Rock Star

You may not believe it, but I used to be a rock star. I know, I know, but there it is.

I sang in many a nasty bar, from Oregon to Iowa. (I sang in The Den so frequently people almost started to recognize me.) I smoked too many cigarettes and drank too much booze. At the “height” of my “career,” I opened for Richie Havens and Bo Diddley.

The majority of surviving recordings are on cassette tape – or worse. But I do have a few things:

I have a CD of a live performance at a bar in Keosauqua. It’s not a flattering recording, but here are a couple of songs from it, along with some more recent stuff:

Downloads

• Saturated, Stormy Heaven Live at The Creamery in Keosauqua, IA, 1997. (Right-click on the link and choose Save As to save the file to your computer.)
• Or download this MP3 of a song called Far Into The Night.
• I recorded an album of Western bhajans live in the studio in ‘05 with The Seventh Ray.
• I sang on an album of a capella music in September of 2005. The material remains unreleased, but you can listen to my solo at the end of Sweet True Love.
• NEW! Here’s a track off of The Seventh Ray’s upcoming album, Freedom Train: As A Man Thinketh.

Pictures
Here are some pics of me with Stormy Heaven.

This is from sitting in with the Jefferson County Green Band one time:

If you want to buy me something, I’ll take one of these:

Bands

Here’s a list of all the bands I’ve sung with over the years:

Eric & The Orbits
The Arnold Brothers & The Motor City Rhythm Section
The Diamondbacks
Point of Origin
Stormy Heaven
The Seventh Ray
House 11

Misc

Other recordings that either no longer exist or of which I don’t have a copy:

- a radio commercial (for which I never got paid and which probably never aired)
- a song called All Night Diner for a “movie soundtrack” (that’s a roo-ism for “totally amateur Fairfield project of no import”)
- a 4-song demo with Stormy Heaven (at that 16-track studio in Ottumwa, of all places)
- numerous live recordings with The Diamondbacks, a live recording with Point Of Origin, and one or two live recordings with Stormy Heaven

But Wait! There’s More!

Live Theatre

I once was a star of the stage as well. For the Iowa Theatre Company, I played leads in the following musicals:

1. Once Upon a Mattress
2. Bye Bye Birdie
3. Into the Woods

All three shows were not-so-professionally videotaped. I suppose if I cared more I could get copies and turn ‘em into streaming video, but I don’t.

I have newspaper clippings and reviews for all those shows, plus all the band gigs I did, plus stuff as far back as my highschool’s rendition of Taming Of The Shrew with me as Katherine. Somewhere. I will probably never scan these items.