When I moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles in 2013 I knew I was lucky enough to have some extended family already on the west coast. I've described this familial connection in a few other pages/stories, but I'll share it again here:

My mother -----> her mother, my grandmother's ------> uncle had lived in Los Angeles, CA for a long time. That would be my great-grand-uncle. His name was Namon Holley. Great man, may he rest in peace. He had been married to my Aunt Ozzi for many many years. I would visit them frequently when I first moved to Los Angeles, and at Christmas dinner in 2014, I learned that I had a few cousins that were close to me in age.

Brothers Marcus and Brenton Guy and their respective wives, Melissa and Janie, made me feel loved and right at home. Marcus would let me know at that Christmas dinner that he and his wife, Melissa, owned a media studio in Signal Hill, CA: Asset Media Group. He thought it would be nice for us to collaborate in the future. Thankful, we did, we have and this event was one of those times.

I did not have much of a chance to meet Michael Cox, but he seemed to be a very nice guy, very lovable and he drew quite the crowd for his 40th birthday celebration. Michael and his family would look to Marcus' services to capture a video of the party as well as create some fun family videos of Michael, his wife and their two daughters, which would later be shown during the party. The event was complete with many friends and family, some great food, a live band, a couple of comedians and a Hollywood style step and repeat.

[At the Carson Community Center in Carson, CA]

After all had a chance to arrive, hug and greet, the man and the family of the hour made their entrance...

Somewhere in the back of my mind I've always thought about writing a blog, but would usually float around and have my work in some sort of portfolio site with just images. That said, at an event like this, part of my mind wants to get everyone's name to be able to tell a full story later, but that wasn't my mindset on this night. I have to be generic and say that two comedians then came up to the dance floor to do a good 10 minute set. Hopefully I can go back to my cousin later and maybe get the names of the comedians, but either way they did a good job and had the crowd in laughter.

I thought the comedian's were funny, but please notice Michael's daughters expression in the image below. Discerning taste for a youngster...

Michael's wife then spoke a few words before presenting him with a pretty sweet gift. Michael grew up as a big Los Angeles Lakers fan, so of course, Magic Johnson was his idol. Michael's wife had an artist sketch a portrait that was a combination of a photograph of Michael and of Magic Johnson, placing the men side by side in the image.