sometimes it pays to keep it buttoned.

[Gary-monger]

it was new years eve 1999 and me, the Wife and kids were in a swanky hotel in majorca.

Advertised all over the hotel was a gala dinner, with "the Four Tops" playing, but it was already sold out....


my daughter had made friends with a girl called laura and we got friendly with her parents, Rod and Cathy, who were from London.

Anyway, they'd booked a table to the gig and they said we could join them....


At the band played, Rod turned to me and said, "you know these aren't the real Four tops - the original members left years ago and were replaced - this mob are the replacements of the replacements" - i asked him how he knew - "oh, i manage a few bands" - i remember thinking at the time, "oh yeh, like who, AC bleedin DC", but decided to keep my mouth shut.....


Couple of days later i was on the loo, checking out the financial press and was reading a interesting article about a couple of University graduates, who had built a music management company from scratch, managing bands like Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses etc, and had just floated it for a whopping 10M GBP.

the following day we were lounging around around the pool and my daughter asked "Dad, who are iron Maiden" ?? - i asked why she wanted to know - "oh, because Laura's Dad is their manager"


Then it all clicked together - And i thanked God that i kept my Gob shut at the "four tops" show, as it could have been the biggest put down in my life.....


Anyone else ever had a "thank god i kept my mouth shut" moment ??


And now:

"The Sanctuary Group PLC is the largest independent music company in the world, with rights to more than 150,000 recordings, and is also a leading artists management agency, with nearly 100 acts under contract, including Beyonce, Destiny's Child, The Who, Nelly, Iron Maiden, and Guns 'N' Roses. The company owns a number of record labels as well, including Sanctuary, Castle, Metal-Is, and Trojan. The Sanctuary Group offers a "360 degree" service approach, which includes management, recording studios, record labels, merchandising, financial advice, travel arrangements, and more. Founders Andy Taylor (executive chairman) and Rod Smallwood (head of artist services) continue to run the company and own stakes in it. Sanctuary has offices in London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston.


http://www.sanctuarygroup.com/

[Mel7348]

Gary-monger

Thankyou for a most entertaining post. I always enjoy your posts.

My husband thinks I(but won't admit it), sometimes is not often enough for me.
I wish I had your way with words.

[iancrumpy]

Gary-monger,
I can't remember a "Thank God, ... " but I well remember "I wish to God I'd kept my mouth shut" :
It was September 1996, and I'd just starting working at a school in Istanbul. Then I was single and I was trying to chat up the Turkish female PE teacher. I knew she coached the swimming team ... so to both create a connection between us and to impress her I told her (quite truthfully) that I had come 43rd in that Summer's across-the-Bosphorus swimming race.
You can imagine how I felt when she told me that she had come joint second in the same race ...