datamusicata

Today I want to talk more about opportunities and how to miss them, as that seems to be my special gift. This lesson begins years ago when a wonderful older Dutchman named Rudy opened a club in Marina Del Rey called Hop Singh’s. Rudy had run the successful jazz club, the Lighthouse, at the beach for years and was moving into Marina Del Rey, figuring that the neighborhood was on the rise and a jazz club would do well there.

I saw Phil Woods there, doing an all acoustic show. I mean, no sound system, he had a bass player, a percussionist, a piano player and him on sax. They listened to each other and did the mixing themselves based on how loudly they played. They listened too each other and responded. It was magnificent and the inspiration for my acoustic shows with no sound systems at house concerts. Something truly wonderful happens in that situation, …but I digress. I saw many great acts there and performed there myself at least twenty times. I loved the place. And that leads us to the missed opportunity.

One night, I am on the bill the with Persuasions, an acapella vocal group. I walk on the stage and things just clicked. Every note I sang was bel canto and every lick I played effortless and musical. The audience reacted as though Jesus had returned and they couldn’t get enough of that salvation schtick.

Not only was the music on, but my comedy was absolutely happening. I had that rolling thing where everything you say knocks the laughter up a notch until no one can stop laughing and everything I said just added to that. I triumphantly left the stage and threaded my way through the congratulatory crowd to my dressing room.

As I got to the door, a sort of handsome young fellow came up grinning with his hand stuck out, in which there was his business card. I took it and glanced at it. A name I had never heard and an address at an apartment on N. Gardner in Hollywood, not far from the Guitar Center, I figured. Not a seriously upscale neighborhood. And who was I to talk? I was living in a one bedroom groundfloor apartment on Beachwood Drive in Hollywood.

The guy proceeds to tell me that he is on tour as the opening act for the Temps and the Tops show—the Temptations and the Four Tops were performing around the country at that time. And by the way he told me he was the opening act, I knew that I was supposed to be impressed. This fellow was talking about being their opening act and that we were peers and that I was one of the funniest fellows he’d ever seen. He wanted me to call him.

By that time in my career, I had opened for Bill Cosby, Chick Corea, Bonnie Raitt, …you get the picture. And I was just thirty seconds from doing my show and experiencing blind adoration, so I felt a little arrogant. I smiled at him, talked for a few minutes and then went into my dressing room. Tossing the card in my guitar case, I went back out to catch a beer and the Persuasions set.

I didn’t think at all about that fellow for the next few months, but his card just layed there in my guitar case and finally, I decided to call him, figuring, you never know. When I called the number a taped operator came on and told me that the number had been disconnected. That was that.

A year or so passed before I saw that fellow again. He was starring in his own really wonderful TV sitcom…yep…Jerry Seinfeld.

Who knows what would have happened if I had called him the next day and connected with him? I know that I was doing a show with Carol Leifer at Milwaukee’s Summerfest –I think Carrot Top was the headliner- when she got the call to come to Los Angeles and work as a writer on his show. So he was bringing in real working performers as writers. All I had to do was call him and see what he wanted to talk to me about.

But I was so arrogant, I thought, hell, I’ve opened for bigger acts than that. Why should I call him? Why? I’ll tell you why. Because he took the trouble to seek me out and let me know how much he enjoyed the show and he wanted me to call him. How much trouble would that have been?

The lesson here is that competition is fierce and there are really so very many of us that are talented, gifted, and deserving that you can’t afford to disregard someone or something because you are feeling momentarily on top of things. It is the nature of the universe that no one and nothing stays on top of it for long. Be courteous. If someone goes to the trouble to seek you out, give them some time and some courtesy. You can always say no. …after you’ve heard what the deal is.

Years later, when he decided to do some touring, I contacted his agency and told them the story and asked to be considered for the opening act slot. Never heard back from the agency.