1992

33 years old.

Working at Kupper-Parker was almost a parody of every nightmare I ever had about coming back to the US. The atmosphere was snobbish and I was regarded as a talent less hack. My sense of self worth plummeted and I grimly turned out the brainless hack work they gave me. Still, I really liked my colleagues, like Joel House and Mark Ray and Michael Smith, among others.

My one billboard was a raving success, however, and I never got so many compliments for an ad before. It was nominated for an Addy award, but lost to the St. Louis Symphony "More Grammies" campaign by Rodgers-Townsend that year. I also started a long relationship with the Saint Louis Film Festival and the director, Barbara Jones, this year.

After almost every other good creative left for better jobs elsewhere I finally left the place myself and went on a nice long trip to Italy to tour around with Marnie. We hit Venice, Rome, and Taormina Sicily, besides the obligatory visit with friends in Cesena, Bologna and Modena.

Back in St. Louis, I hooked up with my grade school friend Bill Morris, who had moved back to St. Louis after a long stint in Chicago getting his Master's in Video Art. We became best friends and tried, unsuccessfully, to form some kind of working relationship in various projects that never came to fruition for one reason or another.

My first US Billboard