In previous editions I mentioned that in the 80s, but especially in the 90s, Venezuela was a musical power. And when it is said that important artists performed in the country, it is not a lie. One of them was Phil Collins, who visited Caracas not only because of the great singer that he is; but also, as I tell it, in the midst of a career resurgence thanks to the love song of the animated "Tarzan«.
But it was not the adventures of "Monkey Man" that brought him on that occasion, but a world tour that served, in the national case, for the launch of an ice cream. His press conference was one of the few, very few, ordered. As much as they wanted, the fans and coleados could not enter. Not even seeing it from afar, because some modules were in charge of encircling the room of the Caracas Hilton where it was done.
The colleague Joaquín Moreno, on that occasion in charge of the press office of Sonográfica (which had the license in Venezuela for the Phil Collins record label) coordinated everything. There were not 10 or 20 fans who came to the place. There were more than a hundred who made adventures to enter. But, since it almost never happens, they did not succeed. Better, because the ice creams would not have reached, hehehe.
Phil Collins was close. Nice was little. He talked about everything the Genesis group was in his life, his career and what he would offer the next day. When the hostesses began to hand out the gift he asked him. They told him that it was a new ice cream and that, as his name indicated, they expected it to become a success. He tried a traditional Magnum. “Delicious,” he said, and handed it to one of his co-workers.
The journalists had two at their posts. The chocolate one and the almond one. But no one dared to second him. He continued the talk and the concert invitation the next day. Before the show, a package from Sir Phil Collins arrived in the newsroom of each media outlet that was present at the press conference. So, as I tell it, inside it was his most recent album at the time, Both Sides, with a personalized autograph for each communicator. Detailed, to say the least.
