About Me
I play violin, viola, cello, mando, blockflute, and sometimes sing. I also like to make lots of graphic art. My graphic art is always freehand, from the inner eye, using no French curves, no straight edges, no tracing, and all conventional materials. In addition to being a musician and artist, I'm a dadaist, a night owl, a fox in socks, a caterpillar of society, an anti-social butterfly, and a devoutly progressive soul. I read music easily, but love to improvise. All of my online samples were improvised. Even the famous "prelude" by Bach, although played from memory, is full of improvised ornaments. I enjoy jazzing things up. Into my graphic art, I sometimes incorporate many of the curves and spirals that can be found all over violin-family instruments, along with various musical symbols...bass clefs, G clefs, fermatas, slurs and ties. Currently I'm enjoying gypsy, folk, circus, rock, southern rock, country, Elizabethan rock, jazz, soul, funk, fusions thereof, along with lots of Latin influenced music. I'm interested in working on worthwhile projects with musicians who play well. Traveling is possible, but working from afar is an easy way to hear how things mesh. Artful guitarists are always good to work with. Or maybe a larger ensemble? No way to know now. Could be fun just to learn about other creatively inclined individuals and eccentric circles. Feedback is welcome and gladly given.Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir: Here is a classic Peruvian waltz by Ãngel Cabral and Enrique Diezo. I'm improvising the violin and flute parts, and my talented friend, Guadalajara Keith is playing guitar and singing.Ceilito Lindo: Here's a popular traditional Mexican song by Quirino Mendoza y Cortés. I'm improvising the violin part, and Guadalajara Keith is playing guitar and singing.Ojala: Here's is a song by Silvio Rodriguez, a superb musical artist from Cuba. I'm improvising the violin part, and Guadalajara Keith is playing guitar and singing. All my online music samples were improvised. Even the prelude by Bach (played recklessabandonisimo) on the youtube vid below, though performed from memory, is full of improvised chords and ornaments.This may be slightly unusual. Here's an example of improvised kaypoed violin. Believe it or not, some violinists and cellists don't use kaypos. Even so, the kaypo can come in handy. Why use a kaypo on a violin or a cello? In short, for all the same reasons that guitarists like to use kaypos. The kaypo becomes especially useful when playing the straight forward, familiar chord patterns that characterize many pop-genre, jazz, blues, country and bluegrass songs."Do What Ory Say" was composed by Edward "Kid" Ory, a superb jazz trombonist and bandleader (whose picture can be seen in the video.) The guitar, kazoo and vocals on this recording are played by the great multi-instrumentalist, Eddy Tenderloin.Here is a tribute to the great and inimitable Frank Zappa. I'm improvising a fiddle rendition of his charming song, Evelyn, a Modified Dog, originally featured on his album, One Size Fits All. I felt playfully compelled to make this recording into a slideshow. Imagine how perplexing it may seem to people who have never heard the original song. Viva Zappa!This is my "standing-up viol" technique that I began using right out of the gate (in 2003), when I began teaching myself fiddle. I had already taught myself blockflute and cello, though I would have played the violin like a viol whether or not I had played cello. This is because I had always enjoyed early music. When I see violin-family instruments, I see evolved viols. No offense to any of the fine "shoulder" players out there, but "viol style" is one healthy way to play the fiddle...very old-fashioned, medieval, pre-medieval. Musically, it makes little difference, as all of the operative points of contact of flesh and bone and bowing angles remain the same. The violin doesn't seem to care how it's played. Apparently, it's even possible to play the violin with one's feet. (Search: Carl Unthan)Here's a casually recorded song written and performed by Adam Szkudlarek, a prolific and uniquely talented singer, songwriter and guitarist who worked in and around Seattle.I had the honor of improvising cello parts to many of his songs. Adam sang, "I wonder how strong I can be?" But there was never any need to wonder. When it came to Adam, the answer was as clear as a summer sky. Without ever trying to do it, he taught kindness and compassion to all those who were fortunate enough to know him. He built houses for countless human beings. He even built houses for countless, tiny mason bees. Any friend of the Garden's was a friend of his.Adam passed on in 2004, and left behind a family that was as beautiful as his voice. But that was only after he had lit so many lights that those lights could never be unlit. He and I were just a couple of good, mischievous friends playing music together and entertaining our brothers and sisters. We all miss you, Adam. But that's okay, because we know that we'll be seeing you again, sometime. So it's goodbye for now, but not forever. Rest in peace, Adam Szkudlarek.Finally, here is a bluegrass-like children's novelty song that I made up as a B-day present for a friend. It's all about motherly love, freedom, and mason bees. I'm singing all the parts, a cappela. Naturally, it's in the key of B. The art in this slideshow is not my own, and was borrowed from a number of sources. I even included one of my favorite paintings by Salvador Dali, "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate One Second Before Waking Up." Bzzzzzzz! //True story of how a hummingbird and I once made one another’s day: One spring morning in 2003, my friend, Rick and I were about to head into the woods and spend a week handcrafting cedar flagpoles. Truck loaded, ready to roll. I knew I had forgotten nothing, but turned around anyway and walked back to the two-story barn that had been loosely converted into a human habitation. I reentered the dim, dirt-floored first floor, unused but for storage, and saw what looked like a big bee bouncing itself off a window on the far wall. I thought, okay, let's let this bee be free. But it turned out to be a weensy hummingbird. Not very big, even for a hummingbird. I'm sure it would have been a goner. Probably couldn't have gone an hour longer without a snack, let alone a week. It was so exhausted from repeatedly bashing itself that it was easy to gently nab. No struggle. I brought it outside and showed it to my friend. Tiny, blinky eye staring up at me. Darty tongue. (The bird, not my friend.) I could feel its heart pulsing. It rested in the open palm of my left hand for a few vivid moments and then shot into the distance. Thrummmmm... Live long, prosper, make lots of littler hummingbirds! I began teaching myself how to play the fiddle shortly thereafter. And could the implication of that true story be any more obvious? Hardly. Out of gratefulness, the humming bird endowed me with the ability to play the violin. Sounds like a reasonable conclusion to me. Hey, if our lives are not at least as interesting as a good Twilight Zone episode, then we're doing something wrong. You've read all the way down to here? Wow! I'm impressed.// "My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious, and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often-in fact, mostly-at the expense of everything else in my life" -- Stan Getz
