I lived in Central Los Angeles for fifteen years and spent most of my time in the neighborhoods of Echo Park and Boyle Heights. While living in Boyle Heights, I was inspired to write a song about the deceased wife of my landlord's elderly father, Jose'. I'd catch him daydreaming in the kitchen of the house I was renting a room in and ask him who he was thinking of. He'd often say, "Maria." With help from my friend Greg Lucas, we did a one-day shoot with the lovely Angela Farias at historic locations around East LA. Check it out!
I'm blessed to have close friends in Padova, Italy, a few miles west of Venice. Two of them, Mario Perona and Alfonso Stefanelli, have an acoustic duo group called The Ivanhoffs. Accompanied by my longtime American friend, Dominic Carrillo (on drums), they covered my song, "Almost Weightless," along with a French horn player and a violinist. I'm still in awe of their performance. Thank you Bozhana Carrillo for the clip!
Years ago, my friend Dominic Carrillo made this video with images he captured on his cell phone. It's a mix of Italian train travel and some stills of me playing guitar at the apartment he was briefly renting in the Northbay as he pursued his Masters degree. Thanks again, Dom!
I'm very proud of this video. I came up with the concept and pitched the idea to my talented friend/director, Eric Pritchard. He liked it, agreed to direct, and off we went. It stars our friend Vicky as a mystical woman who takes me on a journey to watch two young girls jump rope. Check it out!
My friend Jake had a gig at Cafe Du Nord and he asked me to play my song, "Two Crashed Cars," with him on stage during his set. We rehearsed it upstairs in the ghostly Swedish American Music Hall, a space rarely accessed by the public. Unforgettable night. If you dig the song, it's on my album, All Things Pink (available on streaming).
We were one month into the pandemic and things were getting goofy. I decided to do some self-karoke and sang over the music to my own song, "Fast and Fragile," from the album, Delicious Conditions. Weird times.
A long time ago, my videographer friend, Evan Weitzberg, called me one morning and said, "Come check out this warehouse in Downtown. Let's shoot a video." Within an hour he had everything set up and I started strumming "Useless Space Junk." Interestingly, the images he projected aligned perfectly with the words in the song, a song he'd never heard before. Side note: I'd just met the girl singing back-up vocals behind me (Evan's friend) and never saw her again after this shoot.
I was in a band called The Marinators in 2001-2002 with Matt Gross (bass) and Dominic Carrillo (drums). We played small bars in San Diego and made one album called Chicken Bone, which generated a touch of buzz. Some of our Italian friends connected with the songs, and years later, we floated the idea of a reunion show, which ended up happening. This is some rough cell phone audio from the abridged first set of the first show at Casa Stefanelli. Magical night! xo