Music has been a love and a passion for me since I was very little. Music gives me energy! Music transports and transforms moments out of the ordinary into the extraordinary, which is why movies all have sound tracks. Writing songs gives me a chance to share my inner self with others, or to bring out their inner selves.
I have written a lot of songs over the years, but my left hand has proven too stiff to play piano or guitar, so I have always been at the mercy of other musicians or what I can wring out of computer software for how the songs end up sounding, which, while I have gotten some good results anyway over the years, still never really comes matches how it sounds in my head. My dream would be to work with a group of musicians who could help me turn what is inside my head into a reality that everyone else could hear too.
I spent 13 of the last 17 years working with the homeless community in my city, and it came at the cost of everything else to do that, including the music, so I have already done a lot of "changing the world". These days, there are too many people trying to change the world by forcing their own vision of it on others. Too often, it's more about making themselves look god than it is about actually making the world better or helping anyone. If people really want to change the world for the better, they should just start with their neighbors and work outward from there, and they should do it without trying to turn it into fame, fortune, or any other selfish thing.
From my childhood? Oh good grief! {8^)) Hmmmmmm . . . I guess it would be a song about a horse off the old "A is for Animal" children's album that we played over and over when I was little. The chorus goes "What can you do in a case like that? What can you do but step on your hat, or your toothbrush, or your grandmother, or anything that's helpless?" We used to sing it for my grandma when we were at her house. She hated that song! {8^D And that's probably why that's the song that I remember the best from my childhood, though I can also whistle a large portion of Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto from listening to it so many times with my dad as a kid.
J. S. Bach, Petra, Servant (not The Servant, which is a different band), The Beachboys, Prodigal, Newsboys, 65dBa, Whitecross, Wierd Al Yankovic, Michelle Tumes, Enya, Eric Johnson, The Echoing Green, The Benjamin Gate, Superchick, The Nylons, Thompson Twins, M.W.S., Degarmo & Key, Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart, Whiteheart, Margaret Becker, The Choir, Eric Champion, Rebecca St. James, Plumb, I could go on and on as is probably apparent at this point. {8^)) I like too much music, and too many styles of music to ever narrow it down much.
There is a calling and a longing in my heart to sing. It's really that simple!
All of the songs I write are inspired by my personal faith in God and my personal experiences with life - either things I have been through myself or things I have directly watched other people go through. I have watched so many struggling with this imperfect mess we call "life" over the years. I just want people to know that there is hope! There is help! There is something better!
I love performing live because it builds a connection with the audience, and I love getting to talk with people afterwards, because of that connection, because that's really what it's all about for me. Music opens doors in the mind and the heart.
I love it! The community here is fantastic!
That I can not play guitar or piano, and nobody makes music creation software, at least that I have found in my price-range yet, that is both easy to use and has good tools for creating music completely from scratch.
When I used to be a regular part of a local scene, I got to be friends with a lot of other local musicians, or I was friends with someone who was a personal friend of someone in the band. So I was always recommending different local bands to people I met who were trying to put together concerts, or venues I sang at that were looking for more acts. I own a lot of self-produced CDs by various local groups I have seen over the years, and, while I am not so much a part of any local scene these days, there's a local band that my family likes which we try to go see when they are in the area. I have never seen music, or life in general, as a me-or-them matter. I am happy to help other people succeed, and happy to see other people succeed, even if I don't share their success.