Pecking Order, page 27
“You don’t shit, either, do you? Come on, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Lucina shook her head against the cell phone and thought, She’s so raw. But she covers it so well in public. I never have to worry about her embarrassing me. But she does it in private all the time.
“Anyways,” she commented, breaking herself from her musings, “what are your honest thoughts about Ivan?”
“Ivan is a definite hottie. I would give him a nine,” Maya stated without hesitating.
Lucina said, “A nine? He’s not a model.”
“And I’m glad that he’s not,” Maya responded. “Male models are so…iffy. But Ivan is all man. He says what he wants to say, and he does what he wants to do.”
Lucina told her, “He has a birthday coming up on the fifth of March. And he wants us to charge fifty dollars a head for it.”
Maya paused and said, “Wow. That would make him a ten.”
“Would you stop with the numbers already? Who would pay fifty dollars to see him?” she snapped.
Maya said, “Well, that’s more like a ticket price. Is he going to be selling tickets from his website?”
Lucina answered, “I don’t know. I just told him I would call him back. I didn’t think he was serious.”
“Well, is he?”
“I’m still not sure. That’s why I called you. But he wants to do it at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.”
Maya said, “Oh, now, that would be nice. No wonder he wants to charge fifty dollars. Is this a dressed-to-impress affair?”
“It would have to be,” Lucina assumed. “He says he wants top-money businesspeople.”
“Yeah, and that’s who he would get for fifty dollars. But how many people does he expect to attend, five hundred?”
“Five hundred?” Lucina repeated. “He said he wants to make a hundred thousand dollars. That means at least two thousand people. And he wants to rent out the main ballroom there.”
“Wow,” Maya responded again. “That would really take him off the charts.”
“Yes, yes, but can he actually do it, that’s what I want to know.”
“I know I’ll be there to see it, that’s for sure,” Maya told her.
“So, a fifty-dollar party makes you want to see it?”
Maya explained, “You can’t look at it just as a fifty-dollar party. You have to promote it as if Ivan David is royalty or something. And when people start to ask for tickets, then you tell them it’s fifty dollars. That’s when you separate the money people from the people who don’t have money.”
“But two thousand people paying that price?” Lucina repeated to her friend.
“It depends on how well you promote it,” Maya countered. “We’ve been around parties like that before. The price starts at twenty-five. Then it goes up to forty. Then they drink for fifty, sixty, and seventy dollars.”
Maya asked her, “Is Ivan having liquor sponsors there? At that price, and for that crowd, they may be really interested.”
Lucina stopped talking. She didn’t know all of those details yet. But it seemed as if her girl believed the idea could work.
Lucina told her, “Let me call him back and ask him all of those questions.”
“Okay. And let me know what he says.”
Lucina hung up without responding. Then she paced her room again.
“Hmmph,” she grunted. “I don’t believe this.”
WHEN IVAN’S CELL PHONE rang at his apartment, he had already made his way into his bedroom office to start jotting down all of his ideas: “Who is Ivan David? What is an I.D. Promotion? Where is the big party?” Then he wrote down a list of people to invite: advertisers, liquor sponsors, corporations, Chargers, Padres, military personnel, promoter affiliates, all of Lucina’s girls, the Urban League members. He followed this with a list of things to arrange for: radio promotion, ticket access, gift bags, magazine articles, newspaper articles, website promotion, flyers…
Ivan looked up when his phone rang and smiled. She’s calling me back already, he thought. It had only been ten minutes.
He answered the phone and asked Lucina, “So, what do you think about my party idea now?” He was still grinning. He figured she had thought about it more.
“How do you plan to make it all work?” she asked him. “If I know you, you have your own ideas already. So I will tell you which plans will work and which plans will not.”
Ivan said, “First we have to use tickets, and we can give some away with a big radio promotion. And I definitely want to get the liquor sponsors involved with this one. Of course, I’ll hit up our friends at the Chargers and Padres to come out. I’ll get all of the Urban League members to come. I’m going to do that 944 magazine article. Eddie K. will link me up with his editorial contacts at the San Diego Union Tribune for an arts and lifestyle article. We’ll also hit up the smaller papers in town. Then we’ll give away gift bags to the first five hundred people at the party. And I’ll tap into all of my website advertisers to convince them to contribute as sponsors or add something of value to the gift bags. Then we hit up all of our promoter friends to join us in the fun. They all owe us now, right?”
Lucina heard him out and responded, “You make it all sound too simple. And you can do all of those things, Ivan, but what are you really giving to the customer for their fifty dollars?”
Ivan explained, “Lucina, the one thing Americans love more than anything is a success story. That’s why we have so many of these reality shows popping up nowadays. Americans love to see new faces in the limelight. So we’re gonna give them one. ‘The Ivan David story.’”
“You haven’t done anything yet,” Lucina told him. The audacity of this man!
“Nor have these reality show people,” Ivan argued.
“Ivan, they’re on national television. We get to watch them make fools of themselves for free. They’re not asking us for fifty dollars to come to a party.”
Ivan said, “When they come off them shows they do. They get all the money they can get. And we may think we’re watching them for free, but the advertisers and networks have already paid for it.”
He continued, “Those shows had to be pitched and bought, just like I’m about to do. So I got a month to show my ass off now. And after we do this big birthday party, we’ll just keep doing bigger and better events to get this money you want. But you also need to invest in real estate with me,” he told her. “Because I’m definitely thinking about getting into the property development game. I got a feeling about that.”
Lucina told him, “You can’t do business off a feeling alone, Ivan. You have to know what you’re getting into.”
“You jumped into business with me off a feeling,” he reminded her. “And all I’ve done so far is help make you new money.”
Lucina hesitated. She said, “I was desperate. And desperate people make bad decisions all the time.”
Instead of feeling slighted by her sarcasm, Ivan flipped it with a grin. He said, “Well, I’m the best desperate, bad decision you’ve ever made in your life.”
WHEN LUCINA HUNG UP with Ivan for the second time that evening, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Business only, Lucina, she had to remind herself. She had led herself into a fit over Ivan before and had to refocus her energies on business. Now she felt it happening again.
She nodded her head in her living room, pacing and thinking as usual. She mumbled, “Very interesting person. He continues to make me smile.”
And he’s smart, she told herself.
Then she decided to call her girl back.
“So, what did he say? Is he serious?” Maya asked her. She sounded really excited. That made Lucina smile more.
She answered, “Evidently he is. And he has all the ideas that you discussed. He wants to make this party really big. And he wants to send out a big message to San Diego.”
Maya said, “I knew it. Ivan has it in him. He’s the kind of man who wants it all.”
Lucina fell silent for a spell. Then she asked her girl, “So how close should I be with him?”
Maya toned down all of her excitement. She said, “Well, we’ve kind of been through this all before, only you were the one to tell me to slow down. So this time I’ll repay the favor.”
Maya warned, “I would see how Ivan treats other women before I get too close to him. You know what I mean? So far he seems to be more about business, but these guys do change.”
Lucina listened and agreed with Maya’s assessment.
“I know. I just needed someone else to confirm it.”
IVAN FOUND the main ballroom at the Manchester Grand Hyatt had an open date on the second Saturday of March for nearly half the rental fee Lucina had expected. So he secured the date immediately and went into hyperdrive with all of his staff, friends, partners, and new business associates to begin preparing for his big, breakout event.
All of the website advertisers and sponsors were solicited for sponsorship and gift bag contributions. The liquor sponsors were contacted. The radio station ad spots were bought. The catering menu was set. Security teams were secured. A liquor license was applied for, with a bar staff to be hired. All of Lucina’s girls were alerted to spread the word to their contacts in and around the San Diego area. Event tickets were created and set for a sale date, three weeks before the big event online, at selected ticket outlets, and from IDPromotions.com.
On the website, Paul and Jeff set pop-up banners on every page to ask their viewers the questions: “Who Is Ivan David?” “What is an I.D. Promotion?,” and “Where is the big party?”—all to be answered through the upcoming interviews Ivan had set up with the print media.
In the meantime, Julio had solidified his Aftermath Entertainment connection in L.A. So Ivan told Lucina they would do two celebrity events as preludes to his birthday party.
“Who do you have lined up?” she asked him over the phone.
Ivan spoke to her while admiring the view from his balcony again. “Eve and Busta Rhymes are both willing to come down,” he answered. “You know they both work with Dr. Dre now. Then we can go after Xzibit later. He’s real popular with that Pimp My Ride show on MTV now. Maybe we can do an afternoon car show with an after-party tie-in and get some of the car magazines, local dealerships, and automakers involved.
Lucina told him, “I have Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. They are supposed to be working on new projects together.”
“Okay, so we do an event with them after Eve and Busta.”
Lucina paused. She said, “You’re spreading yourself too thin before your big party.”
Ivan brushed it off. “Naw, what I want to do is make sure we take plenty of pictures with them and get my staff writers to interview them for the website. Then I’ll just talk about it all. That’ll only make my birthday party stronger. We’ll make these other events part of the hype.”
Lucina warned him, “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t take all of the customers’ money before asking them for fifty dollars next month.”
Ivan shook it off again. “We’re expecting different crowds,” he argued. “Now I know how to separate them all. And once they finish this new Padres baseball field downtown, you can get thirty, forty thousand in the Gaslamp Quarter easy. All we want to do is find our small percentage of that.”
She listened to him and gave in. “Okay.”
Ivan had made up his mind.
IVAN HAD LEARNED the party game quickly. But he wasn’t too quick to brag about it to the press. He wanted to sound as humble about the process as possible. He understood that the rich would be more attracted to humility. So he focused his comments to appeal to the established and the upwardly mobile who were already used to making money.
“I just try to make sure I do my part to make San Diego a more interesting place to live, love, and party in,” he told the reporter at 944, the San Diego regional magazine.
When asked what made him a unique promoter, Ivan responded, “Sometimes you can’t answer that question, you just do what you do. That’s for others to figure out. I just happen to have a lot of people who like me and like doing business with me.”
After being pressed to explain his character, Ivan answered, “If I had to nail it down, I would just say that I always try to be fair to people and pay them what I owe them.”
Accepting Lucina’s advice to use his certain look to cross over, Ivan finally broke down and had his left ear pierced before he bought one of the most colorful diamond studs that he could find to match his eyes. The idea was to allow his good looks and humility to create a following on their own without him trying too hard to sway people.
“The real sex symbols are the guys who never talk about their looks,” Lucina commented.
Ivan still wasn’t sure about the earring in business, and definitely not the sex symbol thing, but he did realize he needed to sell himself to the fullest for his plans of attraction to work. The catch for the 944 magazine article was getting the cover story.
Lucina told him, “You let me handle that.”
In the San Diego Union Tribune, Ivan wanted to express more of his human side. He knew that more people would read it who were not business related or steady participants of the nightlife.
So in the interview, set up by Eddie K., Ivan told the reporter, “I’m just a kid who had a dream to try and create events for people to have a good time around me.”
In the Tribune article, the reporter did research on Ivan’s background as an African-American out of South Central Los Angeles. When Ivan was asked about growing up there, he was quick enough to put a spin on that as well.
He said, “The city of Los Angeles has a lot of different cultures and economic classes, and I’ve always been one to blend in well with everyone. That’s why I love living here in San Diego. The city’s diversity gives you an opportunity to enjoy and learn from a lot of different people.”
Asked what his ultimate goal would be in the San Diego area, Ivan answered, “I would love to just be that guy who you can count on to bring everyone together.”
Ivan did a third interview for the San Diego News Link. In none of the conversations did he push his website, promote his birthday party, or talk about making money. Eddie K. had helped put together a strong press release with bullet points that did all of those things for him, and without Ivan needing to toot his own horn, including his employment at Hutch & Mitchell Accounting. Each publication had the information handy to plug right in, including the list of sponsors who supported his IDPromotions.com website, and his upcoming birthday party at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which spoke volumes all by itself.
When Ivan had completed all three interviews, with radio spots and flyers still to come, closer to the week of his big event, he told himself, “The setup is all done. Now it’s time to work my plans to perfection.”
Fourteen
Celebrity Status
IVAN CONTACTED the West Coast Travel Agency, a contributing advertiser on his website, to secure the best flight rates for round-trip tickets and hotel rooms for the celebrities he planned to bring into the San Diego area, starting with Eve, the rapper, fashion designer, and movie star. Busta Rhymes, another multiple-career entertainer, made plans to drive down from L.A. on that same weekend in late February.
Ivan and Lucina secured the location, travel, and hotel plans, and got back to their promotion to make it work. Only now, Ivan figured he had a lot more showing off to do to live up to the hype of the articles about him that would hit the public soon.
“I gotta upgrade my wardrobe and show up in style now,” he told himself.
Lucina advised him to let her girls select his new clothes.
Ivan joked, “Naw, I’m not trying to spend a million dollars on a wardrobe. Your girls all got expensive tastes.”
“Ivan, you simply take them with you wherever you go to shop, and they will pick out the things that they like for you.”
Reluctantly, Ivan went along with the program and ended up having pretty girls of all nationalities surrounding him after work.
“This looks good on you, Ivan.”
“Ivan, you just have to have this shirt.”
“Oh, those shoes are just you.”
“This sports jacket really sets off your eyes.”
“I just love this color on you.”
But as Ivan had already guessed, their personal tastes elevated the costs quickly.
“What about a Rolex watch for your wrist?”
“And a diamond-studded bracelet for the other one?”
“Ivan, you really need to upgrade your car more than anything.”
He asked them, “Why? I’m not even in a car most of the time.” Especially since moving downtown, he added to himself.
“Yeah, but when you are, and you step out of a hot car in your new shoes and clothes, it will really make a statement.”
“And everything you do needs to make a statement now,” the girls told him.
They all sounded like mini-Lucinas without the accent. Nevertheless, in the public imagery game, the sights and scenes of a superstar traveled a long way. So Ivan bought nearly half of the items Lucina’s girls advised him on, including a gold, silver, black, and blue Rolex watch with small diamonds that replaced the numbers. However, he held off on the expensive bracelet and car. He figured the noticeable bling on one wrist was enough. And he could always utilize the limos he would rent for his celebrity guests instead of using his own vehicle.
I’ll just have the limo driver pick me up first and take me wherever I need to go, he reasoned. Especially if I’m paying for it by the hour.
Lucina had her own deals with the limo companies. So on their first celebrity-attended event, she and Ivan picked up Eve and two of her girlfriends at the Imperial Hotel in a black stretch limo, dressed to impress and ready to show off. Ivan wore his party uniform, a classic sports jacket, and Lucina wore hers, a one-of-a-kind designer dress.
“Hi, Ivan,” Eve greeted him with an open smile as soon as he stepped out of the limo. She wore a tasteful skirt, heels, and a short jacket with her long, frosted blond hair.
