Many of you know him. His name his Roman "Romi" Gokhman. I think it is important that other fans know how they can be betrayed. Here is my long story (which is about my Roxy experience as well as Roman's lies):
*On Wed 5/20, I saw my friend Ximena on the bus to Union Square. Turned out we had been on the same CalTrain back from the SJ shows. I walked her to the hostel where she was staying, only a few blocks from my apartment. We said we would get together in the next few days.
*On Thu 5/21, I saw on FB that she was going to lunch with Roman near my apartment. He's someone I've known for years; I went to his wedding. I asked them both if I could join, and they both said of course. Roman and I agreed that we would take breaks during lunch to call KROQ.
*As we were in line to order lunch, Roman announced his plans to leave for LA with his family early on Mon 5/25. He invited Ximena to come along, albeit she already had a flight booked back to Germany. I said I might take her place if I could.
*After lunch, before Roman returned to work, he suggested that we make a pact to try and win tickets together. I agreed. (I wondered why his wife would be on the trip if he wasn't planning to take her, but I figured she's not as big a fan as I am and would watch the babies at the hotel, allowing him to increase his chances for a win.)
*Roman refused to give me his cell phone number, which was very suspicious since I told him I do not have Internet on my phone (so how would I reach him if I won and was not online).
*On Tue 5/26, I heard one winner on the radio say he was "Roman from Inglewood." Roman Gokhman is from Concord. So I emailed him to ask him if he won. He said he had bad news, that a non-CA friend won and gave KROQ his name. He said if he didn't take that friend, then KROQ would change names, and he wouldn't get to go. Then he admitted that he had 15 non-CA friends trying to win with his name. When I called him on being unfair to me, he said that he posted on FB/Twitter that if anyone won and used his name, they could go with him, and that he couldn't get more open than that. I reminded him that I do not have Internet on my phone so I do not have the ability to "tweet" on my phone or see FB unless I'm on a computer (so he knew I couldn't or wouldn't likely see these posts of his). Moreover, I remembered that the Roxy date was also the day of his anniversary. I asked him about it, since I'm sure his wife wouldn't like him taking this non-CA fan instead of her. He did not reply.
*Once I knew for sure that I no longer had to promise Roman my second ticket if I won, I texted my friend Declan from LA who said he would give me his second ticket if he won (even if mine were promised to Roman). So Declan and I began frantically calling KROQ together.*On Wed 5/27, I rented a car, leaving SF about 8a, and drove to see LA2. I had "won" a ticket after interviewing with a So-Cal fan named Jorge who wanted to give a ticket to a woman with a good soul. (In part, I accepted the LA2 ticket so it would place me in LA in case I could get into the Roxy.) Hearing about U2 tour manager Dennis Sheehan's death on the drive down made the show extra special. After the show I met my friend and "U2 co-pilot" Chris Starr to stay with him at his apartment. [Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO]
*On the morning of Thu 5/28, I drove by the Roxy with Chris to see if there was a line. We saw a half dozen security guards and one fan, but he was not starting a line. After going to breakfast, we drove by again and saw Roman starting the winner line and honked and waved, but I wasn't sure if he knew it was me. I emailed him later that it was me. My friend Chris's ex-girlfriend won tickets that morning so they were set to go. The three of us got back to the venue late afternoon and saw Roman again. I congratulated him, and he said he felt badly. I told him that I understood why he didn't tell me what he did but that he should have. Then I found out there was a non-winner line on the other side of the venue so got in it. My friend Declan met me. We talked to one guy selling a ticket for $600 but decided to pass. Later Declan and I decided to go to a pub down the street for a drink and a bite and then try and get to the door of the Roxy. I made it to the door but Declan gave up and left. Then I was forced to leave the door area. So I went to the Rainbow Room. I had to borrow $5 from someone entering for the bar cover charge. Then I bought the guy a drink to repay him and talked to him and this couple about how much we were all determined to get into the Roxy. The guy disappeared for a bit so I told the couple I was going to check out the barricade at the back lot. Later the guy was scoping out where I was. I motioned for him to join me in the center of the second row, but he seemed to ignore me. A few minutes later all three of them walked hand in hand past the barricade and around to the other side of the venue. I tried to touch them but couldn't reach them. I'll never know if they somehow magically got in.
*A few fans left so I got to the front row of the barricade. A Roxy employee came out with a few set-lists and in part asked, "When did U2's first album come out?" I screamed out, "1980!" and was handed a set-list, which made me very happy. Later, Larry came out but got in his car immediately. Adam came out, but I didn't ask for his autograph since I already got it in SJ (I did get a dark photo of him that I might upload later). Then Edge came out and I got to touch him but he wasn't signing. Bono apparently stayed at the after-party, even past 2am when the Rainbow Room was closing. Fortunately after that I scored the most amazing bootleg U2 Roxy blouse (see photos on this page); it made my WHOLE night.
*On Fri 5/29 I saw pictures of Roman in line and the Roxy with...his wife. So he had planned all along to take her and not me or a non-CA fan. I emailed Roman about it but he didn't answer.
*This morning Sun 5/31 I emailed Roman again to say, "Repeatedly I don't get an answer from you. You are known as an honest and generous person. I am tempted to tell the whole U2 family my story. How do you plead??" His reply (before blocking me as a friend and removing me from his U2 group on FB) was, "Goddammit Bronwyn. I'm on fucking vacation and you have not stopped messaging me since before we left. You invited yourself to lunch. Fine. Then you tried to invite yourself on our drive down. Not cool. Then you don't just take my word for it and leave it alone. I no longer care what you think or who you tell. I don't care. I have better things to do than plead a case to you. The way you have been acting makes me realize I lucked out. Get it? This is too much!" (Please read above to see that I didn't just show up at lunch, and it was reasonable to think I could go with his family on their trip.)
*I am sharing all this because I am disgusted that this would happen in the spirit of U2, especially with Roman knowing that I have been following U2 since 1984 (13 years before Roman started) and seen 79 U2 concerts. Sure would have been nice for the Roxy to be my 80th in the way it was promised to me....
Yours U2ly,Bronwyn aka Ms. Brono
P.S. The bottom line is this. If I had won I would have taken him. But look what happened when he won, and especially when he had a chance to redeem himself.
UPDATE 7/8/15: I thought of this before but didn't do it yet. A friend in Toronto reminded me. I reported this situation by email to KROQ today.
