(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
7:08 PM, Friday,
March 7th 2008:
"To egg or not to
egg." That is the question. Actually...that's really
not accurate. "To lie about already throwing the egg
or not lie about already throwing the egg." Heh. I'll
let you throw your own egg.
I've
kept in touch with most of the CBS players
both in NY and LA since Living Room Live
ended last September. Number one, I like
'em. We were a family. The crew in LA,
Tammy and Steve in NY, we enjoyed what we
did. I had a special kinship with Tammy of
course because she was the mother of
Living Room Live and we would talk about
the acts and how nice it was to
actually help people in this
industry. And now that I think of it - I
still keep in touch with several of the
acts online. That actually just occurred
to me. Heh. It's kinda like my listeners
at WTVN who I still keep in touch with
over a decade later - you just can't fake
genuine kindness and I take nearly
everything I do to heart. Rambling...
where was I?
Oh and second -
the product ended up better
than anyone
thought it
would including me. In all honesty, I really didn't
know I would be able to pull off some of those
episodes by myself. So last November after Steve was
replaced, I asked Tammy to set up a conference call
with the 3 of us. It basically encompassed my infamous
"screaming
from the
valley"
entry. Basically me saying: "Guys, we have something
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally special here that can take all of
us to another level." I was hoping Steve had some
contacts and that if the three of us "put it out
there" we could find a way to stop being victims to
the powers that be. I knew Steve was burnt on the
network news thing (how the hell could you not be
after the way he was treated?) and this little
internet show he believed in had morphed into
something much bigger. I also knew Steve wanted more.
On several occasions he said he didn't want to be
remembered for "news" and often said he felt
"discovering me" could be bigger. Even said that in
front of my dad, which to date may be the proudest
moment of my life. That's why I asked Tammy to set up
this conference call with Steve in November. Everyone
was down because of the whole Shelley Ross take-over
and I just wanted to SCREAM FROM THE VALLEY: "Guys, we
have something here. If we can put these pieces
together, we don't have to be victims to anyone. We
control our own destiny."
At the time, Steve
was facing another 3-4 months of purgatory at CBS even
though he no longer held a position because of his
contract - but I remember distinctly him saying: "Some
things are in the works, keep in touch". Exactly what
I didn't want to hear of course. As a
communication-junkie, I had no way of knowing if he
really understood what I meant with The Egos being
able to transcend everything or if he was just going
to another network, but I kept in touch. I've called
Tammy probably every other week the last 3 months. The
question in my mind of course was: "Where is Steve
going!?!" but we mostly ended up just talking about
how things were going on the show, how things were
going with me, and how cool it was the Crooked X was
gonna blow up. We were very proud of that. :-) So when
Steve told me the announcement was gonna be Thursday
(yesterday) I had all but forgotten our conference
call in November. I was anxious to see where he was
going and if we'd be able to work together again (like
if it was a financial news network, there was little
he could do). Imagine my surprise...
Woah. This guy
wasn't kidding. What a rockstar move right? How do you
not love this move? How do you not love knowing this
guy, who got steam-rolled by network news, saying he
wants to be remembered for more than news and then
actually DOING something about it? "I'm not playing
your game anymore, I'm making my own. You're gonna
come to me." Of course I flipped out and wrote to
Steve and Tammy like a frickin' 8 year
old.
"Tammy
just emailed me the release. !! head is spinning
obviously
-whatcha
need from me now? point, i'll run..."
He replied with:
"soon". Which made me smile. He knows exactly
what I'm thinking, and was preparing the ship this
entire time. What's crazier is, I can't stop
thinking about this from his perspective. I
feel like I have a better understanding of how real
dreamers and successful people behave at different
times in their lives. Everything he said to me all
those times makes a little more sense now. This is the
kind of shit you do when you're in your 20s...but also
in our 60s. It's that "what do I have to lose?"
mentality. He said to me last September: "I've got one
more shot at my age..." and instead of taking the easy
news gig, which he's known for, he decided to lay it
all out and really jump. It's not about money, it's
not about what's safe - it's about knowing you can do
more and actually doing something about it. And the
fact that the same people who replaced him had to put
out a press release the same day saying they
were firing his replacement is such poetic
justice I can't even stand it:
It should inspire
everyone at every age. It's never too late to stop
dreaming. It's never too late to say: "NO. You won't
dictate my future." And the best part? I can help.
It's something you want to be a part of. It's the
story of someone who decided to stand up and buy his
own restaurant after getting screwed over as a chef in
the other restaurants. That's the place you wanna go
to. And then the best part of all of this. The part
that everyone can take and apply to their lives
somewhere:
Throughout
everything happening last summer; Steve getting fired,
my promos not being played on The Early Show, lack of
feedback when working in an almost complete vacuum,
losing up & adam... I worked harder. I made "Up
& Adam" anyway. I spent 93 hours making just the
friggin' 30 second OPEN for it. I pushed and pushed
and pushed and worked my freaking ass off even though
I knew it was all ending. Why? Because there couldn't
be any "what-ifs" in my control. I had to give it
everything I could and take advantage of every second
at Television City. And now guess what that means?
Other people know that. Steve knows that, everyone
involved with Living Room Live knows that, everyone I
worked with at CBS in New York and LA knows that. I
never phoned it in. Ever.
So
everyone throw your eggs. It's fun. Yes
I know where they can land, but
sometimes they skyrocket into the
stratosphere like a "shit-rocket" from
Vegas (skimmers have to be lost
reading The Journey sometimes) and lands
directly in your hand as it did back in
2006 when I won the first round of Living
Room Live. Let it sink in, and realize
Steve is the man who looked me in the eye
and said: "We're giving your own 10
minute show to do whatever you want
with..." and I knocked it out of the park.
It couldn't be more perfectly set up and I
have no problem throwing that egg, closing
my eyes, and knowing it'll land perfectly
in my hand:
<sheeeeeoooo!>
(sound of egg being thrown straight
up)
