« Jason Robards: An Acting Lesson by a Master | Main | Your Choice: Lawrence Olivier or Larry the Actor »

One Man's Missed Opportunity, Another Man's Gold

Womanplayingforthebirds3 Can you imagine if you found out that you had the chance to entertain thousands, but instead you entertain whoever will listen at your local park? 

A friend of mine who is in the event planning industry and does a lot of booking of celebrities and newer talent, just told me a really interesting story that I think reaches across all of the genres of entertainment. 

My friend, "Devon", needed an opening act for a very big named singer.  All the parties involved had no problem with who this act was as long as he was talented, the only stipulation. 

The opening act is needed to play at a very huge event, a concert for a major charity with some heavy hitters in attendance.  This is a chance to get signed as well as the opportunity for major exposure. 

 DonkeyWith the date approaching and still struggling to find a musician to take the charity gig, Devon reached out to a friend in the music industry who knows tons of musicians, both 'names' and otherwise.  We'll call him Donkey.  So, she sent Donkey a very professional email asking him for help and wondering if he maybe knew anyone who would be interested in the gig.  "Check the hotel lounges", he smarted. 

Kind of in shock over Donkey's rather flippant response and with no time to waste, she moved on.  Under the gun, Devon went to MySpace, typed in top unsigned artists in X city and she found a unsigned musician with thousands of online fans.  After listening to his music, she was sold. 

Devon emailed him asking if he would be interested in opening up for this very huge (the celebrity shall remain nameless) musician.  He freaked out!  He told her that this was a huge break.  Hours later, he still emails her thank you's because he can't contain his excitement.  

When Devon was relaying the story to me, I asked her why Donkey would be so flippant, never mind shut down an opportunity for one of his friends who could use the break.  We deduced that he is actually jealous over Devon's crush on another guy. 

Now Donkey's friends will never know that he potentially stood in the way of a chance of a lifetime.  Major agents will be at this event as well as a very large crowd to see the headliner.  Can you imagine if your road took a wrong turn leading to a dead end because someone, namely, a jealous, head-up-his-ass friend, couldn't get out of his own way to see this opportunity through for one of his peers. 

Personally if I found out that  one of my friends dropped the ball like that on my behalf, I would drop something very large on her pin-head! 

But on a more positive note, this guy just had one of those days where the planets just lined up. 

Devon reflected in retrospect, "Can you imagine if he didn't email me back right away?  I would've quickly contacted someone else.  I mean it was great that he emailed me right back, the job was his".  95.8 Capital FM's Party In The Park For The Prince's Trust - Stage

So when the planets line up, make sure you don't have your head so far up your rear-end, that you miss it! 

Congratulations, MySpace boy, this was your lucky day!

-- Heather Langone

Dig This

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c9cc153ef0105362079af970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference One Man's Missed Opportunity, Another Man's Gold:

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.