I grew up in a town outside of Boston, MA called Weymouth (formerly Wessagusset.) You may recognize it as being the birthplace of George Jung, the famous coke dealer from the seventies that the movie Blow was fashioned after. Johnny Depp played George Jung. To my knowledge, Johnny Depp has yet to sign on to play me in the biopic that I assume will one day be produced about my life. Surprising, I know. Granted, I’ve never sold drugs or involved myself in anything so nefarious but come on. I have lived a marginally interesting life (minus year five, which was admittedly boring.) For example:
In the fourth grade, I started a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan club. I was (obviously) Michelangelo. This was also the year that I was put in a position to pick an instrument to play in the school band. My first choice was to play the saxophone but some less cool kid snagged it first so I had to settle for a snare drum. This Ludwig snare drum was my gateway into the Boston music scene. I played in a few bands (Riverbottom, Dr. Smooth & Jumpsuit Jerry) spent countless days and nights at The Rat (R.I.P.) and the Middle East and even recorded a couple records. Good times.
I attended Northeastern University and received my degree in Organizational Communications with a minor in Sociology. The Org. Comm. curriculum wasn’t all that challenging so I utilized my extra educational energy by reading. This led me to a love for Kerouac, a respect for Zinn and a state of awe toward House of Leaves. I like to read and have been a part of at least four failed book clubs. You can be my geeky book friend here.
Since college, I’ve worked everywhere from the corporate machine (General Electric) to an indie documentary company (Interlock Media) to a few non-profits (Management Sciences for Health & The Institute for Healthcare Improvement) to a stint teaching English in China and finally to my most recent job in the music industry at a company called The Syndicate. At The Syndicate I helped manage a team of over 450 marketing reps and worked with a ton of clients form the world of entertainment and pop culture (i.e. Universal Records, Lion’s Gate, Comedy Central, Vice Records, etc.)
What else… I’m coming upon my one-year anniversary as a vegetarian (currently the only one here at Campfire.) It has not been hard. I have started my grassroots campaign to be Mayor of Jersey City no sooner than ten years from now (if I’m around.) I own a powder blue sports jacket that I got from a thrift store that fits me like a glove. A glove that fits exceptionally well, at that. I was at Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. It was pretty neat. I contribute to a blog, albeit it admittedly rarely. I was the first person to ever export a living animal out of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China. They even did a local news story on the event. True story.
There is a host of other interesting tidbits that fall under the umbrella of my past life and what I aim to accomplish here but I have to save some things for the sequel. Ya know, the elements of suspense and mystery are important.
Hugs.
