There are some people in this world (like myself) who are boundary pushers. When we do so in our creative endeavors, we are seen as either genius or crazy artist. But art and life often overlap. When boundaries are pushed socially, we have a chance to see what people are made of. Boundaries pushed to a breaking point often create a pinnacle of vulnerability, honesty and unavoidable awkwardness, if only for a moment. Sometimes it is as brief as a flashing of the eye or a tension in the shoulder before the tail is tucked and the flee instinct overcomes or an angry fist is thrust. But the ability to sit with awkwardness, to feel strange and unfitting, is an art. To confront it is an act of bravery. San Franciscans don't like to talk about anything. This city has fear and A.D.D rushing through it like a faultline. It's easy to live inside a shell and never take a true risk with another individual. Hell, a lot of marriages are built on this concept. I spent my adult formative years in a much smaller place. There was never anything to do. We went to rehearsal, smoked reefer, and hiked in the woods. No one had television. Boundaries were pushed out of boredom. We created a society with our own set of rules because there was nothing else to do. I am a little bit like Don Quixote, hopeless and shameless romantic with a thing for windmills and redwoods. I chase a mirage in the distance, the farther away it gets, the more desirable it becomes. It's the chase that keeps the blood flowing in my veins. The chase is a person, an idea, a song or motion, anything really. It is where inspiration lives. Where is my Sancho? Why must I toil through the bracken of night alone?
Jazz, Blues, Acapella. I have an extended register and a whole lot of soul. Influences include but not limited to: Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Waits, Mance Lipscomb, Duke Ellington, Lauren Hill, Shel Silverstein, Cole Porter, and Tom Jones.
Good ones with good stories, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Monty Python, Last Tango in Paris, Harold and Maude
Kill Your Television! Do it! Now!
John Irving, Alice Walker, William Styron, J.D. Salinger, J.T. LeRoy, Lynda Barry, Got any suggestions?
Ella Fitzgerald, Gilda Radner, Lucille Ball, John Irving, Bill Shannon