I was raised in Central California, growing up on a farm and attending school in a small town called Exeter. I didn’t live in town, so if I wasn’t playing outside with my brother Shawn, following the dogs under the fence of our back yard (yes, we would literally crawl under the fence with the dogs) I would be watching TV, or listening to music.  

Sunday nights always included listening to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. He would go into great detail of certain songs, giving a sort of history behind the music. At that time in my life, I was a huge fan of both Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.  In early 1985, (while I was a mere 9 years old) the song “We Are The World” was released.  It was written by both Jackson and Richie, and a video showcasing all the different artists who sang on the album soon followed. I had NO idea how much this song would shape me as a person. There were countless news stories about the famine in Ethiopia, and multiple concerts designed to raise money and awareness of the situation. They all sparked something in me – I wanted to DO something, I wanted to help, but I was only 9, and delusions of grandeur hadn’t gotten the better of me – yet.

Then, two years later, my brother introduced me to a new band, (new to me at least) and they were called U2.  Again, my life was profoundly affected by music and I fell in love with all of it. My brother bought all their tapes, and I made copies of them and listened constantly.  For me, they were the perfect balance of political and spiritual without being preachy. They were, and still remain, my favorite band in the world.

Fast forward 12 years or so, I’d graduated UC Irvine with a BA in Drama, and I was also studying Improv with The Second City in Los Angeles.  For our final sketch show we knew we wanted to do some political sketches, taking swipes at corrupt corporations.  My friend Kari suggested using De Beers, due to the nature of what was happening with harvesting Blood Diamonds in Africa. I hadn’t heard about this, and felt like an idiot – up until that point, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on all the struggles the continent was facing;  I was wrong.  My inner 9 year old shouted at me, asking, “Where have you been?! You need to wake up!”

In late 2004, I found myself watching a touring production of “Momma Mia” and for some strange reason, the spark ignited there. To give some context of the state of the world at that time: the troubles and challenges happening in several countries in Africa were coming to greater light, and I was trying to absorb all of it – from movies like “The Constant Gardener”, “Blood Diamond”, and “Hotel Rwanda”, and on to autobiographical books like, “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmeal Beah, which detailed escaping the world of being a child soldier following the massacre of Sierra Leone.

Anyhow, it was in that moment that I connected the dots, and I felt my first calling: knew I needed to write a U2 Musical that took place in Africa.  My friends laughed at the idea, and I didn’t blame them.  U2 was the biggest band in the world, and I was nobody. Nevertheless, the story was there and I wrote the Musical within a matter of months (well, the story at least – the music and lyrics are all U2…)

From there, I started working on a basic awareness campaign, which included building a website. One day, I was getting incredibly frustrated, so I took a break.  I went to go watch a movie called “The Machine Gun Preacher”, where I was introduced to the world of Sam Childers and what he was doing to save orphans in South Sudan with his organization, “Angels of East Africa”. 

Around the same time (in 2011) I was also planning to go to Dublin and I was going to (drumroll please…..) Find Bono! I was going to see if I could have 3 minutes of his time to discuss the project. I even brought my friend Paul and his video camera to document the journey.  We got two radio interviews out of it and I spoke with some people at Principal Management, but……..I didn’t get to meet Bono. However, a musician I WAS able to meet, encouraged me to produce the show myself, and suggested the idea of giving the money to charity.

I put in an inquiry for permission to use the rights through Universal Music, while trying to decide which charity I should place my focus on. I flashed back to before I had left for Dublin, to when I had been frustrated with my website and seeing Machine Gun Preacher.  All of a sudden, it seemed obvious – I was going to fundraise for Angels of East Africa.

I came back to my computer and put together the website, because I was compelled to.  I had to do something; I needed to produce this musical. I finally received official word from U2 and the answer was no, but my resolve did not falter – I knew it was only a matter of time.

So what’s so different now, you ask? I don’t think they were ready for this show in 2011.  I believe they looked at it as a retrospective (but it’s not), and I just wasn’t sure how to move forward. 

Then this year, a very dear friend gave me the idea of a “Proof of Concept” song, to help show the band and the world what this show could potentially BE. That’s why I’m here now, trying again, with all my delusions of grandeur (that my 9 year old self actually always had and just didn’t know) ….that’s why I’m still trying… I hope you can help.

Because at the end of the day, we can’t fix the world’s problems, but maybe we can do something to help.

(Want to help? Check out the donation page here.)

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