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A Send-Off Befitting A (MFT) Queen
Courtesy Madison Square Garden – MFTQ at MSG
Who else in this business could get a send-off on venue marquees and ticket booths across the country than the Motherfucking Ticket Queen? On April 1, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, The Forum, The Beacon Theatre and the Chicago Theatre closed their box offices for two minutes and 43 seconds, the length of the Beatles’ “Michelle,” to honor Shelley Lazar. The tribute began with Mark Rasmussen, VP of Ticket Operations for MSG Co., who knew Shelley Lazar for more than 40 years dating back to when he first began working at the Garden. Pollstar spoke with Rasmussen – or “Baby Cakes” as Lazar affectionately called him – to find out more about this amazing tribute.
Mark Rasmussen: On Sunday I received a call that [Shelley] had passed and it was obviously terribly upsetting. All day Sunday I stayed off of social media. I saw people posting stuff and it was popping up on my phone and I’m just kind of sitting and saying, “I’m not putting something on Facebook. It’s not worthy of her. What can I do?”
I thought about it for a while and on Monday morning I woke up and remembered that Paul McCartney actually sang “Michelle” to her, which was her real name, on her birthday a few years ago. I’m a huge Beatles fan, I’ve always been, and I said to myself, “I am pretty sure that Michelle is less than three minutes long.”
So the first thing I did as I jumped out of bed was pick up my phone and look at my music and saw that “Michelle” was two minutes and 43 seconds long. And I said to myself, “I think I got it.” When I got on the train that morning I called my boss Rich Claffey, he’s the EVP of facilities for Madison Square Garden Company, and I said to Rich, “I’d really like to do something speical …” He already knew that Shelley had passed. And I asked, “Would it be ok with you if I closed the boxoffice for two minutes and 43 seconds, the length of ‘Michelle?’’ And he says, “Sure. Great idea. Do it.”
What we did was close all five facilities at 3 p.m, for two minutes and 43 seconds exactly. Here at the Garden boxoffice, we played “Michelle” and on Facebook I wrote the following: “On Sunday we lost Shelley Lazar. She was more than a friend to most of us. Mentor, family, a true queen amongst us mortals. Her style, spirit and sense of humor and love surrounded us all. She made dreams come true for so many, and I’m brokenhearted beyond words. A family member is lost. Sweet dreams, Shelley.
“Dream on, dream on, dream until your dreams come true. Sing with me, sing for the years, sing for the laughter, sing for the tears. Sing with me just for today.
“So today at 3 p.m. eastern time, Madison Square Garden box office with the Radio City Music Hall treasury, the Beacon Theatre box office, the Chicago Theatre box office, and the box office of the Forum of Los Angeles will go dark exactly for two minutes and 43 seconds, the duration of ‘Michelle’ by the Beatles. If you would, please think of her at this time. Sing, hum, play the song in your head. I think this is a dream we could all make come true for her. Godspeed, motherfucking ticket queen one.”
This was my way of being able to pay tribute to her, but also to get other people to be able to participate as well. I got the greatest email from Patti [Hansen] saying that at 3 o’clock, I guess they must have been in England, 3 o’clock our time, they stopped, they played “Michelle” and they had a toast for Shelley.
I’m pretty sure that there were a lot of people I know at boxoffices outside of MSG, they all didn’t necessarily close, but they all paused at 3 o’clock to think of Shelley. It was something you can’t buy. It’s not flowers. It literally was something that was a tribute that went coast-to-coast, something so special for her because she was such a special person.