Last week I took up residency in one of the most beautiful places in the world: San Francisco. I had spent a formative summer in San Fran during the internet boom, working with a web page design firm called Adjacency. The three founders ended up selling ADJ for $67 million in stock to Sapient. The stock proceeded to triple in value allowing these entrepreneurs to buy a few fancy cars then start other businesses.

And so I felt quite the buzz to fly into SFO and take the BART up to Mission Street and get set up for a three day residency with Sylvia Anderson’s stellar program: BASOTI. In addition to being deeply appreciative of the work they prepared for me, they gave me a great shout-out on their newly redesigned website. It is maybe not quite as slick as the Range Rover or Tag Heuer websites I worked on in the 90′s, but it will give you a great taste of just how cool this program is.

During my stay, I provided my business plan seminar to several different groups, and did countless one-on-one meetings in the stunning San Francisco Conservatory of Music. We worked a lot on resumes and out of that work I was able to develop my resume tips and templates. Interestingly, that resume-tips page seems to have caught some eyes. Every day, more and more singers keep finding and clicking that link, according to my Google Analytics web traffic reports. How fun is that?

I also had the opportunity to hear some musical rehearsals and watch staging. They were in the final throws of putting together an ambitious production of Clemenza di Tito, a work I performed with Chicago Opera Theater. The mezzo who took Sesto by the proverbial operatic horns brought such power, grace and intensity to her work. And the soprano that undertook Vitellia’s demanding role had such range and color to her performance. I was thoroughly impressed.

“If you’re going to San Francisco / You’re gonna meet some gentle people there”