The Memories are in the Music - Part I

It's been awhile since the last post. I have lots to tell you but so busy don't get much chance to blog. Here are some thoughts from a series I am writing about music memories. Hope you check out the corresponding links. Until next time, stay safe and warm.

Sylvester - You are My Friend...SF Opera House - March 11, 1979
I remember being so afraid of standing in a music hall with so many gay men I asked the record company to sit me by Two Tons of Fun's Parents. Imagine.

Marvin Gaye - at Radio City with Sister Sledge
Remember coming up from Philly to work with Sister Sledge on the production. I came up with the great idea to have the girls rise up from under the stage. The crowd went bananas for the first show. Guess who came up out of the stage for the second show? I will give you a hint, it wasn't the girls.

Bonnie Raitt - Drinking and having a ball at Clark Hall?
As a concert promoter during my college years I had the pleasure of booking Bonnie Raitt more than once. During those times she was drinking Jack Daniels. What a wonderful person to work with. Even though I was not a big fan of country music she blew me away as she continues too.

Pleasure - the NY - Tusla - SF to Portland trip
I left college to go on a 6 month internship with this soul group. It lasted over a year. Remember going cross country several times in a beatup bus from Boston to Oregon. These were incredible musicians that never got these just due. What a wonderful experience for a young man to have.

Patti Labelle - Look to the Rainbow
After rehab from a horrible car accident a psyciatrist suggested I do something that I really loved. I told him that I always wanted to stage shows and my favorite artist at the time was Patti Labelle. He encouraged me to find her and to show her what I had. Although the odds were against me Patti and her former husband Armstead too a chance on my and my business partner Bruce Stein (RIP). The result was the "Look to the Rainbow" Tour. Thanks Patti

A Summer Day in Harlem

Woke up early this morning smiling. Decided it was time to start my New Years Resolution to exercise every day. (-: Got out and went down to Central Park to walk 5 miles. Got lost in the park through the many trails and stumbled into the manure field. Thanks God my sinuses are acting up. The fact that I walked through it means something right? The field opened to a beautiful lake with a fountain. What a metaphor.

When I picked up my mail their was a envelope from a family friend who is probably 75 years old. Ms. Grant sent me a notice that saddened me. It was clippings from the Philly newspaper that Ms. Flo Sledge, mother and manager of the Sister Sledge singing group had passed away. She was the first women manager I had ever met when I was 17 years old. God bless her. She gave me my first road job in the entertainment industry with the group. She ruled with an iron hand but she did a great job getting the girls from obscurity to fame without them doing drugs or having babies. I most fond memory of Flo was when we were in Las Vegas opening for Bill Cosby. At 4am one morning she called my room to ask me why the flowers on the grand piano were wilted. I couldn't believe it. Everything always had to be perfect. She taught me a good lesson but that was a rough one and that one call changed my destiny. After that gig I decided to go into the corporate world. Went to work for Mobil Oil and then Philip Morris and then back into the entertainment industry for another 25 years. Thanks Flo. RIP Flo.


Looks like it is a good beach day. I haven't been in the ocean since Bahia, Brazil in March. Got to get wet sometime, plus it is hot as hell today.