1974-76
By the time I joined his company, Steve Austen managed Dutch chansonniers Ramses Shaffy and Liesbeth List, the Focus rock band, and its members Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman. He produced at the Shaffy Theatre as well, located in rented space in the Felix Meritis building in Amsterdam. I was given the responsibility of day-to-day management at the theatre, and got to tour with some of the artists, and pay their bills. I left the agency to work as production assistant to designer Jean Paul Vroom on the Max Havelaar movie, filmed bij Fons Rademakers in the Netherlands and Indonesia, featuring Rutger Hauer and (then) cameraman Jan de Bont, both of whom would go on to stellar careers in the United States.