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When freshman non-traditional student Jody Anderson graduated from high school she had no idea what direction her life would turn.

Over the next two decades of her life she worked as a concert production assistant, allowing her to work with musical artists like Prince, OAR and Guns N’ Roses.

Her responsibilities ranged from a variety of things based around making sure the musician’s needs were met. Much of what she did was dealing with the numerous problems that can occur during a show.

“It’s very hard to dumb it down to one or two things because it’s very multi-oriented,” Anderson said.

Now, at the age of 37 and with two children, Anderson is heading back to college to pursue another career. However, she still continues to work at least one show a year and her unique experiences stay with her just as much today.

‘Dumb luck’
After Anderson’s graduation from high school she was uncertain of what she wanted to do in life. She was confident she wanted to be a writer, but wasn’t sure if she could afford college.

“I was really unsure of what I wanted to do with my life and how I was going to do it,” Anderson said.

So, at the age of 19, she was on her own, working multiple jobs and just wanting to save up money so she could go to college. That’s when things took a surprising turn and she was presented with a new opportunity all because of what she referred to as “dumb luck.”

One day while she was waitressing, a first-time customer came into the restaurant. He ended up being her eventual boss.

The man was Stephen Crawford, an established production manager. The two began to establish a friendship right from the start, and in early 1992, after the two had known each other for about a year, Crawford decided to offer her a job as a production assistant, even though he knew she had no experience in the field.

“I had no idea what to expect, but I’ve always been pretty adventurous,” Anderson said.

Crawford said it wasn’t as farfetched as it may have initially appeared and that he knew Anderson would be a good fit because she had such great people skills.

“She was also into music and seemed like she was confident enough to handle that type of environment, so I offered her the job,” Crawford said.

Crawford was affiliated with Jam Productions, a production group out of Chicago that organized many shows throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Anderson accepted the job, not knowing what might become of it, but realizing it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

Crawford thought Anderson’s lack of knowledge about the industry actually played in her favor.

“She didn’t realize she was working in the music industry at the time, she just thought it was a job,” Crawford said. “That was good because I wanted someone who didn’t think it was that cool of a thing.”

The first gig
Once Crawford knew he had Anderson on board, he decided her first show was going to be an Ozzy Osbourne concert in February ’92.

Prior to the show, Anderson was anxious about what was ahead, and didn’t know how things were going to unfold. Crawford didn’t help much with his cryptic advice.

“He told me ‘it’s kind of like clerical stuff, you’ll figure it out,'” Anderson said of Crawford’s remarks before the show. “‘I’ll pick you up at 6:00 a.m.”

At the time, Anderson said this was all quite a stretch for her, especially getting up so early. The two arrived at an empty Roy Wilkins Auditorium, where the concert was held, and started from scratch.

Crawford said the first step was constructing an office and then all of the details for the show were slowly worked out

“Throughout the day things progressed,” Anderson said. “Every show builds the same way and the anticipation builds along with it.”

Although Anderson said Osbourne was “a little scary,” she had a fantastic experience working as a production assistant. From that point on, she knew it was something she was going to be interested in.

“I loved it, it’s wonderful to be a part of that,” Anderson said. “There is an energy and an intensity behind the scenes that is so cool to be a part of.”

Crawford was impressed with Anderson from the start. He said that it’s hard to be sure how people will react amidst celebrities, but he thought Anderson “went through it with flying colors.”

Other shows
After the Ozzy Osbourne show, Anderson stayed on board for nearly 20 years and worked numerous shows. So many, in fact, that she said it’s hard for her to recall all of the specific groups she has worked with.

One show that really stood out to her was a Guns N’ Roses/Metallica concert from the ‘Faith No More” tour on September 15 ’92 at the Metrodome. Anderson said she was given a large sum of money and was instructed to throw a huge backstage party.

“It was really, really fun to be involved in,” Anderson said. “That was one of the highlights.”

Crawford said it wasn’t long after Anderson’s first few shows when he knew she was cracked up for the industry.

“Once she started handling the day-to-day problems within a particular show without asking, I knew she could do it,” Crawford said.

In ’97 Anderson was invited to come along and work on Prince’s ‘Gold Tour’ because her boss was his production manager. During a show, Anderson got to sit beneath the stage and pull a string to make a cannon go off. Overall, Anderson enjoyed the experience.

A few years ago Anderson worked an OAR concert, and last summer she was an assistant for a Counting Crows/Black Crowes concert.

Crawford said that over all of these years, Anderson is fully trained for production management.

“She could easily take over for me now if she had to,” Crawford said. “She’s been doing it for almost 20 years now.”

Basilica Block Party
Nowadays Anderson mostly focuses on one show a year, the Basilica Block Party, which was started by Crawford nearly 15 years ago.

“It’s really all I’ve been doing the last couple of years because I have two kids that are nine years old and that’s a little more important,” Anderson said.

The block party was created to help the Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis raise money for renovations. The Basilica had a copper dome that was deteriorating and was going to cost millions of dollars to fix.

“In an effort to raise money, the Catholic church did something that was almost unheard of,” Anderson said. “They started throwing rock concerts on the lawn of the church.”

Today, the Basilica Block Party is the largest entertainment festival within the metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Crawford said Anderson pretty much organizes things herself and does all of the background work.

“She does a lot of the advanced work – makes sure the bands are on time, get where they’re going, and getting the hotel and travel arrangements situated,” Crawford said.

Now and the future
Anderson is currently in her first semester back at UW-Eau Claire after trying school for one semester in 2007.

“I wasn’t prepared at that time to deal with the challenges of having school with kids,” Anderson said. “It was too much for me.”

Anderson currently works about 10 hours a week doing book work for a construction company on top of being a full-time student and studying creative writing.

“I love it, I’m learning a lot,” Anderson said. “And everyone has been so encouraging and supportive.”

Currently going down the path of business planning is not something Anderson has her sights set on, however, she knows that she always has it as a backup plan.

“I’ll always know people in the industry if I were to try to pursue it at a different level,” Anderson said.

Anderson admitted things could always change. She pointed out one of the biggest things keeping her from that industry right now is waiting for her children to grow up.

“Maybe when my kids are older I could tour or something. I think that would be kind of fun,” Anderson said. “But right now, I just want to focus on writing.”

For Anderson, writing novels is the eventual goal, and she thinks she might be able to draw from her unique experiences managing productions and could incorporate them into her writing.

Crawford said he is very confident in Anderson’s future as a writer because she is so creative.

“She has a very interesting way of viewing the world and she’s very good at communicating,” Crawford said. “I think she’ll do really well and I’m very proud of her.”