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.

You Are Not Alone

Tomorrow is the official start of fight week. Mayweather vs. Cotto. Tuesday we start with the media circus also known as the arrivals. Because the name of the fight is Ring Kings, apparently, there's going to be a throne in the lobby of the MGM Grand. Great. What a treat.

Normally I love fight weeks. I know all the players, I get to have lots of fun dinners & convos with my pals in the industry. I'm a schmoozing machine. But this time I'm really not looking forward to it. I am going to dinner with my friend Cindy from HBO @ STK on Thursday. Now THAT I am looking forward to. There aren't many females I like working with and even fewer I call friends in this business. Too much drama and idiocy with many of them. But she's one of the best. We're like sisters from another mother. She handles all the big parties and celebs for HBO. Much like me people don't understand that while we work on big events, our jobs aren't glamourous - we don't hang out with George Clooney (well, she might) and we don't get paid big bucks (well, she prob does). Shit, I should go work for HBO. (Note to self, talk to Cindy about this.)

For this fight we're doing 2 press conferences, because one just isn't exciting enough. Wednesday @ Hollywood Theatre is the presser for Mayweather & Cotto and Canelo & Mosley and Thursday they'll do the rest of the undercard. Friday is the weigh in @ the MGM Grand Garden Arena. And Saturday is the fight. Hopefully by Wednesday my attitude picks up. Fight weeks should be fun, not a pain in the ass. People coming to me for help should be flattering, not irritating. Problem solving should be satisfying, not torturous. Staff who just want someone to talk to should be my opportunity for generosity, not a moment to wish for a Steinway to drop on me or them (whichever is more convenient for God). All this no-drinking-no-red-meat-daily-exercise-crap has made me more bitter, less fulfilled and increasingly introverted. Great. So I'll live to be 100 years old, but alone because I've alienated myself. Tremendous job Amy. Bravo. Well done. But You Are Not Alone yet, so hang in there. There's light at the end of the tunnel you're in. Just be patient...

04.21.12 Eagles @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

We have doors

Today - the Eagles. People have joked that they are the MGM Grand Garden Arena house band. We've had them 3 times in under 6 months and will add another before year's end. I wish they were our house band. I could do this show once a week. The entire production team is pretty laid back. The head of their security for this leg, Gio, is one of my faves. We see him at least once a year, 2 if I'm lucky. Last time he was with Aerosmith I think. 

Although I was happy to be doing this show I was not happy about being there at 8.00a. My guy who normally supervises the early shift flew the coop to Italy for a little vaca. He's my savior so I'm thrilled he got out of dodge for a while. But working these 16+ hours days suck. It's not so much the length but the boredom in between the drama. If I were busy the entire time it wouldn't be so bad but there's nothing worse than being bored at work. Yeah, there were about 50 things I could have been doing to curb my boredom but that early on a Saturday morning, who the hell wants to be at work. People think this job is so cool, so glamorous, so fulfilling. That's a bunch of crap. What makes it tolerable are the people… well my small, tight knit group anyhow.

Where's my wardrobe?

As the afternoon dragged on I fuddled with my new BlackBerry. I used to have a BlackBerry with Netel. Remember those? Of course not. No one in the world still has them. I hated mine because unlike the phone you don't have the option to ignore a 'chirp' unless you turn off the network altogether which means you can't receive calls, texts or emails. So annoying to awake to that sound. The worst was when someone would 'accidentally' chirp me. I got the Bold with the touch screen. It's always fun to get a new toy. I am toying with getting an iPhone but am too cheap to pay for the monthly service. Work pays for my CrackBerry so what's the point in paying for another one. When the 5 comes out I might suck it up and get one though. We'll see. So where was I… the Eagles.

Crowd loves them!

Sometime around 1-ish I head to tour catering with the boys. I just sit down with my plate of greens when my phone goes off. It's Gio reminding me of the 1.00p meeting. Oops. Kinda forgot about that. Luckily he was cool and said just pop over when I was done eating. So I mowed down my salad, grabbed Mary who works with me in the arena and we head to studio 4.

Gio is one of the coolest guys I come across. He's the rare breed of tour security who is great at his job, calm, cool, friendly yet stern but most of all respectful towards my entire staff. I can't tell you how many assholes are out there. The best phrase (or variation thereof) is, "…this is your house. I'm just a visitor." We go thru the mechanics of the show. No pyro, no intermission, camera policy has relaxed, blah, blah, blah. The Eagles show isn't tres complique. No theatrics. Just 4 guys on a stage. Pure music. We go over the credential board & the access points. There are a couple of VIP hospitality parties: 1 for fans who paid for the privilege, 1 for the band guests and 1 for the MGM. Nothing out of the ordinary. Best part of the meeting - Gio tells us the band is doing a runner. That means no lingering after the show. The band goes directly from the stage to their vehicles to the jet. And I mean directly. With the police escort it takes all of 4 minutes to go from the stage to the FBO across the street. Now THAT'S a runner.

Joe Walsh working the crowd

From 1.30p - 3.30p not much going on. I got people in place for a sound check, tweeted some random pics, smoked a few Dunhills and gabbed with Zippy about life. Before I knew it 4.30p was here and it was time to brief my supervisory team. I've said it 100x and I'll say it again. My 15 men & women are the best in the business - and they take better care of me than I deserve. I always feel like a load's been lifted when they arrive on site. I know everything will be ok and I can relax. There's nothing like the feeling of complete confidence in your team. Nothing.

How'd you like to be this guy!

5.30p hits and I head out to the 150 ushers checking in for the show. I gave out some employee recognition awards and tell them they've all gotten a raise. Not a huge one but hey, a raise is a raise. It's the 2nd one they've gotten under me - I'm pretty happy about that.

6.25p and I grab Zippy to get doors open. Actually at about 6.00p Max calls me and says that production has already given the go-ahead for doors whenever we're ready. That hardly ever happens. Ever. So I get everyone in place and in my loud-mouth voice, "Everybody UP! Here we go. Have a great night!"

Once doors are open, the show is in the hands of my team. I don't micro-manage, I don't interfere when I don't need to, I fully trust them. I'm always available to them if they need me but they rarely do. I let people actually do their job. That's why I hired them. If I wanted to do it for them, I'd change my occupation. So I head back to my office to true-up my estimate for settlement before going upstairs for dinner.

Eagles don't fly, they roll!

As soon as the band hits the stage I head to Seablue and am looking forward to a quiet dinner alone. I'm not in a social mood and just want to watch whatever dumb Stanley Cup Playoff game Bill has on the screen. Shortly after I sit down Sebastian comes in and asks to join me. He's the Director of Restaurants or something. To be honest, I don't remember his title. He's a good guy and despite my desperate need to be alone, I oblige. What am I gonna say, "No, go away." It ended up being really fun. We laughed for a good 1/2 hour straight. He's French so when he tells stories in his accent it's so hilarious. In the end I'm glad we had dinner together. Unexpected surprise.

Where's your seat? Front row?

Around 9.00p I head back to the arena to check on the show. At this point I've seen zero of the concert, and that doesn't bother me one bit. I saw them twice back in the latter part of last year and we'll have them back in November of this year. But I figure I should Tweet a couple of pics for the Grand Garden Arena feed so I head to the concourse and grab some shots. I don't have the patience to sit thru a whole song so I head backstage to chew the fat with the guys. Another favorite site: the artist cars lined up. Watching their taillights drive away makes me so happy!

Crowd heading out

I head back to my office and decide to go watch the last song from the vommy. I walk thru the tunnel and I see house lights up. The show is over. Even better! Everyone is milling out like civilized adults. I wander onto the floor to say hi to some guests and ask if they had a good time. A resounding yes. The chair racks move in as do the cleaning crews. My favorite part of the night. The End. I wrap up with my team and my 1.00a I'm home. Ahhh.

Thanks for a great show Glenn, Joe, Don & Timothy. We'll see you again November 17th - if I'm still around...

04.02.12 Lionel Richie and Friends @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

View from the tip of the stage

Tonight is ACM Presents Lionel Richie and Friends @ the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Funny that I got more ticket requests for this than the ACM Awards show. I got in around 9.10a which for me is a miracle. I didn't have my guy Dave to come in early to babysit the kids and because I don't have an assistant, coordinator or any backup, it's just me so I hauled my ass out of bed and made it in. 

The day was remarkably quiet. Steve popped into my office for some housekeeping business on security deployment. He and Richie along with George head up the security for the ACMs. They're great guys. They totally 'get it' and aren't assholes. Calling some of the people we work with on shows assholes is an understatement so when you get good guys, you appreciate them even more. They fit right in with the entire ACM group. It's part of why I love this show so much.

Lionel's special seating

Once I made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be I headed back to my office to catch up on emails, budgets and schedules for upcoming shows. Although I loathe being in so early (especially knowing how late I'll be there) it does give me some undisturbed quiet time to work on stuff. Even though it's Monday it doesn't feel like it. My days are all screwed up having worked all weekend. 

My sups start trickling in around 2ish. They are totally self sufficient so other than stopping in to say hi and check on me (read: my mood) I don't see or hear too much from them. I'm actually in much better spirits today. Granted, it didn't take much but at least it's progress. 

Around 5.30p I'm sitting in Zippy's office, bored out of my mind. We're watching them rehearse Brick House for the show tonight on his TV. 5.45p rolls around and they're still on stage rehearsing. We're supposed to open doors @ 6.00p. Great. No biggie though. We can get the production tables, monitors, printers, trash, cables & coolers out of the way pretty quickly to reset chairs. 

Rehearsing Truly

All seems to be going well until the box office rep comes down to check on seating. Before every show they come down to count the rows and seats to be sure they're correct before doors. Every show is different and if we're off by a chair or a row, it can cause major problems after we open doors. Imagine trying to fix seating issues when people are already sitting in seats or trying to add rows or chairs with people around. Not pretty. So we try and catch it before doors. 

Resetting chairs

Good thing we did check because we were off by 4 rows in the front section. Major. It's a long story but we had fixed it with the Academy for the awards show the night before but no one caught it for the Lionel Richie show tonight. Luckily we had built a couple of extra rows in back so we just kind of shifted everything back. Not physically. We took 2 rows off the front of the side sections and relettered the rows so they matched up, did a little reconfiguring to the section we had the original problem in and voila. Problem solved. Unfortunately by now it's 6.30p and our line to get in is backed up pretty far. But our excellent ticket scanning staff did a stellar job getting everyone in. 

Entertainment outlets doing 1-on-1s

At 7.25p I meet the production manager down at the front of the stage. "Looks good" he says. I'm so afraid he's gonna tell me the producer is going to do the 'voice of god' asking people to move to open seats to dress the house for TV. This is nothing short of a nightmare for the venue. What happens is people make a mad dash for open seats and when people who actually have tickets for those seats show up, it's a mess. It's one big ripple effect. The production couldn't give a fuck, nor should they I suppose. All they care about is that the house looks good for TV. I get it. Me, well I get to deal with all the complaints, threats & grumblings from guests about their experience at the MGM. The venue has zero control over this and people don't understand this, nor do they care, nor should they. I'd be furious if I went to my seat that I paid for and someone else was sitting in it who refused to move. It's a part of my job I hate because I agree with the people and wish I could change their experience but there isn't anything I can do but listen to them & try to be understanding. 

Once again I didn't see any part of the show. Not a single bit, hence no show pics. I didn't really care to. Hell, it's going to be on tv next week on the 13th anyhow so if I really want to, I'll catch it then. Instead I spent some time with a guy I haven't seen or talked to in quite a while. Enter Motorcycle-guy...

04.01.12 Academy of Country Music Awards @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

ACMs

Tonight we had the 47th Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. This is by far my favorite awards show that we do. It's not the actual show; I don't care for country music. It's the people. I've said it many times: I absolutely adore them. This year though I took a step back. I'm not gaga over M anymore, I'm bored to death of my job, I'm cranky as hell and don't really feel like being around people. Yeah, nice portrait, I know. So this year I asked my guys to just run the show. And they did. Not sure what's going on with me but I thought it best to stay away from as many people as I could given my disposition. 

Seat cards for rehearsals

I kept quiet from twitter on this show. A couple days earlier I tweeted a pic of the seat cards. About an hour later I get an email from the Academy asking to coordinate tweets with them because they want to be the 1st to put out any images. I get it. It's their show. So I got out of the tweeting business - at least for the show. I still took pics but only posted them to my personal FB page and saved them for the arena archive so when someone asks, "Hey, anyone remember what we did for barricades on the red carpet for ACMs in 2012?" we can look back. 

Great set!

My day was going pretty well until the programs. The dreaded programs. The ACMs give out this 3 pound program book to all attendees. It's like the fucking Restoration Hardware anthology that comes out yearly. There are 5 pallets of them. About 20 per box. Each box weighs about 50 pounds. It's my biggest pet peeve of this show. I hate the distribution, the set up, the concept. Put the goddamn thing on a CD or a swanky thumb drive and be done with it. So as usual I end up on the floor, dragging out 50# boxes from under the tables to refresh the ones already out, Leatherman in hand ready to slit my throat, or rather slice the tape to open the box bottoms, sweating and on my knees - and not in a sexy way. I fucking hate those things more than I hate people who talk in elevators. Next year I'm lining every single wall of the upper lobby with tables. And every single program will be preset on a table ahead of time so that no one will have to go thru what my staff and I did. Yeah, only took me 6 years to figure this out.

Remnants from the cake

The show went off fine. I had the truck show feed on my TV in my office but didn't really watch it. It was more so I could see where we were in the program. Sometime after doors I went with Trubes to Seablue to grab a bite to eat when my radio goes off. For Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup they did a gag to kind of reproduce a part of his video. So we had to clear 3 ADA sections. That was the plan from the beginning with the show producer. At some point during a run thru someone else told my guys we didn't need to clear them. It's kind of a big deal to ask 30 people that they have to leave their seats for part of the show so they didn't want to do it if we didn't have to. In the end I made it clear, "Look, I don't care who said we don't need to clear them. I'm telling you we do." I'm not normally that stern with my guys but I was tired of people getting involved with a decision that had been made days earlier. A plan was in place. Don't fuck with it. In the end it went well. I watched the gag from the floor and it looked great. Apparently there was a wedding that took place. I missed that too. I only knew about it because my friend the fire marshal showed up during rehearsals saying he had to sign off on the candles on a cake. Huh? I guess I should have read the show run a little more carefully. I've got the show on DVR too but haven't managed to watch it yet. Doubt I actually will. 

1st to the stage @ ASJ

Around 6.45ish I head over to the Marquee Ballroom. While the awards show is going on over at the Grand Garden we have to get ready for 7.30p doors to the All Star Jam. This is one of the most popular shows we do because so many high level country artists end up performing with each other in such an intimate setting. Everyone's in place, house band starts so we open doors. Only glitch was the ticket scanners didn't work. Our IT department disabled the wireless connection for some reason. We just faked it and checked tickets. 10 years ago no one had scanners so sometimes you gotta just go old school to get thru the night. 

Red Carpet

On my way back from the Marquee I take a look at the east lot where the red carpet was set earlier. Fork lifts, staging, carpet, banner truss all laying around. I look at my watch. 7.35p. Shit. The awards show breaks in 25 minutes. There's no way all this stuff will be cleared by show break. It should have been cleared by 7.00p so limos could stage there and I could let people from the arena exit out those side doors. But given the amount of material lying in the lot and on the sidewalk there was no way could I do that. So I call in the troops to let our staff now we won't be exiting on east or west sides of the building. Everyone exits out the main entrances and does the 'duck walk' out to the casino or across the street to the All Star Jam. It actually wasn't too bad. That's how good my team is. They know how to manage traffic flow better than any. Every event they make me proud. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing group of people. 

All Star Jam

Arena is clear so I head back to the All Star Jam. My mood is about 10x worse than it was earlier and I've had it, mentally. I know I need to be back @ 9.00a because my guy who normally comes in for the early shift has a M-F 9-5 job so I'm the lucky one who gets to come in and babysit the troops. I see my supervisors near the front of the Marquee and tell them that I'm headed home. It's only 10.00p. The ASJ won't be clear until at least 1.30a so I should stay until then but I'm so done if I don't leave now I'm not sure I'll actually ever return to work. They could all sense my frustration. It's not like I hide it well. "Go home. Get some sleep. We'll see you tomorrow," they say. Thank you God for my guys. They save my life every event. 

03.10.12 311 @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

311

Tonight we had the band 311. Honestly, when we booked it I had absolutely no idea who they were. I had to look them up on iTunes. Amber is the Color Of Your Energy is the only song I remotely recognized. They loaded in a couple days early. No reason other than they probably just had some free time from the last gig. Their stage and light rig wasn't terribly complicated. Normally I don't like it when tours load in early. Just more time for them to drive me nuts. But these guys were cool. Laid back, groovy, hippy-like. Several weeks earlier we had done a walkthru of the arena with them and I knew they'd be great to work with. 

Fans waiting for early entry

No big surprises. In fact, I hardly saw any of them except when I bumped into them on the way to the bathroom. The stage manager/security guy Rosco might be the coolest dude with a Grizzly-Adams beard I've ever worked with. He's all about peace, love & harmony. Sometimes people like that drive me nuts because they're too laid back, bordering on incompetent. Rosco had so much calm and chill coming out of him, it was palpable. He gave good hugs too. 

Countdown to 311 Day!

I roll in around 2.00p on Sat. My guy Dave was in early covering the early shift so no need for me to waste my entire day at work. Hell, I was still there for over 12 hours and with Daylight Savings by the time I got home it was 3.30a. This was a late show. Because the band is called 311, March 11th is obviously a big day for them so we purposefully opened doors and hour later than normally. The band didn't even hit the stage until 9.00p and they played until about 12.20a. As part of the show they had an official "countdown" clock to March 11 (which actually took place AFTER March 11 because they played long) but no one seemed to care. 

Fans love their band!

This show was a GA floor meaning there were no seats. Standing room only. I love doing GA floor shows. So much easier. The 311 crowd was great too. Pretty young compared to most of our shows. I'd say 30s. Predominantly white males with their girlfriend/wives. Not a group that has or spends too much money. Nascar was in town this weekend too so room rates on The Strip were high but most of the fans stayed at places like Excalibur or less expensive hotels. Not bagging on them. Room rates in Vegas can be ridiculous. The fans probably bought some merch but they didn't spend a lot in alcohol at the concession stands. My guess is because most of them were high. I personally didn't witness a single customer or crew member smoking pot but let's just say the arena smelled like one huge bong. After day 1 I had to stick my pants in a bag, seal it and bring it to the dry cleaners. They probably thought, "Pot-head." 

311 on stage

No drama to speak of. After we got doors open I popped up to Shibuya to meet up with VP-guy and 311's manager. I wasn't able to have dinner with them because I was busy with the show but managed to catch them just before desert. I love schmoozing with people. It's one of the best parts of my job. The 3 of us had good chemistry. Fun time. I comped their tab and we headed to the arena and I left them to their business.

VIP Room 

Around 9.00p the band hit the stage so that was my cue to hit Seablue for dinner. Normally I eat alone once the concert starts up there. Trubes is usually busy with settlement and has dinner w/DQ and the boys in tour catering but this time she came up. Since there were 2 days of 311 she didn't have to do settlement that night. My pal Chris the fire marshal was there too. His friends were at the show and he (like me) had no desire to watch the band so we had dinner together at the bar. Fun times.

Net on the ceiling for
psychadelic lighting effect

We finish up at Seablue and I head into the arena to check out some of the show, take some pics to tweet for the Grand Garden Arena feed. The crowd loved every minute of this show. I'm not sure the people who actually had seats ever sat down. Shows like this, regardless of whether or not I care for the music, always amaze me. It gives you chills to see (in this case) 10,000 people all singing the same song. 

Day 1 of 311 was a complete success. A couple of bumps and bruises to the GA crowd from moshing & inadvertent elbows to the face and some drunkies but nothing out of the ordinary. Like Jimmy Buffett, I could do 311 all day long. That's how cool they were to work with and how good the fans were. You might be thinking, "Of course you liked that show. You're high!" Whatever the reason, it's good because I've got another night of them tomorrow.

311 Set List - Saturday

Set 1
Omaha Stylee
Do You Right
Time Bomb
Taiyed (311th time)
Evolution
Salsa
Large In The Martin
Starshines
1,2,3
Sweet
Time Is Precious
Don't Stay Home
Something Out Of Nothing
Bass Solo
Nutsymptom
I'll Be Here Awhile
Right Now
M Stoney Baby
T&P Combo
Mindspin

Set 2
Freak Out
Soulsucker
Today My Love
Wild Nights
Freeze Time
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Full Ride
Hostile Apostle
Dancehall
Transistor
Inner Light Spectrum
Waiting In Vain
Six
Sunset In July
Hydrophonic
Nix Hex
Old Funk
Welcome
Countdown To 311 Day
Sick Tight
Jackpit

02.19.12 Lenny Kravitz @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

Lenny Kravitz is mesmerizing

Lenny Kravitz show tonight. Once again I only caught a couple of songs - but Jesus does this man have charisma. I'm not a fan of tattoos, nose rings, leather jackets, guitars or tough men but wow, Kravitz has something that just makes you adore him. 

The day started out late for me. Because of KMA/Ali 70 the night before I was in no hurry to get back to the arena. Luckily my man Dave was there to pick up the slack. He's one of my supervisors. Without him I'd lose my mind. He babysits the early shift so I can sleep in. I thank God for him every day we have a show. 

I got in around 2ish I think. Things were quiet. I was thankful for a small show after the night before. Quel nightmare. Lenny's production team was awesome to work with. Love tours like that. No major egos, just pure teamwork and a let's-get-it-done attitude.

The only major drama revolved not around the show but autographed guitars and meet & greets. Yeah, really important stuff. Autographs and m&gs are the bane of my existence. Spoiled people meeting people they probably don't really give a shit about otherwise. Real fans hardly ever get access like rich people. That's life. It isn't fair. The only 2 artists I can think of that actually do m&gs with true fans are Lady Gaga and (yeah, you guessed it) Chris Botti. 

What is all the fuss about?

So all day 6 v-shaped guitars were sitting in my colleague Jay's office. He was tasked with getting them signed from our executives so he dumped the pain onto me. He's a good guy and I had a good relationship with the tour manager because of the m&g crap so I said I'd do it. After speaking with the tour manager he says, "No prob. Just put the guitars in Lenny's dressing room and I'll get them signed." Excellent. Check that off the list. Then I check my CrackBerry and the executives are asking that 2 of the guitars be personalized, not only with a name but with certain wording. Are you fucking kidding me? It's not enough you rich bastards are getting a free, personalized signed guitar but you want something specific written on it? Things like that make me realize I work in fantasyland - a place where people with real problems and real life strife don't exist. I'm seriously embarrassed to ask the tour manager for Lenny to do this. He just kind of smirked and told me to write a note and stick it on the guitars. "If he does it, he does it." Yeah, and I'm Lucy Liu. But I do my due diligence and write a note next to both guitars. 

Onto the next drama - the m&gs. One was planned. Completely. It was a group of radio winners from a local station coordinated thru the tour. It happened after the sound check around 5.30ish. The one that I was coordinating wasn't even on the tour manager's radar. I was the one who broke that news to him. Luckily we had already established a good rapport or he'd be like, "Who the fuck are you and why should I give a fuck about your m&g." Turns out he was on a couple of emails from our execs so all was well in the land of Oz. The casino m&g was to take place @ 8.45ish. Well, 8.30p rolls around and I head down the dressing room hallway to find the tour manager. He wasn't even on site which meant Lenny wasn't on site yet. Not good. Not good at all. Around 8.40p Kravitz arrives avec tour manager extraordinaire. Thank you Baby Jesus. I ask him if he's all set and he breaks the bad news to me. Since his guy (Lenny) was running late he wants to do the m&g after the show. 

Let Love Rule on the b-stage

Aw FUCK. Deja vu Bocelli. I went thru this once with Bocelli. His management agreed to do a m&g with our casino before the show. Bocelli wasn't feeling well so he asked to do it after the show. So I'm the ass who has to break the news to the casino guests, the ones we all suck up to and bust our asses for because they spend shitloads of money and make the world go 'round. They took it well. After the show, Bocelli decided to hop in his vehicle and do a "runner." That means they go directly from the stage into their car and leave the venue. No Shower, no changes, just outa there. So I had to go back to these guests and tell them that Bocelli had left the building and there would be no m&g.

Anyhow, back to Lenny. So I looked at the tour manager and said, "He's gonna do this after the show, right?" like a child begging for a piece of gum. "He will be there," he says with complete confidence. 

Last carrot cake.
Chef Jacque is leaving. I'm heartbroken!

Show was awesome - so I'm told. Truthfully, once I found out this m&g was going to be after the show I headed up to Seablue for dinner. After this weekend I'm ready to sit and relax a bit. As always Seablue does not disappoint. After about and hour I head back down to see a couple songs and make sure the m&g happens. I catch Let Love Rule where Lenny goes from the stage, thru the audience to the b-stage by the mix and back to the stage again. God, he's so sexy. 

Lenny finishes his set and I head to the dressing room looking for my man. After about 10 minutes, I see my man with 2 signed guitars in hand. Thank you baby! I call Jay on my Nextel and tell him to get his ass down to Lenny's dressing room - I've got the guitars. Check that off the list. Then the tour manager tells me to get the people lined up and ready to roll. Meet & greet is on. We stage the 25 peeps at the end of the dressing room hallway. Eventually they all get their pic taken with Lenny and all go home happy. 

Another night bites the dust. Oh, and incidentally, Lenny did kinda personalize the guitars. He didn't write the specific notes the people wanted but he did write their names on the side of the guitar. 1 outa 2 ain't bad. Ain't bad at all.

Set list
Come On Get It
American Woman
Always On The Run
It Ain't Over Til It's Over
Mr. Cab Driver
Black & White America
Fields of Joy
Stand by My Woman
Believe
Stand
Rock & Roll is Dead
Rock Star City Life
Where Are We Runnin'
Fly Away
Are You Gonna Go My Way
Push
Let Love Rule

12.19.11 Chris Botti @ The Blue Note - New York, NY

Botti doesn't disappoint

Once again Chris Botti subdues his crowd into a jazz coma. And I mean that in a good way. He's got some new peeps on this one, save Billy Kilson & Lisa Fischer. Geoffrey Keezer on the piano, Assia Ahhatt from the Ukraine on violin, Carlitos Del Puerto on bass and (after much guesswork and google, I think) Leonardo Amuedo on guitar.

Venice

When I Fall In Love

Emmanuel

Flamenco Sketches

You Are Not Alone

Hallelujah

Look of Love

The Very Thought of You

Italia

Indian Summer

My Funny Valentine

The 10.30p crowd

You just can't beat the Blue Note for jazz. It's easily the most intimate music joint around. Unpretentious, friendly and entirely New York. As I was standing outside with the 10.30p crowd waiting to get in, Greenwich Villagers walked by saying, "Someone good must be playing tonight." It was a perfect NYC night. Not too cold, no wind, overcast. After seeing a half-dozen Botti shows I will never again see him without an orchestra or outside of the Blue Note. He's good but once you hear him with the backing of strings, horns & reeds, there is no comparison. The Blue Note is the only place that can rival the monumental feel of an orchestra - because it's so intimate. If your only option is to see Botti with just his band - go. But if you can hop a flight an hour to see him with an orchestra or in NYC over Christmas, it's worth the trip.

Mussels @ Barrio 47

Before hitting the Blue Note I drop by Barrio 47 in the West Village. I say West Village like I know the place when in truth I'm a lost soul in NYC. But that's the fun part, discovering. My pal & COO of Golden Boy Promotions David and his wife Kim's brother-in-law owns the joint. I had a couple drinks and the mussels. Yummy. It's a tiny place (albeit normal for NY) but adorable. I highly recomend. It's on the corner of 8th & West 4th.

My seat

Around 10.45p I make my way into the Blue Note. Table 7 on the end. Perfect. Great angle and I was on the isle. I couldn't have picked a better seat. The girl across from me was telling our table-mates how she was there for the 8.00p show. Kinda went on about the show, seemingly showing off her knowledge of Botti. "He does an homage to Miles Davis," she says. While I love exposing people to CB and my journeys, when hearing about my Year of Botti, it comes out as borderline stalking. So I kept my mouth shut.

Jeremy Plotnikoff, Botti's tour manager is doing his thing, setting up the stage, checking the drums. He walks by me and gives me a little kiss on the top of my head, "Hi Amy." I feel kind of like an ass that he recognized me, like I was just busted but it's sweet. I look over and see Bobby Colomby, Botti's manager, with some peeps on the upper level. He looks like he is having a good time. Hard not to at this show. Good gig repping Botti.

The sound quality at the Blue Note
is amazing. 

I order a bottle of my favorite wine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and sit back to enjoy. I'm actually surprised they have it. The Blue Note, while wildly popular for jazz is not know as a culinary or vinous mecca. 

He opens not with his normal Ave Maria 90 second note-hold but instead with Venice. It's a little more upbeat. Better with the Latin feel of Carlitos and Leonardo. 

Assia Ahhatt pops up in her gown for Emmanuel. She's dark & mysterious. The kind of woman who is beautiful but a little scary, who might lock you in cel with whips & chains, and you'd like it. Very Lucy Lawless a la Xena, Princess Warrior. God I hope she doesn't google herself and find this blog. I have a feeling she could kick the shit out of me.

Botti & band

One of the best surprises was Botti's rendition of Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone with Leonardo. So soulful but subtle. It was by far my favorite song of the night, might be my favorite, to date. He mentioned at the m&g this song would be on the new album. If all the other songs sucked I'd still pay $14.95 for that song alone. Yeah, Ms. Zoffee actually got teary-eyed but I blame the Chateauneuf and the wafting musk of someone near me. I don't cry. At least not that you know.

About 1/2 way thru the set I look behind me at the bar. It's packed. Packed! I am surprised that it's that crowded at 11.00p on a Monday night. It's a testament to Botti's drawing power. Even though he's doing a 2+ week stint at the Blue Note, NYC can't get enough of him. There were a couple of empty seats at the table on the side behind the stage but that's about it. Earlier in his run the tickets are a little cheaper than later. I paid more for my wine that the ticket.

Lisa Fischer belts it out

Lisa Fischer belts out Look of Love. It's one of my favorite songs but honestly when Botti & Fischer perform it, I think it's too fast. I've said that before so my critique is no surprise. Better slower. It's like they can't keep up with their own pace. Rushing. But to each his own. I'm sure most people love it. I'm just a whiny, ungrateful bitch. 

Fischer has an amazing range. It's shown off by Italia, better known sung by Andrea Bocelli. It's not my favorite on the setlist but still brings a standing ovation by some in the crowd. She's so beautiful & talented. I've seen her in that dress before and all I can think of is, she's got to have on Spanks because there isn't a body part out of place! Ah, the things girls notice.

Cicely Tyson's birthday

Guest star of the night, Cicely Tyson. She is so tiny. Great looking lady, spunky. Botti gave a very warm welcome and we all sang Happy Birthday while the manager brought her a cake. Hard to tell by the pic but that's her in the back.

The night ended with My Funny Valentine. It was a short set but packed with energy and emotional tones. Botti caps off the evening by greeting his guests upstairs with pictures and autographs. There are probably 25 people up there. I wait about 10 minutes and Botti takes a photo with yours truly. After, Jeremy asks me about my buddy Mick Treadwell. I have a feeling Micky chatted me up a bit more than I deserved. Jeremy is a kind soul, warm smile. I have no idea how he handles the traveling schedule but kudos to him. What a way to see the world, 10-fold.

I head back to the Washington Square Hotel for a couple hours sleep before hopping on a flight back to Vegas & my haunt at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. God WSG has great sheets & robes. Short trip. Perfect trip. City to city 27 hours. I'm typing this on my MacBook Air and am glad to see Delta has  an outlet because I've only got 41 minutes of power left. Too bad both outlets in my row don't work. Bastard. Where's an ethernet cord when I need it. (End note: the flight attendant fixed it; he turned on the outlet. Jackpot! I'm glad I asked.)

The Year of Botti

My Year of Botti has come to a close; bookends at the Blue Note. I had an amazing time and am so grateful I had the means, time and opportunity for this spectacular journey. In the end I learned to appreciate my life much more than I could ever appreciate the sounds from Botti's trumpet but then that was the goal - find truth in myself thru music. Thanks to the many restaurants, hotels, plane rides, cabs, bars, symphony halls & concert venues who took such great care of me along the way. And to Chris, Jeremy, Billy, Mark and the entire Botti crew, thank you for a sensational trip. I owe you one. Cheers. -Amy