The Ticket Queen

SHELLEY LAZAR, GATEKEEPER TO THE STARS

Paul McCartney dedicated the Beatles song Birthday" to her onstage, in front of 500.000 people. Bob Dylan calls her "Shelvis." Sting told her if she was working on his show, then everyone would know he was "big-time." And Keith Richards named her "the motherfucking Ticket Queen." When it comes to V.l.P. concert tickets and backstage access, it's not the A-list unless Shelley Lazar is in charge of it. A former New York City schoolteacher, Lazar went into the concert business part-time in 1971 when, if there was a concert in the tri-state area, "I was either backstage slicing vegetables for a dressing-room erudite tray," she says, "or at the box office checking for counterfeit tickets." She also kept the aisles clear, chaufieured musicians to shows, and even scrubbed down the bathrooms. In 1991, Lazar went to work for Bill Graham and, after his death, stayed with his company until 2002. She then started her own business and is currently the beloved music-industry insider who coordinates guest lists and doles out backstage passes to the friends, family, and celebrity pals of the biggest acts including the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Llton John, Barbra Streisand, the Eagles, and literally hundreds more. (And let's not forget Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, and the late Frank Sinatra.) She's seen it all: The world-famous movie actor who insisted on a laminated all-access backstage pass so he could impress his girlfriend's mother. The rap impresario who had to pay for tickets in cash because five of his credit cards had been declined. The rock superstar who invited two psychiatrists to his show and asked that they not be seated near each other, or near his mother. And the singer who insisted on "sitting with the stars." Lazar recalls, "I sat her in the very last row of the stands, as close to the stars as she could be." In 2003 alone, Lazar has traveled to 30 U.S. states and 22 countries and hasn't been home to San Francisco in 10 months. Coming up: tours with David Bowie, Bette Midler, and Simon & Garfunkel. So far, she's resisted requests to write a tell-all book. After all, when would she find the time?

LISA ROBINSON

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