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Welcome to my diary page which, as a result of this manic lifestyle I lead, is generally only updated on a weekly basis. Simply click on the month you want to view. If you have more time, why not visit my Diary Archives from 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011? Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec Sunday 29 January, 2012 Well, hold the bus – all change! I’ve just returned from Olly Murs tour rehearsals in Wakefield! Why didn’t I tell you about this last week, you would be well within your rights to enquire? Well, avid (patient) followers, that’s because I didn’t know! Honest Injun. No sooner had I fired off last week’s entry to be uploaded, when – at Monday lunchtime – I was asked to spend the next three weeks with Olly (prior to my departure to China with Westlife) as his Tour Accountant. Funny old world, huh? Now, yes, there was me saying that having the next three weeks “free” would certainly be advantageous, to push on with a plethora (she’s a nice girl) of domestic tasks. Admittedly, for a few minutes there – following the initial contact from Olly’s people – I pondered graciously declining the offer, and staying put in Edinburgh to oversee the work requiring done on the house (‘cause you know how much I’m keen to downsize, in the near future): however, quite apart from the excellent relations I enjoy with Modest Management, who also look after the likes of JLS, Rebecca Ferguson and One Direction, who nowadays can turn down three weeks of well-paid work, no matter the nature of our chosen vocation? So, how did the remainder of the week unfold? Well, obviously, following Monday’s lunchtime call – and my acceptance of the work – I had to get my skates on: initially to re-schedule a bunch of household tasks that were plannedd from tomorrow onwards (30th Jan through 4th Feb) and, latterly, to prepare the various accounting programmes to mange a tour such as this. Olly Murs, gentleman that he is, has – to date – 95% sold a UK and Ireland arena tour: that, folks, in these financially austere times, is no mean feat. I am now here to help to push it on to 100% total sellout: and, I would have to say (having kept my powder dry for a long time – up until around now) there are few who do it better. At this point, if Tim Hook - a very accomplished Tour Accountant, and a decent lad to boot - were to step forward and question my claim, then I would have to hold up my hand and admit that he is definitely one of “the few”. Sure, there are many, many, qualified accountants in this world, a fair amount of whom are generally aware of the basic mechanics of concert touring: however, of course, life on the road is way beyond that. The Tour Accounting (learned only by the seat of my pants, in the case of your weathered writer) is almost the easiest part of it: undertaking the work in a different city each day, packing and unpacking several times a week or – as I prefer to do – spending 4/5 of those nights on the crew sleeper bus, is where stamina, resource and patience come into play. One is out here operating with a tight-knit team of professional concert technicians, getting little change from a sixteen-hour day, six days a week: out here tells you much about a person’s ability to handle intense work schedules and meet stringent deadlines (but the buzz is terrific). Today, Sunday, is the second of four “production” rehearsal days, then we are out of here, down to Cardiff, for the opening two shows of the tour. It’s great to be involved, it’s great to be part of such an efficient operation and – to top it all – it’s great to be alive! Until next week, fans ….. Sunday 22 January, 2012 Jake makes it back from the Orient! But, wait for it – fool that he is – he’s going back again! Yes gang, I can “exclusively reveal” that I will be returning to the vastness of China on 20th February, with the Westlife lads, to undertake seven shows in mainland China and one show – at the tail-end of the tour – in Hong Kong. This will make it my fifth trip to China in 25 years. I arrived back into Heathrow, from Beijing, this past Monday (16th) on the daytime flight from Beijing and have, thankfully, encountered no traces of jet lag this week, yet: oddly enough, I generally find myself more afflicted when flying East to West. On the outward (night) flight to Beijing, a week past Thursday, I followed my reasonably successful routine of having dinner (always served within an hour of take-off, on night flights), watching a movie – and then getting my head down. The final part of this routine is keeping oneself busy upon arrival at one’s destination, the idea being to fall in with the time scales of the “new” territory. So, whatever you do, try to resist the temptation to lay back on the hotel bed for a while - or to take a bath! Having already booked a connecting BA flight on Monday from Heathrow to Edinburgh, after arriving from Beijing, I found myself back in the house by 6.00 pm that evening. My next touring venture is as noted above, meaning I’m due back at Heathrow in a few weeks time. Now, I could go nosing around for bits and pieces of work over the next month however – quite apart from the fact that I need to put six/seven days of pre-tour work into Westlife’s China/HK dates – if I don’t organize the various cosmetic refurbishment jobs to be done in the house, while I’m back here for the next few weeks, then it could be July before I manage it. The biggest task, house wise, is the re-modeling of the bathrooms: once this work has been finished, I’m on a home run. It’s hard to believe that I’ve existed with said bathrooms in such a poor state of repair, for over five years – but, relatively speaking, I’ve hardly been there. There’s only two “main” jobs to be completed after the above: the re-laying of the conservatory floor covering - and a minor upgrade to the central heating system (the latter to bring it into line with the new super-duper condensing boiler that was installed just under two years ago). The housing market – as any British reader will know – remains stagnant, to the point that my local friendly estate agent, kindly paying me a second visit over the last few months, to proffer some free advice, has conservatively informed me that my house is probably still worth only what I paid for it! I know I’m in the same boat as the vast majority of house owners, but... ouch! So, lets see how organized I am this coming week, in scheduling the above work: naturally, as each of the main four tasks are dealt with, there will flow within me a renewed enthusiasm for the remaining myriad of minor tasks, many of which (believe it or not) even I am capable of! I’m in sight of the “For Sale” sign outside the house and that’s a huge incentive for me to keep the pressure up to complete all the works. Sorry to bang on so much about this house issue. XX Sunday 15 January, 2012 In the past, dear readers, I have communicated to you from some fine, and faraway, places. This week sees no exception to that, as I sit here (in the wee small hours) in the Grand Westin Hotel in Beijing: things have changed markedly in this city, since the occasion of my first visit – back in the summer of 1986 – with Wham!. In the twenty-five years since that initial visit, the centre of Beijing now looks like Canary Wharf. I recall little of tall buildings, glass edifices and concrete throughways, back in ’86. I’ll admit I don’t have crystal clear recall of that period – but I nevertheless retain a gallery of snapshot images from the time spent in and around the city: one of those distinct recollections is of the run from the airport to the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel (still there, I’m told – however the modern traffic nightmare that threatens to strangle the city, has prevented a quick visit). On that drive towards the hotel, I clearly remember the driver continually negotiating his way around errant farm workers, struggling to propel their donkey-driven, overloaded, carts in any sort of straight line. Alas, no more: within minutes of leaving the (now extensive) airport complex, the congested freeway into town introduces itself – with not a farm worker in sight. The occasion of this visit was to accompany Paul Potts, and his Musical Director, Chris Taylor, down here, where Paul appeared tonight in a huge, pre-recorded, New Year – Chinese New Year, that is – TV gala: one of my prime functions, similar to many previous roles I have undertaken (endured?) down in South East Asia, is to ensure the client sticks to his part of the bargain. You might wonder why there would be such an emphasis on a “regulatory” role, what with the event all tied up contractually, before we even set foot on the plane. Oh, for it to be so simple! The trouble with this part of the world, as it percolates up to the “Western”: standards by which most of us conduct our business, is that they see no problem with “moving the goalposts” once the Artist is physically in the market. They are paying good money, so why should that not be their divine prerogative? (that’s their line of thinking anyway). Generally, it manifests itself in a persistent assumption that the content/look of the event/performance can be altered to their liking, despite what has been contractually agreed. The core of this approach centers around the fact that – once the Artist is here, he/she will be far more vulnerable to deviation. So, yes, that’s where I generally enter the fray. Although we arrived here Friday (13th) – unlucky for me? – it took the TV show’s producers until midnight last night to announce that they had pre-recorded all of the orchestra tracks, when we were under the strict impression we would be working with a live orchestra. So, you follow the subterfuge here, yes? Inform the Artist of a significant change to the proceedings, when there is insufficient time to change it back to how it should have been. Now, in spite of the fact that Paul’s management have insisted on full payment of the fee prior to our departure, if Paul was one of those Artist’s – and thank God he’s not – that threw a strop and just jumped back on a plane to London, then guess who takes the flak for his non-appearance: and, of course, those people deviously know this. This has made for a frantic, past, twenty-four hours. It’s enough to have you climbing the (Great) wall! Sunday 8 January, 2012 Help me Rhonda – help me get more out of my life (what a band the “Beach Boys” were, yes?) So, the New Year is officially upon us, one week old already: I can’t boast monumental change on my part, just yet: except the mild boast that I’ve consumed no bread in 2012. More to come. Can I just tell you (if I haven’t already done so – the old memory may not be what it once was) that prior to the onset of the Christmas period I was weighing in at just under 12 stone – 168 pounds – which was a fair achievement for me, when you consider I was over 13 stone – 182 pounds – when I came off JLS’s summer tour in August of last year. At my (our?) age, it’s not so easy to shed those extra pounds. Nevertheless, I have a method that works for me. Initially, I adhere to the “South Beach” regime - can’t quite recall the author’s name – but, as always, a Google search will reveal all. “South Beach” - may prove too tough for many, but I have learned to deal with the first two weeks, that prohibits (are you ready for this?) any form of pasta, baked goods, fruit, sugar – even “natural” sugars – and alcohol. Could you handle that? I’ve yet to conclusively study the actual process(es) that result in the loss of at least a pound every two days (if you are indeed carrying excessive weight), however it has it’s roots in the complete abstinence of any form of sugar, which – in conjunction with your pancreas and the regulation of insulin secretion – somehow causes your body to attack it’s fat stores. I think. Anyway, folks, it works for me. Living on my own most of the time definitely helps: I just empty the fridge and cupboards of the “offending” foods, stocking up on chicken, fish, vegetables and salad greens. If you obviously need to lose weight – and you can strictly stick to South Beach’s “Phase 1” guidelines for the first two weeks - you will definitely drop 7 – 10 pounds fourteen days. Of course, where it all becomes unstuck for me is when I’m back out on the road, at the mercy of excellent tour caterers with their wide array of comfort food, on offer every day. Enough of that: didn’t mean to bang on about the weight-loss thing for so many paragraphs. What else is occurring in this topsy-turvy world of mine? Well, gang, hold on to your hats because this week’s “scoop” (it’s time I gave you one of those) is that I am returning to the fray with Westlife’s Farewell Tour! What a turn up for the books, huh? It was meant to be. As my regular readers will know, I spent almost three years with the lads, back between 2004 – 2006, a manic period indeed, but most enjoyable: never a dull moment with these boys, oh no. Their six week UK and Ireland tour, from mid-May through until the end of June, is already 97% sold out, on average (pretty impressive, when you consider that the final two shows will be staged at Dublin’ 85,000 capacity Croke Park – no shortage of tears, all round, at that show!). So: plenty to keep me busy over the coming months. Who knows – if my football endeavors can unearth the next Lionel Messi before the end of June, then it may be my last tour as well – wouldn’t that be something?! I’m off to change my cellphone number meanwhile! Until next week. Sunday 1 January, 2012 Before we go any further, may I wish all my regular readers a very Merry Christmas! (I would have done so last week, had I written last week’s entry on the day I was meant to. Ooops). Here, today, starts what I suspect will be a defining year for me: let’s face it – I am four months away from my sixtieth birthday (a milestone in itself) therefore there’s an argument that I can’t continue this global marauding indefinitely. Consequently, come the end of this year, I should start to consider the other commercial avenues that could possibly be beckoning me. The other day, I was thinking “OK, continue your touring exploits until you are sixty-five – because you are in apparently excellent health – and then, with your house paid off and a little reserve cash in the bank, go reasonably indulge yourself, while you’re still fit enough to do so”. The above plan is reasonable folks, because – apart from anything else – I have no fear of hard work. Where it may fall down slightly is that, paradoxically, as I slowly become older (it’s unavoidable in this life) I become marginally less employable. The reason being, most of the Artist Management in this country are now younger than me: the Managers who are extremely experienced, are confident in their abilities – and who have a close relationship with their Artist(s) – fear nothing from a guy like me (in fact, I like to think those particular managers recognize the contribution I can make in the ongoing development of their clients). However, where it can – truthfully – become a little unstuck for me, is when a younger management set-up is looking to staff the tour of one of it’s “meteoric-rise” Artists: they take a quick glance at my C.V. and it makes them nervous (remember that over the length of – say – a four month world tour, the Artist/Act will spend way more time in the close company of his/her Tour Manager, than they will their personal Manager: that’s a worry for some of the latter). So, we win some – we lose some. I have no wish to enter the world of personal Management – I’ve seen first hand how grief consuming it can be. When a tour is finished, I hand in my accounts, tidy up a few loose ends and then that’s me cut loose, on the trail of my next gig. Not so, if you are the Artist Manager: you are continually on call, at the whim of your famous charges. Sure, if you land the right Artist, you are home and dry – however it’s an interesting observation to note that – as a personal Manager, your Artist/Act will need to gross upwards of Ł750,000.00 a year before you are exceeding the sort of money a successful Tour Manager can pull down on an arena tour. Guess which of the two jobs is liable to give you the least hassle? Well, onwards into the unknown, that currently masquerades as the year 2012. By this time next week, I should be able to disclose some interesting news in regards to my work involvements over the upcoming months. This last week I have used the annual “downtime” between Christmas and New Year to stay on top of all issues domestic - all geared towards the sale of my property by the middle of this New Year. That will be a major weight from my shoulders: I just can’t keep pace with the routine maintenance required on the house and garden, because I am out of the country so much. Finally, may I wish all of you (my loyal readers) a prosperous New Year: let’s go there together, bravely, and see what it holds for us.
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