Tony Gemignani

Today at the pizza show Tony Gemignani walked up to me and initiated a short conversation. If you don't know who Tony Gemignani is, he is the guy you've probably seen on TV doing amazing tricks with pizza dough, from the Emeril show to Jay Leno to buttloads of other shows I don't even know about.

I wouldn't say I know Tony, but I did already know that he knows who I am, because he approached me at last year's pizza show after recognizing me from Pizza! The Movie (which I hadn't even seen yet). That was pretty cool because Tony is the "star" of the pizza movie. Hell, Tony is the superstar of the pizza industry. Not just the American pizza industry; the global pizza industry.

So, as I already mentioned, Tony walked up to me today and said hey. After maybe 30 seconds of talking to him, he said something to me about my trip. I suspected he was referring to Aimless, so I said, "You've seen my web site?" After confirming that he has seen it, he seemed pretty interested in what I'm doing, adding that he thinks some parts of my blog are pretty funny. He asked if I've ventured anywhere near his parts yet, to which I responded: "No. I've been to LA already, but not your area (Castro Valley, California--near San Francisco). I have thought about going up to your place, but I haven't really had the opportunity to do much yet."

I only talked to Tony for about five minutes, but I got the impression he thinks Aimless is pretty cool. He acted very interested in having me visit his pizzeria whenever I make it back out west. That is, he seemed interested in being in Aimless. (He loves attention.) And I probably will visit his pizzeria because it could be good for both Tony and myself. It could be good for me because Tony is the best in the world at doing something that fascinates a lot of people, and it could be good for Tony because it'll provide more exposure for him, his pizzeria (Pyzano's), and his competitive pizza team (World Pizza Champions).

Tony is a really nice guy. Even though his skills have made him kind of famous, he is still just a dude. You can bet I'll show up in Castro Valley sometime in the next six months.

Oh shit! It just occurred to me that Tony knows George Lucas. At least I think maybe he knows George Lucas. Seems like I've read something about it before. I'm going to Google their names now.

Aimless