Drew Angus is a talented musician. But when the 2007 Staples grad reached “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” it was as a manager — not a guitarist.
That’s show biz.
Like many peers, Drew spent the past few months after college graduation — at Hartwick he created an individual program in music production and management — looking for work.
He had great credentials — he’d interned at A&M Octone Records, and worked as a talent scout/trend spotter, among others — but it’s not an easy time to be a 22-year-old job seeker.
Drew Angus
Drew did not want to work at a big company. “I’m an entrepreneur, a go-getter, creative and dedicated,” he says. “I was scared of finding myself stuck in some corporate rut where I’d be crunching Excel data, answering phones and doing all the stuff the next person up the chain doesn’t have time for.”
He admits, “I know I sound like a kid fresh out of college in this era of entitled children.” But all along he was working hard, donating time to small start-ups and non-profits, looking for the right opportunity.
And then along came Giorgio.
The young man (full name: Giorgio Fareira) is a Bridgeporter now living in Fairfield, attending Norwalk Community College and working at Starbucks.
Not long ago, he and some friends drove to Hartford. Pulling into a Sonic, he sang his order into the drive-thru mike. A buddy taped the scene, uploaded it to YouTube — and (thanks to a push by Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 — the video went viral.
Within days, nearly a million people saw it.
Giorgio asked Drew — they were friends through the Connecticut music scene — to help him out. Drew agreed, joking about getting Giorgio on the “Ellen” show.
The next day, Ellen called. So did CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and “The Voice.”
Drew put his eggs in Ellen’s basket.
And justlikethat, Drew and Giorgio were in LA.
Drew Angus (right) and Giorgio.
Ellen’s producers sent a slick Mercedes SUV to pick up the duo at LAX. The next day — last Thursday — they recorded 3 tracks for an EPthat came out on Valentine’s Day, in conjunction with the show. Tracking guitars, mixing and mastering took until 3:30 the next morning.
But they were up at 8 on Friday to plan a unique taping session. The idea was to build on the Sonic video, sending Giorgio to various spots around LA where he’d surprise random people with his simple, sweet strumming serenades.
A crew of 10 — in 5 cars — started at 11 a.m. They hit a gas station, bus stop, Starbucks, hair salon, dentists’ office and AAA — places, Ellen explained, where “people might not be having a good time,” and needed some cheering-up.
Giorgio warbled to a woman under a large hair dryer, “They even got the tin foil to keep out the CIA.” At the dentist’s, all the hygienists got into the act. And at AAA, when a dozen employees high-tailed it to a conference room, Giorgio sang to the closed door.
The results are fantastic — as Ellen and her nationwide audience saw (below):
On Saturday night, Giorgio played at the Hard Rock Cafe for 300 people. When the MC introduced him as “the Sonic guy who’s going to be on Ellen,” half the audience took pictures.
On Monday — Show Day — Ellen proved as much a character in person as she is on TV. He went on, rocked the segment, and as he exited the stage, was congratulated by many (including the Kardashians’ father).
That, too, is show biz.
It was the Sonic in Wallingford, not Hartford, Connecticut.
Correct. I should have made it clear that they stopped on their way to Hartford. My bad.
Great story Dan. Good luck to both of them.
Hi Dan. Thanks for writing this article. After reading it, I reached out to Drew and Giorgio with an idea: compose a song to announce Gathering of the Vibes’ artist line-up and shoot a music video. We filmed it over the weekend and the line-up is out (a la Giorgio):