Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional

About Me

Hey folks, I am a professional bassist, tax professional, enrolled agent, audio engineer, and stagehand living in Las Vegas. I'm originally from Jackson, TN, hometown of the late Carl Perkins and late Motown legend Joe Hunter. My dad traced our family tree and discovered that we are related to Elvis guitarist Scotty Moore and TV personality Deborah Norville. I have two tax businesses, Specialty Tax Services which handles small business owners and wage earners, and MusicianTax, which handles tax services for hundreds of entertainers and musicians nationwide. My bass playing has found its way onstage with the likes of Wayne Newton, Terry Fator, Jimmie Raye, Barrie Cunningham, Scotty Alexander, Frankie Moreno, Jim Messina, Derek Sholl, Doug Stone, Tanya Tucker, We Will Rock You, The Van-Dells, Legends in Concert, The Smith Brothers, Bruce in the USA, and Hank Jr's Bama Band (without Hank). I also work regularly in many churches in Las Vegas, playing bass at St. Thomas More Catholic Church with Lisa Fairweather and Tim Cooper, running audio at Faith Community Lutheran Church, and playing bass for the Central Christian Mega-Church in Henderson with Aaron Stewart, Drew Bodine and Michael Murphy. I also find time to work part-time as a stagehand at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and Mandalay Bay. Drop me a line at [email protected], and visit my websites at www.donniecastleman.com, www.musiciantax.com, and www.specialtytax.net. Sincerely, Donnie Castleman, Las Vegas

Current Music Cohorts:
Barrie Cunningham, Scotty Alexander, Terry Fator, Lisa Fairweather, Aaron Stewart, Drew Bodine, Michael Murphy.

GEAR
Yamaha 6-String ContraBass stripped down the the wood, totally gutted and replaced with Bartolini components
(I've had this one bass for 14 years)

Avalon U5 Direct Box

Eeyore Audio Cables

Ashdown Bass Amps

DR Strings

Levy's Gig Bags and Guitar Straps

My Interests

Music; Tax Law; Surfing/Sleuthing the Net; Bicycling Walking, and Rollerblading.

I'd like to meet:

I already met Geddy Lee and Carl Perkins, and I unfortunately missed out on meeting my third musical hero, Johnny Cash. These three are the reason I am a musician today.
I just had a thought, Cheap Trick Dream Police was the first rock album I bought with my own money (first record ever bought was the Buck Rogers movie soundtrack, haha) so I'd like to meet the Cheap Trick guys and get a picture with them and thank them for starting my 30 year love affair with rock and roll music! Robin, Bun E., Rick and Tom, see you sometime soon hopefully!
p.s. Do I also have to get Gil Gerard's autograph on my Buck Rogers album? Maybe....

Music:

Everything I've heard, from ABC to ZZ Top. I play bass, sing harmonies and lead, and run sound onstage and in the studio. I dig Metallica, Queen, Journey, Rush, Hoobastank, Nickelback, Cheap Trick, Chris Tomlin, Kutlass, Willie Nelson, Carl Perkins, the Sullied, Steve Vai, Roy Orbison, Chris Issac, John Denver, Scott Joplin, Herb Alpert, Travis Tritt, System of a Down, Disturbed, the Offspring, Johnny Cash, Dread Zeppelin, April Wine, The Baja Marimba Band, Doug Stone, Larry Damn Cole, the Smith Brothers, Santa Fe, Beating the Bishop, Scotty Alexander, Phil Fortenberry, and Rascal Flatts. My favorite male singers of all time are Iva Davies of Icehouse, Paul Carrack, and Paul Rodgers. My favorite female singers of all time are Emmylou Harris, Sarah McLaughlin, Carly Simon, Christina Aquilera, and Alison Krauss.

Movies:

Powder, Amadeus, Armageddon, City of Angels, Tombstone, The Stand, Vanilla Sky, I Walk the Line, the American Pie Trilogy.

Television:

I watch Glen Beck and Anderson Cooper on CNN, Bill Oreilly on Fox News, and Stone Phillips. On the radio I listen to Michael Savage, Heidi Harris, and an assortment of other local talk show hosts. I also spend way too much time on TaxAlmanac and YouTube. I generally spend too much time doing amateur PI work on the net "whatever happened to so-and-so, etc......."

Books:

The Internal Revenue Code, Consumer Reports, Bass Player magazine, Men's Health, and Maxim.

Heroes:

Geddy Lee, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, 99% of Musicians, Pyrotechs, Stagehands, Squints and Audio Engineers I've had the privilege of working with. My favorite bassists are Bob Daisley, Steve Harris, Chuck Rainey, Anthony Jackson, Geddy Lee, the late Bernard Edwards, Bill Dickens, Pino Palladino, Mo Foster, Bob Glaub, Will Lee, David Hungate, and my top pick, Nathan East.
Concerning my singing ability, I'm WAY more of a background singer than a lead singer, and I've been singing backups since 1984, the first song I sang backups on was at a "Hodown" in Kentucky with a Young Life Convention, the song "Fox on the Run". I've got a tenor range, and people that have most influenced me as a harmony singer personally are Ron Rowlett, Lynn Puckett, Doug Stone, Jim Messina, John Jordening, Brenda Best, Lisa Fairweather, Joe Haynes, and Jim Belk. I am influenced by the harmony singing of Vince Gill, Don Rich, and Andrea Zonn.
My life heroes are my Mom and Dad, my wife, my kids, Randy Pausch, Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, Arthur Reed CPA, Jackie Stewart CPA, and the entire worldwide music community.

My Blog

A to Z Post

Note: When someone sends me one of these things, I don’t bulletin it out, I just stick it in my blog, so here’s another one........... ...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:35:00 PST

You know what I like?

You know what I like?I'll tell you.........................My kidsWorkingHaving more than enoughPassing parts of the CPA examMy wifeHaving male AND female friends (the gals smell be...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:17:00 PST

My bass journey so far.

I just feel like writing. I wanted to play drums when I was itty bitty and my dad knew better than to buy me a drumset, for his own sanity. Being that a banjo had a drum head on it,...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:16:00 PST

All my blog-like postings from off my website!

Random Thoughts by D.C.!! You should never skimp on getting a vacuum cleaner; you definitely get what you pay for. In my case, I got a Kenmore Progressive Bagless Upright, $300, worth eve...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Fri, 25 May 2007 03:20:00 PST

Good things sometimes happen to good people!!!

I'm happy to say that two of my musicial friends have moved up in the world, with my friend Joe Escriba becoming Music Director at Legend's in Concert, and my friend Jim Buck becoming the new guitaris...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Thu, 03 May 2007 01:15:00 PST

Brad Delp

I am at such a loss for words that the greatest voice in rock and roll has silenced himself. What an amazing talent and amazing career, and if he would have lived to be 115 years ol...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 01:40:00 PST

Ramblings and Thoughts

OK, first real blog! Today my wife Sonja quit her job as an American Airlines flight attendant to be a full-time mom for our three kids! I'm pretty happy about it because I am working enough to afford...
Posted by Donnie Castleman, Bassist & Tax Professional on Sun, 26 Nov 2006 02:36:00 PST