I was a teenager when I found my Uncle Gregs record collection.

In my parents basement, beneath boxes of old photos, and  memorabilia lie two wrinkled Piggly Wiggly bags. Tucked neatly inside was a stack of dusty albums and 8 tracks. My uncle had passed away several years prior in a motorcycle accident. I was six he died. Of the few possessions he left behind (his wife and two little girls being the one exception) his music was perhaps the most coveted, and it was bestowed to my dad. From the looks of things it would seem that they'd sat undisturbed until the moment I rediscovered them. I spent hours thumbing through those old records. Intrigued by the art I suppose. Spellbound by the imagery of a bygone decade. Entranced by the shear size and texture of those album covers.

 

Of that assortment of cardboard and vinyl one in particular required my full attention. The album cover art was a photograph of a black man dressed in a monks robe. He stood in the center in of an ominous cave, tied to a stake, surrounded by torches, and people in hooded robes.  Beneath the artist name, in small letters, across the top of the album cover, were the words, “Is it something I Said” . Despite the fact that my fathers stereo was off limits, I pulled the record from its sleeve, placed it on the vintage Marantz turntable, nestled a pair of oversized headphones across my ears, and took an unforgettable trip. On that day, in my parents basement, a latch key kid with only God to bear witness to the moment was introduced to the raw unapologetic tapestry of social commentary that is the comedy of Mr. Richard Pryor.

 

The 60 minutes I spent immersed in that body of work left an indelible impression on me. The work was provocative, controversial, familiar, authentic, funny, tragic, insightful, autobiographical, profound, profane, honest, timely, and soulful. It was absolutely and unequivocally brilliant. In that moment my teenage brain was probably more thrilled by the vulgarity, and the fact that I was breaking house rules to listen yet the impact proved lasting. On that day I was introduced to the power of the story and more importantly, the significance of the storyteller.

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Today, the gamut of my interest are wide and varied. Yet, that moment on that day exposed something that reverberates throughout the things that inspire me most . My creative life has been propelled forward by the love of the STORY. To be a grand story teller is what I most aspire to be. Though advertising is my profession, and art direction my primary skill I'm far less interested in making ads than I am in telling stories. Provocative, controversial, familiar, authentic, funny, tragic, insightful, biographical, profound, profane, honest, timely, and soulful STORIES.