In an industry filled with mind-boggling tales of how somebody randomly fell into this business, this might be the zenith: Taking care of one of the “Superjam” shows in St. Louis’ Busch stadium, promoter rep/tech John “Schmee” Schmiemeier was driving a beat-up van to the gig when he spotted a smoking-hot red Trans Am driven by a 19-year-old. “I’m always thinking of something to improve the artists’ and crews’ experience, and I had this idea for Sammy,” Schmee says. He started waving for this kid to pull over, and when the kid finally pulled over, at first he was agitated and ready for a fight, according to Schmee. Schmee handed him his card and then explained that he was a production manager for the Busch stadium show and got the skeptical driver to believe him. “I got him to the show and backstage where he watched Sammy drive his Trans Am onto the stage, hop out and start playing. As the concert continued, this kid looked at me and said, ‘you got to get me in this business!’” Schmee made a few calls and got him mixing sound. Based on that, Jerry Harvey headed west and eventually rose to be Van Halen’s monitor mixer, and more importantly, founded the JH Audio in-ear monitor company in 2009.
—Kevin M. Mitchell, from “PLSN Interview,” May 2019
