Chapter 37 - AMA
Chapter 37 - AMA [The Artist Management Association]
I just couldn´t believe the attitude of Mitch. The balls on him. However, I knew what happened. Once he asked his father for help with his connections, everything went sour. He didn´t believe in himself. Instead, he took advice from outsiders. Peer pressure is very powerful. It reminded me of Tommy Napoli. I remember when we all went to breakfast after performing at the Village Gate. They all were telling Tommy how great he was and they made certain statement to show he didn´t need me. YOU COULD DO IT ON YOUR OWN. It´s a reoccurring problem, not just with music, but with life. It happens with most partners in business. Usually it´s the wife, friend, brother, cousin, or any one your close to that tells you, Why do you need him, you can do it yourself.
Now I´m back on my own with a signed female vocalist. I called Judy and told her that Mitch is not with us anymore. I told her that we are still going to put every effort in making you a star. I set-up a date with her to take photo´s. I met her down the Village and we shot a few rolls of film. Judy seemed in great spirits.
I was back in Brooklyn hanging-out at my cousin Joey´s studio with Louie Valdes. Louie and I bought some coffee and Dunkin Donuts and smoked a joint. I told Louie the whole story of what had happen with Mitch. Louie was not surprised. He had been through it many times.
Louie wanted to work on some songs and he met a Chinese guy who was into programming named, Johnny Chan. Johnny Chan and I got along very well. I told Johnny that I had a vocalist, and Johnny told me about a group of people that meet every week in the city. It´s a workshop for upcoming artists called, Artist Management Association (AMA). He told me that I should try going to it someday. I found out about the information and decided to give it a look. Apparently it met every Monday night at 7PM. I drove a taxi in the city on Monday´s and I decided to take time off and go. There were many people there at AMA including Johnny Chan. Johnny introduced me to the director of it all named, Juan Colon. Juan was a most wonderful energetic and positive individual. Juan and I had hit it off immediately. Juan drilled me about my background in music. When Juan heard how much experience I had in the music field he flipped out and wanted me to get more involved with AMA. His girlfriend, Cherle, was the other half of Juan and who talked about artist development. Juan was the main speaker and he was guiding the manager development program. AMA was basically a network group developed by Juan and his girlfriend to help aspiring Artist and Managers. I liked it all and I became very much involved in preparing aspiring artists for the music business. The artist's who attended AMA, were mostly Latino.
I loved teaching people about the music business. I also like sharing my knowledge with anyone who could use it. There were about 25 to 35 people who attended it every week. I began to make a lot of friends. After AMA finished their session, Juan and his girlfriend would go out to eat at the corner restaurant where everyone interested was welcome to join them. I often did and it was a great time to talk over food in more detail.
There was a Chinese friend of Johnny Chan who was a promoter. His name was, Will Lee. He was a Chinese guy who spoke perfect Spanish. He was an energetic and sly promoter. He did some great shows featuring some top artists. It was a perfect opportunity to get Judy to perform in some of his shows when our recordings were finished.
I continued driving a Yellow Taxi and saved my money to continue recording Judy. I worked very hard and had it down to where I was in the studio every week. Within a couple of months I had finished the four songs and I Mastered two songs that Judy sang on, With You and Our Love. Once the songs were Mastered the were ready to print. I printed 1000 copies on a 12 inch record. I didn´t mention Mitch´s name on the record, but if I ever released an album, I would put his name in the special thanks section. For now he got nothing.
One of my favorite programs on Television was, Soul Train. I watched it every week continuously. It was the most informative program in the black music industry. Since I loved black R&B and recorded black R&B jazz I learned a great deal from that show. The show normally had two guest artists performing. After they performed, Don Cornelus, would come up to the stage and discuss all the record label executives that made them happen. It was very informative because these are the people who I needed to know about, and who I needed to contact when my project was finished. I also loved some of the dancing characters on the show. They had two guys who were very unique characters. I watched the show without fail every Saturday morning, and video taped it.
One Saturday morning, I was watching Soul Train and in the first seconds of the show, the camera panned on the dancers. I saw this hot looking beautiful black girl. I said, What the fuck was that? I couldn´t believe how beautiful she was. I was glad I was taping it. I watched for another look at her. I couldn´t keep my eyes off the TV. Then she finally appeared again. Boy was she beautiful. I do not like black woman, but she was petite, with big tits, and beautiful long hair. Just the way I like my women. I caught a few more of a glimpse of her beautiful body during the show. When the show was over I inspected the video tape. I couldn´t believe how beautiful she was. Later that night I was hanging-out at home waiting for Louie Valdes to show-up. We smoked our usual joint and I showed Louie this beautiful little voluptuous black girl. He also thought that she was very incredible looking. I wondered who she was. She had never been on the show before. She was definitely new to the program. I needed to see her again on next weeks show.
The following week, I was ready to see this beautiful girl again. This time there were a lot of close shots of her and I was wetting in my pants. I was definitely in love with her. I had taped the show of course and watch it over and over again in lust.
The following Monday was an AMA conference. I attended it without fail every Monday. I took the train from my house into the city. While I was on the train, and the train had stopped at this station in the tunnel, the doors opened. I usually glanced briefly at the newsstand books which are hanging like coffee cups in a cabinet. The doors were about to close and I saw a photo of the beautiful black girl from Soul Train on the cover of one of the magazines. I couldn´t believe it. Holly shit. What a coincidence. I thought about taking the train back to that stop to buy the magazine and finding all about her and who she was. Then I thought that I would be late for AMA. I figured that I could look for it in the city and get it later.
I arrived at AMA just a little late, but just in time for the opening speech by Juan Colon. The opening of AMA was a repeat of a conference done at an earlier date, but was important to most of the members to hear twice. I became bored, because I had already heard it all. It was
a short topic that would only last for about 45 minutes. I decided to go outside and
have a cigarette. While I was outside in front of where AMA was held, there was also
one of the participants whom I had seen before and he too was smoking a cigarette. He quickly said to
me, "I see you´re bored too"? I told him that I had heard it last week, and that I
thought I would come out here to take a cigarette break. He said the same thing. Then all
of a sudden, he looked across the street and said, Over here Hun! I turned to look and
there she was. I just couldn't believe my eyes and went into shock. It's the beautiful black girl from Soul Train. She
came across the street and was standing directly next to me. The guy immediately
introduced her to me. He said, Chuck, This is Heather. I looked at her sparkling
eyes, her long black hair and I could see the top of her gigantic breasts. 
I said
that it was nice to meet you. I then immediately said, You look very familiar. She
smiled. The guy said, Where do you know her from? I turned to her and said, "Do you
dance on Soul Train"? She said, "Yes". with a sudden surprise. "You just started dancing
on the show", I said. She replied that she had started dancing on the show two weeks
ago. They both smiled at me for some reason. I wanted to tell her the incredible
story, but I was in a state of shock and I could think correctly. Then Heather told the guy
that she had the tickets and she handed some to him. I watch quietly. Then Heather
gave me a ticket and I looked at the ticket. She was performing at a famous disco
called, The Red Zone. It was just a few blocks away to the north. Heather asked me to come see her
perform. I told her that I will. Then I asked what she was going to perform. She told
me that she was going to do a strip-tease. I nodded, and said to myself, Holy Shit,
She´s going to take it off. I get to see it all. Then the guy said to Heather,
"You ready to go inside"? She replied, "OK". I told them that I would enter in a moment.
"Nice to meet you Heather", I replied. She then smiled as she walked in. As soon as
they went into AMA and I said to my self, "HOLY SHIT! I can´t believe it. Wow.
How beautiful and sexy. GOD DAMN"! I smoked another cigarette to think about this for
a moment. I was thinking if I should tell her the story when I first saw her on Soul
Train then, the Magazine on the train station, and now here at AMA. She would
probably think it´s cute and funny, and maybe something would happen from it. I´ll
see if I could possibly tell her.
I returned to AMA and the conference was still going on. Everyone was sitting in their chairs very quiet while Juan Colon was expressing the agendas. I always looked over to Heather who was sitting on the other side of the room. She was concentrating on what was being said and never looked toward me. I was sitting next to a guy who looked and dressed like the singer/guitarist Prince. I guess that was his thing. He saw me looking at Heather over and over and he smiled at me. I told him in whisper that she is beautiful as I rolled my eyes. He chuckled quietly, and said that he was having an orgy with her tonight. That statement drove me fucking nuts. I thought about that as my blood started boiling. I turned to him and asked if I could come along. He smiled, but refused to say anymore. Then I figured he was kidding. The conference was over and now everyone would spend about 45 minutes talking with one another. We all got up to walk around and Heather was surrounded by a crowd. I could get hear to her as I was talking with others. I finally made my way to her direction. After about 15 minutes I got my chance to say a few words. I asked her about her upcoming performance to start the conversation off. Then she asked me where the guy was that looked like Prince. I told her that he was near the door. She then suddenly left me and walked to meet him. The Prince guy and the guy outside left AMA. I then thought that the orgy statement might be true. I slowly made my way outside and they were gone. I thought, There´s always Thursday night. That is when she´s performing, and I have a free ticket.
I arrived at the Red Zone and got in with no problem. The club was packed. Heather came on and she took it all off and it was amazing. She was so beautiful. After her performance I couldn´t get anywhere near her. I tried to get her attention, but she ignored me. All is well. I tried. I was very disappointed. I thought that all the coincidences with her would develop into something. However, She will always remain in my memory. I stayed at the club for a few hours afterward. I then left, had a bit to eat, and took the train home. While I was on the station platform, I noticed the magazine with her picture on the front of it. I bought the magazine and entered the train. In the magazine was full page spreads of her nude. Incredible. Then I read that she was a porn star, and that she had about four videos released. Holly shit! A porn star.
I must get some of her videos. Then I realized everything. That was what the guy meant when he said, Where do you know her from. Everything came together. Oh well. What a fucking experience.
My record had finished being printed and it was shipped to my house in Brooklyn. I opened the box and took out a record. It looked beautiful. Everything read correctly. Then I put the record on my turntable and it played great. I had also received a thousand single record mailing cartons for mailing the records to radio stations.
I had heard through the music grapevine about a guy named Eddy Rivera. I had heard that name before in passing, many times. At the next AMA, I asked Juan Colon about Eddy Rivera, and it appears that Juan was a friend of Eddy´s. He told me that Eddy holds an artist night on Monday´s also, starting around 8:00PM. Juan told me that it conflicts with his AMA schedule, but suggested I go. I told Juan that I didn´t know anyone there, and that I had heard that you needed to know someone to get in. Juan said that was correct. He then said if you want, I will not go to eat after AMA, but take you there. I said, Wow. Thank you Juan.
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