People who know me best know that I’m always trying to keep it light and figure out how I can make people around me laugh
I have subscribed to Psychology Today since junior year in high school. I’ve had a short story published in a literary collection, and an article published in a college textbook. I own an actual branding iron, which belonged to my father. In high school, I was Texas’ state champion in public speaking my junior year. I was set to make a run at a repeat my senior year, but failed an elective class during that semester and was rendered ineligible under Texas’ State House Bill 72 (later tagged as the “lamest law ever†and appropriately repealed).
I’ve run a record label and a weekly newspaper, and got my start in business selling cinnamon toothpicks on the playground in 1977. My friend Jim Ramsey, a notorious concert promoter, took me under his wing and taught me the concert business. The two of us partnered to produce the first Austin shows by Rage Against The Machine, Tool, Pearl Jam, 311, Public Enemy, and Jane’s Addiction (and hundreds of others). When Jim died last year, he left me his Rolex and there is a great story behind that. Staying in concert land, I can tell you why Ministry’s 1999 tour rider included Depends adult undergarments, and why Marilyn Manson needed live caged chickens in 1997. Both answers will likely surprise you. I’ve been to the Playboy Mansion (twice), the Super Bowl, taken in a Dodgers game in Steven Spielberg’s box (he wasn’t there) and attended the Hollywood red-carpet premiere of the X-Files movie.
These days, I really like putting my energies more into the people in my life. I believe that we all have things to teach each other and learn from each other.