Thomas "Norm" Elia
norm@www.siegelgale.comI'm Tom Elia, developer de le web, wonderful writer, silver medalist - table tennis - back in '88...but everybody calls me "Norm". Don't ask me why...too long of a story.
I started my public life as the rhythm guitar man for the then Norm & Jimi Experienece back in the 60's. Here's a pic of me warmin' up backstage in San Fran back in '69. Funny, but it turned out to be the last time the band played together...Jimi and I had different visions of what direction the band should go in...he won out in the end.
From here my life took an interesting turn as I was thrust into the political spotlight. Thanks to an odd government clause, the Wellington Clause, I took over as acting President of the United States for seventeen hours in 1971, as then president Richard Nixon had come down with a really bad case of the hives. My main job for the day was to greet the King himself and give him a tour of the White House.
The next ten years of my life were spent behind bars. Desperate for cash, after both my musical and political careers had waned, I knocked over a 7-11 for a grand total of $38.43 on a cold November day in 1972. I would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those pesky kids, their mangy mutt and that video camera which caught me red handed...
The Big House behind me, I needed to find work. I was living in Chicago at the time. Having played in the penal basketball league, I jumped when I heard that the Bulls were opening up their try outs. With nothing to loose, I went out and gave them a real show. Needless to say I made the team and was an instant impact as their versatile "sixth" man. However, fate had other plans for me. A certain draft pick from North Carolina caused a shake-up, and me already on the outs with the coaching staff made their descicion to release me an easy one. But me and #23 both know who was and still is the true "Air".
After that I figured I should go to school, get an education...you know, all that jazz. So some how I ended up in Hartford, CT, at Trinity College, as an English-Creative Writing major. And for four years I hung out with palookas and mamalukes alike.
When I wasn't runnin' with the kids from the "wrong side of the tracks", and workin' on avoiding my senior thesis, I was thinking great, big, enourmous, thoughts on a grassy patch or in the confines of a speakeasy known as the Tap...unfortunately I never had a pen so I never wrote down these ideas and now they are forgotten, but I remeber I had the world peace thing worked out pretty well and I figured out the whole JFK/Brinks Jobs in one afternoon.
Well, that's my story...Right now? Well, I'm currently managing editor of a pretty cool e-zine known as crisp by night, and a web developer for Siegel & Gale by day.
"Superman or Green Lantern ain't got nothin' on me." - Donovan
Thanx and enjoy...