I'M A VERY PROUD PAPA!

8/13/08: OK, I'm just gonna come right out and say this from the very top: I'M A VERY PROUD PAPA! This afternoon I made a return trip to speak at MY high school journalism teacher Konnie Krislock's journalism workshop, held at Long Beach State University. Konnie and I reconnected in 2006, at my 30-year high school reunion. It was the first time I'd seen or spoken with my favorite high school teacher since graduation. After telling her what I did for work, she said – OK, say it with me now – "What a cool job you have," then asked if I would speak at her workshop. I did in 2007 and when it came time to ask me back this year, Konnie also asked if my daughter Angie, now an Associate Publicist in the music business herself, would join me. Konnie loved the idea of sharing a multi-generational success story with her students. Angie said "yes" and so we did the tag-team talk thing.I started first, did my thing, told my story then handed the podium over to Angie. People, let me tell you, Angie was a ROCK STAR!!! The kids were giddy with excitement as she rattled off rock band after rock band after rock band (Underoath, Norma Jean, Anberlin, Uh Huh Her, the Allman Brothers Band, the Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Art Garfunkel, Ozzy Osbourne) that she works with, giant mega-tours (Warped Tour, Ozzfest, etc, etc) that she helps promote, huge concert festivals that she does PR for (Coachella, Stagecoach, etc, etc), famous concert venues (The Roxy, The Viper Room, The Nokia Theatre, etc, etc) that are her clients, and all the other one-off projects that she handles. All while I sat and watched with tremendous pride swelling up in my heart!After class, Angie was LITERALLY surrounded by students asking her more questions, asking for her business card and wanting to grab Warped Tour stickers she'd brought along. Konnie could not have been happier. She and I stood 5 feet outside the circle of students that surrounded Angie like well, a ROCK STAR, and Konnie said to me, "Well, look who's the rock star now." All I said to her was, "I knew she would be. I knew the kids would love to hear her story. I hope at least one of them is inspired to follow their passion, to pursue their dream, to well, have one of the coolest jobs in the world! Life is good!
Peace
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