...OK, it is late...but I need to type one last description of my earlier life.
...I was really planning to become a professional cellist, but, despite hours and hours and hours of practice...I just didn't have the skill. I asked my cello Professor to tell me, honestly, what my future would be if I continued as a cello performance major, when I was a Soph. He told me, "You don't have the skill to make it into a major Orchestra. You do have what it would take to get a Masters, or Doctorate, in Music Theory or Music History. You could get, after a while, a job in a College, and you could play in a secondary Orchestra, like the Oakland Symphony, or such, and teach students on the side."
...I went back to my Dorm, and cried. My mind just wasn't perceiving reality. That was a crossroad in my life, that I just can't backtrack to. I changed my major to Business Administration, and devoted my free time to Student Government. I was a 'quiet woman', I was appointed to be the Social Director, and handed a 30K budget, after I got another girl elected Student Body President. I had wanted to get elected, but everyone told me that I just didn't look right. (That was a lot of money back then...
) But, I really DIDN"T look like a "Social Director". I was a 'mousy' Hispanic chick, and the Manager of the Concert Hall of the City wasn't too sure that I had the ability to produce a Rock Concert on behalf of the College. I handed him the reservation check, and signed the contract. He told me, later, that he expected to see a young woman with hair dyed in different colors, and wearing very heavy makeup, that is what he usually saw from female Social Directors. (I did tell him..."Hey, if I show up like that, next time, and wearing a miniskirt, small halter top, large hoop earrings, and 6" heels...will you give me a discount? He laughed and said, "No, but I will offer to give you something else.")
...I was the only Social Director to make money on the two public rocks concerts that were in my Budget. I had presented, to the Council, that I would lose $2K on each one. They were happy, past Directors lost $3K to $5K on a concert. I just snorted,,,past Student Social Directors had been 'DAMN POT SMOKING HIPPIES' who had no idea of what a budget was, or how to plan a concert!!! I MADE about $2K on each one. I was REALLY PLEASED when the Police took me back to the Student Center, in the back of their Cruiser...and I WAS NOT HANDCUFFED!!! I was clutching a shoebox that was STUFFED WITH CASH!!! I had seen that the jerks that approached me to produce a concert for a very famous rock singer...they couldn't do it...the local City Council didn't want outside troublemakers producing concerts...but they let me...a local troublemaker do it.
And I didn't trust them.
...Again, I was not a 'head-turner' in college, even after my breasts finally grew in...but I sat with the City Mayor, and explained that the Artist was not a 'Rock Singer', but that she was a 'Folk Singer'. I played a few of her songs, and gazed at him with my huge brown eyes. He bought my story, and signed off on the contract. (I didn't play her 'other' songs). (Her last name was 'Fl....') Anyway, I put in the Contract, that I would get ALL of the cash, since I was paying all of the bills, and would write them a University check for the profit. The Concert wasn't very successful...the check I wrote them wasn't very much...but then the Police grabbed my arms, and I was surprised, and bewildered, and kept asking...'What are you doing?... and they hauled me into the back of their Cruiser.
They told me, as we pulled away..."You have a lot of cash, if some of the people figured out what you were carrying, it would have got ugly. so we made it look like we were arresting you." I chuckled, and said, "Maybe you should have handcuffed me." They laughed, and said, "No, we needed someone to hold that shoebox."
...The officers were nice, we talked on the way back, and they stayed with me and the Finance Director as we counted the cash. They drove the Finance Director to the bank, and I walked to my Apt. The next day, the Finance Director was furious...he had not understood that I was going to GET ALL OF THE CASH! I just shook my head...if I had let those Bastards who approached me get me to pay all of the bills, and let them take the cash and write me a check...it probably would have bounced....and my budget would have been wiped out!! With what would have been left, I probably would have just put on a few "I will play the Records" Dances.
