Soon after “Cheap Trick” lead singer “Xeno” had left the band to join the new theatre rock group “Straight Up” in Minneapolis during the previous summer, his girlfriend at the time, “Peaches” followed.  “Peaches”, as was her nickname at the time before she properly rejected it, was a classically trained actor from some relatively famous acting school in the Chicago area – don’t quite remember the name though.  As soon as “Peaches” arrived in Minneapolis, she began looking for a theatre group to work with.  She quickly hooked up with the Minnesota Ensemble Theatre which was an off shoot of the famous Tyrone Guthrie Theatre.  Playwrights, actors, and directors from the Guthrie would bring their works to the MET and try them out with the MET cast of actors. 

Once she was settled in at the MET, “Peaches” invited me to come down and see what the MET was all about.  After several visits to the theatre, one of the actors, a very colorful and flamboyant young guy by the name of Steve F., whose real life performance as a “starving artist” was Oscar worthy, asked me if I wanted to get involved in the theatre doing some work building props, running lights and other non-acting duties.  My contracting business was slowing down for the year due to winter weather and I had some extra time on my hands to spend there so I figured, why not?  Next thing I knew, several of the cast members, including “Peaches”, were urging me to play different characters in some of the plays that were coming through.  Then, NYC director “Brooklyn” Joe Walsh, who had been invited to come to Minnesota to direct at the MET by his friend, famed character actor Peter Michael Goetz, started in on me.  Joe, who with his fairly long jet black hair, Al Pacino / Robert De Niro-esque looks and New York attitude to match, was quite the character. 

I was initially so frightened by the prospect of having to speak and perform in front of a real live audience of fellow human beings, thereby exposing myself to the potential of multiple simultaneous rejections, that I nearly left the theatre.  They kept urging me on though, and I kept on resisting until it finally occurred to me several weeks after they had started in on me that what was really in front of me was not a threat but rather, was more likely one of the greatest opportunities’ set before me in my then twenty-two years of living.  I knew that if I was able to overcome the fears that held me back as if I was tied to a freight train that was going the opposite direction from where I was trying to run, I could likely overcome anything. 

After taking a very deep breath, a number of them actually, I made the decision to put myself out there on display in front of any number of perfect strangers and let them judge me, no matter the consequences.  Fear lost and I won and my decision to conquer that fear changed my life forever.  I also had one hell of a lively, colorful, and tremendous time. 

During one particular performance, I slipped during a death scene and fell to the ground and knocked the wind out of myself.  Although I could hardly breathe and had nearly knocked myself out, I could still hear the loud gasps of the audience when I hit the stage floor.  Somehow, I was able to recover enough to be able to get back on my feet and continue my performance which resulted in a loud round of applause from the audience.  Not sure though if they were applauding the realism and quality of my acting or just applauding at the mere fact that I was actually able to pick myself up and continue on with the performance.

Then there was the time that one of the actors, “Bobby”, who loved doing dinner theatre as much as he loved showing off his alleged martial arts skills, arrived late for rehearsal one night – again.  Not long after his arrival, he and “Brooklyn” Joe got into a heated argument which resulted in Joe stopping the rehearsal and motioning to Bobby to meet him outside of the back entrance of the theatre so they could discuss their differences and Bobby’s serial tardiness.  As we waited inside at our positions on stage, all we could hear through the closed back door was a lot of banging and thumping.  After not more than a couple of minutes of this, “Brooklyn” Joe came back in – alone, sat down and shouted, “places, everybody, let’s go”.

Apparently, Bobby’s martial arts skills weren’t quite at the level he thought they were.  Bobby, sporting a black eye and several bruises, did reappear several rehearsals later to apologize to Joe and the cast but, by then, Joe had decided that Bobby’s services as an actor were no longer needed.  Bobby’s problem wasn’t a lack of confidence in his abilities, it was his over confidence combined with his lack of martial arts skills that caused him problems.  Not much different, I would say, than anyone who owns a business and, although they may be confident in their abilities, their lack of the requisite understanding of how a business produces the best results, causes them to never truly achieve what they could have otherwise achieved.

I had, for the most part, conquered my biggest fear through that experience which had opened many new doors for me.  I remember Joe saying to me one day, in his thick Brooklyn accent, “Larry, you know what I like about you, you’re not an asshole like so many of those college educated actors out there who all think they’re Shakespeare”.  I took that as a compliment and a confirmation that my acting was, when all was said and done, not half bad.  All the while, always in the back of my mind was that little voice that urged me to continue forward. 

Even though I had conquered most of my worst fear, I still resisted forward movement towards an acting career to some degree because I wasn’t sure what direction to take.  Stay in the construction business where I focused on both retail remodeling and insurance restoration contracting work, or, after having spent some time honing my “skills” as an actor, continue working at the MET.

Around the same time, “Straight Up” bassist Steve Kenet “Beaver” – shown on the right in the top picture, who was a friend and neighbor of mine who decided years earlier to become a bass player after watching my dad’s rock & roll band practice in our suburban Bloomington rec room, asked me if I wanted to work with the band doing security, managing ticket sales, and eventually booking the bands concerts (along with meeting all the single girls I could ever hope to meet).  Being that is was December and knowing I would not be doing any construction work until the spring thaw, I decided to take him up on the offer.  At the time, “Yanni”, who later achieved world-wide fame and fortune, was the keyboardist for the band.

What an amazing year that was!  Traveling all across the Midwest doing shows at various venues.  We were invited by the “YES” band to attend their show where 16,000 fans appeared – and our sound engineer Paul Stark who later went on to found world famous “Twin/Tone” records, took over their sound board hours before their show was to begin.  Then there was the time we were invited to and did attend a private jam session with the “Rolling Stones” and reggae artist Peter Tosh. Then there was the fire that the road crew had started to the ceiling of the venue in Ft. Dodge, Iowa.  In addition was my falling in love with the 1976 Baldwin, WI “Dairy Queen” who I had met at one of our Wisconsin concerts. 

One show I particularly remember was a concert we did in ABC Supply Co. founder Diane Hendricks favorite town of Beloit, WI.  At that show, being we were so close to “Cheap Tricks” Rockford, IL home base, a couple of the “Cheap Trick” guy’s decided to come up to Beloit to watch their previous lead singer perform.  Long before the show was scheduled to begin, “Cheap Trick” guitarist Rick Nielsen had been standing outside of the venue talking to a group of young girls who I figured were just some of our fans who had decided to come early in the hopes of meeting the band.  Not long after, I stopped Nielsen and asked him who the girls were.  He then told me they weren’t our fans, they were members of the new all-girl glam rock band “The Runaways” featuring then fifteen year old lead members Joan Jett and Lita Ford, who had just signed a big record deal with Phonogram/Mercury records.      

Later that fall, with a record deal with Warner Brothers records almost ready for signing, Warner Brothers backed out of the deal because of “Yannis” extreme demands that the record company had no interest in honoring.  The 1976 Baldwin, WI “Dairy Queen” who I had fallen in love with earlier that year broke up with me after listening to her mother repeatedly telling her that “that Rock and Roll” guy you’ve been dating will never amount to anything”.  After the Warner Brothers record deal had fallen through and having grown tired of traveling all across the Midwest, I decided leave the band to spend time booking other Midwest area bands at various venues.  

Eventually, construction, particularly insurance restoration work which I had been contracting for prior to joining the band, drew me back into the industry.  Never been back to Beloit since.  Eventually, ABC Supply Co. which Diane had started with her husband Ken around the same time I joined the band, became the richest woman in America.  Although I never reached the same net worth level as Diane has, contrary to what the Baldwin, WI “Dairy Queens” mother had predicted, that I would never amount to anything, I’ve managed to accomplish much that has dramatically improved, particularly in regards to the restoration construction industry, the lives of many thousands of Diane’s contractor customers, the contractors property owner customers, and the people who have invested billions of dollars in building product distribution companies. 

Although improvements have been made through my unmatched and repeatedly proven training methods, there is still much work that needs to be done – and it starts with Diane’s ABC Supply Co. following the proven processes as I have so clearly described them on the website that can be accessed here.  Until that happens, insured property owners, contractors, distributors, and the distributors investors (which for some distribution companies include investors at the multi-billion dollar level) will continue to get screwed by the P&C insurance industry and their accomplices.

      

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