"When dealing with artists or creative people generally, it’s wise to make sure that you put them at ease. They tend to be wary of business people, even as they also want to be absolutely sure that you know how to take care of them professionally and don’t want to be around them just because it’s cool. Keeping boundaries clear while being as warm and friendly as possible always works best for me [...]
"As seemed to be true so often back then, my notions about what Grossman, or the band for that matter, had in mind were woefully naïve. 'You know what Janis would really prefer to do?' Grossman asked. 'She’s talked about meeting you, and she thinks it only fitting and proper that she ball you to cement the deal. That would be her way of showing this is a more meaningful relationship—not in lieu of signing, but in addition, a way to make the signing different from what it normally would be in the business world.'
"Talk about boundaries! You don’t learn how to deal with a proposition like that in school. I smiled to myself, and declined the offer as politely as I could, but assured Grossman I’d come to meet the band as soon as I could get free. Later that afternoon I went looking for the group and found them in a conference room. We all said hello and shook hands, and then started to chat. It was awkward at first. Unlike now, assumptions about business were largely negative in the Sixties, at least among the subculture that Janis and the band not only represented, but epitomized. There I was in my suit in a building that was about as potent a symbol of the Establishment as you could find. And I’d just turned down Janis’s offer to have sex with me!"
--The Soundtrack of My Life
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