Thursday, April 10, 2008

US Business Hall of Fame 2

the cast rehearses
The drum corp rehearses


Claire (pictured here rehearsing the dancers) always does an amazing job with the dancers. In this show our dancers were kids from the American Dance Academy. They were so fantastic and Claire was as brilliant as always. Her husband (pictured up at the top) was also as incredible as always. They are a power couple for sure!

Last night was really amazing! I got to meet and visit with some very interesting people. The Laureates who were inducted into the hall of fame were all very nice people with amazing stories. Darrell Waltrip was our MC.

John Pepper--the big guy at Proctor & Gamble and the Chairman of the Board of the Walt Disney company

JC France--his family founded NASCAR

Robert Johnson--he founded BET (Black Entertainment Television) which he eventually sold to Viacom for 3 BILLION dollars. (gulp) He has many other ventures...including owning an NBA team. He is really SUCH a nice guy!

Al Neuharth--founded USA Today newspaper. Neat guy! His wife owns an adoption agency and they have 6 adopted children under the age of 17 including two sets of twins!

Meg Whitman--she is CEO of a little company called EBAY. Her story of growing companies is really interesting.

Tommy Frist--founded HCA.

We also had some great entertainment from Paul Overstreet and a kids' group called "Fiddle Frenzy". Paul and I chatted backstage about a hilarious day years ago out at his farm when my father walked in on is wife trying to nurse their child. My father didn't notice at first and just carried on a conversation with her (this is where I get it, people!!!! It's inherited!!). The Overstreets are great people and Paul did a fantastic job last night. He sang "When You Say Nothing At All' which he wrote and Alison Krauss made popular.

Bert Hensley did a great job of producing this event! It was a huge success. I will try and post more pictures soon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

buddy, keith whitley was the one who made that song popular. allison's hit was many years later.
buddy

Anonymous said...

Hi Brandon - I sing with the praise team at Campus Church in Atlanta that Matt Elliott leads. This is so random, but on your "Gem & Infinity Singers" post on Wednesday, April 2, I think I recognize two of the singers that I knew when I lived and went to school in New York several years back. I was at AMDA the same time as Ericka and I am pretty sure that is the same Kwame I worked with at the show, 42nd Street. He had MUCH shorter hair then. If you happen to remember the next time you see them, please tell them that Leah Manley said hello. They may or may not remember me...it's been since around 2002. Thanks!
-Leah (Manley) Fernandez

Brandon Scott Thomas said...

Leah--
I will! They are on the GEM right now and about to head to the Mediterranian for a while. I'll give them your greetings. Small world!!

Anonymous said...

Small world indeed! I appreciate it. -Leah