I know I’ve
never done TV before but how hard could it be? After all, Femi Obong-Daniels
had always encouraged me to do TV. Radio is my first love, but I thought; while
I’m looking to get back on radio, how about I also try to nail a TV gig too and
that’s how I found myself on my way to Soundcity (NB: Remember, though, this was still sometime around the early part of
the 2011)
I got to Soundcity
and asked to see the Head of Programmes
and I was asked if I had an appointment. I was going to say ‘yes’ but I changed
my mind and replied: ‘No’. The lady
suspected what I was about doing and smiled and I smiled back and winked at
her. Then she told me to take a seat and chill a bit while she fixes up a
meeting with the HOP for me. I said ‘Thank you’ as I sat down. A few minutes
later, she ushered me to an office and that was how I met Deji Olamide. ‘Do have a seat’ he signaled at me ‘What can I do for you?’
I introduced
myself and went straight to the point why I was there. He asked if I had done
TV before, I replied ‘No, but I can do
it’. He smiled. Paused. Nodded his head and replied: ‘I think you can’. He then said he would have loved to audition me
right away but that his production people were unavailable. I didn’t know if to
be excited or sad. All the same, he asked me to come back sometime in the next
week, so we can make it happen. Now, my head was going to so many places. I
couldn’t tell if he was politely shooing
me off or if he truly wants to give me a shot, here. Well, I guess time will
tell. I’ll have to wait until my next appointment with him. In the meantime,
I’d have to keep an open mind and always remain positive. After all, that’s all
I can really afford right now.
I was rocked
back to reality by his voice saying ‘Here…’
He still had a smile on his face as he stretched his hand towards me. I looked
at it and in it was his business card. I took it and quickly put a smile on my
own face as I thanked him, gave him a cd copy of my recordings, a copy of my CV
and my own phone number.
He walked with
me as I exited the building and bade me ‘goodbye’ and when I was by myself, my
mind continued the race. I had left home quite early, coming from the mainland
to Lekki and I didn’t even get a chance to get in front of the camera. Dang it! I was going to start thinking: ‘What a waste…’ then another voice in my
head shushed me and reminded me of my purpose here in Lagos. Yes! It wasn’t by
mistake that I found myself here. This was a really thought-out move. Some may
call it ‘mad’ though, but, what do I
care? So long as it had been looked at from every angle by yours truly. I had
left my comfort zone behind and came all the way to Lagos so I guess I must
have been ready for any of the hassle this whole experience is going to throw
at me. I mean I have to have been ready before I took my pretty self out of
Port Harcourt to a foreign land with practically no ‘connect’. Yea…I hear YOU reiterating; ‘mad’. All the same… Bring it! I’m not going to go to some corner
to go sulk because of some less-than-expected outcomes. I came prepared. I can
handle this. If I go out and don’t get the chance to prove myself, I’ll go home
and come back to try again. Better still, when I’m told to come back for a
proper chance to actually prove myself…hell! That’s exactly what I’m going to
do. I’m going to keep coming back; one place, another place, that same place,
other places until I get what I have come out here to do. Hell! I gotta do it
myself because, seriously, let’s face it; nobody’s going to do it for me!!!
As those
words went through my mind, a genuine smile conquered the efforts of my tear
ducts and started finding its way to my lips and then spread across my face and
I could feel my spirit being lifted, right then. I could almost scream: Yea,
bring it!!! But I thought it wiser to rather smile quietly. And with this
lifted spirit, I changed my mind about going home and decided to drop in to say
hello to Moshood. So I headed to Ikeja. He was excited to see me. He asked of
Raymond Ayuba (Yuba was still alive,
then) and I told him Raymond had just gotten a mouth-watering gig on Hot
fm, Owerri and had left Lagos. Moshood went ahead and introduced me to
some other voice artistes and producers who had come around. They were there
for a couple of jobs and I sat in with them as they recorded. Gosh! I could
spend the rest of the day right here. How the studio makes me come alive,
anytime… The atmosphere. I’m simply a sucker for the studio and the microphone,
ofcourse. I just love to be in the studio with like minds. The chattings. The
drama. The realness and all that. It is so liberating and can be really
intoxicating, too *smiles*. Moshood reassured me he hasn’t forgotten about me
and that he would call me up as soon as something pops up. I replied ‘Ok. I’m counting on you.’
I was still at
the studio having a swell time with the others when a very interesting text
came in on my phone. It was from a former colleague of mine. It’s about an
audition which would be happening at Dreams Studios which is somewhere in Ikeja.
Another smile…Oh baby, you best bet… I’ll be making an appearance at that
audition. You can count on it. But for now, we wait. Wait and prepare for that
day *winks*
This is Diary
of A Hustling OAP. The next episode comes up here next week. Don’t miss it.
Hmmmm...m waiting
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