"You've got to be detail oriented so you can
keep your road report, and have math
skills to handle the money."
A DAY IN THE LIFE
On the road, Jeff Jackson begins the day waking
up on the tour bus in the parking
lot of a hotel. His first chore is to check
into the hotel and distribute the keys and
room assignments to the band and crew. "I make
sure everyone has a map of where
their room is and let them know what time they
need to be back on the bus to go to
load-in and sound check. If there are scheduled
interviews, I might put my artist on
the phone for those. I check in with the
agency, call the manager, and basically take
care of necessary business." After lunch, the
band and crew are back on the bus and
taken to the venue. "I'll ride the bus down to
load-in to meet the promoter or the
venue representative while my crew is
off-loading the bus, and meet with the box
office and set up my tickets. I find out where
we're going to have a `meet and greet'
before the show, reconfirm the show times, and
check that our catering requests were
fulfilled. Usually, I'll ride back to the hotel
with the venue runner to pick up my artist
for sound check. Once sound check starts, I'll
check with our merchandise person,
and continue to oversee sound check until the
doors open." While the audience
arrives, the group eats and relaxes before show
time. "Depending on the situation, I
typically settle my shows before the
performance and if there are any bonuses, I'll do
that and the actual ticket count after the
show. During this time, the band and crew
are loading out. Then we get everybody on the
bus and leave for our next destination.
We roll through the night and in the morning it
starts all over again."
"Although our management office has the
capabilities to advance our dates, I
prefer to advance my own shows when I'm home. I
get deal memos and contracts,
once they are fully executed, from
the
agency. First, I sit down and read
the
contracts and see what has been
agreed
to, provision-wise. Then I call the
con-
tractor and we literally go through
the
contract page by page and make
sure
that we're on the same page as far
as
what he has agreed to. When I'm
home
off the road, I also set up hotel
rooms
and I do the itineraries, and fax
them
out to my artist, management, the
band,
and crew. The day before we go
back
out on the road, I call everyone who
will
be on the bus and make sure they
are
aware of our leave times and other
details. I call the driver and the
bus
"Remember that everything you
and your entourage do reflects
upon the artist's image. People
aren't going to remember the
road manager was impolite;
they'll say the artist was rude."
"Surround yourself with people
that are better than you because
it elevates you, it sort of makes
you rise to their level of
achievement."
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