Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
A: That’s a hard question to answer and could go several ways. I’m a Generation X Hoosier, and lately, I feel that in my soul. I got my sense of humor from the likes of Don Rickles, Gene Wilder, Bill Murray, and Rodney Dangerfield in an era before PG-13 was even a rating. My childhood was mostly filled with Jim Henson, X-Men, Looney Tunes, and Hanna Barbera, which makes the extensive time I spent working at Walt Disney World funny somehow. While the other guys in the field were detasseling corn to Garth Brooks or Van Hagar in their walkmans (walkmen?), I was bopping to the likes of Prince, George Clinton, and Teddy Pendergrass. The books of James Cleavell, Orson Scott Card, Lian Hearn, and Mario Puzzo will always be my go-to’s. The Godfather, An American Tail, Die Hard, Ghostbusters, then Race For Your Life Charlie Brown, and in that order. The sport of kings is actually football, the song says so and who am I to argue?
Q: What’s your background and how does it influence your work here at LSA Technology Services?
A: I pursued a career as an entertainer, record producer, and so on. While the actual skills of playing an instrument, falling off a building, or manipulating a full-body puppet on a theater-in-the-round stage with only the smallest patch of darkened mesh to see through aren’t easily applied to much else, it’s the hard-to-quantify soft skills that don’t fit neatly on a resume that allow me to thrive: reading the room, seeing the big picture and how your contribution can accentuate it and not steal the show, knowing how to talk to people, navigating the unknown, active listening, being able to learn a part quickly, and so on.
The biggest takeaway from my time with Disney was how to interact with patrons and guests. Learning to look beyond misdirected anger or awkward details, interpret the situation, and resolve it purposefully and appropriately is huge. If they don’t see the production strings when they don’t need to, you earn their trust and that portion of their day you can affect is covered — and it’s likely to be the part they have no idea how to handle. Not to be the hero or the miracle worker, because in all likelihood they won’t remember me specifically, but to build trust and goodwill for the next time they contact someone from my area for help.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you in your position?
A: Between supporting classes and events as a technician and projectionist, I spend a lot of time monitoring Lecture Capture and in TeamDynamix (TDX). Lecture Capture has become a huge part of how our students absorb the knowledge our faculty imparts, and anything I can do to streamline the patron experience on all sides is a win for everybody.
Q: Are you working on any interesting projects right now?
A: Outside of the university, I’m working on a comprehensive book about Prince’s career. While there are several out there on the market, and additions every week it seems, few are written by anyone with more than an observational understanding of being a musician or dancer, writing and arranging music, of being in the recording studio on either side of the board, or what it’s like on the road. It’s a perspective that is oddly overlooked in the vast majority of those books. Having spent most of my life there, I feel like there’s something worthwhile I can contribute.
Q: What do you like to do outside of the office?
A: Between researching for the book and two active kids, there’s not much left. I’m often noodling on an instrument, giving into the distractions of video games, or watching Marvel television shows.
Q: Finally, share something that people might be surprised to learn about you.
A: At one point, I was heading down a path in children’s entertainment. Part of that journey was portraying Barney the Dinosaur for a few years. Some of my best memories are of seeing kids having the chance to put aside whatever was going wrong in their lives and let it be replaced with adoration and pure love for that purple dinosaur for a short time. Whether or not the cynics want to admit it, Barney had a profound impact on a generation on the same level as Fred Rogers.
