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Primetime wishes - Undefined Sectionhttp://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/ne...1 of 68/11/08 9:22 AM

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Primetime wishes

She's an up-and-coming starlet seeking more exposure for her talent. He's a fast-talking managerwanting the fortune that comes from his client's success. Together, they are trying to negotiate thelow-stakes world of Chicago entertainment

Patrick MichelsIssue date:

10/11/02

Section:

Undefined SectionComponent 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------Coming at Joanna as she leaves the audition room, somewhere between the camera lights flashing in her faceand the lenses that capture her blinking eyes for network TV, is Ken Robinson. Just ahead of the crowd andready with advice, he throws his arm around her, telling her not to get discouraged. He can read the judges'decision in her eyes.Just seconds before, Joanna was up in front of Paula Abdul -- a legend in this business not too long ago --with a shot at fame, national television and California. So Joanna sang, barely making it through the chorusof "What a Feeling" from the movie "Flashdance," before Abdul cut her off. She sent Joanna packing, said,"You're a 'no' for Hollywood" and offered no explanation of what that meant. Joanna's nervous giddinessdisappeared, and she walked straight out of the room. Ken won't let Joanna leave the lobby of this Chicagohotel just yet, though, because the "American Idol" audition is only one piece of this equation.Outside the Paula Abdul room, Ken has been meeting other managers, chitchatting with producers, andshowing off his alligator-skin boots and his high-collared, houndstooth-print shirt with miniscule pinup girls

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on each button. Out here is where the handshakes happen, where the real business gets started, so when hespots Joanna about to shove past the cameras and make for the revolving door, he gives the reins a tug."Sing for them," he says, and Joanna, 24 years old and only a few years removed from writing music to gowith her high school poetry, obeys.She sings, just as she did in her audition moments ago, but this time the collective "Wow" hangs in the airlong after the crowd has finished congratulating her. The same song that drew a rejection from the network judges has earned her five more auditions and a modeling interview. It took a little coaxing from Ken, butthis, of course, is what Joanna lives for.BIRDS AND BEASTSWhat follows is the story of an oxpecker bird and a rhinoceros. Somewhere in Africa right now, one of theseyellow-billed songbirds is perched high on the back of a rhino, and as they lumber across the savannahtogether, each is thankful to have the other around. The oxpecker gobbles up the little ticks and insect eggs itfinds along the enormous hide. The rhinoceros stays healthy, and the bird stays well-fed.At its best, the manager-artist relationship operates on the same dynamic: mutualism. The manager watchesout for his client, keeps trouble away and, as a reward, takes a fraction of what the artist accumulates. Whatdevelops is a deeply personal business relationship, almost as much about trust as about money. The artistneeds the manager, and the manager needs the artist, and though they can piggyback their way into theglowing spotlight together, they can just as quickly turn brutally against each other. "They want the fame,"says another manager, Johnny "Smoke" Robinson, "but me personally, I just want the fortune."Joanna and Ken met eight months ago, and already such a symbiotic relationship has taken shape. Betweenthese two, no money is involved yet. He doesn't have her under contract, but this is clearly not a friendshipbecause every day, both wonder whether they would be better off without the other. Ken cares how Joannais feeling, and Joanna hopes business is going great for Ken, but only because a good day for one is a goodday for the other.CAN'T TOUCH THIS"I feel pretty good for a Monday," Ken tells me as we walk down the steps of his apartment building inChicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. It's no great mystery why. He is the noisiest of all songbirds, aprofessional talker, and I have spent the past few hours asking him to tell the world what Ken Robinson hasdone with his 36 years on the planet. He rambles freely, moving from one topic to the next, completely atease as he revisits his childhood and his early career, drumming his fingers against his freshly shaven headand stroking his close-cropped goatee. A black man, dressed in all black -- coat, jeans, leather boots andscarf -- he takes his time across Dearborn Street, interrupting himself to shout hellos at the neighbors herecognizes, and I wonder if he ever just forgets to breathe.Of course I know how to get to the El station. I had walked from the train to his apartment building earlierthis morning -- but Ken insists on walking with me, making sure I get there safely. From the first time wespoke, he has also insisted on finding me a job. "I'll pull some strings over (at the Chicago Tribune), see if we can't do something for you," he promises. More than once during our interview, he compliments myprofessional mannerism and my posture, and I realize that as much as I throw the spotlight in Ken's face, he's judging me right back. This is Ken's nature, though, always looking to take young idealists under his wingand help them get started, because he knows they will remember who did them the favors early on.Wherever he goes, he keeps one eye out for business possibilities. "I live my job," he says, "and my job livesme." So man and business are inseparable.Born in Tampa, Fla., Ken earned a marketing and management degree from Tulane University in 1988 andworked his way through college with one of the greatest tests of a man's persuasive powers imaginable:selling subscriptions over the phone for USA Today. In 1990, Ken broke into the entertainment business asone of M.C. Hammer's back-up dancers after meeting the hip-hop icon backstage at a show. He spent thenext two years touring the country until he decided to settle down, though he still had the itch to work in themusic business."Once you're behind-stage, or even onstage, you'll never want to go to a concert again and sit in the

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audience," he says. "You're like, 'Aw hell no, this is boring.'"He broke into the management side -- the "back end," he calls it -- 10 years ago with a small music festivalhe produced himself and moved into talent management shortly after. Since 1992, he has worked with 50artists, half of whom he represents right now.JEWEL IN THE ROUGHJoanna Szczesny (pronounced 'Sez-nee'), the blonde, remarkably beautiful immigrant daughter of adivorced couple of drunk Polish parents, is doing her best to lose her last name. Around Chicago andsuburban karaoke bars, on her Web site and across the audition circuit, she is Joanna S., or just Joanna. Whocan she expect to remember a name like Szczesny?Joanna was 11 years old and malnourished when she crossed the Atlantic on Jan. 27, 1989. With her olderbrother, she left her parents behind and came to live with her stepmother in Skokie. She hasn't been backsince. Still, her dream of singing professionally and being on television, and her feeling that she hassomething to prove, trace their roots right back to her mother."She could have made it, but she ruined it for herself," Joanna says. "She just decided to get married instead."She just moved into her own apartment and has been working as a dental hygienist since October 2001 topay the bills. "Of course we all have our dreams, but we have to think of plan B," Joanna says. And while shedoes have a stable day job, now she also has a stable night job, as a karaoke jockey in two Chicago bars,where she not only has steady work but also the chance to sing her own songs when the crowd hits a lull.Joanna began writing her own lyrics as poetry in high school and then gradually began setting them tomusic. She has made a demo album of her own music, which she says draws heavily from artists like MariahCarey and Jewel, with a folk-pop crossover sound. Mostly, though, Joanna has been singing at karaoke barslately. "I don't want to sing other people's songs," she says, yet she keeps returning to the karaoke bars forthe prizes -- she just won a karaoke machine of her own, with a 7-inch screen -- and the exposure.Thanks to one such winning performance, Joanna was asked to appear on a cable karaoke show called"Glamour Productions," on a public access channel somewhere in the mid-60s on the dial.STARLET SEARCHKen Robinson gave up late-night parties years ago. "Nothing good is out there after two in the morning. It's just ugly," he says, which is why he's asleep by 9 each night. At 6 in the morning he begins his rigoroustelevision-watching regimen, and with a new day comes a new divot to dig into his sofa cushions. MTV,BET, VH1 -- watching these is market research for Ken. But in the evenings, after a few hours of qualitytime with his cell phone, he flips into scouting mode and sends his remote into the mid-60s, where publicaccess television lives. This is where Ken found Joanna in February, and he liked what he saw. Ken called upthe television station, then the producer of "Glamour Productions," and finally got through to Joanna, whoagreed to meet with Ken about working together.The Fox audition with Paula Abdul was the first audition Ken found for Joanna, so he was on the spotoutside the judging rooms, trying to prove his help was worthwhile. "I couldn't do all the talking," Joannaadmits, "so it was good to have him there."Two more of Ken's artists were auditioning at the same time, both of whom Abdul and the Fox judgesinvited back for a second round of callbacks, but Ken spent the bulk of his time with Joanna."I try to check up on (my artists)," Ken says. "If they're stressed out, it's going to affect our relationship. Youkeep that rapport with your people, you're okay."Still, Joanna is very vocal about the fact that Ken has yet to accomplish anything for her that she couldn'thave done on her own. Even after just a few years in the business, she has developed a healthy skepticismtoward managers who are out to eat her alive, or even toward those who simply lack the influence to be of any help to her.