Body of Work
You could say my life was defined by work or more accurately by the pursuit of creative projects. This doesn’t mean I didn’t have significant family relationships through three marriages and three step children. Or lifelong friends at every stop on this magical mystery tour. Or... just enjoying all the world had to offer. All those experiences I cherish and deeply informed what I learned in this life.
These are some examples of my work that are my favorites. There were hundreds of projects, over 80 songs alone, but I picked these as the best of it in my mind. Not necessarily because they were the most successful, although some of them hit it out of the park, but because these were the ones I got the closest to in terms of what I originally imagined. It is the artists curse. You get an idea or a download and you set out to bring it into this world. It teases you relentlessly. It can be frustrating, but sometimes the original vision morphs into something you least expected. In those co-creative moments, the magic happens and you feel that there is something larger at work than just you. The projects I have included here had that quality to them.
From early on, I was happiest when I was creating something. At first it was building forts in the backyard, but when I figured out I could play music for a living and make records, that began over 50 years of creative work that continues to this day. The work has taken many different forms. Music, film/TV, design, interactive entertainment and transmedia. One of the joys of these projects is I got to work with some very talented people and along with achieving a degree of fame and fortune, we had a lot of fun together. It was as we say… the grandest of adventures. Setting off together to create something novel from nothing.
One pattern did emerge over time. I was happiest creating something in a new, emerging field rather than one that was already established. Music came for me just as rock and roll music emerged as the soundtrack of our generation. The inflatables emerged out of childhood memories of a safe space. This version of a "learning environment" had never been done before. The interactive entertainment was a fledgling emergence in the entertainment biz when I jumped in. It combined my love of stories and audience engagement. The Transmedia work is a new form seeking greater influence that is still arriving through the Internet, social media platforms and metaverses.
When I was working as a mail boy at Universal Studios I got talking to a grizzled script writer one day about the business of pursuing stories. He said…”kid, this is the greatest work in the world. I can sit at my typewriter today and dream up elephants marching in parade and tomorrow they will materialize in this realm for all to see and experience. This is the greatest storytelling medium ever invented.”
That was enough for me. I felt the calling to follow the stories wherever they led me although at that point I had no idea how that would unfold. These projects took me all over the US and Europe. It was almost like I would imagine some experience I wanted to have (like the old screenwriter) and then dream up a project that would take me into that world. I found it a great way to live and experience everything this world has to offer.
I have been lucky enough to have pursued my curiosities all these years. These artifacts are the some of the output of those pursuits. Enjoy…