My Journal Â
  Â
Try the BEST MySpace Editor and MySpace Backgrounds at MySpace Toolbox !
Music has always been a part of me. According to my dad, Joseph, I began singing songs acapella to the sunset when I was a little boy. I get a mental picture. I come from a long line of musicians that include my dad, and his two brothers John and Frank. I grew up listening to them play jazz on and off stage. My father was a bandmaster in the army for many years.
My professional musical career started at age 15 playing drums in night clubs 5 nights a week. I played in bands all through high school. One of my favorites was a band called the Emeralds. We played Motown. I lived in Kansas at the time and we played some very rough clubs. I remember one night while tuning my drums a man fired a shot at the back of someone leaving the club. When I looked around I saw guns in the hands of nearly everyone in the place. I retired from the band after that and from gigging altogether for a while. After high school came Viet Nam. More guns. I romped off to Southeast Asia at age 18 and I served for 6 months as a "grunt". I sum up that experience in the song Lost In Viet Nam. For the second half of my time in Viet Nam I played drums in a metal rock group called The Joint Chiefs of Staff. We played Rock for soldiers in remote outposts of the Central Highlands. We were flown in by helicopter to artillery bases that were subject to shelling and gun fire during our performances. It is probably no coincidence that to this day I get quite anxious prior to any musical performance. It was during that time I began singing and playing guitar..
Through the eighties and nineties I played guitar and sang as a single act and with various musicians. The Banana Brothers was one of those bands. One of my favorite intermittent bands early in my career consisted of Michael Spiro on percussion and Dale "Manolito" Fuentes on flute. I was auditioning at the Admiral's Mistress and Dale was tending bar when we first met. He came out from behind the bar and blew me away with his flute. That was the beginning of a long lasting respect and friendship. The music in that period of time was great fun.
The best part of my life as a musician and singer songwriter is all the musicians in our family. My sons Freedom and Josh are both great song writers. Josh is the guitar master in the family. Rob , my heart and Spirit son, is a fine musician and a big part of the creative process. He is also the best engineer I know. In the past we all traded tracks over the internet and it brought us closer together across the many miles. My daughter Sarah Murat writes, directs and shoots short and feature length films and documentaries. She also composes the scores for her works and is the most educated member of the family academically and musically. She just recently returned from France and is currently residing in Seattle. Chani is a well rounded fine artist who has chosen tattoo as her main means of expression. She is now working at Hidden Hand Tattoo . She is taking up the playing of the guitar. She has been writing songs without instrumentation for years. Now our grandson Kayden, who we are raising, is playing on the piano, guitar and Djimbe. He is only two and a half but he loves it. His favorite thing is dancing though. He takes after Liz that way as that is her artistic means of expression.We all love percussion in our family. My grand daughter Sariah (just turned two) sings and plays too. Freedom and Natalie have a new daughter, Anjali and she will probably play music too. My wife Andie sings as well but it is hard to get her to sing in front of an audience. Let's take it on the road! I am thankful for the gift from God that music is.
It is inspiring to meet and make friends with the infinite number of wonderful artists on MySpace. Again I thank my son Josh for making it happen by creating this space for me.
There are so many special people in my life that contribute in a variety of wonderfulf ways. My lovely wife Andie is a huge support in encouraging me to keep on writing and making music. I am happy sitting in the engineer chair as well capturing someone else's magic and then making it available for the world to hear. How cool is that? I really look forward to creating music in this next year with all of the family. We have very different styles so I am hoping we can make some musical gumbo that has a little of each of our flavors in it. We will see. We will see. When all else fails music gets us through. To all the players, family and friends all the best now and always. Keep making the magic.Music impacts this world in ways we can only imagine and I am happy to be a part of this creative family. Peace.
To all songwriters everywhere I say believe in the dream and the gift of song. We are given this opportunity to share that gift through out the world. That sounds like magic, like wonder.
Let's stay friends forever. Let the music play.
Sheltered in the songs we share
Our cares just slip away.
Melody and harmony I feel like I can fly.
So let's stay friends forever
You and I.
