Stop and smell the roses...

Along with being a spiritual mutt, I have also been a career mutt. It has certainly been an adventure. In late 2004 I was hired as executive director of a local treasure, Stambaugh Auditorium. It is a magnificent structure. Never one for the spotlight, I was even interviewed for radio and had a photo spread in the local paper to put the facility back in the public eye.

I was working as a manager of an Aldi grocery when I saw the ad for the auditorium. I wasn't really looking and gave it a "what the hell" try. After three interviews with various members of a board of directors I somehow managed to get the job. I should have listened to my mother who asked: "Are you sure you can handle those people?" I thought she meant the celebrities with all their brown M&M riders (maybe that's where the brown M&M in my dream came from...). She meant the board of directors. Moms are wise.

The auditorium was built in 1929, long before speakers and amplification equipment. It is one of those rare venues where every seat is perfect and a whisper on stage can be heard in the back of the hall. But, with modernity, amplification comes with the territory. A set of JBL speakers had been placed in the hall but they weren't installed well and had been sitting unused for quite some time. A temporary hodgepodge of speakers acted as amplification and it was generally quite ugly and not very functional.

So, having talked to the stage manager who had been there for almost forty years, give or take, I learned that the JBL speakers should still be under warranty. A phone call and an appointment later, I met with a JBL rep. He wanted to hear how they sounded and asked if I had a CD. I happened to have Paul Oakenfold's Global Underground New York mix, a favorite of mine I used almost daily while stocking groceries at 5 a.m. at Aldi.

So I popped it in and moved it right to Junk Project's "Composure". Give it a listen. It is awesome.

Now imagine an empty concert hall, acoustically perfect and a set of rockin' JBL speakers. It was a magnificent experience. Not quite a rave but truly magical. The concert hall is the photo on top.

In my naivete I had visions of DJs performing on the stage, DJ as art form. Seems the board had visions of opera. We were certainly not a match. At the time of this appointment I was a sinking ship. I lasted 5 months and 31 days there, just enough so as not to collect unemployment. One of the board members with whom I clashed stepped down to take the position when I was gone. She didn't last six months either. Nor did the next director. I wonder what the problem was. Hmmm....

Upon reflection I realize that had my attitude been different, the result may have been different. But it was one of those positions where, within a few short weeks, I knew I was in the wrong place.

Having gotten to explore every nook and cranny in the building and listen to Oakey "live" and see the inner workings of concert promotion and set-up the adventure wore out rather quickly (and sitting through board meetings where board members almost, quite literally, threw temper tantrums was horrifying...).

Reminds me of a Zen story. This is from Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness, a delightful but profound "comic" of Zen wisdom:

But it is still a really nice building and music (like the track above) sounds amazing in the hall.

My grandma's words would ring true: it all works out in the end.