True Story: I moved to Los Angeles in January of 2019, the last ‘normal’ year before the great lockdown when everything changed. I was ‘starting over’ in a way with a welcome change of scenery. It’s a long backstory, but it was an awesome experience building back up and getting to work a bunch of ‘side gigs’ until my ‘big break.’ One of those gigs was working the Grammy’s pre-party of 2020. One of the last great Hollywood parties before the Quarantine.
My favorite ‘hustle’ was bartending and event serving. It also happened to be my specialty after 15 years of service in Las Vegas. It wasn’t anything close to the money I was used to making on the Strip, but the experience was completely worth the effort. I’ll give you an example…
The Grammy’s Sunday Night awards show after-party itself wasn’t anything that special for me personally, I was just some bartender in a ‘VIP’ section where nothing all that exciting happened or anything. But the pre-party a few days before was a good one, and it was at an iconic spot somewhere around Sunset Boulevard. They gave us some custom shirts to wear, and they even had a special Hollywood crew on hand to style our hair. That kind of treatment might have been normal working in Central Casting, but almost never for bartending.
Except I wasn’t bartending at this event, I was bar-backing. The organizers went all out for this party and requested special ‘model’ bartenders for this gig. Unfortunately, my agency of ‘Average Joes’ were not fit for this job, so we were only there in support roles this time. But that was totally cool, the models were super cool, and the event went pretty smoothly overall. Not that it was easy. None of you people have any idea how close we were to completely running out of ice that night. Or the effort that went into keeping all of the wine and champagne chilled just right. Or how many trips were made up and down the stairs to gather fresh-cut limes for those drinks of yours. We were the first bar that was available to the public when they opened the doors, and we got slammed the hardest by far that night.
Anyway, there are two bold statements I can proclaim about that experience. One, is that there was probably no harder working performer in the building that night than the guy writing this story. It’s totally possible that if this guy wasn’t working the event that night, that there could have been some kind of terrible ‘ripple effect’ that affected the entire party in a most unfortunate way. For example, who wants to stand around sipping on warm champagne and lime-less, ice-free gin & tonics? Exactly. You’re welcome.
The other bold statement is that I also had the chance to reach out and touch one of my favorite rock stars. I was racing around the lounge working when I noticed Dan Auerbach from ‘The Black Keys’ in the middle of the room! He was standing there talking with people and posing for pictures. I wanted to interact with him too, but wasn’t an official attendee; I was there to pick up the glassware. For a while I was kind of hovering around hoping he would finish his drink so I could offer him another one. “Hey Dan, can I get you another one?” But he never finished, and soon disappeared. However, it was a busy party scene with people bumping into each other to get by. And I did get close enough to make contact with him on the sly. Because it’s not that I needed his shoulder to support my balance in that moment; but I certainly could have, so it seemed pretty discreet I think. Regardless, it wasn’t a selfie, an autograph, an interaction, a handshake, or even a ‘fist-bump.’ But it is possible that I have some DNA somewhere on the back of Dan Auerbach’s jacket. True story, hail to the king…
Dan’s side gig solo song; ‘King of a One Horse Town’ is about getting out of your comfort zone, and was written for “anyone who’s scared of the outside world. Anyone who’s afraid to go beyond their own block for fear of failure.”
Dan and Patrick of ‘The Black Keys’ are also offering their own Musical Master Course. Maybe…
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