I don’t normally gloat, or name drop. I don’t even get starstuck much. However, today, I felt like a 15 year old boy who just had the hottest girl in class pay him a compliment.

You see, on Monday a review of the new Cameron Crowe directed documentary, Pearl Jam Twenty I wrote, ran on a network of websites owned by Cumulus Media.

The content team tweeted the link out to our followers and it appears that Mr. Crowe is one. He tweeted the following:

I’m sorry, I’m still a little giddy. Cameron Crowe not only read my review of his movie, but liked it and told the world! Ok, the Twitterverse, but a lot of people follow him.

A columnist is supposed to remain objective and not get excited when the subject of his column sends him a nice note, at least that’s what I learned at Emerson. In this case, I really can’t help it and here’s why:

In September 2000, Almost Famous director, Cameron Crowe was at the radio station where I worked. He was coming in late at night to appear on the nationally syndcated show Rockline. Although the host of Rockline was in Los Angeles, sometimes his guests were live out of our studios in New York. I would often come to the Q studios to shoot the artist being interviewed and try and get an interview for Q1043.com, before they went live on the air.

Just days after having seen Almost Famous and loving it, I had a ten minute conversation with Cameron Crowe for the site and a bonus non-recorded conversation, just between he and I. I was approaching a crossroads in my life, did I want to pursue a career as a DJ or go into management? I had dabbled in photography and writing for a while and although I was at age where I was supposed to have it all together ( good job, traditional home life etc), I still felt like I was searching for something more.

I asked Crowe for advice about writting and he told me to “write from the heart, it’s really that simple… ”

I eventually came to that management/DJ crossroads about 18 months later and went fully into mangement. In the last eleven years, I have made some major life changes and left uncomfortable conventions. His advice, coupled with that of trusted friends and family has helped me live my life more honestly, do my job better and not to give up the passion to evolve.

The response to my piece has come at a time when my next act is being prepared and while it may appear to be very simple – it validates what is being planned. Oh and it still makes me a bit giddy!