The Woman And The Frozen Grapes: A Tribute To Vicki Leben

Vicki Leben had so many gifts. Among them, compassion, loyalty, trustworthiness, diligence in her work, an ear for hit music, and most importantly, building some of the greatest relationships in life, let alone the music industry.

My three-year-old, Owen Bear, sat, devouring a bunch of red grapes with so much pure fruitfulness that the popsicle he eats tomorrow, made from less than 10% fruit juice, will hold no competition.

What a simple thing. You clean a grape, leave it a tad damp and freeze, and then your boy thinks his momma is a Super Hero.

I had never experienced this treat for myself until I was in my 40s. On one of my trips West, I stayed at Hotel Leben in Tarzana, California, the home of Vicki Leben. She pulled grapes out of her freezer and asked if I'd like some. I responded with "no, thank you."

But then she asked, "Have you ever had a frozen grape?" I hadn't. She insisted that I must.

She was right. By the time I was heading back home, I had to stop at Trader Joe's to pick her up a bag that wasn't empty like the one I had left in her freezer.

Friendship by The Bunch

After this trip, it was very rare that you could go through my freezer and not find a bunch of frozen grapes, and that's how my wife, Sarah Lee, was introduced to this phenomenon, to which she too was hooked, and now she is passing it to another generation.

In late 1999, I had lost a job and if you're a programmer and you lose your job, you're quickly reminded that some of your record company contacts become oddly harder to get in touch with.

So, Spring 2000 at the Gavin Convention in San Francisco, at a dinner with a bunch of happy, employed radio people, and me; we scrambled to find our placements at the table, and like my time in gym class in the 5th grade, I was last to be invited to participate, and honestly, if this were musical chairs, I was out.

We Don't Want Your Kind Here

As they wedged a chair in on one of the corners, it put me next to Vicki Leben, and that's where one of the greatest relationships I've ever had in life, began. One of my defense mechanisms--humor, bubbled to the surface, and Vicki laughed, and then she laughed some more, feeding my insecurity like blood droplets to that Venus Fly Trap in Little Shop of Horrors.

Before dinner was over, Vicki and I spoke about everything from religion to politics, and of course we talked music, not just the songs she was working, but all of the songs that were out at the time, no matter the label, and what I could tell that we had in common musically, was to both hear a hit and also to identify one; which are two completely different skillsets.

The next day, Bonneville's Drew Horowitz and Barry James interviewed me in the lobby of the Gavin Convention's host hotel, for the job to run WTMX in my hometown of Chicago. There was immediate camaraderie, and in spite of them already having a front runner, I walked away encouraged knowing that, if not today I'd probably work for these guys in the next 2-3 years, because no programmer stays in a job much longer than that.

Oh, The Places You'll Go

Eighteen years later, Mary Ellen Kachinske, remains solidly in position at WTMX, but I promise you, it was a great interview.

And then mega talented programming mind, Cadillac Jack, flew me to Boston, and in an instant, I found myself interviewing for some great gigs, and meeting other Industry folks who hold Vicki highly regarded.

And that's what Vicki Leben was able to make happen for me, after one simple dinner.

Vicki Leben with Dom and Jen Theodore
September 2013, Rob & Sarah Lee's Vegas Wedding

I ended up leaving radio altogether in those days, and instead joining Joel Denver and his team at All Access Music Group in Malibu, where we were together for five fruitful years.

During this time, Vicki treated me like I was programming in LA or NYC, or at worst, Poughkeepsie, which by anyone's standards is beyond respectful. I remember one night fondly, when she and Bob Weil picked up the Kiss FM Los Angeles team in a limousine and allowed me to be in their company as we went to a Barenaked Ladies show. To this very day, Michael Steele and I remain great friends.

That Time We Flew Together

And then she went to DreamWorks Records, where she hired All Access to work Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like A Bird," a song I heard once and couldn't get out of my head, and one that, in spite of the song being left for dead eight times along her trek to make it stick, she was adamant that the song was real.

A lesser person would have given up, and many who faced that same trial, often did. What she taught me, just by watching her team pull out all stops, and follow that song with faithfulness and loyalty, no matter how bleak the picture looked was that following your convictions to the end has a payoff. I was delighted when Nelly Furtado won a Grammy and gave special thanks to our Vicki.

Vicki made people feel special. She made each person who gave her time, feel like they were the most important person in her life. It wasn't fake. It was who she was. And if you were on the phone with her or in her presence you were the most important person to her in that moment.

Welcome to The Hotel California

This past September, a music project put me in meetings with Randy Jackson, so I let Vicki know I would be in town. I wasn't planning on staying with her, but she insisted, and much like the frozen grapes, I'm glad she did, as only a couple months later, she would be gone.

I was in town for four days. At 5 AM, each morning, Vicki would make a pot of coffee, and then I would hear her in her office calling great radio programmers to promote music, leaving messages to the biggest names in our industry, and then a couple minutes after she would leave that message, her phone would ring, and just like that, she was on the phone with them, and she did that until 6 PM.

Vicki and I found time for a meal every single day of that trip, including an incredible one with Joel Denver and Kym Mathers in Malibu.

From my unemployment in 2000, to my father's death in 2001, to 9.11.2001, to my return to radio, through numerous markets and to finding the love of my life Sarah Lee; Vicki Leben has been with me the whole way.

No longer able to have her in my life has not caused sour grapes, just frozen ones, and with that she has given my family a lifetime of sweetness.