I found myself working at a fine San Francisco establishment called One Union Recording for almost two years, starting right before the birth of my son; my lengthy association with Jerry Harrison led to me knowing the owner of the studio, John McGleenan. I was acting as a freelance engineer among 4 staff engineers. If there was a need for a fifth guy, they could call on me. One of the people I ended up doing a lot of sessions with was Mike Rowe. If you are not familiar with this man, do some research. Not only is he a fascinating individual who has had-and continues to have- quite a remarkable career in the public eye, but he is really a great guy and very fun to work with….. and totally pro. Most likely you would either recognize his face or his voice from any number of high-profile spots: Ford commercials, his show Dirty Jobs, the narrator for Deadliest Catch and Ghost Hunters, Discovery Channel's Shark Week…. the list goes on pretty long. Recently he even put up a youtube video of him reading the phone book, and- I shit you not- at this writing it is getting close to 20,000 views.
I think one of the reasons why I felt like I connected pretty well with Mike is summed up in the goal statement of his new site, profoundlydisconnected.com….. and I quote: "The goal of Profoundly Disconnected is to challenge the absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only path to success."
I went to college; I was into music, and pretty much nothing else (except for girls), so I enrolled in music classes. I learned a little bit of valuable information, but I never felt like I was going to be a teacher; I even took some classes called "Recording Techniques" and "Electronic Synthesis". I ended up being very disillusioned by the "guidance" of the instructors, and was also simultaneously working to support myself and playing music in multiple bands. College lost the tug of war after two years, and I never got a degree. I did, however, learn some skills at various jobs; enough to support myself and continue playing music (wasn't an option to not do that, apparently); and this path has clearly led me to where I am today.
Mike asked me to help him create a tribute to his mentor, a man named Fred King. I knew nothing about Fred King before we started down that road, but I certainly felt like I had a good grasp of who he was after doing the piece with Mike. Fred King basically can be held responsible for pointing Mike in the direction that formed his entire career; and on top of that, he must have been such a character that it would have been a true privilege to know the man. I recorded Mike talking about his life and the way Mr. King influenced it, did some sound design and mixed the spot, and it is available for all to hear on the archive of Mike's older website, mikeroweworks.com. I highly suggest giving it a listen; it is really entertaining and heartfelt. I am truly honored to have worked on this with Mike and gotten to know him in my short time at One Union.
Plus, we also did some hilarious shit…….. like "calling" my dad and leaving a message trying to talk him out of buying a Honda truck and buying a Ford instead (my dad is a huge fan of his and was pretty impressed that I am friends with Mike, so it was a golden opportunity….)
…and of course goofing off while trying to get a successful read of out of some pretty ridiculous copy…..
Anyway, Mike Rowe: all around great guy with lots of very important stuff to say, an extremely talented man, and, dare I say it….a real role model for people of all ages. Check him out.
