Lawyers And Bob Dylan

Monday October 29th, 2007 - Lake Villa, IL

I made a big step today in getting my business fire lit. I talked to a lawyer about what I’ll need to get done to have a legitimate business entity. It will require a forming of some sort of corporation and I’m still not exactly sure which one. He threw around all kinds of terms like ‘S Corp’ and ‘L.L.C’ and a few other things I’ve never really had to be bothered with.

This is a new time. I’m starting all over again and I need to get this done correctly so I’ll stay out of tax hell. I don’t need to get off on the wrong foot or shoot myself in one either. I got the lawyer’s name from my writing partner Rick Kaempfer and they were roommates in college. He started Rick’s personal business and I could tell on the phone he was sharp.

I will pay the money to get a trademark or a copyright or whatever it is I need to get the thing going. There still may be someone who has used or is using all or part of my idea. It didn’t come up when I looked for it but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If it does I will be in a good position to really expand quickly. If it isn’t I have no idea what I’ll get done.

After consulting with the lawyer I went to have lunch with Spike Manton. I told him I’m not ready to sign any deals with him and Jeff Schwartz just yet and I don’t mean it in a bad way. This is still a seed of an idea and it could have all kinds of lumps in the road I am not able to see right now. I told him I wanted to have at least 60-90 days to get myself ready.

Paying for a website and copyright search and all that kind of stuff is going to be a little inconvenient now but in the long run it will be WELL worth it. If I own this idea and have full control of it I can make a lot better deals as a whole when I’m calling all the shots. It’s not that I don’t want to work with those guys and I told Spike that but it’s just that now’s not the best time to sign any deals. I need to get all this through the beginning stages first.

It will be a slow tedious process I’m sure and there will be unexpected twists and turns I will have to go around but that’s all part of the game. I will find a way through this and let the process take it’s course. If I don’t act on it now I will be sorry for the rest of my life. I am not going to take no for an answer. One way or another I will be up and running and in the mail order business selling humor items by the first of the year 2008. That’s my goal.

On a side note I went to see Bob Dylan at the Chicago Theatre with Larry Reeb. Larry’s birthday is coming up in November and someone bought him tickets for the show tonight. His wife can’t stand Bob Dylan so he asked if I wanted to go. Absolutely. He’s a legend. I will always see a legend if at all possible whether I happen to like that legend or not. It’s a workshop for me to watch what that person has that can affect so many people. I like that.

I don’t particularly like or dislike Dylan but I really like Larry Reeb. He’s funny and nice and we’ve been friends for a lot of years. We usually keep it light and talk sports when we hang out and that’s what we did tonight. Dylan’s voice was horrible and so was his singing but the band was great and it turned out to be a good show. Elvis Costello opened as did a guy named Aaron Lee. I think that was his name. And I heard the Packers won. Fun night!