I’m a singer/songwriter/pianist and have been writing songs since I was 18 years old. I create music, both songs with music and lyrics and improvised solos in the moment when playing piano. These are two very distinct thrills for me. Writing a song is like having one idea that excites me and spending the next hours, days, months or years putting together a complete sonic picture like someone may work on a puzzle. Then with an improvised piano solo, the creation is a free flow of ideas that are born of the moment with no right or wrong.

The last few years, I turned a life long love of films into learning how to shoot and edit my own videos to go along with my music, which has been a very exciting thing for me to blend with my first love.

I think we all as humans have an inborn to desire to create. There is something that we all tap into that scientists don’t have a name for yet, but it is a real thing. One of the gifts we are given as humans is the ability to manipulate the physical forms around us to create something new. Whether it be knitting a sweater, a structure made of wood and nails, organized colored oils on canvas or producing and manipulating sound waves in an organized way. The latter is what I love to do and the way I express my primal urge to create. I don’t always initially want to create, because it can be painful and tedious but there is nothing I enjoy more than working on something when an idea catches fire in my mind. My creative life has become a constant tension of opposites while I try to increase my musical dexterity and skill level while at the same time making my best effort to let go of all of it and just let that creative consciousness work through me.

I tend to be drawn to creative works that trigger some sort of inspiration in me to want to create myself. I’m especially drawn to films because it is such a blend of so many creative forms all presented as a single experience. For a film to be a success artistically, the director must herd a team of creative people and inspire and align them to his creative vision. Each person has a history of creating and years of work in his or her craft. The actors, cinematographer, writer, makeup, wardrobe stylist and composer (wihich I especially love) all have a lifetime of inspiration and work they pull from to make a piece that communicates a specific emotion. That’s why making a great film is such a difficult and rare achievement. Often after I experience a great film I instantly want to get to my piano and create something.

I also appreciate anything that is born of a pure creative spirit, be it a dining experience, a great joke or even a perfect tweet. The key being something that has a fearless quality but is not taking risks just for the sake of being risky.