My Artistic Life began in ‘74 when I discovered Theatre. Acting (the only profession that demands you be someone other than yourself) gave my life the direction it had lacked…in addition to rendering approximately 75% of my personal “issues” moot. Being surrounded by truly crazy people made me feel a good bit less so.

In 1980 and between acting gigs, I took a side road and began singing in a lounge band—Holiday Inns, discos and “mature” singles bars. A year later I fled back to the theatrical womb. 

This time I struck paydirt, landing a job with New York State Theatre Institute, where, over time, I played everything from an Afghani thief to a Nazi colonel to a Shakespearean wizard. (Heavies were to become my metier.) 

When the ‘Tute lost its funding, I created an arts-in-ed program consisting of one-person docudramas of figures from U.S. history, John Wilkes Booth and Robert Oppenheimer among them. More heavies. And I continued doing theatre with the re-funded ‘Tute from time to time. Just to keep my plate loaded, I joined blues rockers Urban Gumbo, with whom I recorded two rockin’ R&B albums of originals. 

In ’97 I chased a woman over to Germany, where I taught English in corporations and played and recorded with Voodoo Child, So What and Joe Q and the Dynatones. Two years later, the woman chased me back here. 

2005—I began studying art with Chinese master Lefu Gu. Art remains a beloved avocation I still dabble in. 

And in 2020 I self-published a collection of short stories. I followed that in ’22 with a selection of essays. 

I’m currently hard at work on my first novel. These, my many sojourns among a variety of art forms, have led me along many a merry road. In the words of director Akira Kurosawa, “It is wonderful to create.” 

Contact: 
Selbst4get@yahoo.com