Drowning In A Sea of Press Releases

Almost immediately after graduating FSU, I went to work at a PR firm with a wide cross section of clients. I was actually hired as favor to one of it's clients, a small record label with an impressive list of R&B artists. I was given the reins to the entertainment division (which encompassed a sports doctor based in California, the two singer/songwriter sons of a dentist in Michigan, Disco Danny from the Trident gum commercials, some other clients and Spring Records which got me the job in the first place. Spring was a hip urban label that's roster included the great Millie Jackson, Fatback Band and Joe Simon to name a few. Working for the guy who ran the PR firm was a challenge. He didn't have a filter in selecting clients and basically if you had the money, we could get you PR or at least make a valiant attempt. One  of my clients was Vantage Press, I was given the account on a Friday, on  Sunday night 60 Minutes ran an investigative piece on the publishing company calling it a scam and accusing it off ripping off many would-be authors. It was nasty. On Monday afternoon he asked about my progress securing press for whatever project was tied to Vantage Press. I asked him if he had seen the 60 Minutes expose Sunday night and maybe, just maybe, that was hampering my ability to get something. He told me that no one watched it and try harder. Remember these were the days when CBS, ABC and NBC ruled the roost, so I went outside to Broadway Video Arcade and played about 25 games of Breakout to calm down. One of my saving graces was Joe Simon who took me under his wing and became a mentor and a friend. Yes, the same Joe Simon who won a Grammy for The Chokin Kind and the iconic Drowning In The Sea of Love and had 35 Top 40 R&B hits.  I left the firm a little after a year but we stayed in touch all through my tenure at Arista and now we are working together again as Joe Simon, now Bishop Simon, receives the partnership award for his music industry contributions to Philadelphia by the award- winning writer-producer  duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, June 17th at Citizens Bank Park. After that we are going to document the whole thing in a coffee table book on Vantage Press.