Roots Reflections: A Rich Education
Nirvana’s debut album Bleach was released in June 1989. Three months later, during my first week of college, Soundgarden released their second album, Louder Than Love. And that November, Mudhoney’s self-titled debut arrived. “Grunge,” I quickly learned, was a real thing, and bands from Seattle were playing powerful, heavy, sweaty music at exceptionally high volumes and rebelliously slow speeds.
Roots Reflections
In 2006, 13 years after I graduated from University of Puget Sound, I was invited to speak to the university’s Business Leadership Program. The moment I received Professor Jeffrey J. Matthews’ invitation, I considered what my presentation might look like. At the time, I co-owned Sonic Boom Records, a chain of stores in Seattle; I ran my own record label, The Control Group; I toured the world playing drums in my band, The Long Winters; and I worked as an A&R scout for Epic Records.
Alumni Awards: A Career in Film
When Francisco Menéndez ’85 was a young boy, his aunt took him to see his first film in a theater: The Wizard of Oz.
Things started out well enough: He was already accustomed to watching television programs, like Batman and The Avengers, in black and white. But by the time a tornado hit Dorothy’s house and knocked her unconscious, he began to grow anxious. All bets were off when the screen suddenly bloomed into Technicolor.