Lunches In Bunches

Friday November 7th, 2008 - Milwaukee, WI/Vernon Hills, IL

My day’s activity list sounded like a Dick and Jane reader from back in first grade. Run, run, run. Go, go, go. Fun, fun, fun. Grow, grow, grow. I bounced around all over hell and back all day today having meetings with all kinds of people but they were all important.

I feel like I’m putting my own personal cabinet together as I prepare for my reign as the King of Uranus and I am choosing the people around me very carefully for many reasons. The biggest reason I am choosing anyone is that I feel they’re good at something specific that I can use now. I’m also trying to pick out quality people too. That means a lot to me.

My first stop was a lunch with Vince Vieceli. I almost missed it because of a bad wreck that detoured traffic on the way to the restaurant. I got lost and couldn’t find my way there and ended up being over a half an hour late. By the time I made it I was way stressed out.

Vince is one of the most professionally acting people I know. He’s always been a guy to plan his schedule and make follow up visits and send thank you cards and he is one of the most conscientious people I’ve ever met. I didn’t want to disrespect him by being late so I kept calling on the cell phone to give him updates but he never got upset during any of it.

I have a big pet peeve about being late. I can’t sand it. If I tell somebody I’m going to be there I do my best to show up on time. It’s a respect thing with me. I don’t like my time to be wasted and I don’t want to waste anyone else’s in return. It seems that I have too much stuff going on lately that I’m being late more and more. I have to get better at planning.

Vince is the perfect example of someone I want around me during all this. I’m a tornado blowing all over the place but Vince is very stable and reliable and if I ask him to do a job I can count on it getting done right the first time. He’s not the same demeanor as me and I need that desperately from at least a few of my associates. Stability somewhere is a must.

A while back I had Vince look over an outline of a shorter version of my comedy class I want to record on a CD. Not everyone wants to be a full time comedian but there are a lot who would buy a shorter version with some beginner’s tips and I’d love to develop that at some point. It would be a product I could sell at shows but also hope to get in stores too.

Vince went through my outline and ripped it to shreds and I love him for it. He not only corrected my grammar usage to the slightest degree he also revamped the order and made it WAY better than it was. He has a fantastic talent for the written word and I let him just run wild and do what he does. That’s his gift and I recognize it. He’s way above average.

As a comic Vince is funny enough. He does a decent job and I’ve worked with him a lot over the years. No offense to him but he’s never going to be a star as a performer. Not all people have that gift. It doesn’t come naturally to him but he works at it like few others in the comedy business. He practices and prepares and puts in his time to be his very best. If the majority of comedians had the work ethic of Vince Vieceli they’d be in great shape.

Vince manages a book store and aspires to be a writer of humorous essays. He’s around books and book stores and understands the publishing game. If I’m going to move ahead I will need to understand that game too. Vince is very willing to share just like I am and we have an opportunity to help each other. That’s why I called for a meeting so we can begin.

The first thing I did was give him a check for $100 as thanks for his help with the other project. I still have the outline and eventually intend to record it. The second order was to give him a copy of my one day comedy seminar text so he can start shredding that up so I can flesh it out into an actual book. Then I can either approach publishers or do it myself.

Vince was thrilled to get the check but he earned it. I don’t expect anyone to not get any pay for helping me and although I don’t always have money to pay people I thought that I owed it to Vince because he did such a fantastic job on the last project. He really nailed it.

Part of my job as the King of Uranus is to find people like Vince who have gifts that the public can’t see and bring them out. George Clinton is great at that and it’s a gift in itself to be able to recognize those of others. I have it. Vince has a permanent place on Uranus.

I’ve got a list growing of people I want to have in some capacity on this project even if I don’t know exactly what that is right now. My friend Tom Orlando from grade school is a perfect example. He was in radio and TV but now is in construction. He knows a hell of a lot of people and is a funny creative guy who loves the concept. That’s who I want here.

Eddie Horn is another one. He’s bursting with creativity and does puppets and writes all kinds of comedy and song parodies and does characters too. Wendle Snotzsky is the name of one of them and it’s absolutely hilarious. Eddie and Wendle always have a job with me but now I have to find a way to pay them. I have to pay me first and that’s my challenge.

Besides Vince and Eddie I have about fifty or sixty other people on my list who I see as various parts of the Uranus network. It will be my job to find their best way to contribute. Vince is an ok comic but an outstanding writer and editor. That’s his place. I’m basically a maestro putting together a giant orchestra of creative people and letting them go crazy.

I drove to Milwaukee to have dinner with my cousin Brett. I haven’t seen him in a long time and it’s always good to hang out and laugh. He’s also very creative and had ideas for the project and that made it worth the drive but it didn’t hurt that he bought dinner either.

After dinner I came back to Zanies in Vernon Hills and hung out with the staff who I’ve known for years. Scott Markus works there and we did our prep for the radio Mothership Connection show on Sunday and I also got to meet Craig Gass who was a very nice guy.

This was a day of meetings and networking but all of them were productive and fun too. If I’m going to create a winner with Uranus Factory Outlet I have to be the one up front in charge who sets the tone and I’m starting to do that quite nicely. I am putting the pieces in place to build a fantastic team of creative people that have talent coming out of Uranus.