It turns out that it was not Queen Latifah who had her jewlelry stolen in Tobago, but a member of her entourage, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Express.

Reading the item made me remember that I used to be in an entourage myself. What a strange life it was.

Unless you have been in one, you cannot really imagine what it is like day to day, wondering what you will do next, knowing that it is entirely at the whim of your entourage’s anchor.

In my case, the anchor of my entourage was not a star but rather a charismatic business person. We were all working on a startup company in the electric transportation field. It was in Los Angeles.

It’s a story I don’t often tell because it takes too much time for all its strangeness to soak in. So here are a few of the less salacious details. I could go on at depth but some of it just should not be talked about in polite company! Also, some of the memories are a bit hazy.

• For about nine months, there were no offices. We would all congregate at the founder’s Malibu beachfront condo (which, it turned out, he was renting with investor money). We’d sit in the living room watching the surf, each of us in a separate living room chair, working a phone.
• I got a call every morning at seven to “plan the day.” My boss and the second-in-command were kindred spirits when it came to this — hyper morning people. They had decided it was rude to call people they did not know well before seven, so they would wait, chomping at the bit, until that hour. Then we would all suddenly get caffeine-fueled calls.
• Our daily plans typically included simple business errand: go here to pick up the new logo t-shorts. Go there to drop off a form. These were complicated because we all had to go together, because we were part of an entourage. We were always waiting for someone. It seemed that, if the size of the traveling party decreased below a certain threshold, our anchor got depressed. There always needed to be a bunch of people around to hold cell phones, fetch water bottles, drive cars, etc.
• No one had a real job description, but we had our “areas of expertise.” These typically had little to do with actual skills any of us had. I was typically deployed when there was some perceived need for someone who understood politics.
• The founder loved women. There was always a new young woman floating around in the condo. Many meetings were held with him in bed, us hangers-on standing in a semicircle at the foot of the bed, taking notes.
• For a while, there was a houseboy. I have no idea where he came from. But one day we all showed up and there he was. He got us drinks and cookies. It was not clear what his duties were in comparison to others in the entourage (everyone did everything). Eventually he faded away.
• One day we all piled into a couple of cars and went to a meeting at a Hollywood mansion. We were meeting with a big TV person (I recall it was Aaron Spelling but I may be wrong) and his people, looking for investment money. As I recall, we showed up late on purpose. To make some kind of point. TV Exec wore fancy pajamas to the meeting. I do not know if that was to make a point.
• For a while, there were plans on the books for the company to buy a mini-bus, which would be outfitted as a rolling office. We would all just spend all our time in the bus, rolling around LA.

Eventually, I left the company to do my own thing. I’ll always remember that time. I am not sure how useful any of it was — but it sure was interesting.