Welcome, Tracy!

Time to welcome another new client from global commercial real estate leader Jones Lang LaSalle; this time it’s Tracy Hill.  Tracy handles marketing for the sector of the firm that manages projects and developments such as the renovation of the Empire State Building and Chicago’s Union Station, not to mention the nation’s first LEED platinum skyscraper.  And for the gazillionth time, a shout to Sandy Nordahl, my longest running client of any type (21 years!) for yet another referral.  Thanks to you both!

Welcome, Pamela!

I’d like to welcome Pamela Thomas into my ever-growing stable of clients from Jones Lang LaSalle, a global leader in commercial real estate services.  Through Pamela, I’ll be helping to develop career-oriented web site and podcast materials to help attract the best and brightest talent to the firm.  I feel privileged to work with several such dynamos there already, including Sandy Nordahl and Emily Parker, who recommended me to Pamela.

Go Gianni Go!

My wife Jude and I just returned from a heavenly nine days in California, sort of a triangular tour that covered San Francisco, Yosemite and Napa Valley.   Among my Baytown goals was to find Caffe’ Trieste, the oldest coffeehouse in San Francisco, which was reputed to host live opera on Saturday afternoons.  After combing through the North Beach Italian neighborhood, we found it nestled within a block of the Northern Lights Bookstore, ground zero for the Beat Generation.

We crammed into a room filled to overflowing.  Someone was singing opera– well, light opera– alright.  He was a dapper little gentleman in suit, tie and fedora, a character straight out of central casting if you cloned Robert DeNiro, George Burns and Luciano Pavarotti.  He was feted with balloons and cupcakes, and we soon learned that he was Popa Gianni, who opened this place while Kerouac and Ginsberg were prowling the neighborhood.  It was his 90th birthday, and though the crowd turned out to be invited family and friends, we were welcomedto stay and enjoy our serendipitous discovery.  Over Anchor Steam beers– nobody was drinking coffee today–  we listened as Popa Gianni sang with a resonance I’d be happy to have at any age, let alone his.

Afterward we introduced ourselves and chatted with the neighborly nonagenarian.  He invited me to come sing at Caffe’ Trieste sometime– yeah, right– and patiently joined us for souvenir photos, though he clearly enjoyed posing with Jude best.  Should I make it to 90, I hope I can be as ebullient as my Italian namesake.  Go Gianni go!

Welcome Kim, Thanks (again) Sandy!

A welcoming shout to yet another new Jones Lang LaSalle client, Kim Crouse, who directs the commercial real estate leader’s national brokerage marketing from Washington DC.  Through Kim, I’ll be writing a white paper on implications for business tenants when building ownership changes hands (don’t expect good news).  Also, a nod of gratitude for the umpteenth time to Sandy Nordahl; a living, breathing– and usually smiling– embodiment of the value of referrals.  Thanks to you both!

Welcome Katy, thanks Sandy and Leslie!

Welcome to Katy Pietrini, a new member of my largest client “family,” international commercial real estate services leader Jones Lang LaSalle.  Katy recently hired me to do some executive bio writing for the firm.  A shout of thanks also to Sandy Boettcher and Leslie Gall, longtime clients who recommended me to Katy.  Sandy and I have a particularly lengthy history; I’ve freelanced for her through about 20 years and three employers!

Welcome Emily!

A quick shout and thanks to my newest client, Emily Micheletto from international commercial real estate services leader Jones Lang LaSalle.  Emily is a market director for the firm’s Dallas office, and I helped her publicize the launch of a new football and business blog by former Cowboys football legend Roger Staubach and his son, who are both executives in the firm.   Since Dallas is host to the 2011 Super Bowl, folks in that region are understandably stoked.  Check out the blog at http://joneslanglasallesuperbowl.wordpress.com/

DUGGLEWORLD– Can you Dig It?

You may have missed the big news in the wake of Super Bowl hysteria and other distractions:  ABBAWORLD is open for business.  The 25-room touring extravaganza debuted in London (are they has-beens in Stockholm?), and reportedly features priceless ABBA artifacts and recreated scenes of their greatest musical triumphs.  Move over, Graceland and Beatles Magical Mystery Tours, here comes the Dancing Queen.  Mama mia!

I can understand enshrining Elvis and The Beatles, but ABBA?  Okay, they sold 375 million records, but Anni-Frid, Bjorn, Benny and Agnetha hardly roll off peoples’ tongues like that other “Fab Four”, John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Unlike Elvis, they’re not The King of  annything, even in Sweden.   And never have I heard a new band receive the appraisal, “Well, they’re not bad, but they’re no ABBA.”

If ABBA can do it, so can I; plus my hometown of McFarland, Wisconsin needs a new tourist attraction much more than London.  Introducing (insert power chord):  DUGGLEWORLD, a compendium of memorabilia from my storied– and music-ed– career, including:      

-  The nickel I received for my professional debut at age five at the Sunset Supper Club in Muscatine, Iowa, singing “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby.”  I still reprise that chestnut in my “Circle of Life” show, for not that much more money.

-  My eighth grade version of “The Three Little Pigs,” written as a Shakespearean play, which prompted my teacher to observe that, “Someday you might be able to become a writer.”  Folks still occasionally tell me that.

-  The Hall of Battered Percussion, featuring the carnage of drumsticks and heads I shattered during teenage stints in neighborhood garage and school marching bands.  My idol of the day, Keith Moon of the Who, was blowing up his entire drum kit, so I considered myself a petty criminal by comparison.

-  A 1970s  Chicago street map to help me find the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times from the University of Iowa.  An anticipated bidding war at the papers for my talents never ensued; neither did anything else beyond a cursory dismissal from the receptionists. 

-  A Hall of Rejection containing all the form letters politely declining my book and magazine article ideas over the years.  Better make that two halls.

– A “Learn to Play Guitar” guide, accompanied by an instrument, that I bought in my twenties because breaking drums in friends’ living rooms seemed increasingly anti-social.  I now have four guitars, and am deciding which one to learn to play.

–  A small ceramic mug on a string, looped around my neck one evening at the finale of a client’s sales meeting in Puerto Vallarta.  I quickly learned that lifting the tiny tankard signaled the willing waitstaff to fill it with tequila.  There was food and a band– I think– and the Eastern Regional Manager fell off a balcony, but not too far.  Other memorable tales abounded, if only I could remember them.

Like all expectant exhibitions, DUGGLEWORLD relies on support from people like you.  Fear not:  I seek a job, not a handout.  Help feed the passion by contacting me for a new writing project or musical engagement.  Barring that, you may have the opportunity to purchase the aforementioned items on E-bay in the near future.

Happy New Year– Are You Ready for St. Paddy’s?

It’s January, temps are hovering around zero, the snow is turning to cement– if you’re an event planner, time to think green!  After all, it’s less than three months until St. Patrick’s Day.  Time to shake off the winter doldrums and plan some mid-March madness.  And I have just the solution:  a Smilin’ St. Paddy’s Party featuring yours truly, who performs as Paddy O’Chair in a Celtic revue peppered with both familiar and lesser-known ballads and toe-tappers, as well as a golden pot of Irish jokes.  As one of my songs notes, everbody’s Irish on St. Paddy’s Day, and a tuneful party is a fun way to ride out winter’s last blast and charge into spring.

My calendar is filling quicker than a leprechaun’s heartbeat, but I still have some good slots open.  I hope my good luck will include a St. Paddy’s performance for your audience this year.

Welcome Jim and Lisa, Good Luck, Tom!

I’m happy to recently begin working with two new (for me) professionals from two longtime clients.  Jim Jamrus was recently hired by BP North America to manage tank car leasing, maintenance and security.  He takes the throttle on a very long track laid by Tom Gaines, who retires from the position at the end of November.   Tom and I go back nine years, and his “work should be fun” attitude has been a real joy.  Hatching out BP’s award-winning RailSafe program on a bar napkin is just one of many fond memories of one of my favorite clients.  I wish Tom all the best, and hope we’ll continue to dip a kayak paddle and tip an Irish pub pint, now needing only to mix pleasure with pleasure!

Welcome also to Lisa Karbowski, a Pittsburgh marketing professional  for international commercial real estate services leader Jones Lang LaSalle.  Lisa recently assigned me a case study that marks my first project for the firm’s Pittsburgh office.

It’s Almost Halloween– Are You Ready for Christmas?

If you’re an Activity Planner, before you know it, it will be time to dust off the ornaments and don the Santa suit; the end of the year is just over two months away.  Are you ready with holiday party entertainment?  If not, I still have some good dates available for my Holiday Sing-Along, an end-of-year celebration featuring many songs people know and can sing, plus a few surprises.  I can make lyric sheets available for reproduction for participants.  And since many of our most familiar holiday standards were popularized in the past 70 years, I challenge audiences to guess who first recorded them.  The holidays hold deep meaning for many people, and my show is designed to evoke fond memories.  Will I be able to entertain your audience this year?  Write Santa at me@johnduggleby.com  to bring the party to your venue.