On Everything Else
Sometime just before I asked Abbi to marry me, I cracked open a fortune cookie that read, “Everything will soon come your way.”
Not to gloat, but today felt that way.
First, Jamie Leonhart and I made a date to sing “Killing The Blues” next weekend.
Then, Chris Suchorsky’s Damnwells’ documentary, “Golden Days,” hit my mailbox.
Then, I got an email from sometimes-Nada keyboardist (and otherwise badass pianist) Tony Bonenkhamp who said of my proposal for some sort of post Hy-Vee Triathlon benefit show at his Des Moines venue, “I am loving this idea!”
Then “Mister Rogers & Me” AP Kathy Kim forwarded an email from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences regarding a crucial clip for the doc:
Since your subject matter is so near and dear to the Academy’s mission of excellence for programming, particularly for children, we’d be willing to waive the fee for a donation of any amount to our Foundation. In addition, when the film is complete we’d love to take a look and perhaps feature the work on our site with a clip and a profile of the project and filmmaker.
Then, I got an email from Jimmy Landry with whom I shared a rough mix of “Breathe In” (sans Raining Jane’s forthcoming vocals). “Dude,” he said, “You have ridiculously great pitch.” Better yet, he’s game to help me mix “The Invention of Everything Else.”
And that’s to say nothing of the really crazy corporate situations I find myself in at The Office, one after shockingly awesome experience after another.
Or posting my first blog to The Des Moines Register.
So…
So sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles.
Thank goodness.
You Feel Like Home To Me
I blame Jason Walsmith.
It was last June. The 30th, to be precise. My wife, Abbi, and I had flown into Iowa City that morning, then streaked westward on I-80. My pal, Josh Davis, was performing on the Authentic Records’ stage at the Des Moines Arts Festival when we pulled up to Western Gateway Park. Jason met us backstage, then whisked us off to do a radio interview.
Fast forward a few hours. The sun is setting on a sky choked with barbeque smoke. Everything is cast in deep, warm reds. I’ve performed my solo acoustic set to a lawn dotted with family members, friends, and strangers alike. I’ve run into an old friend from high school who is now teaching high school. And I’ve dipped liberally into the backstage keg.
“Yunno’ there was a triathlon over in Grays Lake Park last weekend,” he said.
“Really?” I replied. “How long?”
“No idea,” Jason said. “But you should do it next year. Authentic will sponsor you.”
I pondered his proposal for a quick second, imagining myself breaking the finish line tape in an Authentic Records jersey, then turned my attention back to the stage he was about to occupy with his band, The Nadas.
* * *
I was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on September 4, 1971. My family moved to Washington, DC, a few days later. I didn’t stop moving (it seems) until landing in New York City thirteen years ago.
By day, I am a media executive (VP MTV News). By night, I am a singer/songwriter, blogger and documentary filmmaker (“Mister Rogers & Me” is in post-production). When Saturday comes, I am referred to — reluctantly — as what one race director once called, a “weekend warrior.”
This November will mark my ninth New York CIty Marathon. I’ve competed in six New York CIty Triathlons, plus numerous other sprint and olympic distance tris in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Overall, I’ve competed in roughly 250 scored races in the last ten years. Not to mention three RAGBRAIs.
Through it all, Iowa has remained only place to which I have returned religiously. With grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Grundy Center, it is my geographic and existential home.
And I’ve developed an even deeper sense of home in Des Moines over the last few years. Jason and I met at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and found immediate rapport in each other’s values and interests. Later that year, I recorded my sixth LP, “Heartland,” with The Nadas, released it on the band’s Authentic Records imprint, and toured with them for three weeks. I performed at Nada Silent Night III, at last year’s DSM Arts Festival, and in March at the band’s “Ghosts Inside These Halls” CD release. In fact, I’ve spent more time in Iowa in the last three years than the previous twenty combined, and I’m glad; I always feel warm, welcome, relaxed and inspired.
And so, when my friend, Simpson College Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, Tricia Martin, sent me an email that the esteemed Des Moines Register (for whom, given his druthers, my father would have me work) was looking for triathletes interested in blogging about their training for the Hy-Vee Triathlon, I thought, “Blogger? Triathlete? I’m in!”
So here I am.
My goal for the Hi-Vee Triathlon is a modest 2:40:00.
More important than my time, though, will be my time with others. I’m pulling together some fundraising plans around the event, and hoping to host a party with some performances afterwards. Stay tuned for details on that.
Meanwhile, I think Jason owes me a jersey. Eh, I’ll settle for a beer.
This blog post was first published as part of The Des Moines Register’s Hy-Vee Triathlon training series.
