THE MUSIC COOPe

Amarillo Birds 

It was a dream I had. I was standing in a circle with my wife and brother and friends and a yellow hummingbird descended into the midst of us. It hovered there and was very bright and had a green-tippetail and as it flew it allowed us to stroke it's feathers. Those of you familiar with Spanish know that Amarillo means yellow, and many of us here are like birds...migratory, in search of the things we need to sustain us. And oh, how we all dream to have that rare and transcendent experience like an impossibility let down from heaven for us to see, hear and touch.

Some of my good childhood memories are of flipping through my parents stack of records and them allowing me at a very young age to use the record player. I would put on Sgt. Pepper's or the White Album and open up our big family Bible and look at all of the illustrations in the middle of the book while the music played. Ezekiel calling on the skeletons to come to life while Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds provided the soundtrack. My family liked to take road trips and my brother and I would sing whenever a Beatles cassette was put in. Usually it was Rubber Soul and Benjamin would sing Paul's parts and I would sing John's. During the fourth and fifth grades I became obsessed with Duran Duran. Hey, don't laugh! This was 1982 and they were huge!

When sixth grade came along, somehow my taste in music began to get more esoteric. I discovered ska which at that time was all about Madness and The Specials, but I was also drawn to U2 and Big Country. I started listening to KROQ being that I grew up in Fullerton, CA and was exposed to a lot of different music as a result.

So, I was a total outcast during junior high. I had a spiked flat-top and wore a trench coat with all of my favorite bands logos drawn all over it with a Sharpie. My clique consisted of a big albino guy, a tall skinny Mexican, and a short Vietnamese kid . Needless to say, the Mexican gang really targeted us, especially the albino. Fortunately I had some big Samoan friends so nobody really messed with me.

During high school I was mostly a Deadhead. I traded tapes and took lots of LSD. Looking back, I was into their music because they evoked mystery and a sense of community. It can't listen to much of it now, though.

After high school I started to write my own music and to play in bands. I spent a couple of years as a Vineyard worship leader and that's how I came to be influenced by Mr. Prosch. Benjamin and I and our friend Josh Fishburn did a lot together. We recorded in the church sanctuary and would play on the streets for fun and spare change. Streetchoir really started around this time though it had different names, e.g. Public Counsel and Hence the Name and much of that music still survives on tape. Streetchoir became official in 1999 and since then it has been my main focus. However I have been involved in other projects. My real passion is to record and produce and I have been privileged to help my friends make records of their own using the gear that Benj and I have been collecting for the past twenty years.

And now, finally, I'm taking the time to record a serious album of songs that are near and dear to me. Why? Well, I suppose every artist asks that question of themselves. What is the point? The reason I make music is because I love music and this is how God created me. Then, beyond that I find that the answer for me is that I always try first and foremost to make the music that I want to and need to hear. As good as the bands and songwriters are that are out there, not one can fully satisfy the longing for expression that I have inside of myself. That is why we are all doing this! If there was that perfect sound or perfect band then we could just sit back and take it in. But as it is we strive toward that sound and those songs which are the full expression of the life we live.