Transparent Management?

I dreamt that potential new clients for the money-saving services of Currencies Direct were flocking around me like adolescent girls around Harry Stiles, and then I woke up. I was in Cannes at MIDEM, the annual gathering of the independent music industry’s movers and shakers and was enjoying the experience of them all seeing the light, and then came that jolt back to reality. I am in Cannes for the festival, but the rest of the dream was merely a figment if my imagination.

That reality was that I had a really busy day pursuing the many and varied music industry projects with which I am involved, but after a frenetic bout of endeavour, starting at close to 11am I was physically and mentally exhausted by 2pm. That and hungry, and with a large number of nice restaurants on the beach nearby, and it not raining as had been predicted, I felt I needed to find solace in a decent lunch and a glass of wine. Plage Royal was the venue for some quite decent Moules Mariniere, and a couple of glasses of Pomerol, served by the glass, an unusual treat to find a decent wine not served only by the bottle.

Returning to the fray, the BPI drinks party was the next testing event on my agenda, dutifully navigated by 6pm, after which we headed to Ma Nolan’s, the Irish bar, to watch the 6 Nations rugby match between France and England. I know my French readers will not agree but the result was a travesty. Having fought back after conceding two very lucky tries, the gallant England side had edged into the lead before being cruelly denied victory by yet another fortunate turn of events for the French. Biased? Me?

Deflated after this defeat, I had considered not going to the Music Managers Forum party at Vegaluna Beach, but then the prospect of free drinks, a finger buffet and the chance to meet some interesting people overcame me and we went. One of the companies I wanted to track down was the Transparent Rights Management, whose stand at MIDEM I photographed yesterday. As you can see, there was no one on it, so I think they are aptly named. I wanted to see just how transparent they were.

Really transparent

Today will be more of the same. This morning I must once again diligently go about exploiting my music business interests and then concentrate on strategic planning for the future of Currencies Direct. I feel this will be best achieved by staging a lunch on the beach with several of the movers and shakers of the currency world, namely the head of the French operation, the as lovely as she is scary, Pippa Maile, and her brooding, magnificent caveman lookalike and Blue Square estate agent, Gerald Gomis. They are married, but I have never been brave enough to ask why they have different surnames. Also likely to be in attendance is the beautiful and magnificent Sam Watson from Onboard Online, who has wisely employed myself and less wisely, that gigantic northern man mountain Peachy Butterfield, to write an English north versus south banter blog for her company’s website. I am told it will launch imminently, but I was told that in November as well. I like to think of it as a brainstorming lunch, but Peachy will be there as well, demanding Chardonnay and seafood. By that I mean if he sees food he eats it.

I have some sausages for him. He asked us to bring from England some traditional English sausages, and so our suitcases were crammed with these, Paxo stuffing and Bisto granules. When I stupidly asked if he would like something tasty like pork and leek flavoured I was told in no uncertain terms, not to darken his door with any sausage containing even a hint of a herb.

Chris France
@Valbonne_News