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THROWIN’ DOWN continued from previous page
“He liked it,” says Osby, and the show was set for September 2013 upstairs at The Queen. “No one knew how big it could become, but I had an idea it could be strong.” The Queen and Osby’s coworkers supported him through the whole process and transitions back and forth between behind-the-bar and center stage. “We’re all very proud of Corey,” says The Queen’s general manager, Derek Newton. “He’s still the same Corey.” “I think a lot of people here would agree that I’m not up on anything—I’m not too high on what just happened; I don’t let it affect me,” Osby says. “I come here and I’m focused. It’s simply a role. I don’t let it influence me in terms of how I perform a role, because I know it will be disappointing to my coworkers, whom I respect, to let that kind of success change me.” Part of Osby’s and UFO’s strategy included keeping ticket prices low— between $8 and $10. Also, says Osby, his positivity, optimism, and likeability and salesmanship as a bartender are what helped sell the shows, despite the fact that few people had even heard him sing before. “I was out there hustling hard. Promoting, selling; it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that I’m directly responsible for 85 to 90 percent of tickets sold,” he says. “I was selling tickets before we even had band rehearsals.” He doesn’t own a car, so if he knew somebody who wanted a ticket, even in “the dead of winter,” he’d walk it to the buyer. Behind the bar he frequently brought up the shows to people, although he says he was careful not to “hijack” anybody. “Everything came intuitively and instinctively, and I felt that I had a product that would move,” Osby says, especially since Rick James was such a well-known artist—ideal for a tribute show. Diving into the character of James was exhausting but amazing, Osby says. His goal was to stay true to the integrity of the
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