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Hello Mr. Man....
Please take a moment and note Jennifer's location during the concert. About two and a half hours beforehand, James, Joyce & I had been kicked out of that spot behind the rail and told that no one was going to be allowed to be in that area during the concert in order to keep the area clear, once again due to "fire hazard". Not only is there a horde of people behind that railing (and, of course, the photographers next to Jennifer) - but! Ms. Gordon is actually standing in front of the railing and therefore being the insurance hazard that we were all told the fans were because any of us could just...fall in! And trust me when I say that those flippy little toothpick heels on her slides are not the kind of shoes that lend stability to one's footing.
I suppose the title of this picture should be "Leading by example? Not so much!" |
My advice to the management of the Grove?
First - learn to plan your events in a more orderly fashion. I walked in to visit a couple of my former colleagues after and when I mentioned what happened, the response was, "Oh god yes, they're horrible about big events here, aren't they? There's no control." When the people that work in your mall and spend 20 to 40 hours of their lives a week there are willing to say that without pause, that's a hint you've got a problem. The crowd that shows up for the weekend reggae band and Yo-Yo Ma is on the whole going to be very different from the ones that show up for Brian McKnight and Alanis Morissette. Borrow a clueflake, hire a Boy Scout, be prepared.
Second - if when working for a retail store for $8.50 an hour, I can have customer service training drilled into me enough to recognize the importance of it outside of my work, you might want to invest in a seminar or two for the people that represent your company to the public. Just a tip.
Third - in case she hasn't picked up on it by now, someone might want to sit Jennifer Gordon down & fill her in on the fact that not all press walks around with passes.
Alanis & Barenaked Ladies are playing in LA at the end of July, which is one fact they were sure to make during their announcements before & after the concert. This was no doubt done in part because there are still tickets available and the Grove Concierge just happens to have its own ticket broker. While, at one point, I might have considered buying through them for the sake of geographic convenience and to avoid Ticketmaster, thanks to the treatment I received at the Grove yesterday, I'd rather pay Ticketmaster's prices - they might be assholes, but at least they're honest about it.
~ Claris
May 30, 2004
Couple of side notes :
- I'd like to take this moment to cite that not all Grove employees showed the same attitude as Jennifer Gordon. When the press was placed in front of us, James managed to get the attention of Corey S., who works for the security detail for the Grove, and Corey was instantly apologetic for the treatment we'd received. He was kind enough to move the press core to a different location for a while, even though when the concert started, they all migrated back again because, well, we really did have a good view of the stage for photography. So thanks to Corey, who was a cool guy about the whole thing.
- Alanis' performance was of course, well worth waiting to see, as you can see by the pictures that we managed to get. I'd also like to thank my impromptu helpers James, Joyce, & Nesh who when I explained why I was sitting on the ground scribbling away on a pad of paper & handed them each my card, were more than eager to start asking questions of Grove employees passing by & actually got really into the picture-taking.
- Oh, and for those of you wondering, copies of this article be sent directly first to Mr. Caruso, & then to Ms. Gordon, along with a copy of the lyrics for "Right Through You", since obviously Ms. Gordon has never actually listened to the artist that performed yesterday.
- I once had a highly interesting conversation with an executive at Sony regarding the importance of quality venues to a tour. His attitude was that "Most people don't know or care the difference between venue staff or a tour crew. All they know is that they showed up to see your artist & they got treated like shit." Because of that, we'll be faxing a copy to Scott Welch & Lorie Hernandez, Alanis Morissette's management over at Mosaic Media Group. On top of that, the link for this article is going to be posted on the official boards for Alanis & several of the larger unofficial fan forums. While no one associated with Alanis was rude to us in any fashion, and in fact her sound crew was extremely courteous about the times they had to move through the crowd for technical issues, we think they might interested to see how their venues are treating her fans at PR events.
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