I’ve led a very colorful life and have many interesting music related stories to share. I started in the music business when I was 18 years old, working for a management company in Hollywood. They managed bands like Angel (Greg Guiffria) and Quiet Riot in the U.K. From there I went over to ABC Records and worked as an assistant in the promotion department.
ABC Records was the coolest place to work, especially in the promotion department. Many of the promotional staff went on to become some of the most influential record industry executives of the 80’s, including Johnny Barbis, who co-manages and is a lifetime friend to Elton John. It was hilarious that around 10:00 or so, people would gravitate to the back parking lot, to smoke the cigarettes of their choosing. (hand rolled or store bought). I worked for a guy, Marvin Dean, who went on to be an indie promoter, as did I. The atmosphere at ABC Records was unbelievably laid back, and nobody was tripping on anyone else. It was all about the music, and at that time, we were breaking artists such as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and on the RnB front, Rufus and Chaka Kahn were emerging. Also, while I was working at ABC Records, we were breaking Poco and Steely Dan’s “FM” was released. I was already a Steely Dan fan, but when “Aja” hit the airwaves, Steely Dan was elevated from chic cool to mass appeal.
I lived with my now husband in a little back house in Hollywood. The living room was like a shack tacked on to the back of the house. The floor was literally just carpeting over the cement slab. It was all wood and when we finally moved out, we did some wall repairs and found out much to my horror, that we had been sharing the house with way too many cockroaches.
The bathroom, which was off the one bedroom, was exceptionally “different.” It was painted a kind of forest green and featured a hidden toilet paper dispenser that popped out of the wall. The rest of the place consisted of a little breakfast nook and a long kitchen, which I rarely was in because I didn’t cook. My husband ended up adopting the stage name of JohnE Sandwich, because we lived on sandwiches for years. We sure could conjure up a mean sandwich!
We adopted a little puppy named Nektar. (spelled and named after the English band, Nektar). This 1970’s band was one of our favorites at the time. They released a sensational album called, “Remember The Future,” a conceptual album about a blind boy who communicates with an extraterrestrial being. I’m going to have to find the album in my collection and try to convert it to mp3 so that I can turn our classic rock fans onto this truly unforgettable classic rock gem. Getting back to the dog, he was part spaniel, part retriever and he was smart as a whip! We taught Nektar to close doors on voice command, and he was a frisbee champ. Nektar went everywhere with us.
We lived in that little place for a few years. The rent was $350 per month. We were starting out our life together and in music. We didn’t have a pot to pee in, but were very happy. Boy those were the days!!
Here is a picture of that little back house. You can see all the wood and the bass bow hanging on the wall next to me and my puppy, Nektar. I am sitting on steps that led up to the bedroom. Of course that is a king sized waterbed!
