Biography: Part 3
ENDLESS CELEBRATION
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PASSION DANCE |
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For the time being to make some much needed food money
I drew Hawaiian super heroes and sat on the main drag of Kona, known as Alii
Drive, Avenue of the Kings, and sold my heroes to tourist. After a few months
of living in Hawaii I put a portfolio of my fantasy drawings and paintings,
mainly scenes of men and women living in prehistoric, futuristic worlds along
with dragons. I was obsessed with human anatomy and dragons. At this time
I was living in a coffee shack, these were tin roof unfinished Hawaiian shacks,
no running water, but a catchment for the rain that fell every afternoon
along with our daily rainbows of the island. We had no plumbing but an outhouse,
which sat a half-mile from the shack. Wild boars loved to congregate there
because it sat beneath a mango tree and they would eat the ripened fruit
that fell from the tree; sometimes you could not get in the outhouse as they
became possessive of the tree and surrounding areas. I found that if I started
singing they would slowly leave, I don’t know if I was insulted or
relieved. One day Carl rode me down to the little town of Kona, (we had a
Honda 350 for transportation). This was in the late 70’s. I took my
portfolio to the graphic studio and went inside and started asking about
an assistant’s job. A man who looked like Gandalf sat stroking his
beard, listening to me and looking through my portfolio. He gave me a job
working five days a week designing signs, the sixth day I cleaned the studio
and on Sunday he taught me about his method of painting and drawing. His
name was Bill Hilbert, and he was the most gracious and giving mentor I ever
came across. He wanted me to succeed. He would listen to me go on about anatomy
and dragons for hours and he would work with me on my style of dragon scales
for months. All I did in Hawaii was draw and paint and it was there I started
to work in clay. The cost of casting was still so far out of reach for me
I could only dream of that medium.
During this time Carl had joined a band playing keyboard
with a trust fund baby who owned ‘Kona Gold Recording’. I had
done the logo for the studio and helped create a look and feel for the band,
which was a new wave, punk type of group. I had also done an Album Cover
for a Hawaiian band called Hapalaka (Wild Horse) in Hawaiian. I was now doing
logos for local business, painting windows of shops for the holidays, and
working on a collection of pen and ink drawings of fantasy worlds with surreal
people and dragon type creatures. This was a very fertile time for my mind.
We swam on private beaches that had changed little since the beginning of
time, we learned to swim with large sea turtles, and hike to caves that held
ancient secrets. There was a great mythology to Hawaii and easy to draw inspiration
from the people and the environment.
On my off time I would listen to Carl’s band rehearse
and sketch each of them. Consequently I became very familiar with their songs.
Their lead singer was a girl named Angel. The band had gotten a gig to open
up for Chaka Kahn at the Kona Surf. The nights before they were supposed
to play Angel came down with a bad case of laryngitis. They asked me if I
would fill in for her since I was familiar with the songs. So I said yes.
All I remember is standing on the stage thinking, what the hell am I doing,
then thinking you better do something the music is starting, so I turned
the songs into my own versions of punk performance art and somehow got through
the hour and a half. Afterwards they decided they liked what I did and I
suddenly I was a singer in a punk band. We recorded a four-song e.p. and
one of the songs called ‘Direct Inject’ went to the top ten Hawaiian
play list, one of the D.J.’s in Honolulu loved it. A few months later
we were contacted by an L.A. record label that want to sign us to a development
deal in Los Angeles. So we move to L.A. and start playing the L.A. clubs
and Universities. We place a couple of our songs on the College Play List
in Billboard Magazine. We start recording in the best studios and are getting
ready to sign with a label. One day Carl and I are walking in the park thinking
to ourselves how contrived the music scene in L.A. is getting. We are drinking
vials of ginseng and royal jelly. We think wouldn’t it be cool to create
a healthy energy drink. This is in 1986 before the energy revolution. There
were only a couple of items on the market in that genre. So as two artists
that know nothing about business we decide to start a company called Precise
Nutrition that manufactures the Vital 4-u line of energy drinks. I go back
to art to support our business venture.
We quit the band. I now start showing in a few L.A. art
galleries, plus Nicky Blair’s restaurant in Hollywood. I am now drawing
in graphite and charcoal, large scale portraits of movie legends, erotica
and monsters.
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