industryLIFE: Do You Love Me or Do You Love What I do?

When it all began, he was so smitten. She was a cutie, who seemed like a cool around the way girl. He was an out of work DJ.  He didn't have much going on at the time, but he tried his best to get her to talk to him. She wasn't interested, but kept it friendly enough to make him think that someday maybe they could hook up.

As time went on... she was offered an internship at a company out of state, which she took.  That lasted for about a year.  While she was away, the DJ set out to become "World Famous". His skills on the turntables were carving out a nice name for the young man! Before you knew it, he was building his brand and getting where he wanted to be.
Now as luck would have it, the young woman was wrapping up her internship, and decided to return to Atlanta to complete her studies. When she settled back into the city, she could not help but hear about the DJ, who had tried so intensely to make her his woman, because now he was everywhere! From celebrity parties, to charity events, if a DJ was needed he was on the bill.

Eventually they bumped into each other, and thanks to his current status, this chick decided she was NOW interested. Not much had changed about him, except for the amount of money that he was making, and his status in the industry. However, the people around him began to wonder if her intentions were honorable.

Time went on, and this still very humble guy, had no idea what his public image was doing for his love life. Immediately the woman began to make it very easy for the dude. If he wanted to take her out, she NOW had time. If he wanted to come by for visit, he was NOW welcomed. Eventually, things got intimate, and before long, they were an item.

Time passed, and soon people forgot about how this union had began before her internship drew her away.  All except for a select few who could still see past, and all the fake "love" she was NOW showing.  After some time, news came that they were having a baby. AWWWWW!!!  Dude was excited. He was going to be a dad!

In an attempt to do the right thing, he began making plans to buy a house for his family. He also began to adjust his schedule to be there for them. Then, he finally made the decision that it was time to make the relationship official, and get married.  Now while he was planning all of this, the woman, was making other plans.

Since she never really liked him in the first place, and was only there for the perks.  She was having major reservations about being with this dude in a house, or a marriage!  As the arrival date for the baby drew closer, there was a huge shower planned to welcome the bundle of joy. When the people who didn't trust the relationship from the beginning arrived, they noticed just how foul this chick really was!

She was down right mean & disrespectful. She was nasty to his friends, and even nastier to him! Everyone just watched in shock while the elephant in the room whispered, "She does not want him, she wants the fame & money!" And the elephant was right!  Now sometime between the house being bought, the baby coming, and the shower, he popped the question... and she answered with a big fat NO!

He was devastated... He had so many plans to make this work, but that was the last thing on her mind. To her, he was just a paycheck. A easy way to generate income so that she wouldn't have to work. She didn't want to marry him, she wanted to marry his money!!!

Heartbroken, the DJ decided not to go backwards, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. He pulled himself up by his boot straps, paid her the child support, became a good dad to his son and moved on with his life.

Eventually she tried the same move with another dude. But wouldn't you know it, he had a surprise for her. He was already married with a family, and wanted nothing to do with her, or the baby she was expecting! Thank God she did finish her education because she NOW had to get a JOB!!! 

industryLIFE: Spouses, Side Chicks, Groupies & Jump-offs

In the world of sports, you will at sometime come in contact with the wives, significant others and the infamous jump-offs. Often you will come into the players and athletes lives with little to no introduction which in turns has the spouses, significant others and even the jump-offs giving you the side-eye. They don’t care how many degrees you have, how you have your own man, how you don’t even think this one is cute; they will give you the side eye and if you wanna keep your job, you will have to build trust with them.

I once had a client who I had come aware of years before. He had been a major player at Georgia Tech and when the draft came, they came for him. By the time he and I began working together he had moved on to the Miami Dolphins and was married with three or four children. He wanted to get more exposure back home in Atlanta so he was referred to me. We worked out a great plan to get him radio, TV and special appearances. At first we kept our working life at the office but one day on our way to an event he had forgotten something and needed to make a stop by his house. When we arrived, I told him that I would just wait in the car but he vetoed that idea and said get out, plus my wife needs to meet you. I agreed. When we entered the house there was an eerie calm, it felt as if someone had been watching us as we sat in the truck before coming in…. Well the wife came down from the top floor of the immaculate house, as she walked down the stair case the scowl on her face was not warm and well wishing. Her eyes looked like daggers and she was looking at me. He hardly paid any attention and just said something like yeah, this girl I told you about that works with my agent. She do our Marketing.” Well I turned back to see if that would break the ice queen stare, it didn’t. A bit weary, I walked over to her, extended my hand and formally introduced my self. She hit me with “Hi”, no handshake. OK then I thought as he disappeared down another stair case. She and I just stood in the kitchen. I was hoping she would just say something; ask me whatever question that was burning through her eyelids but nothing. I keep smiling when ever I looked in her direction. Finally he comes back and says let’s go. I grab my bag and head for the door. His wife screams, what time are you coming back and he say, later. (WTF).

Being a woman who has had her heartbroken before, I was disappointed in him and told him he could have at least given her a kiss before we left, he replied fuck her. Ok….As we drove to our destination I began to ask more about his personal life and he basically told me they weren’t in love and doing the marriage thing for the kids. I was speechless but it wasn’t hard to tell.

Now since he was a veteran NFL player, who had been married for almost as long as he had been in the league, his wife had seen it all. She’d had the groupies calling her house, she’d hired private investigators, she’d moved out and most importantly she didn’t trust any woman around her husband. She was apart of a crew of women whose men were professional athletes. They all had the same style, same high priced designer bags, same stylists, same attitude – stank as hell but could you blame them. They had the rings, the kids, the house, the cars, the money but their man was somewhere else doing God knows what else with someone else.

One night as our firm was courting a young athlete and the sports agent set-up a night for the vets to take him out to see Atlanta and told me I needed to tag along. We all met at the office then picked the rookie up and headed to the infamous Magic City. Luckily a guy I knew from undergrad was managing the club and because I came in with all that potential money, my drinks & food was free. (I was quite happy with that deal!) Now what I didn’t know is that one of the dancers had an on going relationship with one of the players who was out with us that night. I’m not sure how long they had been involved but I did know she didn’t like him bringing what seemed like sand to the beach. The guys were in VIP and I killed time by seating at the bar with my guy friend and going over to check on the party. Somewhere in the evening I had to go to the ladies room. When I finished in the stall I walked out to three young ladies fixing their make-up. As I made my way to the sink, one chic bumped me. Side stepping it as an honest mistake, I was quickly informed that it wasn’t when one chic said, “So you with (bleep)?” Knowing exactly what it was at that point and replied, “Yes.” The other chic said, “So what are you to him?” I laughed and asked “why, cause you are not his wife, so why are you asking?” The chic that bumped me chimed in and said because we wanna know.” I just looked at them and walked out of the bathroom, right over to VIP and told him what had just went down in the bathroom. He laughed....

Get the rest of this story when you pick up your copy of Industry Life & Times ebook series, Vol. II

industryLIFE Vol. I Excerpt ---> Fake It Until You Make It??!

(Chapter Title: Liar, Liar) From the outside looking in, he had it all; good looks, education, nice home and a luxury car to boot. At one point he was a highly sought after counselor on the subject of love and relationships. He taught at a few prestigious universities, made television and radio appearances and published books. His star was rising until the layers were pulled back and his lies started to catch up with him!

One day, just as he was about to make his television debut as a reality TV personality, a story was published on the front page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution saying that this guy was a fraud! A reporter had checked into his claims and discovered quite a few holes in his story. Seems he was touting himself as a "doctor" on his website and written materials but when the reporter checked she could only confirm that he had received his Master’s Degree not a PhD. The story turned into a PR nightmare. The guy tried to do some damage control by making an appearance on the highly popular Frank and Wanda radio show to discuss the story. With no answers, only vague references about where he earned his PhD like "from an online" university, the city was a buzz about how his lie had been caught.

So if you are thinking, what else is this guy capable of well keep reading? His back-story is sorted with drama. Born in Chicago, he was considered a have not by many who knew him. The son of a heroin addict, his mother did her best with raising the children. He grew up craving the expensive clothes and cars but could never afford them. He knew education would play a big part in making that a thing of the past and set out to get what he could earn. After completing his Master’s Degree he moved to Atlanta where he had many friends from back in Chicago. He saw the city as a gold mine. Women loved him and soon he started to come up. He got into the right parties and was seen with the right people. He taught on the college and university level and the students loved him. Then as luck would have it, he blossomed into a media personality. He was featured on television and radio talk shows as the resident counselor giving advice about love and relationships. But know one could really answer any questions about his love life that is until a few of his life long friends began to talk. Although he changed his name, he was known to his friends as the “Bare Banana King”, because he always seemed to have something against using protection, per some of his conquests. Flat out this dude said he just didn’t like condemns.

Shortly after the PR nightmare in Atlanta, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue other opportunities. While in LA this guy, landed yet another TV gig on an also short lived show. Then his next move brought the drama front and center again. He shows up on the highly popular reality show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta as a..."Doctor". His role consisted of playing the love interest of one of the main characters. He appeared in several episodes and when it was uncovered that he might be a fraud, the love interest and other ladies set out to find out the truth. When the love interest confronted him about the situation, he defends himself by asking her if she is really a woman and then pulls a few folded papers from his back pocket as proof that he is a doctor. Needless to say, she never got a straight answer, never got to look at the papers he pulled from his pocket and he was never seen on the show again.

With his professional life in question you have to know his personal life was also being questioned. According to several former friends he is not a "Doctor" but is working on it. In his personal life there are just as many holes in the story. At one point he dated a successful and beautiful TV anchor woman but this dude has true commitment phobias, so he ended it because he stated "he could not marry a woman who made more money" than he did. He was married once before to a woman who worked for Delta Airlines but my sources tell me that the shame of a marriage ended because it was revealed that he only married her to get the free tickets/buddy passes that spouses are given.  

Liar, Liar

Think Tank:

1. Fake it until you make it is one sure way to end up not making it. When you present yourself to people be truthful. Again this industry is very small. Once it has been discovered that you have lied about what you have done it will automatically make you suspect in peoples minds.

2. Material things don’t make you who you are. If they do you should seek some help for that condition. Sure people like to do business with people they perceive as successful but think of how much they won’t be willing to do business with you if they discover you only have a good presentation with no substance.

3. Check and double check who you are dealing with. It has been said time and time again that people will give you their best representation when they first meet you. Don’t be in a hurry to get involved with people, sometimes what you don’t know can and will hurt you.

4. Don’t think you can invent lies and people won’t find out the truth. The truth always comes out. It’s better to be up front in the beginning. You can earn more respect when people can trust your words.

5. If you must pretend that you are something that you are on your way to being then say that. Don’t say I’m a producer and you have never produced one thing. Don’t allow people to label you as something you are not. Correct them as often as you have too, no one wants their dirty laundry aired on the front page of the daily newspaper or blog.

industryLIFE Vol I: The Table of Contents

 Opps, look what we never released for Vol I, Perspectives, Thoughts and "WTF" Moments...The Table of Contents! Well no time like the present for you to get a better perspective of what Industry Life & Times is about! Enjoy!

Table of Contents....

1. The Unexpected Opportunity -
The story of how a sandwich shop became a "must be" place for music & entertainment

2. Always Business...Never Personal -
The story of how a start-up PR agency was disrupted due to personal drama

3. Background Check Your Employer -
The story of the Boss who wanted way more than expected!

4. Dependencies Can Derail Plans -
The story of the Sports Marketing Firm

5. Your Role & The Environment -
The story of knowing how NOT to play your position!

6. Maximizing Opportunities -
Turning a freelance opportunities into real world work

7. When Fun Turns Dangerous -
The story of being "Superstars"

8. Do You...On Your Own Dime -
The Story of the Director who went too far!

9. A Chance Meeting -
The Story of how a College girl almost got caught up in a hip-hop scandal!

10. The Energy You Bring -
The story of the Tough Guy who never got the shot he wanted in the industry!

To get more, download your copy of Industry Life & Times, Vol I from Amazon.com today! :)

industryLIFE: Director Filmed My Abuse

When you are young and in the business people will try to take advantage of you. Peep actress Thandie Newton telling CNN about her ordeal and how she discovered what had happened when you click the link.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/02/14/ctw-newton-abuse.cnn

industryLIFE: Chasing THE Cycling God

Well the world of sports & entertainment was all ears as the cycling god, Lance Armstrong came clean about the doping that he's done in his career. He seemed to be at ease with the whole situation to which I attribute to the statue of limitations having run out. Anyway as I sat and watched the man who, without a doubt was the biggest "rock star" in the history of cycling, admit to lying to everyone repeatedly, I couldn't help but remember the time I spent with him as he and his team won the Dodge Tour De Georgia event in 2005.

The event was a major undertaking. Spanning 600 miles across the state of Georgia with hundreds if not thousands of people coming out to witness his "greatness". I had been hired to produce interviews with Lance's team and to gather b-roll that would be used by the sponsor. The assignment was a week long and it would take me to areas in Georgia that I had never seen and truthfully would be just fine if I never see them again. It was March and the weather was weird. Some days it was cold and snowing others sunny and not a cloud in the sky. As I began my journey of chasing Lance Armstrong, I knew it would be an adventure. The company that hired me for the job had done other projects where he was involved and my colleagues always came back with some tale about him. It was always a split decision, some said he's as nice as can be while others flat out called him a a-hole. So I had no idea of what to expect.

As my camera man and I set out, one thing we knew is that it would be first rate. We got our schedule and our hotel at the start of the race in Augusta, GA, we were taken care of. When we arrived, we settled into a lovely hotel where we met with the client. They informed us that the first footage we would need to get would be of the press conference where Lance would be announcing his retirement from the sport. This was HUGE! He was at the top of his game and to think he would pick this event to make such an announcement had everyone buzzing. Well the client had the details of the press conference all mapped out. She had all the confirmed journalist (who had to have credentials) listed, she had a seating chart and she had an additional assignment for me. Seems she felt the conference may start a little slow or have some "downtime" and she asked me if I would be filler to ask question if indeed that did happen. I was cool with it, after all she was the client so I was willing to help her make this thing great. As the time neared for the conference to start, journalist from around the world started to arrive and all were speculating on rumors of his retirement. I found a seat and watched as everyone reviewed their questions for the cyclist. When Lance arrived to take his seat there was flurry of flashing lights and scrambling to get just the right shot of him. Talk about paparazzi crazy, this was it!!! Finally everyone settled down and Lance read his prepared statement. As he said the words retirement, the room erupted. People began texting, running from the room to get those words to their editors etc. After he finished his statement it was time for the Q&A.

Since our client was commanding the conference she would pick who would ask the question and also keep track of how much time each journalist had. Well after Lance spoke to reporters from AP, Reuters, Cycling News etc, the noise in the room settled but we still had more time. Our client immediately threw it to me and I was on the spot! To be honest, I did not give a rats ass about cycling. I had done a poor job of learning to ride a bike at 12 so I really did not understand what all the fuss was about but it was my job so I stood up and greeted Lance and his team mates with a smile. I addressed Lance directly and asked him, "Are you 100% sure this will be your last race, I mean you are a rock star and I can just imagine that the response to your retirement announcement could change your mind." (smile). Well, Lance did not like that question and wasted no time cutting me up. His facial expression changed and he looked me directly in the eye and said a bit annoyed, "Yes I'm sure. I love this sport but my time is up and there is absolutely no way I am doing another race. (I can even remember him rolling his eyes at me after I sat down, oh well.).

As the event got under way, my crew and I followed the cyclist to Peachtree City, Macon, Thomaston, Rome, Chattanooga, Tenn., Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Brasstown Bald Mountain, Dalton, Lake Lanier Islands, Stone Mountain Park, and Atlanta GA. The race covered over 600 miles in seven days. (http://www.tourdegeorgia.com/). Lance was at the top of the food chain. I watched as some cyclist would complete a leg of the tour and be exhausted. Cramps would send them limping away to their team doctors etc. Lance looked great. He would get off his bike and make his way to the media area and give comments no matter how long that leg had been, not matter how bad he smelled he was a professional who delivered. As the week progress, Lance seemed to mellow out on me. The first time I approached him to get a few words at the first stop, he looked at me like, "What is this broad gonna say now." But as the days went, he realized I was working for his team and soon, my requests were priority and he would just come over and tell me he was ready to give his comments. Cool, we had made it past the press conference BS.

Now before I go further let me just give you some background on just how crazy this tour was. Basically the fans were just nuts!! People (who were not getting paid or working the event) were following them to every stop. They were camped out at the hotels. Moms & Dads and their children were wearing Lance Armstrong t-shirts, hats and holding signs as they made it into each stop. It was mass hysteria every time someone "thought" Lance was heading their way. Some people so excited about him that some were even bold enough to jump into the race way to try to get a picture of him in action. Needless to say they were taken away by security and security was not playing, crazy, just crazy. Well as we made it to the final day of the stop, the fans were in a frenzy. This was Lance's "last" race and everyone, I mean everyone wanted a piece of this dude. At the final stop in Alpharetta, GA, we arrived and man, the crowd was barely being contained by the barriers or the police. Since this was the end of the race, it was ultra important that we got some last word from Lance. Well as he rode over the finish line and brought his team to victory, the crowd went wild. People began pushing and shoving trying to get his autograph, a picture, a lock of his hair, a drip of sweat ANYTHING Lance Armstrong. I was horrified watching parents running with small children trying to get close enough to smell him and there I was in the middle of all of this working!

As I stood at the walk way to his trailer, I braced myself for anything. Lance's security team had him very protected but just as in the previous days, I got close enough to get the comments I needed from him but just as we finished, a riot erupted. Women and screaming girls we not letting this dude just get on his bus without some memento to take away. Women became hostile with each other, with his security team and even the police. My camera man Blair saw the mayhem just as I did and demanded that we get the hell out of there. I agreed totally! We retreated to a BP gas station parking lot and got our footage from a safe distance. But just as we were leaving, wouldn't you know it, somebody got close. Lance erupted and screamed at everyone to just clear out, he needed to get to his bus. But just as with all fans who feel they are apart of a star's journey, they got pissed. A few even took to rocking his bus while others just stood their weeping and holding paraphernalia from the race.

Now that was years ago but as I sat and watched Lance tell Oprah the details of how he cheated and lied to millions of fans, sponsors and supporters, I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. They LOVED this dude and man what a let down. To think that a "god" might be actually living among us, who could do these amazing things on a bike, then to find out it was all a lie. What a let down!