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Miguel de Maria -> rich people are different (Apr. 18 2005 16:27:51)
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I put an ad in the Arcadia News, a small local newspaper, and was surprised to get a couple hits almost right away. I'm booked for an event in June, and a fellow named Dennis Hopper--no, not that one--booked me for this past Saturday.
When he found out I was playing at the Royal Palms, a local resort, he said to tell Paul, the maitre'd, that he said hi. Paul, a colorful Greek, said "Oh Dennis Hopper! Is good guy! Is good guy!"
Well, Mr. Hopper is a short, somewhat heavy set man with very thick glasses. I came to his house,a beautiful and huge adobe, which is actually on the grounds of our only 5 star resort here in Phoenix. Why his house is on the grounds of the resort is a mystery to me!
I found the place swarming with caterers--maybe 8 of them. A huge paella dish was already hot with oil. I pulled my gear up a hill and across a lawn to near a massive, semi truck sized piece of metal modern art, and began to set up.
The tables were being set up on a large patio near a fountain, perhaps 80 feet long and made to look like an ancient Roman aqueduct.
"Miguel, the average age of this party is going to be about 85," said Dennis, "this is a 'celebration of life' for my mother, who is turning 96 tonight. He was a warm man with many strange mannerism, very "touchy feely." He would often grab my arm as we were talking, and I observed that he was always patting people's backs or holding their hands or grabbing their arms, too! Dennis also had two sons that looked just like him, one was nervous and the other a little bit more outgoing.
As I began to play, the people came in...they were quite old, so much that when a fifty something couple came in, I thought of them as whippersnappers.
On my break, I came back to my gear to find it soaking wet. Teh sprinklers had come on and were spraying everything. My guitar was filling up with water! My pedals were submerged! And the fire brazier near me was being doused with flames!
Dennis, his sons, and their helper came and helped move my gear and the brazier. Everyone was laughing, that is except people who were being sprayed with water, slipping on the stones, or otherwise unable to escape the spray. Dennis' nervous son grabbed one of my speakers and began carrying it across the stones, unaware he was trailing 25' of cord. Luckily nothing happnened there.
As I set up in a new location and tried my best to dry off my equipment, Dennis came up to me. "Miguel there is no such thing as problems, only opportunities!" he said, and then left. His nervous son was there, helping, and rolled his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Miguel..." he apologized over and over....
Well, I got the gear together and everything seemed to work except for a short in my pickup that came and went. Both of Dennis' sons approached me seperately, offering their phone numbers "In case you have any problems with your gear and my dad isn't being helpful for whatever reason."
They booked me for 2 hours,b ut we went over to 3 and a half... One of ladies, 94, approached me, saying "Hello, young lady." "Young man," I corrected. As she got closer, she said "oh, yes I can see that now. So what do you do here?" "I'm the guitar player." "OH.. well we are all enjoying your playing very much. Thank you."
finally, at the end, Dennis went to get my check, and disappeared. I waited patienty for ten minutes. Eventually he reappeared in the kitchen, where I observed him look down, see a tray of deserts, and relaxt o eat a few. Then he disappered again! The next time I saw him he was seeing some of the last guests out of the house. "Oh, talk to Julie (his wife), she has the checkbook. Make yourself at home in the kitchen!"
I did, ate a meal, had a beer, ate one of the deserts...eventually Julie showed up, in a bathrobe for some reason. "I'm so sorry, Miguel, I've been having some stomach problems," she said. We discussed the overtime, the deposit,and she made out a check with a tip included. During a small chat, she assured me that they would take care of my equipment if it were damaged and that everyone had enjoyed my playing. Apparently it turned out that Dennis had inherited a run of the mill plaster company and turned it into a firm that specialized in upscale Venitian plaster, and had increased it to an international scope! I saw some of the Ventian playster on the wall of their kitchen, and it was very nice, indeed...
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