This Almost Destroyed My Reputation
Most difficult gig of my career
JetBlue almost ruined my career.
1 week ago, I performed for 3 private events on Martha’s Vineyard for Cartier, a luxury Jeweler and Watchmaker.
Even though it was my first time performing solo work of this nature, I had been preparing for an opportunity like this for more than 4 years.
After concluding my services for Cartier, here is what their Event Manager had to say about my services:
This is what I have been working towards.
JetBlue almost took this from me, and I will get to that in a second.
First…
What Was At Stake?
4 years of hard work.
Being a musician sucks. When the pandemic ravaged the Los Angeles economy in 2020, I became very aware that I was fighting in a commodity market.
I was a violist, not an artist.
When I asked some of my friends for advice, many of them encouraged me to develop my solo artist show.
DSharp, Ezinma Ramsay (Classical Bae), Jeremy Green, and Ben Hoyt were the most vocal and encouraging of the bunch.
The problem? I did not have the necessary skills to pull it off.
I needed to learn:
Live Audio Production Skills
How to create an Ableton project with arrangements and backing tracks.
How to organize and label the project for efficient rehearsal and playback.
How to run my own live sound with my own equipment.
Audio interface
Mixer
Electric and acoustic microphone equipment and procedures
2 hours of continuous, non-repeated music. I needed to be able to perform without sheet music. For a classically trained player like me, this was no small feat.
All in all, it took me 4 years to develop knowledge and experience to be able to pull off the show Cartier was expecting of me.
And it was jeopardized with a simple sentence…
“All flights to Martha’s Vineyard have now been cancelled.”
The Panic
This gig was the most difficult of my entire career for 3 reasons:
I was paid in full for this gig 2 days before my flight. I NEEDED TO DELIVER.
I had never run a solo set with backing tracks before. I was also playing about 80% of these songs for the first time too.
Travel to Martha’s Vineyard turned into a disaster.
How JetBlue Almost Ruined My Career
I woke up at 04:00AM that morning to catch my 6-hour, cross-country flight at LAX. Landing in JFK, I had been on alert for 6 hours—holding onto a dream of hotel sheets and pillows. That dream was long gone now.
They canceled my 16:40 flight from JFK to MVY around 21:48.
When I approached the counter, they told me that there was nothing I could do beyond waiting to be rebooked on the next available flight.
No hotel, no compensation other than a sh*tty $12 meal voucher.
Side note: $12 vouchers are f*cking insulting, ya’ll. Everything except candy cost more than $12 in the terminal. To add insult to injury, I could not even redeem the voucher myself—I had to wait for an attendant to come by my kiosk, swipe their card, and input a code to redeem the voucher.
I am in panic mode now. I checked to see if there were any flights on other airlines for JFK -> MVY.
The soonest available flight would make me miss 2 of my 3 sets. Flying was out.
I was stuck. My hands were shaking with rage.
JetBlue had f*cked me.
4 Reasons This Was Bad For Me
My failure to appear for Cartier would not only reflect badly upon me, I would have appeared badly for the Sphinx Organization as well.
I have been working to develop relationships with luxury brands for YEARS. Failing to provide adequate service for Cartier would eliminated the possibility to develop our relationship.
I was about to create an awful first impression.
I was trying to break into a new market. My client is well-connected among high net-worth business and individuals. My failure here would be LOUD and memorable.
Here Is What I Did About It
This was BAD.
I knew I was in for a rough night, so I started making calls.
Cartier had arranged a soundcheck for me at 09:30 the next day.
This was my first time running a solo set our of Ableton using a DPA mic, so I NEEDED that time to make sure everything would go according to plan.
So, it’s 21:48. I am COOKED.
With zero flights to MVY, I had only 9 hours on the clock. How was I supposed to get from NYC to Martha’s Vineyard?
Ground transportation to a Ferry.
I call Sphinx and Cartier:
Cartier
They were among the kindest, most empathic clients I have ever worked with. They repeatedly reassured me that they knew these circumstances weren’t my fault. They were more than willing to waive the first set if I could not make it in time.
After we got of the phone, I resolved to get to Martha’s Vineyard by any means necessary.
Sphinx
My call with Andre Dowell was just as understanding.
We decided on this plan:
Sphinx would hire a driver to take me overnight from JFK to the Woods Hole ferry station.
I would wait at the ferry until the station opened, and I would take the first ferry that morning
Once in Martha’s Vineyard, I would rideshare to my hotel for a shower and—if I was lucky—a short nap.
I would arrive to soundcheck promptly at 09:30
Play all sets as planned
The End Result
I executed the plan.
Sphinx hired the driver to take me to Wood’s Hole Ferry. He picked me up around 00:10 and got me there in under 4 hours!!
So, now it’s 3:55am, and I’m sitting at the wharf, alone.
Even though I slept the whole car ride, I was still dizzy with exhaustion from the full day a travel.
I waited 80 minutes for the ferry station to open at 5:15am.
I bought my ticket, and I boarded the first ferry to Martha’s Vineyard.
The ferry hit the shore around 6:15am and I grabbed a Lyft.
I got dropped off at my hotel around 6:40 and I FINALLY got a chance to wash myself for the first time in 24 hours.
I set 3 alarms and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Naturally, I slept through all alarms.
I woke up with a start around 10:30, realizing that I had absolutely f*cked up.
My exhaustion had caught up to me. What am I? 20 years old?!!!
My phone had 1 missed call and 3 text messages from Cartier.
My heart sank. After all of this struggle—I was late.
I have never dressed so quickly in my life. The venue was a 3 minute walk from my hotel, so I pulled up shortly after 10:40.
Thankfully, the whole team was understanding. The soundcheck only took 25 minutes and it went perfectly.
I grabbed some coffee and made to my first set slated to start at 12:00.
I even had 20 minutes to spare!
All three 2-hour sets went without incident.
I even opened a door for future possibilities…
Takeaways
That, my friends, is how JetBlue almost destroyed my reputation.
When I look back on this, I honestly do not know what I could have done differently.
(well, I definitely could have woken up to my alarms haha)
Sometimes, things go wrong, and life will take a dump on you.
Just make sure to bring a change of clothing.
The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is this: when things blow up in your face, stay calm.
Recognize what you can control, and what you cannot control.
Focus on doing everything within your control and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.
Thanks for reading, ya’ll. I have been struggling with consistency, and I appreciate you all tuning in to these newsletters!
A Few Big Things Coming Up
I got the call for a major Disney movie. Sessions start this week—I can't wait to tell ya’ll what it is.
wholesoul is releasing a new music August 30th. Our cellist Daniel Lim arranged Stevie Wonder’s “Can’t Imagine Love Without You.” We will be joined by stellar vocalist Vi Jordan on this cover! As soon as I have the pre-save link, I’ll be sending it to you all!
wholesoul is shooting our second content shoot of the year this Tuesday. We will be be shooting 3 YouTube music videos to go along with our 3 official Spotify releases. We’re tackling music by Rihanna, Lil Nas X, and Tommy Richman.
I had to find the space and create the storyboards. Our previous vendors were unavailable, so I tasked Andrew with contracting new videographers. He killed it.
I have to spend a few hours memorizing all this music so I don’t look bad on camera.
wholesoul is also performing an exclusive dinner event for Fortune 500 companies up in SF. We are continuing to perform for corporate events!
August in general is going to be very busy. I’m excited.
Thanks for reading! Talk to you next Friday!
Drew
I said it before, and I'll say it again: you are a persistent something-or-another!