One day, Dave Hart was a student at NYU Film School learning moviemaking from none other than Martin Scorsese and working as an usher at the Fillmore East, making peanuts. What a difference 24 hours makes.

Literally, the next day after negotiating for better pay for himself and fellow ushers at the venue with the grand poobah of concert promoters, Bill Graham, Hart found himself working as an agent for the likes of Janis Joplin and Santana.

"There was a week-long run of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the ushers who got paid $15 a night for doing two shows on a Saturday and two shows on a Friday, for instance, were only going to get paid $7.50 for each night, and so the ushers were all upset, because we had expenses," explains Hart, "and Bill, who is a mensch — a guy you could talk to — heard about the complaints and said, 'Meet me in the balcony after a show,' and we went upstairs, and I was the first to stand up and say, 'We still have the same expenses to get here to work, and we're not getting paid, so we'd like to get paid a little more for these one-show deals. The next day, I got called into his office, and he said, 'Congratulations. You won the negotiation. I'm going to raise the fee for the ushers to $10. And by the way, do you want a job."
 
The year was 1969, and Hart took Graham's offer. These days, Hart, in his fifth decade of concert promotions, is handling Ringo Starr's 10th All-Starr Tour this summer. So far, ticket sales are doing incredibly well, considering the economy.

"The Ringo tour, so far the ticket sales have been superb," says Hart. "The tour consists of Ringo's All-Starr Band. He's been doing this for 10 years and putting together great bands. And this one has Billy Squier on guitar, and Hamish Stuart on bass — Hamish from the Average White Band — Gary Wright on keyboards, and Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone and anything else that's available for him to play. It's quite a bunch of guys, it really is. The band always seems to respond to Ringo's direction, and we've had some great, great shows. A couple of years ago, we had Rod Argent in the band with Billy Squier and Richard Marx. So, we've changed it up a little with Gary Wright ... oh, and Colin Hay is in the band, from Men At Work."

Hart is still fascinated to see how they all defer to the former Beatle.

"It's really a great experience to put these guys who have history and who've had Top 10 singles, and put them together with Ringo, and they all seem to feel the same way: They turn around and they look at the drummer, and there is a former Beatle playing behind them," says Hart. "The other thing about it is, Ringo loves to play in a band, and that brings a sparkle, an excitement to everything that goes on on tour. It's just an absolute pleasure."

Hart talked with Goldmine about his long career in music and entertainment promotion. Watch www.goldminemag.com for a podcast of our Q&A with Hart. In it, you'll hear about an interesting stipulation in Billy Squier's contract rider, plus his early days with comedian Lewis Black, his favorite concert moment ever — here's a hint: it involves a certain New Jersey artist who's still alive and kicking — and other interesting observations on how the concert business has changed.

For more information on Ringo Starr's latest All-Starr Tour, visit www.ringostarr.com.