JOin Arte's Army!

Show your support for Arte's music by entering your email address in the block below.  Your email address will not be sold or shared with any other party and will be used only to let you know about Arte's new tracks, upcoming performances and other related news, and Free Stuff

HERE'S HOW YOU DO IT!

The Orlando - Pittsburgh Trail leading to the "Road Home Tour" 

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t start making your dreams come true (especially yourself!).  Have you ever sat thinking about a goal you’d like to achieve, and then begin placing obstacles between yourself and that goal?  Yeah… me, too!  Last year I came to the conclusion that I wanted to perform live again, and I would be making the moves to make that happen.  Then the obstacles came.

Not long ago, I produced a video for Building Homes for Heroes, a national organization that builds custom…

Read more

Lapsing—as a Way of Life 

Anyone who actually follows this blog knows that the last installment was posted after a fairly long hiatus.  And, here once again, there has been an almost ridiculous amount of time that has passed since I sat down to type up that one.  Again, my apologies! 

 

I could take a month or so to try to explain all of the things that came near to overwhelming me in my life—the cause of these lapses.  For the curious, I’ll mention the battle of all freelancers who are self-employed, spending days in the hospital…

Read more

I’m back… as if anyone knew I was gone! 

I’ve been doing some research about blogging, and one of the primary rules (according to the experts) to having a successful blog is to be consistent... in other words, “Blog on a regular schedule—no lapses”.  Well, it looks like I screwed that one up!  It’s been a while, and for that I apologize!  I will try not to let that happen again.

 

Why the lapse?  Well I’ve been tied up working on a documentary (There may be some out there who don’t know that I am a producer and I own a video production company)…

Read more

Back in the Day (Part 3) – “Thank God for Festival Seating” 

We pick up our story with my cousin Nick and I somehow finding a parking spot for his Karmann Ghia, taking care to keep it “engine-out” just in case upon leaving, we would need to ask somebody to help us jump start the car (I’m just sayin’). 

 

We had finally arrived at the One World Festival of Music!  I had been to a few concerts by that time in my life, but I had never before experienced an honest to goodness, full sized, “Change-Your-Life” Rock Festival!

 

 We made our way to Pitt Stadium, melting…

Read more

Back in the Day (Part 2) “The One World Festival” 

In my last post I told of how my dad was instrumental (no pun intended) to my desire to be a musician.  But, there was an event in August 1972 that roared into town like a tornado.  And, it swept me up and hurled me into the life I have been living ever since!

 

It was called “The One World Festival of Music”, and it took place at Pitt Stadium in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.  There was a lot of controversy swirling around the 2-day event, though I don’t remember if I was aware of it at the time…

Read more

Back in the Day (Part 1) 

I have been asked what the inspiration was that moved me to pursue a career in music.  And, thinking back, there were a number of influences.  I would have to start back at some point when I was less than 10 years old.  Beside having a construction company, my Dad was a singer/guitarist/bassist, and he played most weekends at clubs and social events.  I have a (now) vague recollection of a performance he had one evening at the Moose Lodge #46 in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh. 

 

That Lodge was no…

Read more

The Gretsch 

More than a few times people have made comments about the Cadillac Green guitar that has become my main instrument.  There's a story behind it, and it goes like this...

     My father was a carpenter and weekend musician back in 1960, and, one day Dad brought this guitar home-- new from the store.  I was 10 years old. 

    He laid the case down on the kitchen table, smiling at me and my impatience to see his new guitar.  With a good deal of deliberation he opened each of the latches on the case.  Then…

Read more

Songwriting: Like working on a high anxiety crossword puzzle! 

Most of my life, I’ve been a singer and songwriter who happened to do other things (Usually those “other things” helped keep the lights on, or kept me from climbing out of a window to move in the middle of the night ‘cause I didn’t have rent money.)  But, being a musician or a songwriter has always defined who I am. 

Paul McCartney once said about songwriting that, “… there is no formula, so I’m always trying to learn how to do it.”  Well, I’m really glad he said that, because if there is a formula or a…

Read more

Like Starting Over 

               What an exciting time this is!  I have a brand new website; a blog; an email list and a mo-jivin’ ARMY!  If you’re reading this, you are probably a new fan of my music; an old fan of my music; or lost in cyberspace.  It doesn’t matter which one of these you are, I’m glad you are here!  And, I hope you will be coming back often to see what’s happening in Arte-Land—and to make your comments, however mundane or misguided they may be.

               Some of the things we’ll be discussing here:

Read more