05.27.12 Van Halen @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

So tonight I received an unexpected gift. Jeremy, Chris Botti's tour manager shot me an email to say they were here @ the MGM to check out Van Halen. Jeremy, Botti's tour manager, Tim, one of his bass players & Sergi, a tour liaison in the Ukraine all popped down to do a quick look-see of the load in. How fun that this time they're on my turf. Loved that. That was earlier in the day. Right now Van Halen is on stage and the trip are out there. I'm gonna pop over to say hi. We joke but there's a fine line between being a fan and a stalker. I like Botti's music. I don't know him, I don't know much about him. I just like his music. But Jeremy I like. He's quite nice in a Canadian sort of way. Tim is a jokester. I liked him a lot. Sergi was sweet too. Quiet. Then again I don't give others much opportunity to speak.

We bumped into Mick and they all chatted a while. Jeremy's been around a while so he knows a lot of the touring guys.

UNCHAINED

RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL

SHE'S THE WOMAN

ROMEO DELIGHT

TATTOO

EVERYONE WANTS SOME

SOMEBODY GET ME A DOCTOR

CHINA TOWN

HEAR ABOUT IT LATER

PRETTY WOMEN

DRUM SOLO

YOU REALLY GOT ME

TROUBLE WITH NEVER

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

I'LL WAIT

HOT FOR TEACHER

WOMAN IN LOVE

OUTTA LOVE AGAIN

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

ICE CREAM MAN

PANAMA

GUITAR SOLO

AIN'T TALKING ABOUT LOVE

JUMP

05.26.12 UFC 146 @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

UFC 146 at the Grand Garden

Tonight is UFC 146. Nothing remarkable about the day. Same old crap. Sponsors need info the promoter didn't communicate. So-and-so is unhappy with something. Joe Schmo needs a credential. Sally Sue needs a wristband, numbnuts is missing a box because they addressed it to the wrong place. Stuff so mundane that it's mind-numbing. But after the past 2 weeks, I'll take mundane. 

Burt Watson doing his thing

I get in late, around 11.00a. I had my guy Dave in at 9.00a to babysit the kiddies though so I wasn't worried about it. I've made no secret about the fact that I'm not a big fan of the sport of UFC. I appreciate the fighters as athletes and I like doing UFC shows at the Grand Garden because they're pretty simple but would I ever buy a ticket or purposefully go to a show I wasn't working on or going to meet people at, probably not. To me the best part about UFC is Burt Watson. I get to spend a bit of quality time with my dear friend.

Quiet before the storm

So the day rolls along and before you know it it's time for doors. Our production guru on the UFC/Concom side people have said resembles Justin Timberlake so that's what I call him. I look around for JT and my colleague Zippy tells me he's actually not there this time. JT's not here? What the… So we go ringside (or octagonside as the case may be) and we see Al, one of the owners of the production conglomerate Concom. He's a fun dude. The kind of guy you want to be around. Tres handsome, personable, successful, blah blah blah. I finally say to him, "Since JT's not here I don't even know who to ask for doors." He turns around and asks someone on headset. Truthfully, I could have done the same thing. I was just lazy and wanted to keep talking to with Zippy & Al.

Best seat in the house.

I get doors open around 2.45p and the fans trickle in. I head back to my office to work on budgets, staffing, CADs & other housekeeping things for a couple hours. Tomorrow we have Van Halen so this is the perfect opportunity to get a jump on things so I'm not scrambling to do it at 11.00p tonight while I'm trying to leave.

Crowd of 13,000+

At some point I realize I should head out to see some of the show, walk the floor, feel the energy of the event, check in with staff, spot check guests to see if they're having a good time, take some ops pics. Nothing was out of the ordinary or going wrong so I head back to my office to watch the fights on TV & do a little tweeting & FBing. I never get over the palpability of a crowd totally into a show, whether it's boxing, UFC, Buffett, ACMs or hockey. For a girl who doesn't like crowds, this is a funny occupation choice but somehow it works.

Before I gutted the thing

All's well with the event so I grab Trubes & we head up to Seablue for dinner. Bill tells me the special tonight is red snapper, in the water yesterday, flown in this morning. Ok, ok. I'll get it. It was delish but a bit fussy to eat. It's a whole fish so you have to debone it yourself. Not into fussy food. I'm fussy enough. But it was delish once I figured out where the bones were. I mention to Trubes, "Christ, I'm like a surgeon over here." She laughed. "I know, I'm watching you." I wouldn't order it again. I don't mind the eyeballs looking at me, I just don't like working for my food. 

Later I head over to Zippy's office. One of the fights I catch is so brutal that blood is literally squirting from a cut over this dude's nose onto the mat, like someone severed his carotid artery. I couldn't tell you what fight it was. Google or youtube it and you'll find it. The fighter looked like a neanderthal. So gross. But the crowd loved it. 

Main event fighter walk in

Several of the fights end up as first round knockouts. Leaves for lots of dead time in between fights which is good for the bars, bad for 'code blues' which is the code what we use over the radio for when someone pukes. I feel so bad for the EVS crew who has to deal with that. First round knockouts are also great for the venue, early out - and particularly for us tonight - this is critical. We have 7 hours to load out UFC because we have Van Halen loading in @ 6.00a. It never stops here.

Fans lining the fighter tunnel

The post fight presser takes place in the media center. I didn't pop my head in once. No desire. My gal Peggy has it covered. She's amazing. She puts up with a lot of shit and I give her all the credit in the world for being the strong-willed woman she is. She's one hell of a supervisor. I know she's got everything under control so I hang out chatting with my other supervisors going thru what went well and poorly that night. We had some scanning connectivity issues & some credential issues but that was about it. All and all, an excellent night. Bring on Eddie, Alex, Wolf & David...

Watch What Happens

I haven't posted in a while. Lazy writer, perhaps. Mostly busy with work and living life as one does. 

UFC 146 load in

This week we have UFC 146. Pretty much the same as every UFC fight we do on an operational level. Every time they're here though, they seem to have more and more people I don't recognize. I used to know everyone but a handful. Now I only recognize a handful and hardly know anyone. But it really doesn't matter much. Things still get done and we move on to the next show.

Last week we had the 2012 Billboard Music Awards. I'll try and do a post-date recap of that. It ended up not being as awful as I had imagined - even despite having to hang stage left with the fire inspector while Bieber did his rehearsals and continually bumping into him. It was actually a good event to work on overall. But more on that later.

Had dinner with my life-advisor and longtime friend Burt Watson last night at Seablue. I always learn a little more about myself when we have our dinners. He lays it on the line for me - no bullshit. "Amy, listen to me…" he says. He grilled me about the men in my life. I told him I don't speak to Counselor anymore, told him a little bit about Motorcycle-guy; but mostly he gave me guidance on my future, as he always does. "You gotta let it go, baby, and just let it happen. Be patient." I know Burt but patience is not my strongpoint. My dad's been telling me that since I was 4.

The Dolce Diet: Living Lean

We eventually got talking about my current lifestyle. Burt's been a picture of health for a long time but in the past year he started doing something a little different. He hooked up with Mike Dolce, author of "The Dolce Diet: Living Lean." Mike's an athlete himself, a performance coach to many UFC fighters and Burt's good friend. There are lots of health books & trainers out there but if Burt works with him & says I should too, I listen. So naturally Burt hooked me up with Mike as a favor to him. Mike gave me his book to read before we start any consultations so tonight after I get done tapping this post out, I'm gonna start it. 

I'm still being a good girl, walking 4+ miles about 4 times a week (last week only once though because of the crazy Billboard schedule), juicing when I have time (I smartened up and just bought a half-dozen bottles of Evolution juice for those days I can't do it myself), haven't had any alcohol since February 28, down 14lbs since March 1 and haven't eaten red meat or poultry since April 2. Not drinking is not hard. Not eating red meat is not fun. I literally crave steak. Motorcycle-guy is a big health nut too and he's helping to steer me in the right direction - moderation. Something I'm not particularly good at. But I'm trying. He's coming to Van Halen on Sunday to hang so I'll get to see his charming self again. It's fun to like someone again. I'm 40 and I still get butterflies in my stomach. He's got a big company bash next month. I wasn't sure when he invited me if he was asking me to go because he wants to see me or just because we are in the same industry and I'm with the Grand Garden Arena. Recent texts lead me to believe it's the former but I'm making sure Zippy & his wife are there in case it's the latter. I don't want to look like a total fool, after all. Motorcycle-guy has my ticket so unless I do something monumentally stupid (which isn't out of the realm of possibility) it should be a fun night regardless of why he wants me there. We'll just have to wait and Watch What Happens.

Now off to bed to read about how I'm going to reshape my future (literally) and rest up before the UFC 146 autograph session, fight club q&a and weigh in at the MGM Grand Garden Arena tomorrow. Truth be told I doubt I'll even see more than 10 minutes of any of it. I'll be working on Van Halen, a couple conventions & Pacquiao vs. Bradley. I'm not a micromanager. My team can run the events. They're the best in the business!

Second Nature

Nights like tonight remind me why I love this business… and it couldn't have come at a better time. 

The day started out like most this week. Typical fight goofiness. Who gets wristbands for the green room? Where do we put 'Joe Schmo' celebrity's security who doesn't have a ticket for the fight? So-and-so needs to be added to the credential list. We need to hold 20 more seats @ the weigh in for the casino. Can we add a banner here? Where's my FedEx shipment? Who gets billed for this? We need a space to do a breakfast meeting. Can you hook me up with parking? I need a bout sheet. Who put the ring cards in my office? I need this CAD and manifest asap. Can you do a map for 'show x'? I need directions to the arena for the VIP party. Can you email me the updated budget for 'convention x'? Blah blah blah. 

Around 4.00p I head up to the fight media center to go meet up with the VP of Public Affairs. Today we have a gaming and tourism tour set up. We do these once or twice a year to give the peeps who promote tourism in Vegas a behind the scenes, comprehensive look at what goes into a major event here at the MGM Grand & the MGM Grand Garden Arena. There are about 40 of them. I give them the schpeel on the fight ops. I've given the speech a million times before. I do walkthrus with clients all the time but rarely are the groups this large. We head to the arena so they can get a glimpse of the boxing ring. That's a big hit. I don't think the HBO lighting crew appreciated us too much because I busted in on them raising the light rig. But they got over it. I took a couple of group pics of them on the ring apron with their iPhones and we were outa there. I did screw up big time though. Floyd Mayweather was doing an interview for HBO along with some press in the stands. I was pretty loud (me? naaa…) when speaking to the group. I'm usually very good about being aware of my surroundings but this time I missed it. Major faux pas. Put it on my karma tab. It's 10 miles long.

We finish up the tour out back by the TV trucks with the senior VP of HBO production telling the group about HBO Boxing ops. He's one of my favorite people on earth. I just love this man - smart, tough, funny, charming & has impeccable taste in food, wine and travel. If I could have anyone's life, his would be high on my list. 

I head back to my office and it's 5.00p. I have no idea where my day went. It's funny. People ask me all the time, "So what do you do?" Recently I had to update my job description and it was such a ridiculous exercise. And I had to put percentages to it. There's no way to accurately come close to doing this unless I put "And other duties as necessary" as 90%. What do I do all day? Troubleshoot, maintain relationships & problem solve. Some days I'm better at it than others. 

Hopcraft & Zopfi

So why do I love this business? Because tonight I had dinner with my girls from HBO @ STK at the Cosmopolitan. Not only did I get to hang with women who are at the top of their game I also laughed my ass off! So fun and funny these gals are to be around. Swapping stories - love it. These relationships make all the idiotic people, stupid situations, douchebag clients, irritating exercises in futility worthwhile. My friend Steve Hopcraft is the executive chef @ STK but I didn't call him to let him know I was coming. I didn't want to bug him. After we order, low and behold over pops Hopcraft. He looked at me like, "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were here." He popped over a couple of times to check on us.

3 deserts, in addition to the cake!

One of the girl's had a birthday today so Chef hooked us up with ridiculous deserts and a cake with sparklers coming out the top. Actually they were more like road flares. They were HUGE! Dinner was a total success all the way around. Hopcraft entertained - as he does. Tonight I tweeted: I love this man. I miss this man. And it's true. I never had more fun than the time I spent @ Seablue when he was the chef there. We finished up what we could and chef asked if we wanted the cake. "Naa, just give it to your guys here." I am still on my health kick but even if I weren't, I'm not a sweets fan and the girls are all staying @ hotels so it worked out well. No cake went to waste. And Tyra the Director of Marketing was so sweet to pick up the champagne.

I've spent the greater part of the past 20 years building professional relationships. It's one of my strengths and luckily it's Second Nature to me; I don't have to work at it. If only I could carry that over into my love life.

My One And Only Love

Oh how I wish I could write about what really happened today. Instead I'm just going to post a link to one of my favorite songs, despite Law & Order SVU linking it to a psychopath on tonight's episode. Introducing John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman's My One And Only Love.

05.01.12 Mayweather vs. Cotto Arrivals @ MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV

The place to be this week!

Today we had the ceremonial arrivals of Canelo Alvarez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto & Floyd Mayweather in the lobby of the MGM Grand. I strolled up there around 1.30p. I've done enough of these to know they rarely start on time. Decent crowd although it looked like there were more people there than there really was in part due to the fact the barricaded area was enormous. Not only did we bike rack off the area around the ring but much like we do for the now standard UFC press conferences, it wrapped around the makeshift stage which held the "Throne" and the Corona girls. Every fight it gets more silly and gaudy. I'm not a fan at all. But what do I know. That's why I'm not in PR or marketing. 

Canelo Alvarez arrival

I managed to get there just as Canelo arrived. I really don't like crowds and have no desire to be around this hoopla so I stay just long enough to snap some ops pics (so when someone asks what the hell we did, I can show them). People seem to be having a good time. Lots of iPhones and Androids in the air trying to click a pic of the fighter. Good for them. Hope they get the souvenir photo they're looking for. Maybe it makes their trip a little more memorable.

The press congregates.

I don't have the patience to wait for the other fighters, least of all Mayweather who I know will be late. Little did I know HOW late. He was scheduled to be there shortly after 2.30p. At 3.30p, one of my supervisors came down to the arena and said he wasn't there yet. Rumor was he hadn't even left home yet. Who knows what the truth is and I really don't care. This is precisely why I didn't wait around. Been there, done that, not gonna waste my time again.

Decent crowd

I make it back to my office and at this point it's almost 2.00p. I am so behind with fight stuff, upcoming convention crap, getting back to the Drake & Billboard people. Meanwhile instead of doing any of that I was busy working on onsale CAD drawing and seating manifests. Like it or not I've been tasked with this stuff now. Shit runs downhill and when there's no one else around who can or is willing do it, I get stuck with it. This isn't a pity-party statement. It's a simple fact. 

The Throne

I finally get that stuff out of the way and go for a quick jaunt to stretch my legs. I head into an empty office where we have a digital scale to check to see how the Great American Juicer Experiment is progressing. In 2 months I'm down 12 pounds. Not bad. I can do better. On my way out of the arena admin offices go go smoke a Dunhill I tell my bosses assistant, "If anyone comes in here looking for me, tell them I'm not in the office." I've got too much shit to do and don't have time to sit and chit chat with people. So what happens? She goes to lunch (which she should, she's not chained to the office) and in walks 3 different people at 3 different times, each who stay and talk for 20 minutes. There goes an hour. I like these people but holy hell, I'm in no mood to play catchup, either with what's been going on in our lives or on the mounting count of the unread emails in my inbox. But I can't say that so I sit thru it. In the end I'm glad I got to talk to these people - their lives are important - much more so than any idiotic emails I need to respond to but sometimes a girl just wants to shut the door and pound out some work. 

Photogs waiting for the next fighter

Before I know it, it's almost 7.00p. Where the hell did the day go? I've barely made a dent in my emails and at this point I could care less. I'm only 1 person and last I checked my 24 hours last as long as everyone else's. I'm just trying to improve the quality of mine. Rodney is on his way over for TWR so I pack up and head up to Fiamma for some sushi with my BFF. All of this crap can wait until tomorrow.