Wherever You Are

"It was one year ago today that superstar Dani Weston released her fifth album "Gold" that went six times platinum in the first six months of worldwide sales. The twenty two year old Orlando native just announced via social media that she will be headlining a worldwide tour, set to hit 80 cities and featuring special guest, the band 5 Seconds of Summer. Production for the tour has already begun, with Hollywood Insider reporting that Dani was seen leaving -" With a mild clicking noise, the flat screen television turned off. Shortly after, the ceiling fan light was turned off, followed by the locking of the front door. My heels clicked against the paved walkway, the sharp sound trailing from my home in Laurel Canyon to the black Ford Explorer parked in the drive. I hated hearing about myself on those stupid tabloid programs, but I had a group of staff who thought it was important to catch every single broadcast in order to stay on top of the publicity. Afterall, my ten year career is as uncommon as they come. In fact, there's only one other entertainer that comes close: a Japanese idol named Ayumi Hamasaki. I'm essentially my own corporation. I've been my own manager since I got my record deal with Lighthouse Records at the age of twelve. Aside from my personal assistant, I book all of my own shows, plan all of the touring details, design all of the costumes and stage lighting, and still find time to film and edit Youtube videos (just for fun). And, that's just during touring season. I won't lie, it's incredibly hard. Sometimes, I wish I had a bigger staff to help divide the work load, but I know that it's better for my own sanity to take care of everything that I'm involved in.

I do my best to use my time wisely and stay productive. While my driver (Paul) began the hour long drive down the canyon and into the city of industry for another tour production meeting, I scrolled through the e-mails on my phone for the list of radio station names I needed to record and send out in order to promote the tour. Now that we had collectively made the decision to go on the road again, there was so much to do. My personal assistant sat next to me, writing responses to e-mails on her phone, and took notes of phone numbers and meeting times. Sarah was an angel sent to me. Not only is she an incredibly effective assistant, but she's such a kind soul and genuine girl. She quickly became my best friend and confidant, which makes spending every waking moment with her that much more enjoyable. This was going to be the first full tour she joined me on, however. I only hired her a year and a half prior, as my last tour was finishing up. She had just moved to Los Angeles from Alaska, but she handled the change extremely well and I was kind of desperate for a new assistant. It used to be my sister Molly, but she had just gotten engaged at the time and didn't want to follow me around for the rest of her life. I couldn't blame her, and as I've already said: Sarah is fantastic in the position.

The car finally comes to park behind a seemingly run down two story building, after what feels like an eternity. Trusdale has been the production company for all of my tours, but I've always hated their offices. The building is painted the most horrific bright shade of green, and all of the windows are covered with posters so they can save money on heating and air. It doesn't matter what I think about the building though, because I know that I can trust Ben Trusdale and his family to help bring my ideas to life for the literally millions of people who will attend this tour. In fact, we've already had two production meetings to go over the vision and the equipment. Today's appointment is only to finalize ideas between my stage setting and that of the band I'm touring with. Remember how I said that I handle the details of my tours? That always includes selecting a companion or opening act, but I was having a hard time making a selection this time around. I always feel like I should find a new act, but I'm always scared of selecting a group and that I might end up spending eight months or more with people I absolutely hate. Let's be clear, I'm not a difficult person to get along with, but I need to be surrounded by genuine people and in the industry of entertainment, no one is really ever what they seem. It was Molly who suggested I check out 5 Seconds of Summer. I bought their album on Amazon and after the first track knew that I had found my companion act. We hadn't had much time to get to know each other, but we had met briefly during our first production meeting. It was a slightly awkward dance of hands trying to find each other across the table to shake.

Things between us would get comfortable, however. We were going to have our first show in here in Los Angeles, and then enjoy the tour kickoff party right after. After the party, we would be spending a year together. My biggest wish right then was to be able to get along with them for the entire tour. I know that I've already mentioned that fear, but it's always been incredibly important to me. During my first tour, I was on the road with a performer who was less than friendly and gracious. It was eight months of hell for me, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it except for pray that their portion of the tour rider was taken seriously. From what I could tell so far, the boys in this band weren't incredibly picky and they had a lot of great ideas for the stage set up. My resident costumer, Leda, offered to help them design stage costume. I kind of liked that they declined. After seeing their live presence on Youtube, I loved how organic it was for them to enter stage in their actual clothes. Mind you, I still planned nine costume changes for my own stage and I wasn't about to give up the opportunity to feel like a princess with a time crunch.

My bodyguard (Richard) opened the door for me when we were buzzed in, and I lead the way up the stairs and headed straight for the conference room. I was more than surprised to see the band and their team already present. I wasn't late, was I? I am never late. Sarah always makes sure that I am at least fifteen minutes early for everything.

"Our radio interview finished up early, so we just dropped in." I nodded in the direction of Delaney, Matt Emsell's assistant and thus the stand in for the band's management. She must have seen a confused look of panic on my face, and it must have just as quickly disappeared because Delaney leaned back in her seat a little more after I acknowledged her explanation. I took a seat for myself and was quickly joined by Sarah who held a binder of all of the information that we may need. She set it down in front of her with a bit of an accidental boom. The room, however, stayed mostly quiet as we settled in for the last of our long meetings and instead of small talk, each of us considered the year ahead. It was going to be busy, but who knows. Maybe it was going to be just as fun.