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Sunday, May 16, 2010 

Is It Really Who You Know?

I suppose Dale Bozzio from Missing Persons is the same as most folks: If you're used to doing something or being someone for a long time, you don't really think much about it anymore. It's hard not to take things for granted, as a matter of fact. I've been playing music, writing setlists, writing recipes & menus for so long, neither one of them feels any more complicated than taking a shower. If you're great at something, it probably just seems natural to you, and no big deal. It's also funny how most folks, regardless of a having a talent in one area, usually crave something they're not great at.

A great singer might really want to be a great guitarist, and vice versa; A great basketball star might want to be a baseball player; I know a successful lawyer who would give his right arm to be a successful songwriter; and on and on.

In Dale's case, as I always say to her, she has something EXTREMELY valuable most folks can only hope for: A whole rockstar career of connections & pals out there just waiting for her to "light it up" with something new.
But it seems she needs someone like me to help spin her head around & get a new perspective at some great resources she's earned & created on her own - people she knows. And this is why I'm a broken record about her launching her food line: Of all the people who come at me wanting to launch their own line of food products (and that's a lot, and unless they have a lot of cash to throw at it... hell no), Dale's the only one who tells me she can get guest segments with some of her pals & friends who have their own shows, including Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart and more. In my world, that is extremely rare & valuable.

Another example: I was speaking to her about an entertainment/marketing company called AEG, which is producing Rocklahoma this year. You might have heard of AEG: They were the ones producing the Michael Jackson shows in Europe, which of course never happened. It looks like they also do a bunch of other big time stuff with professional sports teams, venues, event marketing and more.

At some point in the conversation, Dale says: "Oh, I know Randy Phillips at AEG." (photo, left) .Who's that, I ask? "I think he's the boss there." For real?!?!?!? Turns out he is indeed the CEO there. Damn, Dale - that's huge.

Talk about "burying the headline": A week or so later, Dale shares some more details about her old pal at AEG: "Randy used to be our manager for Missing Persons - we had a lot of success with him." WTF?!?! So this isn't some random pal from back in the day, folks - that's a strong connection between them. She also shared even more personal history between them, which also speaks to much more than a passing contact.

And so, I'm happy to say we tried our first little "who you know" experiment last week: I got Dale some contact info for AEG and - as promised - she made a couple of calls, and left a message for her old CEO pal. While there's no way to know what will happen there, it's got me looking around for who else might be receptive to helping with her long-simmering food & cooking career - how about one of her old boyfriends who produced a record for her? (hint: rhymes with "fence").

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