Michael R. HoffmanMichael R. Hoffman
Welcome to my homepage. I'll keep it short and
simple...
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Born: October 26, 1968
Covina, California
Present residence: Skokie, IL
I'm currently the Computer Technician for Niles North High School in Skokie, IL. I've worked at NN since January 1991, and my first 7 years there were spent as AudioVisual Technical Assistant. That picture at the right was shot last summer in the back room of the AV department.
In January 1998, I made the move to Computer Technician. It's a challanging job but I enjoy it.
I was born in California but have lived in the Chicago area almost all of my life (so far). My family (parents and three older sisters) moved back to Illinois (their original home) when I was under two years old. All my life, I wanted to at least see my home state but, frankly, was not into the idea of flying. But I knew that when I finally felt ready to get on an airplane, my first destination would be California.
In the spring of '94 (I think - the memory's the first
thing to go, you know) I finally took the plunge and had my first trip
west.
I took two weeks, without a plan of any kind, and flew alone to the Los
Angeles area and explored. I won't get into details here but a few
highlights
were exploring L.A., Venice Beach, and Burbank, visiting record industry
friends, and a totally crazy road trip with my cousin David (a
Skokie-to-Northern
California transplant) that took us from L.A. to Death Valley to Yosemite
(pictured) to Sacramento to San Francisco and back to Sacramento again in
about four days' time. All this in David's ancient car which, people
predicted,
wouldn't even make it from Los Angeles to Death Valley. On this trip I
realized
that there was so much to do in California that I'd have to come back
again
(and again) to try it all.
My next travel adventure came in the summer of '96 when I joined Niles North's student vocal jazz ensemble, TAKE ONE, on their tour of Scandanavia. The group - about 33 students and adults in all - visited the capital cities of Copenhagen Denmark and Stockholm Sweden over the course of about 9 days.
The trip was an amazing learning
experience
for me, and marked my first-ever departure from North American soil. Shown
at left is a photo taken toward the end of our stay. Left (covering his
eyes) my roommate, John Reynolds (bass player - and the only performing
adult in the group) and father of one of the student singers; yours truly
in the middle; and on the right is my e-mail penpal Robert Eckeryd who I
met in person (in Stockholm) for the first time on this trip after a year
of electronic correspondance (we met in the "Weird Al"
newsgroup).
The photo to the right shows two street musicians photographed in a
pedestrian
shopping plaza in Copenhagen.
Someday in the future I hope to assemble a whole page about this trip - there's just too much to cover here. From the more than six hours of video footage I shot on the trip, I assembled a two hour tour documentary showing the history and culture of these beautiful countries and the two student performances before appreciating international audiences.
I don't know if any vacation will ever top our summer in Scandanavia, but I enjoy trying. Since then, I've been back to California, spent a lont weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, and a week in Hawaii (swimming at Waikiki Beach and climbing Diamond Head, again with the Take One vocal jazz ensemble and Concert Orchestra from Niles North High School).
I don't know about you, but when I was in high school, we never had field trips like that!
In what I jokingly refer to as
"my copious free time," I am a music fan (that's me on the left
with Meat Loaf, when I interviewed him in 1993, just before he released
"Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell") and also a geek at heart.
I love technical creative endeavors, one of which is video production.
Back
in 1989, my high school chum (and Broadcasting classmate) Mark Mensching
and I were a few years out of school and found a way to combine our loves
for music with our creative sides and began producing music-oriented
cable-TV
programming in the interest of supporting Chicago's dwindling music
scene.
Our first series was called CUTTING EDGE CHICAGO. It eventually spun off into a handful of other music programs:
The OtherSide with Ken Mottet60 minutes of music videos and the strangest music television host in the midwest.
Rock
My Ass!30 minute live performances with Chicago's best bands.
Rock
Hard Video with Mark Mensching60 minutes of metal videos and the loudest music television host in the midwest.
I consider myself a fan and, more importantly,
a friend of the one and only "Weird Al" Yankovic. The link above
will take you to the official ALCON
'98 HOMEPAGE, with info on the first-ever convention dedicated to fans
of Al's music, videos, film, and TV appearances. (Like my
logo?)
My first "Weird Al" page had lots of stories and pictures about my friendship with Al and his drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz. It takes a while to load, though, so I eventually created a newer "Weird Al" page with less pics and a few new links.
CONTACT ME!
Phone: (847) 674-5422
E-Mail Mike
Hoffman
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