Episode VI: A Little Strategy, and What Not to Do

Somewhere around the time I did the first trial run, I had gotten a few more sponsors, a venue for the show, and a date set for the whole thing. The first graphic I made for the One Percent Productions website was on October 20th, 2008. That graphic was soon replace with a second graphic from the show flyer.













I talked to to Jim Johnson and Marc Leibowitz from The Waiting Room Lounge and One Percent Productions and they generously donated the venue for the date of November 14th, 2008. I specifically chose this date for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted the benefit concert to be on a Friday or Saturday so more people could come out. Todd at Universal recommended that the press conference be held on a slow news day like Monday or Thursday, but Monday is a terrible day to hold a concert, so that was out. Thursday isn’t bad, and I thought about maybe splitting it up and holding the press conference on a Thursday, then the benefit concert on a Friday. After thinking about it for a while, I thought it would be better not to split it up. I wanted it to be an all day event, where I hold the press conference in the morning, then go around town wearing the Mohawk and stopping by different radio stations and television to talk to them, and promote the benefit concert in the evening. Then the day would be topped off by jamming with The Filthy Few while wearing the Mohawk. The whole day event just felt like a better idea to me, like it was more of a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. So I decided to hold it on a Thursday to get the best media coverage I could.

I can’t remember why, but I wanted to do it in November. I think it was because that would give me enough time to prepare, and it wouldn’t put me too close to the Christmas season. There were only two weeks in November where I could get maximum news coverage, the weeks between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. Well, the Thursdays in both of those weeks were already booked up at the Waiting Room, and so was the first Friday. The only date that would be available and still be within the time frame I wanted was Friday, November 14th. So, I decided that would be fine. I was trying to get the most news coverage as possible because it was a requirement for Guinness that the record attempt get into the news. I also wanted to get as many people at the benefit concert as possible for The Filthy Few’s last show and to raise a lot of money for the charities, but I figured I had done enough to ensure that it gets covered pretty well. Besides, I had originally wanted it on a Friday anyway, so it all worked out.

I remember a feeling I had when I got off the phone with Jim from The Waiting Room after we agreed upon the date. "That’s it”, I thought, “its set in stone. No turning back now”. Not that I wanted to turn back, but it was a feeling of skittish relief, and finalization. It was Like I had just set a date for a surgery, or something that was going to change my life forever. I tried not to let that feeling overcome me, because I didn’t want to get a big head, or set myself up for disappointment, but it was definitely a feeling of things to come. I had no idea it was going to be blown up as much as it was, but I knew it was going to be big.

As long as I am talking about strategy behind my decisions, let me tell you about a decision I made that I thought was good, but ended up being a mistake. What I did was wait until the last few weeks before getting a hold of media outlets like The Reader and 89.7 The River. My thinking behind this was that I did not want my plans to get out too soon for fear that someone else would get wind of it and break the record before I did. What I should have done was contacted the media a month or more out, and shared with them my thinking on keeping it a little quiet. They would have understood, and we could have had more time to work together. This point really hit home when I got a bit of a tongue lashing from the reader. On October 30th, I sent them a proposal, and asked them if they wanted to help out by donating a page or two for advertising the event. I received a prompt response from John Heaston who wrote, and I quote, “You should be shot for sending this to me 2 weeks before the event. That said, let me see what we can get done.” I laughed my ass off when I read that! I know he was not seriously upset, and I took it as I think he intended it and thought it was funny. However, it was a good point. If you ever have an event you need to coordinate, don’t wait to talk to anyone because you are afraid it will get out, just talk to the right people and tell them to keep it on the down-low. Anyway, the Reader was very kind, and donated a couple of adverts for the event in the issues to come.
I also sent proposals to Capes Comics, and Paradigm Gardens around this time, and I contacted Tim Bazer at Omaha Fight Club, and Wayne Brekke from Worlds of Wayne. There is some good stories and lots of pics and video that go along with these sponsors, so I am going to talk about them some more in the next episodes. Wanna see what it’s like to be in the Octagon? How about behind the mike at Worlds of Wayne Podcast? Come back soon to find out!

Episode V: The Fist Trial Run

I had my first trial run set for October 21st at Capitol School. I already had help from my girlfriend, Allyson, putting up the Mohawk once, so I was 100% confident that I could beat the record. These trial runs at Capitol were just to make sure everything went smooth on the Record Breaking Day. I did NOT want to hold a press conference and get all of these people and businesses together just to show the world how great I was at screwing up a record attempt! I had to make sure that everything went perfectly, or at least as close to perfect as I could get.




So I told you that I met with Calarice Zomer. She is the one that helped pick the students that were going to help with the Mohawk, and helped set everything up for the press conference. And, yes, I did say students. When I first got this idea, I thought I was going to need a seasoned professional hairstylist to help me. However, after seeing some of the students work, and talking with Scott and Clarice, I was absolutely certain that the students here were up to the task. Plus, I liked the idea of having students from a hairstyling school put up the Mohawk. Something about it made it seem….I don’t know…kind of like we were banding together, or forming a team to do something that we were all new to, and we had to figure it out together, and learn as we go. I think it also put a little element of risk to the task in the eyes of other people. I had complete confidence in the students, but when I told other people that it was the students that were going to raise the Hawk, they were surprised and impressed, and it made it a little more exciting to them.

The day came for us to raise the Hawk for the first time. I was charged and excited, but a little apprehensive. I came to Capitol prepared with all of the necessary provisions: Ten cans of hairspray…check. Two big pieces of cardboard…check. Order from Chaos T-shirt…check. Camera…check. Camera woman…check. The camera woman that day was my girlfriend Allyson’s mom, Alyce. I took this picture of her while lying on the table. She usually doesn't have her arms crossed, and has a wonderful smile, but I caught her off guard with this one!



It was 10:00 in the morning. I went in and Clarice introduced me to Elliot and Katie, the two stylists who were now my partners in Mohawk raising crime. We cleared off a large table that was full of mannequin heads for me to lie upon, and we got started. It didn’t take long for a crowd to start gathering. There are a lot of students there, and I must say it was pretty nice lying down on a table that was waist high and surrounded by a bunch of beautiful women.






After about 3 hours of teasing, combing, spraying, flipping, hair drying, and 4 cans of hairspray, it finally looked ready. As I sat up, the applause came...and the Mohawk was erected! I remember Elliot stopped clapping and immediately came to adjust the Mohawk, as it was leaning to the side…a lot! However, it was standing, and we knew that next time we could make it stand straight.



It felt pretty weird. I constantly had a feeling like it was falling over, and it was throwing off my balance. I couldn’t help tilting my head to the right a little bit, so I was walking kind of funny. Katie measured the Mohawk, and it was just under 27 inches. Overall, it was a success, and now we all knew for sure that it could be done, and I could beat the record.



There was a couple things we learned from the trial run. First, we definitely needed a bigger, more sturdy piece of cardboard. We also needed to find a way to prop it up a bit. You can see in the picture of me lying on my side that my head is not straight, and that’s what made the Mohawk curved. We also learned that oil-based hairspray cannot be used, because it is too heavy. It must be water-based. Additionally, even though it took a lot of time and effort, we learned that it was a lot of fun to put up a Mohawk, and we all had a great time doing it!

Get a Haircut, and Get a Real Job. (Or at Least a Haircut).

The day before yesterday, (Friday), I went to Capitol and got my sides shaved and the hawk cut and cleaned up. Tuco tagged along, and he just happened to have a camera, so we took some pics! Ok, actually, I asked him to come along and take some pics. I got some plans fer this hawk, after all, and I want to document everything while it still sits upon my head.

I didn’t stand it up, but I had to thin it out, because I think I figured out a way to put it up without the huge boards, and in half the time. If it is thinner at the base, I think I can just lay down and have someone help brush it and put something a little more heavy duty than hairspray on the base, (not sure what yet), and then just lightly hairspray the top, so as not to make it too heavy. Hopefully I can get it done in under a half hour, because I want to start wearing it up more often. I also wanted to get it braided for when I don’t wear it up.
A very kind and beautiful woman named Octavia was my stylist, and she did an amazing job! She had her work cut out for her, too, because I let the sides and back go for months with no cut or trim. It was looking pretty nasty, check out this mop!
Tuco and I goofed around with Octavia and a few other stylists there while she was working away. We talked with a cool stylist named Brooke who just happened to get a Mohawk herself the day before.

Here's the results of Octavia's work:















Later on that night, we met up with Chad at the Sydney to check out the Filter Kings. They put on an excellent show! We didn’t have a camera for that, but here is a pic of them from another show.
If you haven’t seen them and get a chance to, I would highly recommend doing so.

Oh,I almost forgot. While I was at Capitol, I found out that an article was written about Capitol Schools and me in the May issue of Beauty Launchpad. I can see why, after all, I am a launchpad of beauty. (yea right!)
Anyway, they had a plaque of the article hung up by the door. Pretty cool!

Episode IV: Moving, Networking, and Learning as You Go

So now my ass is movin! I remember thinking that if I could just get a salon and one or two more sponsors to help me, I would be in good shape. I had already contacted Locks of Love, and all they needed was a time and date for the event to approve. I had to get a solon and a venue for that, and a photographer as well was necessary, so those were what I focused on. I live in Benson, so I drive by Paparazzi By Appointment all the time, seeing their cool sign on the building. Plus, I had heard some good things about them, so I gave them a call, and spoke with Laura, who was very gracious. She was into it immediately, and said yes. That was a big weight off my shoulders, because I definitely wanted a professional photographer there, and now I could concentrate on the hairstylist. Still no luck there.

I had a draft of the Big Brain Productions proposal, so I contacted them and dropped off a proposal at their shop for the owner, Smitty. To my surprise, when I called a couple days later, they put me through to Smitty, and he told me to come in right away. It was a surprise, because it is very hard to get an appointment with Smitty, he is so booked up. I went to his absolutely cool shop to meet with him. He was very cordial, and to the point. He told me that he gets a lot of proposals because he involves himself in a lot of events held in Omaha. When he saw mine, he said he was immediately taken by it because it was put together so well and looked professional. He was also drawn in by the charity aspect of the event, and the fact that it was about a world record. Smitty himself is a Guinness World Record holder for most piercings in one person.
Well, I can’t tell you how glad I am to have met Smitty early in the process. There were a lot of things up in the air, and a lot of doubts flying around in my head. Smitty is a very positive person, and having broken a record himself, he encouraged me to go through with it and go all out, because it was one of the most fun things he had done. So he agreed to become a sponsor, and generously donated to the cause.
One thing I regret about meeting with Big Brain, though, and this was a learning experience for me. After he had already agreed to sponsor me, I told him who else I had as sponsors. When he learned that HEBE GB Tattoo was also on the list, he told me it is usually not a good idea to put more than one of the same types of business as a sponsor, because they are competitors, and it may look like they are affiliated. One other tattoo shop told me this before and dropped out, but then I finally got the picture. However, Smitty decided that it would be ok, and went ahead with it. So there is a tip for any of you out there who might be looking for sponsors, don’t put two businesses in the same field on the banner. It’s obvious to me now, but for some reason I didn’t think that way at the beginning. I was thinking more like a television show with commercials, you may see two commercials from different companies selling a similar product in a television show, but that’s not the way to think in this type of event.
Now I was completely confident. I was running around town, dropping off proposals, networking, and getting people excited about my record attempt. According to my emails, on September 28th, 2008, I created my World’s Tallest Mohawk email and MySpace accounts. On October 01, I had decided to hold the event sometime between Election Day and Thanksgiving, during a slow news period. That way there was a better chance of my record attempt getting news coverage. On October 8th, I contacted Clarice Zomer at Capitol School of Hair Styling. She was very excited about the idea, and I sent her a proposal to look over. A couple days later, Scott Mccaig, who is on the Board of Directors at Capitol, called up Todd Murphy. Todd was kind enough to let me put him as a reference in my proposals. He gave them a kind of legitimacy, so it didn’t look like I was just some kid who wasn’t serious about this event, or looking to rip people off. He and Scott had a great conversation, and thanks to Todd, Capitol School of Hairstyling was now the primary sponsor of the record breaking event. We set an appointment for me to go into Capitol and talk about holding the press conference there, do some test runs, and meet everyone who was going to help out.
Now things were rolling! I was very excited, and when I went to Capitol, I knew I had the right place. It was perfect. The people were great, it was an excellent venue for the press conference, and they were willing to help out with whatever I needed.
I have some good photos from the test runs, and the wonderful people at Capitol, so come on back soon to meet them, as well as some new sponsors. And just so ya know, this blog is not just about the sponsors, this is only the beginning. There are many other adventures to come, like the first test run that came out sideways, almost having to pee in front of a surveillance camera, and a tongue lashing from the Reader!

Certificate from Guinness

I just received the certificate in the mail from Guinness for World's Tallest Mohican. It's Official!

Wyane Brekke's video on front page of Guinness Website!

I went on the Guinness website yesterday, and right there on the front page was the video of my record attempt that Wayne Brekke shot. I know it probably wont be on there for long, so I recorded it for keepsake. Here is a screenshot from that recording:

Episode III: Call Me Mr. A.D.D.

Man, things are a bit fuzzy. Trying to remember how this all went down is a little more difficult than I thought it would be, and I think I got a couple things mixed up, probably because of the A.D.D. I want to make this blog a little more detailed, so I went into my notes and stuff to build a little timeline. This part of the blog is for document sake, so before I go any further, I gotta back up a bit, and put some dates in here. I almost wanted to start over, but for some reason I feel like if I put something on a blog and leave it there for more than a day, I have to leave it there forever. Does anyone else feel like that? Weird.
Anyway, according to my notes and emails, on June 6, 2008, I registered to break the record on the Guinness website. I got the record agreement and a notice of application review on June 12th, and sent in the agreement that day. They got back to me on July 24th to tell me they had received the agreement and that they would review everything and get back with me again in 4 to 6 weeks. During this time is when I talked to Todd from Universal Information Services, and Nikki from Hebe GB, but we did not make anything final yet. At last, on August 13th, 2008, I got the go-ahead from Guinness!
They sent me the official guidelines for breaking the record for tallest Mohican, the name and measurements of the current record holder, and what they called a “Record Breaking Pack”. It was pretty cool to get this stuff, because it answered a lot of questions, and was very professional. It made it seem more real, more like it wasn’t just a stunt, but rather an achievement that would be recognized by an elite organization, if I could pull it off. It was also a bit scary, because it sank in that I couldn’t mess around, because Guinness doesn’t mess around, that’s for sure!
The guidelines were very specific, and no detail could be overlooked, otherwise it wouldn’t count. First off, they stressed that NO products could be used in the hair for the attempt, except hairspray, gel, or mousse. No gelatin, or egg whites, or anything like that. I was wondering if ordinary, everyday hair products would even make this mop stand up for 2 seconds! It was comforting to find out, however, that there was no time limit on the feat. That meant all I had to do was stand it up long enough for us to measure it and get pictures and other proof. Speaking of proof, that is another thing Guinness takes very seriously. I had to have two witnesses to be there for the whole process, and then they had to sign an affidavit, which I had to then get notarized. I needed video or photographic evidence that was convincing beyond a doubt. Also, as a requirement, it was necessary to get the attempt into the media. Up until now, I did not think that would be a problem, but for some reason this record breaking pack made me pause, and I suddenly became uncertain as to how much interest anyone, or any media, would have in some guy in Nebraska putting his hair into a Mohawk for 2 minutes. Well, I shook that off pretty quickly, and took solace in the fact that I already had some good people on my side, and the last guy was on a national television show. Suffice to say, the serious nature of Guinness lit a serious fire under my ass, and I knew I had to get to work, and do this right!
So, now we’re back to where we left off. Where was I? Oh, yes, the salons. I mentioned in the last episode that it was difficult to find a salon to sponsor me. I had a couple of friends who were stylists that said they would help, and a list of salons around town. The only thing is, I wanted the salon to be the primary sponsor, so I was asking for more money for the sponsorship. (The sponsorship fees were to help for promotion, charity, and whatever was left over helped me out with school). I had contacted a few salons, and they all turned me down pretty quickly. Most of the salons I contacted said it was not in their budget, but the weird thing is, some of them actually said they did not want to associate themselves with this kind of event. This kind of event? I thought this was tailor made for a salon! However, some of them thought that the Mohawk was not appropriate. I guess they thought it would somehow “tarnish” them. It was only a few of them that said that, but it was surprising to me.
So, my search for a salon continued, as well as my search for other sponsors. I had gone through the phonebook, looked on the internet, and talked to friends to compile a list of small businesses in town to contact. The first ones I contacted were in a certain demographic I was going for, which generally revolved around fashion, music, art, and entertainment kind of businesses, or anything that someone who was into Mohawks might also be into.
And that’s the situation, as of August 23rd, 2008. I had the OK from Guinness, a general plan, and two sponsors so far. I had no date for the event set yet, no venue, no bands, no hair stylist, no photographer, and a lot of work to do. I was feeling a bit scatterbrained, like everything was up in the air, floating around. I guess that’s because it was. I remember fighting with myself a bit, telling myself, “Hey, I got time”, and then thinking, “No, don’t think like that and procrastinate, get yer ass movin!”
That’s it for this episode. I know it was short, so the next one will be posted quickly, and I will make sure to start where I left off on this one, with my ass movin’!