I'm sure everyone is iterating the same sentiment in one for or another when they heard the news.... "one of the kindest and most thoughtful people in the business; if it wasn't for him...."
Well to add to the lamenting chorus, there would be no resurgence of The Newport Folk Festival without Chip Hooper... Period.
-Jay Sweet
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My mind is flowing with memories of my friend Chip.
I met Chip when I was in college and he was at Monterey, he let me book Cowboy Junkies into UCSD.
Then at A&M Records, he became my partner as we worked on Blues Traveler.
Then he was my ski racing buddy in Aspen. We raced slolam two years in a row. The second year we made a bet, if I won, he'd give me one of his photographs. If he won, I'd get him a box of Pokemon cards for his son. He won. But I still ended up with a Chip Hooper masterpiece which hangs in my house near the other one that my wife bought me a couple years later.
And Chip once gave me a shoe. A size 15 Air Jordan that belonged to Chris Webber. He said to me, "I know you are a basketball fan, I don't know anything about basketball." And if you are a friend of Chip's, you know how that turned out. He would later become the biggest basketball fan ever and that son (the one with the Pokemon cards), a star player.
Chip was a friend. He was a mentor. He was a guy I looked up to and a guy who would do anything for you. If you read this and you knew Chip, you'll be nodding your head saying, "amen!" If you didn't, well, Chip probably touched your life by guiding the career of one of your favorite live bands.
I am a lucky man to have known Chip. I am one of many who were equally as lucky.
Larry Weintraub
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I first met Chip when I managed a local band in Cleveland. Chip was a local agent in Chicago where the band had already established a following. Chip convinced me to have him book the band guaranteeing bigger deals. He did that. He moved to Minneapolis and took the band's booking work with him. When the agency there got a few bands record deals, they expanded their management wing and Chip was the catalyst to me joining him there managing the Rainmakers, Trip Shakespeare, the Suburbs and Mike Dungan's favorite metal band, Slave Raider. All mid 80's. When Chip got married, Bob from the Rainmakers sang at his wedding. Since this was the era of no brown M&M's in the rider, we wrote one for Bob's performance worth over a million dollars just for fun. Chip talked about this for years.
He was one of the most passionate people I have ever met. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. Bob and I talked for a while today, very hard to imagine he's gone.
Steve Knill
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It's been comforting to read so many nice things about Chip - I’ve read and reread these messages.
He and I were close and I loved him very much.
Chip's humanity, his ability to connect personally is what made him so magnetic and successful. This was his gift and it was one hundred percent authentic. He got right inside, and once there, that was it. You were on the Hooper train.
His sense of fairness and ability to look at the whole picture without compromise was matter of fact. One time I was really digging my heels in about some silly insurance point in a university rider for a Medeski Martin & Wood show. The phone rang, "Penta, you can be dead right about this and not earn tens of thousands of dollars, or we can just get this done." Needless to say, the show went on.
And there were many dinners and lots of wine - we joked about what Paradigm must have thought when they looked at the expense reports. Who is this Liz Penta and boy does she have expensive taste!! He was generous beyond. I love wine and I loved Chip’s love of wine, which is why I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I couldn’t really drink. I’m basically allergic to alcohol. His enthusiasm was so infectious I just tried to keep up, but I paid dearly. Somehow, the ride, the adventure was worth it.
And there was his life as an artist. We visited many galleries and museums over the years and I was always impressed with his knowledge of art history (mostly photography) and his incredible curiosity. He loved process, he wanted to understand every detail that went into making a specific work. I have some of his photographs and the 9/11 print Ron Fierstein mentioned is dear to me. He captured a rare moment in time when everything stopped, except the earth turning through a clear night sky.
Chip left nothing un-lived.
Standing in a field at Bonnaroo some years back, mud on our shoes, Riedel glasses filled with some exquisite grape magic in hand, he looked at me and said, "Penta, we're rolling." He was always rolling.
I will miss him very much.
Liz Penta
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Chip was always generous and helpful to me over the years, willing to give his time whenever I asked for assistance with an industry piece (and a couple times when I didn't even ask).
He spoke with me extensively both on and off the record during the writing of Ticket Masters (both the hardcover version and the paperback) and then took the time to call me after he read the book.
It was probably more fun to talk basketball with him (I’m a Celtics season ticketholder). He was so passionate when it came to Max. I can remember first speaking with Chip about Max back when he was still in high school and then watched him move from Harvard to St. John’s and now Oakland.
That footage where Max runs up the aisle and hugs his dad is such a beautiful, moving moment and really says it all (but it’s wonderful that you chimed in as well...)
regards,
Dean Budnick
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I have known Chip for twenty years.
I was a guide for Buckhorn Llama Co. out of Bluff UT. We took people through the canyons of UT and AZ most notably Grand Gulch.
In the spring of 1996 Chip and his two friends Pete and Dave I believe came on a trip. Chip had his big wooden box camera and his friend Dave from Chicago had just lost everything he owned in a fire. Well Chip walks over from the Recapture Lodge where our base of operations runs out the back of the hotel wearing a fleece vest with the PHiSH insignia and I said, "nice vest". "Oh you like PHiSH? Well I'm their agent." I'm thinking to my self, yeah right....Well I'm like, "yeah i love PHiSH."
So we pack up and start the two hour trip to the trailhead to put in for an eight day trip through the canyon. As we're going up he's talking to his friend Dave and saying," Our guide is a PHiSH head, etc. and starts talking about how they covered Purple Rain by Prince, they are talking about high school, etc. Well at the time I had that Yellow Walkman that everyone had before iPods and I carried ten cassettes of Phish shows for a trip, I have something like a thousand shows, but can only fit ten tapes in my bag for a trip so I had to choose my shows for that trip. I just happened to have a show with PHiSH covering Purple Rain, so I cued it up and said, "Here you go. Purple Rain." Chip was so blown away that out here in the middle of nowhere, on a llama trip, his guide had that. He says to me "Dude, I'm your Ticketmaster!" To which I replied," Really? how about the new year's run at MSG 4 nights in New York?" Done. He gave me 6 tickets and 6 backstage passes. I took my parents and some friends. What a blast! He was always so kind for the last 20 years making sure I always got to see the shows I needed tickets for. I'm talking hundreds of shows. So I always made sure he and his family were taken care of with their southwest adventures. I took Max, Val and Laura all over the southwest to hike, camp, and make photographs.
Most of Chip's southwest photos come from our adventures. I would carry his big ass camera across little tiny sandstone ledges so he could do his thing, which was AMAZING! He has such an eye for the right shots. I would even hike the trail the week before our trips and stash cases of beers, tequila, and so on, and then we were on a week long trip, knowing where we would make camp, while everyone was setting up their tents, etc, I would come wandering back into camp like, "Hey look what I found!" Chip was always amazed.
I love and miss that wonderful man! He was always the kindest, most genuine guy. So cool to watch Max and Val grow up. Great kids. I know Max will be raining those 3's for years to come, and Val is so smart she's going to rock it as well. Thanks for letting me share my Pooper experience. If you don't know what that's about then you don't know. R.I.P. Chip. I love you
Jeremiah Harrison
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Chip was a gentleman and a friend. I knew Chip since the mid 80’s. We met at outside of a NACA convention in Chicago close to midnight. He represented a Montana bluegrass band. I stood up for the big bucks and bought him dinner (probably a Whopper and French fries) at Burger King.
From then to a most recently we exchanged Burger King gift certificates never to be used by either one of us. We used to get a laugh about it.
Chip kept bugging me to book his new band The Dave Matthews Band at colleges. He said they were going to be the next big thing…yea right Chip. $3.5-$4,000 was a lot to pay for them. I think my office ended up booking about 25-30 dates soon after.
Next he laid on me the line about Phish becoming another big one. At least I knew about them from the New England college bookings.
Again, Chip was a friend and a gentleman and he will be missed. With Chip’s passing we lost the best of the best. He will be fondly
remembered.
Harris Goldberg
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Bob…
I wanted to drop you a note to thank you for the beautiful tribute to Chip Hooper. I found great comfort in reading your words. You should know this story…
I met Chip when he was 19 and I was 26. I was living in Peoria, IL when I got a knock on my apartment door. My downstairs neighbor said his son was part of a band out of Chicago, Pegr, and that his band was playing in Peoria for a couple of nights, could not afford a motel and could their manager and two of the guys stay at my place. I was leaving for the weekend with my girlfriend and you can only imagine the thoughts running through my head… my place was going to be trashed when I returned home. So I decided to wait and meet the band and their "manager," Chip Hooper… and I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. Before me was a force of nature, a 19 year old kid that had just quit college because he loved the music business and he was going to be a part of it… period. He knew what he wanted and was laser focused on his goal but this steely determination was uncharacteristically packaged in a kind and gentle soul, albeit exuberant.
When we returned from our weekend away, my apartment looked better than it did when we left and there was a thank you card on my kitchen counter signed by Chip and the guys in the band with a bottle of Bailey’s next to it. I remember telling my girlfriend, now my wife, "I need to stay in contact with this guy cause he’s going places." And going places turned out to be American Famous Talent in Chicago, Good Music Agency in Minneapolis, MPA in Carmel, and ultimately Paradigm.
Two years later, Chip called and needed to have a couple of Peoria attorneys flown to Chicago for a Styx concert. It may have been for business reasons or just Chip working his magic of which he was a master. That simple trip, like everything Chip touched, turned into a relationship and a 17 year engagement flying production people and occasionally artists for JAM Productions of Chicago.
As the years passed, we touched base about once every other year and our phone conversations were always lengthy, 90 minutes or longer and you knowing Chip, as busy as he always was, can appreciate the importance of that gesture. He always had time for a friend because you were important to him. We shared a mutual love of photography that I didn’t learn about until years after our initial meeting.
I specifically remember a conversation with him where we were discussing the underbelly of the music business and it was really weighing on him. I was telling him about a new venture I was starting and that my new company had to meet the following criteria… good for me, good for the employees and good for the community; a win win win situation and he said, "Well that’s where our business differs because only WE win in this business. It’s sickening, it doesn’t reflect my values and I am going to see that it changes." He was monolithic when it came to principles
Like yourself, when he told me he was sick he made me promise I wouldn’t Google it… he just said it was bad and he didn’t want the negative energy in MY life, not his.
As fate would have it, I hadn’t spoken with Chip for about 2 years when I ran into an associate of his, Ron Kaplan, here in Chicago only to learn he had suffered a stroke. I contacted his ex-wife Laura and Heather McSwiggin at Paradigm to come out to see him when he returned from his favorite place Sea Ranch at the end of this month and then got the news on Monday.
We lost an exceptional human being Bob… and I thank you for your talents in being able to communicate that far more eloquently than myself.
All the best,
Randy J. Africano CEO
LuxJetGroup.com
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Bob,
Thank you for the beautiful & fitting tribute to Chip.
In reading it I was reminded of the first time I met you when the three of us had dinner in LA shortly after I moved to Monterey in 1996. I barely got a word in edgewise during the meal but it was a great dinner and my first encounter with you. It was clear by the way Chip spoke of you during the flight and the drive to dinner that he had enormous respect for you.
Reading your piece and the incredible comments and responses detailed in your mailbag, along with the many kind messages I’ve received since the world lost one of its greatest resources on Saturday, has been a real comfort. One of the messages I got was from Bill Walton who said "I am sad/sorry for Chip Hooper. Say a prayer, light a candle, make a difference, make life count. Good everything forever. Peace and Love, BW" Amen Bill.
Even though we were coming up in the Chicago music scene around the same time, I hadn’t actually met Chip until February of 1985, four weeks after I started my first gig as an agent in Boston. Years later, it was Chip's outreach and efforts that made it possible for me to join Monterey Peninsula Artists; He closed me too. Chip was my sponsor so-to-speak with Dan & Fred. I look back at those years with the same genuine reflection that a member of the ’85 Bears might have. It was divinely magic. The Holy Grail.
It’s unfathomable how a life-force as big as Chip can be gone. And profoundly sad. It keeps hitting me in wave after wave of emotion. Last Friday at Max’s final home game was one of the most emotionally charged experiences I’ve ever had. The look in Chip’s eyes when Max hit his first 3-pointer is something I’ll never forget. There’s a galaxy in Heaven for what Sam Gores did to make it possible for Chip to be there to see Max play one last time. Following the game when Max had come up into the stands to see his Dad, a few other players came up to pay their respects. Chip was talking to two of the players and said in a few months when he’s gotten through all of this, he’d like to have dinner with them and talk about the future. That was how strong Chip’s will and spirit was.
Chip had so many unique traits. No one had a first name with him. Nearly everyone, male or female, were known only by their last name. Even though we were thick as thieves, sometimes I wondered if he knew my first name. In the rare instance he wasn’t calling or referring to me by my last name, it was either Juan or JL, but mostly just my last name. When it came to busting chops, Chip was an equal opportunity employer, no one was spared unless he didn’t like them. That’s when you knew. If he didn’t bust your chops in some form or fashion, he didn’t like you. One night when I was still living in New York before the migration to Monterey, Chip & Dan came to my house for dinner. True to form, having met my wife only minutes earlier, and at our own dinner table, she soon fell victim to Chip’s chop-busting. I later explained it meant he liked her. We reflected on that again on Sunday.
A funny aside to that evening is while we were well into our discussions of my moving to Monterey to join them, we were both going head to head to sign the same band. Following dinner, Dan, Chip, and I drove to the Capitol Theater in Port Chester to go see the band, which was moe. I had been fairly along in the pursuit by that time and because I had been on it so early, I figured for sure I was going to get the band. Then well into the chase, suddenly a new hat was thrown into the ring. That hat belonged to Chip Hooper. When the guy who represented Phish and Dave Matthews enters the equation with a young jamband like moe., and that guy was Chip, I knew that very moment I was screwed. Even though we had just had dinner togetherin my home, Chip had Dan set a pick and talk to me in the lobby of the Capitol while he went backstage and closed the deal with the band. That was Chip. It was literally impossible to say No to him. That was part of his charm and his character. He was tenacious as well as laser-focused. And he forgot nothing; he could remember what he was wearing and what he had for breakfast on a specific day decades earlier. In fact, during a recent visit with him at home three weeks ago, I had spent the afternoon with him, then as his doctor came by, I left for dinner with Dan & Ellen. I came back after dinner and the two of us talked literally for hours. He was sharp, alert, and talking about the future and the work he had to do for Ron Delsener’s 80th birthday party in July. He also had a zillion thoughts on the Lifetime Achievement Award that Dan & Fred were being presented that same week and had hoped it would be as great and fitting as the two men who were being honored. While talking, out of the blue he was able to recall the lunch we had after the panel we did at the Performance Magazine Summit in San Diego when he first floated the idea of my relocating to Monterey. He remembered the Caesar salad with shrimp he had for lunch that day as if it were yesterday.
He did nothing in half-measures. If he got into something, he was all in. Be it friendship, trying to sign a band, make a deal, bring someone into our fold, music, photography, basketball, wine, anything. He had to be the best and know the most and be the most dialed in. His commitment to excellence had no equal. While he was a no-frills guy in some respects, his taste for the fine things he liked was exquisite. He was the most deliberate and competitive man I’ve ever known, no wasted effort, did everything with purpose. When he first started collecting wine, my friend Jerry Harrison invited me to see a band play up in Marin. Chip & I drove up from Monterey. Before the show, we stopped at a wine shop in Mill Valley where he spent five thousand dollars on four or five bottles of wine, one of which was a $3500 bottle of Grace Family Vineyards. My jaw hit the floor. Another night, he called me after work and we were having a long conversation, (no conversation with Chip was ever short) and finally he said 'fuck this, I’m coming over.' Not ‘do you mind if I come over’, just ‘I’m coming over’. He called as he was driving over Laureles Grade which separated our houses and told me to buckle up as he was bringing something special. When he arrived, which was already around 10pm, he had a bottle of Harlan, the likes of which I’d never seen nor tasted before. And this was just the beginning of his fascination with wine. I’m glad you also mentioned his photography – his work is world class great. The darkroom he built in Monterey I'm certain has no equal. He was an artist in the truest sense, and in a real way he was the grand-student of Ansel Adams and the Westons, given that he lived, worked, and shot in the same area they did and some of his photographic and developing techniques were imparted to him by those who worked directly with them. Chip would love to talk about his love of this medium and like anything else he got into, he possessed a veritable wealth of information it. Whenever he talked about photographing, he would never say he'd 'take a picture,' instead he would 'make a picture.' There was a big difference between the two in his eyes. An early review of his work once referred to him as "the man of velvet and steel…" The velvet being the soft artistic side as a photographer, the steel being his iron-clad business sense that led to his stature as a giant in the music business. That year for his birthday, I had a picture I’d taken of him photographing with his 8x10 on the Big Sur coast framed in a steel frame with a velvet matte.
To be sure these stories could go on forever. My stories would likely pale in comparison to the hundreds if not thousands of other people out there whose own accounts of their exploits with Chip could dance circles around mine. As you pointed out, he was everyone’s best friend. Hence the intense outpouring of grief from so many across such a wide swath of people from all walks of life – the man left a lasting impact with anyone and everyone he came in contact with; moreover, he didn’t drift in and out of people’s lives. He stayed in touch with people forever. That is just a part of what makes his loss so unfair, it’s not that he had so many acquaintances, he had so many true friends.
Like any set of brothers, at times, our relationship could be complex, but our connection was forever strong. As Bob Weir said in summary of the bond that existed within the Grateful Dead, "…they say that blood is thicker than water and what they had was thicker than blood." That’s how I felt about Chip and how I feel to this day about the bond we had at Monterey Peninsula Artists. I loved that man with all my heart. We were the same age yet I looked up to him in every respect. He was the genuine article. So strong was the connection I felt with him that late in the afternoon on Saturday, I had a terrible sense of uneasiness. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was but I was very much out of sorts. I did something that I can’t recall ever doing – I got in my car and drove. For a couple hours. With no purpose or destination, I just drove. When I got home, it still felt like something wasn’t right and had a very sleepless night yet I somehow missed Jackie’s message and it wasn’t until very early Sunday morning when I spoke to Dan did I learn that Chip had passed away. As Sunday drifted into a haze, I had completely forgotten about the drive the day before. But as I spoke more and more with my extended Monterey family, I recalled it. The aimless drive and sense of emptiness I was experiencing on Saturday took place during the time that Chip suffered his second stroke.
In reflecting on Chip’s life and the very small role I played in it and while ruminating on the painfully sad reality of his passing and being completely grief stricken, I’ve been trying to think of the best way to describe him, his warrior spirit, his enormous heart, his big smile, and his willingness to do whatever it took to win – be it in life, music, art, Max’s basketball, Val’s education, or his battle against cancer these past four years. In doing so, I can think of one word that could be used to describe Chip. And while I would never for an instant would attempt to summarize a life force like Chip in a word, there is one word that I think could suffice, one of the most potent words in the English language. Mettle. Mettle is defined as a person’s ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way. Synonyms for the word Mettle are listed as spirit; fortitude; strength of Character; moral fiber; steel (that word again); resolve; resolution; backbone; grit; true grit; courage; courageousness; bravery; valor; fearlessness; daring. Chip Hooper defined Mettle.
My life was made infinitely better because Chip was a part of it. I'm glad I got to say that to him so many times over these past few years. For those of us left behind, our mission and purpose is simple – continue doing great things, never settle for anything less, and live every day with purpose, dignity, and grace. And to kick some serious ass.
Rest In Peace Brother.
Jonathan Levine
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It is so sad to hear of Chip’s passing, it really is. What a nice man, plus he changed the music world with his passion for a few great acts that will remain huge the rest of their lives, if they so choose.
Chip and I discussed cancer on a number of occasions, he was interested in mine and how I dealt with it, but he had a completely different kind, and another type of treatment.
He had a lot more to give to the world he had given so much to already…life to kids, life to rock stars careers…
I will repeat what I have said so many times since I was given the bad stage 3 colon cancer news a dozen years ago: get checked. Regularly. Early. Get your colonoscopy, get your insides cheeked, the prostate exams, the whole thing.
It is so much more fun to live and you can continue to by learning early. And you can’t do that unless you make the appointment NOW.
I am living proof that it works. If something doesn’t feel right, go use that insurance card baby…you are never too busy to make a call on a doctor who can help you out. Trust me.
Don’t sit there at home, it ain’t gonna fix itself. If you go get checked and prevent this terrible thing from claiming your life or some else’s you know, think of Chip and thank him…because if you read this and take care of business, you can stick around a while longer.
Danny Zelisko
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