Will Shepler has his eyes on a prize called the AdJam Axe – a guitar with special significance in local advertising circles.

AdJam is an amateur musical competition sponsored by ThinkLA, a local advertising trade association, and the Axe is the trophy.

Shepler, 32, an account manager at Santa Monica ad agency Phelps Group, is also front man for the company’s band, DePhelps Mode. The group competed at AdJam the last two years, coming in second both times. This year, he’s in it to win it.

“I am pretty sure our agency will host a party for us,” he said in anticipation of lifting the Axe in triumph. “And, of course, we’ll take time all year long to brag about it as much as possible, especially at events with people from other agencies. That’s really what this is about – bragging rights.”

The AdJam Battle of the Bands is scheduled at the House of Blues in Hollywood on Sept. 30.

Chime Time

Ever want to relive the thrill of a kid discovering Disneyland? Frederic Scheer did something to rekindle that feeling. He rang Nasdaq’s opening bell.

He did it Aug. 26 to celebrate the April listing of the El Segundo-based plastics manufacturing firm he founded, Cereplast Inc.

“It was amazing,” said Scheer, 55. “It was like Disneyland and I was Mickey.”

The event was especially exciting because it took place at a studio podium on New York’s Times Square instead of a stock floor on Wall Street. Scheer pushed a button rather than rang an actual bell.

“Times Square is the center of New York and New York is the center of the world,” said Scheer, adding that the experience fulfilled a lifelong fantasy he’d had since growing up in France. “It was beautiful.”

The California executive also took the opportunity to have dinner with his 33-year-old son, New York surgeon Alexandre Scheer, and 5-year-old granddaughter, Chloe, at a local Chinese restaurant.

“He understood the significance of what was occurring,” Scheer said of his son. Chloe might not have, but it was very nice to have a visit with her anyway, of course.

Bank Sleuth

Scott F. Butler spent the better part of the last decade on Wall Street, making sure potential clients weren’t involved in money laundering or terror financing.

Much of the work was dull, said Butler, 36. “Once in a while there would be something really exciting that made all of the quotidian work worthwhile.”

One noteworthy case involved the apprehension of an individual who was attempting to bribe an Argentine presidential candidate.

“That spun all the way down to a financier trying to open an account with us,” he said.

Butler left that career last year and came to Los Angeles to get into something perhaps more exciting: the entertainment business. He was hired by a Hollywood producer to write a script about the true story of a recent Ponzi scheme. He’s also written a Web series that’s a satire of the cable news business. Four episodes of “The Talking Head” have already aired with more to follow.

So, does he ever miss his old career? A little bit – especially when he thinks of situations like the bribery case.

“Sometimes I do, because of the small

percentage of times when something like that happens.”

Staff reporters Joel Russell, David Haldane and Daniel Miller contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].