WEBVTT - A Tribute To Jerry Weintraub Live 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.840 Welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, it's great to be here. I 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.520 met Jerry a lot later than these people. Jerry put 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.840 out of his book that You've got to lead, and 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.560 I said, you know, I'm a writer. I said, I 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.640 don't need to meet Jerry. Immediately heard from Jerry. We 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.360 gotta go to lunch, and you went to Il Piccolino 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.200 on Robertson where they had the Jerry Wine Trout special. Now, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.120 the fascinating thing about Jerry and a lot of time 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.279 this is that the elite players is their icons, and 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.400 you think, you know, you always are trying to go 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.760 up the ladder. But he was so endearing, so human. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:45.880 The other thing is, as soon as you know, he 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.479 started sharing details about his personal life, about his kids 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.800 and this, and maybe it was only me, but he 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.640 always did that and we maintained a relationship. And the 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.120 other thing I realized is he was the pro jenitor. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:00.720 People who were a little bit younger grew up with 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.440 David Geffen being ruling and then Irving A's off. I 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.000 realized Jerry did it first. If you know Irving, Irving 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:11.759 loves to connect you with doctors and do all that stuff. 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:14.600 That's what Jerry did. First, he says, you know, the 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.000 first I wake up and I hook everybody up with 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.000 the doctors and I do that. That was a real manager. 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.080 So we're I went through the exhibit. It was kind 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.600 of weird because Jerry was so alive and to see 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.640 the pictures was really kind of creepy. And if you 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.840 lived through that era, you know what a tumultuous time 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.760 it was. We were inventing it. That's one thing about 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.120 the music business today. We're not inventing much. Certainly we 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.440 were in turmoil for about twenty years with Napstur at 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.520 all at all. But Jerry changed so many things and 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.639 invented so many things, and certainly that was when music 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:49.200 drove the culture. I mean, I'm looking at the thing, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.240 so I was that that leads up a thing. Oh 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.960 I couldn't get tickets to Wings over America. You just 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.960 remember everything immediately. So I'm gonna jump right in. We'll 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:00.640 introduce people as we go along. Now, Claire, how did 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.680 you first hear of Jerry? Well, it was all the 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:08.720 way back in the days when I was at the Spectrum, Okay, 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.400 Spectrum and Philadelphi and phill it down. Now, the one 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.760 thing about the Spectrum is legendary that the roof blew off. 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:18.000 Oh yes, and I had a dog and pony show 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.880 all about how we were going to put it back 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:26.359 together again by the Franklin Institue. Okay, so how did 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:31.040 you hear it? Jerry? Well, you're always looking to put 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:36.680 more events in your building, and Jerry was the one 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.880 to know if you wanted to have the biggest stacks, right, 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.600 So you remember what the first gig you did with 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:50.079 Jerry was. I remember the nine seventy one gig with 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:57.360 Elvis Presley. So what was that like? Bedlam? Absolute bedlam? 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:06.600 They had three different floors, the Bellevue Stratford Hotel and 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.079 that kind of sort of how to propel us up? 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.200 To get him up on this stage? And then why 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:18.200 do I have fabulous to Okay? So they posted him 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:22.160 up there. Now you have a long history running buildings, 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.600 et cetera. How did you get in the business. Well, 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.520 I was a pencil pusher. So I started at the 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:35.320 Spectrum as a bookkeeper and then a few months I 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:44.640 became the business manager. And I went because in an arena, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:50.880 there is usually only one or two in each major city, 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:56.840 and I was in the private arena so if I 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.600 had to go somewhere else, I had to go to 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.120 window their city. So I traveled around the country quite 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.080 a bit. So you were in Philly. You're obviously at 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:07.920 a long tenure here in l A at the Forum, 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.480 and what were some of the cities between between ip 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:17.960 I went down to Orlando, Florida, and Bill Putnam, who 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.240 owned the hockey team in Philadelphia, hired me to be 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:29.479 the financial DP and we try to open something called 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.119 Wild Kingdom. It never went and we sold a few 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:38.760 animals on the quarterhouse steps. And then I went to Cleveland, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:47.000 and in Cleveland was where I met Seal Bonifetti, and 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:52.640 I took him out to the site it was, and 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.839 I gave him my spield. This is where the trucks 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.520 will go underneath, and this is where the stage entrance 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:06.040 will be, and all of it. And sell pulled himself 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.200 up to his full height and he said to me, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:16.440 this is a frigging mud hole. He said, you better 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.360 book the municipal building for the same gates because it 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:27.320 will never get done. But it did get done. And 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.719 although we thought we had all the traffic problems taken 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:39.000 care of the opening night of Frank Sinatra and we 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:44.039 had medalgons with an image of Frank for all the women. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:51.120 The traffic was so bad that in their long downs 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:57.159 and their husbands in Texas, they pulled their cars over 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.800 to the side of the state inter state and they 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:07.640 walked the rest of the way. Okay, that's great. And 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.919 then from Cleveland, l A. From Cleveland, I went to 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:15.479 l A. Okay, Bob, I got you over here. It's like, Okay, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.160 you're telling me a story in the green room. How 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.120 you were fraternity brothers with Mike Ovits. Tell us how 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.720 we get from there to work in with Jerry. We 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:29.839 were roommates in college at UCSB and traveled down to 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.159 Universal Studios that was hiring young people to work at 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:39.960 the studio. So I started They're picking up papers, and 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.560 then became a tour guide and eventually I was booking 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.240 the Amphitheater. Okay, and how did you meet Jerry? Well? 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.559 The first season of the Amphitheater, we wanted as major 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.600 acts as we could get, and one of those was 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.400 John Denver. Jerry was managing John, and we had to 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:00.960 convince people to not play the Greek. What was your 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.360 what was your pitch? Well, the primary pitch was the 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.440 throw of the theater was so much less than the Greek. 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.040 If you were sitting in the cheap seats in the Greek, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:11.640 you were way back there. If you were sitting in 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.800 the cheap seats at the Amphitheater, which were six dollars 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:19.840 and fifty cents for the prime seats six fifty and 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.280 four fifty um, you'd be equal to where you are 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.720 in the prime seats at the Greek. And we and 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:28.680 we had a we had about a hundred more seats, 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.520 so we could gross up a little bit more. I 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.040 gotta tell you. Moving to l A, the Universally emphathet 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:34.520 the worst thing they ever did was put the roof 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.720 on it, which I know they had to do. It 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.200 was such an experience that Greek to this day is 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.920 not close to what the Universally Emphathater was. Well yeah, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.119 I mean the roof was because the noise was going 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:46.840 out in the community and they were getting a lot 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.680 of grief. Actually, the first act that played the Amphitheater 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:57.920 was a Grateful Dead. They they the heads of Universal 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.640 said they wanted to make this a count of culture complex. 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:03.640 Who said that? Do you remember who that was? That 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:09.960 was Wasserman yeah, but but but that it was John Denver, 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:15.760 and it was the Carpenters and acts like that. But 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.080 the opening act was a Grateful Dead and they had 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:19.800 a curfew at eleven o'clock. And I don't know if 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.320 you've ever been to a Dead concert, but they don't 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.360 get off at eleven o'clock. So that did they stay on? 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.760 They stayed on and that was one of the reasons 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.679 why they had to put the roof on because they 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.400 couldn't keep the curfew and the community just went up 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.800 in arms. Okay, your roommates with Ovid's do you have 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.200 any idea he's going to have the arc that he does? No? 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:49.160 I mean, Mike wanted to be a doctor. He really 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.040 didn't have an interest in that business at the time. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:55.360 And are you still in contact with him somewhat? Our mothers, 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.400 our family was very very close. Okay, So once again, 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.120 you're working at the universally PSI, how do you meet Jerry? 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.840 So I meet I meet Jerry in booking John Denver. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.800 Jerry was incredible and he said, leave here and come 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.800 to work for me. And I said, well, I have 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.600 this commitment to Universal because they had put me through 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.240 law school. And he said, well, when's that up, And 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.920 I said, well, let's happen three years. He said, uh, okay, 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.400 Well he kept he kept pressing, and then he said, well, 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.240 I'm moving out to California and I've just started with 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.200 this fellow, Mickey Reuden. Because I told Jerry, I said, look, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:34.080 I'd like to do that. I'd like to have some 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.280 experience practicing law. I want to practice law. He said, Okay, 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.440 go meet this guy, Mickey Ruden, who he just does 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.720 don't know. He was the fixer who had a reputation for, 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.719 let's say, being on the wrong side. So Jerry I 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.959 just started working with Mickey. I went and interviewed with Mickey. Mickey, 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.280 you interviewed. He smoked a cigar like Jerry did, Cuban 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.120 cigars every day, and when the cigar was through, the 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:03.840 interview was through. Yeah, So I started. I started working 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.320 with Mickey and representing Jerry and and and then Jerry said, okay, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.280 now leave Mickey. Okay, just just to make this clear, 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:14.960 you met him when you were just starting law school 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.160 and he waited three years. No. I I had finished 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.200 law school and had a three year commitment to university. 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.440 I see, but you played that out play that out 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.599 and really and he because usually an opportunity if you 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.559 don't take it now never returns. Well, they had paid 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:34.520 for school. I'm talking about Jerry. Jerry. Jerry was great. Okay, now, Peter, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.480 you're an Englishman. How did you run into Jerry? Um? 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:45.160 I met Jerry in September nineteen seventy one at the 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:50.760 Troubador when he had John Denver who was playing there. Uh. 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.920 I represented an English band called the Moody Blues. Never 0:10:54.960 --> 0:11:01.800 heard of him, and uh, we'd been We've been touring, 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:03.640 you know for a number of years. And let's go 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.720 back because it happened to be a huge body blues fan. 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.600 When did you get started with the Booty Blues? Wow? 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:16.360 Um trying and to cut the story down. Um, I 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.960 became friends. I met them at some clubs in London 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.520 when they were playing. Denny Lane is in the group 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:27.400 where he's already gone. No, Denny Dan just left and 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:32.400 they were starting their new band with John John Lodge 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:37.800 and Justine Hayward. And Um they had a gig this 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:42.520 one night a club they were It was an after 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:48.920 show party for um a film that has been playing 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.600 and UM they said, can you help us? Our road 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.160 manager can't do it. I said, ye, what do you want? 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.600 So they said, can you He'll give you his van 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.960 and equipment. Can you bring it down to the gig 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.800 and do it and then take it? So I said, okay, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:09.079 no problem. So I took the equipment down, we unloaded it, 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.000 played this club till four o'clock in the morning, and 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.400 they said, look, you know we when he got fifteen pounds, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.440 so you know you can have it. I said no, no, no, no, no, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.720 I don't need it at this point. It's just fun, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.800 you know. So then Justin said to me, could you 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.480 bring the equipment and the van to recordings to you 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.120 tomorrow afternoon. So Jah, just tell me where to be 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.640 and I'll be there. So there's a deck of studios 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:41.080 in West Hampstead and I turned up there and met 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:47.640 there there the production manager, road manager. We unloaded the 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.120 equipment and I thought that's it. I'm done. And then 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.720 Justin turned around and said to me, would you like 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.960 to stay and watch the session? So I said yeah, 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.320 I've never never been a studio before, and so he 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.240 said he said, we're putting nights down nights in what's 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.640 at So I was like wow. So I mean I 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.400 had been friends of him for a few months. It 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:20.360 wasn't just like a week or something. So um, they 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.040 used the equipment. When they finished with the equipment, the 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.040 road manager packed it up and he left and I 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:33.880 stayed and I made tea, you know, and sandwiches, and 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.200 we went on till three four o'clock in the morning. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.520 And then they nights you know, they had finished it 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:42.600 and they said, okay, we've got to get the recording 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.520 executives in now from Decca and this this American guy, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.280 and they all came in and we're sitting there and 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.839 they said, okay, play it, and we're all sitting in 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:58.520 the studio and it was like bom and we we 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.880 would start. Everybody at the and every everybody was stunned 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.960 because it was actually a demonstration disc for Dan Ram 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:12.360 for stereo, that's what it was made for. And so 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.400 we're sitting there and it was like wow. And then 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.440 somebody in the band to turn around and said, Peter, 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.600 can you go down the studio? I said yeah, yeah, sure, 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.960 you know, I mean the way I better go. So 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.200 I said, oh, oh go, you know, they said no, no, no, no, 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.800 just just go down the studio. I went down the 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:34.120 studio this layer. They said, Peter, come come up. I 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.120 went up to the room and I said, uh, you 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.800 want a job. I said what I said, you want 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:44.040 to be our road manager. And there you have it. 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.880 Now you told me just be sorry. You just retired 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.720 from road management within the last twelve months. Well, I 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.480 keep trying. Yes, okay, so let's go back to the narrative. Sorry, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.400 you're at the Troubador and how do you meet and 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.800 go to work for Jerry? Well, I didn't go to 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.320 work for him then. I was. I was representing the Moodies. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.160 Then we've done quite a few tours in America and 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:13.080 uh and in Europe, and we'd in those days of 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:18.440 the sixties, you were screwed over more times than you knew. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.400 You didn't get paid, they gave you half the money, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.360 they gave you a part, you know whatever. And the deals. 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.880 This is where Jerry came. This is what Jerry was 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:35.400 all about. When you do a deal with somebody like I. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:41.720 We did this one the last tour I did before Jerry. Um. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.240 I was because I wasn't a tour manager. I didn't 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.880 I was a road manager. I didn't really know the 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:52.240 whole science of what went on, and so we hired 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.440 a guy, an American guy, to teach me on the 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.080 road what went on. And so we would come in 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.280 near the end of this tour and we were going 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:07.280 and playing four or five arenas and I'm talking about 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:13.320 nineteen somewhere in seventies, seventy one, somewhere in there in 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:18.200 that way back then. And this too manager guy who's 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.760 teaching me turned around and said, now, I know you 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:26.320 always want cash because you always gets good now and 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:31.080 I know that these last three or four shows are huge. 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.000 Said yeah, and he said there's there's too much cash. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.360 You can't play with that. I said, well, how are 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.760 we going to get paid? We're playing ten eleven thousand 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:43.760 seat arenas. That's a lot of money, even in those days. 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.400 So he said, look, this guy is good for it. Okay, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:54.480 Barry Faye, but you know, God God bless him, they 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:59.840 stilly said if he was. So the last night becomes 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.160 I'm expecting the money, the band, we're all expecting the money, 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.320 and he says, no, come to my house, and we thought, 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:12.520 here we go again, Bob due to his word. He 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.119 had a briefcase. He opened it and there was all 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:22.040 the money on the deal sheet. When I looked at 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.920 the deal sheet, he made as much money as we did, 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:30.800 because that was the deals they did, you know. Okay, 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.920 And so we'll get back to going back. We'll get back, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:40.480 Peter John. Now you still operate under the name Concerts West, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.280 which of course Jerry started, and you're promoting the Stones 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.239 as we sit here. But you had a tenure in 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.080 the early days. Tell us how you got to work 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.840 with Jerry Well. I started in one of the Concerts 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:57.920 West offices. So by when I started, which was UM 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.639 a lot of college concert promoters back then, and I 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.800 was at Washington State University, and I was lucky because 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.720 uh it was a pack eight at the time. Building 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.520 had We had like a twelve thousand seat arena down 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.720 in but Spokane, which was a major market north of US, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.200 only had like a ten thousand or not even that, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.680 seven thousand seats civic auditorium. So we got the bigger 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:23.959 shows because we had the bigger capacity. So that's how 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.639 I got to know the Concerts West guys. And I 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.520 actually got hired by a guy named Tom Hewlett. Everybody 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.480 up here knows, and Tom was up in the Seattle 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:39.159 office and UM brought me on and and uh, you know, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.160 you started hearing about this guy Jerry Wine troub down 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.800 in Los Angeles because we were all up in Seattle, 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.879 and he was you know, it was this It was 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.080 just larger than life guy, It really was. I got 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.520 there the year after Elvis had died, and that was 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.800 it was a pretty you know, turning point. I think 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.680 somewhat in the company because that was such a big 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.480 part of that company at the beginning. And but I 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.000 was fortunate enough to be there when all the big 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.760 tours were going on. So it was bad Companies and 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:21.160 b g's and um uh God, Eric Clapton, uh, Dan Fogelberg, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:26.679 Boz Scags, Beach Boys, Chicago Queen. I mean, it was 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.080 like one company is doing all these tours. So but 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.080 what's kind of what was kind of interesting is that 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:37.280 his model, you know, he started that model really well. 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.320 Explain to the audience with the model is the model 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.680 is touring national touring or now what we do is 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.240 international touring and that and see, the promoters were either 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.760 raised in a local marketplace. You know, you had Avalon 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.199 Attractions or Wolf Rust Miller in Los Angeles, and you 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:59.480 had uh Bill Graham and San Francisco and Ron Delsner 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.080 and New Orc. But what Jerry did which was so 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:08.480 unique was, um, he looked at his artists and said, 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.040 you know, why can't we go out and be the promoter. 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.280 We know you know how to sell our artists better 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.879 than anybody else does. We used the Arenas, if anything, 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.240 is our local partners because we figured they knew about 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.760 the marketplace, they had great advertising deals. So it was 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:32.439 always the Arenas place there advertising. But what was so 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.800 unique about it is we did everything ourselves. We never 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.880 worked with local promoters. And we would go in and 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:44.360 rent the building and find limo companies and higher caters 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.119 and we would get our tickets from quick tick and 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.680 you'd send them to a box office and they'd get 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:52.960 sent out to record stores to sell and and you'd 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.760 come in and you know when you you do it 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:02.520 city after city after city, and it was it was 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:06.720 just the manager and the concert company. So there was 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:11.720 no agent. Well I don't know, Bob, what can I 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.320 say about that? Um? Yeah, there was always there were 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.080 you ought to get into that. I mean it created 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:26.120 a whole war in the entertainment business. Yeah, I mean, 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.520 Bob could talk more about that, because we just looked 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:31.000 at it and said, wait a bitute, what are we 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:35.600 paying these people for? And and I I mean that 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:42.600 was like Eric Clapton, the Moody Blues, every big act 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.600 in the world at that time. And we when I started, 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.800 we had more tours than we had people to go 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.119 out and cover them. Remember we could hire Charlie Brusko 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:53.800 in Atlanta. You didn't have to pay him, just gave 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.200 him a backstage pass and he goes settle the show 0:21:56.240 --> 0:22:02.359 for you. Well, you weren't making much money, if I remember, No, God, 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:04.120 those were to I mean, no me. I was making 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.919 two d dollars a week. I remember when I moved 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.960 to Los Angeles is one. I think when we moved 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.640 everybody down to ninety four Wilshire, the famous Management three 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.120 Concerts West, and I remember finding out that Bob Finkelstein 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:22.040 made a hundred thousand dollars a year, and I'm going, 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:24.480 oh my god. He was like, you know, he was 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.400 the guru, Bob with the president of Management three, and 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:30.440 it was like, oh my god. And they would drive 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:32.720 up in these you know, and Jerry got to park 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.760 his his roles on the ramp at the Forum and 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.320 I was like whoa. I was like, you know, and 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.080 I was just I mean, I had to. I started 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.320 when I was down here, like a lot of my 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.639 first job was I ran messages from Wilshire over to 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.080 Jerry and Jimmy neater Lander at the pole of Lotch. 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.200 That's what I did here, take him over our messages, 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:58.240 you know, and then you get a little lecture from 0:22:58.240 --> 0:22:59.960 one of them, you know, they tell you a story. 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.040 You gotta Jimmy Peter in a story, you get a 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:04.280 Jerry story, go back and forth. And I did that 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:09.280 for months. So I started on the ground and he 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:12.439 got excited about your success, and he'd be thrilled about it. 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.120 And I know he was, he was. I know. Okay, Michael, 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.760 this is your father. Most of us did not grow 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.120 up with a famous, rich and powerful father. When did 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:28.480 you realize he was Jerry Weintrum. Well, first of all, 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:32.359 he was always Jerry Weinkroup. I talked, I've talked to you. 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:35.040 He and my mother, who was his first wife, went 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.240 to high school together and they were high school sweethearts. 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.720 They got married when they were twenty years old. And 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.320 he was always Jerry Weintrup. He was always bigger than life. 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:50.040 From the beginning, and anybody who knew him back then 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:52.359 will tell you that they knew that he was going 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:57.080 to be the success that he was. Jane, who he 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.040 married in nineteen sixty five, who is my stepmother, and 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.720 so I was three years old, and who thank god, 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.480 is still doing great in Kenny Bunkport, Maine right now. 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:08.600 I talked to her just a little while ago while 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.720 we're up at the exhibit. But you know, Jane is 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:15.280 the one who really saw what he could be. She's 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:18.119 the one who said to him, you're going to walk 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:22.919 with kings and presidents. And he believed it, um, and 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.200 she believed it, and they set out together to make 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:30.000 that happen, and over the next you know, thirty forty 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:34.440 fifty years, that's what they did. Um. But for me 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:36.199 as a kid, you know, as a kid, you don't know. 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:39.479 As a kid, it's it's your only reality. And I 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:42.760 lived half the time with my mother in a two bedroom, 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:46.199 one bath apartment in Riverdale and the other half with 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:49.159 Dad and Jane in a penthouse apartment overlooking the Museum 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:54.320 of Modern Art UM And then in we moved out 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:57.920 here to California to a huge house in Beverly Hills, 0:24:57.960 --> 0:24:59.479 and I went from being a kid who could get 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:01.720 around New Yor City on my own at twelve years 0:25:01.720 --> 0:25:06.080 old by subway in cab and express bus to a 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:08.719 kid who was behind the gate and didn't I couldn't 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:12.080 get anywhere. It was. It was a very big life 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:15.160 change for me. But by then it was pretty apparent, 0:25:15.960 --> 0:25:18.680 you know, his success, and that it was different than 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.080 what most kids were living, and the fact that I 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:23.679