Tag! I’m It - 8 Random Facts

I’ve arrived! I’ve arrived!  I just got meme tagged for the very first time from Natalie over at Design for Learning.  Cool!

So, first I post the rules:

1. Post these rules before you give your facts
2. List 8 random facts about yourself
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

Geez! I hope I can come up with eight … here it goes … in no particular order …

1. In 2001 my wife and I sang the solo parts in the featured choir for 12 noon mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This trip also included singing for Pope John Paul II at an audience with the Holy Father.

2. I tried fencing and found out that a) I wasn’t half bad, and b) I enjoyed it.  Competed in college - mostly epee - and still use it to stay fit. I don’t compete anymore.

3.  My first date with my soon-to-be-wife was at the National Gallery of Art. We just celebrated our 15th anniversary.

4.  I love opera. Even had season tickets for awhile at the Washington Opera in Washington, DC (this was before Placido Domingo became their artistic director, though). The first season had a musicians strike, so it was weird attending a performance with only one piano playing rather than an orchestra.

5. I once worked as a production assistant for a TV broadcast of Great Performances gala titled “Wolftrap Salutes ASCAP,” which was shot at the Filene Center in Wolftrap (Vienna, Virginia) … where I got to meet and interact with Henry Mancini, Bernadette Peters, Jeffrey Osborne, Mr. Tony Bennet, Sammy Cahn, Judy Collins, and Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary fame). (There were other famous folks as well … but my memory is failing me right about now).

6. I’m an avid family history researcher (aka genealogy) … have been at it for quite a few years. It’s a way for me to really sense the continuity and connectedness of generations, and to deeply appreciate what my family experienced …

7. At one time I made my living as a composer and music director … I actually earned enough to pay the rent and buy the food … working with Arena Stage’s Living Stage Theatre Company and other regional theaters in the Washington DC area … even was nominated for a 1993 Helen Hayes Award for best resident musical, Executive Leverage (for which I wrote both music and lyrics).

8. My nickname while in college was Lurch (you know, that butler guy from the Addams Family). I guess at my being nearly 6′6″ tall the name kinda stuck for the first few years in school.

And there you have it … and so I tag … sorry if you’ve already been tapped for this …

Susan Smith Nash

Tony O’Driscoll

Tom Turner

Wil Wheaton

Tony Karrer

Mark Shea

Jimmy Akin

Kate Britt