Looking for Unsung Heroes

Maybe it's more likely in a place like Nashville or LA that the person waiting tables or shipping packages may end up being famous someday,?but most of those people come from somewhere else, even half a world away. And, if one of your former employees ends up starring in a Hollywood movie that's releasing this week, that's a good excuse for an article.?

About 25 years ago, our men's softball team was short of men, so we ended up getting this 15-year-old kid named Joel Smallbone to play for us (bottom right).? He was fast but being from Australia, he knew more about cricket than baseball or softball, so there was a learning curve.? But, he caught on quickly, which seems to be a trend with him, not just for softball, but also music and acting.? (And yes, that's me near the top left, covered in dirt.? I would drive and slide at every opportunity.? Once, after a game, I went into a fast food restaurant and tried to buy a sweet tea with change from my cup holder because my wallet was buried in my gym bag.? The kindly manager gave me the sweet tea and refused to let me pay, presumably because he thought I was homeless.)

Fast forward a decade, and Joel and his brother Luke needed jobs while trying to break into the music industry, so they worked in our book warehouse.? If you purchased books for one of your events back then from our sister company BulkBooks.com, there's a good chance that they were packed by the two guys who make up the 4-time Grammy winning band for King & Country.

As if winning a slew of Grammy's wasn't enough,Joel wanted to try his hand at acting.? Premiere wasn't responsible?for Joel becoming an actor, but let's pretend we were.? During the?Great Recession, I'd come up with an idea for a video called "The Four-Minute Booking".? Our founder Duane Ward improved the idea, giving it the "24" feel and hiring Joel as the bumbling boss's kid, along with frequent Disney Channel actress Kenda Benward, for the video: https://youtu.be/gCPNm6kdBn4?si=WTW0CixMoeibI_P9

We also had a sequel called "Spencer's Premiere", jokingly called "Finding Brian", which was a higher quality video that was basically made to show off our new 2009 office:?https://youtu.be/NLUAC-ns_zI?si=yrDcpcIwv-t4MkhG.

Fast forward to today, and Joel is starring in a movie as his own dad, telling the story of how their family moved from Australia on a wing and prayer to help his big sister, Rebecca St. James, get into the music business.?(Spoiler alert: She won a Grammy, too.)

Speaking of their family, in "The Four Minute Booking", Joel's real-life dad plays his on screen dad who shows up at the end of the video.

So, make sure to go out and buy a ticket for "Unsung Hero" this weekend, and also be nice to all those up-and-comers with menial jobs.? You never know who they're going to grow up to be.

Instead of a comic this week, I'm going to post my Six-Degrees-of-Kevin Bacon= Brian Lord (The Four Minute Booking)- Joel Smallbone (Unsung Hero) - Terry O’Quinn (aka John Locke from Lost)- Maury Chaykin (Mrs. Soffel)- Kevin Bacon (Where the Truth Lies). Ok, that's only five degrees, but I'll take it.

Brian Lord is the President of Premiere Speakers Bureau and the host of the Beyond Speaking Podcast. A 28-year speaking and entertainment industry veteran who started his first agency in his dorm room, Brian has done everything from running a non-profit and writing a comic strip to coaching youth softball and competing for TeamUSA in the Duathlon Age Group World Championships in Romania in 2022. He and his wife Krista enjoy raising their four kids outside of Nashville.