Travel Anywhere (April 23, 2024)

Hello everyone and welcome to my now regular blog posts on my website. Here you may read about my musings, thoughts, insights, a-ha moments and anything that makes me unique as an artist and human being.

The song "Anywhere" was written back in college when I was trying to figure out what kind of musician I wanted to be. I was playing classical piano but somehow felt I needed to do more. I wanted to share original musical ideas with my peers but no one was really into what I wanted to do. My goal at that time was to hook up with two other people, create an electronic based trio, cut some demos and shop them around NYC. That, unfortunately, did not happen so I had to go about it on my own, writing songs and learning how to program and sequence keyboards. I wanted to be the understated songwriter working with a vocalist and a guitarist (since I didn't play guitar until years later).

There was a computer lab in one of the buildings and I would often visit it every chance I got, often sacrificing my own classical piano practice time, much to the chagrin of my piano professor. I would sometimes go to my piano lessons unprepared (apologies, Mrs. Lehrer). Although I was capable of playing Bach, Chopin and Haydn, etc. I learned how to electronically layer different sounds and hone in on my melodic composition skills. I thought "this is really cool how I can be my own band just by using technology". The keyboards in the lab were not touch-sensitive so I would hammer down at the keys with excessive force. The head of the Theory Department, Dr. Bartels, nicknamed me "Thumper" and the name stuck during my junior and senior year.

Hence, the song "Anywhere" was composed. I played the parts in real time so it had a very demo sounding feel to it. I usually start with the music (bass line, synth riff, verse and chorus) then gradually add the words. I think I may still have the cassette in my archives as I tend to save old demos and half-written lyrics.

As a college student I played in local bands but was financially broke since I spent all my gig monies on lps, cassettes and cds. I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be wonderful to travel the world and experience different cultures, meet people, see the sights, listen to different types of music and sample local cuisine". The thought was far-fetched in college but years later I turned that thought into reality. For those of you who know me, I love and continue to travel the world, most recently Malaysia. I love experiencing the different vibe once I land at an airport and anything out of the ordinary for me is a wonderful feeling. The world is a big place, then again it isn't. You can visit a new country in twenty four hours and the memories created are priceless. There is a parallel between traveling the world and my musical journey - they are both learning experiences. I will continue to learn and I would like to take you with me. It's more fun that way.