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Showing posts with the label events

Why is Sting Called Sting?

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Sting's  real name is  Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner . So how did he land up with a name like " Sting "? Well, during the early part of his musical career, he was the bassist for a jazz band called The Phoenix Jazzmen . One of his favourite outfits on stage was a black and yellow sweater with horizontal stripes on it. The other band members thought it made him look like a bee. So the band's frontman, Gordon Solomon , started calling him Sting , and would introduce him on stage as "Sting"... and the name stuck.

When David Gilmour Met Roger Waters Again... Ouch!

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Every Pink Floyd fan knows about the acrimonious parting of ways between Roger Waters and David Gilmour... but many don't know the story of this not-so-pleasant meeting... two decades later. The event: Live 8. The facilitator: Bob Geldof. The challenge: Getting Gilmour and Waters together again – even for a one-off appearance. For Pink Floyd fans all over the world, this was a historic event in the making. And here’s how it happened… finally. As was to be expected, Gilmour wasn’t too keen to get together with Waters. In 1993, they had parted ways with a lot of rancour and unpleasantness. And to be fair, it was Waters who had walked out of the band. Also, since Waters was the dominating, overbearing one, it was natural for the relatively more passive Gilmour to avoid any interface with him. Nevertheless, the ever-persuasive Geldof managed to convince the two artistes to meet in a London hotel room. Gilmour remembers reaching after Waters had arrived – he reca...

Hate The Player, Not The Game

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A few years ago I organized a live gig with this duo with whom I have never worked earlier. They were great. The show was great and everyone was happy.  But, on their way out, the artists asked me when they will get paid, in a tone that was, well, not extremely warm. I was a little surprised, but I let that slide and assured them that it will be done in a couple of days.  After exactly forty eight hours, I get a message from them telling me how I did not honor my commitment and how it's not the way to treat an artist. I was taken aback, and honestly, was a little angry too. I wanted to hit back. How could they take such a uncompromising stance when the payment had not been delayed beyond a reasonable time? But instead, I took a deep breath, calmed myself and told them about all the established artists I worked with and how they were welcome to verify my integrity with them. However, I was still curious and asked them the real reason for their complete lack o...