My Secret Career 9: QE3

Here again my career and My Secret Career directly intertwine.

I had been acting in readings of “Searching For Certainty” by my cousin Mike O’Malley for several years in the early Aughts. We did it many times in New York City at different venues, at the Williamsburg Theater Festival in The Berkshires, in Cleveland as a workshop, and finally and most impactful for me, as an actual theatrical run in Los Angeles in winter 2003.

It’s a GREAT play. 

My character was a songwriter who is stuck in a rut, pining away for a girl he had a platonic friendship with at the tail end of his college years. He comes to New York City to try and mend fences with her after he learns that she is newly divorced. 

On arriving in LA to begin rehearsals, I headed straight to Mike’s house. He gave me a mix CD (!!!) of songs he thought were applicable to my character’s emotional state. He also challenged me to write a song about the woman my character was in love with: Betsy.

So, like so many other things in my life, the following song is solely thanks to Mike.

Here is “QE3” by High School Hero.