I was in the local mega-mall recently on a rainy Saturday, where everyone was looking for something to do: crowds of teenage kids running in packs, ladies browsing in every store, and lots of men doing their best to look interested if only to stave off the ire of their wife or girlfriend. When I started contemplating stories, and stories of people.
While my wife was spending incredible amounts of time browsing in just one store, I was standing outside the store watching all these people pass by, and watching them interact with each other.
Everybody has a story: where you are from, where you grew up, how you met your spouse, what you do for a living, what you want for your future. In the mall, it’s just a guess based on appearance and behavior. But that can be deceiving. Just as it can be on the show floor.
I spent weeks on the show floor this past spring at several large shows. As always, I like to get to know the crews we work with on site, and as always, it never ceases to amaze me when I hear some of their stories. I’m not sure if it’s our industry in particular, but we seem to attract a wide and varied group of people to this business. Some of their stories are fascinating.
One of our lead men grew up on Florida’s Space Coast, with a father who had spent his career with NASA at Kennedy Space Center. The tales he told about growing up with the space program, and with the people that put the first men on the moon, were amazing.
On the show floor, I have met an Emmy Award winning cinematographer, garage band musicians, and roadies for a wide variety of major rock bands. As an industry, we seem to attract a fair share of roadies, stagehands and theatrical workers. I suppose that’s to be expected, but it’s still interesting to hear their stories.
I have met professional bull riders in Texas, wannabe actors in Long Beach, and firemen in Boston. The stories are always interesting, and most of the time the people telling them are very modest about their accomplishments.
Like anything in life, though, there is a dark side. I have met my share of ex-cons, criminals and just mean people. They were people doing this because it’s what they can do to support their habit, or it’s a place they can hide fairly easily. I like to think they are in the minority.
Sometimes, however, the stories are sad. There are those that have lost lots of money before they end up in this business, those who have lost loved ones and work hard and long hours just as a way to forget the past. And there are those who have lost everything. A guy who had helped me so many times when doing shows in New Orleans only to lose his entire home, all vehicles and his prized fishing boat in Hurricane Katrina. Each of his family members lost everything, too. But he stuck with it, relocating several times before returning to his hometown to start over.
Hearing some of these sad stories can’t help but remind me about the incredible work of our industry charity event, the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic. I realized how important it is for our industry to do this type of thing; how important it is for us to give back to the people in our extended industry family.
We all do have a story. Some are fascinating. Some are pretty ugly. Some are just sad. We’re all in it for different reasons; but we’re all in it together. We need to thank those who deserve our thanks, encourage those that need encouragement and help those who need our help.
See you on the show floor…
