Hello friends, it’s been a while since my last update, so I figured I’d give you a quick rundown of my goings-on out here in The Big D.

Things are great! It has been a bit of an adjustment moving 2,000 miles away from family, friends, and a great situation to come to a big new town where I only know a handful of people. I have gotten settled in for the most part and I’ve met a bunch of great people out here so far.

The full-time gig (sales for 105.3 The Fan) is going well, all things considered. I am essentially a rookie again in this business, which has created a bit of a challenge in terms of going out and having to drum up new business while learning all the nuances of a major radio market.

But I have had some decent successes thus far, and some other things are in the hopper that make me feel confident that things will pick up.

 

As for the Cowboys, I feel that things are going pretty well with them too. There are ten total scheduled Cowboys games at Cowboys Stadium this season (before playoffs – which, mark my words, they WILL make) and we just had game five yesterday, a 34-7 romp over the St. Louis Rams.

Each time I DJ a professional sporting event, I strive for what I call a perfect game. No missed cues, play the right song at the right moment, keep the crowd entertained and loud to help the team on to victory. It’s a very tough task to undertake.

I've received some great feedback so far, but I've also messed up a couple times. It's been an adjustment from my time as the UFL's Sacramento Mountain Lions' DJ to learn the rules of the NFL production - like the rule that I can't play anything while either team's play clock is running.

The consequences of that rule are harsh - substantial fines to the team. Like "well-into-five-figures" substantial. For each offense. It does create a lot of dead air, but I would much rather be safe than sorry and not be on the radar for costing the team a lot of unnecessary money. It's a big difference from the UFL mantra of constant energy and noise.

I feel that I'm getting better each game at Cowboys Stadium.

But no perfect games yet. It will come.

 

I also have some other great news I'm really excited about! I have recently been afforded another amazing opportunity. I received a call from a friend of a friend named Jon who had also relocated to Dallas to become the in-game entertainment producer for the NHL’s Dallas Stars.

They were looking for a new DJ because they wanted their previous DJ (a great guy named Jeff K, who has taken me under his wing) to focus on being their in-game host, and Jon had received my name through the grapevine.

I met with Jon and we discussed his goals (no pun intended), and he is striving to take the entertainment production at the American Airlines Center to the next level and wanted to build his staff of people who would help him do so.

He did a great job of managing my expectations, noting that there was a new goal song this year, that we would be making changes throughout the season, and that the in-game presentation is going to have a whole new feel to it.

Considering hockey is a very traditional audience, change isn’t always welcomed with open arms and it could foster some not-too-positive energy. One main point he emphasized is that I would be the recipient of a lot of that energy.

It was going to be a challenge. But also a great opportunity.

As you know, I do like to challenge myself.

I am also a fan of taking advantage of opportunities.

I hadn’t DJ’d hockey since the early 2000s back in southern California with the WCHL’s San Diego Gulls, so considering that the Stars' preseason had already begun and opening night was less than a week away, I had to quickly realign myself with the flow and nuances of a hockey game.

Fast forward to today. I’ve worked four Stars games on my own (after partnering with LA Kings DJ/organist Dieter Ruehle for opening night), and things are trending upward. I still have lots of room for improvement, and I will get there.

But it’s been two weeks of non-stop work soaking myself back into hockey, learning the system and building the music library at the stadium, learning what we are keeping and what we are changing, and implementing it all into a live show. It’s been somewhat stressful and a lot of work, but again, there’s that whole “challenge-opportunity” thing.

Totally worth it.

The Stars are playing well (knock on wood) and I’m getting much more comfortable every game. I’ve heard the naysayers and I’ve heard the positive feedback, but I continue to forge ahead helping Jon reach his vision and work hard to become one of the best in the business.

I’m looking forward to it and I’m grateful for the opportunity. It’s going to be a great winter. Let’s GO STARS!

I apologize for the lack of updates; hopefully this will get you caught up to speed. I miss everyone back home and I look forward to hearing how you are.

Erik

Hello again.

What a crazy few weeks I've had since my last post. In fact, tonight is really the first time I've been able to sit down in front of my computer in literally 3+ weeks. I hope to catch up to all the emails that I've received ASAP, so if you've sent me an email in the past few weeks, expect to see a message from me soon.

My last post was right before my final game as DJ EJ for the Sacramento River Cats. I had a great career with them at Raley Field, and it ended about as perfectly as possible.

The date: July 23^rd, 2011. It was a doubleheader. Normally I'd dread having to be there for a whole extra game, but on my final night I felt like I wanted to soak in as much of it as possible. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of throwing out the first pitch for the game, thanks to my boss Steven. I fired a strike to Lenny Dinardo. He congratulated me on my career advancement and gave me a great compliment “You do a great job with the music.”

The rest of the night was cool too. Multiple scoreboard shoutouts and a great emotional shoutout from on-field emcee “Mike on the Mic” at the end of the second game – which ended with a Josh Donaldson walkoff home run! (I think it was the very first game I’ve DJ’d that ended in a walkoff home run. An AWESOME way to end my RiverCats career).

Then I got to meet my mancrush Matt Carson during the postgame fireworks. He signed a baseball for me and wished me luck in my new venture. I hope he has a solid major league career (he was recently traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) and like all Sacramento River Cats, I’m proud to have seen them in the beginning of their careers.

The next day started a whirlwind – dare I say a dust devil? – that wouldn’t stop until a few weeks later. I had one final week of work at Entravision, trying to close last minute proposals, helping with the transition of accounts, and saying goodbye to my work friends. I do have to send a shoutout to both Allyson and Jim for giving me the opportunity to shine in my Entravision chapter. I had a great run and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help bring some good successes to the Entravision family.

And so began my move. Not an easy feat, considering I own two houses spaced 100 miles apart, and I had to get each property ready for me to be more than 2,000 miles away.

I wrote out a plan of attack and I figured I had (at least) 60 things to accomplish in the 15 days I had before my targeted leave date of July 31^st.

Sample list of things I needed to do:

Get a storage locker
+ Clean Tahoe house
+ Clean Sacramento House
+ Take stuff from Sacramento house to Tahoe house
+ Take stuff from Tahoe house to Sacramento house
+ Take stuff from both Tahoe house and Sacramento house to storage
+ Sacramento house:
Pack up my stuff in Sacramento, donate a lot of it in an effort to downsize, execute home repairs like fixing the roof, landscaping, cleaning up the backyard, deep clean the entire house, sort all my stuff between take/donate/store, get it ready to rent out.

+ Tahoe house:
Deep clean the master bed/bath, deep clean the loft, clean the garage (hadn’t been cleaned in more than 10 years), make a mancave in the garage with a lot of the Sacramento stuff.

Well, I got about 90% of everything I needed to do done! Luckily, my friend Marcus accepted my offer to become my Sacramento property manager as I plan to rent it out full-time, and I decided to offer up the Tahoe place on a selective basis, so in the end everything worked out.

It’s funny. As I write this I can sum it up in less than three paragraphs and a few bullet points. But in reality it was a lot of sweat, blood, stains, and tears. I had a minor freakout while I was cleaning up the Tahoe place. I came to the harsh realization that I wouldn’t be able to make the mancave as I’d hoped. So I had to scrap those plans.

But for the most part, I’m VERY happy with what I was able to accomplish once I put my mind to it. I managed to move two full homes’ worth of stuff into a 6x12 U-Haul trailer and a 10x20 storage locker (with a lot of the remainder going to Goodwill). Mostly by myself, but I have to acknowledge my friends Ryan, Marcus, and my cousin Michael for helping me move stuff.

It literally came down to the 12^th hour, as I finally finished everything loading everything up in the U-haul and set out upon my journey at 12:00am on Monday, August 1^st.

I took one final walkthrough of the place in Sacramento, and thought of all the great memories I’ve had in the place, starting with Mom and I walking through it before I bought it, to moving in and hosting an epic Super Bowl/housewarming party, to bringing both Max and Moxxi home for a few happy years, to someone breaking into my backyard one night, to all the great stories of love and fun in that house, and so many more. It’s been a great place for me, no doubt about that, but now I’m moving on to another new adventure.

Moxxi jumped in the back of the new Tahoe, and we drove down to San Jose that night where I stayed with my friend Georgiana. Then we took off early in the morning. I drove to San Diego, where I met up with my great friends Kasey and Dion and we got caught up over pizza and pitchers. It was great to see them, especially together which is rare because both are now married.

Moxxi and I crashed on Kasey’s mom’s extra bed that night, then we took off the next morning for the long trip east. I made a quick stop in Algodones, Mexico (close to the Arizona border) to pick up some inhalers, tequila, and authentic hot sauce (you know, the necessities). I checked the on-board temp gauge and it was a measly 114 degrees. No sweat! Literally, because of the ice cold A/C in the new Chevy Tahoe.

Once we passed Yuma, I realized I was venturing into uncharted territory. I’d never driven past Yuma before going east, and thankfully my smartphone was my guiding light as Google Maps helped steer me on the right path.

I was making good time, and my original plan was to stop in Tucson for the night. But once I realized that the drive the next day would have been 15 hours, coupled with the fact that I wasn’t even close to tired, I decided to forge ahead.

Lo and behold, I ended up driving all the way through Las Cruces, New Mexico. I decided I would post up for the night at a truck stop in between Las Cruces and El Paso. I pulled into the lot, and unfurled the sleeping bag in the back of the Tahoe. Moxxi and I “roughed it” (ie: cuddled together) that night. Good times.

I woke up the next morning, filled up with gas for the 7^th time on the trip (in just over two days), and set off. Again, I made good time into the heart of Texas.

About 11 hours in, I decided I would stop in one of the towns along the highway and grab a bite to eat. Considering the time was about 8pm, I would quickly learn this was a big mistake. Apparently, many many businesses and towns shut down very early in these parts, as I drove through not one, but TWO small towns along Interstate 20 that were literally ghost towns. At 8pm.

Not a single person out and about. No cars driving around. No businesses open. Scary.

Eventually I found my way to a small diner where I was fortunate enough to learn another Texas custom: the BYOB restaurant. This concept is unheard of in California. After a long day, I don’t want to have to make an additional stop to enjoy an adult beverage. Sure, an inconvenience…but yet another adjustment I’d have to make in coming to an entirely new environment.

So I had a good meal (with water), and hopped into the car for the final leg of the journey. I ended up making it into Dallas at about 9pm that night.

My friend Matt, the one who hired me at the Dallas Cowboys, had a friend named Courtney who had an extra bedroom at her house. Not only that, but she was accommodating to Moxxi as well! How fortunate, right??!?

Yet another example of how all sees to fall into perfect place with absolutely everything regarding this decision/move/jobs/life/etc. I really focused a lot of positive energy into making everything happen as such, and it totally has so far.

*Knock on wood*

But it’s been a great first couple weeks here. I’ve DJ’d a soccer game with approximately 60,000 people – two days after I arrived – and we had our first Cowboys game last Thursday.

It went well, but there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. It was a day of constant adrenaline as DJing a football game is a very different animal from DJing baseball games. Combine that with the fact that I’m doing it on the biggest stage in American professional sports and you have a recipe for some serious nerves. But I did my thing and I think I exceeded expectations for the most part.

I look forward to having a better game this Sunday (August 21).

I also look forward to finally getting all moved in to my new place. During my first week in town, I spent most of the time I wasn’t at the stadium looking for places to live. Once I finally found a place, I’ve spent the majority of the second week getting moved into my place. And also at the stadium.

It’s been a great experience thus far, and seeing how I start my full time job on Monday August 22 and I’ll soon be all moved into my place, I feel like the best is yet to come.

On a final note, please please please keep sending me your emails/Guestbook comments/facebook shoutouts. I adore each and every one of them, and I promise I will return your emails soon! Internet doesn’t get hooked up at my house for another couple weeks, so I sit typing this at Buffalo Wild Wings, home of great wings and free wifi!

Thanks so much for keeping in touch. Please leave a comment below. Talk soon.

Erik

Today is my last day working for the Sacramento RiverCats after 6 ½ seasons. It’s a bittersweet moment, as I am truly sad to close this chapter of my life, but I am starting an exciting new chapter with the Dallas Cowboys.

My RiverCats career has definitely helped me grow both as a DJ for professional sports and as a person. No doubt it’s been a big part of my life during every summer I’ve been in Sacramento. To put it into some sort of perspective, the RiverCats have outlasted three longer-term girlfriends (each of whom was vehemently opposed to my working for the team, citing the long schedule during the summertime).

Memories

It was in this control room that I have not only witnessed, but played an active part in baseball rarities such as a no-hitter, an all-star game, two League championships, and five division championships.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to see countless major league baseball players current, past, and future play baseball on this grass. Rickey Henderson, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Piazza, Eric Chavez, Carlos Quentin, Carlos Gonzalez, Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, Rich Harden, BJ Upton, Ian Kinsler, Conor Jackson, and many others have been on the field at one point or another while I’ve been working in the control room. (Rickey was a consultant/coach for the RiverCats, Sandberg was the manager for Chicago’s Triple-A team)

I had to miss the exhibition game vs. the Oakland A’s in March 2006 because my mom passed away.

A couple former college teammates of mine made their way through Sacramento as players. One even pitched in a few games for the RiverCats before an injury cut his season short.

Some other notable local and national figures who have graced Raley Field with their presence: Tesla, Jennie Finch, The Famous San Diego Chicken, Kevin Johnson, The San Francisco 49ers AND Oakland Raiders cheerleaders, Kiss, Dave Matthews Band, Scorpions, Tone Loc, Jack Johnson, Zac Brown Band, The Dancing Usher. Randy Brink.

I’ve seen about eight flyovers from various military aircraft. Pregame on flyover days has to be precisely exact in order to hit the timing perfectly. There are a lot of moving parts to coordinate to get a perfect flyover, which is to have the aircraft fly over at the exact ending of the National Anthem. While a flyover is always awesome to me, I think only one flyover has ever hit the timing spot-on in my Raley Field career.

I’ve seen about a dozen wedding proposals. Most have ended with a “yes.”

I’ve held an Olympic Gold Medal. I’ve thrown a first pitch. I’ve DJ’d a home run derby.

Lots of great memories.

Favorite Crowd Moments

One of the best all-time moments for me was when we uploaded a corrupted National Anthem music file, and halfway through the song the file froze, thus creating a DJ’s worst moment: unexpected, awkward dead air. During the National Anthem. Not good.

As we in the control room collectively started freaking out about this situation, we instantly calmed down when we realized the crowd continued to sing the song on their own. More than 11,000 people singing our country’s National Anthem together in perfect harmony. Definitely a goosebump-producer. Extra strong.

It gives me goosebumps whenever the crowd participates. A big crowd singing along with songs is the pinnacle of a sports DJ’s evening. Raley Field’s favorite songs have been Sweet Caroline, Minnie the Moocher, Don’t Stop Believin’, and of course We Will Rock You.

Man-Crush

People who know me know I love baseball. I’ve played this game for more than 20 years, and I’ve been asked thousands of times to name my favorite team. Since day 1, I’ve given the same response: Rather than having a favorite team, my preference is watching great baseball. I like watching great players play this great game.

That said, I currently have a man-crush on a RiverCats player, outfielder Matt Carson.

The man-crush is derived from a myriad of reasons. Carson plays all three outfield positions. He has a cannon for an arm. He plays great defense. He’s a clutch hitter. He steals bases. He hits home runs. He pitched in a game and hit 91 on the radar gun. He’s a great athlete. He has an awesome walkup song. He wears uniform #7.

Man-crush. Need I say more? I’m confident he’ll be a great major league player and I look forward to following his career.

One final note about man-crushes. I had a man-crush on Carlos Gonzalez when he played with Sacramento (and later Colorado Springs), and he’s turned out to be a stud major leaguer.  

Full-Circle

My RiverCats career started with a call from my friend Matt, a colleague of mine in Southern California (at the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Chargers, San Diego Gulls, UCLA football, among others) to the control room producer, named Brooke.

I met with Brooke at Starbucks and she hired me on the spot to become the music director for the RiverCats. Thus began a new chapter for me in Sacramento.

Fast forward 6 ½ years. My RiverCats career has been a storied and memorable chapter in my life. Ironically, this chapter is about to conclude after a phone call with the same friend Matt, who had led him to be the producer of the Cowboys.

Funny how life works full-circle like that.

The adventure begins.

I'm packing my things up and moving 2,000 miles away. From Sacramento, California to Dallas, Texas.

The reason: The Dallas Cowboys. Starting this August, I will be the in-stadium Music Director for the Dallas Cowboys.

From my seven years' experience as DJ EJ for the Sacramento River Cats and Sacramento Mountain Lions, I was fortunate enough to be offered this opportunity from a friend I've kept in touch with since my San Diego days.

The Dallas Cowboys. Arguably one of the top most-recognizable sports franchises in the world.

In a nutshell, it's an amazing opportunity to be DJ EJ on the biggest stage of all. An opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Well, kinda.

I couldn't pass it up if I didn't find full-time work out there to make it a financially-viable move.

Have no fear, I found full-time work out there. Selling radio and digital advertising for CBS Radio in Dallas. More specifically the station that carries the Cowboys! (KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan)

Thus making it financially-viable to not pass up this awesome opportunity.

So here I am, in a frenzy trying to make a HUGE move. I have a lot to do. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I have a list of 50 things I need to get done before I move. I have ten days to get them all done. Hence, in a frenzy.

But, I do have a shiny new toy to help me with the move. Check it out.



I think I'm in love. It's a 2007 Chevy Tahoe. Thanks to the great folks at Folsom Chevy for the outstanding service!

I plan on sharing my experience through this blog and website. I hope you join me throughout the process. Please share thoughts, feelings, questions, memories, recommendations, quotes, or anything else.

I'm moving 2,000 miles away to a place where I know less than a handful of people. I'll need all the support I can get! Let's keep in touch! I have twitter, I am contemplating starting a DJ EJ fan page on Facebook, and I shall be using Skype more.

One last thing, there will be a going away shindig on Thursday, July 28th. Will you join me?

This really happened to me, two years ago today. The night before my 31st birthday. I was so amped up after it happened that I had to write it down.

I got home last night around 11 from an normal night as DJ for the local professional baseball team. The team won, it was a good crowd,nothing overly eventful happened. An average evening.

Little did I know, that was all about to change drastically.

Once I arrived home, I'm in the living room,sitting on my couch with the TV on and checking email on my computer. I haven't let my dogs Moxxi and Max inside the house yet. Suddenly, Moxxi starts barking, loudly but not crazy, not unlike she has done before so I disregarded it.

A couple seconds later, the barking gets more feverish, and I hear a loud noise outside. Moxxi is now at the back door, barking and looking up toward the sky, like she was looking at someone looking through the windows on my roof into my living room. I remember wondering if someone was on the roof as I got up to investigate.

By now, Moxxi is going crazy at the back door,jumping like I've never seen her jump before, barking up a storm. As I approach the door to check on her, a figure comes out of the darkness…

Some dude is in my back yard! Not something anyone expects from having their own private back yard in the house they own. I instantly transformed into MOFO mode and yelled "who the F are you!?!?!?! Get the F out of my yard!" The adrenaline is pumping now as I rear up and place a strong kick square in his chest. It was straight out of the movie 300. No hesitation, no pause. Just a quick glance and a strong kick. I kicked him so hard he stumbled back quite a few feet and my shoe flew off.

It felt awesome.

This gave me a split second to get a look at dude.A 5'6" white guy with shoulder length hair, a beanie, white t-shirt,dark pants, looking like a druggie loser. I grabbed him by his spindly bicep with my right hand and squeezed as hard as I could, with my left hand clenched tight, ready to retaliate against any punches from dude. I began to forcefully shove him back out of my yard, with only one shoe on.

It's pitch black as we turn the corner from my back yard to the side yard, and my adrenaline is flowing so hard I'm shaking! I can smell the liquor on him as he's trying to explain what the hell he's doing in my yard at 11pm at night. He's making no sense,rambling how he's looking for his mom, naming names of random people who he thinks I may know, wanting to go inside to check for his mom despite my forceful insistence that this is the wrong house.

I am exerting unbelievable patience as I give him a brief second to try to explain himself. But he's still talking gibberish. He begins almost begging for me to kick his ass, cowering and whining, saying stuff like "kick my ass, rape me, go ahead". Yes, he threw a "rape me"in there…

I'm confused as hell but still scared and holding strong. "What the F are you saying? Shut the hell up and get out of here!" Then he switches his tone again, saying stuff like"Come on homey, you're my ni**a" and trying to act all street cool.Still clenching his arm and trying to wrestle him out of my gate, I yelled back "I am NOT your ni**a…get the fuck off my property, off my street, out of my neighborhood" and shoved him out the gate.

He kind of collected himself and threw a weak punch that hit me in my right eye. I lunged toward him, grabbed him and we tumbled into the garbage cans and fence on my side yard, still on our feet but wrestling for control. Of course I won control. There was no other choice for me.

I stabilized him in a headlock, then proceeded to land a couple vicious uppercuts to his face(I think his forehead, eye, or cheek) that seriously dazed him and he started to back off, apologizing. I kept yelling…"get the F out of here"and he began to retreat, still trying to ramble on about what the hell he was doing in my back yard. I shoved him into my front yard and kept yelling for him to leave. Seemingly defeated, he began to head down the street and I held my ground in my side yard, watching him.

I saw him turn around, cross the street, walk back past my house, then come back toward my house - almost with a second wind. I stepped out to confront him again in front of my neighbor's house. I was yelling at him more to get the hell out of my neighborhood but he was just in his drunken/drugged daze, interrupting with gibberish and not making any sense. He began to approach me again as I was in his way to that precious gate into the back yard – for some crazy reason his Xanadu on this warm evening.

I had a clenched fist,about ready to unload again on the poor dude, when I saw my neighbor Christian, who I'm cool with, (and the only person in my neighborhood whom I know any more than an occasional hello) emerge from his house with a shotgun! Yes, a shotgun.

He came up and the dude cowered but still tried to explain what he was doing here.Neither Christian or I could understand his rambling gibberish, and Christian ran up with a forearm shiver that knocked the dude back into my side fence. Dude got up and Christian cocked his gun and pointed it right at him!

At this point, I'm so amped up I grabbed dude and threw him out into the street to get him the F outta here. I saw him take off down the street, waited until he hadn't comeback for a few minutes, thanked Christian for his backup, and returned into my house, still shaking from the adrenaline. Moxxi and Max are still really spooked, and I can't stop pacing and looking through the front window.

No more than five minutes later, my old friend the ghetto bird is hovering directly above my house, which couldn't have been more than 50 feet overheard. No searchlight (yet) but I can feel the vibrations from the propeller. I head to my front door and there are 5 cop cars on the street; a couple of the officers are already over at Christian's house. I wait outside for them, and then explain everything that just happened.

As I'm talking, the helicopter graces us with the spotlight, and the police finish with their questions.  The scene is calming down but I'm still way amped up! I go back inside and have to take a long, hot shower to try to calm down...it's 230am as I'm writing this, just to get it down on paper and because I can't sleep.

Wow, I can't believe what just happened! Something that I've feared since the day I moved in just happened. I do feel that I handled it admirably, though probably a bit too pensive. Someone who wasn't drunk (maybe just on drugs) may have attacked me and it would have been a lot more difficult of a situation. I gave him the chance to explain himself and stayed cool, calm, and collected. But still fierce! Not bad for my first – and hopefully only – time this happens to me.

I'd always joked with my friends and family that the disfigured gate on the side yard - and the difficulty opening it - was a form of a security feature. Turns out, it really is a true security feature. The loud noise I heard was the gate dragging on the path as dude forced his way into my back yard.

I gave Moxxi some serious quality time after her heroics tonight too. What an amazing dog she is! Truly my best friend…she was scared as hell and her first instincts were to notify me and protect me. Wow!

What else….Oh, my hand kinda hurts from punching dude, and I'm surprised at how powerful of a kick I landed. Not too many people can say they've kicked another person square in their chest 300-style, but I can. Definitely not an ideal situation, but what a crazy night, huh?

One thing I will say about it, it feels good to know that I can be a badass MOFO if I want to – or need to - be. I am normally a chill,laid back guy, but sometimes in life we face situations that we need to fight. I hadn't been in an actual confrontation or had that type of adrenaline rush in a LONG time, and it was a great release. I landed some serious blows to dude's face, took a punch (albeit, a wimpy punch)like nothing, and caught him square in the chest with an effective,strong kick.

No doubt in my mind I could have really messed dude up but my mind once again prevailed over my body. I have always felt that my mind and the control I have over it puts me in a far above average class of humankind. Tonight was a valuable lesson to confirm that for me.

The Philadelphia Phillies are gearing up for their second consecutive trip to the 2009 World Series against the New York Yankees this week. Following all the crazy celebrity & iconic deaths this year, many people have celebrated the lives of those passed by sharing memories, pieces of their memorabilia, or mementos of a time they had met.

In 2009, I’ve heard countless memories about meeting (or even seeing) Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and DJ AM, et al.

Each time, I could feel the passion and the emotion of the person telling the story. Celebrities do fascinate us. Anytime we meet one or have a chance personal moment with one, us ‘normal’ folk remember and cherish these moments for our entire lives.

I have one of my own that I'm happy to share with you here. Earlier this year, shortly after the start of the Major League Baseball season, the sports world lost an icon of its own. Harry Kalas.

If you know who he is, you know of his Hall-of-Fame career as announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies and one-time voices of NFL Films and Campbell’s Chunky Soup.

If you don’t know who he is, take this test. If you’ve ever hung out with the guys watching sports, odds are that you recognize his truly unique, one-of-a-kind voice. (Listen to a famous Harry Kalas sports call here)

He is truly an icon in the sports world, and his awesome talents will be missed.

I was lucky enough to meet him, and from that experience I was fortunate enough to garner a very unique memento that I consider one of the many highlights of my life.

The date was August 8, 2004. I remember it well. I was working that day – I was doing the music for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they hosted the Phillies. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon day game. The final game of a six-game homestand.

During Sunday day games, the food service in the Press Box offers a variety of delicious breakfast and lunch entrees. I had a tremendous hankering for scrambled eggs with a pile of bacon this morning. Yumm, bacon.

And a Dodger Dog or two. Yes, they’re that good. I digress.

What I heard next was the start of something that I would end up cherishing as a truly memorable moment in my life.

I got in line and I was reaching for a tray when I stopped short. I heard a voice that I’d heard on TV easily hundreds of times, but NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever hear in real-life.

The four magic words? “I’ll have the stroganoff.”

I’ll.

Have.

The.

Stroganoff.

On paper, they hold as little significance to me as they are most likely doing for you right now. But once you’ve heard that LIVE in a voice that you immediately recognize, you stop short. Imagine people like Michael Jackson, Rush Limbaugh, or in the crudest of analogies, Gilbert Godfried, saying that. You’d know exactly who they are the minute they said it.

I’ll have the stroganoff.

Taken aback, I staggered for a second in awe of the greatness in my vicinity, regained my composure, and eased back to reality as Harry took his tray and sat with the 'cool kids' in the Dodger Stadium Vin Scully Press Box.

I grabbed my tray, chock full of scrambled eggs, a monster pile of bacon, and a couple Dodger Dogs, sat down amongst the minions, and began devising my plan to obtain the coolest piece of memorabilia ever.

Fast forward through the game. Brad Penny strains his bicep in the first inning. A lengthy delay ensued as he left the game escorted by a couple trainers, and new pitcher Giovanni Carrara had all the time he needed to warm up.

After mentally joking with myself about playing U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, I pod up Dave Brubeck’s Take Five to create a calming the moment for the crowd of more than 53,000.

I remember Dodger Public Address Announcer Eric Smith leaning over and saying to me “Nice – some Sunday afternoon jazz” with an accompanying thumbs up. Truly a compliment.

While that was a great moment, I still had my eyes on the prize.

Around the 8^th inning, I had my plan set. I would only have one chance to pull this off and I had to execute the plan to perfection in order to achieve my goal.

I wrote out a quick note which would end up being the key to my plan’s flawless execution.

I’ll have the stroganoff.

The game ends and the crowd of 53,000+ slowly filters out. Although as we both know, they’re Dodger fans, so most were gone before the 8^th inning. The final song ends. I fade the audio for the final time that homestand.

I grab my note and my cell phone in my hands, nearly trembling with anticipation. I speed off to look for Mr. Kalas. Make a beeline for the Visitors Radio Booth. I see a few people standing near the door of the booth. After a few seconds of eavesdropping, I learn his son Todd was one of the people.

This is my moment. Harry’s outside the booth door, signing a hat for a little girl. I approach Todd, shake his hand and ask him a quick question. He gives me an affirmative, and I turn toward Harry and ask,

“Mr. Kalas, would you do me a huge favor and record my cell phone's voicemail?”

In his legendary and comforting voice he replies without hesitation “Sure thing! That would be great.”

Cool.

Way cool.

I have the cell phone in my hand, already set to record a new voicemail at the push of a button. Prep work: it took me literally 4 minutes & pressing “1” about a dozen times to get to this point. No easy feat.

I hand him my note, in which I’d already written out his script. I ask him when he’s ready, and on his confirmation I press record.

“Hi, you’ve reached Erik’s cell phone. Please leave your name & number after the tone. Thank you and have a nice day.”

Like a true professional, he nailed it on the first try. I stopped recording, looked up from the phone, and thanked him with a huge smile. I told him I was a big fan, shook his hand, and we went our separate ways.

At that moment, I felt as giddy as when my mom bought me that bike when I was 7. On the drive back home, I listened to the voicemail no less than 38 times. Give or take.

I’ve since changed phones and phone numbers. But I’ve kept that number intact, mostly because of the voicemail message contained within. Yes, it’s still intact. I would be happy to share it with you if you ask nicely. Rather than give my number out for the world to see, click here to visit my Contact page and I'll send you the 411 to hear his voice on my voicemail.

Mr. Kalas, I know you'll be rooting for the Phillies in the World Series this week. I should thank you for requesting the stroganoff that day. Mostly, I thank you for taking a couple seconds to create a cool, lifelong moment for me that I feel fortunate to be able to share with others.

~EJ

Greetings,

I started my website, (http://www.djej.org) a while ago to keep in touch with friends and family while I went to play baseball in the Arizona Winter League. Well, that was an amazing six weeks, but the website was popular enough to somehow not get blacklisted from cyberspace, so here we are.

I'm just an average guy who loves everything that life has to offer us. I see the benefit in maximizing life by forcing myself to live outside of my comfort zone. I've done my fair share of working, traveling, partying, dating, playing baseball, being a dog owner, and adventuresome things in my time on this planet.

I like to share my humoriffic point of view from the stories in which I find myself the main character. DJEJ.org is the forum for these stories.

I've formulated a philosophy that life is really about the stories we share. Friends, family, love, adventure, travel, etc...what is it you really take from that? Stories. Pictures and videos help compliment the story. But it's all in our perspective of the story. Two people who have the same experience can have widely varying stories about it. Another reason for my desire to encapsulate these stories is to remember them myself!

Why stories? Because I'm set to embark on something that's going to give me dozens, if not hundreds, of great lifelong stories and memories. I will take them to my grave knowing that I lived life to its fullest. I'm excited. Are you?

If you have questions, by all means ask. I'm sure there will be a fair share of haters that join us, so I would like to issue some guidelines to the haters: Keep it clean. Direct any and all objections to me, not to others. I'm a man. I can take criticism. I don't understand unprovoked attacks but they do happen. If you have an issue with anything I say, speak up.

But again, keep it clean as this is a family-friendly environment.

Granted, I may share some stories that are more adult than others, but I promise to include multiple and obvious warnings and disclaimers when I do.

Thanks for bearing with me, and thanks for joining me.

Enjoy,
Erik