WEBVTT - ANDY SOMERS 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.160 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the bott Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:16.560 My guest today is my good friend and ski buddy 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.959 Andy Summers, who's an agent at a p A. He 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:26.800 represents such acts as social distortion. Brian Wilson, the Circle jerks, Andy, 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.760 Good to have you here. Happy to be here. Okay. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.040 A lot of people have no idea what an agent 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.160 in the music business does. What do they do? Well? 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:41.280 It kind of changed. I mean, traditionally, you know, the 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:46.479 agent was an employment agent for people who entertained. You know, 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.519 find me a job, guy with a guitar, guy with 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.320 a trumpet, find me a job. That was traditionally what 0:00:53.400 --> 0:01:03.680 agents did. As musicians became more artists, entrepreneurial, etcetera, managers, 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.320 there's a lot more going on than just find a job. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.640 Agents position can change. I mean, the basic nuts and 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:17.080 bolts of it is setting up gigs, negotiating the deals, etcetera. Um, 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.000 But the more to it now is, you know, where 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.600 do we play? Why do we play here? Um? Are 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.120 we supporting a record? Are we just out? Hey, I 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.880 gotta make a living. Um? There's all sorts of different 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.760 reasons that you know that an age, what what an 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:39.400 agent does okay, but an agent, unlike in the movie business. Uh, 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.280 there's an element of career direction, but it's focused primarily 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.959 on live gigs, focused on live and you know, different 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.760 agents have different relationships with their artists, with their managers, 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.640 with the managers of the artists, or some artists don't 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.279 have managers. So you know, in the case of some bands, 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.440 it's just me. You know, we're in the music, we're 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.360 in the business together. So you obviously will provide a 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.520 lot more vision in that situation than you do is 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:13.160 opposed to just finding gigs and hopefully good. Okay, so 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:18.840 you've been doing this for how long? I started? In reality? 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:23.919 This current things started in like the mid eighties. Well, 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.560 that begs a question, the current thing? What was the thing? Well, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.560 I was at the in the late seventies. I was 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.360 at the William Morris mill Room. Okay, legendarily we heard 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.880 back in that era. I mean David Geffin worked there. Whatever, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.160 How did you get that gig? My cousin worked in 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:47.040 the personnel department and I had gotten out of college. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.680 I wanted to be in music or tell, I wanted 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.200 to be in the entertainment business, but instead I was 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.400 working at a coffee factory in Munichi, New Jersey. Where 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:01.839 even is that UM Route seventeen Route four around there? 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:08.280 It's uh, Hackensack. Let's go back before I know, but 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.560 my audience doesn't know where you from. Originally, I'm originally 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.440 from Bronx, New York, UM until I was about nine 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.440 or ten, and then I'm from Danbury, Connecticut. So you're 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:26.720 in Danbury, Connecticut. To what degree are you infected by music? Um? Initially, 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.720 my older cousin would play met this is still back 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:38.280 in the Bronx and mostly doop stuff, and you know, 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.680 we listen to radio, etcetera. And you know, I can 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.920 remember listening to the duop stuff but not knowing who 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.480 any of the names of the acts were. And but 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.800 I remember hearing Buddy Holly and there was something appealing 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.240 to me. I didn't think much of it, and then 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.360 I moved on because I was more about, you know, 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:02.280 watching baseball anyway, Um in Connecticut, you know, fifth grade, 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.760 the Beatles and that's it was all over for me. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.600 And did you grow your hair along? Uh? Probably not 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.680 till about would I have the permission to have done 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:20.120 that till about like sixties six sixty seven, And uh, 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.080 you know. But I did go out to Tom McCann 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.440 and get a pair of like Cuban heell beetle boots, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.479 you know, so I would alternate those between those and 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.800 Legions penny loafers, you know, because that was what you 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.799 did in Connecticut. Oh absolutely, But you know, I didn't 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.159 have the Beatles boots. But I remember convincing my mother 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.719 that I could wear desert boots to the school dance. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.160 But desert boots were the other shoes you wore when 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.279 you weren't wearing your penny loafers exactly. Remember the Scotch 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.400 Green penny loafers. I went to school with Betsy Bass. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.520 It was Bass Regions. She totally cracked me up. I 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.560 think she's still involved in the company. So are you 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:03.359 a big record collector at that time? Not yet, because 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.640 records were too expensive and and you know, so you 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.960 know a couple of times a month, you know, you 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.120 go to Kaldor and you go buy the records. You're right, right, 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.599 Caldor was a discount place. It was sort of upscale 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:23.039 compared to like Tops. It was like the peak of 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.960 the discount place. Yeah, so we'd buy record I'd buy 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.560 an album here and there, and you know, but it 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.200 was mostly you know, I could buy forty five, but 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.400 I was listening to the radio. I wouldn't start probably, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:44.720 you know, around sixty was when albums became real important 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.400 for me to own and like realized it's something to 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:52.039 collect and it's it's it's when maybe that's when you 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.480 realize when you had a record, you don't put your 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.640 fingers on it, and that and the paper that comes 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.279 in the in the cardboard cover, you don't throw that 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:07.240 out anymore. Absolutely, you're totally cracking me up, especially when 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.640 you have girlfriends and you're afraid they're gonna put their 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.039 fingers on the vinyl. That was one of the great things. 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:18.760 You just held the edge and flip it over. So uh, Now, 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.599 if you're in Danbury, what stations are you listening to? 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.920 Um w d R C from Hartford. You know when 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:30.640 when FM started, Scott Muni on from w ABC, moved 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.159 over to w o R and all of a sudden FM, 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:37.160 which was only classic gold music rock station, and then 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.719 w n WFM. But earlier than that, you know w 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:43.960 m C A and w A b C. I mean, 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.360 cousin Brucey, I listened to w d R C as 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.120 well as those other things. And also sometimes it was 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.840 W A v Z out of New Haven and then 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.200 you could also get the stations from Long Island as time. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.440 When I okay, so you graduate from high school and 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:04.080 what happened? Um, head off to Elmira College up state 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:11.920 New York. We're kind of kind of just west of Binghamton. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.440 Oh you know, and just before you get to Horseheads? 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.200 How far Corning right? How far would it be from 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.640 there to New York City? Four hours? Okay, So when 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.560 you're in high school, you're going to gigs. Uh yeah, 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.000 we would take the train from Brewster, New York and 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:35.000 go see uh, you know Poco with Linda ron Staton, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:40.640 Manhattan Transfer opening at the Fillmore East. Um, a lot 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.640 of Connecticut gigs. I mean the m C five played 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:49.320 the Palace Theater in Danbury. The movie theater went to that. Um, 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.680 I'm trying to think what school it was in. Uh, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:57.040 either not West Stanford, Stanford High there they would put 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.320 out they would have shows. I saw Peter Frampton there, 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.800 I saw that. I saw the Birds there. I remember 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.720 it's Staples I saw, which is Westport, which one time 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.000 over from where I grew up. I know Staples High. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.280 I got. I got beat up by some guys from there, 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.840 coming home from a Danbury High basketball game. It's another 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.520 story another time. It's not music business related, but I 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:23.160 know Staples. Wait, you're how did you get beaten up? 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.960 I was just walking home with Danbury High had won 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.840 the game, and I'm walking home because I lived about 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.640 half a mile from Danbury High. So we're walking home 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.640 and this car just drives up. I'm walking home with 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.040 my friend who lived across the street, and these guys 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.960 just hop out of the car. I tell my friend 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.200 just start running, and they got me and they beat 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.320 the crap out of me. Then, you know, then they left. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.480 Then I got up and I walked home. Were bedraggled 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.800 with your parents. You know what It's like. I can 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.800 handle pain pretty well, you know. You know they saw that. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.079 I you know, I was cut up a little bit, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.000 and you know, I got a had. These guys from 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.640 Staples they beat the crap out of me, you know, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.040 and that was that. No flood of revenge. Well what 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:18.480 am I gonna do? Get on Roots seven and drive 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:23.440 down to Stanford. Okay, so, uh you got to Elmira. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.880 Do they have concerts at Elmira. They did first one 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:33.920 when I was a freshman was the Elves. Ronny James 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.960 Dio was the lead singer and he was from somewhere 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:38.839 in upstate New York. Yeah, I think so. I think 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.960 the band is from up there, Rochester or something like that. 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.560 How were they? Um, it's all right, okay, it wasn't 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.640 like you said there was. There was no life change there. Okay. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.520 So who else played when you were in colle um? Oh, 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.880 we had a great show. It was either Freshman Mountain, 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:04.280 John Mayle and Peter Frampton opening and that this was 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.160 like right after Frampton's camel had come out. So me 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.559 and my friends were nuts for Peter Frampton and paying him. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.959 The school paid him five hundred bucks. Right. Um, we 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:17.960 went back that we got to meet him. You know. 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.840 It's like we you know, we we got so into 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.240 Peter Frampton that we also knew all about the Herd, 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.920 you know, and you know, obviously humble Pie now my 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.520 one of my few claims to fame. I was there 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.120 when Roger Marri said his sixty one. But I was 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.760 also at the Fillmore East when Frampton was still in 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:40.880 a Humble Pie and then recorded Rocking and Fillmore. That's big. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.120 That's big in any event. Any did you travel to 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.120 other colleges to Bingham to Oh yeah, we I remember 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.000 going to see the Kinks at Sunny Binghamton. I saw 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:57.560 Poco there. We'd go up to Ithaca a lot, so 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:03.000 Stevie Wonder at Bailey Hall, cornell Um Elton john on 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:07.440 the on his first tour after Davy Johnson joined the 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.680 band Um the Beach Boys and that and that was 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.160 like a great period to see the Beach Boys live. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.480 I saw him in to Haven Colinson. You know, this 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.120 was you know, you know, I mean, Brian Wilson wasn't there, 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:24.320 but Blondie Chaplin was and Dennis Wilson was there and 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.160 you know, and and it was that was it was 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.480 just a great set list, right and then they put 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.839 out the album Beach Boys in concerts. Now. If you 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.120 talk to our friend Don Strassburgh was a promoter in Denver, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.240 he did his first game. He went to a gig. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.080 He said, I want to do this. Okay, were you 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.800 going to gigs and saying, hey, I want to do this. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:49.200 I want to be in the live business, not necessarily 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:54.280 you know what I think I think underneath it all 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.400 I wanted to be a guitar player. I want, really, 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.199 I want. I played good enough to be an agent. Um. 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.560 You know, you know it's like you know, yeah, I 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.319 think you have even said this too. You know, at 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.920 one point you want to be Mickey Mantle, but then 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.240 but then all of a sudden, no, I want to 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.120 be George Harrison. Absolutely, I remember vividly. You got it 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.040 exactly right for that period. But I remember, and this 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.360 guy tracked me down. I hadn't seen him in forty years, 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.040 my good friend Mark. He would play and I was 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.040 there with my guitar one day and he was there 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.640 with his guitar and he goes, okay, now let's change keys. 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.240 And I said, I'm out. I was not good enough 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.640 to do that. But you were actually that good? No, 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.800 not at all. Okay, but did were you ever in bands? Yes, 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:53.160 in college, in high school. Um, in high school, if 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:54.760 you got to be in a band, if you had 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:59.520 an instrument, right, and uh, even if you could play 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:04.400 it or not. And so I actually joined a band 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.520 with some friends, you know, mostly the friends from Hebrew school. 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.840 And uh, we started a band. And the guy who 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.920 couldn't play an instrument, he got to be the lead singer. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.360 And I wasn't that good a guitarist. But I had 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.679 a guitar. What um, it was a Harmony Rocket three, 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:29.439 A lot of a lot I had. I had an amplifier, 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.800 a really good amplifier. He was a Fender Deluxe Reaver, 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:37.400 like back in the day, twelve inch with Reaver, which 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.920 is basically my amp. Now not that same man, but 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.240 it's a reissue of it. You know that one. It's 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:48.320 long gone. But any rate, we started this band and 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.520 one of the guys, well, I'm trying to think how 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.720 it happened that I ended up being the bass player, 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.400 because I ended up being the bass play because I 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:04.640 wasn't a good guitar guitarist, and that's you know, you 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.160 become the bass player. Well, I don't know all these 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.520 super bass players they played basses with tho frets, Well 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.600 those those are real musicians. I mean, there's a lot 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.640 of bands out there where the bass player is just 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.760 their friend as opposed to a musicians. Yeah, but then 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.960 there's a lot you know, because in my mind, the 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.920 backbone to any great song is how good a bass 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.200 player do you have? And how tasteful does the bass 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.120 player play? More than the drummer. They're locked they need 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.080 to be locked in. Okay. So you graduate from college 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:40.479 and you move where, Um to Hackensack, New Jersey. Why Hackensack, 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.360 New Jersey? Because I got a job at the coffee factory, 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:48.880 and that's something you applied for. It's hard to get 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:50.560 a job when you get out of I know, I know, 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.120 but I don't say, oh, I'm gonna look for a 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.240 job at Hackenson, you know what. I just wanted to 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.920 make money and get started. How did you actually get 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.880 the job? Were they recruiting on campus or something? Um? 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.680 I think I saw an ad and I applied for it. 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.280 I knew it was like who's been to the assistant 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:13.280 to the factories? The manager there in the packaging department. Um, 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.440 I'd come home smelling like roasted coffee every night. It 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.320 was a place called Wexlaer Coffee where they had their 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:24.600 own brand, but they also packaged Dunkin Donuts coffee. You know, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:29.040 it was same coffee, just different thing. Um. So I 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.840 was literally there for about maybe six weeks when I 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.880 get the call that I got an interview at William Morris. Um, 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.720 what was your cousin doing that he could get you 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:44.120 the interview her, and she was she was the assistant 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:49.360 to the head of personnel. And was she a close cousin. Yeah, 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:51.520 we all grew up on the same block in the Bronx. 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:56.400 So I got the interview. I mean obviously she kept putting, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.560 you know, my resume on the top of the pile. 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.240 So when it was time for them to high air 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.800 and I got the job. So I quit the coffee factory. 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.280 I think they saw it coming. They knew that this 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:15.520 was a placeholder for gathering some income. And so I 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.800 was at the in the mail room. And when you 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.160 moved to New York City, uh not for a year. 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.880 I I literally just took the bus in from New 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:24.840 Jersey because I had a year lease on the apartment 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:29.200 in Hackensack, and worked my way into the music department. 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.240 Became a little bit slower for those people. Okay, you're 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.160 in the mail room. What do you actually do in 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:45.120 the mail room? You deliver mail, sort the mail, make copies. Um, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.640 you sit on the reception desk when the receptionist is 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:55.920 uh is that lunch? Um? You run errands. So when 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.720 you're there, how many people are in the mail room, 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.720 Probably about eight to ten trainees at any given time. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:09.640 And were any of them women? No, not in nineteen 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.520 seventy nine, no, different totally. Okay. How many of those 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.000 people make it up the ladder and how many people 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:25.200 wash out? Um? Probably about sixties sevent make it up 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.440 the ladder to an assistant. And I don't know how 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.199 it works now at those companies and I'm removed from it. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.560 But you know, you'd become an assistant to an agent. 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.000 Let's say we're in the mail room. How long you're 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.000 in the mail room before you stop doing that? For 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.520 me it was little over a year, okay. And are 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.600 you looking for opportunities or do they find the opportunities 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.000 for you? You make friends? At that time I was 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.359 making friends with you know, the agents upstairs and the 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.720 assistance upstairs. They knew that my target was mused um. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.120 And then when the spot opened, I got it. And uh, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.119 you know, when you're an assistant there um, there's rules 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:15.440 to follow, you know, just it's a corporate structure there um, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.520 which I don't fit in with very well. And you know, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.800 as as the department evolved, all of a sudden, somebody's 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:28.359 in charge of the department. That's like that gets me, um, 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.600 your friend and mine, Wayne Forte, he was in charge 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:33.800 of the department. He was the head of the department 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:39.120 during a time when like I was really developing my skills. 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.120 I mean we were we were out every night, all 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:50.240 the assistants. We're out every night, or at Rahs, Max's, CBGBs, 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.320 the mud club at like where the headliner comes on 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.560 at one thirty to two o'clock in the morning. And 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.280 you got to be at work what time, by ten, 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.880 But if you're smart, you're there at your desk by 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:07.080 thirty nine, you know. And you know, so having done that, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.920 you know, you also start getting itchy. So I ended 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.679 up finding a band to manage um to hone my 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:21.000 skills with. And you know that's totally not part of 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:25.520 the rules. But and also for these guys in this 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.360 band who have who are still to this day very 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.960 close friends of mine, you know, they trusted in me 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:38.720 um and I didn't know ship. I mean I literally 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.600 they were guinea pigs, you know, but they had nobody else. 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.440 I just loved them. I thought they were really good. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:47.880 Just go back for a second. When you're out every night, 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.760 are you going to see the company's bands or are 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:56.119 you looking for new talent to sign a little of both, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.720 not really looking on behalf of the I was. I 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:03.200 was typing contract so all day I was answering phones. Um, 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.639 I wasn't ready to go sign a band to the agency. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.720 I hadn't honed my skills. You know, I was out, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.119 you know, because you know, I guess one of the 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.480 highlights of my career early on was I was out 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:21.000 enough people knew I where I worked that the day 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.120 I knew, I could walk to C. B. G B's 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.720 Hilly Crystals, sitting there and I get in free, right, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.480 I mean easily one of the ten highlights of my 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.040 career when I when I'd go to Max's Kansas City 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.240 and I've been sitting at the door, come on in, 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.360 you know, ever being at the Roxy and I still 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.720 have it when the table was reserved and it was 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.879 my name, I took that sting. That was one of 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.879 the same things. So I mean that those were magic, 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.720 And you know, so I get to go see Johnny Thunders, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.800 I'd get to go to shows and go I just 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:56.800 wanted to be entertained when I wasn't doing business. I 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:59.800 wanted to go see bands. If I wasn't at Yankee Stadium. Okay, 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:05.119 so how did you find this band to manage? Um? 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:09.760 I started. I met this girl who was managing a 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.320 band and asked who asked me if I had help? 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:18.240 All right, And this was quasi romance. No what No, 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.520 not at all, not at all, just somebody I met, 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.760 And like, I'm just meeting people who are involved because 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:29.680 I'm making friends, making meeting new people, um that are 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.159 on the scene in New York. Because prior to that, 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.600 I was just a college kid who go into the 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.399 city to go watch bands. So now I'm part of 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:43.720 I'm trying to incorporate myself into this scene. And I go, 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.639 I saw this band, I said, yeah, I'd like to 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:51.280 help him out, but then I got blown out instantly, right, um. 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.240 But through her, I met this other band, UM band 0:21:55.280 --> 0:22:00.680 called the Boyfriends, UM four guys UM that I could tell. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:08.160 Their influences were you know, the Beatles, the Stones, and 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.600 they were living in the punk rock world, um, which 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:14.240 is no different than when we first all discovered the Ramons. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:16.480 You knew, God, these guys loved the Beatles and the 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.320 Beach Boys, you know, at a time when like music 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:24.000 was all about bands, Like yes, there was a refreshment there. 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:29.200 So so I started managing this band and really wasn't 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.479 that smart of a manager. I was just because I 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.400 was at an agency and I was meeting promoters and clubs. 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:41.560 I was getting them really really good gigs. And ultimately, Wayne, 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:43.679 who was the head of the department, and you know this, 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:47.360 he's the represents David Bowie. He's brought in the Clash 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.360 and the Jam, all of these bands that like, we're 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:54.920 cooler than anything new at the time for me. Um, 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:58.879 he kind of saw what I was doing, um and 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:03.639 let me get away with it. Yeah. And uh. He 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:08.760 had this band on Columbia called the Hitmen and they 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:10.800 were coming out around the same time as a psychedelic 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.760 first same label, and he goes, Andy, this band is 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.320 going to move to New York. They're gonna be here 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.640 for eight months or two a year, and they want 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.040 to work like a local band. I want to see 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:25.399 them getting the kind of gigs that you're stupid band 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:34.000 is good. And from that was it. I got instinct 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:37.679 and was able to achieve results. I was able to 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:42.280 achieve results, and I did a good enough job that 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.840 that Wayne, as head of the department, ran interference with 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:47.320 the people upstairs about the fact that I wore sneakers 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:51.480 to work every day. So that was good, very important, 0:23:52.040 --> 0:24:07.200 very important. Okay, and don't you fumble at first booking gigs. Um, 0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:11.359 I got the hang of it pretty quick, you know what, 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:13.800 I don't you know what. I worked for this agent 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:19.000 as the assistant to this guy Stewinstrub, and he was 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:21.679 very plugged in. I mean his acts were like you know, 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:26.600 Andy Gibb and Herbie Hancock, and he was a territorial booker. 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:30.000 So through him I would hear his tech. You know, 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:35.240 you had a listening device, so I'm hearing I'm hearing him. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:39.840 I'm hearing his rap the way he does it. Um. 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:45.240 And there was a real sincerity to him that because 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.119 I knew him, I knew that was real sincerity. It 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:54.040 wasn't like, you know, I wasn't jive talking, and so 0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:56.800 I probably picked up a little bit of how he 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:00.959 does it, and I know what my personality is and uh, 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:05.359 and I knew I was learning the mechanics of of 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:09.760 numbers of how you know, gigs work and up and 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:13.520 just gathering it. But you know, the focus was, Hey, 0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:16.280 I get to be close to music. Okay, So you're 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:18.760 managing this band, you're working with a hit man. And 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:24.960 what happens next? Um, both bands flopped despite me having 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:30.080 done a good job. UM, And what happens next is 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:33.760 at at William Morris Wayne Wayne leaves to start I 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:38.359 t G with another agent, etcetera. I'm left there, A 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:42.240 new department head is brought in from the outside who 0:25:42.280 --> 0:25:46.119 has a young gun, etcetera. And I had been promoted 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:51.159 to agent literally right before Wayne left. UM And realistically 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:54.879 I probably wasn't ready. I just think I was rewarded 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.520 for whatever. But I knew I was going to ultimately 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:01.719