To all my artist friends

I am continually astounded and amazed by the work of artists I have known throughout my life. My mother was an art teacher and an artist and I spent a considerable amount of time playing music in several bands.

Some examples of people I have known who are artists now include my friend Pete Smith from Scotland who I admire greatly and whose collaboration provided many good moments working together at Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett-Packard). His site can be found at
http://www.basement-picasso.co.uk/new/index.asp?tab=gallery&section=allArtists

Another friend I met in college, at San Francisco State, impressed me from the moment I met him with his exuberance, energy, and positive spirit, Bill Cone works at Pixar Corporation now in animated film but when we were in college we were kindred musicians. His blog provides ample evidence of the depth of his talents and is an inspiration to those who appreciate art at its finest.
http://billcone.blogspot.com/

Among the many musicians with whom I had the pleasure of jamming is Paul Jackson, a member of the Headhunters and Herbie Hancock’s band. Paul is an innovator and bassist extraordinaire. Paul worked at Sherman & Clay in Pleasant Hill when I attended Diablo Valley College and we never played in a band together. I did visit his home in Oakland and recall a wonderful time just jamming together.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1000898719

Another old friend is Hal Miller who is probably the best keyboardist I have ever known. The fact that he has perfect pitch didn’t hurt anything either. We played together in Parts and Labor and we worked together at Digital Marketing and Computer Aided Management.
http://groovedoctors.com/band-members/hal-miller/

Dave Harvey is an old high school buddy who has maintained the artist label and is making a living at it. Among my other high school friends is Dave Moak who has maintained his musician chops as a hobby while making a living in construction.

I was reminded the other day when I heard the Aretha Franklin hit “Rock Steady,” of a time when I played with a bass player named Terry Davis in a club in Napa quite a few years ago. He used to admonish me because I counted the song off too fast and it was truly a workout for him to perform the bass line. Terry went on to play in a band called Stone Ground with a few other friends from those days; Vern Built, lead singer, Tim Barnes, lead guitarist and Mike Mau, the drummer.

I have some new friends who amaze me with their talent including my future daughter in law’s mother Robin Burgert. Robin is quite an accomplished artist who does sculpture and painting in her spare time.
http://robinburgert.squarespace.com/