Life is a journey, and that is what matters, right? It is not the destination, which is forever changing.
How did these projects arise? Well, like everything, your personal history plays a large part.
I was born into a middle class family on Long Island, NY. I was first introduced to playing an instrument in the 4th grade when my mom, an elementary teacher, signed me up for piano lessons. I think a large part of my artistic side came from her. She painted, sculpted, and played piano, as well as guitar. My dad, also a teacher and an Assistant Principal, was a lover of music too, namely of the Big Bands such as Count Basie. My grandfather on my mom's side of the family was an accomplished commercial guitar player and published songwriter who played in smoky night clubs in New York City in the 1940's, and unfortunately succumbed to lung cancer before his time as a result. He is someone I would have liked to have known for sure. After taking piano lessons for a number of years as a young boy, I decided I would like an electric guitar for my birthday (I think this was around 13).
This was due in part to listening to rock guitar albums our baby sitter used to bring over (on vinyl for those that remember that). I distinctly remember the 4th Led Zeppelin album and Edgar Winter's album, They Only Come Out at Night (with the song "Free Ride" on it). Of course, the visual impact of seeing rock bands on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" and "The Midnight Special" on television also made me want to get a guitar—I didn't want to be stuck at a keyboard! I still remember that first guitar, a black Les Paul copy. I've been in love with guitars and all styles of guitar music since then.
I might have remained in music and not pursued other things, but in life's journey, I have always been a pursuer of knowledge, something my parents, both teachers, instilled in me. I became an English Major in college, and my interest in language, words, and writing led to an interest in the law. I became so interested that I sold most of my guitars at the time, went to law school, and have been a trial lawyer ever since helping people achieve justice.
Yet music, all the while, has always been a big part of me, and guitar playing has always been there, in one way or another. Certainly, having an artistic side gives you a lot of perspective and expands the mind in anything you do. I'm so glad that my mother gave me piano lessons as a child.
After not playing in a band for many years, a moment of serendipity resulted in me playing a couple of old cover tunes at someone's party with some old band mates—the band actually hired that night for the party graciously allowed us to pick up their instruments for a short performance. That led to some impromptu jamming in someone's basement, and then some gigs, and before you knew it, I was buying guitars again.
This got me to start writing a lot of my own musical material, and reconstituting some of my old music and lyrics that I never did anything with. Eventually, this resulted in the recording of Leaves of Memory.
Somewhere during all this, I have been working on a novel that I hope to finish some day. The novel was put on hold for the creation of The ABC to Zen Guide to Health & Happiness. The book came about by accident, sort of.
I have become quite interested in the workings of the human body, physically and mentally. I think it is a result of several factors, namely, handling medical malpractice/personal injury legal cases (which, in order to handle properly as a lawyer requires you to develop a deep understanding of the human body and its physical and mental functions), and from certain life experiences related to health and wellness.
For me, two such experiences were losing my first wife to cancer when she was only 35 years of age and my mom to cancer when she was only 44. Sometime after those life changing experiences, I was at a family lunch with my father. He has maintained a healthy lifestyle for many years. He was telling us all at the table that a simple way to be healthy is to follow a certain number of simple rules that he referred to in an "ABC" type of rubric.
I often found myself thinking about what he said that day, and I started making my own list of "ABC" items in my spare time, and then I thought: Why not cover the entire alphabet? My father's list only covered the first seven letters or so of the alphabet.
The idea intrigued me, and so I decided to put it into a permanent form based on my knowledge, research, life experiences, and observations. After I had the list, I thought: Why not make it into a book? Since reference books have always been favorites of mine, the layout of it in an "ABC" form seemed like a perfect fit for the idea.
So, what is next?
I'm not completely sure, but I am enjoying the journey. I'm writing material for another album. As far as the novel, I hope to finish it someday. As it is with every project, time is that commodity that there just never seems to be enough of.
I also have some book ideas related to the law and aviation (the latter based on my experiences as a pilot and practicing aviation law), so I might write a book related to them. For now, I am back to writing and recording music for my second album.
Please stop back again and see how things are going with my projects and ideas. Until then, my best and be well.