USD Magazine Spring 2009

O u r ba c k s t age t ou r o f t he l i ve s o f a do z en bona f i de l umi na r i e s

Peter Gabriel is shorter than you’d think. Queen Latifah has a great laugh. Jewel is the kind of pretty that ties your tongue in knots. Elvis Costello has a very British sense of decorum. Tracy Chapman is so shy that making direct eye contact with her seems cruel. Alanis Morissette has incredibly tiny hands. When Sinead O’Connor skips, she looks about 9 years old. Ice-T does not take pointed criticism gracefully. Billy Corgan doesn’t seem to like people very much. Back when I wrote about music for a living, I got to sit down and talk with a lot of rock stars. It turns out that off-stage, they’re just like the rest of us. (That is, if the rest of us had an entourage, leather pants, a list of preferred green room snacks and rolled out of bed around dusk.) And in truth, much to my endless chagrin, I didn’t need to worry about making friends with the rock stars; they already had more friends than they knew what to do with. As much as I loved it — even still I sometimes dream of those all-access backstage passes, which tended to make me feel as though I was the one in the spotlight — the rock stars I come across these days are equally, if not more, impressive. We’ve got quite an array of luminaries around these parts, from globe-hopping consultants to newbie NFL quarterbacks to championship marathon swimmers. It turns out that the University of San Diego is a launchpad for rock star caliber success. While the mind-blowing accomplishments of all of those we’ve featured in this issue are self-evident, what’s even more startling is that the profiles that follow are really just a miniscule sampling of USD superstars. So duck behind the curtain and take your own backstage tour. You’re sure to enjoy the trip. — Julene Snyder

Illustrations by Alisa Burke

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