From Here To Obscurity
The Resume of Things that Just Happened Performed with the Cruise Industry for over 12 years Performed with Paul Horn & Guitar Shorty Opened for Bruce Hornsby & Thomas Dolby Wrote a music column for 15 years Performed on national ads for Nike, Frutopia, etc Had lots of fun |
THE SLOW MOVING CAREER AS LIVED BY....
The Zen Of Work
Fun was a big influence on me and I became very good at avoiding its
opposite: Work. I was quick to learn how playing in a band of friends was
really big fun and that is all I ever wanted to do: just play music and have fun.
By the time I was 40 all my friends had either quit or were dead. I needed to
retrain myself on piano. I put aside distractions and got down to work. I put
to memory hundreds of standards and began performing anywhere I could,
from a galleria to private parties to all the major hotels. I ended up with
a great gig playing in the piano bar on cruise ships and traveling all over
the world. I quit just about the time they stopped hiring me. Then I quit
playing anywhere. It wasn't fun anymore. I was lucky to be able to quit.
( see Travel PHOTOS )
How To Avoid 'Real' Work
Playing music is fun! Music is an amazing endeavor and as a kid, I could
see that most other jobs were exactly the opposite, to the point of being
soul destroying labors on the level of The Grapes Of Wrath.
My inner child said, AVOID THIS!!!
First Negotiated Settlement
In a Summit with my Parents, at a very young age, I negotiated my way out
of classical piano lessons and into piano lessons that focused on what I was
hearing on the radio. I knew where the fun was. Popular songs of the day
by living composers! What a concept.
From Obscurity To Nowhere
First band at 13. By age 15, it had opened for The Shangri -Las, Gary
Lewis & The Playboys, & The Beau Brummels. More fun was playing in an
original music band. The Beatles were revolutionizeing music, shaking it
loose and magnifying it's possibilities.
1966 and 67 were pivotal years for the pop song. Amazing things were
happening. It all sounded so good to me. Anything seemed possible.
And talk about Fun....
... And It Went Downhill From There
Many, many bands later....
The bands ranged from good to totally dysfunctional. Soon everyone was
either quitting playing music and/or going into rehab. Yikes!
I never had the problems that some of my contemporaries were having, but
I wasn't getting anywhere either with being a hired hand or wrapping my
fortunes with other players. I was going round and round and round for less
and less money.
Day Job?
I read music reviewers and thought, "Even I could do that." And by the
grace of the Editor and Publisher, Maggi White, I wrote a pretty radical
music column in a Portland Oregon magazine called The Downtowner
for years & years. I interviewed a ton of celebrities including Billy Joel,
Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop, Rick Nelson, k.d. Lang, Hustler publisher
Larry Flynt, Gore Vidal, and Bo Diddley. I learned they all had a better
attitude than I did. Even Ozzy. I kept working on writing and recording,
trying to explore my potential, trying to find the musical 'Me.'
Read a few articles Or Read
by clicking here
The Downtowner
Solo Years
I eventually began playing solo gigs as Art Carnage, pioneering the
electronic one-man band concept. Playing both guitar and keyboards,
I was lucky enough to open for Bruce Hornsby a week before he
became too popular to play small venues, and Thomas Dolby,
just as his career was spiralling down. Eventually I found myself using
my own name and mixing softer things into my sets. I began learning
and arranging standards. An education in the standard.
Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen,
Every song I ever liked, I learned.
Soundtrack To A Security System
Bizarrely enough, I got commissioned to write music for an industrial film for
home security systems. This music got the attention of local producer and
guitarist, Marlon McClain (Pleasure & The Gap Band). In 1989, he let me
produce my first solo album, ART TAKES A HOLIDAY.
It received airplay on over 200 stations and the song, Dream Curve, was
picked up for some radio theme song and often paid my rent.
Weirder Homes & Gardens (Here is a Link to my Portland Pad) >>>>>>>>>
In 1998, the little cottage I lived in for years was unexpectedly featured in
The Oregonian's Home And Garden In The Northwest section under the
title, Welcome to Club Attilio. It had a hand painted leopard kitchen
complete with leopard print dishes and mugs, a bamboo ceiling, an actual
blowfish on a chain hanging over the blazing red heater, and custom black
wall to wall carpeting. It was an incredibly cool pad done on a budget.
A kind of Knick Knack Hell. Upon entering people often burst into tears.
There is even a palm tree in the backyard which defies Oregon's
miserable weather.
Moved to Florida but after 12 years St. Petersburg, FL, I moved to
Barcelona, Spain with my husband. Much better all around.
Depend On The Kindness Of Strangers
The Zen Of Work
Fun was a big influence on me and I became very good at avoiding its
opposite: Work. I was quick to learn how playing in a band of friends was
really big fun and that is all I ever wanted to do: just play music and have fun.
By the time I was 40 all my friends had either quit or were dead. I needed to
retrain myself on piano. I put aside distractions and got down to work. I put
to memory hundreds of standards and began performing anywhere I could,
from a galleria to private parties to all the major hotels. I ended up with
a great gig playing in the piano bar on cruise ships and traveling all over
the world. I quit just about the time they stopped hiring me. Then I quit
playing anywhere. It wasn't fun anymore. I was lucky to be able to quit.
( see Travel PHOTOS )
How To Avoid 'Real' Work
Playing music is fun! Music is an amazing endeavor and as a kid, I could
see that most other jobs were exactly the opposite, to the point of being
soul destroying labors on the level of The Grapes Of Wrath.
My inner child said, AVOID THIS!!!
First Negotiated Settlement
In a Summit with my Parents, at a very young age, I negotiated my way out
of classical piano lessons and into piano lessons that focused on what I was
hearing on the radio. I knew where the fun was. Popular songs of the day
by living composers! What a concept.
From Obscurity To Nowhere
First band at 13. By age 15, it had opened for The Shangri -Las, Gary
Lewis & The Playboys, & The Beau Brummels. More fun was playing in an
original music band. The Beatles were revolutionizeing music, shaking it
loose and magnifying it's possibilities.
1966 and 67 were pivotal years for the pop song. Amazing things were
happening. It all sounded so good to me. Anything seemed possible.
And talk about Fun....
... And It Went Downhill From There
Many, many bands later....
The bands ranged from good to totally dysfunctional. Soon everyone was
either quitting playing music and/or going into rehab. Yikes!
I never had the problems that some of my contemporaries were having, but
I wasn't getting anywhere either with being a hired hand or wrapping my
fortunes with other players. I was going round and round and round for less
and less money.
Day Job?
I read music reviewers and thought, "Even I could do that." And by the
grace of the Editor and Publisher, Maggi White, I wrote a pretty radical
music column in a Portland Oregon magazine called The Downtowner
for years & years. I interviewed a ton of celebrities including Billy Joel,
Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop, Rick Nelson, k.d. Lang, Hustler publisher
Larry Flynt, Gore Vidal, and Bo Diddley. I learned they all had a better
attitude than I did. Even Ozzy. I kept working on writing and recording,
trying to explore my potential, trying to find the musical 'Me.'
Read a few articles Or Read
by clicking here
The Downtowner
Solo Years
I eventually began playing solo gigs as Art Carnage, pioneering the
electronic one-man band concept. Playing both guitar and keyboards,
I was lucky enough to open for Bruce Hornsby a week before he
became too popular to play small venues, and Thomas Dolby,
just as his career was spiralling down. Eventually I found myself using
my own name and mixing softer things into my sets. I began learning
and arranging standards. An education in the standard.
Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen,
Every song I ever liked, I learned.
Soundtrack To A Security System
Bizarrely enough, I got commissioned to write music for an industrial film for
home security systems. This music got the attention of local producer and
guitarist, Marlon McClain (Pleasure & The Gap Band). In 1989, he let me
produce my first solo album, ART TAKES A HOLIDAY.
It received airplay on over 200 stations and the song, Dream Curve, was
picked up for some radio theme song and often paid my rent.
Weirder Homes & Gardens (Here is a Link to my Portland Pad) >>>>>>>>>
In 1998, the little cottage I lived in for years was unexpectedly featured in
The Oregonian's Home And Garden In The Northwest section under the
title, Welcome to Club Attilio. It had a hand painted leopard kitchen
complete with leopard print dishes and mugs, a bamboo ceiling, an actual
blowfish on a chain hanging over the blazing red heater, and custom black
wall to wall carpeting. It was an incredibly cool pad done on a budget.
A kind of Knick Knack Hell. Upon entering people often burst into tears.
There is even a palm tree in the backyard which defies Oregon's
miserable weather.
Moved to Florida but after 12 years St. Petersburg, FL, I moved to
Barcelona, Spain with my husband. Much better all around.
Depend On The Kindness Of Strangers
Interviewing Ozzy Osbourne Jon Anderson of Yes Hustler publisher, Larry Flynt
Art Takes A Holiday CD
Nu-Vision Records
Nu-Vision Records
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The Chessmen Eskape Mass Media
Lip To Lip Sand Brothers Of Baladi
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My old place in Portland OR.
Well, not exacty strangers, but I have been the beneficiary of many kind and generous, patient people. There were not many days that went by when I didn't work on music.
I was driven to do it. I found the Zen of it and the fun of it.
2017 Barcelona