This morning at breakfast with my friends at Einstein’s, someone mentioned an “infrequent regular” being home for a three-day weekend from Baylor (the big school in Waco and frequent recipient of football pummeling from UT). Midterms was my guess and with it being mid-October, seemed to be about right because college goes by quickly as each semester is only around 16 weeks.
I remembered how my senior year was going pretty well 20 years ago. Everything appeared to be firing on all cylinders finally with only one exception, I got shafted on an RA position again by one of Marquette’s many Hutts, aka the nepotistic, overweight hall directors who turned blind eyes to their pets smoking weed with the residents. Having my own apartment trumped the BS I’d endure living in the dorms anyway.
School rocked. For classes I had JOUR 100 (copyediting and layout), some broadcasting class on radio programming, ECON 043 (microeconomics), Marx and Marxism for Philosophy (more about the writings of the man, not all the nonsense which followed) and three hours of credit for the paid internship I landed at Stardate Promotions, which the bulk of this entry is about. Originally, I was also signed up to take ADPR 182 (PR campaigns) but I dropped the class shortly after the professor told me put my internship on the backburner to focus on her class. Knowing everything then, I did the opposite. Besides, I had 180 and 181 with her, I sensed this teacher felt PR belonged only in the realm of non-profits, governments and corporations. It had no place in an entertainment capacity. I would take 182 again with the other teacher in the Spring to get a change of pace, he at least did publicity for a formula one racing team and had an autographed picture of James Garner in his office!
Losing the three hours didn’t matter. Last Spring I did the math on graduating when I probably should’ve been listening more to Dr. Scotton’s lecture in media and law (a study on SCOTUS cases, what’s the difference between libel and defamation primarily). Even if I took 36 hours my senior year, I was going to fall short by 15 hours in the Spring of 1990 so why stress out. Maybe graduating at the end of the calendar would be better…something the recession to kick off the Nineties proved dead wrong.
Outside of Marquette, things were cooler. As I said in the last 1989 story, my relationship with Carrie gelled into her being officially my girlfriend. The apartment was a pleasant refuge from school. I killed many hours there playing Super Mario Brothers 2 when I should’ve been reading my homework. Neal continued to run a monthly RoleMaster (rival to D&D) game at his place. My relationship with Paul and Helen healed up too. They were both in the same dorm then and had roommates who were scarcely around to disrupt their extensive visits. I only saw Phil at Neal’s game. Jose, I don’t recall unless it was something social or Carrie wanted practice her Spanish with him.
The biggest highlight, beyond Carrie, was the internship I mentioned earlier. Last year I burned all my bridges with WMUR and matters at WQFM didn’t work out since I wasn’t a member of the right clique. Spending Christmas Break in California also gave me pause on what I was pursuing. I did feel pretty dejected as the semester started. How could I graduate in the next year without having any further involvement in “the business?” Heck, I briefly considered pursuing a different career yet stubbornness and a I’ll-show-them attitude pointed at WMUR kept me from seriously reflecting the options. Then I spotted the ad in The Marquette Tribune with Stardate, one of the three concert promoters in Milwaukee (in 1989). Through WMUR I had interacted with them to set up ticket giveaways for Peter Murphy, Echo & the Bunnymen, Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods, Midnight Oil and Terrence Trent D’arby. My semester under Mark “Mangy Man” Krueger, WQFM’s promotion director, gave me another advantage. I decided to go for broke by applying and boy did I want it. Good thing I did succeed, it’s one odd chapter of my life I have a hard time imagining differently.
Stardate was an awesome experience. It was a small company that did huge things. The founder Randy McElrath had only a few employees and through them they succeeded to put on successful concerts in venues as large as the Bradley Center. Randy was an interesting guy. He fell into the business accidentally in the Seventies and survived against the tougher competitors of Milwaukee because Randy was as honest as he possibly could be in a cut-throat field. I think he used to be a teacher who worked as a radio sales person during the Summers and he found a way to organize concerts as the live-music business grew into the 800-pound gorilla it was in the Eighties. Randy’s office contained a bitchin’ photo of the Rolling Stones with Billy Preston on stage in County Stadium as a demonstration of what he achieved.
Assisting him were his production director (this man’s name escapes me, I did take his advice to learn more about computers), Jane Apker (the lady I reported to) handling the media interactions and Bob Roux, the talent buyer. The experience I gained from this trio blew away anything WQFM or WMUR taught me. Being paid for my time with them didn’t hurt along with receiving a free pair of tickets to anything they booked. Stardate’s location, above Landmark Lanes on Farwell Avenue, evolved into a detriment. It was closer to Carrie’s apartment than Marquette which meant I spent many dinners with her instead of attending my ECON 043 course or using the mean plan I bought.
Jane was a saint for putting up with me. She let me write the press releases for the (sold out) B-52’s and Billy Squier concert. She got me an audience with Steve Sinnicropi of Hot 102 for my radio programming paper. Overall, a really supportive person who wanted me to succeed.
Bob was a lesson from another angle. We got along through our association from Illinois. He attended the University of IL and cut his teeth with Starcourse, the same organization my brother got involved with to set up concerts at the school. Thankfully I was never on the receiving end of his wrath I’d overhear on the phone, usually an argument between him and some act’s manager. The most insightful conversation I had with Bob was about Stardate not booking any Rap acts which were growing in popularity. He replied that Stardate had no issue over the genre, it was the management of those performers. Bob stated they were too greedy and very inexperienced on how the economics of promotion worked. Inevitably, the wise acts would catch on, hire better managers and have longer-term success. He must’ve been right. The above link shows where he is in the food chain today. I should’ve hitched my career to his rising star sooner, especially when I stumbled upon his name in the Austin Chronicle 10 years ago on a piece regarding the concert business.
Around the time of the Christmas party, Randy let me know I was welcome to return to the following semester since Jane found me to be helpful and Bob promised to take me clothes shopping because he knew how to dress for success.
Sadly, I didn’t bother. A handful of things happened around Christmas Break 1989-90 (for another post) to instigate a crisis of confidence in me and I called to tell them I wouldn’t be back in January. It was heartbreaking but my charmed life kicked in weeks and years later. Thanks to Gloria Estefan canceling TWICE on Stardate, Randy sold Stardate to rival Joe Balistreri. Jane and Bob resigned in protest because Balistreri used some unsavory, dishonest practices which finally got the attention of local authorities in 1991. The ongoing rumors of ties to the Outfit didn’t help. Years later, I have never regretted bailing out while I could. Almost everything involved in music has been squeezed down to a few players. Bob and Randy are employees of Live Nation which is a front for Clear Channel. Even if I hitched my wagon to Bob’s career as I jokingly sated earlier, I probably would’ve been found redundant and forced out because I developed a pesky conscience.
I don’t regret the time at Stardate from 1989. It was a memorable time making phone calls to nearby cities to see how records by The Cult, Bonham and Metallica were selling; getting cheeseburgers at the legendary diner Ma Fisher’s for dinner; getting to rent Stardate’s skybox for an Admirals’ game and showing off my own desk to Jose the time he visited Stardate’s office.
Coming up under the History section…what I discovered during the same semester yet didn’t realize its full potential until my second Senior semester.
