Friday Dan Barretts (part three)
An unexpected turn of events
If you haven’t read parts one and two then you probably should.
My name is Dan Barrett. In the past two years I’ve given a nice shout out to 104 Dan Barretts on the internet, one a week, on Fridays.
For the next phase of this important work I am going to revisit the Dan Barretts each week, in order. I can do this for the next two years.
To mark the end of phase one of Friday Dan Barretts, I’m going to go through the list of 104 and reminisce a bit. 104 is a lot of Dan Barretts so I’ve split the Dans into four groups of 26.
This is Dan Barretts 53 to 78. Let’s go.
Pretty sure Dan Barrett #53 was the first Dan Barrett from LinkedIn. Why didn’t I look at LinkedIn before? So many Dan Barretts on there.
Dan Barrett #54 really does look like a friendly guy, and responded on Twitter saying I’d made his Friday. That’s what it’s all about, eh?
Dan Barrett #55 seemed familiar to me from an earlier time when I’d probably been googling myself and found this young singer songwriter from New York being more successful at music than I was. Flash forward an indeterminate number of years and he’s set up this glorious, homely recording studio. I’m not jealous, just happy for him.
Another musician, Dan Barrett #56 could start a band with (say) Dan Barrett #55 and Dan Barrett #16 and Dan Barrett #3. Some kind of trombone-led electronic lounge jazz unit. What a prospect.
Yet another musician, Dan Barrett #57 is a talented young singer. I’m getting a seasonal angle in here too because it was nearly Christmas. So rich, so many layers to this project.
I used to be a programme and project manager but I never worked on anything as important as Dan Barrett #58.
Earlier in the project Dan Barrett #59 had poor reviews for his business on the internet and a spelling mistake (his own name) on his website. I was so happy to see him turn it around.
I’d like to think Dan Barrett #60 would be appreciative of my top drawer Neil Diamond punning in this tweet.
Dan Barrett #61 has one of the best jobs of all the Dan Barretts in my opinion.
I used google translate to get ‘good work’ in Maori for my shout out to Dan Barrett #64, the second female Dan Barrett. I know Dan Barrett isn’t Danielle’s name, but you have to understand that by this point being a Dan Barrett is more about a conceptual group of beings loosely joined together across time and space than a strict and shackling label. As long as ‘Barrett’ is spelled correctly, that’s all.
Dan Barrett #64 really did come from a place with a great name. Danielle recently changed jobs and moved to Minnesota. That’s the kind of thing that can catch you out when you’re dredging LinkedIn for original Dan Barretts. Didn’t catch me out though. I’m an expert you see.
The third female Dan Barrett in a row, I was clearly trying to get a slightly better gender balance here. Note the authentic Australian tone of voice I used here for Dan Barrett #65.
The fourth female Dan Barrett in a row and I was clearly on some kind of affirmative action tip. Dan Barrett #66’s work looks great.
Dan Barrett #67 has a cool job.
This is when Covid-19 was starting to turn everything upside down so I thought it was right to shout out to Dan Barrett #68, a scientist.
More Covid-19 references for Dan Barrett #69. I still don’t know what ‘owning the micro space’ means.
Still more Covid-19 references, this time to frontline healthcare workers like Dan Barrett #70 who were (and still are) hugely up against it.
Many people were working from home and doing video calls. In my mind headsets were the sole preserve of Paula Abdul and singing drummers but everything was different all of a sudden and I was using my Jabra headset sat on the floor of my kids’ bedroom and everything was fine. So I shouted out to Dan Barrett #71.
I’m not religious myself, but it was Easter and it struck me Dan Barrett #72’s church were taking responsible and creative steps to help people carry on worshipping their God during lockdown.
I like Hackney, and I like ice cream, so I was made up to find Dan Barrett #73. He followed me on LinkedIn too.
Dan Barrett #74 is another fictional entry. There’s some ok music jokes from a certain era in this one but ultimately I see it as me feeling sad about not being able to play music with my own bandmates due to lockdown¹.
More Covid-19 references for Dan Barrett #75. But the most important thing is that this Dan is a drummer and he should join Dan Barrett #56’s band.
It was May, leisure centres were closed, and the prospect of having your own swimming pool was pretty enticing. Unfortunately Dan Barrett #76 didn’t get in touch to reward me for my free advertising.
Dan Barrett #77 is yet another person helping others through her work.
Pretty sure the main reason I shouted out to Dan Barrett #78 was so that I could get some authentic Canadian tone of voice into the tweet.
This part has been quite a journey, with me working to address diversity issues AND showing slightly hysterical signs of strain in the midst of a global pandemic.
I guarantee what happens in the final part will make you question everything you’ve ever thought you knew…
Footnotes
¹ At the time of writing we haven’t played since early March, which is the longest hiatus we’ve had in nearly 20 years.
