As any reasonable person might wonder, how did I end up writing and releasing a song titled “The Warthog from Hell”? Answers to that question go back many years. I grew up as an only child, with a mother who enjoyed reading and writing poetry, and a musical father who would play “Malagueña” on the piano for my grandmother. I remember having a xylophone as a small child, taking classical piano lessons starting around age 6, and performing for others, songs like "The Pink Panther Theme” at an elementary school talent show, and classical pieces in piano recitals and Bach Festivals in high school.
I enjoyed creative writing as well, composing a poetic version of Biblical stories in Mark chapter 5 as a junior high Sunday School project that was eventually published in a church magazine (my first paid piece!) In high school, I once wrote a sonnet imploring my English teacher to extend the deadline of an assignment due immediately after Homecoming weekend (my request was successful). And I would sometimes regale my parents with alternate lyrics to TV commercial theme songs.
Growing up in Newport Beach in Southern California, I loved to listen to music on my portable radio with its rotary dial. I would tune up and down to hear whatever caught my fancy, enjoying 70s pop, rock, and disco. I would buy favorite 45s (7” singles) for as little as .69 cents each when on sale and the occasional album at the Wherehouse and other local record stores – Elton John, Bay City Rollers, and every Abba and Kiss single. In the late 70s/early 80s, I gravitated toward music that’s now described as alternative, new wave, or post-punk – like the first two B-52s albums, Devo, early U2. FM radio station KROQ had a wonderful playlist, introducing me to what would become favorite groups like the Chameleons, the Cure, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Psychedelic Furs, and other groups whose names bemused my parents.
It was the summer before my junior year at Pomona College that I started writing original songs with the idea of sharing them with a larger audience. Daniel, a friend in the class one year ahead of me who played guitar, asked if I wanted to be in a cover band. Another friend, Joanne, took up bass guitar, and we eventually found a drummer and second guitarist. Our flyer seeking additional band members mentioned influences from the Talking Heads (Daniel) to J. S. Bach (me). I was inspired to purchase my first keyboard, a Korg DW-8000, and we started practicing regularly – initially covers of recently released songs like Modern English - “I Melt with You”, Echo and the Bunnymen - “Bring on the Dancing Horses”, U2 -“New Years Day”.
(To Be Continued…)
