Laurie Anderson 1986 Tour

So here we go, Virgin records bought into Sal’s concert merchandising business model and I was set to take one of the many bands in their stable around the world. To this day I scratch my head why they chose performance artist Laurie Anderson as their first act to merchandise world wide, but they did.

Those first six shows in the USA set the table for merchandise sales which were beyond horrible. Laurie Anderson is super talented, but her artsy audience sure as hell wasn’t a t-shirt buying crowd.

I remember telling myself while flying to Australia to start that leg of the tour, no matter what, I should enjoy myself every way possible and not study that the gig was a total loss for Virgin. I was a hired gun and that weight wasn’t my cross to bear.

On a happy note, the third night in Sydney, Australia at the Dire Straits concert I reached the apex of all I’d strived for. I was in a foreign land being paid a large sum of money doing my rock and roll job. I’d met a lady friend and I was stoned. The beautiful thing was my journey had only just begun.

I know to some, it might not seem so spectacular a goal to attain. But to me, it was all I’d dreamt about while sitting in the back seat of that Cadillac in 1980 while on The Police Tour.

My friends,  that six week Laurie Anderson tour allowed me to experience so many precious moments that to this day it still brings a smile to my face. Laurie was incredibly kind and generous and included the band and crew in many of the wonderful opportunities afforded her while traveling through New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Truly, I can’t thank her enough!

  During my entire odyssey it wasn’t easy making things I believed in manifest, but nothing is. I navigated my way with no instructions on how to get from here to there. All the techniques I’ve talked about in my book, at the time, didn’t have names and labels. That came to me much later in life. All I knew was the trick to succeeding was simple; first you have to have self belief and no self doubt, then set a goal or affirmation, have faith it will manifest and persevere until it does. To this day, that formula for the most part has not let me down.

Meanwhile on the tour, I honestly wasn’t surprised when Sal told me in one of our many phone conversations that the European leg of the tour was going to be handled by Kip. He was running the Virgin office in London, England and it would help keep the overhead down. Like I said the tour was a concert merchandising disaster and the amount of money wasted was ungodly. It must have made Virgin bean counters sick to their stomachs crunching those dismal numbers of their new business venture.

I knew my fate in Sal’s hands was questionable and my time on the road was running out. So, on that long jet flight from Japan back to LA I told myself leave the game a WINNER and don’t look back. I’d waited five and a half years for my affirmation to manifest and had received what I’d asked for. I was ready for a change in direction and to my amazement I kicked my addiction to road fever.

In closing, a word to the wise, never give up on yourself or your goals. Because if I can do it, so can you!

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