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Tours de Farce: Booking The Apocalypse… Now
I remember it as if it was yesterday…The Who light up the jungle skies. They pelted the agents with the rescheduled dates for Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes and offers for package deals like the Word Of Mouth Tour. The agents tried to retaliate but the promoters’ armored stock option plating stood up to the test. By morning it was over. We were still alive.
What makes a hero? Bravery? Courage? A good assistant, a Roladex and a fax machine? I can still remember the head promoter as he stood beside his chopper shortly after sunrise, surveying the routings for King Crimson and Moby. Even today, I can close my eyes and see him ordering the on-sales for Phish and Dave Matthews Band. But what I remember most were his last words before he climbed into his aircraft and took off for distant skies. He looked out over the smoldering amphitheatres and crushed machine gun bunkers from the night before and said…
“I love the smell of artist contracts in the morning. It smells like… showtime!”