Harvesting Happiness

Friday May 22nd, 2009 - Milwaukee, WI/Appleton, WI

Does anyone really know what true happiness is? I think it’s up to everyone to come up with their own personal definition of what exactly that is and then have the guts to try and achieve whatever it is they decide. As for me I’m coming delightfully close to finding it.

These last few days have been absolutely fantastic on a lot of levels. From the gorgeous weather to all the fun things I’ve been doing lately I feel like I’m back in sync with all my positive creative energy. I’m living life as it comes day to day and enjoying every minute.

Today was another grand slam from morning until midnight. I had to get up to do radio on three stations but fortunately they were all in the same building. Cliff the club owner is a very sharp guy and we had a nice visit on the way over there. He’s totally on the ball.

He went into a little bit of the situation he has to deal with and opened up very nicely. It wasn’t strained at all and at the station I ended up telling him the infamous Crisco story to at least let him hear my side of it. He actually liked it and it turns out he wasn’t the one to keep me from working here all these years. He bought into the business after it opened.

Whatever the case we’re getting along fine this week and a mutual respect is developing on both ends. He can see I know what I’m doing on stage and I can sure see he’s got a top notch business acumen that he’s developed into a fantastic club. I totally love this place.

Whether I come back here or not is obviously up to him at this point. I think I’ll have an opportunity to return at some point but even if I don’t I had the chance to get this big long ugly mess straightened out and prove myself to be a quality act and a quality person too.

The radio experience this morning was also very positive. The first station I was on is a husband and wife morning team named Doug and Mary on ‘Kiss FM’. I’m sure they have to put the comedians on because someone told them to and maybe it might not be the best fit for what they do but they were super nice and we got along great. They were genuine.

It’s got to be extremely tough to do a morning show and be married at the same time so I didn’t want to make their lives any more difficult. Neither project is easy but doing both must be like pushing two freight trains so kudos to them both. They have my full support.

The next stop was the Rick and Len morning show on WAPL “The Rockin’ Apple”. If there’s a more laid back and fun morning show to be on I’ve never been on it. They are in a class with my favorite shows of all time like Brother Wease in Rochester, NY and a few others but a very precious few. Not that many people in radio can handle comedians well.

Rick and Len love it and it shows. I was on the show a couple of years ago and we had a great time. Rick was on vacation today but Len took over and we picked up where we left off the last time I was on. They have a strong following and deservedly so. These guys are legends up in these parts and I could tell that when people started to call when I came on.

Several of them remembered me from the last time I was on and I didn’t believe it until one guy started repeating what I was talking about then. It was about my car accident and he related the story back to me better than I can probably tell it now since it’s been such a long time since I told it. It totally blew me away that more than one person remembered.

How can it not be fun to sit in a top rated morning show with a guy who likes comedy? Len was great and set me up perfectly and Rick’s fill in was a guy named Ross Maxwell. It all just fit in perfectly and the hour really went by quickly. This is how radio should be.

I thought I was finished but I spent the 9am hour on “The Razor” with another good guy named Elwood. His show is called “Morning Wood” which is one of the funniest names I have ever heard. He’s totally into radio and in a good way. He loves it and it shows in his delivery. He has passion and I always love to be around people like that. I stayed an hour.

Cliff was saying on the way out that he likes dealing with the stations because there are such good people at all of them and I totally agree. This was one of the most productively fun three in a row radio shots I think I’ve ever done. They treated me like a big star and it sure felt good. I appreciated every bit of it and I especially enjoyed the lack of radio BS.

These were a bunch of real people who happened to work in radio and I would enjoy an opportunity to talk with them whether it was on the air or in the air on a plane. There’s no pressure or big time Hollywood attitudes flying around and I‘d work up here in a second.

Afterward I had already made a commitment to drive down to Milwaukee to be on with my friend Drew Olson on “The D List” on ESPN 540. That’s always fun but today was an even bigger treat because it was ‘Free Food Friday’ where a restaurant comes in and gives a party and then Drew and Dan Needles talk about it on the air. Dan had a day off today.

Too bad for Dan. Too good for me! The restaurant today was a new seafood place that’s absolutely spectacular. They brought a huge lobster and crab legs and ahi tuna and a perch that would make a mermaid blush. What a spread of food and then I got to hang on the air with Drew and a former major leaguer named Paul Wagner who’s also a hell of a fun guy.

This is exactly what I love to do - hang out with good people and have FUN. If it’s on a radio station even better and today I got a chance to really stretch out and let it rip. I can’t remember a day when I’ve had so much fun on air with so many different people on such a variety of stations. I loved every minute of it and I knew as it went on how cool this is.

This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day so when it does I’m very grateful. I enjoyed being with friends and I also got to do comedy shows tonight as well. The early show was a little weird and even Cliff noticed it. They were strange but it didn’t suck. It just was.

The late show was a MONSTER. Wow, what a crowd. It was electric and I could do no wrong. What a feeling! I never get sick of it. It may only be in a limited capacity and only in certain areas but I’m getting to live my dreams and if that isn’t happiness then what is?