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World Trade Centre High Wire Stunt - 1974 - video powered by MetacafeMasthead Banner Made with MyBannerMaker.com! Click here to make your own!A Viola Keeton/Chinese Bookie BIO:THE EARLY YEARS**** Viola Keeton took up the guitar at age 8. Age nine brought a year of clarinet playing. Concurrently, there was track and field. There was also a great love affair with a "Campus Green" Schwinn Stingray during this period, as well as with cap guns, Dobermans, cats, tall grass, snakes, colored rocks, girls, women, boys, slot machines, sugar, baseball mits, baseballs, footballs, matchbox cars, foreign coins, bowling, pinball machines, television, disaster movies, and chess class. FACTOID: Viola is Terry Riley's second cousin. Look him up!The 1980's brought more guitar playing, much tenor sax playing, and a lot of painting and drawing. Film and video were explored, as were the joys of tackling the service industry one table at a time."HEY, ART SCHOOL!"**** Viola earned an art degree from CCA in San Francisco/Oakland, CA, and was a commissioned portrait artist/muralist for a time.The mid nineties brought more painting and gallery shows, a few music performances, a solo trip to Spain and Portugal (with guitar on back), where a taste for anchovies was developed.FIRST RECORDINGS**** In 1997, Viola started making four-track cassette recordings, playing all the parts. In 1998, someone named Ray helped produce "Easy Grapefruit", a new album, which featured Aude Castagna ..o and Paul Sprawl on beats and slide guitar.Other collaborators over the years have included, but are not limited to: Bernie Jungle (of Warm Wires, The Great Auk, and Lipsey Mountain String Band), Brian Belier (duo partner in Fried Pie and The How), Robert Gaw the drummer, B. Mossman (Warm Wires), Chad ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"), Mike the drummer (Man's Cabin), and Faye Dunaway. These have been rewarding experiences overall. 2000 brought the acquisition of a Roland 8-track digital recorder, which Viola has put to so much use, it's just about crap now. Chinese Bookie is now transitioning into using a Mac for recording.Viola is very proficient in doing comedic characters (think sketch comedy, ugly faces, and authentic-sounding accents), and is Meisner-trained, as well as having voice actor training and experience. Viola has appeared in plays and short videos.In 2003, a Jeff was kind enough to record some Viola Keeton songs in his Chicago studio. "Integrity", "Monogamy", and "Loving Man" were recorded on Goose Island with the help of a one-woman string section, and a guy who played in the Coctails, and a bass guy who also played banjo.hISTORY IN THE MAKING**** Flash forward to CHINESE BOOKIE! "The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie" is a movie from 1976. Look it up on imdb. Read about it. See it. Draw your own conclusions.Chinese Bookie, the music project, is Viola Keeton’s happy/mad music backed up both on recordings and on the stage by self-made musical tracks, including beats from either a drum kit or electronic sources, synthesizer lines/melodies, beatle bass, and some guitar. When performing, Chinese Bookie incorporates dancing, and plans have been drawn to choreograph the moves of dancers who may appear with Chinese Bookie in the future. Chinese Bookie is universal, but from the New West. A new album is in the works, so stay tuned.In the last year, Chinese Bookie has played The Rickshaw Stop, The Stud, Hotel Utah, House Of Shields, The Blue Lagoon, The Knockout, El Rio, Thee Parkside, Femina Potens Gallery, Creative Clash (a loft party with a corporate sponsor), and a couple house parties, as well as playing in The 12th Annual Mission Creek Music Festival 2008. ASK CHINESE BOOKIE/VIOLA KEETON TO MAKE YOU A FILM OR CABLE TV SOUNDTRACK.Masthead Banner Made with MyBannerMaker.com! Click here to make your own!
