Great Lakes, Great Gig

Sunday December 6th, 2009 - Naval Station Great Lakes, IL

No Mothership Connection radio show tonight. Instead, I was hired to be the host of an event at the Great Lakes Naval Base. They had a ‘Great Lakes Idol’ contest where recruits competed in a singing contest with the grand prize being an appearance on TV singing the national anthem before a Chicago Bulls game. Tonight was the final round of the contest.

I was very honored to be chosen as the host for this show. There was a lot of hard work put in to make it come about, and I didn’t want to screw that up. They started with a field of 47 contestants and whittled that down to a dozen semi finalists. Then, they chose three for the finals and combined that with a laser light spectacular to create a fantastic event.

The reason I was chosen for the gig is that I was a part of the Lake County Convention And Visitors Bureau’s 25th Anniversary luncheon last August, the day I had to fly out to LA and tape my spot on Byron Allen’s ‘Comics.TV’. I wasn’t able to hang around and mingle afterward, but the Special Projects Coordinator for Great Lakes liked what I did.

Her name is Megan Stadlman and she contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in the job of hosting their big event. I told her of course I would, and we’ve been planning it for several months now. She has been extremely easy to work with and is totally on the ball.

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with an attention to detail as she has, and then when I met her in person she was gorgeous to the point of distraction. No offense to anyone, but I didn’t expect someone in her position to be so stunning. She’s tall and her face looks a lot like Lisa Rinna from Baywatch in her prime. Women like her don’t have to work so hard.

Still, she was on top of everything the whole time and I can see the sky or anything else won’t be the limit for her. She’s on her way to somewhere big. I bet she doesn’t realize all she has to offer, as she was very down to earth and easy to deal with. What a peach she is. Even without looking like a supermodel she’d still be a treat to deal with, but she does.

I’m very glad I joined the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Even though it cost $300 to join, they’ve been nothing but helpful in pointing me in productive directions with many of the other members. My contact is Jayne Nordstrom who’s also a peach to deal with and it’s been worth every penny. This gig tonight was a direct result of my joining the bureau.

Maureen Riedy is the president of the bureau and she was at the show with her husband. They’re also very nice people, as are everyone else I’ve met as a result of joining. This is the kind of networking that’s important because it goes way past comedy clubs. I know it will continue to pay off and for once I took a risk that paid off. This was a smart move.

I thought the event went extremely well. The singers were talented and full of energy so that pumped everyone else up. The winner deserved it but the others were also supportive of each other and it was a lot of fun. The laser show was awesome and Megan made it too easy with how organized she was. I missed doing the radio show, but this was a lot of fun.