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GARY COGLEY: ABOUT MEJust to let you know who you are dealing with - Gary Cogley - here is my “obit in progress.” I have led three lives - and am working on combining those diverse factors into tackling a fourth life with this website. This is, after all, in the form of an "obit," so it is presented in the third person. I couldn't write my own, could I? Just be sure, as of right now, I'm still here. Gary Cogley started out as a musician. He turned “pro” at 12 years old, playing Taps at funerals. At 13, he had his first combo that played for USO shows, and that led to playing for dances throughout his home region. His combo did have a steady gig at a local bar for awhile, but that led to an investigation by the ABC - the State Alcoholic Beverage Control. The thing was, all but one of the group was underage. The bar got fined, and had to close down for a month, but they kept their job. The deal negotiated allowed the Gary Cogley Combo to play in the restaurant side (which was a separate room from the bar). The big problem with this, other than no tips, was having to play loud enough to be heard through one doorway and the walls. That would be easy in the rock era, but they were playing acoustic instruments with no amps. Gary Cogley's music life continued when he joined the Navy and went to the U.S. Navy School of Music. After graduating, he joined the Navy band that had toured 46 states with the Shipmates Varieties program. They were supposed to become the Navy’s official jazz big band - like the Air Force “Airmen of Note,” but as all things military they didn’t follow through. This band did a Mediterranean tour playing for kings and princes on the U. S. “People to People” program, and continued with visits to Quebec, the Caribbean, and even stayed at “Gitmo” Cuba for awhile “B. T.” (before terrorists). There was no torture - other than the fact that the water supply was shut down because Castro’s people had thrown sugar into the water supply which clogged up the system. The band also visited - and re-visited - Lebanon, where they played for machine-gun nests and popcorn vendors - quite a combination. The rest of the Gary Cogley enlistment was spent half in a plane and the other half playing concerts, parades, and clubs from Arizona to New Orleans and points between. This band backed some “stars” at the time - both those on the way up and on the way down. Having had enough of the road, Gary Cogley started his second life by going back to college and studying radio-TV-film. He received his degree and within three months started to work in a 20th market as a director/floor director. Gary Cogley spent close to twenty years in that field, rising to become a TV producer-director-copywriter. Burning out from directing two newscasts a day, plus commercials and local/regional/national programs, and servicing 25 plus clients at a time, Gary Cogley got grand ideas. He started law school, going nights while continuing the TV biz. When he graduated and passed the bar, Gary Cogley started his third life with his own practice in entertainment and intellectual properties, and held forth with that for another 20+ years. Gary made the mistake of associating with a dot-com company during the boom years in the 1990’s. That went bust like a lot of companies at that time. His practice died with the same bust times. Then Gary Cogley almost died. Working on one of his last cases, he passed out during a deposition. Gary came to with everyone running around the room screaming “Call 911!!!" So, not knowing what the fuss was about, Gary got up to go to the phone - until everyone started screaming at him to sit down! Gary ended up in the hospital with super high blood pressure and a tumor on one of his adrenal glands. Not to get too scientific but his potassium level at the time was 1.8. Normal is 3.5 - 5.0. Low potassium causes heart failure. It took a couple of years to recuperate from an operation and the adjustment of Gary's body to losing an adrenal gland, and he was pretty well forced into “retirement.” And that leads to now. The fourth life. Gary Cogley is building this site to use his expertise in the IP field to help you understand some of the workings and the pitfalls in developing a new invention. Also, he is developing his ongoing interest in gadgets and gizmos that has been in the background since he was a kid. It has been a long process. Trying to build a website led to hours and months of ... well ... information overload. Gary didn’t know where to start. Every time he thought he had a handle on it, he would read something new, and off he’d go into La-La land. Trying to sort out what was credible and what was B. S. drives you nuts! Gary really has to thank two firms in helping him break through the clutter and hype. First is Nitro Marketing and their Nitro Incubator program. They have helped Gary immensely with step by step instructions, great materials, and one-on-one mentoring. This site is here because of them. Unfortunately, Nitro Incubator is no more. Too many people took all their knlowledge and ran with it. Such is the way of the Internet. Great thanks to them anyway. The other firm, that was used by Nitro for web design and is my Guru now, is Site Build It.com [SBI]. They have a totally comprehensive program that helps you pick your niche, build your site, and manage it after it’s built. everything is spelled out in understandable terms and also step by step to insure that you are successful. Try them here: There you have it. Hoping the fourth time’s the charm - at least Gary can sit at home and communicate to his heart’s content - and take a nap if he wants to.. Let Gary know what you want to talk about, and any questions you need answered. Gary will help if he can, and at least point you in the right direction. Check out the Contact page. |