As I write this, I wonder how I’ll ever talk on the radio this week! My throat is shot, my neck is killing me, my feet are swollen and I’m grinning like an idiot. Rock the Park 11 was a huge success as one of London’s most-beloved annual events and a fundraiser for an important charity founded by two of the most wonderful people I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet.
There is no evidence yet that we met Huey Lewis because only the official photographer was allowed to document the moment and we don’t have those photos yet. Like last year, when I wrote about the silly rules involving meeting Toto, and similar Nazi-style instructions for a fast photo-op with the Doobie Brothers a few years ago, Lewis’ people have a ton of restrictions concerning their star. You can’t really blame them for wanting to control his environment. He does this stuff over and over in city after city. He was friendly and rather bony and almost a tad frail looking at 64. I had the tremendous honour of presenting him with a personalized jersey from Bethanys Hope on behalf of Dave and Lindey McIntyre and that resulted in a shout-out to the charity from the stage and big hugs later from Dave and Lindey.
As The Big Show waited backstage at Harris Park to introduce 38 Special, Darby Mills from the Headpins bounded down after their set and there to greet her at the bottom of the stairs was her old friend and fellow 80s Canadian rocker, Brian Vollmer of Helix.
These acts have virtually no interest in talking to radio hosts because they have nothing to sell. Their money is made on the road and fans are already on site. So our promised visits by both Huey Lewis and Burton Cummings went unfulfilled. 38 Special said no to everything. At least Darby Mills did a phone interview the week before Rock the Park.
The behind-the-scenes stuff is the best stuff of all. Â 38 Special were late and didn’t even do a sound check (which is why their set sounded so muddy) because they got held up at the border. We don’t know why, but we can only assume their tour bus was searched or something. They did make it to the stage on time but fans would be astonished at how close they cut it.
For me, Huey was the highlight and I can’t wait to see the photos. Burton Cummings’ meet-and-greet was put off by Cummings himself until the end of the night and having been there since about 10 am, we decided he wasn’t worth it and left around the 12 hour mark.
But the people who make that day fun, memorable and a success, for me, are my colleagues. Â Our Operations Manager goes out to the line-up at the gate and hands out our Made in London III CDs. Our Promotions Director doesn’t whine even though she’s away from her kids all day on a precious Saturday and she is working despite having strep throat. Her assistant who was only supposed to be on site until 6 pm stayed for the duration out of concern for her boss. We all pitch in to make sure clients and contest winners have a great time. Â At the end of the night, promoter Brad Jones told us the head count for the festival was more than 30,000 and it meant hitting the $2-million mark in fundraising for Bethanys Hope. Dave and Lindey plan to shut the charity down after 2018 when a new drug whose development they funded goes into clinical trials. The enemy is MLD, the illness that destroyed the body and then the life of their daughter Bethany years ago. Â The McIntyres are amazing and I love them both. And I love these people too, my work family at Free-FM.
