One Way Ticket: A ridiculous night

It was just one of those epic nights that showed that a little bit of bullshit and pushiness goes a long way. It was one of the last nights of my friend Samy, so we hatched a ridiculous plot to get into a Dj Geutta Concert on Thursday night at the four seasons hotel in Cairo. There were five of us.

As I was wearing a tie and fly shoes, I posed as the manager, Cameron David Gallo (I had a business card), Samy was Dj Samy Y - he had just signed on to Virgin Records and was doing most of the talking, Sean was Samy's best friend, Anna was the agent, and Ali was the driver/body guard - he was wearing one of my wrap around ipod headphones...

We pulled up in Ali's car, he drives an Audi with diplomatic plates, and it's game time. As the manager I am wearing sunglasses, chewing gum viciously, and giving off big-swinging-dick-not-going-to-take-your-shit vibe. A lot of people are outside, but a couple of police officers immediately push them out of the way. Immediately budging up to the front of the line where there were about 4 huge bouncers, I drop a line to them like this.

"We're on the guest list, our tickets should be here, party of five." Heavily giving the bouncers the impression that I belonged inside and they were failing at their job by not letting me in...

This brings out one of the concert managers... "Hi, my name is Carmen David Gallo, I'm the manager of Dj Samy Y, we're with the label, we landed from New York tonight, I was told that our tickets would be at the door."

Her response: "I checked the guest list this morning, it's overbooked, I didn't see your name on it... wait who are you with?"

Me: Virgin

Her: Virgin megastores?

Me: No, Virgin records, I'm the manager for Dj. Samy Y (Samy's arms are crossed and he looks cold), he just signed on the label. I was told that if there were any issues I should speak with Mr. Mataran, go check the list again, we will wait here."

Mr. Mataran was apparently the name to drop - he was the CO of this concert. If she was calling my bluff, she failed. So this got us passed the line of bouncers which were holding back the crowds while she returned inside.

At this point, Anna is yapping to someone on her blackberry about how the flight was late and there was no one to pick us up at the airport, Ali shows up from having parked the car (he's wearing the earphone so the bouncers let him right in. Then Sean starts flipping out in a loud angry American voice.

"Look dude, we've been traveling for NINE FUCKING hours, this is BULL SHIT! Dj Samy Y is in the fuckin HOUSE"

I turn to him to calm him down. Then I turn to another guy who is checking tickets.

"Look, it's been a long flight, my friend feels very uncomfortable being outside here, our tickets are on the way, can we just wait inside?"

Him: "You still have to go through two checkpoints."

Me: "Not my problem. We're on the list. Our tickets are coming."

At this point he leads us up inside the four seasons. We walk through the metal detector, setting it off, and then I head straight to the VIP table. I nod towards the guy who brought us through.

"We're with the label, we're on the list."

And as easy as that we have our wristbands and a free pass to an 800 pound section. And it actually was a great show.