Lessons Learned: Alex Hodges

“Experience is the best teacher,” is an expression people often use but that’s not the full quote. Ben Franklin actually said, “Experience is the best teacher but a fool will learn by no other.” In other words, it’s good to be able to learn without making the mistake yourself or making it twice.

Here’s a list of 10 recommendations, with examples.

1. Keep the fan in mind.

2. Keep the big markets in perspective.
 
I started representing Otis Redding while I was in college – before his first record – and continued to rep him up through the pinnacle of his career. 

At one point, though, I was commissioned into the Army as a finance officer and was stationed in California at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert – not exactly what I had in mind for a move to California.  But I still repped Otis and one weekend I went over to Los Angeles when he was playing on a package tour with the 5th Dimension and Marvin Gaye. The promoters hadn’t paid anyone for two nights in a row and this was no different. Marvin Gaye and Otis agreed that if they didn’t get the money due them to this point – either in cash or certified check – they wouldn’t go on.  The promoters could only offer a personal check.

So, even though the 5th Dimension went on, Otis pulled his band off the show and the crew pulled the gear off the stage. 
But, as we were leaving – escaping, you could say – we heard Marvin Gaye going on. 

It was a double hit.  We got snookered. 

Marvin Gaye did the right thing.  We did the wrong thing: We failed to keep the fan in mind.  And we forgot the importance of L.A.  Otis got bad press because, after all, as far as the fan is concerned, it’s the fault of the artist if he doesn’t perform. It would have been better to play the show and worry about payment later.  That was a powerful lesson.

 When it comes to this story and some of the ones below, the importance of big markets like Los Angeles is key. It’s important for bands to come in and play two days at the Greek, for example, and really dedicate some time to a market with so many people.

3. Use the microphone as a positive force.

The Allman Brothers Band was doing a stadium show in Atlanta in 1970. The band encouraged the audience to leave the stands and join them on the field. It turned out to be the wrong thing to do.

Duane Allman went to the microphone and said, “I wasn’t supposed to invite you down to the grass because we have to protect the grass.  I would like for everyone to stand up.  Now, so we can get on with the show and play our music for you, I’d like you to do this for me: I’d like you to turn around and go back to the stands, and be cool.”

Everybody stood up, turned around and went back to the stands. 

That’s using the microphone as a positive and not taking a negative attitude.  It was a magical and powerful moment. I remembered that moment and, a few years later, Lynyrd Skynyrd was opening as special guest at an arena show.  The headliner’s equipment and professional sound system didn’t show up, and the headliner never went on. 

At the time, I was in another town working another show but I got on the phone with Ronnie Van Zant and suggested the band play.

“Well, I could go out and ask the fans if they want us to play some music,” he said.  “The music will come through the amps and the house system.  It won’t be what we desire but if you think that’s what we should do, we’ll go do it.” 

He went onstage and asked the audience if they wanted Lynyrd Skynyrd to play.  The crowd screamed yes.  They went ahead and played with the most basic sound quality. I think the audience was still refunded because the headliner didn’t go on, but Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of only a handful of bands to win Atlanta from that point forward.

4. Timing is everything.

Everybody knows there’s a big difference between Saturday and Monday, but when routing a tour, you’ve got to play different days of the week including Mondays and Tuesdays.  Every year I’m reminded that if a band plays Sunday and then plays Monday, Sunday is going to be the bigger seller.  Sometimes you should take a day off and play Sunday and Tuesday or see if you can dedicate Friday and Saturday – but there’s definitely a difference in the day of the week, no matter the size of the city.

I’ve also learned it’s a rare artist who can add backwards – that is, book a Friday, then add a Thursday and sell it out, too.  It takes a strong band to draw that successfully.  I saw it a couple times this year: Michael Bublé and the Beastie Boys.

5. Work with people, not against them.

Having been an agent and having been a personal manager with Stevie Ray Vaughan in particular, I’ve recognized over the years that the promoter, the agent, the manager and the artist have common goals. 

Sometimes there are opposing forces at work – to make the deal, to get the highest guarantee, to alleviate the risk and make a reasonable guarantee.

And sometimes the appeal of making a tough and tight deal carries you away and you force ticket prices too high – but ultimately this is a business of people.  It’s important to find the common ground and mutual goals.

6. Be prepared and work hard.

7. Look beyond the moment; look at the long-term ramifications of a
decision.

8. Be open-minded about change, whether it’s Telex to fax, phone to e-mail, or
hard-stock tickets to Internet sales and print-at-home tickets.  Change is inevitable.

9. One of my favorites: Don’t assume.  Don’t make an ASS out of U or ME.

10.  Know when to quit asking and know when to listen. 

To wrap it up, here’s a great story about knowing when to stop talking and when to start listening:  The Allman Brothers Band was one of the acts to open the Louisiana Superdome.  It was a big show, and they were the headliner. 

There were hard-stock tickets delivered to outlets in many different, far-reaching places, and the counts kept changing.  It would be 84,000 one minute and 61,000 the next.  On day of show, they reported 11,000 new sales but the count actually went down.  We believed the number was supposed to go up. In fact, the Superdome must have used our math, too, because they later published the count we were looking for: 81,000.

Back then, you didn’t have computerized ticketing and you didn’t have scanning, but you did have a drop count from ticket stubs. But that was hard to count because they hadn’t cleaned out the boxes from the Saints’ football game.  So, here we are in the bowels of the Superdome, trying to argue this out and leave. I made the suggestion that we weren’t paid properly and we wanted the drop. 

I was looking at these bags filled with Saints tickets and our tickets, scratching my head.  I demanded the bags. I asked in a fairly firm manner to have the drop.  I asked again.  Finally, a Louisiana State Patrolman – much taller, much bigger and carrying a gun – walked up and looked me square in the face.

“If you ask for the drop again,” he said, “I’m taking you to jail.”

That’s when you quit asking.