| operative network | personal site: creative - relativity

words and sounds
music

One of my earliest ambitions in life was to be a successful musician. I don't mean regular gigs, sit in successful. I mean 1908s Michael Jackson, more money than God, transnational tour successful.

During numerous 1990s attempts in this, as both a rapper and a singer, I discovered I had very little stage presence. I also discovered, as an entertainment journalist, that "talent" -- the singers themselves -- are used up by the entertainment industry like toilet tissue, and so very few have a shelf life of longer than a year or two if they make it to the big show of national and international regard. So I decided I wanted to work behind the scenes, to not be in front of the camera or microphone or what have you.

However, my creative urges did not go away. I still sang relentlessly. In the same way that TV character Remington Steele could toss out a movie reference for every situation, I have a song lyric on the tip of my tongue regardless of what happens. Music is a vital part of my life, and when all else goes wrong it has sustained and lifted me. The only thing I've had a longer relationship with is anger.

There are two main areas of music in my creative life. First, I sing karaoke. It started out as a hobby, and now it's a part of my professional life.

Secondly, I have been making music, off and on, for the last ten years (starting in 1994, I'm writing this in November of 2004).

I explore both of those areas here. I may be good, I may suck, I sometimes don't know, and I mostly don't care. I work hard to try and improve, but ultimately the music is a connection for me to something spiritual, even when I'm singing something hoochie. Hitting the right notes and making my voice propel outwards, in my car or on a microphone, makes me feel really good inside, so I do it as often as I can.

UPDATE DECEMBER 8, 2009: There used to be some links to a Yahoo! Briefcase with MP3s of me doing spoken word and singing. Then I moved and disconnected the DSL account associated with them and there they went. I haven't slowed down to recreate this online experience. I may. I also spent a lot of Q4 2009 helping my stepdaughter and nieces make their own multitrack songs in Garageband. I may post that one day. I also have tons more stuff, half done, all the way done, and what not, that I never posted. I may put that stuff online. No promises. Just in case you were asking, or noticed that it disappeared.

top | help 

| writing & web work | personal site | writing archive | contact |

the operative network is a hannibal tabu joint.
all code, text, graphics, intellectual property, content and data
available via the URL "www.operative.net"
are copyright The Operative Network, LLC 2003,
and freaked exclusively by hannibal tabu


accessing any of these pages signifies compliance
with the terms of use, dig it
.