Actually, music was my very first love. Even as a toddler, I made up my own tunes and hummed as I played my solo games. Behind my "papa's" back, I often strummed his precious mandolin, or blew spit into his harmonica (unintentionally, of course). Whenever my parents had guests, I would entertain them with concerts, singing songs I had learned at Nursery School (or just made up) and got rewarded with pocket change. To this day, I don't know if they gave me the money because they liked my performances or to just shut me up!
Nevertheless, those were my first "paying" gigs. Years later, I taught my sister, Eva, to play the guitar and we sang and played "Beatles' songs" at art festivals and community concerts. It wasn't until a few years ago that I actually composed some original music.
"Wednesday of my Real Life" was airing on Century Cable (which covers Hollywood and Beverly Hills) and was getting public notice, especially making my cat Merlin a celebrity! I got nervous about that because I was using "Abba songs" for the background music. So, always looking for a new challenge, for the next episode, "Spooked!", I experimentally wrote, played and recorded the entire, original score on my newly acquired keyboard, while watching the edited version on my TV set. No one was more surprised than I was when my "joking around" was actually taken as serious music.
And why is Rick smiling so secretly behind me? I suspect it's because his "mommy" is again singing out of tune and Rick's ears have perfect pitch! I often sing out of tune, but, of course, that doesn't stop me. I love singing too much! My secret desire has always been to be a "rock star". So, I pretend to be a "rock star" every once in awhile just for fun, and to annoy all the people with perfect pitch. I know a lot of musicians. Sorry, guys! If my writing/directing career doesn't go anywhere in the next couple of years, I might just...?
Okay, the picture above is an actual "still" from our music video, "Waiting for Wednesday". What you'll hear (if you click on the picture link down in the middle of the lyrics), is the first couple of verses from it. Have a nap or a drink or something on me while it loads. If you've got a slow modem like mine, you can even take a walk around the block, or do your laundry.
Rick and I composed, rehearsed, recorded and video taped the whole song in a total of three days (I edited the finished music video last year). It was awesome jamming with his rock band, "trannce" in their rehearsal (mini storage) space. The heavy rock band indulged me in my little fantasy, and never once broke out laughing out loud! Rick now concentrates more on classical and film music, and the occasional vocal. As I've already mentioned, he will soon be composing all the scores for my future, feature films and is busy working on his soon to be released second CD. Get it finished, Rick!
I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had become a rock star instead of a filmmaker. I still love "being inside the music". Being inside the music is what I experience when I'm performing: like I'm actually in the center, surrounded, stroked and enveloped by the melody. I guess that's why editing music videos gives me such a kick. Here are the lyrics for the theme song for "Wednesday of my Real Life":
If you like, you can even see an actual short clip from the music video. To load it click on the below picture link, or here! Sorry, but the wait for loading the movie is long on a slow modem.
To find out what "reely" goes on here in hollywood:
