This is soooooooo
painful. I can't even believe I'm writing it. Since
this is sure to be locked anyway, I can be honest.
What a journey this has turned out to be.
There's been one
thing about The Comedy Store debacle that was REALLY
nagging me. For about a month I had been stewing
over it. I told a few friends What I felt, but knew
taking action would be a direct undercutting of
Charlotte. As well, if I found out that my suspicions
were true - it would lead to the END of my
relationship with Charlotte. I just wasn't ready to
take that step. Well now it had been 2 months since we
found out what Gary did and nothing had happened.
Charlotte had written a letter in January, but held
onto it because Belinda wanted to have a meeting with
Charlotte, Gary and I. That seemed reasonable enough.
Unfortunately weeks passed and the meeting never
happened...and the letter was never sent. I asked
Charlotte to send the letter, I asked for us to go
down to The Comedy Store on a Monday night and there
were excuses for both. Why wouldn't she send the
letter?
January 14, 2002
Mitzi Shore and Duncan
Trussel
The Comedy Store
8433 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Re: Adam and the Trinitrons
Appearance on Nov. 12, 2001
Dear Mitzi and Duncan,
A performer relies as much on his
reputation, as on his talents. As such, I
feel it is my obligation to ensure that
the reputation of my client, Adam Kontras,
is not besmirched by misunderstandings,
misquotes, and rumors.
I was most distressed about the
conversation I had with Duncan on January
11th. He stated that there were rumors
that my client, Adam, had been rude to
employees of The Comedy Store the night of
his performance, and was unhappy about
playing the Original Room rather than the
Main Room. Furthermore, Duncan said he had
been told that Adam called twice
subsequent to November 12th about his next
performance in the Main Room. I need to
emphatically state, as I did with Duncan,
that this could not be further from the
truth and would like to clarify the
situation.
I was present the entire night of
November 12th, and as such can state with
complete confidence that Adam was never
rude to a single employee of The Comedy
Store, and defy any employee to tell me
otherwise. He showed up at the club on
time, set up his equipment, and prepared
to perform. While he was not talkative
before the show, that most certainly
should not be interpreted as rudeness. As
far as after his performance, he went out
of his way to be polite to guests,
encouraging them to go back in and watch
the other acts. He was also overly
considerate of the other performers, even
going so far as to wait nearly 4 hours
after his performance to tear down,
although a Comedy Store employee said it
was alright to do so earlier, all in an
effort not to be rude to his fellow
performers.
Secondly, as for calling the Comedy
Store subsequent to his performance and
inquiring about his next performance, I
can guarantee you that he did not make any
calls to The Comedy Store. As his manager
I handle all such matters, and considering
the confusion between Belinda Foster and
Gary Goldstein in getting Adam booked in
the first place, Adam was more than happy
to let me handle all details at The Comedy
Store, and elsewhere.
Finally, and most importantly, is
the issue of the Original vs. the Main
Room and any perception that Adam felt
unhappy with performing in the Original
Room. In order to clarify this issue
completely, it is important to let you
know the events that led to Adam
performing in the Original Room. Gary
Goldstein, a regular performer, as well as
a former manager of the Comedy Store, told
Adam that he would be able to get him on
the Main Stage. He then introduced Adam to
Belinda suggesting to her that he would be
a good addition to her "Player" show on
Monday nights. It was in a discussion
between the three that the Main Room was
discussed. Gary said he personally could
provide 250 and tried to convince Belinda
to push the Main Room for this particular
Monday. Belinda was nervous about such a
guarantee and suggested playing the
Original Room first and then booking the
Main Room if all went well.
Immediately after this
conversation, Adam provided me with her
contact info and all communication since
has been between Belinda and myself. We
agreed that the Original Room would be
best for a first performance and I assured
her that we would have a full house that
would stick around even after Adam's
performance. We in fact had a standing
room only crowd, the majority of whom
stayed to watch the other performers. What
surprises me the most is that the talk of
the Main Room came from Belinda, who after
Adam's performance came up to the both of
us stating that she had just spoken to
Mitzi, who told her that based on the
reception from the crowd and the take of
the bar ($2200 in less than 1 hour), that
Adam would only perform in the Main Room
from there on out. Belinda then went on
stage and announced that Adam would be
performing in the Main Room in the
future.
The evening was a highlight for
Adam, and both the audience and Belinda
seemed very pleased at the end of the
night. This is why I am shocked that not
one of my calls to Belinda since that
evening has been returned, and even more
surprised to hear from Duncan that the
impression left by the employees of The
Comedy Store was anything but
positive.
I hope you understand that while
both Adam and I would love to see him
perform at The Comedy Store again, that is
not the impetuous for this letter, but
rather to clear one's reputation. Adam has
great respect for Mitzi and reverence for
the history behind The Comedy Store and to
leave a negative perception of him after
an incredibly well-received performance
tarnishes the memory of an otherwise
fantastic night.
Sincerely,
Charlotte
Now that letter is
a revision I did of her original, correcting grammar
and typos. She seemed happy, and I was ready for that
puppy to be sent out IMMEDIATELY. This had already
been festering for 2 MONTHS since the show. Of
course she called Belinda, a meeting was planned, so
she held off. When she was blown off by Belinda for
weeks on end, I asked her to send the letter, but she
wouldn't. Not yet...
It hit me that
there could be something in that letter that was
untrue. It made me wonder if she had any intention of
sending it in the first place. So here's the
million-dollar question: "What if Duncan never said
that I had called?" What if she threw that in to
divert my frustration at her ineffectiveness to Gary?
Knowing I hadn't called - he'd be the next
logical choice. Though outrageous to think someone
would call in AS me just to fuck with my reputation,
Gary certainly had the balls. Charlotte said
specifically that Duncan said I called the place
TWICE. Each time asking when I would be rebooked. When
Charlotte said she knew I hadn't called he
said: "Sometimes performers call without the
manager knowing you know..." She was certain...but now
this created quite a quandry for me. If I call Duncan,
I'm crossing a HUUUUGE line. I'm undermining
Charlotte as my representation, and if I'm WRONG...I'm
a total dick. I've now done all this, accomplished
nothing and it may get back to Charlotte - fucking me
HARD. So I sat on it. I let it fester.
By last night, I
couldn't put it off anymore. I was so depressed that I
didn't even care anymore. I called around 8:30
and was told he worked 11AM-7PM. BOOM the power goes
out. Now to most people this is happy-fun-candle time.
To me? It's
FUCKING-SHIT-I'M -WORTHLESS-WITHOUT-ELECTRICITY
time. I LIVE on the computer. I was in the middle
of downloading about 20 NES ROM files, and
working on an entry too. The power goes out for over
12 hours folks. Talk about time to think. The one
thing that kept me sane was the ability to avoid
thinking about the situation, now it's ALL I
could do. All night, all morning...the quiet. Dear GOD
the quiet.
11:30 finally
rolled around I called, someone took my number...and
he actually CALLED back. I couldn't believe it. You
ready for this?
He never said it.
He was adament. "Why would I say that, I never talked
to you." I asked him again: "But did you ever say that
I called asking for you? On 2 seperate occasions?
Demanding to be rebooked?" He said: "No,
SHE called Belinda demanding that and even Mitzi,
but I don't ever remember you calling or saying that
to your manager" That's damn near word for word what
he said to me. He said he remembered the conversation
very well, it was a Friday at 6:30 PM - he was very
busy, and he couldn't believe she would call him then.
He actually spent a good 10-15 minutes talking to me.
Telling me a story about a manager he had when he
first came out to LA that never let him grow as a
comic before throwing him to the wolves. Not really
sure how it applied to me - but it was nice for him to
say nonetheless. He also told me to do the act with
just one TV so I could do open mic nights. He was
soooo pressin' me to do that - LOL. He's never seen
the show though, and I couldn't explain to him why
this was impossible. I asked him again, I think 5
times in the 15 minutes I asked for him to reiterate
what he had said. I wanted to hear him stammer - say
anything that gave me reason to believe he doubted hs
memory. "It's been 2 months since we talked, but I'm
certain I would've remembered saying
that."
I hung up the
phone in probably the weiredest mood I've ever had.
There was this feeling of FINALLY having control over
my life...but realizing I had just opened a pandora's
box. Elation tempered with depression and dread. So
schizophrenic. First things first. I RAN to Gary's
apartment to apologize. No matter what had happened
surrounding The Comedy Store, I was WROOOOONG in
writing that entry about him. He was very cool.
I said I was sorry about 20 times. I told
him what lead to my thought process and what lead me
to finally call Duncan... He seemed pretty
understanding. We talked a bit about all we had been
through the past few months - he mentioned some of the
shit he said about me, and vice-versa. We talked about
"soriee-thrower", who he oddly enough threw out of his
apartment for being a disrespectful prick. How funny
is that? LOL. A very strange meeting with him to say
the least. He asked about Charlotte, and I said
I hadn't even told her yet, that I came to him
first. I wasn't really sure when the hell I'd be
able to stomache the pursuing war. I told him I'd make
an absolute full retraction online as soon as
possible.
Next thing
I did was tell Edna. I had mentioned what Gary
did before and wanted to clear the air. She laid into
me about writing about things on the site. Saying
"soiree-thrower" (hell this'll be locked anyway) -
SHANE, was printing up my entries and handing them out
to people in the apartment. She didn't use his name,
but hmmmm...wonder who that is. She was upset
I used HER name in the one about him.... !??!?!
I said she was in the ROOM. !??! I'll address
this, and how I feel about it in an unlocked
entry - for now, I told her. Called my dad and Jessica
and told them. As well, I told Paddy and Marshall. I
knew that thinking Gary had done this tainted their
view of him - and that's just wrong. This didn't
happen, and I wanted to right it as soon as humanly
possible. Of course the lights go out again and are
off for a good 3 more hours. Once they did go back on,
I immediately locked Gary's entry. For now, that's all
I could do. Until I speak with Charlotte, I can't
publically exhonerate Gary.
So that of course
begs the question when do I do that? No idea.
We're to find out about Chicago next week, and that's
about all I live for anymore. I can't see me
dropping this bomb before that. I know it's
shitty - but I don't want to lose the festival.
I've worked to hard too go through another
disappointment like that. Unfortunately my past begs
to differ. I'm not sure I can possibly talk to her
again without starting the war. Ugh. I shouldn't have
called Duncan this early. I should've waited
until after the Chicago festival news. Then again,
I waited for long enough....
Of course the real
issue for this whole entry is:
"OH MY GOD SHE LIED TO MY FACE."
I suspected it, I checked up on it, and I was right.
Is there any other way to explain this? Could she have
misheard him? She was so EXACT in what he said! Could
Duncan have misheard someone at the club, then told
that to Charlotte, then forgotten and told me
otherwise? Did Gary call and Duncan was covering for
him to make Charlotte look bad? What's his motivation
for that? He's helping the same guy who called in as
me to confuse him!??! It's too Hollywood. The problem
here, is I see Charlotte's motivation to lie. It's
grounded in every other problem I have with her. And
although I don't believe she ever LIED to me before,
she most certainly twisted things around and passed
the buck. Either to someone else or to me. But this is
so out of character in my opinion. I am just lost on
what to believe. The bottom line is, I do NOT believe
Gary called. If anything Duncan is as flakey as
Belinda, and can't remember his ass from a hole in the
ground, but good GOD was he adament.
Ugh.
What on earth will happen next. And
doesn't it just figure that my most
gripping and dramatic entries are ones no
one will ever read! Grrrrr... I can
probably keep the
video
unlocked though...
