Quality People Matter

Friday April 23rd, 2010 - Oak Park, IL/Frankfort, IL

It’s never a wasted day when I get to spend time with people I like and respect. Today’s schedule was packed with them and I enjoyed every minute. First on the docket was lunch with Rick Gieser. He does publicity for Zanies and other places and he’s done all kinds of favors for me in the past. He’s helped me get on radio and TV shows in many other cities.

Rick is a hustler, but in a very good way. He’s a part time producer at WGN and used to be Bob and Tom’s producer in Indianapolis. He’s done a lot of solid favors for me and if I buy him a lunch once in a while it’s the very least I can do. He liked my new CD, and I’m sure if there’s any kind of publicity to be gotten from it, he’ll find it. Rick is good people.

I recommended him to Zanies when they were looking for a publicity person and I love the fact they hired him. It’s a win/win, and I got a chance to help him like he helped me. It should always work that way as far as I’m concerned, but this is the rare time when it did.

After that I went to see Cara Carriveau, another one of my favorite people. She’s been a huge supporter of my comedy since we worked together at The Loop. She did the mid day shift right after our morning show and we always got along extremely well. She was there for the show at Zanies which is my new CD and I wanted to give her a copy as my thanks.

She got fired at the Loop too for no real reason, but she’s now working at ‘The Mix’ for our old boss Greg Solk where she continues to sound fantastic on the air. Cara is the best, and I’m thrilled she’s back on the air. She should’ve never been fired in the first place but that‘s radio. We had a nice visit and I don’t get to see her because she lives so far away.

It worked out today, because I was booked at CD & Me in Frankfort, IL. That’s about as far south in the Chicago area as it gets, and I figured since I had to drive that far anyway it would be smart to pack in as many visits with people I hadn’t seen in a while as possible.

CD & Me is a room booked by Ken Sevara, and he’s been very generous in making me a frequent performer. That’s very nice of him to do that, and I’m very grateful even if it is a long drive. The people and the owners treat me very well and I’ll never turn that down.

One of my former students John O’Brien drove all the way down from Wilmette to see the show. He took my class many years ago and we’ve been in touch off and on but not in a while. Like Cara, John has been a constant supporter of mine and I appreciate it greatly.

John is a student of the game and loves comedy. He has a job and a family but still does perform when he can. He’s never going to be full time, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still enjoy comedy, and he does. He knows a lot about it and I always enjoy hanging with him.

Days like this are what life is all about. I got to interact with some of my favorite people in the world and do a comedy show too. The food was great and my car started every time I needed it to. These ’little’ things aren’t so little when they add up. I had a very good day.