I grew up with more imaginary friends than real ones, was dosed with Ritlan, had a mental breakdown, and two bleeding ulcers all by high school. But I had stories, voices that wanted out. I composed my first actual song at ten and was considered a child prodigy. But what’s incredible for a child is deemed ordinary for adults. As I grew, I had to do better and work harder to stay relevant.
I have spent 48 years as a performer and script writer. I learned audio recording at Caribou Ranch Studio in Nederland, Colorado, wrote and produced one of the first independent label CDs in the U.S.A., had a recording I engineered nominated for a Grammy, and have over 50 songs in the BMI catalog. I co-wrote a 12-hour radio play for NPR that was wiped away by Ronald Reagan's defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts. I have done hundreds of live TV and radio appearances, dined with the aristocracy, and eaten from dumpsters. I stood before thousands of cheering festival goers and sang to a single dying coal miner in a Welsh hospital as he, in turn, sang with his ghosts.
Most of all, I have learned to trust chaos. I have learned that going to pieces doesn’t mean falling apart. It means being able to salvage the good that remains and build again.