I suggested a meeting be set up so I could show him the program I envisioned. No meeting was set up. And, at that point, they simply stopped asking my advice. I was supposed to follow this through, attend rehearsals, and plan ALL the entertainment and the way it was to be presented. But, like most amateurs who don't know what the hell they're doing, they simply thought it was easy and took me out of it. And that was their downfall and hideous error.
Instead of doing my three four minute pieces, they did a seventeen-minute movie medley. But, worse, in announcing them, Cindy was made to read, "Ladies and Gentleman, while you eat your dinner, the YMF will play some Jerry Goldsmith music." Can you imagine the chutzpah of that. Mrs. Goldsmith was LIVID and shouted, "Jerry Goldsmith did not write dinner music" and ran from the room in tears. She came back at some point, and I could see them trying to placate her, but she left again and they followed her out, begging her to come back - she didn't. And I don't blame her. What they did was sacreligeous and offensive and disrespectful. I felt like leaving, too. No one listened, they ate and talked during all seventeen minutes. And when they launced into Star Trek: Nemesis (the wrong piece - should have been Star Trek: The Motion Picture) no one gave a crap.
